Actually, I think it's somewhat complicated. You see, he did invest in the legal importation of spirits. Although I think the rumour had something to do with Danny Walsh, he was a well-known bootlegger. Basically, Joe Kennedy is more of an urban legend when it comes to being a bootlegger. There is no evidence to support that he was in fact, a bootlegger. Some of the distillers in Canada were involved with smuggling alcohol across the American border, and bootleggers like Danny Walsh were heavily involved. You see, he did business with a Canadian distiller. So I think that's where the rumour really started. Once the Prohibition Act was repealed, he sold all of his stocks legally and invested them in real estate.
He may had been a bootlegger... or not.
