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Al Capone
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Alphonse Gabriel Capone (/kəˈpoʊn/ kə-POHN;[1] Italian: [kaˈpoːne]; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the Chicago Outfit from 1925 to 1931. His seven-year reign as a crime boss ended when he was imprisoned at the age of 33.

Key Information

Capone was born in New York City in 1899 to Italian immigrants. He joined the Five Points Gang as a teenager and became a bouncer in organized crime premises such as brothels. In his early twenties, Capone moved to Chicago and became a bodyguard of Johnny Torrio, head of a criminal syndicate that illegally supplied alcohol—the forerunner of the Outfit—and was politically protected through the Unione Siciliana.

A conflict with the North Side Gang was instrumental in Capone's rise and fall. Torrio went into retirement after North Side gunmen almost killed him, handing control to Capone. Although Capone expanded the bootlegging business through increasingly violent means, his mutually profitable relationships with Mayor William Hale Thompson and the Chicago Police Department meant he seemed safe from law enforcement.

Capone apparently reveled in attention, such as the cheers from spectators when he appeared at baseball games. He made donations to various charities and was viewed by many as a "modern-day Robin Hood".[2] The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, in which seven people from rival gangs were murdered in broad daylight, damaged the public image of Chicago and Capone, leading influential citizens to demand government action and newspapers to dub Capone "Public Enemy No. 1".

Federal authorities became intent on jailing Capone and charged him with twenty-two counts of tax evasion. He was convicted of five counts in 1931. During a highly publicized case, the judge admitted as evidence Capone's admissions of his income and unpaid taxes, made during prior and ultimately abortive negotiations to pay the government taxes he owed. He was convicted and sentenced to eleven years in federal prison. After conviction, he replaced his defense team with experts in tax law, and his grounds for appeal were strengthened by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, although his appeal ultimately failed. Capone showed signs of neurosyphilis early in his sentence and became increasingly debilitated before being released after almost eight years of incarceration. In 1947, he died of cardiac arrest after a stroke.

Early life

[edit]
Capone with his mother

Alphonse Gabriel Capone was born in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, on January 17, 1899.[3] His parents were Italian immigrants Teresa (née Raiola; 1867–1952) and Gabriele Capone (1865–1920),[4] both born in Angri,[5] a small municipality outside of Naples in the province of Salerno. His father was a barber and his mother was a seamstress.[6][7] Capone's family had immigrated to the United States in 1893 by ship, first going through the port city of Fiume, Austria-Hungary (modern-day Rijeka, Croatia).[3][8] The family settled at 95 Navy Street, in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. When Capone was aged 11, he and his family moved to 38 Garfield Place in Park Slope, Brooklyn.[3]

Capone's parents had eight other children: James Vincenzo Capone, who later changed his name to Richard Hart and became a Prohibition agent in Homer, Nebraska; Raffaele James Capone, also known as Ralph Capone or "Bottles", who took charge of his brother's beverage industry; Salvatore "Frank" Capone; Ermina Capone, who died at the age of one; Ermino "John" Capone; Albert Capone; Matthew Capone and Mafalda Capone. Ralph and Frank worked with Al in his criminal empire. Frank did so until his death on April 1, 1924.[9] Ralph ran Al's bottling companies (both legal and illegal) early on and was also the front man for the Chicago Outfit until he was imprisoned for tax evasion in 1932.[10]

Capone showed promise as a student but had trouble with the rules at his strict parochial Catholic school. His schooling ended at the age of 14 after he was expelled for hitting a female teacher in the face.[11] Capone worked at odd jobs around Brooklyn, including a candy store and a bowling alley.[12] From 1916 to 1918, he played semi-professional baseball.[13] Following this, Capone was influenced by gangster Johnny Torrio, whom he came to regard as a mentor.[14]

Capone married Mae Josephine Coughlin at age 19, on December 30, 1918. She was Irish Catholic and earlier that month had given birth to their son Albert Francis "Sonny" Capone (1918–2004). Albert lost most of his hearing in his left ear as a child. Capone was under the age of 21, and his parents had to consent in writing to the marriage.[15] By all accounts, the two had a happy marriage.[16]

Career

[edit]

New York City

[edit]

Capone initially became involved with small-time gangs that included the Junior Forty Thieves and the Bowery Boys. He then joined the Brooklyn Rippers, and then the powerful Five Points Gang based in Lower Manhattan. During this time he was employed and mentored by fellow racketeer Frankie Yale, a bartender in a Coney Island dance hall and saloon called the Harvard Inn. Capone inadvertently insulted a woman while working the door, and he was slashed with a knife three times on the left side of his face by her brother, Frank Galluccio; the wounds led to the nickname "Scarface", which Capone loathed.[17][18][19] The date when this occurred has been reported with inconsistencies.[20][21][22] When Capone was photographed, he hid the scarred left side of his face, saying that the injuries were war wounds.[18][23] He was called "Snorky" by his closest friends, a term for a sharp dresser.[24]

Move to Chicago

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Capone home, a two-storey building, Chicago, Illinois, 1929

In 1919, Capone left New York City for Chicago at the invitation of Torrio, who was imported by crime boss James "Big Jim" Colosimo as an enforcer. Capone began in Chicago as a bouncer in a brothel, which is thought to be most likely where he contracted syphilis. Capone was aware of being infected at an early stage and timely use of Salvarsan probably could have cured the infection, but he apparently never sought treatment.[25]

In 1920 or 1921 or 1923,[26] Capone purchased a two-storey two-flat six-bedroom building, on a 68-foot-wide double lot, built in 1905, and moved in on August 8, 1923, at 7244 South Prairie Avenue in the Park Manor neighborhood in Greater Grand Crossing, Chicago for $5,500.[27][28][29][30][31]

As originally reported in the Chicago Tribune, hijacker Joe Howard was killed on May 8, 1924, after he tried to interfere with the Capone-Torrio bootlegging business.[32] In a 1936 article highlighting Capone's criminal career, the Tribune erroneously reported the date as May 7, 1923.[33] In the early years of the decade, Capone's name began appearing in newspaper sports pages where he was described as a boxing promoter.[34] Torrio took over Colosimo's criminal empire after the latter's murder on May 11, 1920, in which Capone was suspected of being involved.[11][35][36]

Torrio headed an essentially Italian organized crime group that was the biggest in Chicago, with Capone as his right-hand man. Torrio was wary of being drawn into gang wars and tried to negotiate agreements over territory between rival crime groups. The smaller North Side Gang, led by Dean O'Banion, came under pressure from the Genna brothers who were allied with Torrio. O'Banion found that Torrio was unhelpful with the Gennas' encroachment, despite his pretensions to be a settler of disputes.[37] In a fateful step, Torrio arranged the murder of O'Banion at his flower shop on November 10, 1924. This placed Hymie Weiss at the head of the gang, backed by Vincent Drucci and Bugs Moran. Weiss had been a close friend of O'Banion, and the North Siders made it a priority to get revenge on his killers.[38][39]

During Prohibition, Capone was involved with Canadian bootleggers who helped him smuggle liquor into the U.S. When Capone was asked if he knew Rocco Perri, billed as Canada's "King of the Bootleggers", he replied: "Why, I don't even know which street Canada is on."[40] Other sources claim that Capone had certainly visited Canada,[41] where he maintained some hideaways,[42] although the Royal Canadian Mounted Police states that there is no "evidence that he ever set foot on Canadian soil".[43]

Boss

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Unemployed men outside a soup kitchen opened by Capone in Chicago during the Great Depression, February 1931

An ambush in January 1925 left Capone shaken, but unhurt. Twelve days later, Torrio was returning from a shopping trip when he was shot several times. After recovering, he effectively resigned and handed control over to Capone, aged 26, who became the new boss of an organization that took in illegal breweries and a transportation network that reached to Canada, with political and law-enforcement protection. In turn, he was able to use more violence to increase revenue. Any establishment that refused to purchase liquor from Capone often got blown up, and as many as 100 people were killed in such bombings during the 1920s. Rivals saw Capone as responsible for the proliferation of brothels in the city.[39][44][45][46]

Capone often enlisted the help of local members of the black community into his operations; jazz musicians Milt Hinton and Lionel Hampton had uncles who worked for Capone on Chicago's South Side. A fan of jazz as well, Capone once asked clarinetist Johnny Dodds to play a number that Dodds did not know; Capone split a $100 bill in half and told Dodds that he would get the other half when he learned it. Capone also sent two bodyguards to accompany jazz pianist Earl Hines on a road trip.[47]

Capone indulged in custom suits, cigars, gourmet food and drink, and female companionship. He was particularly known for his flamboyant and costly jewelry. His favorite responses to questions about his activities were "I am just a businessman, giving the people what they want" and "All I do is satisfy a public demand". Capone had become a national celebrity and talking point.[17]

The entrance to Capone's mansion in Palm Island, Florida, located at 93 Palm Avenue. Capone bought the estate in 1928 as a winter retreat and lived there until his death in 1947.

Capone based himself in Cicero, Illinois, after using bribery and widespread intimidation to take over town council elections, making it difficult for the North Siders to target him.[48] Capone's driver was found tortured and murdered, and there was an attempt on Weiss' life in the Chicago Loop. On September 20, 1926, the North Siders used a ploy outside Capone's headquarters at the Hawthorne Inn aimed at drawing him to the windows. Gunmen in several cars then opened fire with Thompson submachine guns and shotguns at the windows of the first-floor restaurant. Capone was unhurt and called for a truce, but the negotiations fell flat. Three weeks later, on October 11, Weiss was killed outside the North Siders' headquarters at O'Banion's former flower shop. The owner of Hawthorne's restaurant was a friend of Capone's, and he was kidnapped and killed by Moran and Drucci in January 1927.[49][50]

Capone became increasingly security-minded and desirous of getting away from Chicago.[50][51] As a precaution, he and his entourage would often show up suddenly at one of Chicago's train depots and buy up an entire Pullman sleeper car on a night train to Cleveland, Omaha, Kansas City, Little Rock, or Hot Springs, Arkansas, where they would spend a week in luxury hotel suites under assumed names. In 1928, Capone paid $40,000 to Clarence Busch of the Anheuser-Busch brewing family for a 10,000 square foot (930 m2) home at 93 Palm Avenue on Palm Island, Florida, between Miami and Miami Beach.[52]

Feud with Aiello

[edit]

In November 1925, Antonio Lombardo, who was Capone's consigliere, was named head of the Unione Siciliana, a Sicilian-American benevolent society that had been corrupted by gangsters. An infuriated Joe Aiello, who had wanted the position himself, believed Capone was responsible for Lombardo's ascension and resented the non-Sicilian's attempts to manipulate affairs within the Unione.[53] Aiello severed all personal and business ties with Lombardo and entered into a feud with Capone.[53][54]

Aiello allied himself with several of Capone enemies, including Jack Zuta, who ran vice and gambling houses together.[55][56] Aiello plotted to eliminate both Lombardo and Capone, and starting in the spring of 1927, made several attempts to assassinate Capone.[54] On one occasion, Aiello offered money to the chef of Joseph "Diamond Joe" Esposito's Bella Napoli Café, Capone's favorite restaurant, to put prussic acid in Capone's and Lombardo's soup; reports indicated he offered between $10,000 and $35,000.[53][57] Instead, the chef exposed the plot to Capone,[54][58] who responded by dispatching men to destroy Aiello's bakery on West Division Street with machine-gun fire.[54] More than 200 bullets were fired into the bakery on May 28, 1927, wounding Aiello's brother Antonio.[53]

During the summer and autumn of 1927, a number of hitmen Aiello hired to kill Capone were themselves slain. Among them were Anthony Russo and Vincent Spicuzza, each of whom had been offered $25,000 by Aiello to kill Capone and Lombardo.[54] Aiello eventually offered a $50,000 bounty to anyone who eliminated Capone.[57][54] At least ten gunmen tried to collect on the bounty, but ended up dead.[53] Capone's ally Ralph Sheldon attempted to kill both Capone and Lombardo for Aiello's reward, but Capone henchman, Frank Nitti, had an intelligence network that learned of the transaction and had Sheldon shot in front of a West Side hotel, although he survived the incident.[55]

In November 1927, Aiello organized machine-gun ambushes across from Lombardo's home and a cigar store frequented by Capone, but those plans were foiled after an anonymous tip led police to raid several addresses and arrest Milwaukee gunman Angelo La Mantio and four other Aiello gunmen. After the police discovered receipts for the apartments in La Mantio's pockets, he confessed that Aiello had hired him to kill Capone and Lombardo, leading the police to arrest Aiello himself and bring him to the South Clark Street police station.[55][59] Upon learning of the arrest, Capone dispatched nearly two dozen gunmen to stand guard outside the station and await Aiello's release.[55][60] The men made no attempt to conceal their purpose there, and reporters and photographers rushed to the scene to observe Aiello's expected murder.[58] When released, Aiello was given a police escort out of the station to safety. He later failed to make a court appearance after his attorney claimed he suffered a nervous breakdown.[55] Aiello disappeared with some family members to Trenton, New Jersey, where he continued his campaign against Capone and Lombardo.[61]

Political alliances

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Chicago politicians had long been associated with questionable methods, and even newspaper circulation "wars", but the need for bootleggers to have protection in city hall introduced a far more serious level of violence and graft. Capone is generally seen as having an appreciable effect in bringing about the victory of Republican mayoral candidate William Hale Thompson, who had campaigned on a platform of not enforcing Prohibition and at one time hinted that he'd reopen illegal saloons.[62] Thompson allegedly accepted a contribution of $250,000 from Capone. Thompson beat Democratic candidate William Emmett Dever in the 1927 mayoral race by a relatively slim margin.[63][64]

On the day of the Pineapple Primary on April 10, 1928, voting booths were targeted by Capone's bomber, James Belcastro, in wards where Thompson's opponents were thought to have support, causing the deaths of at least fifteen people. Belcastro was accused of murdering lawyer Octavius Granady, an African-American, who challenged Thompson's candidate for the Black vote, and was chased through the streets on polling day by cars of gunmen before being shot dead. Four policemen were among those charged along with Belcastro, but all charges were dropped after key witnesses recanted their statements. An indication of the attitude of local law enforcement toward Capone's organization came in 1931 when Belcastro was wounded in a shooting; police suggested to skeptical journalists that Belcastro was an independent operator.[65][66][67][68][69] A 1929 report by The New York Times connected Capone to the 1926 murder of Assistant State Attorney William H. McSwiggin, the 1928 murders of chief investigator Ben Newmark, and former mentor Frankie Yale.[70]

Saint Valentine's Day Massacre

[edit]
Further information: Saint Valentine's Day Massacre

Capone was widely assumed to have been responsible for ordering the 1929 Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, despite being at his Florida home at the time of the massacre.[71] The massacre was an attempt to eliminate Bugs Moran, head of the North Side Gang, and the motivation for the plan may have been the fact that some expensive whisky that was illegally imported from Canada via the Detroit River had been hijacked while it was being transported to Cook County, Illinois.[72] Moran was the last survivor of the North Side gunmen; his succession had come about because his similarly aggressive predecessors, Weiss and Vincent Drucci, had been killed in the violence that followed the murder of original leader Dean O'Banion.[73][74]

To monitor their targets' habits and movements, Capone's men rented an apartment across from the trucking warehouse and garage at 2122 North Clark Street, which served as Moran's headquarters. On the morning of Thursday, February 14, 1929,[75][76] Capone's lookouts signaled four gunmen, disguised as police officers, to initiate a "police raid". The faux police lined the seven victims along a wall and signaled for accomplices armed with machine guns and shotguns. Moran was not among the victims. Photos of the slain victims shocked the public and damaged Capone's image. Within days, Capone received a summons to testify before a Chicago grand jury on charges of federal Prohibition violations, but he claimed to be too unwell to attend.[77] In an effort to clean up his image, Capone donated to charities and sponsored a soup kitchen in Chicago during the Depression.[78][2] The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre led to public outcry about Thompson's alliance with Capone, and this was a factor in Anton J. Cermak winning the mayoral election on April 6, 1931.[79]

Feud with Aiello ends

[edit]

Capone was known for ordering other men to do his work for him. In May 1929, one of Capone's bodyguards, Frank Rio, uncovered a plot by three of his men; Albert Anselmi, John Scalise and Joseph Giunta. They had been persuaded by Aiello to depose Capone and take over the Chicago Outfit.[80] Later on, Capone beat the men with a baseball bat and then ordered his bodyguards to shoot them, a scene that was included in the 1987 film The Untouchables.[81] Deirdre Bair, along with writers and historians such as William Elliot Hazelgrove, have questioned the veracity of the claim.[81][82]

Bair questioned why "three trained killers could sit quietly and let this happen", while Hazelgrove stated that Capone would have been "hard pressed to beat three men to death with a baseball bat" and that he would have instead let an enforcer perform the murders;[81][82] however, despite claims that the story was first reported by author Walter Noble Burns in his 1931 book The One-Way Ride: The Red Trail of Chicago Gangland from Prohibition to Jake Lingle,[81] Capone biographers Max Allan Collins and A. Brad Schwartz have found versions of the story in press coverage shortly after the crime. Collins and Schwartz suggest that similarities among reported versions of the story indicate a basis in truth and that the Outfit deliberately spread the tale to enhance Capone's fearsome reputation.[83]: xvi, 209–213, 565  George Meyer, an associate of Capone's, also claimed to have witnessed both the planning of the murders and the event itself.[3]

In 1930, upon learning of Aiello's continued plotting against him, Capone resolved to finally eliminate him.[57] In the weeks before Aiello's death, Capone's men tracked him to Rochester, New York, where he had connections through Buffalo crime family boss Stefano Magaddino, and plotted to kill him there, but Aiello returned to Chicago before the plot could be executed.[84] Aiello, angst-ridden from the constant need to hide out and the killings of several of his men,[85] set up residence in the Chicago apartment of Unione Siciliana treasurer Pasquale "Patsy Presto" Prestogiacomo at 205 N. Kolmar Ave.[57][86] On October 23, upon exiting Prestogiacomo's building to enter a taxicab, a gunman in a second-floor window across the street started firing at Aiello with a submachine gun.[57][86] Aiello was said to have been shot at least 13 times before he toppled off the building steps and moved around the corner,[87] attempting to move out of the line of fire. Instead, he moved directly into the range of a second submachine gun positioned on the third floor of another apartment block, and was subsequently gunned down.[57][86]

Federal intervention

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In the wake of the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, Walter A. Strong, publisher of the Chicago Daily News, asked his friend President Herbert Hoover for federal intervention to stem Chicago's lawlessness. He arranged a secret meeting at the White House, just two weeks after Hoover's inauguration. On March 19, 1929, Strong, joined by Frank Loesch of the Chicago Crime Commission, and Laird Bell, made their case to the President.[88] In Hoover's 1952 Memoir, the former President reported that Strong argued "Chicago was in the hands of the gangsters, that the police and magistrates were completely under their control, …that the Federal government was the only force by which the city's ability to govern itself could be restored. At once I directed that all the Federal agencies concentrate upon Mr. Capone and his allies."[89] That meeting launched a multi-agency attack on Capone. Treasury and Justice Departments developed plans for income tax prosecutions against Chicago gangsters, and a small, elite squad of Prohibition Bureau agents (whose members included Eliot Ness) were deployed against bootleggers. In a city used to corruption, these lawmen were incorruptible. Charles Schwarz, a writer for the Chicago Daily News, dubbed them Untouchables. To support Federal efforts, Strong secretly used his newspaper's resources to gather and share intelligence on the Capone outfit.[90]

Trials

[edit]
Capone's cell at the now decommissioned Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, where he spent about nine months starting in May 1929
Mug shot of Capone in Miami, 1930

On March 27, 1929, Capone was arrested by FBI agents as he left a Chicago courtroom after testifying to a grand jury that was investigating violations of federal prohibition laws. He was charged with contempt of court for feigning illness to avoid an earlier appearance.[91] On May 16, 1929, Capone was arrested in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for carrying a concealed weapon. On May 17, 1929, Capone was indicted by a grand jury and a trial was held before Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge John E Walsh. Entering a guilty plea by his attorney, Capone was sentenced to a prison term of one year.[92] On August 8, 1929, Capone was transferred to Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary. A week after his release in March 1930, Capone was listed as "Public Enemy #1" on the unofficial Chicago Crime Commission's widely publicized list.[93]

In April 1930, Capone was arrested on vagrancy charges when visiting Miami Beach; the governor had ordered sheriffs to run him out of the state. Capone claimed that Miami police had refused him food and water and threatened to arrest his family. He was charged with perjury for making these statements, but was acquitted after a three-day trial in July.[94] In September, a Chicago judge issued a warrant for Capone's arrest on charges of vagrancy and then used the publicity to run against Thompson in the Republican primary.[95][96] In February 1931, Capone was tried on the contempt of court charge. In court, Judge James Herbert Wilkerson, intervened to reinforce questioning of Capone's doctor by the prosecutor. Wilkerson sentenced Capone to six months, but he remained free while on appeal of the contempt conviction.[97][98]

In February 1930, Capone's organization was linked to the murder of Julius Rosenheim, who served as a police informant in the Chicago Outfit for 20 years.[99]

Tax evasion

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English Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Capone's FBI criminal record in 1932, showing most of his criminal charges were discharged or dismissed

U.S. Assistant Attorney General Mabel Walker Willebrandt is said to have originated the tactic of charging obviously wealthy crime figures with federal tax evasion on the basis of their luxurious lifestyles.[100] In 1927, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Sullivan that the approach was legally sound: illegally earned income was subject to income tax.[101] The key to Capone's conviction on tax charges was not his spending, but proving his income, and the most valuable evidence in that regard originated in his offer to pay tax. Ralph, his brother and a gangster in his own right, was tried for tax evasion in 1930. Ralph spent the next 18 months in prison after being convicted in a two-week trial over which Wilkerson presided.[102]

Seeking to avoid the same fate, Capone ordered his lawyer to regularize his tax position, and although it was not done, his lawyer made crucial admissions when stating the income that Capone was willing to pay tax on for various years, admitting income of $100,000 for 1928 and 1929, for instance; hence, without any investigation, the government had been given a letter from a lawyer acting for Capone conceding his large taxable income for certain years he had paid no tax on. On March 13, 1931, Capone was charged with income tax evasion for 1924, in a secret grand jury. On June 5, 1931, Capone was indicted by a federal grand jury on 22 counts of income tax evasion from 1925 through 1929; he was released on $50,000 bail.[103] Capone was then indicted on 5,000 violations of the Volstead Act (Prohibition laws).[83]: 385–421, 493–496 [104][103]

On June 16, 1931, at the Chicago Federal Building in the courtroom of Wilkerson, Capone pleaded guilty to income tax evasion and the 5,000 Volstead Act violations as part of a 2+1⁄2-year prison sentence plea bargain. On July 30, 1931, Wilkerson refused to honor the plea bargain, and Capone's counsel rescinded the guilty pleas.[103] On the second day of the trial, Wilkerson deemed that the 1930 letter to federal authorities could be admitted into evidence, overruling objections that a lawyer could not confess for his client.[105][106][107] Wilkerson later tried Capone only on the income tax evasion charges as he determined they took precedence over the Volstead Act charges.[103]

Much was later made of other evidence, such as witnesses and ledgers, but these strongly implied Capone's control rather than stating it. Capone's lawyers, who had relied on the plea bargain Wilkerson refused to honor, therefore had mere hours to prepare for the trial, ran a weak defense focused on claiming that essentially all his income was lost to gambling.[108] This would have been irrelevant regardless, since gambling losses can only be subtracted from gambling winnings, but it was further undercut by Capone's expenses, which were well beyond what his claimed income could support; Wilkerson allowed Capone's spending to be presented at very great length.[108]

The government charged Capone with evasion of $215,000 in taxes on a total income of $1,038,654, during the five-year period.[103] Capone was convicted on five counts of income tax evasion on October 17, 1931,[109][110][111] and was sentenced a week later to 11 years in federal prison, fined $50,000 plus $7,692 for court costs, and was held liable for $215,000 plus interest due on his back taxes.[112][113][114][115] The contempt of court sentence was served concurrently.[116][117][118] New lawyers hired to represent Capone were Washington-based tax experts. They filed a writ of habeas corpus based on a Supreme Court ruling that tax evasion was not fraud, which apparently meant that Capone had been convicted on charges relating to years that were actually outside the time limit for prosecution; however, a judge interpreted the law so that the time that Capone had spent in Miami was subtracted from the age of the offences, thereby denying the appeal of both Capone's conviction and sentence.[119]

Imprisonment

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Cell 181 in Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary where Capone was imprisoned
Mug shot of Capone at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, 1934

Capone was sent to Atlanta U.S. Penitentiary in May 1932, aged 33.[120] Upon his arrival, Capone was diagnosed with syphilis and gonorrhea. Morris Rudensky was formerly a small-time criminal associated with the Capone gang and found himself becoming a protector for Capone. The conspicuous protection by Rudensky and other prisoners drew accusations from less friendly inmates and fueled suspicion that Capone was receiving special treatment. No solid evidence ever emerged, but it formed part of the rationale for moving Capone to the recently opened Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary off the coast of San Francisco, in August 1934.[121] On June 23, 1936, Capone was stabbed and superficially wounded by fellow Alcatraz inmate James C. Lucas.[122]

Capone's inmate file from Alcatraz Prison

Due to his good behavior, Capone was permitted to play banjo in the Alcatraz prison band, the Rock Islanders, which gave regular Sunday concerts for other inmates.[123] Capone also transcribed the song "Madonna Mia" creating his own arrangement as a tribute to his wife Mae.[124] At Alcatraz, Capone's decline became increasingly evident, as neurosyphilis progressively eroded his mental faculties; his formal diagnosis of syphilis of the brain was made in February 1938.[125] He spent the last year of his Alcatraz sentence in the hospital section, confused and disoriented.[126] Capone completed his term in Alcatraz on January 6, 1939, and was transferred to the Federal Correctional Institution at Terminal Island in California to serve out his sentence for contempt of court.[127] He was paroled on November 16, 1939, after his wife Mae appealed to the court, based on his reduced mental capabilities.[128][129]

Chicago aftermath

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The main effect of Capone's conviction was that he ceased to be boss immediately on his imprisonment, but those involved in the jailing of Capone portrayed it as a considerable undermining of the city's organized crime syndicate. Capone's underboss, Frank Nitti, took over as boss of the Outfit after he was released from prison in March 1932, having also been convicted of tax evasion charges.[130] Far from being smashed, the Outfit continued without being troubled by the Chicago police, but at a lower level and without the open violence that had marked Capone's rule.

Organized crime in the city had a lower profile once Prohibition was repealed, already wary of attention after seeing Capone's notoriety bring him down, to the extent that there is a lack of consensus among writers about who was actually in control and who was a figurehead "front boss".[79][83] Prostitution, labor union racketeering, and gambling became moneymakers for organized crime in the city without incurring serious investigation. In the late 1950s, FBI agents discovered an organization led by Capone's former lieutenants reigning supreme over the Chicago underworld.[131] Some historians have speculated that Capone ordered the 1939 murder of Edward J. O'Hare a week before his release, for helping federal prosecutors convict Capone of tax evasion, though there are other theories for O'Hare's death.[132]

Illness and death

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Due to his failing health, Capone was released from prison on November 16, 1939,[133] and referred to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for the treatment of syphilitic paresis. Because of his unsavory 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.[134][better source needed] After a few weeks of inpatient and outpatient care, on March 20, 1940, a very sickly Capone left Baltimore and travelled to his mansion in Palm Island, Florida.[135][136][137] In 1942, after mass production of penicillin was started in the United States, Capone was one of the first American patients treated by the new drug.[138] Though it was too late for him to reverse the damage to his brain, it did slow down the progression of the disease.[128]

In 1946, his physician and a Baltimore psychiatrist examined him and concluded that Capone had the mentality of a 12-year-old child.[91] He spent the last years of his life at his Palm Island mansion, spending time with his wife and grandchildren.[139] On January 21, 1947, Capone had a stroke. He regained consciousness and started to improve, but contracted bronchopneumonia. He suffered a cardiac arrest on January 22, and on January 25, surrounded by his family in his home, died after his heart failed as a result of apoplexy.[140][141] His body was transported back to Chicago a week later and a private funeral was held.[142] 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.[143][144]

[edit]
Main article: Al Capone in popular culture

Capone is one of the most notorious American gangsters of the 20th century and has been the major subject of numerous articles, books, and films. Particularly, from 1925 to 1929, shortly after he moved to Chicago, he enjoyed his status as the most notorious mobster in the country. He cultivated a certain image of himself in the media that made him a subject of fascination.[145][146]

See also

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References

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Further reading

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Al Capone

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Alphonse Gabriel Capone (January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947) was an Italian-American gangster who attained notoriety as the leader of the , a criminal syndicate that flourished amid the economic distortions and enforcement challenges of national alcohol from 1920 to 1933. Capone's organization profited immensely from bootlegging illicit liquor, alongside , , , and , consolidating control over Chicago's underworld through systematic violence against rivals. He was widely suspected of directing the St. Valentine's Day Massacre on February 14, 1929, in which seven members of the rival were executed, though no direct evidence linked him to the crime and he was never prosecuted for it. Unable to secure convictions on bootlegging or charges despite federal efforts, authorities pursued Capone for evasion; in 1931, he pleaded guilty but received an 11-year sentence after a trial revealed judicial irregularities, serving much of it at . While incarcerated, Capone's untreated progressed to , impairing his cognition and health, leading to early release in 1939; he suffered a stroke and died from precipitated by the disease's complications.

Early Life

Birth and Family Background

Alphonse Gabriel Capone was born on January 17, 1899, in the Navy Yard section of , , at 95 Navy Street. His parents, Gabriele Capone and Raiola (also known as Teresina), were Italian immigrants from the region near . Gabriele, born in 1865, worked as a after arriving in the United States, while Teresa, born in 1867, was a seamstress. The Capones had immigrated to the U.S. in the mid-1890s, settling in Brooklyn's working-class immigrant neighborhoods amid economic challenges typical of such families. Al was the fourth of nine children born to the couple—seven sons followed by two daughters—in a household shaped by the hardships of urban poverty and limited opportunities for Italian newcomers. Gabriele became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1906, reflecting the family's efforts to establish roots despite cultural and linguistic barriers. The family's barber shop and home-based work provided modest sustenance, but the environment fostered early exposure to street life in a densely populated, crime-prone area.

Initial Involvement in Crime

Capone left school after completing the at age 14 in 1913 and began associating with local street gangs in , including the Junior Forty Thieves and the Brooklyn Rippers, groups known for , petty , and minor delinquencies typical of youth gangs in immigrant neighborhoods. These early affiliations exposed him to a culture of territorial disputes and small-scale criminality, laying the groundwork for his later career without recorded arrests at this stage. By his late teens, around 1916, Capone transitioned to employment in the , working odd jobs such as a pin boy and candy store clerk before securing positions as a and bartender at saloons and brothels, establishments operated by figures like and linked to illegal gambling and . In November , while employed at the Harvard Inn—a venue owned by Yale—Capone sustained three facial scars during a altercation after allegedly insulting a patron's sister; her brother, Frank Galluccio, attacked him with a knife, marking Capone's introduction to the violent enforcement common in such venues. This incident, occurring amid his work for the Five Points Gang under Yale's influence, highlighted the physical risks and retaliatory dynamics of early , though it did not result in formal charges against Capone. These activities represented Capone's entry into semi-organized vice operations, where he honed skills in intimidation and loyalty to criminal mentors like , whom he met during this period, prior to his relocation to in 1920. No federal or major municipal records document arrests for these initial involvements, suggesting they evaded prosecution amid the lax enforcement of minor offenses in early 20th-century New York.

Entry into Organized Crime

Activities in New York

Capone dropped out of school after the sixth grade and began associating with local street gangs in , including the Junior Forty Thieves, Bowery Boys, and Brooklyn Rippers, engaging in petty theft and vandalism typical of youth gangs in early 20th-century immigrant neighborhoods. By age 14, he transitioned to more , joining the Manhattan-based around 1915, a group dominated by young Italian-Americans involved in , , and protection rackets against businesses and immigrants. His role in the gang exposed him to mentors like , who recognized his potential for violence and loyalty, though Capone remained a low-level enforcer rather than a leader during this period. In 1917, at age 18, Capone secured employment as a and at the Harvard Inn, a Coney Island-area and owned by , a in the Unione Sicilian and early bootlegger. His duties involved ejecting unruly patrons, often through physical confrontations, and protecting the establishment's illegal and operations from rival gangs and police interference. That November, Capone received the facial scars earning him the nickname "Scarface" during a brawl with Frank Galluccio, a patron who insulted Yale's wife; Capone insulted Galluccio's sister in retaliation, leading to Galluccio slashing him with a , an incident that highlighted the volatile interpersonal violence of his enforcer role but resulted in no formal charges against Capone. Capone faced several arrests in New York for minor offenses, including disorderly conduct in 1917 and assault, but avoided significant convictions due to lack of evidence or witness intimidation, reflecting the era's challenges in prosecuting gang-related crimes amid corrupt policing. By 1918, he married Mae Coughlin, an Irish-American woman from , and fathered a son, temporarily stabilizing his personal life while continuing gang activities. His New York tenure ended in late 1919 when Torrio, now expanding operations in , summoned him westward amid escalating tensions with Yale over liquor hijackings and personal disputes, marking Capone's shift from Brooklyn street muscle to a larger criminal network.

Move to Chicago and Mentorship under Torrio

In late 1919, following tensions in New York including a violent altercation that left him scarred, Alphonse Capone relocated to at the invitation of his mentor , who had established himself as a key figure in the city's underworld under . Torrio, having moved from to a decade earlier to manage Colosimo's vice operations, recognized Capone's potential from their shared associations and sought his assistance amid the opportunities presented by the impending nationwide on alcohol sales, effective January 17, 1920. Capone initially took low-profile roles, such as bartender and bouncer at Colosimo's establishments like the Four Deuces , while learning the intricacies of management. Torrio's mentorship emphasized strategic organization over impulsive violence, schooling Capone in the business-like administration of rackets including , , and emerging bootlegging networks. Under Torrio's guidance, Capone advanced rapidly, handling enforcer duties and operational logistics as the pair capitalized on Prohibition's for illegal liquor importation and distribution. This period solidified Capone's loyalty to Torrio, who positioned him as a trusted ; following Colosimo's unsolved murder on May 11, 1920—widely attributed to Torrio's ambitions to expand into booze—Capone assisted in consolidating control over Chicago's South Side Italian syndicate, laying groundwork for its transformation into the . Torrio's influence taught Capone to prioritize alliances, territorial expansion, and corruption of officials, contrasting the chaotic street gangs of Capone's New York youth. By mid-1920s standards, Capone's under Torrio had elevated him from peripheral operative to operational core, with responsibilities spanning warehouse protection, driver recruitment, and navigation against North Side gangs. This mentorship not only honed Capone's tactical acumen but also instilled a vision of national crime syndication, though Torrio's preference for discretion clashed with Capone's later flamboyance. Historical accounts from federal investigations highlight how Torrio's model of delegated and profit-sharing enabled Capone's eventual succession, though primary remains limited to testimonies and circumstantial records due to the era's .

Building the Bootlegging Empire

Expansion During Prohibition

Upon arriving in Chicago around 1920, shortly after 's enactment on January 17, 1920, Al Capone joined Johnny Torrio's operation, which capitalized on the nationwide ban by establishing illegal brewing, distilling, and liquor distribution networks. The under Torrio initially focused on supplying beer from hidden suburban breweries and importing higher-proof alcohol, building a foundation that Capone expanded through systematic control of production and local markets. In January 1925, following an assassination attempt on Torrio that left him severely wounded and prompted his retirement later that year, Capone assumed full leadership of the Outfit at age 26, marking the onset of aggressive territorial consolidation during the ongoing "beer wars." Under Capone, the syndicate scaled operations by operating numerous clandestine breweries—primarily converting pre-Prohibition facilities—and distilling its own spirits to meet demand, while forging alliances for smuggling liquor from Canada across the Great Lakes and via rum-running routes from the Caribbean and Europe. Distribution relied on fleets of armored trucks navigating Chicago's streets and suburbs, delivering to a vast network of speakeasies that proliferated amid public defiance of the Volstead Act. By the late , Capone's bootlegging enterprise generated an estimated $100 million in annual revenue—equivalent to approximately $1.4 billion in 2016 dollars—primarily from alcohol sales, with the Outfit controlling around 6,000 speakeasies in by 1930 and extending influence to adjacent areas like through and operational dominance. To safeguard this expansion, the organization disbursed roughly $500,000 monthly (about $6 million in modern terms) in protection payments to police and officials, enabling unchecked growth despite federal enforcement efforts. This infrastructure not only dominated local supply chains but also positioned the Outfit as a major Midwest player, importing bulk shipments and undercutting competitors through volume and reliability.

Organizational Structure and Operations

Following Johnny Torrio's retirement in 1925 after surviving an assassination attempt, Al Capone assumed leadership of the , transforming it into a centralized criminal that dominated Chicago's South Side and the suburb of as virtual fiefdoms. The organization operated through a hierarchical structure with Capone at the apex, directing operations via trusted lieutenants who oversaw specialized crews handling territories, enforcement, and finances, while extending influence into labor unions, public officials, and legitimate businesses like cleaning services for . This setup allowed for efficient control over illicit enterprises, with violence and bribery ensuring compliance from subordinates and rivals alike. Key lieutenants included Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik, who managed bookkeeping and financial operations; , known as "The Enforcer" for overseeing violent enforcement and later succeeding Capone; and Capone's brother "Bottles" Capone, who handled logistical aspects of distribution. Other prominent figures such as Paul "The Waiter" Ricca and Murray "The Camel" Humphreys coordinated alliances with politicians and infiltrated unions to protect rackets. The Outfit comprised an estimated 500 core members at its peak, organized into semi-autonomous crews focused on specific neighborhoods or activities, differing from the more formalized families of New York by emphasizing territorial control and pragmatic alliances over strict ethnic exclusivity. The Outfit's primary operations centered on bootlegging during , involving the establishment of hidden breweries and distilleries in Chicago's suburbs to produce and distribute beer and liquor, supplemented by smuggling from . By 1930, Capone controlled approximately 6,000 speakeasies across the city, generating weekly revenues exceeding $6 million through sales and protection payments. To safeguard these networks, the syndicate allocated around $500,000 monthly—equivalent to roughly $6 million in modern terms—to bribe police and officials, enabling raids on competitors' facilities while shielding its own. Beyond bootlegging, the organization ran extensive operations, including dice games and bookmaking in roadhouses and downtown venues; through hundreds of brothels; and ancillary rackets such as narcotics trafficking, robbery, and extortion via "protection" demands on businesses. These activities collectively yielded over $100 million annually by the late , funding expansion and enforcement, including murders like the St. Valentine's Day Massacre on February 14, 1929, which eliminated seven North Side rivals to consolidate bootlegging dominance.

Exercise of Power

Political Alliances and Corruption

Capone's entry into political influence began in , where his syndicate backed Republican Joseph Z. Klenha in the 1924 municipal elections against incumbent reformers. Employing voter intimidation, ballot stuffing, and violence—including the fatal shooting of election judge Frank Klepzak on April 1, 1924—Capone's forces ensured Klenha's victory, transforming into a protected haven for halls, brothels, and speakeasies under the Hawthorne Inn. Klenha's administration granted explicit protection, with police turning a blind eye to operations that generated millions annually, though Capone later physically assaulted Klenha in 1925 for insufficient cooperation. In Chicago proper, Capone navigated the reformist tenure of Mayor William E. Dever (1923–1927), who intensified enforcement against bootlegging, prompting Capone to base operations outside city limits. Capone then funneled funds into the 1927 mayoral campaign of Republican William Hale "Big Bill" Thompson, whose prior term (1915–1923) had tolerated vice; this support, including direct infusions into campaign coffers, propelled Thompson's comeback victory on April 5, 1927, over Dever by 100,000 votes. Thompson's return marked an overt alliance, with his administration appointing Capone-friendly police officials and curtailing raids on Outfit enterprises, enabling unchecked expansion of bootlegging networks. Capone's corruption permeated the , where systematic payoffs to officers, captains, and the superintendent secured immunity for his rackets while enabling targeted enforcement against rivals. By the late , the syndicate disbursed graft allowing raids on competitors' breweries and joints, as bribed officials executed Capone's directives rather than impartial . This extended to judges and prosecutors, who dismissed cases or issued light sentences; for instance, Capone evaded serious consequences for multiple arrests through such influence, sustaining an empire that grossed tens of millions yearly from protected vices. Federal investigators later documented these practices as key to Capone's local impunity until probes bypassed municipal barriers.

Rivalries and Violent Enforcement

Capone's Chicago Outfit faced fierce competition from multiple bootlegging syndicates during the 1920s, particularly the North Side Gang led successively by Dean O'Banion, Hymie Weiss, and Bugs Moran, which dominated liquor distribution north of the Chicago River. These rivalries erupted into the "Beer Wars," involving at least a dozen gangs contesting territory, supply routes, and profits from Prohibition-era alcohol smuggling, with the Outfit seeking to monopolize the lucrative trade estimated at millions annually. Initial attempts at negotiation under Johnny Torrio failed, leading Capone, upon assuming leadership in 1925, to prioritize violent elimination of competitors over diplomacy. To enforce control, the Outfit deployed specialized enforcers armed with Thompson submachine guns—"Tommy guns"—for drive-by shootings and targeted hits, introducing unprecedented firepower to Chicago's underworld conflicts. This approach nullified rivals through intimidation and assassination, as seen in the Outfit's suspected role in the November 10, 1924, murder of O'Banion at his North Side flower shop, where gunmen posing as florists delivered precise shots to the head, escalating the feud after O'Banion's encroachment on Outfit operations. Retaliation from the North Siders included a January 24, 1925, ambush on Torrio outside his home, firing over 30 rounds that left him critically wounded and prompted his retirement, solidifying Capone's command. Under Capone, enforcement intensified with the October 11, 1926, assassination of outside the same Schofield Flower Shop, where Outfit gunmen unleashed a barrage of over 100 bullets from a passing and nearby building, killing Weiss and wounding bystanders to deter further North Side . Such public displays of lethality, often involving armored cars and rapid-fire weapons, extended to hijackings of rival shipments and of speakeasies, ensuring compliance through of swift retribution. The Outfit also clashed with Sicilian factions like the Genna brothers, early allies whose violent bootlegging operations drew North Side attacks, forcing Capone to intervene decisively to protect shared interests before absorbing weakened remnants. These tactics contributed to roughly 700 gang-related homicides in from 1920 to 1930, transforming the city into a battleground where the Outfit's superior organization and willingness to deploy overwhelming violence subdued most opposition, though not without reciprocal attempts on Capone's life, such as the September 20, 1926, machine-gun assault on his headquarters. Capone justified such measures as necessary for stability, reportedly stating that competitors "had to be taken care of," reflecting a pragmatic where territorial security outweighed moral or legal constraints.

Major Incidents and Escalation

Saint Valentine's Day Massacre

On February 14, 1929, seven men associated with the , rivals to Al Capone's in the bootlegging trade, were executed in a garage at 2122 North Clark Street in Chicago's neighborhood. The victims included mechanics, bootleggers, and associates: , (brothers and key enforcers), Adam Heyer (a laundry ), James (George "Bugs" Moran's brother-in-law and lieutenant), Albert Weinshank (a posing as Moran), John May (a garage mechanic), and Dr. Reinhardt H. Schwimmer (an optometrist and Outfit associate who was present for the excitement). Six died immediately from and fire; lingered for hours but refused to name his killers, dying with the words, "Nobody shot me." The ambush occurred around 10:30 a.m., when four assailants—two dressed in police uniforms and two in clothes—entered the S-M-C Cartage Company garage under the pretense of a raid, forcing the victims to face a brick wall. The North Siders had been lured by a staged delivery of hijacked whiskey from , arranged to coincide with Moran's presence, but Moran arrived late and escaped after spotting the "police" car. Ballistics evidence recovered over 70 casings from .45-caliber Tommy guns and 12-gauge shotguns, weapons commonly linked to Capone's operations. Suspected triggermen included Fred "Killer" Burke (a bootlegger tied to Capone), , and Albert Anselmi (recently imported Outfit enforcers), along with possibly Byron Bolan and James Ray, though identities remain unproven. Capone, vacationing in , was widely suspected of ordering the hit as retaliation for prior North Side attacks, including the 1926 attempt on his life and murders of Outfit leaders like . He denied involvement, offering a $50,000 reward for ' capture and claiming ignorance, but federal agents and police attributed it to his syndicate amid the escalating Outfit-North Side war over Prohibition-era liquor territories. No direct evidence tied Capone personally, and he faced no charges for . Chicago police investigations yielded no convictions, hampered by witness intimidation and official corruption, though fingerprints and a getaway later linked to related crimes. drew national outrage, with newspapers decrying the "slaughter" and prompting federal intervention against Capone, culminating in his 1931 tax evasion conviction rather than violence charges. It marked the bloodiest episode in Chicago's gang wars, weakening Moran's and solidifying Capone's dominance, though it accelerated scrutiny that eroded his .

Feud with Joe Aiello and Its Resolution

The feud between Al Capone and Joe Aiello originated in November 1925, when Capone's ally Antonio Lombardo was appointed president of the Unione Siciliana, a fraternal organization of Sicilian immigrants that controlled lucrative extortion rackets in Chicago's underworld. Aiello, a Sicilian bootlegger aspiring to lead the group, blamed Capone for blocking his path and severed ties with Lombardo, aligning instead with Capone's North Side rivals, including Bugs Moran and remnants of the O'Banion gang. This rivalry intensified Chicago's bootlegging wars, as Aiello sought to undermine Capone's dominance in alcohol distribution and union infiltration. Aiello orchestrated multiple assassination attempts on Capone between 1925 and 1930, including a failed plot in to Capone's soup by bribing a at a ; the chef alerted Capone, who evaded the trap. In retaliation, Capone's men targeted Aiello's operations, machine-gunning his at 473 West Division Street on May 28, . Aiello briefly seized control of the Unione Siciliana in 1928 after gunning down its incumbent leader, but his position remained precarious amid ongoing clashes; a exposed Aiello-linked plots against Capone and Lombardo, leading to arrests and heightened tensions. Lombardo's on September 10, 1928—widely attributed to Aiello's faction—further escalated the blood feud, drawing Aiello deeper into alliance with Moran against the . By 1930, Aiello, operating from hiding in Rogers Park and allying with out-of-town Sicilian factions, had become Capone's most persistent adversary, reportedly offering a $50,000 bounty for Capone's death. Capone, facing federal scrutiny and seeking to consolidate power before his impending tax evasion trial, prioritized eliminating Aiello; informants within Aiello's circle, including a landlord paid $400 weekly by Capone, tracked his movements. The feud resolved on October 23, 1930, when Aiello, 38, was ambushed and killed by Capone-directed gunmen as he left a safe house at 205 North Kolmar Avenue in Chicago's West Side; positioned between two machine-gun nests and shotguns, he was struck 59 times in a hail of over 100 bullets, collapsing dead on the sidewalk. Police attributed the hit directly to Capone's Outfit, noting it neutralized a key threat amid Capone's legal battles; Aiello's death fragmented North Side resistance, solidifying Capone's control until his own imprisonment in 1931.

Federal Pursuit and Downfall

Investigations into Broader Crimes

In response to escalating and Capone's dominance over Chicago's underworld, federal authorities in the late launched coordinated investigations into his syndicate's operations, encompassing bootlegging, , , and suspected homicides beyond local jurisdiction. The U.S. Department's , recognizing widespread local corruption, deployed agents to dismantle Capone's alcohol production network, which supplied an estimated 80% of Chicago's illicit . These efforts focused on interstate commerce violations under the , as direct evidence of personal involvement in proved elusive due to witness intimidation and tampered testimony. Eliot Ness, appointed special agent in charge of the Chicago Prohibition office in 1927, formed a select team of nine incorruptible investigators dubbed the "Untouchables" to target Capone's breweries and distilleries. From October 1927 onward, the group executed over 300 raids, seizing more than 7,000 barrels of beer, destroying 68 illegal stills, and confiscating trucks and equipment valued at approximately $1 million in 1920s dollars, thereby slashing Capone's bootlegging profits by an estimated 50%. Key operations included the March 1929 raid on a warehouse yielding 1,000 barrels of beer and the shutdown of the influential "Mills" brewery network. Despite these disruptions, which forced Capone to reorganize supply lines from and rural distilleries, no federal charges stuck against him personally for infractions, as underlings absorbed blame and juries were compromised. Parallel probes by the Bureau of Investigation (predecessor to the FBI) examined Capone's links to broader felonies, including narcotics trafficking, prostitution rings in the Levee District, and gambling dens generating millions annually through rigged horse betting and casinos. Agents documented Capone's "protection" rackets extorting $100,000 weekly from businesses and suspected his role in over 400 gangland killings between 1925 and 1930, notably the unresolved 1928 murder of his financial advisor Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik's associate. However, evidentiary hurdles—such as the 1929 assassination of informant Eddie O'Hare and the machine-gunned silence of witnesses—prevented indictments, with federal jurisdiction limited to interstate elements prosecutors could not substantiate. These investigations highlighted systemic barriers: Capone's $500,000 annual bribery budget neutralized local police, while federal resources strained against his 10,000-strong network of enforcers and informants. The on February 14, 1929, which left seven members executed in a garage, intensified scrutiny, prompting President to order "a wailing wall for weeping Capone" and task Treasury Secretary with broader action. Federal teams, including early IRS intelligence units, cross-referenced Capone's lavish expenditures—such as his $40,000 mansion and fleet of armored cars—against negligible reported income, laying groundwork for financial probes while pursuing leads on vice syndicates tied to brothels servicing 500 customers daily. Yet, without forensic breakthroughs or cooperative testimony, these efforts yielded no convictions for the substantive crimes, underscoring how Capone's compartmentalized structure and judicial influence evaded direct accountability.

Tax Evasion Charges and Trials

Federal authorities, frustrated by Capone's evasion of direct prosecutions for Prohibition-era crimes such as bootlegging and , shifted focus to violations as a viable legal avenue, given that even illicit earnings were taxable under U.S. law following the 1913 ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment. The Internal Revenue Service's Intelligence Unit, under Special Agent , conducted a meticulous two-year probe starting around 1928, uncovering Capone's unreported income from sources including the Hawthorne dog track, operations, and bootlegging networks estimated at tens of millions annually. Wilson pieced together evidence from ledgers, witness testimonies, and seized records, such as a 1924 hotel room find revealing profit distributions, demonstrating Capone's net exceeded $1 million across 1925–1929 while he filed returns claiming minimal or no liability. Capone was arrested on March 13, 1931, in on a bench warrant and transferred to , where a federal indicted him on June 5, 1931, for 22 counts: five felonies of willfully evading taxes on over $200,000 annually for 1925–1927, plus failures to file for 1928–1929 and additional evasion counts. Prior to trial, Capone's legal team, led by Michael Ahern, negotiated a deal offering $2 million in and a guilty to lesser misdemeanors for , but U.S. Attorney George E.Q. Johnson rejected it, insisting on felony accountability to deter ; Judge James Wilkerson similarly denied a reduced on October 5, 1931, citing insufficient . The trial commenced on October 6, 1931, in 's federal district court before Wilkerson, who dismissed two jurors suspected of tampering and sequestered the panel amid intense media scrutiny and Capone's visible presence in a silk shirt. Prosecutors presented Wilson's ledger and witness accounts from associates like , establishing Capone's control over revenue streams without legitimate offsets, while the defense argued lifestyle expenses negated taxable gains and challenged admissibility. On , 1931, the jury convicted Capone on three evasion counts (for 1925–1927) and two failure-to-file counts (1928–1929), acquitting on 17 others; this marked the first major federal use of tax laws to dismantle a racketeering figure, as direct proofs had faltered. Sentencing on November 24, 1931, imposed the era's harshest tax penalty: 11 years in (7.5 years for felonies plus 3 for misdemeanors, consecutive), a $50,000 fine, $7,692 in court costs, and $215,000 in plus interest. Appeals to the Seventh Circuit and , arguing evidentiary errors and , were denied in 1932, upholding the despite Capone's claims of political vendetta.

Imprisonment and Incapacitation

Sentences and Prison Experiences

Capone's primary sentence resulted from his federal tax evasion conviction on October 17, 1931, when a jury found him guilty on three felony counts and two misdemeanors related to unreported income from 1924 to 1929; on November 24, 1931, Judge James Herbert Wilkerson imposed an aggregate term of eleven years in prison, a $50,000 fine, and $7,692 in court costs, marking one of the harshest penalties for tax violations at the time. He remained in Cook County Jail pending appeals before transfer to the United States Penitentiary, Atlanta, on May 4, 1932, where initial privileges such as a private cell with amenities were granted but soon revoked under Warden Fred G. Zerbst's stricter regime to enforce uniformity. In , Capone performed routine labor like baking and mopping, faced assaults from inmates targeting his notoriety, and received a diagnosis shortly after arrival, though he continued to wield influence through smuggled communications and attempted bribes. Transferred to on August 19, 1934—assigned inmate number AZ-85—to curb ongoing favoritism and external contacts, Capone worked in the prison laundry, endured the facility's isolation protocols, and participated in limited recreation, but his stay involved disciplinary actions including eight days in solitary after a 1935 yard fight and a 1936 stabbing incident requiring hospital care for a superficial arm wound. Neurosyphilis progressively impaired Capone's cognition during his Alcatraz tenure, prompting experimental treatments like induced fever therapy in 1937 to combat the infection, though with limited success; by 1938, medical evaluations deemed him mentally unfit, contributing to his conditional release on November 16, 1939, after serving approximately seven years and six months, following a transfer to for final processing and accounting for good-time credits. Earlier, in May 1929, Capone had served a one-year sentence in Philadelphia's for carrying a concealed , released after nine months due to good behavior.

Release, Health Decline, and Death

Capone's deteriorating , primarily from advanced contracted in his early adulthood, prompted his early release from federal custody. Diagnosed with —a form of causing progressive —in February 1938 while imprisoned at Alcatraz, he exhibited symptoms including , , and physical weakness that rendered him unfit for continued incarceration. On November 16, 1939, after serving roughly seven years and six months of his eleven-year sentence (with credits for good behavior and work), he was paroled from Federal Penitentiary in . Immediately following release, he underwent several months of treatment for at Union Memorial Hospital in , , under court-ordered supervision. Upon completion of hospital care in early 1940, Capone rejoined his at their Palm Island estate in , attempting to live quietly amid ongoing health management. The disease's neurological effects intensified, leading to severe equivalent to that of a pre-adolescent , with behaviors such as infantile tantrums and disorientation reported by members. He received experimental treatments including malaria-induced fever therapy and medications like tryparsamide, but these proved insufficient to halt the progression of brain damage from untreated tertiary . Physical complications, including cardiovascular strain and recurrent infections, further weakened him, confining much of his to , , and interactions under medical oversight. On January 21, 1947, Capone suffered an apoplectic stroke at his Florida home, followed by cardiac arrest on January 25, 1947, at age 48; autopsy and death records listed primary causes as heart failure exacerbated by syphilis-related apoplexy and bronchopneumonia. His remains were interred at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois, in a private ceremony attended by family.

Legacy and Assessments

Economic and Social Role in Prohibition Context

, enacted via the 18th Amendment in 1920 and lasting until 1933, banned the production, sale, and transportation of alcohol, creating a vast that Al Capone exploited through the . By the late 1920s, Capone's operations generated an estimated $100 million annually in revenue from bootlegging, equivalent to approximately $1.4 billion in 2016 dollars, primarily through control of illegal breweries, distilleries, speakeasies, and distribution networks in . This income funded expansions into , , and protection rackets, while monthly payoffs exceeding $500,000 to politicians and ensured operational continuity. Economically, Capone's injected illicit capital into Chicago's underground economy, employing at least 1,000 individuals, including around 700 enforcers or "soldiers," in roles spanning production, transportation, and sales of . These activities sustained ancillary jobs in of hidden facilities and networks, offsetting some revenue losses from legal alcohol industries shuttered by , though at the cost of heightened turf wars and violence. Socially, Capone positioned himself as a provider meeting public demand suppressed by , operating hundreds of speakeasies that served as community hubs for socializing and consumption, arguably mitigating widespread frustration with the dry era's restrictions. During the starting in 1929, he sponsored soup kitchens in , distributing free meals—soup, coffee, doughnuts, and bread—to thousands of unemployed men daily from late 1930 into 1931, employing staff and operating without eligibility scrutiny to aid the destitute. This , initiated partly on advice from associates, enhanced his image among the as a benefactor filling shortfalls, even as his violent methods underscored the era's causal link between prohibitionist policy and organized crime's societal entrenchment.

Debunking Myths and Historical Reappraisals

One persistent myth portrays Al Capone as the direct architect of the St. Massacre on February 14, 1929, in which seven members of the were executed in a garage. While Capone's had motive amid the bootlegging wars and the killings aligned with efforts to eliminate rivals like George "Bugs" , federal investigations yielded no concrete evidence tying Capone personally to the orders or execution; the case remains unsolved, with Capone denying involvement from at the time. Sensational press accounts amplified the connection without proof, contributing to his mythic status, though forensic analysis of weapons like Thompson submachine guns linked to the scene implicated Outfit associates rather than Capone himself. Another exaggeration claims Capone orchestrated hundreds or thousands of murders, painting him as indiscriminately bloodthirsty. In reality, while the Outfit under Capone engaged in targeted —primarily against competing gangsters during turf battles from 1924 to 1926—total gang-related homicides in during the era numbered around 500, with Capone-linked killings concentrated on rivals and not civilians; public shootings on streets like Michigan Avenue disrupted business but rarely killed bystanders. Capone's operations emphasized enforcement through and over mass slaughter, as unchecked civilian deaths would have invited broader crackdowns; FBI records confirm convictions eluded him for murders due to lack of , underscoring that inter-gang conflict, not personal sadism, drove most fatalities. Myths of Capone's immense personal fortune, often inflated to billions in modern terms, overlook operational realities. Peak estimates place his annual bootlegging revenue at $60–100 million by , but after expenses for , distribution, and —amid a volatile —his hovered around $100 million before seizures; by his 1947 death, adjusted assets were far lower, with the government recovering millions in and properties. This reflects not hidden billions but the high costs of Prohibition-era syndication, where profits funded expansion rather than personal hoarding. Historical reappraisals frame Capone less as an aberration of evil and more as a rational actor in a distorted economy created by the 18th Amendment's alcohol ban, effective January 16, 1920. generated unmet demand—Americans consumed billions of gallons illicitly annually—enabling efficient operators like Capone to build vertical supply chains from Canadian imports to speakeasies, amassing wealth through rather than innate criminality; violence arose from competition in this unregulated market, akin to frontier economics without . Economists note the policy's failure incentivized syndicates, with Capone's Outfit exemplifying how state intervention birthed by criminalizing a consensual , leading to in 1933; contemporary analyses, drawing on declassified records over media hype, emphasize systemic corruption—politicians and police took bribes—as co-enabling factors, not Capone's unilateral dominance. This view privileges causal policy effects over moralistic narratives, highlighting how 's $2 billion annual underground economy dwarfed legitimate sectors and prolonged gang power until legalization eroded incentives.

Cultural Representations and Enduring Influence

Al Capone's persona has profoundly shaped the gangster archetype in American media, frequently depicted as a charismatic yet violent bootlegger emblematic of Prohibition-era . In the 1987 film The Untouchables, portrayed Capone as a domineering crime lord overseeing Chicago's underworld, with scenes emphasizing his orchestration of the 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre and clashes with federal agent ; the performance drew praise for capturing Capone's bombastic public demeanor. Earlier, embodied Capone in the 1959 biopic Al Capone, which chronicled his ascent from street thug to syndicate boss convicted on charges in 1931, highlighting his control over illicit alcohol distribution that generated millions in untaxed revenue. Subsequent films like Ben Gazzara's role in Capone (1975) and in The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967) reinforced this image, focusing on inter-gang violence that claimed over 400 lives during his reign from 1925 to 1931. Television adaptations have similarly mythologized Capone, with playing him in HBO's (2010–2014), depicting his pre-Chicago alliances with figures like and his role in consolidating power amid turf wars that escalated after the 1920 . Documentaries such as PBS's Al Capone: Icon (2023) explore his self-promoted celebrity status, including press conferences where he positioned himself as a businessman meeting public demand for alcohol, which fueled bootlegging profits estimated at $100 million annually by 1927. Capone's cultural legacy extends to and broader media influence, appearing as a referenced figure in Mario Puzo's (1969), where his tactics informed the Corleone family's operations, inspiring cinematic portrayals of hierarchies. His deliberate cultivation of a media-friendly image—through like funding soup kitchens in during the 1931 Depression that fed 10,000 daily—contrasted his documented role in over 500 gangland killings, fostering a dual perception as both philanthropist and predator that persists in popular fascination. This duality has modeled fictional mobsters in comics, music, and films, embedding Capone as a symbol of defiance against federal overreach during , which inadvertently glamorized syndicate economics reliant on speakeasies and smuggling rings evading the 18th Amendment's alcohol ban. Enduringly, Capone's story underscores the interplay of and celebrity, with global media coverage amplifying his notoriety beyond U.S. borders and influencing perceptions of American gang culture as a product of policy failures like Prohibition's demand-driven . Unlike later mob figures obscured by rackets diversification, Capone's visibility—bolstered by his 1930s trials and Alcatraz incarceration from 1932 to 1939—ensured his archetype's dominance, evident in ongoing adaptations like the planned Showtime series on his feud with Ness. Historical reassessments attribute his outsized influence to empirical realities of his era's violence and economic void, rather than mere , as his operations filled gaps left by legal alcohol prohibition until its 1933 repeal.

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