Chapter 16: Prohibition and Crime
Prohibition, the ban on alcohol in America from 1920 to 1933, created opportunities for organized crime and bootlegging operations that generated enormous illegal profits. Gatsby's wealth, though shrouded in mystery, was almost certainly derived from such illegal activities.
The connection between Gatsby and Meyer Wolfsheim, the gambler who fixed the 1919 World Series, suggested that Gatsby was involved in the criminal underworld. His connections to bootlegging and other illegal enterprises allowed him to accumulate the wealth necessary to pursue Daisy.
This illegal foundation of Gatsby's wealth represented the moral compromises necessary to achieve the American Dream. His success was built on corruption and crime, highlighting the dark underbelly of the pursuit of wealth in American society.