In The Great Gatsby, how long did it take Gatsby to make the money to buy the mansion?

In
, it tookthree years to
accrue the money necessary to buy the house. Gatsby
goes about earning this
money in ways that are considered less than savory by the upper crust of
New
York. Although his business dealings are never explicitly explained, we do know that
Gatsby
was connected with . He likely engaged in illegal activities with this
shady man, including the
sale of liquor during the Prohibition.discusses
this, claiming:

"I found out what your
'drug-stores' were." He turned to us and spoke
rapidly. "He and this
Wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in
Chicago and
sold grain alcohol over the counter. That's one of his little stunts. I picked
him
for a bootlegger the first time I saw him, and I wasn't far
wrong.

Unfortunately for Gatsby, all
the money in the world can't buy back 's affections after
Tom has exposed him
as a criminal.