Alphonse Capone was the 3rd of 9 children born to Italian immigrants Gabriel and Teresina Capone.[1] Alphonse was the first to be born in the United States having been born in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up, he and his family resided in tenement housing common for immigrant families in New York City. [2] As a boy, he was considered to be an average student, but eventually lost interest in school. At the age of 14, he was expelled from school and never returned.[3] However, it is claimed that Capone still managed to complete school at some point during his lifetime. [4] It was also around this time that the family moved from their original home to a more upscale home. [5] This move combined with dropping out of school would later facilitate his meeting Johnny Torrio and introduction into the criminal underworld.
Criminal Life
Johnny Torrio was a successful numbers runner in Brooklyn when Al Capone met him. Torrio took Capone under his wing as an errand runner and in the process taught Capone how to have a respectable appearance in addition to running a successful racketeering business. [6][7] In 1909, Torrio left New York for the City of Chicago to run an enterprise there.[8] Capone stayed in New York to work for one of Torrio’s acquaintances, Frankie Yale, as bartender and bouncer. It was in this service that Capone received his trademark scar on his left cheek. [9]
In 1920, Torrio invited Capone to join him in Chicago due to his experience as a thug and bookkeeper in addition to his street smarts. [10] [11] In Chicago, he operated as Torrio’s partner and next in charge. In 1925, Capone rose to become the crime boss after Torrio resigned following an attempt made on his life by a rival gang. [12] Following this, Capone worked to solidify his power in Chicago from rival organizations. On one such occasion, in 1926, Capone had his men gun down members of the Irish Gang in addition to a State Prosecutor. [13] On another occasion, in 1929, Capone had seven members of the North Side Gang assassinated in cold blood in what would be known as the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre. [14]The increasing violence resulted in a public backlash and outcry that eventually garnered the attention of all levels of government.
Some of the methods used to intimidate, assassinate, and murder (or massacre) individuals used by Capone were particularly violent and contributed to his reputation as a criminal. The typical style in which Capone carried his attacks out consisted of having his men gun down victims outside of their residences. This was particularly displayed during the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Despite an affinity for using automatic firearms and shotguns, Capone was also known to utilize bombs as well. There were numerous occasions were Capone had competitors homes or place of business attacked using a bomb. [15] The violence and reputation allowed him the ability to manipulate businesses and even government. On one occasion, Capone had election workers kidnapped and threatened voters with violence in order to manipulate the elections in Cicero, Illinois. [16]
Capture and Indictment
The violence occurring at the end of the twenties and the beginning of the thirties led multiple federal and state agencies to increase their efforts in prosecuting Capone for his crimes. In the spring of 1929, Capone was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon by law enforcement officials in Philadelphia. [17] As result, he was convicted and then sentenced to a year (of which he served 9 months) at the Eastern Penitentiary. [18] Nearly a year after his release, on February 28,1931 Capone was found by the federal court in Chicago to be guilty of contempt in relation to a hearing that took place in March of 1929. [19] The subsequent outcome was 6 months of jail time at the Cook County Jail. [20]
While serving this sentence, the US Treasury Department developed a case for tax evasion and filed charges. Their investigation found that Capone had evaded taxes between 1924 and 1929 totaling over $200,000. [21] On June 5, 1931 the U.S. government, via the Treasury Department, indicted Capone on numerous counts of income-tax evasion. [22] Eleven days later, he entered a plea of guilty as result of a deal he made with the prosecution for a two-and-a-half year sentence. [23] However, the presiding judge refused to uphold the deal forcing Capone to change his plea to not guilty. [24] After being found guilty of all charges, he was sentenced to eleven years of prison time in addition to nearly $300,000 in fines and court costs on November 24, 1931. Capone served a little over seven and a half years amongst the US Penitentiary in Atlanta, Alcatraz and Terminal Island before being released.