26Kansas City
Kansas City blatantly ignored the alcohol prohibition. You could buy booze a few blocks down from the police station. They got away with it scot-free for all 13 years (1920 to 1933).
27. Cartier sunglasses (which can go for $2650 and up) are a status symbol in Detroit. Detroit Police estimate 9 murders, 17 non-fatal shootings, and 2158 robberies related to the glasses between '12 and '16.
28. New York’s underground gay bars of the 1960s (including the Stonewall Inn) were actually created and supported by the Mafia. It was illegal to be gay. The mob paid off local precincts to keep them from doing raids.
29. A Las Vegas mental hospital once used commercial buses to “dump” more than 1,500 psychiatric patients in 48 states over five years.
30. Downtown Seattle actually sits on top of the original city from the 1800s. It was rebuilt on top of approximately 20-foot high walled tunnels following a great fire, in order to prevent floods from high tide and sewage. You can go underground to see the original city remnants.
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15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
31Atlanta Sheriff
In 2000, an Atlanta area sheriff named Sidney Dorsey ordered a hit on a rival (Derwin Brown in picture) that defeated him in an election. The hit was then carried out by two deputies who were promised promotions.
32. In Boston, during a shortage of coffee and sugar in 1777, a crowd of over 100 angry women marched to a wealthy merchant’s warehouse, demanded the keys, and grabbed him by the neck when he refused. They opened the doors, loaded up carts with coffee, and left.
33. The Great California flood of 1862 submerged Sacramento under 10 feet of water and turned California’s Central Valley into a vast inland sea spanning 300 miles long, 20 miles wide and 30 feet deep. It killed thousands, bankrupted the state and this historically happens every 200 years.
34. The city of Chicago was raised over 4 feet with screw jacks in the 19th century in order to install the first sewer system in the US.
35. In 1958, as an experiment, Bank of America mailed 60,000 residents of Fresno, California a small plastic card with a $500 credit line. Bank of America figured if it failed, there'd be no media coverage because it was in Fresno. The experiment was hugely successful and the program became Visa.
