From the 1920s until the 1950s, brothers, Sam and Rosario Maceo, ran an influential crime family in Galveston, Texas. The brothers’ success was largely due to Galveston’s transient population, the turbulent history of the island, and the resulting economic decline experienced at the turn of the 20th century. Their success began during Prohibition, when they opened their first club. The establishment offered bootlegged liquor, fine dining, and first class entertainment. After Prohibition, the brothers continued to build an empire on the island through similar clubs, without much opposition from the locals. However, after being suspected of involvement in a drug smuggling ring, the Maceos were placed under scrutiny from outside law enforcement agencies. Through persistent investigations, the Texas Rangers finally shut down the rackets in Galveston in 1957. Despite their influence through the first half of the 20th century, on the island and off the island, their story is largely missing from the current literature.

Semi-weekly newspaper from Texas City, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Semi-weekly newspaper from Texas City, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Dataset of OCR text from The Portal to Texas History and the Texas Digital Newspaper Program. This dataset includes titles from Galveston Texas from the years 1849 to 1897. Titles included in this dataset include: Galveston Weekly News, and The Galveston Daily News. In all there are 8,136 issues comprised of 56,953 pages of text.