Prohibition Whiskey Moved From Pueblo Through Colorado Springs to Denver Under the Carlino Brothers

Al Capone may be the most famous gangster of the Prohibition era, but in Colorado, the bootlegging business largely belonged to two brothers from Pueblo: Pete and Sam Carlino.

In 1931, Colorado’s top bootleggers gathered for a convention to try to stop the bloodshed between rival families. Police crashed the meeting and hauled almost everyone off to jail, but the arrests turned out to be the least of the Carlinos’ problems.

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What Was it Like in Colorado During Prohibition?

During prohibition, Pete Carlino, known as the “Al Capone of Southern Colorado,” and his brother Sam ran a bootlegging operation out of Pueblo, making whiskey and moving it north through Colorado Springs and into Denver.

The Carlinos’ biggest rivals were the Danna family, who were actually their own relatives. The feud turned deadly, and members of both families were murdered in Pueblo.

Colorado Bootleggers Taken Down at Convention

On January 24, 1931, around 30 of Colorado’s top bootleggers met at La Palamarte Roadhouse on West 38th Avenue in Wheat Ridge. The goal was to end the feud, agree on prices, and set up a fund for the widows of men killed in the violence.

Word of the meeting leaked to federal agent Lawrence Baldesareli, who tipped off police. Just as the meeting got started, 23 armed officers surrounded the roadhouse and arrested both Carlino brothers and 27 other bootleggers.

Read More: Colorado’s History of Organized Crime: The Carlino Brothers

The arrests didn’t stick. The bootleggers were charged only with vagrancy, and the Carlinos were back on the street within two weeks. What finished the brothers was their rivals, not the law.

Sam Carlino was murdered a few months later, and on September 10, 1931, Pete was found shot to death. By the end of that year, the Carlino empire was finished, and Prohibition itself ended less than three years later.