Al Capone When we think of the mafia and gangs, one name comes to mind, Al Capone. Al Capone, also known as Scarface, was an infamous mafia leader who was active in Chicago during the Prohibition era. Having committed numerous criminal deeds and being the man behind countless murders, Capone was finally arrested for tax evasion . Now, you might ask, “How was he able to commit all these violent deeds without being imprisoned?” Well, we first have to go to the beginning of Capone’s life. Alphonse Capone was born on January 17, 1899 in Brooklyn, New York to couples, Gabriele and Teresina Capone. two typical Italian immigrants who traveled to America to seek a better life. His family stayed in a poor tenement as Alphonse …show more content…
It was on one unfortunate night that Capone made a brazen, offensive remark about a female customer that her brother arrived and slashed Capone in the face, leaving three scars giving him the nickname, Scarface. When Capone was 19, he married an Irish girl named Mae Coughlin, a few weeks after they gave birth to their son, Albert Francis Capone. After their marriage, Capone took a moral job as a bookkeeper. This brief hiatus ended when his father died and Torrio offered Capone to move to Chicago and work for him. Capone accepted this invitation and began working for Torrio’s lucrative bootlegging business. Bootlegging, as you might wonder, is the illegal sale of alcohol during the Prohibition …show more content…
This threatened Torrio and Capone’s business so they moved their business to Cicero. However, in 1924 an election for Cicero’s mayor endangered their business once again so the two came up with a plan to intimidate the citizens into voting for their candidate, even killing the competition’s voters if necessary. Although their plan worked, one of Capone’s brothers, Frank was shot in the process.
After nearly being killed, Torrio retired to Italy as Capone took over his throne as Chicago’s crime leader. Under Capone’s reign, his bootlegging business thrived. In order to take out the competition, Capone even ordered men to assassinate them. Feud between his gang and rivaling gangs sparked many conflicts and murders. One of these mass murders was the infamous Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre.
Al Capone had a multitude of rivaling gangs and their leaders who fought to control the title as Chicago’s top crime boss. Capone had only one competition, George “Bugs” Moran and his gang. In order to remove his opposition, Capone ordered his gunmen to raze Moran’s business and his associates. On February 14, 1929, Capone’s men, disguised as police officers trespassed into a garage where Moran’s business took place. Seven of Moran’s men were present in
Prohibition led to the bootlegging of liquor and the gang wars of the 1920’s. The most notorious gangster of all time, known as Al Capone, was the most powerful mob leader of his era. He dominated organized crime in the Chicago area from 1925 until 1931. Capone grew up during the roaring 20s in Chicago. He joined the James Street gang, lead by Johnny Torrio. In 1920, Torrio asked Capone to move to Chicago and work with his uncle who controlled the city’s largest prostitution and gambling ring at the time. Capone had liked that idea. Later that year the Prohibition act came into affect and Capone became interested in selling illegal whiskey and other alcoholic beverages. Al Capone was America's best known gangster and greatest
Once the organized crime families were established they were the main contributors to the illegal “Bootlegging” of alcohol. During the 20’s there was a great deal of violent crimes. Most of them could be connected back to the organized crime families. Alphonse Gabriel “Al” Capone was a gangster who led illegal activities such as the smuggling and the bootlegging of alcohol during the prohibition. Even though he had a tough exterior he was a caring man he was the first to open up a soup kitchen in Chicago (hammer). Capone’s estimated annual revenue was around 100 million dollars. He had many men working for him such as Frank Nitti, August Pisano and Louis Morganno. He supplied Chicago with most of its alcohol. (Capone: the man and his era).
It’s the beginning of the 1950’s. The citizens of Chicago are awaken by gunfires of mobsters of the “Chicago Outfit's,” lead by Al-Capone. Al-Capone was one of the best mobster kings in America, he got away with multiple murders, bootlegged alcohol during the prohibition era, along with numerous other court cases.
Al Capone was one of the greatest bootlegger of all time. He was born in Brooklyn New York one of the non wealthiest communities of this time . He did in Palm Island, Miami Beach Florida at the time one of the wealthiest communities. Al Capone may have been born a poor man, but even though his illegal ways he died wealthy as can be. Bootlegging isn’t the only thing he did he also was a tax evader and a murder. He may have done all of these horrible things but he made millions of dollars from bootlegging and bought many things with this illegal gotten money.
Al Capone, who is also known as scarface is a child of an Italian immigrant family who became famous when he lead the Chicago mafia during the prohibition era. In 1925 Al Capone became the crime czar in Chicago, running gambling, prostitution, and bootlegging rackets. Al Capone expanded his territories by gunning down and wiping out rival gangs. Al Capone also started to take control of the government, he would kidnap opponent’s election workers and would threaten voters with violence. He eventually won office in Cicero.
Capone expanded the bootlegging business greatly between 1925 and 1930. He controlled speakeasies, gambling houses, brothels, and
In 1925, Torrio escaped the mobster business after rival gangs tried to kill him. This left Capone as the leader of the entire operation. After Torrio left, Capone came into the spotlight. He did not stay out of the public eye, and he moved his headquarters in to the Metropole Hotel in downtown Chicago. Capone spent an enormous amount of money, and his business was booming, with an estimation of generating $100 million annually. The press constantly followed Capone, and some of the public saw him as a hero working against the prohibition.(history.com, Al Capone). Although, the picture of Capone as a hero did not last forever, because the public learned his operations were connected with violence.
Mr. Fallon a close contact with Al Capone was able to answer a few questions that many others have wondered about Al Capone. One of the questions that were asked was if Al Capone as young has been violent and had the mentality he has now. Mr. Fallon mentioned that he was not in fact he was a good son to his parents and was with them every day. Then we asked “if al capone was a good kid then how did all this violence cause by him came to be.” And Mr. Fallon explained, “Even though he was a good son he had some interactions that were not that good. He was involved in different gangs: The Junior Forty Thieves, The Bowery Boys, and the notorious Five Points Gang. And ones he left with Torrio to Chicago that's where Capone became famous. He handled many jobs for Torrio and started gaining experiences, after Torrio retirement Capone became the man in charge.” Mr. Fallon was then asked if this gave more power to Al Capone. “Yes he was able to buy policemen to cover him and anything that he did. Prohibition brought big amounts of money to
Al Capone’s infamy rose as his crime arose in his early life. Al Capone was part of the outfit, which would bootleg alcohol into Chicago during Prohibition, owning speakeasies, and other illegal businesses. According to the text,” Al Capone became Mr. Moonshiner and Bootlegger in Chief,”(Bragg 183). Along with this, Al was involved in the St. Valentine's Day massacre which killed seven people and was known for being a murderer, killing a city prosecutor, a police chief, and a journalist. Al Capone’s bootlegging, illegal businesses, and murders resulted in him being notoriously known.
In 1925 Torrio retired, and Capone became the head of a vast crime empire, operating gambling, prostitution, and bootlegging rackets and expanding his territories by the gunning down of rivals and rival gangs.
Valentine's Day massacre was one of those times. February 14, 1929, 7 members of the North Side gang, led by Bugs Moran, were lured into a Chicago garage, supposedly by the Colosimo Mob, to buy bootlegged alcohol. Member of the Colosimo Mob dressed in stolen police uniforms performed a fake police raid, gathering the 7 North Siders against a wall they executed them in cold blood. Moran had missed the execution by the skin of his teeth later telling authorities that that execution style was Capone’s, however, Scarface could never be linked to the massacre.
Alphonse Capone, also known as Scarface. Born in Brooklyn New York on January 17, 1899 to Italian immigrants. Al was the fourth of nine children. After dropping out of school at the sixth grade al joined his mentor Johnny Torrio’s street gang, called Street Boys Gang. Then later went to the Five Point Gang. Capone worked for Johnny Torrio and was second in charge. Al did things in between his illegal acts. “Between scams he was a clerk in a candy store, a pin boy in a bowling alley, and a cutter in a book bindery.” (1) Capone did his fair share of legal jobs. He became part of the Five Point Gang, which was in Manhattan and worked in Frankie Yale’s Dive. He did legal work but he also did his dirty work. Capone did his legal work to support his family. His mother didn’t work until his teen-age years. His father was a barber trying to open his own
Surprisingly, Johny Torrio was made the boys godfather. Capone wanted to be a good husband, and father, so he moved to Baltimore, where he got a job as a bookkeeper for a construction company. However, when Capones father died of a heart attack in 1920, Torrio invited him to come to Chicago. Capone jumped at the opportunity. In Chicago, Torrio was presiding over a booming business in gamling and prostitution, but with the enactment in 1920 of the 18th Amendment, prohibiting the sale and consumption of alcohol.
Al Capone, who was born in New York in 1899, was one of the most prominent gangsters in America in the 1920s. He was the son of Italian immigrants, and after leaving school at a young age, became a small-time criminal. Known as ‘Scarface,’ he had links to the leader of the Five Points Gang, Johnny Torrio, and moved to Chicago in 1920, where he gradually rose through the ranks as a partner in saloons, gambling and brothels. They moved their operations to Illinois after an offer to work with Jim Colosimo, a central figure in Chicago’s brothel business. Gang rivalry heated up after a dispute between Torrio and Colosimo over whether to begin in the bootlegging business, and in 1920, Colosimo was murdered allegedly by Al Capone. After this, Torrio’s criminal empire expanded massively throughout Chicago, before leaving in 1925 and handing over operations to Capone. After taking over, Capone expanded operations even further, and was able to control Chicago’s Mayor, ‘Big Bill’ Thompson and fix his elections. A local newspaper from the time reported
Out of the turmoil and the collapse of law and order in the 1920’s, perhaps the most recognized figure to emerge from the time is Al Capone. “The New York Times said of Al Capone that he was "the symbol of a shameful era, the monstrous symptom of a disease which was eating into the conscience of America. Looking back on it now, this period of Prohibition in full, ugly flower seems fantastically incredible. Capone himself was incredible, the creation of an ugly dream".” (www.umich.edu) He impacted society through his ruthless tactics, secret alliances, and penetrant for violence typified by the St. Valentine’s Day massacre. Capone controlled many businesses in Chicago such as speakeasies, gambling houses, brothels, horse and race tracks, etc. at an approximated income of $100,000,000 a year. For several years, Al Capone was never convicted for the crimes he committed, and when he did, he had an alibi or there was never sufficient evidence against him. Al Capone had more power in society than most of the political leaders did during that time period.