 After working in a bakery, he was hired as a salesman for the Superior Macaroni Company.Perri and Starkman found a better life when the "Ontario Temperance Act" came into effect on 16 September 1916, as it restricted the sale and distribution of alcohol.They began bootlegging; using Starkman's business acumen and Perri's connections, they established a profitable enterprise, and by this time the two lived in Hamilton, Ontario, and by 1920, moved into a larger home at 166 Bay Street South.