Alphonse Capone, unlike many of the infamous New York gangster of the 20th century, was not from a poor immigrant family. His parents were both educated immigrants from Italy, his father a barber and his mother a seamstress.
He started his life in the slums near the Navy Yard. He was a good student until the 6th grade, where he fell behind and had to repeat it. When a teacher yelled at him, he talked back to her. The principal of the school beat him, and he would never return to school. He had been introduced to gang life in Brooklyn by Johnny Torrio, his gangster mentor.
In Chicago, Johnny Torrio presided over a gambling and prostitution business, but when the 18th Amendment was passed in 1920, and alcohol became illegal, Torrio switched his business to bootlegging. Capone brought in his expertise as as petty thug and a bookkeeper to the operations. Torrio recognized his talents and brought him up to partner status.
When an tempt was made at Torrio's life, he decided to leave and go to Italy, leaving Capone the sole partner in charge of the operation. Capone refused to keep a low profile, spending lavishly and pubic ally. His actions earned an estimated 100 million dollars annually for businesses in Chicago. The press loved him, and followed his every move.
In 1926 two of Capone’s sworn enemies were spotted in Cicero. Capone ordered his men to gun them down, which would lead to issues. William McSwiggin, who had tried to prosecute him for a previous murder, was with the two marked men. All three were killed. The public, tired of the gang-dominated life of Chicago, begged for justice. In response, Capone called for a “Peace Conference” among the city’s criminals, at which an agreement was reached to stop the violence. Unfortunately, that agreement would only last for two months.
By early 1929, it was clear that Al Capone dominated the liquor trade of Chicago. Other gangsters wanted to be on the top. One man that really wanted to be on the top was "Bugs” Moran, a long time rival of Capones. Moran had in the past tried to assassinate Torrio and Capone, and was now going for Capone's number one gunman, “Machine Gun” Jack McGurn. On February 14, 1929, posing as police, McGurn’s gunmen killed 7 of Moran’s men. Bugs Moran managed to escape. Even though Capone was not on the scene at all, he was blamed as the proponent, and dubbed "Public Enemy Number One." This would become known as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, because it was on February 14th.
Capone believed he could get off with a minimal sentence, and struck a plea bargain in return for a two-and-a-half year sentence. To get what he wanted during the trial, Capone used any gangsters best weapons: bribery and intimidation.The judge switched to an entirely new jury and Capone sent to prison for 11 years.
Sources: https://www.biography.com/people/al-capone-9237536
https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/al-capone
http://www.history.com/topics/al-capone
I liked how throughout your blog post you go into depth to explain how Al Capone became who he was known to be, and the experiences as an adult, and what lead to his later life choices. You go further to explain how Al Capone attempted to bribe his way out of jail and this ultimately lead him to 11 years in Prison. This lead me to better understand the type of man he was and what type of position he was in.
ReplyDeleteYour blog post was very informative in explaining the background and details of the life of Al Capone. It's interesting how he wasn't of a poor background, but rather a more well-off family. I wonder how that played a role in his personality and life choices later on. I like how you connected him back to what we learned in class about the bootlegging business during the 1920's and Prohibition. An interesting fact about Al Capone is that he earned nearly $60 million annually buy selling illegal liquor during the height of his business. Also interesting how it wasn't his violent acts or murders which landed him in prison; it was because he had evaded the income tax. He was held in Alcatraz, which isn't too far from here, until he began suffering from neurosyphilis, which caused dementia. Eventually he was transferred to a mental hospital, where he died after three years in 1947.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.history.com/topics/al-capone
I really enjoyed the way you elaborated on the early development of Al Capone's career. It really adds to how you depict the monopoly he had created in Chicago in the black market liquor industry that had come about because of the prohibition movement. When you explained at the beginning about how he was introduced to the gang life I wanted to explore more and found that he was part of a local street gang called the five points gang. From then on as you said his crime life elaborated to the point where he was getting roughly 100 million dollars a year from his crime gang. Also I found out that he hated his nickname. Just a lil fun fact. Your article all in all really helped me learn more about the ineffectiveness of the prohibition movement and acts that only increased the amount of crime with people like Al Capone creating empires based off of it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.history.com/news/history-lists/8-things-you-should-know-about-al-capone