Al Capone

Alphonse “Scarface” Capone is the most famous gangster in American history. At his peak when he was 28 years old, he ran a lucrative bootleg business, complete with saloons, houses of prostitution, warehouses, a trucking company, an armor-plated Cadillac and sometimes as many as 18 body guards.

Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1899, Capone moved to Chicago in 1919 to avoid arrest. Hooking up with “Terrible John” Torrio, he hit Chicago just as Prohibition was enacted, making the sale and transportation of liquor illegal. Prohibition was the gangters’ lucky card; everyone wanted to drink, and Chicago in the “Roaring Twenties” was a sprawling, boisterous city with rampant political corruption.

Within a few years, Capone controlled the gang’s bootlegging operation, largely due to luck, his ruthlessness and organizational skills. But so many rivals gangs competed for turf that daily murders were common. Although he was arrested numerous times, most cases were dropped for lack of evidence or because no one would testify against him. He became nationally known in February 1929, when he was suspected of organizing the infamous St. Valentine’s Day massacre, in which seven men were lined up and gunned down by thugs masquerading as police. Of course, Capone was in Miami at the time.

Finally, in 1931-32, he was convictred of income-tax evasion—the only federal charge able to ensnare gangsters in those days (nowadays it’s racketeering). He received a sentence of 11 years and was sent to the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta. There he was diagnosed with syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease that was incurable at the time.

When Alcatraz opened in 1934, Capone was on the first trainload, arriving as AZ # 85. He was already showing signs of neurological impairment and his condition worsened on Alcatraz where eventually he was housed in the hospital area. He remained on Acatraz about four and a half years.

Capone was released from federal prison in 1939, and died in Miami in 1947, just days after his 48th birthday.

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