Chicago, the Summer of 1932. There are 12-million unemployed in the U.S.; with less money to spend, the price of booze goes down. The whiskey Syndicate is meeting; the chairman is the powerful gangster Vincent Tunis who runs the town. His 3 lieutenants suggest they hit the speaks. To make a point, Tunis demands a toothpick from his underling Charlie Grach; Tunis roughs him up, bloodies his nose, and points a gun at Charlie*-- demanding a toothpick. Charlie pleads, ""I can't give ya what I haven't got."" Tunis quips, ""Neither can the speak operators."" Vincent Tunis is The Economist: he explains the law of supply-and-demand to the Syndicate. The speak owners get 15 cents a shot for booze, that's $3 a bottle, that's $36 a case-- and the Syndicate wants $75 a case; the speak owners can't give the Syndicate what they don't have. So, Tunis will dry up the market, sending the price of booze way up-- he says, to ""20 cents, 30 cents, 50 cents: where it belongs""** Vincent Tunis rea