Al Capone was Responsible for Milk Expiration Dating Laws in

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Milk Expiration Dates - Courtesy of Al Capone
It was reported that one of
Capone’s family members in
Chicago became ill from drinking
milk that wasn't fresh but had not
soured yet. At that time, there
were no controls on milk
production or distribution. That’s
probability why he wanted to buy a
retail dairy business. Al Capone
had been trying to diversify his
investments in legitimate business
for some time, even while
consolidating his brewing and distilling concerns.
As Al put it himself, "You gotta have a product that everybody needs every day. We
don't have it in booze. Except for the lushes, most people only buy a couple of fifths of
gin or scotch when they're having a party. The working man laps up half a dozen bottles
of beer on Saturday night, and that's it for the week.
But with milk! Every family, every day, wants it on the table. The people on Lake Shore
Drive want thick cream in their coffee. The big families out back of the yards have to buy
a couple of gallons of fresh milk every day for the kids. Do you guys know there's a
bigger markup in fresh milk than there is in alcohol? Honest to God, we've been in the
wrong racket right along."
Raffaele (Ralph) James "Bottles" Capone (Al Capone’s older brother) with the help of
Murray "The Hump" Humphreys, Frankie Diamond and Diamond's brother, Johnny
Maritote, who was married to Al’s sister, Mafalda Maritote Capone opened the
Meadowmoor Dairies at 1334 S. Peoria in Chicago on May 4, 1932.
Ralph Capone got the nickname "Bottles" not from involvement in the Capone
bootlegging empire, but from his running the legitimate non-alcoholic beverage and
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bottling operations in Chicago. Ralph was most famous for being named "Public Enemy
Number Three" when his brother Al was "Public Enemy Number One".
Ralph planned to undercut local fixed dairy pricing by the Pure Dairy Association Union.
Capone Sr. had milk shipped from Wisconsin dairies and bottled by Meadowmoor.
Chicago dairy retailers refused to sell Meadowmoor milk. Milk was sold by the dairy
companies to vendors operating their own trucks who resell to retailers. They also
refused to deliver Meadowmoor milk.
Chicago gangsters were accused of responding by bombing Dairy Association plants
resulting in a literal Milk War in 1932-33.
Four years later, in November of 1936, Cook County State’s Attorney Investigator,
Tubbo Gilbert, was indicted for helping the Teamsters fix milk retail prices in Chicago.
By that time, the Chicago teamsters were little more than an extension of the Chicago
mob. The scandal involved Dr. Herman Bundesen of the Chicago board of health, as
well as officials of local 753 of the Milk Drivers Union. The indictment read that they had
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conspired to fix the amount of milk delivered in the city to squeeze the smaller
distributors out of the business, leaving only Meadowmoor Dairies.
Despite a mountain of evidence, the case went nowhere. States Attorney Courtney
refused to bring it to court and refused to allow Tubbo Gilbert to resign.
It's also interesting to note that a few years after the price fixing scandal died away,
Murray Humphreys managed to drive most of his competitors in the dairy business out
of the market by following through with Al's idea of dating fresh dairy products.
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Ralph insisted that a law be passed that Grade “A” milk could not be sold as fresh milk
more than 72 hours after it left the cow. He convinced the Chicago City Council to pass
a law that clearly stamped the date on milk bottles where the consumer could read and
understand it. The practice is now required of all meat, fish and dairy distributors across
the country.
Meadowmoor became the Richard Martin Milk Company in 1961, although the
Meadowmoor name still appeared on the milk containers.
It was likely that the Capones’ had already cornered the market on equipment to stamp
expiration dates on bottles, and the passage of the legislation would help him take over
the Chicago milk market.
United States Supreme Court Case No. 56:
MILK WAGON DRIVERS UNION OF CHICAGO, LOCAL 753 v. MEADOWMOOR
Decided: February 10, 1941
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