The Sugar Sellers

The Defendant and several other wholesale grocers operated legitimate businesses in New York. Over an extended period, they sold large quantities of yeast, cans, and particularly sugar to customers who were known bootleggers and illegal distillers operating during Prohibition. The Defendants knew or had strong reason to believe that their customers would use the purchased goods to manufacture illegal whiskey in violation of the National Prohibition Act. There was no evidence that the Defendants had any financial stake in the bootleggers' distilling operations beyond the ordinary price they charged for their goods. They did not supervise the distilling, share in the illegal profits, receive a commission on the whiskey produced or sold, or in any other way participate in the illegal enterprise beyond selling commodities that could legally be sold. The government charged them with conspiracy to violate the Prohibition Act on the theory that their knowing sales of materials to bootleggers made them co-conspirators.