During the 1920s the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcohol was banned in the United States. This was just the beginning of a new era. A young man that goes by the name Alphonse Capone, was a well-known mobster who maintained a wealthy lifestyle by running bootleg operations and speakeasies. Capone was not only known for illegally producing alcohol but also for being responsible for many of the brutal acts of violence during this time. Capone, the most significant icon during the Prohibition era, spent his years running illegal distilleries and being involved in numerous gang-related crimes.
Alphonse Capone was born on January 17, 1899, in Naples, Italy. Al was one of the nine children of Gabriel and Teresina Capone. Capone and his family immigrated to the United States when he was young. Al and his family moved to Brooklyn, New York, where the streets had a profound effect on him. Capone dropped out of school at the age of 12 and joined a street gang. He began committing crimes such as vandalism, theft, fistfights and other minor crimes. He later joined a gang lead by Johnny Torrio known as the Five Points gang. Capone was introduced to the Five Points gang by his first mentor, Frankie Yale. At the age of 14, he was becoming an experienced street fighter and was becoming skilled with a knife and gun.
When Capone was at the age of 18 he began working as a bartender at Harvard Inn, a restaurant owned by Frankie Yale. He flirted with the sister of a man named Frank Gallucio. Gallucio and Capone got into a fight and Gallucio slashed Capone’s face three times and was soon referred to as “Scarface”. In the year of 1918 Capone married a woman by the name of Mary Coughlin. Before their marriage, she gave birth to their son, Albert Francis. In the year of 1919, the law was pinning two murders on Capone and he soon relocated in Chicago.
After Capone reached Chicago, Torrio was in a disagreement with Big Jim. Torrio saw multiple financial opportunities in shifting the organization to focus on bootlegging, but Big Jim was not interested. Torrio sent Big Jim to his restaurant for a bootleg shipment and on his way out, he was shot by a gunman hiding in the coatroom. The assassin was thought to be Frankie Yale, but he was never officially convicted. Johnny Torrio soon took over Big Jim’s organization and began bootlegging and running speakeasies. From 1920 on the illegal production of alcohol thrived. Torrio and Capone’s business grew so large they began purchasing vehicles for their own trucking company. Torrio and Capone decided to make their operation more respectable, so they opened hotels and established business-like offices.
Capone was Torrio’s right-hand man. Torrio ordered that Capone attend night school to improve his speech and manners. The Torrio-Capone duo was on the rise and taking over gangs that threatened them. Dion O’ Banion, the head of the North Side gang, was murdered in 1924 by three men. Capone and Torrio had arranged this murder. While Torrio was entering his South Shore home he was shot and on the verge of death. Months later, Torrio recovered and decided to hand over the organization to Capone. He was now making approximately $60 million dollars a year, but half of that was spent on bodyguards and protection (McGill). Capone then purchased a palace on Palm Island in Biscayne Bay in 1926, where he rode passenger trains to avoid the police.
At the age of 26, Capone had transformed into a criminal executive bossing an enormous payroll. He had become the most powerful criminal boss of the century. He was now maintaining a workforce of over 1,000 persons with a payroll of over $300,000 a week (Sifakis 79). “By the end of the 1920s, Capone’s outfit was bringing more than $100 million per year-$1.2 billion in todays-all earned by running public, but illegal operations” (McQuigg). He was able to take control of Mayor “Big Bill” Thompson, through bribes and kickbacks. At the peak of his power, Capone announced: “I own the police” (qtd. Sifikas 78). He had gained substantial wealth through bootlegging, gambling, prostitution, racketeering, and other crimes.
Capone was not only known for illegally producing alcohol but also for his mindless acts of terror he raised on the city. One of Capone’s most famous killings occurred within his own group. Hop Toad Giunta and two of his most lethal gunners, John Scalise and Albert Anselmi were showing signs of becoming independent. Capone invited them to a banquet in their honor, and at the climax of the evening, he had a gift-wrapped Indian club in which he used to bash their head with. Capone was known to be a hothead and take situations way out of proportion. An Irish gang member approached Capone while he was taking a drink and a started insulting him. He did not tolerate the insults and beat the Irishman within an inch of his life. This was just the beginning of crime for Capone. During the Christmas of 1925, he took charge of a nightclub for Frankie Yale. Capone murdered three of Yale’s enemies and was soon arrested along with his men. By the end of the 1920s, Capone had committed a numerous amount of crimes including his most notorious, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. The massacre took place on February 14, 1929, where seven men, who were rivals of Capone’s, were gunned down.
Capone was beginning to create a good public image for himself now that he had power. He attended many charity dinners and even held a press conference calling for other criminals to tone down their operations. When the Great Depression hit, he opened free soup kitchens to serve the homeless and unemployed. He often carried a roll of $50,000 in cash for tips, gifts and even give to the poor (King 48). He was often thought of as “Robin Hood” for his generous acts. Capone believed that the Prohibition would not last much longer and decided to open new operations such as truck drivers, chauffeurs, construction workers, and plumbers. He had also opened a dry-cleaning service and was partnered with a milk-distribution company. In 1927, he announced his retirement but did not stop his illegal activities.
Capone was nailed for tax evasion on June 5, 1931, but was not considered guilty until later that year. On October 17, 1931, Capone was convicted guilty of tax evasion and sentenced to 11 years in prison. “Twenty-three counts listed against Capone, alleging a total of over $200,000 in unpaid taxes. It was emphasized that these amounts bore no relevance to Capone’s actual earnings, but that they were sums on which the SIU claimed it could prove a tax liability” (Stockdale 42). After he was convicted of tax evasion, he was sent to a federal prison in Atlanta and transferred to Alcatraz in 1934. He was known as prisoner NO. 85 and was only allowed to be visited by his mother, wife, and son. During his sentence at Alcatraz, he was involved in several fights where he survived a scissor attack and had inmates attempt to strangle and poison him. On January 6, 1939, he was released from Alcatraz. He then went on to serve time at the Cook County jail in Chicago for his misdemeanor charges. Officials continued to search for assets to convict him again for tax evasion but were unable to find anything, and soon gave up.
During the year of 1928, Capone contracted syphilis from a woman at his headquarters. He did not receive medical attention and later that year caught the flu, which soon turned into double pneumonia. He was back on his feet by January 1929 but had to take life easy around his Florida estate. “In February 1938, Al Capone suddenly developed symptoms of mental instability. He was found wandering around the prison in a confused state and was soon raving and drooling. He was diagnosed as suffering from tertiary syphilis, severe and uncommon stage of the disease he had contracted in 1928” (Stockdale 44). He spent four months in treatment at a hospital in Gettysburg and soon returned to Palm Island.
“On January 21, 1948, the forty-eight-year-old Capone suffered a massive brain hemorrhage and was given the last rites by a priest. He regained consciousness, however, and was unable to talk with his family. He caught pneumonia four days later and died of a heart attack on January 25” (Stockdale 45). He was buried on February 4 in the presence of his family and close friends. His body was later transferred in 1950 to an unpublicized spot in Mount Carmel Cemetery. On his tomb was inscribed “My Jesus Mercy” (Stockdale 45).