Handling the authorities
In the early days of prohibition, some restauranteurs concealed barrels of wine, which can be made virtually anywhere undetected, in their basements or hidden storerooms. Trusted customers were made aware of the presence of the beverage, and given code words for ordering it when they dined. The restaurants also bottled the wine for its customers to take with them, and customers began to go into the establishments for the sole purpose of buying a bottle of wine. Their short time in the restaurant, entering and leaving far too quickly for the purpose of eating a meal soon drew the attention of the police.
In the early 1920s, policemen walked their beats and were known to the residents and businesses on a personal level. They quickly learned who was selling illicit liquor and wine, and in most cases became non-paying customers themselves. In fact, the officers often availed themselves of the alcohol and charged a fee for looking the other way. Those officers who tried to enforce the law were often denigrated by their peers, and faced demotion or transfer to more onerous duties.
Some officers in New York developed the habit of simply walking into an establishment which they knew sold alcohol and reaching into the till for a ten or twenty, defying the entrepreneur to say anything. In nearly all American communities, machine politics and the corruption of police forces were rampant, and the bootleggers took advantage of the corruption to establish ties to those running the police departments to protect their investments, and their customers, and curtail police harassment.