Oh, uh - [ Right, Earth-specific cultural reference. He takes a second to decide how much context he needs to provide, taking his hands out so he can talk with them. ]

"Prohibition" refers to a period of about a decade during which the Americans decided alcohol was the root of all evil, and banned it nationwide. It... went about as well as you'd expect. Long story short, the demand for alcohol did not decrease. So who's going to supply it? Well - there already were well-connected networks of criminals with experience smuggling illegal goods. Organized crime syndicates, or colloquially, "the mob."

[ Once again, a change of subject saves the day! He's much more at ease talking about something like this. ]