Al Capone
American gangster (1899–1947) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone (January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947) was an Italian-American organized crime leader. He was born in 1899 in Brooklyn, New York; moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1920; and died in 1947 on Palm Island in Miami Beach, Florida.[2]
Capone controlled organized crime in Chicago from 1925 to 1931. He led the Chicago Outfit (also called The Chicago Mafia or the Chicago Mob).[2] At the time, he was perhaps the most famous gangster in the country.[2] He was once named "Public Enemy Number One."[3]
In 1931 Capone was arrested, convicted, and imprisoned for not paying income taxes to the federal government.[3] He was released early from federal prison in 1939 and died in 1947.[2]
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Early life
Capone's parents were Italians who migrated from Naples to the United States in 1893. They had nine children (Al was the fourth) and lived in Brooklyn, New York City.
Capone dropped out of school in the sixth grade at age 14, after hitting a teacher. After that:
He worked a variety of odd jobs—as a candy store clerk, a bowling alley pinboy, a laborer in an ammunition plant, and a cutter in a book bindery—all the while serving in the South Brooklyn Rippers and Forty Thieves Juniors, two “kid gangs”—that is, bands of delinquent children known for vandalism and petty crime that were common in New York at the time.[2]
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Criminal activities
In New York City
Capone then joined the powerful Five Points Gang in Lower Manhattan and became a racketeer.[4] While working at the Harvard Inn (a bar and dance hall in Coney Island), Capone unintentionally insulted a woman. Her brother, Frank Galluccio, slashed Capone on the left side of his face three times with a knife.[5] The attack left scars and the press gave Capone the nickname "Scarface" (which he hated).[5][6]
After the attack, Capone tried to hide the scarred left side of his face any time he was photographed. He claimed the injuries were wounds he got fighting in World War I.[6]
Capone's closest friends in New York City called him "Snorky."[7] (This is a term for a sharp dresser: a person who wears fancy, fashionable clothing).[7]
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Leading the Chicago Outlet
Starting in the 1920s, Capone led the Chicago Outfit (also called the Outfit, the Chicago Mafia, the Chicago Mob, or The Organization).[8] The Outfit had started in the 1910s on Chicago's South Side as part of the American Mafia. Under Capone, it became much more powerful.[8]
In the “roaring twenties,” Al Capone ruled an empire of crime in [Chicago]: gambling, prostitution, bootlegging, bribery, narcotics trafficking, robbery, “protection” rackets, and murder.
Some estimates say Capone's Chicago Outlet pulled in around $100 million a year.[6] Most was from bootlegging, followed by gambling, prostitution, racketeering and other illicit activities.[6] Capone was unapologetic and said he was doing a “public service” for Chicagoans:[6]
Ninety percent of the people of Cook County drink and gamble and my offense has been to furnish them with those amusements.
The Beer Wars
Capone and the Outfit fought bloody wars with other gangs over who could control the trade of illegal alcohol. These conflicts have been called the Beer Wars.[8]
Capone probably ordered the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929, where seven members of Chicago's North Side Gang were murdered. This was ordered due to a rival gang trying to control the bootleg and gambling of the area.[8][9]
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Prison
In 1931, Capone's time as an organized crime leader ended. That year, the United States government arrested, tried, and convicted him for not paying federal income tax. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison.[10]
Just after Alcatraz Federal Prison opened in 1934, Capone was transferred there.[11] He was imprisoned at Alcatraz at the same time as many other famous prisoners. These included George "Machine Gun" Kelly; two members of the famous Barker-Karpis Gang (Alvin Karpis and Ma Barker's son Arthur ("Doc").[11][12]
Capone stayed at Alcatraz for five years. Due to his good behavior, he was permitted to play banjo in the Alcatraz prison band, the Rock Islanders, which gave regular Sunday concerts for other inmates.[13] Capone also transcribed the song "Madonna Mia", creating his own arrangement as a tribute to his wife Mae.[14]
Illness
At Alcatraz, it became increasingly obvious that Capone's cognitive health was worsening. In February 1938 he was formally diagnosed with neurosyphilis: syphilis had spread to his brain.[15][16] His mental abilities declined, and he spent the last year of his Alcatraz sentence in the hospital section, confused and disoriented.[17]
In 1939 the U.S. government decided to free Capone early. His health was poor and worsening quickly from advanced syphilis. He was released after serving seven and a half years in prison, paying all of the taxes he owed, and paying fines.
After he was released, Capone's health continued to worsen. He developed paresis (muscle weakness or paralysis).[15] Because of syphilis's effects on the brain, he lost more and more cognitive abilities. A 2016 book says Capone became “a blubbering invalid, who had deteriorated to the mental age of fourteen.”[15] By 1946 he had the mental abilities of a 12-year-old child, according to his doctor and a psychiatrist.[4]
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Release and death
After he was released from prison, he was transferred to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for syphilis treatment. Because of his bad reputation, Johns Hopkins refused to treat him, but Baltimore's Union Memorial Hospital did. Capone was grateful for the compassionate care that he received and donated two Japanese weeping cherry trees to Union Memorial Hospital in 1939.[18]
After he left the hospital, he travelled to his mansion in Palm Island, Florida.[19][20][21] In 1942, after mass production of penicillin began in the United States, Capone was one of the first American patients treated by the new drug.[22] Though it was too late for him to reverse the damage to his brain, it did slow down the progression of the disease.[22]
In January 1947, Capone had a stroke. He survived and regained consciousness, but then caught pneumonia. On January 25, 1947 his heart stopped and he died in his home, surrounded by his family.[23] His body was transported back to Chicago a week later and a private funeral was held.[24]
He was originally buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Chicago. In 1950, Capone's remains, along with those of his father, Gabriele, and brother, Frank, were moved to Mount Carmel Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois.[25]
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Depictions in media
Michael Jackson wrote a song called "Al Capone" for his 1987 album Bad. The song was not released on the album. However, when Bad was re-released on its 25th anniversary, the song was included on the album's second CD.
References
Other websites
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