Contraband

"Now hold on there, pretty lady. The only people who face capital punishment in Rapture are smugglers. And that's because they put everything we've worked for at risk. Imagine if the Soviets found out about our wonderful city, or even the U.S. government. Our secrecy is our shield."

- Public Address Announcements

After the creation of Rapture, certain items were labeled contraband and barred from importation into the city. Many of these items were outlawed due to conflict with the ideals of the city, or the fact that importing them could eventually lead to a security breach and reveal the location of the city to the outside world. However, most of these items have been smuggled in, in spite of the consequences of bringing them in illegally.

Contraband Items:

 * The Christian Holy Bible (most notably scattered throughout the game, however, all religious items or texts are considered to be lies by Andrew Ryan)
 * Other religious items such as Buddha statues or Indian artifacts (seen during Something in the Sea's events)
 * Films from outside Rapture; evident by a open suitcase with movie reels inside underneath a corpse labeled "smuggler".
 * According to one of Peach Wilkins' removed audio diaries, Smuggling is a Crime, Frank Fontaine's crew also smuggled beef and real tobacco from the surface, as it could not be found in the underwater city.
 * Some brands of cigars found in Fort Frolic came from the surface (Habana Especial).
 * Old Tom Whiskey was imported from Kentucky.
 * Many weapons are of a make and model produced on the surface.
 * The Bobby Darin song "Beyond the Sea" came out in 1959. This would seem to indicate that Fontaine's smugglers had continued operations up until the events of BioShock.
 * The audio diaries of Oscar Calraca and Louie McGraff indicate both "cats" and sometimes people found their way into Rapture.

Contrebande