Al Capone is America's best known gangster and the single greatest symbol of the
collapse of law and order in the United States during the 1920s Prohibition era.
Capone had a leading role in the illegal activities that lent Chicago its
reputation as a lawless city. Capone was born on January 17, 1899, in Brooklyn,
New York. Baptized "Alphonsus Capone," he grew up in a rough
neighborhood and was a member of two "kid gangs," the Brooklyn Rippers
and the Forty Thieves Juniors. Although he was bright, Capone quit school in the
sixth grade at age fourteen. Between scams he was a clerk in a candy store, a
pinboy in a bowling alley, and a cutter in a book bindery. He became part of the
notorious Five Points gang in Manhattan and worked in gangster Frankie Yale's
Brooklyn dive, the Harvard Inn, as a bouncer and bartender. While working at the
Inn, Capone received his infamous facial scars and the resulting nickname "Scarface"
when he insulted a patron and was attacked by her brother. In 1918, Capone met
an Irish girl named Mary "Mae" Coughlin at a dance. On December 4,
1918, Mae gave birth to their son, Albert "Sonny" Francis. Capone and
Mae married that year on December 30. Capone's first arrest was on a disorderly
conduct charge while he was working for Yale. He also murdered two men while in
New York, early testimony to his willingness to kill. In accordance with
gangland etiquette, no one admitted to hearing or seeing a thing so Capone was
never tried for the murders. After Capone hospitalized a rival gang , member
Yale sent him to Chicago to wait until things cooled off. Capone arrived in
Chicago in 1919 and moved his family into a house at 7244 South Prairie Avenue.
Capone went to work for Yale's old mentor, John Torrio. Torrio saw Capone's
potential, his combination of physical strength and intelligence, and encouraged
him. Soon Capone was helping Torrio manage his bootlegging business. By mid-1922
Capone ranked as Torrio's number two man and eventually became a full partner in
the saloons, gambling houses,and brothels. When Torrio was shot by rival gang
members and consequently decided to leave Chicago, Capone inherited the
"outfit" and became boss. The outfit's men liked, trusted, and obeyed
Capone, calling him "The Big Fellow." He quickly proved that he was
even better at organization than syndicating and expanding the city's vice
industry between 1925 and 1930. Capone controlled speakeasies, bookie joints,
gambling houses, brothels, income of $100,000,000 a year. He even acquired a
sizable interest in the largest cleaning and dyeing plant chain in Chicago.
Although he had been doing business with Capone, the corrupt Chicago mayor
William "Big Bill" Hale Thompson, Jr. decided that Capone was bad for
his political image. Thompson hired a new police chief to run Capone out of
Chicago. When Capone looked for a new place to live, he quickly discovered that
he was unpopular in much of the country. He finally bought an estate at 93 Palm
Island, Florida in 1928. Attempts on Capone's life were never successful. He had
an extensive spy network in Chicago, from newspaper boys to policemen, so that
any plots were quickly discovered. Capone, on the other hand, was skillful at
isolating and killing his enemies when they became too powerful. A typical
Capone murder consisted of men renting an apartment across the street from the
victim's residence and gunning him down when he stepped outside. The operations
were quick and complete and Capone always had an alibi. Capone's most notorious
killing was the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. On February 14, 1929, four of
Capone’s men entered a garage at 2122 N. Clark Street. The building was the
main liquor headquarters of bootlegger George "Bugs" Moran's North
Side gang. Because two of Capone's men were dressed as police, the seven men in
the garage thought it was a police raid. As a result, they dropped their guns
and put their hands against the wall. Using two shotguns and two machine guns,
the Capone men fired more than 150 bullets into the victims. Six of the seven
killed were members of Moran's gang; the seventh was an unlucky friend. Moran,
probably the real target, was across the street when Capone's men arrived and
stayed away when he saw the police uniforms. As usual, Capone had an alibi; he
was in Florida during the massacre. Although Capone ordered dozens of deaths and
even killed with his own hands, he often treated people fairly and generously.
He was equally known for his violent temper and for his strong sense of loyalty
and honor. He was the first to open soup kitchens after the 1929 stock market
crash and he ordered merchants to give clothes and food to the needy at his
expense. Capone had headquarters in Chicago proper in the Four Deuces at 2222 S.
Wabash, the Metropole Hotel at 2300 S. Michigan Avenue, and the Lexington Hotel
at 2135 S. Michigan Avenue. He expanded into the suburbs, sometimes using terror
as in Forest View, which became known as "Caponeville." Sometimes he
simply bribed public officials and the police as in Cicero. He established
suburban headquarters in Cicero's Anton Hotel at 4835 W. 22nd Street and in the
Hawthorne Hotel at 4823 22nd Street. He pretended to be an antique dealer and a
doctor to front his headquarters. Because of gangland's traditional refusal to
prosecute, Capone was never tried for most of his crimes. He was arrested in
1926 for killing three people, but spent only one night in jail because there
was insufficient evidence to connect him with the murders. When Capone finally
served his first prison time in May of 1929, it was simply for carrying a gun.
In 1930, at the peak of his power, Capone headed Chicago's new list of the
twenty-eight worst criminals and became the city's"Public Enemy Number
One." The popular belief in the 1920s and 30s was that illegal gambling
earnings were not taxable income. However, the 1927 Sullivan ruling claimed that
illegal profits were in fact taxable. The government wanted to indict Capone for
income tax evasion, Capone never filed an income tax return, owned nothing in
his own name, and never made a declaration of assets or income. He did all his
business through front men so that he was anonymous when it came to income.
Frank Wilson from the IRS's Special Intelligence Unit was assigned to focus on
Capone. Wilson accidentally found a cash receipts ledger that not only showed
the but also contained Capone's name; it was a record of Capone's income. Later
Capone's own tax lawyer Lawrence P. Mattingly admitted in a letter to the
letter, and the coercion of witnesses were the main evidence used to convict
Capone. In 1931, Capone was indicted for income tax evasion for the years
1925-29. He was also charged with the misdemeanor of failing to file tax returns
for the years 1928 and 1929. The government charged that Capone owed $215,080.48
in taxes from his gambling profits. A third indictment was added, charging
Capone with conspiracy to violate 1922-31. Capone pleaded guilty to all three
charges in the belief that he would be able to plea bargain. However, the judge
who presided over the case, Judge James H. Wilkerson, would not make any deals.
Capone changed his pleas to not guilty. Unable to bargain, he tried to bribe the
jury but Wilkerson changed the jury panel at the last minute. The jury found
Capone not guilty on eighteen of the twenty-three counts. Judge Wilkerson
sentenced him to a total of ten years in federal prison and one year in the
county jail. In addition, Capone had to serve an earlier six-month contempt of
court sentence for failing to appear in court. The fines were a cumulative
$50,000 and Capone had to pay the prosecution costs of $7,692.29. In May 1932,
Capone was sent to Atlanta, the toughest of the federal prisons, to begin his
eleven-year sentence. Even in prison Capone took control, obtaining special
privileges from the authorities such as furnishing his cell with a mirror,
typewriter, rugs, and a set of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Because word spread
that Capone had taken over in Atlanta, he was sent to Alcatraz. There were no
other outfit members in Alcatraz, so tight that he had no knowledge of the
outside world. He was unable to control anyone or anything and could not buy
influence or friends. In an attempt to earn time off for good behavior, Capone
became the ideal prisoner and refused to participate in prisoner rebellions or
strikes. While at Alcatraz, he exhibited signs of syphilitic dementia. Capone
spent the rest of his felony sentence in the hospital. On January 6, 1939, his
prison term expired and he was transferred to Terminal Island, a Federal
Correctional Institution in California, to serve his one-year misdemeanor
sentence. He was finally released on November 16, 1939, but still had to pay
fines and court costs of $37,617.51. After his release, Capone spent a short
time in the hospital. He returned to his home in Palm Island where the rest of
his life was relaxed and quiet. His mind and body continued to deteriorate so
that he could no longer run the outfit. On January 21, 1947, he had an
apoplectic stoke that was probably unrelated to his syphilis. He regained
consciousness and began to improve until pneumonia set in on January 24. He died
the next day from cardiac arrest. Capone was first buried in Mount Olivet
Cemetery in Chicago's far South Side between the graves of his father, Gabriele,
and brother, Frank, but in March of 1950 the remains of all three were moved
Cemetery on the far West Side. In conclusion this book had alot of knowledge to
offer about the life of the most notorius gangster the world has ever known. I
greatly enjoyed reading it.