Mickey Doyle and an army of bodyguards, 1931
The Thompson organization was a bootlegging and racketeering syndicate and political machine based in Atlantic City, New Jersey during Prohibition. The organization was led by Atlantic County Treasurer Nucky Thompson, who became the "political boss" of the city in 1912 following the arrest of Louis Kaestner for electoral fraud. Thompson had his aldermen collect money from local businesses and pay tribute to Thompson, his policemen intimidated voters into voting for the US Republican Party, he had the boat captain Bill McCoy smuggle liquor into America, and he acted as the boss of gangsters such as Mickey Doyle and Chalky White. In 1920, the group moved into bootlegging, and Thompson became one of the most powerful mob bosses on the East Coast. The organization was involved in several gang wars and intrigues, ranging from simple gang wars with Arnold Rothstein in 1920 and Joe Masseria in 1923 to rigging the United States presidential election of 1920 in Warren G. Harding's favor. The gang engaged in gang wars at times, fighting against the Masseria crime family in 1923 and against the Genovese crime family in 1931; dozens of people were killed in these wars, which were fought through a series of mob hits and massacres. The organization was dissolved after the assassinations of White, Doyle, and Thompson by 1931, and Atlantic City became a neutral city.
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