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The Rise And Fall Of Al Capone

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The Rise and Fall of Al Capone


Alphonse Capone was born in New York City by two parents Gabriel


and Teresa Capone. Capone’s parents immigrated to the United States in


1893 from Naples, Italy. Capone came from a large family and was the


fourth oldest of nine children. (Kobler 10). As a child, Capone was very


wise when it came to living on the streets of New York. He had a clever


mind when it came to knowing his environment. Capone was not very bright


when it came to school. Capone was an illiterate. He came from a poor


neighborhood in Brooklyn, so education was not a priority.


At about the age of eleven Capone became a member of a juvenile


gang in his neighborhood. Al Capone’s philosophy was that laws only


applied to people who had enough money to live by them.


The name of the gang Capone became a member of was called the Bim


Booms gang. In this gang, Capone was taught how to defend himself with a


knife, and with a gun. By the time Capone reached the sixth grade he had


already become a street brawler. Capone never responded well to authority


and for this very reason his schooling would soon come to an end. While


attending school, Capone was responsible for beating a female teacher and


knocking her to the ground. The principal of the school rushed in and


punished young Capone and for this very reason he would never return to


school again. (Sifakis 603)


After dropping out of school, Capone took up jobs such as working as


a pin-setter at a bowling alley, and working behind the counter at a candy


store. Capone was terrific at pool, winning every eightball tournament held in


Brooklyn. He also became an expert knife fighter. Although the Bim


Booms gang was the first gang Capone ever entered, he was quickly picked


up by the Five Pointers . The Five Pointers was the most powerful gang in


New York city. The gang was headed by Johnny Torrio, and was made up of


over 1,500 thugs who specialized in burglary, extortion, robbery, assault, and


murder. While working as a strong arm enforcer under Torrio, Capone


learned all the lethal tricks that would help him reach a pinnacle point in


organized crime. Capone was very grateful to Torrio. Torrio first set Capone


out to do all of his dirty work . Capone was sent to beat up loan shark


victims behind on their payments, then a pimp, beating up girls who were


holding out on their nightly take. Torrio finally got Capone a job as a bouncer


at the Harvard Inn. By this time Capone was recognized by his gang as being


a vicious fighter with both fists and knives. He also became an excellent


shooter with both a revolver and automatic weapons. This was due to many


months of shooting empty bottles in the basement at the Harvard Inn. Capone


was later promoted to bartender at the Harvard Inn. At this time Capone


recieved the scar which would give him his famous nickname, Scarface . It


is really not known how Capone ended up with a scar that extended four


inches across his left cheek. Capone often lied about how he got the scar.


On December 18, 1918, Capone was married at the age of 19, to a 21


year old Irish girl named Mae Coughlin. A short time later Albert Francis


Capone was born to the couple. At the same time this was going on, in New


York, Johnny Torrio moved his operations to Chicago. Torrio’s prospects in


New York looked low because Capone was charged for two murders. He


was released when a witness lost her memory, and evidence suddenly


vanished from the court. Al Capone knew that he had Torrio to thank for


this. A few days later, Capone got into a fight with another man and killed


him. Rather than being charged again, Capone called Torrio and received an


invitation to move to Chicago. (Nash 604)


As Capone arrived in Chicago, Capone was given a job as a bouncer at


Torrio’s newest club, The Four Deuces. Capone was known as an aggressive


man, hospitalizing most of the drunks he evicted. Men were hospitalized


with broken arms, broken legs, and skull fractures. Capone was repeatedly


arrested for assault, but was always released thanks to Torrio’s police


connections. While working at The Four Deuces, Capone strangled at least


twelve men with his bare hands. The bodies were dragged to the basement


through a trap door that led to the alley behind the club. There

a fast getaway


car would always be waiting for Capone to flee in. The underworld of


Chicago at the time was being run by a man named “Big Jim” Colosimo.


Colosimo was a flamboyant man. He dressed in expensive suits and was


covered in diamond jewelry. He was always seen eating at expensive


restaurants, and owned all the brothels, saloons, and gambling establishments


in Chicago. (Nash 605)


Johnny Torrio grew very jealous of Colosimo and soon sent for his


most loyal hitman, Al Capone. When Capone arrived in Chicago, he was


assigned the small jobs as a bouncer and bartender to disguise Torrio’s real


reason for sending for him. “Big Jim” Colosimo was killed on the night of


May 11, 1920. (Nash 606) The reason for his death was due mostly to the


prohibition act to be passed in 1920. The prohibiton act was a law that forbid


alcohol to be distributed to all the bars in Chicago. Torrio, the nephew of


Colosimo, often asked him to start an underground operation that could


supply all the bars with beer and liquor, but Colosimo would never let him.


After Capone s hit on Colisimo, Torrio agreed to give Capone control of his


new alcohol distributing operations. (Allsop 56)


Al Capone’s mob ran the streets of Chicago. While Capone’s street


mob was at its peak, it had over 1,000 members and half of the Chicago


police force. Capone’s payroll at the time consisted of police officers, state’s


attorneys, mayors, legislators, governors, and even congressmen. (Nash 608)


At the time Capone was known as the “King of Chicago”. Being the king of


Chicago had its downfalls. There were numerous threats on his life caused by


rival mob members. Capone was shot at in the streets, and even had poison


slipped into his food at clubs. In a near death experience a rival gang


member, Dion O’Banion, shot 1,000 rounds into the Hawthorn Inn where


Capone was staying. After he had cheated death, the arranging of O’Banion’s


death would be marked as one of Capone’s greatest accomplishments. This


assassination was performed by Capone’s two best hitmen, John Scalise and


Albert Anselmi. Unfortunately for Al Capone, the hit on Dion O Banion was


not very successfull. The killing of O Banion led to hostility between one of


O Banions fellow leaders, Bugs Moran. Capone s sought to strike first on


Moran and his gang before it was to late. The plan to knock off Moran s


gang was later nicknamed The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Capone’s men


dressed as police officers and lined seven of O Banion and Morans gang


members up across a garage wall. The gang offered no resistance because


they thought it was a regular police routine. Instead Capone’s men opened up


over 1,000 rounds of machine gun fire slaughtering the gang members.


Unfortunately for Capone, Bugs Moran was not present among the seven men


who were killed. (Nash 112) After Capone’s


failed attemp to knock off Moran, his opperations became very sloppy.


Capone s eventual downfall was caused by one of his own business agents


who ran Capone’s dog and horse race tracks. The man’s name was Eddie


O’Hare. O Hare was working undercover under the IRS. He informed the


IRS where books containing Capone’s income could be taken. Capone had


never paid any tax s and for this very reason he was brought up on charges of


tax invasion in front of the federal court. Capone tried to bribe the federal


government by offering them $400,000 to drop the case against him, but they


rejected the offer. Capone was convicted and given the maximum sentence


which was a $50,000 fine, court costs of $30,000, and eleven years in jail.


(Nash 116 ) Capone started his sentence in an Atlanta prison. In 1934 he


was transferred to Alcatraz, also known as The Rock . Five years later he


was released from Alcatraz due to a case of untreated syphilis he recieved


from sleeping with prostitutes. Later that year, Al Capone was judged insane


and was released to the care of his family. (Sifakis 613 )


In January 1947 Capone had a massive brain hemorrhage and died.


His body was removed from his estate in Florida and transferred back to the


seen of his underworld triumph, Chicago. The family held a private


ceremony at the cemetery, but were affraid of grave robbers taking the body


so they reburied Capone in a secret place in Mt. Carmel Cemetery. (Kobler


122)

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