Al capone biography. Al Capone - biography, facts from life, photographs, background information. He hated his famous nickname
Chicago. The second most important city in the United States and one of the largest economic, industrial, transport and cultural centers all over the continent. However, this is all said about modern Chicago and it is not famous at all thanks to tall skyscrapers, clean streets and green squares. The crime capital of America - that’s what they called it back in the beginningXX century. Thousands of criminal gangs operated there, engaging in robberies, murders, pimping, drug trafficking, bootlegging and other types of illegal activities. And the most famous of the Chicago gangsters, without a doubt, is “Great Al” Capone. He managed to organize this seething chaos and create one of the largest mafia empires in the world, which to this day is a kind of calling card of the city.
Young Al Capone with his mother
Alphonse Gabriel Capone Born January 17, 1899, in Brooklyn, the fourth of nine children. His parents were from Naples, where his father worked as a hairdresser and his mother as a seamstress. They, like thousands of other immigrants, were brought to America by the hope of a better life, but they never managed to achieve wealth. However, the parents of the man who would later become known throughout the world as “Great Al” did not lose heart. They regularly attended church, hoping that the merciful Lord would hear their prayers and send happiness, if not to them, then at least to their children. Various sources often mention that poverty forced the then promising young man Alphonse to take the “slippery slope”, since their family lived poorly and was constantly in need of money, but in fact this is not entirely true. Indeed, the Capone family did not live richly, but thanks to the zeal and hard work of their father, their financial position has always been stable. So, unlike thousands of other emigrant families, they made ends meet quite well. But young Al decided from childhood that working hard all his life in order to earn a piece of bread was not for him. He must get everything at once and will make every effort for this.
The beginning of the way
Historians have different versions about how “Great Al” grew up from the young, smart boy Alphonse. Some believe that this is due to the “contagious” air of the Brooklyn slums where the family actually lived. This area was a seething cauldron of various ethnic groups, peoples and social strata and was a concentration of every imaginable vice.
Others are sure that the young man was pushed to such a life by a protest against the rigid patriarchal foundations that reigned in the family, because the father kept his children strict, instilling in them a love of work and obedience to their elders. School education was not the best either. According to the recollections of Capone's contemporaries, the school where young Al studied was located on the basis of the Catholic Church and was distinguished by an inappropriately strict program. Here they very willingly used physical and moral violence against students, which caused a violent protest among the impressionable young man.
Although Alphonse was a very smart, capable and promising student, he was expelled at the age of 14 for beating up a teacher who Once again tried to hit him for his insolence. Since then, Capone made no further attempts to continue his education and soon left his home.
After leaving home, Capone began to often hang out on the docks of Brooklyn and take on any work, unless, of course, he considered it humiliating or too dirty. Carrying dusty bales like a simple loader or poking around in the ground for a piece of bread - this was not to his liking. Therefore, Al quickly joined local youth gangs. The Five Corners Gang, the Plantation Boys, the Young Forty Thieves - today few people remember these names and very few know that it was here that Capone gained the experience that in the future would allow him to become the ruler of a huge mafia empire. Al Capone's true character will be tempered in the Brooklyn slums, and his future mentor Johnny Torrio will only fully reveal him and teach him all the intricacies of the behind-the-scenes struggle for power in the criminal world.
Capone and his first criminal "teacher"
After leaving the youth gangs, Capone, with the help of his older comrade Johnny Torrio (who had already moved to Chicago), got a job as a bartender and bouncer in night club to gangster Frankie Yale. One day he quarreled with a client he didn’t like, throwing a few strong words at her, and it ended in a stabbing when the lady’s brother, without further ado, slashed the young bully in the face with a knife, leaving several deep cuts.
After this, Al Capone's left cheek was forever adorned with a scar, which he was very embarrassed about. Subsequently, because of this scar, he was given the nickname “Scarface” - “face with a scar.” It infuriated Al Capone even in mature age. The memories of the unfortunate incident were disgusting, and Capone hated the nickname given to him with all his soul. After all, he received the scar out of stupidity, and not during a bandit raid, so there was nothing to be proud of. And even as a big boss in the criminal world, Capone tried to hide the scar and always called it a “battle wound” received in the war, although, of course, he himself never served in the army.
Who would have thought that this man was one of the most powerful gangsters of the 20th century? However, best friends The Great and Powerful allowed jokes about this, and they often called him "Snorky", which was local slang for "dressy".
At the same time, Capone meets his love - the Irish girl May Josephine Colin. Soon she becomes pregnant and he has to ask his parents for permission to marry, since at that time he was only 19 (in the USA, adulthood is 21). Shortly before the wedding (the official ceremony took place on December 30, 1918), the couple gave birth to a baby, who was named Albert Francis. And the godfather becomes none other than his longtime friend Johnny Torrio, who has already achieved considerable heights in Chicago.
After this moment, the career of the young gangster will begin to rapidly rise. Historians believe that the experienced bandit Torrio already saw in him a potential mafia boss and decided to slowly prepare a worthy successor for himself. Torrio began to teach Capone how to properly engage in racketeering, maintaining a respectable image and hiding his “business” behind a screen of legality. It is this knowledge that will later help him turn his gang into a real corporate empire.
Moving to Chicago
In 1920, Johnny Torrio became the leader of almost the entire Chicago mafia and invited Capone to his place, making him virtually his right hand. Rumor has it that he was awarded this honor because, together with Frankie Yale, he sent the boss Torrio to the next world. In the same year, the federal government announced the famous “prohibition”, unwittingly driving the alcohol market into the shadows. And Capone’s patron immediately generously rewards his young companion, placing this part of the general “business” at his complete disposal. And it should be noted that it was through bootlegging (the illegal sale of alcohol) that he made most of his fortune.
Al Capone with his men Capone's final emergence as the top boss of the Chicago mafia happened in 1925. At this time, due to constant violent clashes between gangs, Chicago began to resemble a powder keg and even such important figures as Johnny Torrio could not feel safe. Despite all the precautions, he still ends up in a serious ambush and barely manages to stay alive. The raid shocked the old mafia boss so much that he quit the business, handing over the reins to Capone. So, at the age of 26, Al became the main gangster in the city.
Golden time
Johnny Torrio's science was not in vain. If at first Capone had a reputation for drinking and fighting and often got into trouble because of this, then after several years under the leadership of Torrio he radically changed his image. He is not averse to publicity, like many of his “colleagues” gangsters, regularly goes to church, attends sporting events and openly sponsors charity events, distributing food and clothing to the needy (at this time, America is already in the midst of a financial crisis). In addition, Capone actually keeps some of the local media in his pocket and public figures, which create for him the image of a real Robin Hood of the 20th century.
Al Capone on vacation But back side Al Capone's medals are simply terrifying. He can be considered one of the first to use such tactics, which today are called aggressive marketing. And in its most disgusting form. As before, the gangster received his main income from bootlegging. He sold his goods through local bars and restaurants, and the owners of the latter had no choice, because if they refused to cooperate, the establishment simply went up in smoke, often along with its owner.
The fight against competitors was also merciless. His henchmen mercilessly tortured and killed bandits from hostile gangs, and Capone took over their business, taking over the gambling business, brothels, drug dens, hotels and many other criminal industries. Moreover, during the largest and noisiest showdowns, the gangster preferred to be in plain sight, for example, visiting the opera or theater, so that he could not be connected with what was happening. Capone’s people did not leave any witnesses, and it was impossible to get the gang members to talk - everyone knew perfectly well that such poor people could only dream of an easy death.
Decline of Al Capone
And although over the years of his activity Al Capone was on the verge of collapse more than once, he always managed to successfully get out. Even after the bloody massacre in The Adonis Club Massacre, when some influential residents of the city were accidentally killed during the showdown, and even those who had sincerely adored him turned away from Capone, he managed not only to avoid trial, but also to regain his former reputation and strengthen the power of his gangsters over Chicago. However, as it turned out, not for long. In 1929, an event that later became known as the "Valentine's Day Massacre" occurred, which is now considered the beginning of the decline of Al Capone's golden age.
For a long time, the main competitor of the Italian mafia was the Irish gang of Bugs Moran, which often caused Capone major troubles and even attempted to kill some of his friends and family members. And on Thursday, February 14, 1929, it was planned to completely end it. Capone's friend and associate Jack McGurn and his guys lured the Irish to a secluded place under the pretext of concluding a lucrative deal, and then, dressed in police uniforms (to confuse other gangs and possible witnesses), carried out the massacre. The Irish, under the pretext of inspection, were lined up against the wall and shot, but Bugs Moran was not among them. He saw a police car around the corner and sensed something was wrong, and when he witnessed the murder, he immediately realized what had really happened.
And although Al Capone himself was vacationing in a hotel on the other side of the city at that time and it was never possible to officially link him with what happened, his reputation was seriously damaged. Former faithful partners began to fear his cruelty and unbridledness, and each new murder only contributed to the growth of opposition among the allies. Capone's empire was collapsing before our eyes.
Conclusion and last days
But the final and decisive blow was dealt not by competitors or traitors, but by the federal authorities, who by that time had become sufficiently strong and declared war on crime. At that time, Al Capone had already become so “famous” that the persecution against him was personally initiated by the newly elected President Hoover. Since 1929, accusations have rained down on the gangster. Moreover, the prosecutors knew very well that it would not be possible to prosecute Capone for murders and alcohol smuggling - he was too careful. Therefore, while the search for any clues was underway, lawsuits were initiated for illegal carrying of weapons, contempt of court, vagrancy and other trivial matters, which, although they did not threaten a long prison term, significantly undermined the authority of the “important and respected person.”
Al Capone with his lawyers in Chicago court The denouement came in 1931. Then Al Capone was finally put behind bars on charges of tax evasion. He was sentenced to eleven years in prison and a colossal fine at that time of 215 thousand dollars, not including interest. He was supposed to serve his sentence in a prison in Atlanta. Then it turned out that the gangster was sick with gonorrhea and chronic syphilis. Historians believe that Capone contracted this disease (which he infected his son with) while working as a bouncer in a brothel at Frankie Yale's club-brothel.
The former mafia boss found himself in an unenviable position and was constantly attacked by other prisoners. Soon the authorities took advantage of this to transfer him to the newly opened Alcatraz prison, which was already considered the most impenetrable and well-guarded. There he served his sentence until he was released in 1939. At that moment, Capone had already become a real ruin. Syphilis affected the brain, causing dementia (according to doctors, his intelligence was that of a teenage child). Last days Al Capone lived with his family in his mansion in Florida. He died on January 25, 1947 and was buried in Mount Carmel Cemetery in Illinois.
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Sex with a Greek prostitute 20 years later resulted in degradation and loss of status for Al Capone in the criminal world.
Started as a bouncer in New York, became an assassin. In the early 1920s, he moved to Chicago, amassed an army of militants and filled the streets with blood. He sat down, got out, sat down again, then disappeared somewhere... The stages of Al Capone's career are well known. But few people know that all this time the mafia boss’s body was suffering from syphilis.
Al Capone fishing on Palm Island, Florida. Undated photo: AP Photo/East News
Capone vs FBI
Alphonse Capone handed out business cards as an antique furniture seller, but everyone knew his real profession. By the age of 30, the scope of his activities and cruelty made the Chicago Italian the most famous gangster in the United States. His gang dealt with traitors and competitors without pity, killing about 700 people.
An annual income of $10 million (about 150 million modern dollars) allowed him to spend generously on security, bribes to police and prosecutors, charity and PR. Multiple arrests for alcohol smuggling, pimping, and gambling never brought the Italian to court. Witnesses disappeared or refused to testify, and Capone always had an alibi.
In 1929, the new head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Edgar Hoover, managed to imprison “Alya” for 10 months for illegally carrying weapons. He was not bored in prison: he resolved issues over the phone and received visitors. Then I took up the old one. The feds continued to dig: through Capone’s subordinate they got to the black accounting department and in 1931 they accused the gangster of tax evasion. Lawyers managed to destroy most of the charges, but the mafioso received a sentence of 11 years.
Al Capone after his arrest in 1931. Photo: United States Bureau of Prisons / Wikipedia Al Capone after 8 years in prison. Photo: Federal Bureau of Investigation/fbi.gov, January 7, 1939
Capone against Treponema
Al Capone contracted Lues at the age of 18 from a Greek prostitute. I didn’t go to the doctors, and when the disease became latent, I forgot about it. It later turned out that syphilis was transmitted to his only son Sonny - the infection was not discovered immediately and the boy became partially deaf. Both Capone and his wife May had to undergo treatment.
While serving his second term, the gangster tried to manage his criminal empire remotely, but his connections were quickly cut off. First they transferred him from a Chicago prison to Atlanta, and then to Alcatraz Island. There, Capone tried to behave exemplarily, and quickly slid down to a janitor in the prison hierarchy, where life-sentenced murderers ruled. Once, a former boss was stabbed in the back with scissors for refusing to give money “for the common fund” and ended up in a medical center. There, old diagnoses were discovered - syphilis and gonorrhea in an advanced form.
The disease, which was not treated with medicine at that time, progressed. Prisoner No. 85 began to lose his memory. Over time, convulsions, hallucinations, impaired speech and coordination of movements, and partial paralysis were added to the amnesia. Having served 2/3 of the term ( Last year- in the infirmary), Al Capone was released on bail in 1939. He could barely move his legs and did not recognize his family. For several months, Capone recovered his health in the hospital, and then hid in his mansion in Miami.
This is what syphilis was called in the 1930s.
Al Capone with his son Sonny at a baseball game, 1931. Photo: mafiascene.com Al Capone with his family after his release. Photo: RR Auction
Degradation to 12 year old child
Penicillin was introduced in the 1940s. Capone's property registered to relatives was not confiscated, and the family kept the money. His wife ensured that Alphonse was one of the first in America to receive the scarce drug. But the antibiotic did not help: brain decay had already led to dementia. The invited doctors diagnosed the “intelligence of a 12-year-old child.”
Hunched over like an old man, dressed in striped pajamas, Capone never left the house again. For some time, old friends visited the bandit and played cards. Then the patient got into the habit of discussing with long-dead people, some of whom he killed himself. His wife stopped allowing guests to see him, fearing that the mafia would decide to shut up the source of information. The rest of Capone's days amused himself by hunting butterflies and fishing in an empty pool.
Organs affected by syphilis were failing. In 1946, “Great Al” no longer left his wheelchair and could only breathe through an oxygen mask. A year later, at 48, Alphonse died of a stroke and pneumonia. A grave in a Chicago cemetery was trampled by tourists who were having a drinking party on the bones of an anti-Prohibition fighter. Relatives were forced to rebury the ashes in another place.
“As a child, I prayed to God for a bicycle. Then I realized that God works differently. I stole a bicycle and began to pray for forgiveness.” First, I’ll start with the fact that Al Capone’s full name is Alphonse Fiorello Capone. He was born in Naples on January 17, 1899 (according to another version, in Castelamaro four years earlier) in the family of a bankrupt hairdresser. His father was Gabriel Capone (1865-1920) and his mother's name was Teresa Capone (1867-1952). Gabriel had 7 sons and 2 daughters. Like most Italians in search of a new and better life For themselves and their children, the Capone family moved to Brooklyn, a suburb of New York, in 1909. In the photo you see little Capone with his mother. At what age the photo was taken is unknown, but looking at the photo……………..no one could imagine that this man would become the most famous gangster in America during Prohibition.
The eldest of nine children of a couple of immigrants from Naples, Alfonso early years showed signs of being a clear sociopath. The future boss of Chicago was distinguished from childhood by strength and endurance unusual for his age. Ultimately, as a sixth grader, he attacked his school teacher, after which he dropped out of school and joined the James Street gang, led by the odious Johnny "Papa" Torrio. Over time, Torrio's gang joined the famous Five Points gang of Paolo Vaccarelli, better known as Paul Kelly.
To cover up the real business (mainly illegal gambling and extortion) and the gang's actual hideout - a billiard club - the oversized teenager Alphonse was hired as a bouncer. For example, having become addicted to playing billiards, within a year he won absolutely all the tournaments held in Brooklyn. Due to his physical strength and size, Capone gladly performed this work in the squalid and seedy institution of his boss Frankie Yale, the Harvard Inn (from the author: remember this name).
Alphonse married in New York, at the age of 19, to the beautiful Irish woman May, who gave him a son, Sonny, two weeks before the wedding. Alphonse idolized Sonny, adored his brothers and sisters, and treated his wife with reverence, although - as befits a man of his capabilities - he did not deny himself “little pleasures.” One of these pleasures became the reason for his early death: a young Greek beauty, Capone's former girlfriend, infected him with syphilis. But this became clear much later.
It is to this period of his life that historians attribute the stabbing between Capone and seasoned criminal Frank Galluccio. In 1918, Alfonso received those scars on his face due to which he was nicknamed "Scarface" (Scarface, Marked). The quarrel arose over Galluccio's sister (according to some reports, wife), to whom Capone made an impudent remark. Galluccio slashed the impudent young man across the face with a knife, giving him the famous scar on his left cheek, because of which in chronicles and pop culture Capone received the nickname Scarface “Scarface”, and after death: during his lifetime no one ever called him that . Moreover, Alphonse was ashamed of this story and explained the origin of the scar by participation in the notorious “Lost Battalion”, offensive operation Entente troops in the Argonne Forest in the First World War due to the incompetence of the command which ended tragically for infantry battalion American troops. Against this background, the fact that Alfons was not even a minute in the war, or even served in the army, seems like an insignificant omission.
Despite the fact of the injuries, the thunderstorm of Chicago did not look for an opportunity to take revenge, realizing that in that situation he was completely and completely wrong. Some time later, Capone took his abuser, Frank Galluccio, as his personal bodyguard.
From this incident the “career” of the future owner of Chicago City began, so to speak. In 1919, Capone was closely interested in the New York police: he was suspected of involvement in at least two murders (the first “wet case” was the murder of an obstinate Chinese who did not want to share the income from his restaurant.), which gave him a reason to move after Torrio in Chicago and join the gang of "Big" Jim Colosimo, the owner of several brothels.
On January 16, 1920, the Prohibition Law was adopted, which radically influenced the fate of many leaders of criminal groups. It was during this period that there was a dispute between Colosimo and Torrio about expanding the scope of bootlegging. Torrio was in favor, Colosimo was against. The greedy and unprincipled Torrio, having exhausted all arguments, decided to simply eliminate the intractable relative and in this enterprise he found a supporter - Alphonse. The performer was an old acquaintance from the Five Points gang - thug Frankie Yale.
In the bootlegging business, the newly formed Torrio gang encountered much more fierce competition. After several years of more or less peaceful coexistence, a conflict of interests led to a clash between Torrio’s group and Deion O’Banion’s Irish North Side gang, which ultimately resulted in the latter’s murder. O'Banion's gang did not accept defeat, and the next notable victim of the confrontation was Alphonse's younger brother Frank. Two attempts on his life and Torrio's severe wound in a shootout forced him to retire and appoint Al Capone as his successor. At that time, the gang numbered about a thousand fighters and collected $300 thousand in income per week. Alphonse was 26 years old and was in his element.
Alphonse lived up to the mafia's expectations. Al Capone introduced the concept of “racketeering”; the mafia also began to engage in the exploitation of prostitution, and all this was covered by huge bribes paid to Capone not only by police officers, but also by politicians. The war of bandits under Capone took on proportions unprecedented for that time. Organized by a gang of southerners from Torrio for leadership in the smuggled alcohol market in the city.
In November 1924, Torrio ordered the murder of O'Banion and launched open war against his associates. As a result of the retaliatory actions of the Northwestern, Torrio, who barely escaped reprisals, goes on the run. In 1925, Torrio left the business and transferred all affairs to Capone.
In the confrontation between gangs, Capone himself almost died in September 1926. O'Brien staged a well-planned attempt on his life, literally riddling the Hawthorne Inn hotel room where Capone was staying for several days with several machine guns. Finding Capone hiding under a heavy marble table dead after more than a thousand rounds of ammunition were fired through the window of his room, O'Brien retired to celebrate the victory, while Capone, emerging from the rubble of the almost destroyed hotel, was already planning a retaliatory strike. Capone chose two of his own to carry out the quick and brutal murder of O'Brien. best shooters, John Scalizo and Albert Anselmi. However, almost immediately after they destroyed O'Brien, Capone learned of a plot between Scalizo and Anselmi with another rival gang, according to which they were supposed to remove Capone himself within the next week. Having invited the shooters to a banquet in honor of the successful work on O’Brien, Capone, with words of congratulations, took out a pre-prepared ornate bat and, in front of the assembled gangsters, killed both of them with it. Only between 1924 and 1929. More than five hundred bandits were shot and killed in Chicago. Capone mercilessly exterminated the Irish gangs of O'Banion, Dougherty and Bill Moran. Machine guns and hand grenades joined the machine guns. Gangster practice included explosive devices installed in cars, which were triggered after the starter was turned on. The beginning of this series of murders went down in the history of American criminology under the name “Valentine’s Day Massacre.”
In January 1929, Bugs Moran's (real name George Miller) gang stole Al Capone's trucks and blew up several bars he owned. Capone's main gunman, Jack McGorn, nicknamed Machine Gun, was ambushed and barely escaped alive. This forced Capone to liquidate Moran’s gang. At the appointed hour, members of Capone’s gang in the uniform of Chicago police officers burst into the garage where Moran’s gang had set up a warehouse of smuggled whiskey. Moran's men, taken by surprise, raised their hands, convinced of the police's authenticity. They obediently lined up against the wall, but instead of the expected search, shots were fired. Seven people were killed. However, the main goal for which the crime was planned was not achieved - Bugs Moran was late for the meeting and, seeing a police car parked at the warehouse, disappeared. Attracted by the shots, passers-by crowded in front of the garage. They were overly surprised by the efficiency of the law enforcement officers when Capone’s boys in their new, brand new uniforms left the scene of the bloody massacre. No direct evidence of Capone’s involvement in the episode was found. Moreover, no one was ever brought to trial for the crime.
The published photographs from the crime scene shocked the public and significantly damaged Capone's reputation in society, and also forced federal law enforcement agencies to closely investigate his activities.
In the 1930s, when Edward Hoover headed the FBI, American justice developed new methods of fighting the mafia. Since it was extremely difficult to prove the involvement of mafiosi in murders, they were sent to prison on charges of lesser crimes. So, in 1929, Capone was convicted of carrying a weapon without permission; he spent 10 months in prison. However, even while in prison, he received whoever he wanted and freely used the telephone, running his empire around the clock.
The fall of the Capone empire was started by one of his own people, responsible for horse and greyhound racing. Eddie O'Hair, one of the best agents infiltrated by the IRS into the Chicago underworld, revealed to the tax inspectors the place where Capone hid his account books, which reflected the real turnover of Capone's empire.
And this is where the mess begins...as there is another version of the arrest of the respected Mafia Boss. In 1930, after another “inspiration” from the president, the FBI sent a whole detachment of its people to Chicago - including the ambitious agent Eliot Ness and two officials from the tax department - Elmer Irey and Frank Wilson. It is traditionally believed that it was Ness who put an end to Capone’s power, creating a detachment of “untouchables” and collecting documents according to which Capone was convicted of tax evasion. But this version is far from reality and was invented... by Ness himself, who dreamed of going down in history as “the man who imprisoned Capone.” In fact, Ness's squad smashed liquor warehouses and - rather unsuccessfully - tried to prove that these warehouses belonged to Capone. By the way, Ness greatly exaggerated the danger to which the “untouchables” were exposed: ruthless towards competitors, Capone never fought with the police. He simply paid her and she ate from his influential hands.
The trial itself was prepared with exquisite care - there was very little evidence, and the outcome of the case depended on how it was presented. The jury was changed several times for fear of bribery. And yet, out of twenty-one counts, Capone was found guilty on only three counts. But the “king of gangsters” received the maximum sentence for them - 11 years. At first, Capone was sent to a “comfortable” prison in Atlanta. Where he could receive visitors - and direct the actions of the gang. But the authorities were not happy with this, and therefore he was soon transferred to a prison on Alcatraz Island, an impregnable fortress with an extremely harsh prison regime.
Below in the photo you can see the cell where Ganster sat before his imprisonment in Alcatraz.
The only way to get out of there as early as possible was “ good behavior“—and Capone became an exemplary prisoner. Other prisoners hated him and considered him a strikebreaker. In prison, Al Capone kept himself apart from others, but when he was stripped of his privileges and forced to work as a janitor, prisoners began calling him “the boss with the mop.” One day, when he refused to take part in a prison strike, someone stabbed him in the back with a pair of scissors.
In the same photo you see Capone's cell in AlCatras prison
In prison it turned out that his syphilis was in an extremely advanced stage, and he urgently needed treatment - not prison, but expensive - in a clinic or at home. Capone's memory began to change; his health deteriorated. A medical examination revealed that he had late stage syphilis.
In 1939, Al Capone was partially paralyzed and was released early. The disease and its consequence - dementia - began to progress. Having learned that their boss had “lost his mind,” even Al’s former “accomplices” began to treat him with contempt. But the family rallied around the defeated king. May devotedly looked after her husband to the end - as did her son, Alya’s brothers and sisters, who did everything so that their idol would not feel abandoned. Mae, with an unwavering hand, spent the rest of Capone’s fortune on penicillin - to at least a little alleviate her husband’s suffering. The last years of his life he lived in his home in Florida. In January 1947, Alfonso Capone died as a result of a massive cerebral hemorrhage. His body was flown from Florida to Chicago.
Al Capone was buried in the Mont Olivets cemetery in Chicago, but so many tourists came to his grave that the family was forced to move the gangster’s ashes to another cemetery.
Now some things are unknown to most people. The phrase is widely known: “You can achieve much more with a kind word and a gun than with a kind word alone.” , but few people know that it belongs to Al Capone. He is also credited with another world-famous phrase: “It’s nothing personal, it’s just business!” His image served as the prototype for the hero of Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather.
Al Capone had a policeman brother who worked in Nebraska, in fact, he and his brother were like Yin and Yang. Capone began his adult life quite harmlessly - as a butcher's assistant in Brooklyn. But over time, he became involved in crime. Almost all of his adult life he was ill with acquired syphilis, and his congenital form“rewarded” his son Sunny, conceived at just 19 years old. On business card Capone's name was "Alfonso Capone, Antique Furniture Dealer."
In 1933, US President Franklin Roosevelt visited Chicago. There, his car was fired upon; the president himself was not injured, but the mayor of the city, who was traveling with him, was mortally wounded. After this incident, the security service became preoccupied with searching for a protected car, which was chosen as an armored Cadillac confiscated two years earlier from Al Capone. In addition to armor throughout the body and bulletproof glass, this vehicle was equipped with hidden loopholes in the doors, and through the hinged rear window it was possible to fire even from a machine gun.
Since Al Capone found it difficult to spend ill-gotten money under the watchful eye of the intelligence services, he created a huge network of laundries with very low prices. It was difficult to track the actual number of clients, so almost any income could be written. This is where the expression “money laundering” comes from. For the same reason, in the USA it is customary to wash clothes not at home, but in laundries, since their number remains considerable and their prices are low.
In June 2011, a revolver that belonged to Al Capone was sold for $109,000.79. The weapon, called the Colt Police Positive, was used by the gunman in the famous Valentine's Day massacre in Chicago in 1929.
Al Capone's full name is Alphonse Gabriel Capone (1899-1947). This man made his name famous by doing criminal activity in Chicago (USA). A country with unlimited possibilities has produced not only outstanding scientists, brilliant politicians, big businessmen, talented writers, directors, artists, but also gangsters. The Italians were especially successful in the latter, pouring into America from Italy and Sicily in late XIX century.
Al Capone, looking at his pleasant appearance, you are once again convinced that everything in the world is not what it seems
These people crossed the ocean in search of better life. But in order to take a worthy place in the sun, it was necessary to compete with other nationalities and nationalities who also came to New World. Some Italians preferred the most the simple way. These gentlemen did not become scientists, entrepreneurs, doctors, teachers, but chose the criminal path. They began to prove their right to a prosperous life with the help of knives, brass knuckles and pistols. This method is as old as the world and in favorable conditions gives a good effect.
And favorable conditions for the Italian mafia developed during Prohibition (1920-1933) and Great Depression(1929-1939). It was during this period that organized crime gained strength. On this wave, cruel, unprincipled and strong-willed individuals took the leading position. Possessing leadership qualities, they united around themselves large groups armed people and began to successfully compete with state power. The head of the Chicago mafia, Al Capone, was one of these leaders.
He was born in Brooklyn (New York City) on January 17, 1899 into a large Italian family. His parents came to the New World in 1894 from southern Italy. His father began working as a hairdresser, and his mother as a seamstress. The family had 9 children, including 7 sons and 2 daughters. Moreover, the two eldest sons were born in Italy, and all the rest in the USA.
Alphonse was the 4th child. He differed from his brothers and sisters in his unbalanced and hot-tempered character. In fact, from an early age he showed himself to be a real psychopath. At the slightest provocation he would get into fights with his peers, and once attacked a school teacher with his fists. After this, the aggressive teenager was expelled from school, and he came to the attention of street gangs.
It is unknown what Alphonse’s fate would have been like if he had not been noticed by a bandit named Fox. His real name was John Torrio. He gathered around himself the most notorious scumbags in Brooklyn and dreamed of creating an entire criminal empire. He liked the psychopathic boy and was accepted into the gang. Her cover was a billiard salon owned by Torrio. It was in this salon that the future head of the Chicago mafia began to learn the basics of professional criminal activity.
Capone was short, but physically very strong, and fearless in a fight. Therefore, at first the daring young man was obliged to perform the duties of a bouncer. And the adult members of the gang were engaged in selling drugs, betting, organizing gambling, lending money at interest and strictly monitoring their timely return. Gradually Alphonse mastered billiards and achieved great skill in this game.
In late 1918, he married a girl named May Josephine Coughlin. But a month before the wedding, the couple had a boy - Albert Francis Capone (1918-2004). Since at the time of the wedding the future famous mafioso was not yet 21 years old, his parents had to give written consent to the marriage. However, the family did not influence the young man’s lifestyle in any way. He continued his criminal activities under the wing of John Torrio.
One day a man and his wife came to the billiard salon. Alphonse made a dirty joke in her direction. The husband heard and a fight began. During the scuffle, the man pulled out a knife and slashed the young bandit in the face. The knife literally split Capone's left cheek in half. The head of the Chicago mafia was not proud of the scar that remained for life. It was received for insulting a woman, which at that time did not honor a man and was considered an extremely shameful act.
By 1919, the police were seriously interested in Alphonse. He began to be suspected of involvement in 2 murders committed by the Fox gang. John Torrio himself also came under suspicion and decided to move from New York to Chicago. He took Alphonse with him, and the couple settled in the new city under the wing of the then leader of the Italian mafia in Chicago, James Colosimo (Big Jim). He was related to Torrio.
Al Capone during his period of power
In 1920, Prohibition was introduced in the United States. According to it, the production, sale and purchase of alcoholic beverages became illegal. But in a huge country with a population of millions, such a law was pure extravagance. Americans haven't stopped drinking. They began to buy alcohol from underground bootleggers, that is, from mafia people. And the latter’s income went up sharply.
John Torrio instantly realized what fabulous profits could be made thanks to the stupidity of the authorities. But Big Jim refused to engage in the underground trade in alcohol, planning to engage in legitimate business in the near future. This caused sharp discontent among those around him, and Torrio, thanks to his intelligence, took one of the leading places in it in just a year.
As a result, in May 1920, Colosimo was shot dead in his own cafe. The police suspected Al Capone and several other bandits in the murder. But no one was arrested, and John Torrio became the head of the Italian mafia in Chicago. Alphonse became his right-hand man and soon became a rich man.
The Torrio criminal group began to rapidly expand its sphere of influence, but soon encountered the interests of the Irish mafia, which called itself the North Side. The leader of this criminal group was Dion Bennion. The confrontation between the Italians and the Irish ended with the murder of the leader of the latter. Bennion was shot in his own flower shop in November 1924. After that it started bloody war between the Irish and Italian mafias.
At the end of January 1925, an attempt was made on John Torrio. He drove up to his house with his wife in a car, where 3 Irish mafiosi were waiting for him. They opened fire with pistols and wounded the leader of the Italian bandits in the stomach, legs, and jaw. The wounds were very severe, but Torrio survived. However, he retired and announced Al Capone as his successor. So at the age of 25 he became the head of the Chicago mafia. He had more than a thousand fighters under his command, and bootlegging brought in about 400 thousand dollars a week.
The successor turned out to be even more decisive than Torrio, who left the United States and went to Italy. Under the new leader, the ruthless destruction of the Irish began. Their extermination continued until 1929. In this case, almost 500 Irish mafiosi died. It was under Capone that bandits began to regularly use machine guns, machine guns and hand grenades. They started planting bombs in cars. They worked after turning the ignition key.
Among all the bloody crimes, the most famous was Valentine's Day massacre, which occurred on February 14, 1929 in Chicago. She shocked the city residents with her cynicism and disregard for the authorities. On that day, the Italian mafiosi planned to kill the leader of the largest Irish gang, George Clarence Moran (Bucks Moran).
To achieve this, the Italians developed a careful plan. Several people, under the guise of a small criminal group of bootleggers, approached Bucks with an offer to sell him a large batch of smuggled whiskey. Moran considered the offer profitable and made an appointment at one of his warehouses, disguised as an ordinary garage. IN specified date At 11 o'clock in the afternoon, a car with police signs drove up to the warehouse. Al Capone's men were sitting in it. Two of them were wearing police uniforms.
The whole company went into the warehouse and found seven Irishmen sitting at a table. The bandits dressed as police officers demanded that those present stand in a line near the wall. The Irish obeyed meekly, naively believing that they were dealing with real police. But as soon as they dispersed along the wall, those who came opened fire from machine guns. All the Irish bandits were killed, and the Italians calmly left the warehouse and drove away.
Irish people shot on Valentine's Day
However, Bucks Moran was not among those shot. He was late for the meeting, and when he showed up, he saw a police car near the doors of the warehouse and immediately drove away. The murder of 7 people itself caused a lot of noise in Chicago. Everyone suspected Capone and his gang, but the main Italian mafioso had a cast-iron alibi. That day he was not in the city at all, he was in Miami. However, suspicions remained, and the Bureau of Investigation (renamed the FBI in 1932) became closely involved in his activities.
By this time, the leader of the Italian mafia already had enormous weight in Chicago. He bought many police officers, city officials, and constantly allocated large amounts for charity. Although he was not loved, he was respected and considered a benefactor. However, killing people on Valentine's Day significantly tarnished his reputation. BR began to dig under the mafioso, but he was clean. He had not committed a crime himself for a long time, but entrusted it to other people. Therefore, it was impossible to bring any charges against him.
Then the still very young Edgar Hoover created a special group of agents and instructed it to find at least something on Capone and put him in prison. Detectives began to intensively search for incriminating evidence, and as you know, those who search will always find. By mid-1931, BR employees managed to collect material concerning the financial activities of the head of the Chicago mafia. It turned out that the bloody Italian did not pay taxes in the amount of 388 thousand dollars. According to American law, this is a very serious crime.
Already in July of the same year, Al Capone was arrested and brought to trial in Federal Court. He was sentenced to 11 years and sent to prison in Atlanta in May 1932 at the age of 33. In prison he was diagnosed with syphilis and gonorrhea. He also suffered from cocaine addiction at first. He worked 8 hours a day, stitching shoe soles.
Capone was apparently very glad that he was transferred to Alcatraz
In 1934, the gangster was transferred to the most terrible prison in the United States, located on Alcatraz Island (now a museum). This federal prison housed the most dangerous criminals, and the total number of cells did not exceed 600. The prison was specially rebuilt and opened in 1934 to imprison people like Capone.
At Alcatraz on June 23, 1936, the head of the Chicago Mafia was stabbed in the back with barber scissors by an inmate named James Crittenton Lucas. From the island prison on January 6, 1939, he was transferred to a federal prison in California, and was released on November 16, 1939.
Capone at his home on the Palm Island in Miami Beach, Florida.
He was released as a seriously ill man and was sent to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for treatment of chronic syphilis. But the hospital refused to admit the former gangster. Then Capone was placed in Memorial Hospital, where he underwent treatment and left on March 20, 1940 for Florida on Palm Island (Miami Beach), where his mansion, purchased back in the 20s, was located. There the former head of the Chicago mafia spent the remaining years of his life with his family.
Al Capone really hoped that the Florida climate would restore to him at least some of the health destroyed by disease and prison. The debunked mafioso successfully celebrated his 48th birthday, but on January 21, 1947, he suffered a stroke, and on January 25, his heart stopped. This is how one of the most famous gangsters of the early 20th century, Alphonse Gabriel Capone, passed away.
Could Al Capone in the suburbs of Chicago. This is all that remains of the once famous gangster
His body was interred at the Carmel Roman Catholic Cemetery in Hillside (a suburb of Chicago, Illinois). It's a long way from Florida, but that was the will of the deceased. He could never forget the city that gave him, albeit for a short time, money, fame and power.
Stanislav Kuzmin
Most often, people are interested in the personalities of historical figures who could become an example of behavior, or who created something useful for the country, for art, for science, for future life. But there are a number of personalities who became famous not for creativity, but for crimes, but are no less interesting to the public. One of the most famous criminals in the history of mankind is considered to be Alfonso Gabriel Capone, who is usually called diminutive name- Al Capone. Let's see what this gangster became famous for.
Biography
Big Al was born on January 17, 1899 in Naples, in the family of hairdresser Gabriel Capone and his wife Teresa. Al was the fourth child in the family. Capone’s father didn’t like it in Naples, and then he and his family set off to conquer America, as many people did in those years. But Gabriel's American dream fell apart as soon as he realized what life in this country costs. They settled in the Brooklyn area of New York.
The Capone family was poor, barely making ends meet. Capone already in the sixth grade got a job as a loader in a local tavern. But the earnings were worthless, and the young future gangster wanted to quickly grab a fat piece for himself. He was accepted into the youth gang with great pleasure by the street authorities. Thanks to his powerful build, Al Capone felt great in the clashes of small street gangs. The gang was monitored by senior authorities, who, however, were also quite young. The boys were 14-15 years old. They, in turn, reported to more senior foremen. At the end of the chain, everything was tied to major criminal figures, who at that time were snatching money from everywhere.
The youngest link of the gang, where Al Capone was, was engaged in robberies, robberies, and did not disdain murders. The young boys gave 30% of the criminal income to the older authorities, who passed the money up the chain, also taking a certain percentage for themselves. In the end, for every criminal dollar earned by a gang of youngsters, 10 cents went into the pocket of the head of the criminal family, under whom the boys were.
By the time Al Capone came of age, he was noticed by the mafia boss in New York, the head of one of the five crime families, Frank Ayale. Among other things, Frank was looking for a bouncer for one of his bars. It was not an easy matter. The worst thugs gathered in this bar. Businessmen and crime bosses did not come here. It was one of those bars that they call low-class. The people who gathered here drank, picked up prostitutes, and fought. Moreover, murders occurred almost every day in this bar. The thugs got drunk, cut and killed each other. The bouncers here changed every week.
Frank Ayala took a closer look at Al Capone. There was a powerful force in him. Not only physical, but also something perceived subconsciously. Frank invited Capone to become a bouncer at this bar. Al Capone agreed.
During his work, literally in the very first week, visitors stopped causing trouble. Al Capone punished the guilty severely. He turned the faces of rowdies into mush. They began to respect him. By this time, Al Capone would be respectfully referred to as “Big Al.”
Al Capone during his period of power
In 1920, Prohibition was introduced in the United States. According to it, the production, sale and purchase of alcoholic beverages became illegal. But in a huge country with a population of millions, such a law was pure extravagance. Americans haven't stopped drinking. They began to buy alcohol from underground bootleggers, that is, from mafia people. And the latter’s income went up sharply.
John Torrio instantly realized what fabulous profits could be made thanks to the stupidity of the authorities. But Big Jim refused to engage in the underground trade in alcohol, planning to engage in legitimate business in the near future. This caused sharp discontent among those around him, and Torrio, thanks to his intelligence, took one of the leading places in it in just a year.
As a result, in May 1920, Colosimo was shot dead in his own cafe. The police suspected Al Capone and several other bandits in the murder. But no one was arrested, and John Torrio became the head of the Italian mafia in Chicago. Alphonse became his right-hand man and soon became a rich man.
The Torrio criminal group began to rapidly expand its sphere of influence, but soon encountered the interests of the Irish mafia, which called itself the North Side. The leader of this criminal group was Dion Bennion. The confrontation between the Italians and the Irish ended with the murder of the leader of the latter. Bennion was shot in his own flower shop in November 1924. After this, a bloody war began between the Irish and Italian mafias.
At the end of January 1925, an attempt was made on John Torrio. He drove up to his house with his wife in a car, where 3 Irish mafiosi were waiting for him. They opened fire with pistols and wounded the leader of the Italian bandits in the stomach, legs, and jaw. The wounds were very severe, but Torrio survived. However, he retired and announced Al Capone as his successor. So at the age of 25 he became the head of the Chicago mafia. He had more than a thousand fighters under his command, and bootlegging brought in about 400 thousand dollars a week.
The successor turned out to be even more decisive than Torrio, who left the United States and went to Italy. Under the new leader, the ruthless destruction of the Irish began. Their extermination continued until 1929. In this case, almost 500 Irish mafiosi died. It was under Capone that bandits began to regularly use machine guns, machine guns and hand grenades. They started planting bombs in cars. They worked after turning the ignition key.
Valentine's Day Massacre
Organized by a gang of southerners from Torrio for leadership in the smuggled alcohol market in the city. In November 1924, Torrio ordered the murder of O'Banion and launched open war against his associates. As a result of the retaliatory actions of the North-Western, Torrio, who barely escaped reprisals, goes on the run, putting Capone in charge of the operation, who himself almost dies in the confrontation in September 1926.
At the appointed hour, members of the Capone gang in the uniform of Chicago police officers burst into the garage where Moran's rival Irish gang had set up a warehouse of smuggled whiskey. Moran's men, taken by surprise, raised their hands, convinced of the police's authenticity. They obediently lined up against the wall, but instead of the expected search, shots were fired. Seven people were killed. However, the main goal for which the crime was planned was not achieved - Bugs Moran was late for the meeting and, seeing a police car parked at the warehouse, disappeared. Passersby, attracted by the shots, crowded in front of the garage. They were overly surprised by the efficiency of the law enforcement officers when Capone’s boys in their new, brand new uniforms left the scene of the bloody massacre.
No direct evidence of Capone's involvement in the episode was found. Moreover, no one was ever brought to trial for the crime.
The published photographs from the crime scene shocked the public and significantly damaged Capone's reputation in society, and also forced federal law enforcement agencies to closely investigate his activities.
Deadline for non-payment of taxes
In 1930, at the peak of his shadow fame, the income of the Capone syndicate amounted to $60 million. He made a fortune from prostitutes, coffins and laundries. He bought impunity from the police, loyalty from politicians, silence from journalists. The only people who remembered his name with a kind word and wished him health were the poor and homeless: free canteens were opened for them by order of Al Capone.
But soon this charity will stop: in 1931, the FBI will take the leader of the largest criminal organization for tax evasion and put him behind bars for 11 years. The period was long, and the amount was not small - more than $1 million. Apparently, that's all they could prove. Trial was loud: journalists counted almost 70 people from the criminal octopus Alphonse in the dock.
He was taken away from Chicago, to an Atlanta prison, and two years later he was sent even further - to Alcatraz Island. It was an isolated prison, where he spent five years and finally undermined his health. Life was difficult for him there: he worked as a cleaner, was chased by his cellmates, and was once stabbed in the back.
In 1939, he was released for health reasons into the care of his family: by this time, his chronic syphilis had taken its toll - partial paralysis confined him to a wheelchair.
Al Capone's personal life
Al Capone family
Wife - May Josephine Coughlin (April 11, 1897 – April 16, 1986). Capone married her on December 30, 1918, at age 19. Coughlin was an Irish Catholic and had given birth to their son, Albert Francis "Sonny" Capone (December 4, 1918 – August 4, 2004), earlier that month. Since Capone was not yet 21 years old at that time, written consent to the marriage was required from his parents. Mae Josephine - Al Capone's wife Albert Capone was born with congenital syphilis and a serious mastoid infection. He underwent forced brain surgery, but remained partially deaf for the rest of his life. Unlike his father, Albert Capone led a fairly law-abiding life, except for a petty shoplifting incident in 1965, for which he received a two-year suspended sentence. After this, in 1966, he officially changed his name to Albert Francis Brown (Brown was often used by Al himself as a pseudonym). In 1941, he married Diana Ruth Casey (November 27, 1919 - November 23, 1989) and they had four daughters - Veronica Francis (January 9, 1943 - November 17, 2007), Diana Patricia, Barbra May and Terry Hall. In July 1964, Albert and Diana divorced.
Capone against Treponema
Lucem Al Capone became infected at the age of 18 from a Greek prostitute. I didn’t go to the doctors, and when the disease became latent, I forgot about it. It later turned out that syphilis was transmitted to his only son Sonny - the infection was not discovered immediately and the boy became partially deaf. Both Capone and his wife May had to undergo treatment.
While serving his second term, the gangster tried to manage his criminal empire remotely, but his connections were quickly cut off. First they transferred him from a Chicago prison to Atlanta, and then to Alcatraz Island. There, Capone tried to behave exemplarily, and quickly slid down to a janitor in the prison hierarchy, where life-sentenced murderers ruled. Once, a former boss was stabbed in the back with scissors for refusing to give money “for the common fund” and ended up in a medical center. There, old diagnoses were discovered - syphilis and gonorrhea in an advanced form.
The disease, which was not treated with medicine at that time, progressed. Prisoner No. 85 began to lose his memory. Over time, convulsions, hallucinations, impaired speech and coordination of movements, and partial paralysis were added to the amnesia. After serving 2/3 of his sentence (the last year in the infirmary), Al Capone was released on bail in 1939. He could barely move his legs and did not recognize his family. For several months, Capone recovered his health in the hospital, and then hid in his mansion in Miami.
Degradation
Penicillin was introduced in the 1940s. Capone's property registered to relatives was not confiscated, and the family kept the money. His wife ensured that Alphonse was one of the first in America to receive the scarce drug. But the antibiotic did not help: brain decay had already led to dementia. The invited doctors diagnosed the “intelligence of a 12-year-old child.”
Hunched over like an old man, dressed in striped pajamas, Capone never left the house again. For some time, old friends visited the bandit and played cards. Then the patient got into the habit of discussing with long-dead people, some of whom he killed himself. His wife stopped allowing guests to see him, fearing that the mafia would decide to shut up the source of information. The rest of Capone's days amused himself by hunting butterflies and fishing in an empty pool.
Organs affected by syphilis were failing. In 1946, “Great Al” no longer left his wheelchair and could only breathe through an oxygen mask. A year later, at 48, Alphonse died of a stroke and pneumonia. A grave in a Chicago cemetery was trampled by tourists who were having a drinking party on the bones of an anti-Prohibition fighter. Relatives were forced to rebury the ashes in another place.
Interesting Facts
- Almost his entire adult life he was ill with acquired syphilis, and his son Sunny, conceived at just 19 years old, was “awarded” with its congenital form.
- Capone's business card read: "Alfonso Capone, antique furniture dealer."
- Capone is credited with the more than famous phrase: “It’s just business, nothing personal!” Got it wide spreading after the novel "The Godfather".
- Since Al Capone found it difficult to spend ill-gotten money under the watchful eye of the intelligence services, he created a huge network of laundries with very low prices. It was difficult to track the actual number of clients, so almost any income could be written. This is where the expression “money laundering” comes from. For the same reason, in the USA it is customary to wash clothes not at home, but in laundries, since their number remains considerable and their prices are low.
- In June 2011, a revolver that belonged to Al Capone was sold for 109 thousand. $79. The weapon, called the Colt Police Positive, was used by the gunman in the famous Valentine's Day massacre in Chicago in 1929.
- In German translation cartoon series "Chip and Dale" the main antagonist - Fat Cat (in the original) is named Al Katzone - an allusion to Al Capone.