Essay, Research Paper
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
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)