Free State of Galveston success of these vice industries attracted mobsters such as New York's Albert Anastasia and Chicago's Al Capone, who tried to enter Galveston's market without success. Capone's enforcer Frank Nitti, in fact, had been a former partner of Galveston Downtown Gang leader Jack Nounes before the Maceo era. Galveston became a major port of entry for illegal liquor from Mexico and Canada, shipped through the Caribbean and distributed from the island throughout Texas and to other destinations. Galveston became the primary supplier for Houston, Dallas, Denver, St. Louis and Omaha; indeed some shipments reached as far north as Detroit. This traffic
Galveston Island would hold until nearly the end of the 19th century. Galveston for a time before the American Civil War was the largest cotton shipping port in the world and the second-largest port for immigration in the United States. In the mid-19th century, it was a major port of entry for the many Germans who entered the state. During the Civil War, the Union army seized control of the island from the South for a few months during early 1863. Confederate forces commanded by John B. Magruder expelled them from the island, and the Confederates controlled it for the remainder of