- Alphonse Capone was born the 4th of 9 children to Italian immigrants in Brooklyn. His father was a barber. One of his brothers changed his name and became a Prohibition agent.
- He was in a street gang as a teenager. He was expelled in 6th grade after punching a female teacher. He eventually joined the powerful Five Points Gang and was mentored by Johnny Torrio. He worked as a bouncer and bartender, including in brothels (where he caught syphilis). On the job in a bar, he insulted a woman and her brother slashed Capone with a knife which led to his famous nickname Scarface. He hated the nickname and told the press that he got the scar from fighting in the trenches in WWI (he did not serve). His gangsters called him Big Fellow and his friends called him Snorky which was slang for well-dressed.
- At age 19, he married Mae Coughlin. They had a boy named Sonny. They remained married until his death. She was apparently happy, although he was very unfaithful.
- In 1920, he followed Torrio to Chicago and became his right-hand man. When Torrio was shot several times in his driveway and retired, Capone took over the gang. He expanded its operations. At its height, his bootlegging, gambling, brothels, and racketeering brought in over $100 million a year. The expansion came through strong-arm tactics. If a speakeasy refused to buy his liquor, it might get blown up.
- He was safe from prosecution by bribing a large percent of the police force and most government officials. He was in bed with the mayor. Witnesses were threatened. He did spend a year in jail for carrying a concealed weapon.
- He got good press as a “Robin Hood” type. He had a press secretary. He ran a soup kitchen in the Depression that fed many Chicagoans. He was on the cover of Time magazine on March 24, 1930.
- Although he clearly ordered the hit that was called the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, he was not arrested. He was in Florida at the time. In spite of all his crimes (he supposedly used a baseball bat at a banquet to kill three gang members who were conspiring with a rival), he was convicted of income tax evasion. The trial came about after Pres. Hoover ordered a concentrated effort to bring him to justice. A plea deal was worked out for him to spend 2 ½ years in jail, but the judge refused to accept it. Due to rumors of bribery, the judge switched the jury panel at the last minute. Capone was found guilty of 3 felonies and 2 misdemeanors out of 20 indictments. He was given the harshest penalty for tax evasion up until then – 11 years and $50,000.
- He survived one of the first drive-by shootings when his headquarters was machine-gunned. He never was wounded as a gangster. He did shoot himself in the leg with a pistol in his pocket. He traveled in an armor-plated, bullet proof 1928 V-8 Town Sedan.
- He served his sentence from 1932-1939. He started at the Atlanta Penitentiary where he had a furnished cell with carpeting and a radio. When Alcatraz was opened up, he was transferred, partly for the publicity. There he was treated like a regular prisoner with no perks. He was stabbed in the shower with some scissors, but was not seriously injured. He played the banjo in a band.
- He entered prison suffering from cocaine addiction and his syphilis was at an advanced stage. It eventually led to dementia and took his life at age 48. When he was released from prison, he spent his last years playing cards and fishing at his mansion in Florida. He died poor.
https://www.history.com/news/8-things-you-should-know-about-al-capone
https://www.factinate.com/people/27-criminal-facts-al-capone/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Capone
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