"I am just as sure that this miserable traffic with its toll of human life and morals can be stamped out as I am that I am mayor, and I am not going to flinch for a minute."
William Emmett Dever, a Democrat, was elected Mayor of Chicago in 1923, succeeding Republican Big Bill Thompson. Almost immediately he began cracking down on organized crime. He padlocked the Four Deuces, a Johnny Torrio establishment. He told the police chief that "this town will immediately become dry", and threatened to break every police official in whose district liquor was sold.
In 1927 Thompson ran again against Dever, with the help of Capone, whose strong-arm tactics encouraged the citizens to vote Republican. Thompson defeated Dever by 83,072 votes, and police harassment of Capone's organization stopped.