The Bootlegger Who (Almost) Beat Prohibition

Tommy Kuzmic fled the draft, ruled the bootlegging scene, and got caught just before Prohibition ended. Then he opened a bar down the street.

BY KYLA CAPARELL // POSTED JANUARY 7, 2026

Entire generations are often identified by the minority who break the mold, stand out, and cement themselves as undeniably distinctive. The 1920s are unapologetically and fiercely unique for this very reason. One immediately thinks of the roaring parties, rising skirts, and an infinite supply of alcohol. However, amidst the Prohibition, how could this image still be made possible? This is where the rebels took the reins, and one figure, Thomas Kuzmic, really broke the mold.

Thomas Kuzmic might have looked unassuming from the outside. After all, he was an immigrant to the U.S. with a large family from a small town in Austria. He came over, like so many other immigrants, to find prosperity and peace in America. Tranquility isn't exactly what he found when he fled to the U.S., since World War 1 had a way of finding him there as well.

His first known act of rebellion was fleeing to Canada to avoid the draft, where he worked as a farmer, toiling on that land for about 4 years until the war ceased. He then swiftly moved back to the U.S. and finally settled in South Bend, Indiana, around the year 1922. However, a conventional way of making money was not on this rebel's agenda.

 

 

Many opportunists took advantage of the Prohibition to make a sneaky profit, and Kuzmic took complete advantage. Kuzmic began bootlegging, encountering a web of complicit community members along the way. His illicit trade made him possibly the largest bootlegger in Northern Indiana.

Kuzmic walked with a target on his back, and police were always on the lookout for this outlaw. He was so well known, in fact, that Prohibition investigators stalked Kuzmic outside his home and followed him down the road for about a minute until eventually overtaking him at Victoria and Carroll streets. He was caught with a liquor transporter, George Holmes, in Holmes' car with three gallons of alcohol and six pints of whisky.

The agents had previously spotted a man named Floyd Kimmel unloading a package at Kuzmics' garage. They saw Kuzmic loading a similar-looking package into Holmes' car before they were eventually caught. Holmes and Kuzmic cooly concocted a story to cover Kuzmic's tracks. Holmes claimed that the alcohol was already in his car before he arrived, and Kuzmic denied any knowledge that the alcohol was in the car. Kuzmic claimed that the package given to him by Floyd Kimmel in his garage was simply samples of draperies.

Kuzmic couldn't hide the truth for long since Kimmel was also charged with violation of the Prohibition Act, and a gallon of alcohol was also found in his car on the same date.

Caught red-handed, Kuzmic had no option left but to admit, under oath, that he had been involved in the liquor business since 1927. However, he couldn't help but tell a little white lie, he claimed he was only involved in a “small scale” to the courtroom. By a stroke of cruel fate, his capture by detectives was a mere 8 months away from the end of the Prohibition, and the day he was sentenced to jail was only 2 measly months away!

So what did this unlucky guy do following the end of the Prohibition?

Well, seeing as he had already made such a name for himself, Kuzmic saved up some money working as a mechanic for Studebaker, and then started up his very own bar right down the street from the factory. To be exact, he owned the Iron Gate Tavern located at 1024 S. Franklin Street

He had music, dancing, and delicious spaghetti to boot. He clearly had some booming business in his day! Kuzmic bent the rules when opportunity demanded it, paid the price when the law caught up, and still found a way to land on his feet. In many ways, Kuzmic embodies the spirit of the 1920s itself: bold, imperfect, and ultimately hopeful. The party didn't last forever, but for those who survived it, there was still a future worth raising a glass to!

Kyla Caparell is a writer and history student at Saint Mary's College with a passion for exploring the stories that shape our world. She joined the South Bend News Times in 2025, where she brings a fresh perspective to local reporting.