Roy Olmstead

Roy Olmstead (1886-1966) was one of the most successful and best-known bootleggers in the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S. A former lieutenant in the Seattle, Washington, police department, he began to bootleg part-time. Following his arrest for that crime, he lost his job in law enforcement and turned to illegally importing and distributing alcohol from Canada as a full-time and highly profitable occupation.

Largely on the basis of evidence obtained through police wiretapping of his telephone, Olmstead was arrested and convicted for violating the National Prohibition Act and for conspiracy. He appealed his case arguing that the wiretapping evidence used against him constituted a violation of his constitutional rights to privacy and against self-incrimination. However, in 1928 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the conviction in the landmark case of "Olmstead v. United States".