Actually the source for the Costello thing, isn't Costello. It was Doris Kearns, an historian who had access to some of Kennedy's papers and discovered evidence that supported Costello's claim and that of Meyer Lansky's that he also had illegal dealings with Kennedy during prohibition. Kennedy had already gone into prohibition with stocks of liquor from his father, also on the day Prohibition ended, like the exact day, he'd already had three franchises of British Whiskey & Gin, and a company to import them. Is it just coincidence that he was able to accomplish such a thing on the exact day prohibition ended, possibly, but unlikely. He probably had inside dealings. And he guarded those closely until his death, then somehow these papers came into the hands of Kearns.


And the term "smuggling" insinuates a crime within itself, so if he was smuggling anything in Detroit, in all actuality he was a bootlegger. He imported and distributed liquor to the States, while it was illegal to do so. What does that make him?