Of all the mobsters in the history of crime, none is as famous as Al Capone. His infamy is mostly due to the fact that he was an extremely violent individual (despite his occupation of "used furniture dealer").
At 14, he was kicked out of Catholic school for punching his teacher (a nun, perhaps?). It was inevitable that, spending his days on the streets, he took to a life of crime.
It's no surprise why his story has been told in so many movies or why he's America's favorite gangster. His life
writes itself:
1899: On January 17, Alphonse Gabriel
Capone is born in Brooklyn, New York.
1913-1917: Is a member of the Junior Forty Thieves, the Five Points Juniors, the James Street Gang, and the notorious Five Points Gang. Earns the nickname "Scarface" when local gangster Frank Galluccio slashes his face in a bar fight after Capone makes a crack about Galluccio's sister. Later, mob boss Frankie Yale takes Capone under his wing.
1918, December 4: Mary "Mae" Coughlin gives birth to Capone's first son, Albert Francis (nicknamed "Sonny"). To celebrate, Al and Mae get married on December 30.
1920: Moves to Chicago to lie low during a
murder investigation; soon becomes Johnny Torrio's right-hand man.
1923: Capone and Torrio move their mob, The Chicago Outfit, to Cicero.
1924: On one of the most corrupt election days in history, Al's older brother Frank is shot and killed by policemen. On November
10, rival gang leader Dion O'Banion is murdered by The Outfit, sparking
a war between the gangs for the next several years.
1925, January 24: An attempt on Torrio's
life forces him to retire and appoint Capone head of The Outfit.
1928: Capone moves his headquarters to the
Lexington Hotel, occupying two full floors.
1929, February 14: Seven members of George "Bugs" Moran's gang (Capone's
rivals), are gunned down in what would become known as the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre." "Scarface Al"
later bludgeons three of his men to death with a baseball bat. In August, Special Agent Eliot Ness of the U.S. Department of the Treasury forms a task force that will become known as "The Untouchables" to
shut down Capone's breweries and gather evidence against him for
violating the Volstead Act.
1930: Capone sets up Chicago's first free soup kitchen, providing thousands of meals daily
to unemployed Americans.
1931, October: Capone is found guilty of tax evasion and sentenced to 11 years in prison.
1934, August: Transferred from the Atlanta
federal penitentiary to Alcatraz.
1938: The syphilis Capone contracted decades earlier
escalates to neurosyphilis, causing him to often be confused and disoriented.
He spends his last year on Alcatraz in the prison's hospital.
1939, November: Released from prison early
for good behavior and bad health.
1947, January 25: Dies in his Palm Island estate in Florida, just days after
suffering a stroke and contracting pneumonia, combined with his long battle
with syphilis. During his final years, his doctors conclude he has the
mentality of a twelve-year-old.
Suggested Sites...
- FBI.gov: Al Capone- the Feds take on Scarface.
- My Al Capone Museum - virtual museum with lots of fun stuff to click on.
- The New York Times: Capone Dead At 48; Dry Era Gang Chief - original obituary from 1947.
- Untouchable Tours - take a trip around Chicago's Gangland sites.
- YouTube: "Teamwork" Scene from The Untouchables - Robert De Niro plays Al Capone in The Untouchables and recreates the gangster's famous bludgeoning with a baseball bat
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