Highland Perthshire is a long way from Sicily. It s even further from the mean
streets of New York. It probably doesn t seem like the
natural home for mafia activity and yet. If you re interested in the people,
places and events in Scottish history then click the subscribe
button at the bottom right in the screen. In the meantime, let me tell you a story.
If you don t see the link between the Scottish Highlands and the Mafia,
then consider for a moment that American mob bosses and the Scotch
whisky barons were not only complimentary, but essentially came about for the same reasons
and at one point they came together here in the Perthshire Highlands.
From the time of James VI to Queen Victoria Scottish, then British
authorities sought to restrict or tax the production, movement and sale of uisge
behatha, the water of life. Sometimes the restriction
was the imposition of tax, sometimes a limit on volume,
commerce, or a prohibition of crossing the highland line just south of here.
Sometimes the taxes were imposed to bring Scots in line with English
neighbours to whom they d been bound. Other times to raise funds during war
time , a very particular example of which we ll see at the end
or sometimes to encourage desired social behaviours.
Many of the same reasons spirit duties are imposed today. What it did do
was to create a culture where Highland smuggling and disregard for London laws were endemic,
and smugglers seemed like heroes rather than villains.
Then in 1823 everything changed.
The 1823 Excise Act, known as The Wash Act dramatically reduced taxation,
so licencing a distillery and going legit was now a viable option.
Instead of farmers grain being distilled into uisge beatha in
hidden glens in the dark of night moonshiners became whisky distillers,
smugglers became sales executives, criminals became legitimate businessmen.
There s a thin line between criminals and capitalists and that line is moved
by politicians
Here, near Pitlochry a group of farmers got together as a cooperative,
and used their barley for the greater good. That was in 1825.
Of course the business went through highs and lows, grew, shrank,
people died, management changed, consolidation, growth and that
rollercoaster ride went on for a hundred years It was a period when Scots were emigrating
some forced, some voluntary, but they took with them, the
taste for whisky and a ready export market for the newly legitimised mountain dew.
a European vineyard killing bug and a relaxation of blending rules later
and whisky was popular, freely available and legal
until it wasn t. In 1920
the US decided that alcohol should be illegal. The whisky industry in Scotland was devastated,
but organised crime in America they were doing very well thank you.
Just like Scotland before, ordinary people wanted a drink.
When laws don t reflect society people have no compunction about breaking the rules.
That thin blue line between criminals and businesspeople gets blurred.
Law enforcers get compromised, and the public are complicit.
Taxation in Scotland created a whisky industry. Prohibition in America created organised crime
and when American accents were heard here in the Highlands you could be pretty sure
that the two had come together. A regular route for Scotch whisky
was first to Canada and then south: Boston, New York and New Jersey,
then on to speakeasys across America. It s said that one of the folk involved
in this smuggling was, Joe Kennedy, whose son would become President John F Kennedy.
There s a thin line between criminal and legal and it s politicians who draw it.
Even more important to our story was a man called Frank Costello.
Frank Costello would become the Capo di tutti Capi,
the Boss of Bosses, the Head Honcho, The Big Cheese,
Numero Uno the cojones de perro... the baws o the dug.
You may not realise it, but you know him,
because HE was the model for Don Corleone in the film The Godfather.
When prohibition came in he went to the tiny island of St Pierre just off Newfoundland
and persuaded the local Mayor, that he could bring jobs
and a commission per case of whisky that went through the island.
A strengthened pier and warehouses later shipments of whisky were flowing from Scotia s shores.
Speaking of things flowing from Scotia s shores, I m touring my comedy show Stories of Scotland in
Australia, New Zealand then back home here in Scotland in 2023.
So, come and have a laugh and learn some Scottish history along the way.
I ll leave links for information and tickets in the description below. Don t miss it!
It s at this point I should probably mention a Yorkshireman called William Whitely.
He had a bit of a reputation for flirting with that thin line we ve been talking about.
He had a sacking, court cases and a struck of business behind him
but two years into American prohibition
he was now thriving with a spirits distribution and export business.
Now I m no one tae talk but I hear a lot of the products
Whitely was shifting were going through the hands of a certain Frank Costello.
In fact, between you, me and the garden gatepost,
Costello imported so much of Whiteley s product that he was appointed US Sales Consultant
on $5000 a year in the 1920s
I hear tell that his consulting techniques involved sending a bunch of guys to visit
bars and clubs in New York where whisky was illegal
and making unrefusable offers to stock Whiteley s products.
I m no saying that happened. I m no sayin it didnae.
I m no grass. This is just between you and me.
Now Whitely didn t own this distillery . He was a blender and distributer
rather than a manufacturer but records show that he was buying Edradour
whisky as a key ingredient of his blends. The most successful of his whiskies, containing
that key ingredient, was called King s Ransom. This was a high quality whisky designed for the
American market at a time when
there was no legal American market. But in 1933 prohibition in the USA ended.
This would be a bonanza for drinks manufacturers.
Hold on Whitely didn t manufacture any whisky.
What if distillers found more convenient legal export routes direct?
They might not supply Whitely with the whisky he needed for King s Ransom.
It might come as no surprise that in 1933, when prohibition was lifted,
Whitely bought Edradour distillery.
He could now manufacture and export to America legally.
Did he have an American distributer for this new, above board, trade?
Of course he did! Frank Costello
The erstwhile mafia boss, set up a legitimate business called Alliance Distributors.
Sales grew in America and Whiteley s business was kept busy and profitable
till five years later when he sold up. When he did sell, he sold to an American
called Irving Haim. Why did Mr Haim want to
cross the Atlantic to buy the smallest distillery in Scotland you might ask.
Andrew Cameron s book on the Edradour distillery asks exactly that question.
Not only that, but the very same question was asked in the 1950s
by the US Senate special committee to investigate crime in interstate commerce.
but they didn t ask Mr Haim. They quized a known associate of his.
None other than Frank Costello the tutti fruti caputi of the mafioso.
The committee knew that HE had tried to buy the business, and they wanted to know why.
Costello said he wanted to buy Whitely s business so that Alliance Distributors,
would have exclusive rights to distribute brands like King s Ransom throughout the USA.
Unfortunately, his bid wasn t successful but the business was acquired by
Irving Haim , a known associate and Alliance Distributors WERE the sole
distributors of Whiteley s brands. What a happy co-incidence?
Costello must have made an offer that couldn t be refused, that was refused,
but he still got what he wanted out of the offer anyway.
It seems that Costello was always the winner except for the night of 5th February 1941.
A ship sailed out of Liverpool in bad weather. It steamed north as the swell and howling gale
caused the Isle of Mann to pitch and yaw, and still it steamed towards the North Channel.
The contents of its hold included cargo that would deliver hard cash for the British war effort.
Bonded warehouses in Glasgow and Leith had been damaged by German bombing
and some of the stock that remained was being sent to America on a ship called the SS Politician.
That cargo included King s Ransom. I don t need to tell anyone
who s seen the film Whisky Galore that the SS Politician went aground off the
isle of Barra , and once all hands were saved there followed a clandestine community reclamation
of that precious cargo under the dead of night. There s a thin line between salvage and theft
and that line was drawn on the SS Politician.
Och the ceilidhs and the pleasure, Oh the choy in Castlebay,
As the gurgling golden treasure, Chased the cares of war away.
Och the bottles that were hidden, Buried deep beneath the croft.
Oh! the cases in the midden, Oh! the joy up in the loft.
Who would heed an air raid warning, Who would hide himself in fright,
With a tumbler in the morning, And a bumper late at night.
Some of the tumblers drunk by the good folks of Barra contained a King s Ransome.
They may, or may not, have known that it was the most expensive
blended whisky in the world at the time. What they certainly wouldn t realise,
was that when they informally salvaged a British Admiralty ship
they were also stealing from the New York mafia .
I ve made a ten-minute video on the history of Scotch whisky and it s coming up on
screen now. Watch it. In the meantime .