SMUGGLING TIMELINE

IIt’s the 1920s, and every week American dollars are deposited in a bank account for a Mr. Norton at the Bank of Montréal. Norton receives sums in cash and cheques and has bank drafts written in his name. Yet there are no other records of his existence.

Mr. Norton was an alias used by brothers Samuel and Harry Bronfman, two Jewish immigrants who saw dollar signs in America’s decision to prohibit liquor. The pair knew that their family could make large sums of money rum-running across the border.

The surname Bronfman means “liquor man” in Yiddish and that is exactly how the Bronfman brothers styled themselves. They operated the Distillers Corporation Ltd. in Montréal, founded by the Bronfman family in 1924, as well as a number of export houses along the Canada-U.S. border. Sam took the lead and in 1928 merged their company with Seagram and Sons Ltd. to create Seagram Company Ltd., the world’s largest distillery.

Due to the number of Jewish bootleggers and mobsters travelling Lake Erie’s waters during prohibition — among them Meyer Lansky and “Big Maxie” Greenberg — it became known as “the Jewish Lake.” These criminals shipped liquor across the water to undetected “safe” spots, allowing liquor to continue to flow in the U.S.

Following the end of prohibition in 1933, Sam Bronfman continued to make and sell liquor and his company would, in Bronfman’s later years, become the biggest supplier of alcohol internationally. He also became a well-known Zionist supporter and was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.

Today, Seagram Company Ltd. produces wines and spirits through affiliates in 41 countries and territories on six continents, and also owns Tropicana and Dole juices.

-Jessica Bell

(Photo: Library and Archives Canada “Blind pigs raided, 160 kegs destroyed, Elk Lake, Ontario,” 1925, C.H.J Snider)