Mob FilesPublic-domain archive of American organized crime
Agents tipping a barrel of liquor into a street sewer opening while a man in a suit stands at the right.
Open the full imageJPG, 1024 × 814 px, 0.1 MB

Deputy Police Commissioner Leach watching liquor poured into a sewer, about 1921 (Library of Congress)

New York World-Telegram and the Sun print of agents pouring liquor from a barrel into a street sewer while Deputy Police Commissioner John A. Leach looks on, after a Prohibition raid. A copy is stored here.

Date
1921
Kind
photograph
Source
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Retrieved
2026-10-12
Rights
The Library of Congress item record states: "No known restrictions on publication." Collection: New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Call number: NYWTS - SUBJ/GEOG--Prohibition--General [item] [P&P]. Reproduction number: LC-USZ62-123257 (b&w film copy neg.).

The Library of Congress titles this print “[New York City Deputy Police Commissioner John A. Leach, right, watching agents pour liquor into sewer following a raid during the height of prohibition].” The brackets mark a title devised by Library staff from the photograph’s slug. The Library dates the print “[1921?]”.

The record does not say where the raid took place or who was raided, and this page supplies neither. The Library has published the photograph in its own publications. It is filed under the NYWT&S subject heading for Prohibition in general.

itemProhibition officers raiding a lunch room at 922 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, 25 April 1923 (Library of Congress)Library of Congress print of Prohibition officers raiding the lunch room at 922 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C., on 25 April 1923. The street number is in the title. A copy is stored here.