Chicago in the sixties was a reflection of the way it was in the twenties, only the focus had switched from illegal booze to other vices. Gambling was still a big cash business for the underworld as was prostitution. Those two activities have been going on almost since the beginning of time . But with the advent of newer technology and the ever-expanding criminal element, crime sprouted up in other areas as well.
One of these crime-ridden areas was in the vending business. The machines themselves weren’t illegal nor were their contents. What was illegal, however, was the methods used by those who owned the vending machines and the tactics they employed to insure that their machines got into the right locations.
A man could make a decent living with vending machines if he had enough of them and had enough high-traffic locations to put them in. If a merchant didn’t want your machine or already had other machines, these criminal venders strongarmed their way into these businesses. It was a form of protection or extortion.
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