On January 17, 1899, the famous gangster Al Capone, who terrorized Chicago in the 20s and 30s of the 20th century, was born. Under the guise of legal business, he was involved in bootlegging, gambling and pimping, and how many murders he had to his name is anyone’s guess. We remembered several facts from his biography
How did you get into the mafia?
Some time after his arrival in Chicago, Al Capone began working as a bouncer in the establishment of his uncle Torrio, the largest mafioso. Young Alphonse gained so much confidence in his relative that he soon became Torrio’s right hand. But then two attempts on his life and Torrio's serious wounding in a shootout forced him to retire. 26-year-old Al Capone took the business into his own hands. At that time, the gang numbered a thousand fighters and collected $300 thousand a week in income from prostitution and the underground sale of alcohol.
“This is virgin territory for brothels,” Capone said of the Chicago suburbs.
Personal life.
Capone's gangster "empire" brought him $60 million a year. He had many houses in Florida and Chicago, which were guarded around the clock, and armed bodyguards accompanied the boss everywhere. Capone had his own secret entrance to Chicago hotels. For example, in the Metropol 50 rooms were reserved for his retinue, then he purchased the luxurious Lexington. Capone was married to Irishwoman May from his youth (interestingly, he brutally dealt with the Irish mafia). The woman, of course, was in honorable exile, without stopping her husband from taking all kinds of pleasures from life. Capone kept many mistresses and selected more and more girls from his brothels. The famous mafioso fell ill with syphilis in his youth. He “rewarded” his son with this disease at birth.
The famous Cadillac.
Having become the leader of an organized crime group in Chicago, Al Capone ordered a personal Cadillac weighing 3.5 tons to protect himself. The car had powerful armor, bulletproof glass and a removable rear window for shooting at pursuers. Interestingly, in 1933, US President Franklin Roosevelt visited Chicago. There, his car was fired upon - the president himself was not injured, but the mayor of the city, who was traveling with him, was mortally wounded. After this incident, the security service chose a more reliable car for the president. The armored Cadillac, confiscated two years earlier from Al Capone, began to perform honorable service. In addition to armor throughout the body and bulletproof glass, this car was equipped with hidden loopholes in the doors, and through the hinged rear window it was possible to fire even from a machine gun.
Valentine's Day Massacre.
In January 1929, Bugs Moran's gang stole Al Capone's trucks and blew up several of his bars. At the same time, the gangster's main militant - Jack McGorn, nicknamed Machine Gun - was ambushed and barely escaped alive. Al Capone decided to take revenge and show who was boss in Chicago. On February 14, one of Capone's men called Moran and said that he had stolen a truck containing contraband alcohol. Moran ordered the truck to be driven into the garage, which served as a secret warehouse for alcohol. When Moran's gangsters gathered to receive the cargo, a car drove up to the garage. Four people got out, two of whom were in police uniform. Moran's men were forced to face the wall and shot with machine guns. Six gangsters died on the spot, and another died from his wounds in the hospital. But Capone’s main rival, Moran, was late for the meeting and therefore survived. However, they could not prove the murders. Capone himself had an “iron” alibi for that day.
Business card.
Al Capone traded in smuggling, pimping and gambling, but the gangster’s business card included a very legitimate profession - “furniture dealer.” Of course, everyone knew about his illegal activities, but the intelligence services were unable to obtain evidence of this and were able to arrest Al Capone only on charges of tax evasion.
Racket.
It was Al Capone who introduced the concept of “racketeering”. Soon after Capone took over the business from his uncle, he became one of the five "owners" of the city. They divided Chicago into spheres of influence and began to control everything - from the election of the mayor to the sale of chewing gum.
You can achieve much more with a kind word and a gun than with just one kind words, - Al Capone used to say.
Laundering of money.
The concept of money laundering also appeared during the “reign” of Al Capone. After all, it was difficult for gangsters to spend ill-gotten money due to the constant attention of the special services to their persons. Therefore, the mafia created a huge network of laundries with very low prices. It was difficult to track the real number of clients who came to wash things, so almost any income could be written. This is how the expression “money laundering” came about.
Capone trial.
In the early 30s, Al Capone was sent to prison. True, not for murder and criminal business, but for tax evasion. To achieve this, American justice had to violate almost all democratic norms. This campaign was led by FBI Director Edward Hoover, who took office during that turbulent time. The court sentenced ordinary private entrepreneur Al Capone to 11 years in prison. Lawyers, bribed journalists and human rights activists raised a fuss and pointed out violations during arrest and pre-trial detention. But the servants of the “bloody Hoover regime” remained adamant.
Life in prison.
Al Capone's life in prison was not as sweet as one might expect. At Alcatraz, he was stripped of his privileges and forced to work as a janitor; prisoners began to call him “the boss with the mop.” And once he “ran into” a knife when he refused to take part in a prisoner strike. Capone was shot in the back. At the same time, the former mafioso’s memory began to change. A medical examination revealed that he had late stage syphilis. In 1939, Al Capone suffered a stroke. He was released early because he was partially paralyzed. Al Capone died on January 25, 1947 from a heart attack and pneumonia. Before his death, as befits a Catholic, he managed to confess and receive communion.
Famous phrase.
Capone is credited with the famous phrase:
- It's just business, nothing personal!
By the way, it was she who later became widespread after the release of the novel “The Godfather”.
Many historians argue about the birthplace of Alfonso Gabriel Fiorello Capone. You may know this person under another, more famous name- Al Capone. According to the gangster himself, he was born on January 17, 1899 in the Italian city of Naples. But according to another version, Alfonso was born at the end of the nineteenth century in small town Castellammare del Golfo in Italy.
Crime mentor instead of school teacher
The name Al Capone in America in the 1920s-1930s, and even in our time, everyone knew and knows. With his ruthless actions, bloody measures and ruthlessness, he struck fear into all enemies and business colleagues. Having become an iconic symbol of criminal America, Capone forever cemented in our minds the image of the criminal world of the mafia. We present short biography legendary mafioso.
In 1909, Al Capone's family moved from their native Italy to the United States of America. Together with the whole family, they settled in Williamsburg, one of the areas of Brooklyn. By the way, the family had many children. Capone's father had nine children. Having matured a little, Alfonso got a job as a butcher.
The boy's cruelty began to manifest itself in teenage years. While still a teenager, he beat his classmates, and sometimes he could raise his hand against teachers. Soon he was accepted by one of the local street gangs, where Al Capone took on the duties of a “help boy.” Johnny Torrio, the leader of that gang, became a teacher and mentor for young Al Capone.
He opened the way for him to the big criminal world, since even at that time he saw enormous potential and ruthlessness in the face of the young man. Alfonso's physical strength and physique set him apart from the crowd of his peers.
Where did Al Capone's scar come from?
Al Capone was hired as a bouncer at Johnny Torrio's local billiards club, fulfilling another role as well. Capone's unofficial occupation was eliminating undesirable people for the boss. It was in this club that the headquarters of the criminal group was located. The recruit's first victims were local owners of bars and small Chinese restaurants, who for one reason or another did not please the leader. Unquestioning execution of orders was distinctive feature young men. This is largely why he earned such trust in his person from Johnny.
In one of the skirmishes, Al Capone was slashed in the face with a knife. Frank Galluccio did it. That's why I became attached to Alfonso famous nickname“Scarface”, which his contemporaries awarded him. Surprisingly, no one called Al Capone that nickname while he was alive. And the gangster himself said that he received the scar in one of the battles in the First World War. In fact, it was a blatant lie, since Capone and American army nothing connected.
After some time, Johnny Torrio acquired the necessary influence in the criminal world and moved to Chicago, where he took young Alfonso with him. Torrio in a new environment and in more high status a reliable person was needed, a right hand, the role of which was played by Capone. In New York, the police followed the criminal trail of the group, literally on their heels.
Al Capone, crime reformer
In America in the 1920s and 1930s, Prohibition was in effect. The sale of alcoholic products was strictly under the control of local authorities. Torrio and Capone chose the distribution of scarce goods as their main occupation, since the demand for it was very high. But in Chicago huge number gangs were doing the same thing. Capone set about eliminating them. His enemies gave him the nickname "Al Brown."
In local fights between gangs of criminals, knives and brass knuckles were usually used, but Capone did not stand on ceremony with the established rules of doing business and took all the most cruel and bloody measures to achieve his goal. Firearms were used.
As a result of the gang war between Torrio and Deion O'Banion, one of the younger brothers Alfonso and Johnny Torrio himself, who retired due to this and handed them over to his right hand. Capone took control of the criminal business at the age of twenty-five.
Taking the helm, the young mafioso created a revolution in the criminal world. In addition to selling alcohol, he engaged in racketeering and also generated income from prostitution. Thanks to his influence on people, Alfonso achieved enormous income and profits.
There were certainly enemies, but none of their attempts were successful. Capone dealt with all his competitors so mercilessly and cruelly that every day there were fewer and fewer of them. Not only the leaders of other groups and their henchmen died, but also innocent people. It was in progress automatic weapon, mining enemy cars. It could get to the point where competitors could be bombarded with grenades in broad daylight.
Capone had loyal associates and executors who covered and protected him from attacks, as well as a personal armored car, which more than once saved the life of the main character of our story. None of the attempts to destroy such an influential leader were justified.
King of Chicago
In 1929, the famous massacre took place. Capone's men, dressed as police officers, burst into a rival gang's warehouse, which was completely filled with alcoholic products, and shot their competitors. As a result, seven people were killed, who were placed along the wall of the room and shot.
Until recently, confident that they had been detained by the police, the rival group did not take a single retaliatory action. This day in American history called "Valentine's Day Massacre".
Mafia boss bribed local authorities, officials, journalists, politicians and was considered the “uncrowned king of Chicago.” The lower strata of society were immensely grateful to the king for the free canteens he opened throughout the city. During the Great Depression, this gesture by the mafia had a positive effect on strengthening his power.
According to historians, during the street criminal wars and skirmishes, seven hundred people were killed, of which Al Capone eliminated four hundred with his own hands. Not a single murder was completed by the police and was closed due to the lack of evidence and leads. The earnings of Alfonso's criminal group amounted to huge sums by those standards - $60 million.
Tax trap
J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI, managed to stop Al Capone's criminal activities by first sending him to 10 months in prison for illegally carrying weapons, and then to 11 years in prison for tax evasion. The mafia didn’t even notice the first term. All conditions were created in the prison for a comfortable stay for the leader. Running your criminal business from there was no problem. While in captivity, Capone received visitors and guests every day.
After spending a lot of effort, the FBI in 1934 achieved the transfer of Alfonso to the most secure and legendary federal prison in the United States called Alcatraz, where his connections with outside world were completely disrupted and eventually lost completely. It was no longer possible to control the group from there.
Al Capone was literally defeated and humiliated. His duties included wet cleaning, and the new nickname of the once known for the ruthlessness of the mafioso became “Boss with a mop.”
Capone was released for health reasons in 1939. Stricken by partial paralysis, the mafioso could no longer control the group as before. He received his illness due to unprotected sex with many of his prostitute workers. The helpless Alfonso lost power over the criminal world. The merciless criminal died on January 25, 1947. He died in his bed.
During the 14 years of Al Capone's reign, there were 700 mob murders in Chicago; of these, 400 were ordered by Capone himself.
Alphonse Fiorello Caponi is much better known by his nickname Al Capone. He was born, according to his own statement, in Naples in 1899 (according to another version, in Castelamaro four years earlier). In 1909, the Caponi family, like many other Italians, moved to New York in search of happiness. Richard (Richard) Caponi, the eldest son, became a policeman. His brother Alfonso (Al Capone) chose the opposite path. But he started out harmlessly enough - as a butcher's assistant in Brooklyn. However, he was soon drawn into the criminal environment.
To begin with, Al Capone worked in one of the local gangs as a help boy, but his abilities were soon noticed, and the guy was helped to retrain as a professional
onal killer. His first “wet case” was the murder of an obstinate Chinese who did not want to share the income from his restaurant.
Meanwhile, the struggle for the presidency in the “Sicilian Union” was unfolding in the country. During the struggle, Frank Aiello destroyed the head of the union, Big Jim Colosimo, in order to install Johnny Torrio in his place. Frank Aiello and Johnny Torrio invited Canone to Chicago in the mid-1920s. Capone, having gone through the stages of working as a bartender and bouncer, takes the nickname Al Brown and becomes Torrio's assistant. From now on, he is a bootlegger, that is, a person involved in the illegal sale of alcohol (Prohibition was in effect in the USA at that time). At the same time, Al Capone created a reliable group
at the combat cover.
The “Sicilian Union” of gangsters that emerged at the beginning of the century made the hitman profession a popular one. Within the framework of the commonwealth mafia clans in the 1930s, the so-called “Murder Corporation” was even created, uniting full-time criminals - executors of mafia death sentences.
When the police were able to get some arrested Mafiosi to speak in 1940, it revealed, as Mafia scholars write, "a picture of a veritable death-for-hire industry - a gigantic assassination enterprise that spread its tentacles throughout the country and operated on an incredible scale with punctuality, precision and extraordinary efficiency good quality
this mechanism..."
The stage for the creation of a kind of murder community was prepared during a meeting of underworld leaders in Atlantic City in 1929. At this meeting, in addition to Al Capone, Joe Torrio, Lucky Luciano, and Dutch Schultz were present. During the creation of the crime syndicate, the distribution of territories and sectors of activity, representatives of the top of the American criminal world swore to strictly implement the secret code that they developed and which from now on was supposed to regulate relations between various gangs.
Each leader of a gang of bandits had the right to control the life and death of his people within the established competence
tions. Outside the gang he led, even on his own territory, he was prohibited from holding court on his own. He had to necessarily bring the issue that arose for discussion to the highest council of the criminal syndicate, consisting of the most powerful leaders, called upon to monitor the observance of order within the organization, to consider everything controversial issues, threatening to lead to bloody skirmishes, and resolutely suppress any undertakings that could harm the syndicate.
The Supreme Council made a decision by a simple majority of votes after a kind of trial, where the accused, who was usually absent, was defended by one of the members of the Areopagus. Justified
A death sentence was passed very rarely; mostly the high council spoke in favor of using one punishment - death.
The execution of sentences was entrusted to the "Murder Corporation". Executioners for these purposes were supplied by gangs from different regions USA. The most successful were people from a gang called the Brooklyn Union.
Becoming a leader organized crime in Chicago, Al Capone gives orders to eliminate his opponents in the gangster environment - both real and potential. To protect himself, Al Capone ordered a personal Cadillac weighing 3.5 tons. The vehicle had heavy armor, bulletproof glass and a removable rear window for shooting at pursuers.
Al Capone waged war against his former benefactor, Frank Aiello, and his brothers. The Aiello family maintained an entire army of hired killers, but Al Capone's boys turned out to be more agile in this battle of octopuses. Frank Aiello and several of his brothers and nephews were killed. The surviving members of the Aiello clan hired a brilliant professional killer, 22-year-old Giuseppe Gianta, nicknamed Jumping Toad, and also bribed two people from Al Capone's entourage - Albert Anselmi and John Scalise.
“The trio, of course, would have completed the task,” the journalists write, “if the suspicious Al Capone had not beaten his own in front of everyone.” faithful assistant, Frank Rio, not without his consent
Certainly. The trick was a success, and Janta, without hesitation, offered Rio his help, believing that he would want to take revenge for the insult. Frank Rio haggled for a long time about the price of his betrayal, and then went straight to the boss and told him everything.
Capone, in a rage, literally crushed the Havana cigar, which at that moment was in his hands, with his thick ringed fingers. And, of course, it didn’t stop there. As the head of the largest criminal community, he invited, through the mediation of Rio, all three to a large Sicilian reception as especially honored guests. Lunch was to take place in a separate room of the chic Auberge de Gammond restaurant. The Capone Who Never Stopped
poured in before the expenses, watched with disgust as the guests gorged themselves on delicacies prepared especially for the farewell dinner. Raising his glass of red wine, Al Capone made another toast:
Long life to you, Giuseppe, to you, Albert, and to you too, John... And success to you in your endeavors.
The guests chorused:
And success in your endeavors...
Due to the abundance of food and wine, many began to take off their jackets and unfasten their belts. Sang old songs native land. By midnight, the sated guests put down their plates. There was excitement at the end of the table where Capone was sitting. The owner again raised his glass and made another toast in honor of the trio sitting nearby, but instead
In order to drink, he threw the contents of the glass in their faces, smashed the glass on the floor and screamed:
Bastards, I will make you vomit what you swallowed here, because you betrayed the friend who feeds you...
With a swiftness surprising for a man of his size, he rushed at them. Frank Rio and Jack McGorn have already pointed their weapons at the traitors. Frank walked around them from behind, wrapped them in rope and tied them to the backs of chairs. He then forced all three of them to turn towards Capone. Those present remembered this scene for a long time.
Al Capone had a baseball bat in his hands. The first blow hit Scalise's collarbone. As the bat dropped, Satan's madness from Chicago to
grew. Foam appeared on his thick lips, he moaned with excitement, while those subjected to a barbaric beating screamed and begged for mercy.
They were not spared..."
On the orders of Al Capone, the famous massacre took place on St. Valentine's Day. In January 1929, Bugs Moran's (real name George Miller) gang stole Al Capone's trucks and blew up several bars he owned. Capone's main gunman, Jack McGorn, nicknamed Machine Gun, was ambushed and barely escaped alive. This forced Capone to liquidate the Moran gang.
On February 14, 1929, one of Capone's men called Moran and said that he had stolen a truckload of contraband liquor. Moran ordered the truck to be driven
to the garage, which served as a secret warehouse for alcohol. When Moran's gangsters gathered to receive the cargo, a car drove up to the garage, from which four people got out - two of them in police uniforms. The imaginary policemen ordered Moran's men to stand facing the wall, took out machine guns and opened fire. So six gangsters were shot, and another died from his wounds in the hospital, having managed to declare before his death: “Nobody shot at me.” Moran was late for the meeting and survived.
Capone himself, of course, had a strong alibi on the day of the massacre.
Capone's "Empire" brought him $60 million a year, but he also spent a lot. On horse racing alone he lost up to a million a year. His homes in Florida and Chicago were guarded
around the clock, and armed bodyguards accompanied the boss everywhere. He had his own secret entrance to Chicago hotels - first to the modest Metropole, where 50 rooms were reserved for his retinue, and then to the luxurious Lexington. Capone's Irish wife May, whom he married at a young age, was usually in honorable exile. He kept a bunch of mistresses and selected more and more girls from his brothels.
During the Wall Street crash and economic crisis, Al Capone was one of the first to establish soup kitchens for the unemployed to gain public favor. He was one of the first to put the matter of bribing the press on a grand scale. His public relations consultant
Chicago Tribune reporter Jack Lingle organized almost weekly articles praising Al Capone. Officially, Lingle received $65 a week at the newspaper, but his secret salary was $60,000 a year. Lingle was shot and killed on June 9, 1930, on the eve of a meeting with FBI agents looking for dirt on Capone.
During the 14 years of Al Capone's reign, there were 700 mob murders in Chicago; of these, 400 were ordered by Capone himself. 17 professional killers were formally charged, but the gangsters were put behind bars in rare cases.
In the 1930s, when Edward Hoover headed the FBI, American justice developed new methods of fighting the mafia.
to her. Since it was extremely difficult to prove the involvement of mafiosi in murders, they were sent to prison on charges of lesser crimes. So, in 1929, Al Capone was convicted of carrying a weapon without permission; he spent 10 months in prison. However, even while in prison, he received whoever he wanted and freely used the telephone, running his empire around the clock.
For the second time, the boss of bosses received a sentence for non-payment of taxes in the amount of 388 thousand dollars. Al Capone's lawyers tried to bargain with the judge, but he was adamant. Then they took on the jury, but on the day of the hearing the judge replaced the jury with others. On October 22, 1931, the jury returned a guilty verdict, which allowed Su.
It is not possible to sentence the gangster to 11 years in prison.
While in local prison, Al Capone continued to lead his men, but when he was transferred to a federal prison in Atlanta, Georgia, this became impossible. And in 1934, Al Capone completely cut off the air, sending him to famous prison on Alcatraz Island. This meant the end of the king of gangsters' career.
In prison, Al Capone kept himself apart from others, but when he was stripped of his privileges and forced to work as a janitor, prisoners began calling him “the boss with the mop.” One day, when he refused to take part in a prison strike, someone stabbed him in the back with a pair of scissors.
Al Capone's memory began to change; his health
worsened. A medical examination revealed that he had late stage syphilis. In 1939, Al Capone was partially paralyzed and was released early.
The last years of his life he lived in his home in Florida. Al Capone died on January 25, 1947 from a heart attack and pneumonia. Before his death, as befits a Catholic, he managed to receive Holy Communion. It is not known whether he spoke in his dying confession about the hundreds of people killed on his orders, and about the forty whom he killed with his own hand.
Al Capone was buried in the Mont Olivets cemetery in Chicago, but so many tourists came to his grave that the family was forced to move the gangster’s ashes to another cemetery.
Alfonso Capone, the eldest of nine children of an Italian immigrant, was born on January 17, 1899. He didn't like school. He didn’t love him so much that once he even attacked the teacher. The expulsion only benefited the hooligan: he joined a New York gang that covered up the gambling business. And there the abilities of young Capone were appreciated. On the streets, Alfonso learned faster and more willingly than at school, and quickly climbed the “career ladder.”
Capone started out as a bouncer at a pool club where gang members hung out. The young “employee”’s points were enhanced by his virtuoso knife skills: at the age of 13, Capone worked part-time in a butcher’s shop. However, this skill did not save Alphonse from the scar that later became his business card. Once in the billiard room, he quarreled with the girlfriend of the bandit, who slashed Capone on the left cheek. Since then, the gangster has been given the nickname Scarface - however, during his lifetime no one dared to call Capone that to his face, and the gangster himself claimed that he received the scar in the First World War.
After school - join a gang
At the age of 18, Capone had already attracted the attention of the New York police to his person. The aspiring mafioso was not in the mood to communicate with the “pharaohs,” so he decided to change his place of work and moved to Chicago, where family connections helped him. Capone ended up in his uncle's gang and immediately helped him get rid of his intractable partner. In general, already in the first days of his stay in the new place, Alfonso showed criminal world your abilities.
Al Capone with his wife May, daughter and son
By the way, at the same time, 19-year-old Al married 18-year-old May Josephine Coughlin, who, even before the wedding, gave birth to a son from the gangster. Albert Capone, as an adult, changed his last name to Brown, lived an almost law-abiding life (he served two years for petty theft), became the father of four daughters and died in 2004.
Who came up with the idea of laundering money?
Armored car, commissioned by Al Capone at the Cadillac plant
Al Capone's rise was helped by tragic events. Of course, tragic events in general made up the resume of the mafioso, but in this case, it was the same Uncle Capone who was targeted, who was forced to transfer the management of affairs to his talented 26-year-old nephew. Al Capone, who gained power, showed his competitors where crayfish spend the winter. He untied real war crime bosses, from which Great Al emerged as the undisputed winner, as his “colleagues” now called him. The specialization of the Capone gang is brothels, underground trade in alcohol, racketeering (this word, by the way, was invented by Big Al himself). At the same time, Mr. Capone’s business card read: “Alfonso Capone, antique furniture dealer.” This was one of the covers for his gangster activities. Capone also organized a network of budget laundries, which gave rise to the expression “money laundering.”
Bloody Al Capone
The bloody massacres of Al Capone resounded throughout America. The newspapers screamed about the Valentine's Day massacre, when Capone's gang, disguised as police officers, seized a competitor's whiskey warehouse and shot them. Standing in Capone's way meant certain death. But betrayal was punished especially cruelly. One day, in front of the gang, Al beat up his faithful bodyguard, Frank Rio. He didn’t particularly mind, because his partners had planned cunning plan. After the beating, several gang members suggested that Frank take revenge on the presumptuous leader and go over to the side of his competitors. That evening, Rio conveyed their names to his boss, who decided to issue his employees a “severe reprimand.” The traitors were invited to a sumptuous dinner with Italian delicacies, music and expensive wine. The feast lasted several hours, and for dessert the owner prepared a special dish for the guests - beating with a baseball bat, and instead of the cherry on the cake - control bullets. “It’s just business, nothing personal!” - Al Capone liked to say his catchphrase.
Sex with a Greek prostitute 20 years later resulted in degradation and loss of status for Al Capone in the criminal world.
Started as a bouncer in New York, became hitman. In the early 1920s, he moved to Chicago, amassed an army of militants and filled the streets with blood. He sat down, got out, sat down again, then disappeared somewhere... The stages of Al Capone's career are well known. But few people know that all this time the mafia boss’s body was suffering from syphilis.
Al Capone fishing on Palm Island, Florida. Undated photo: AP Photo/East News
Capone vs FBI
Alfonso Capone was handing out business cards for an antique furniture dealer, but he real profession everyone knew. By the age of 30, the scope of his activities and cruelty made the Chicago Italian the most famous gangster USA. His gang dealt with traitors and competitors without pity, killing about 700 people.
An annual income of $10 million (about 150 million modern dollars) allowed him to spend generously on security, bribes to police and prosecutors, charity and PR. Multiple arrests for alcohol smuggling, pimping, and gambling never brought the Italian to court. Witnesses disappeared or refused to testify, and Capone always had an alibi.
In 1929, the new head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Edgar Hoover, managed to imprison “Alya” for 10 months for illegally carrying weapons. He was not bored in prison: he resolved issues over the phone and received visitors. Then I took up the old one. The feds continued to dig: through Capone’s subordinate they got to the black accounting department and in 1931 they accused the gangster of tax evasion. Lawyers managed to destroy most of the charges, but the mafioso received a sentence of 11 years.
Al Capone after his arrest in 1931. Photo: United States Bureau of Prisons / Wikipedia Al Capone after 8 years in prison. Photo: Federal Bureau of Investigation/fbi.gov, January 7, 1939
Capone against Treponema
Al Capone contracted Lues at the age of 18 from a Greek prostitute. I didn’t go to the doctors, and when the disease became latent, I forgot about it. It later turned out that syphilis was transmitted to his only son Sonny - the infection was not discovered immediately and the boy became partially deaf. Both Capone and his wife May had to undergo treatment.
While serving his second term, the gangster tried to manage his criminal empire remotely, but his connections were quickly cut off. First they transferred him from a Chicago prison to Atlanta, and then to Alcatraz Island. There, Capone tried to behave exemplarily, and quickly slid down to a janitor in the prison hierarchy, where life-sentenced murderers ruled. Once, a former boss was stabbed in the back with scissors for refusing to give money “for the common fund” and ended up in a medical center. There, old diagnoses were discovered - syphilis and gonorrhea in an advanced form.
The disease, which was not treated with medicine at that time, progressed. Prisoner No. 85 began to lose his memory. Over time, convulsions, hallucinations, impaired speech and coordination of movements, and partial paralysis were added to the amnesia. Having served 2/3 of the term ( Last year- in the infirmary), Al Capone was released on bail in 1939. He could barely move his legs and did not recognize his family. For several months, Capone recovered his health in the hospital, and then hid in his mansion in Miami.
This is what syphilis was called in the 1930s.
Al Capone with his son Sonny at a baseball game, 1931. Photo: mafiascene.com Al Capone with his family after his release. Photo: RR Auction
Degradation to 12 year old child
Penicillin was introduced in the 1940s. Capone's property registered to relatives was not confiscated, and the family kept the money. His wife ensured that Alphonse was one of the first in America to receive the scarce drug. But the antibiotic did not help: brain decay had already led to dementia. The invited doctors diagnosed the “intelligence of a 12-year-old child.”
Hunched over like an old man, dressed in striped pajamas, Capone never left the house again. For some time, old friends visited the bandit and played cards. Then the patient got into the habit of discussing with long-dead people, some of whom he killed himself. His wife stopped allowing guests to see him, fearing that the mafia would decide to shut up the source of information. The rest of Capone's days amused himself by hunting butterflies and fishing in an empty pool.
Organs affected by syphilis were failing. In 1946, “Great Al” no longer left wheelchair and could only breathe through an oxygen mask. A year later, at 48, Alphonse died of a stroke and pneumonia. A grave in a Chicago cemetery was trampled by tourists who were having a drinking party on the bones of an anti-Prohibition fighter. Relatives were forced to rebury the ashes in another place.
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