Gertrude Lythgoe is one of the only women to ever operate an alcohol bootlegging ring during the male-dominated Prohibition Era. Records show that the amount of liquor being exported to the United States from the Bahamas grew from 47,300 liters (12,500 gal) in 1917 to 950,000 liters (250,000 gal) in 1923. Bootleggers like Lythgoe were a huge reason why.
Lythgoe would enter the bootlegging business when she met a London liquor exporter. Feeling the pinch in his pockets from the ban of liquor in America, he realized that he could more easily import liquor from Nassau, Bahamas to the United States. Lythgoe opened up a liquor wholesale shop in Nassau and the profits poured in. She found people to be quite skeptical of her since she was a woman.
However, they could not argue with her prices, savvy, and business acumen. Her success eventually earned her the nickname “The Bahama Queen.”One would-be competitor made the mistake of throwing mud at her name and bad-mouthing her product. She kidnapped him from a barbershop while he was getting a shave, pulled a gun on him, and threatened his life should he ever talk badly of her liquor again. She never received another complaint.
She was eventually arrested in New Orleans and charged with smuggling 1,000 cases of liquor into the city. However, the charges were soon dropped. Lythgoe would later leave the bootlegging business and settle in Los Angeles, where she passed away at age 86.
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