Two major figures of the era were the businessmen, power brokers and crime bosses Sam and Rosario Maceo, who ran the chief casinos and clubs on the island and were heavily involved in local politics and the tourism industry.

In one of the more famous examples of this, a state committee, investigating gambling at the fabled Balinese Room, was told by the local sheriff that he had not raided the establishment because it was a "private club" and because he was not a "member".

[12] Immediately after the hurricane, Galveston worked to revive itself as a port and an entertainment center, including the construction of tourist destinations such as the Hotel Galvez, which opened in 1911.

[18][19] Nevertheless, wealth brought on by the boom transformed nearby Houston, Texas City, Goose Creek (modern Baytown), and other communities.

The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1919, outlawed the manufacture, transportation, importation, and sale of alcoholic beverages and initiated the Prohibition era.

[24] A "rum row" (a line of booze-laden ships from Cuba, Jamaica, and the Bahamas) became a fixture about 35 miles (56 km) beyond the coastline, where smaller boats fetched the goods and brought them to shore.

Two brothers, Rosario (Rose) and Salvatore (Sam) Maceo, trained as barbers and moved to Galveston shortly before World War I to start their business.

[28] A crackdown by federal law enforcement led to the arrests of the leaders of the city's gangs, which allowed the Maceo brothers to gain control of the island's underworld.

[34] Their wealth and Sam's ability to deal with influential figures allowed them to exert increasing influence over other businesses and the government of the island.

[27] To compensate for the sometimes-ineffectual police force and judicial system on the island, Rose organized a group of vigilantes known as the Night Riders to keep the peace.

This huge pier (later converted to the Flagship Hotel), built in the 1940s and used by the military until the end of the war, featured restaurants, rides, and an amphitheater.

It was so successful that the island for a time had the highest concentration of prostitutes in the world (one of every 62 residents), working in more than fifty bordellos in addition to other smaller establishments.

Capone's enforcer Frank Nitti, in fact, had been a former partner of Galveston Downtown Gang leader Jack Nounes before the Maceo era.

[22][25] Galveston became a major port of entry for illegal liquor from Mexico and Canada,[39][63] shipped through the Caribbean and distributed from the island throughout Texas and to other destinations.

William McCoy, known as the "King of the Rum Runners," was a significant figure during this time, helping to supply Galveston with liquor smuggled from the Caribbean.

Some, such as financier, hotelier, and insurance executive William Lewis Moody, Jr., actually welcomed illegal gambling because it brought tourists who filled up his hotels.

San Antonio had perhaps the second-most infamous red-light district in the early 20th century and most major cities in the state had significant vice activities until at least midcentury, though most went into decline before Galveston's did.

[70] Even decades later in 1993, when Vic C. Maceo, cousin of Sam and Rose, opened fire on a local who he believed owed him money, the incident was viewed by many in the community with nostalgia, recalling the Free State era.

[2] High society in the city regularly attracted some of the biggest names in the entertainment business, including Frank Sinatra, Jayne Mansfield, Duke Ellington, and Bob Hope.

One of the most striking examples of this was the gradual establishment of biracial labor unions of waterfront workers beginning in the 19th century, although eventually this alliance fell victim to segregationist influence.

[74] Racist ideology was always an ever-present factor in the city, however, as evidenced by the name of the group which ran the Mardi Gras, the Kotton Karnival Kids (KKK, the same initials as the Ku Klux Klan).

[75] The city had numerous venues for the arts, including the State Theater (today the Grand Opera House), which featured vaudeville acts in addition to motion pictures.

When a state committee investigating illegal activities on the island asked the sheriff about his reluctance to raid the Balinese Room, he replied only that it was a "private club" and he was not a "member".

[91] The Las Vegas project's financing was largely facilitated by the Maceos and Moodys through ANICO (which loaned millions to known mob figures).

[10] In 1953, the police commissioner, Walter L. Johnston, under pressure from local citizens groups concerned about moral decline and high rates of venereal disease, shut down the red-light district.

[98] In 1957, Attorney General Will Wilson and Department of Public Safety head Homer Garrison (with help from former FBI special agent Jim Simpson) began a massive campaign of raids that wrecked the gambling and prostitution industry on the island, along with liquor imports.

[84] Civic leaders made several failed attempts at new ventures, including the Oleander Bowl football tournament (1948) and the Pelican Island bridge (1956) for access to a new industrial park, which never materialized.

[2][103] The city's television station, KGUL, moved to Houston in 1959; the telephone company headquarters and many other businesses relocated off the island, as well.

[84] Efforts at historical preservation (notably including those of George P. Mitchell) gradually helped to re-establish the island's tourism industry, though in a very different form from the past.

Some notable examples include the novels Under the Skin by James Carlos Blake,[108] Last Dance on the Starlight Pier by Sarah Bird,[109] No Greater Deception: A True Texas Story by Sydney Dotson,[110] Galveston by Suzanne Morris,[111] and Overlords by Matt Braun,[112] as well as the anthology Lone Star Sleuths: An Anthology of Texas Crime Fiction by Bill Davis, et al.[113] Galveston's Balinese Room was also the subject of a 1975 song by rock band ZZ Top.