Joseph P. Kennedy's two most recent biographers have cleared up the myth of his "bootlegging" career. It's based in the fact that, in 1933, as Prohibition was about to be repealed, Kennedy formed a partnership called Somerset Importers, to bring in two brands of Scotch and one of gin from the UK. His partner: Jimmy Roosevelt, son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. They started operations, legitimately, after Prohibition was repealed.

Joe Kennedy's father was a saloonkeeper and liquor wholesaler before Prohibition, when Joe was making his first fortune as a banker. During Prohibition, Joe was a stock manipulator and Hollywood mogul. He was also a near-teetotaler.