Biography. Al Capone: biography, photos, interesting facts and quotes

Most often, people are interested in the personalities of historical figures who could become an example of behavior, or who created something useful for the country, for art, for science, for future life. But there are a number of personalities who became famous not for creation, but for crimes, but are no less interesting to the public. One of the most famous criminals in the history of mankind is Alfonso Gabriel Capone, who is usually called pet name- Al Capone. Let's see what this gangster became famous for.

Famous boss of the Italian mafia | Airbnb

He is considered one of the founding fathers organized crime United States of the era of Prohibition and the Great Depression, the author of the money laundering system and the concept of "racketeering". But most of all, Capone's name went down in history in connection with the sensational series of murders, called the "Valentine's Day Massacre." The biography of Al Capone is directly connected with his ancestors, more precisely with the Italian family. It was from Italy that Gabriel and Teresa Capone emigrated, who settled in the New York suburb of Williamsburg. And it is with the Italian mafia that their son will be connected all his life.

Gangster with good-natured face | Noticias Terra

Alfonso was born in the last year of the 19th century and became the first of nine children of his father and mother. From an early age, his sharply excitable character was manifested. Today, a boy as a preschooler would have been among the patients of a psychiatrist and probably would not have fallen into the criminal sphere, but in the years of Al Capone's childhood, no one thought about such things. Therefore, Alfonso's aggression trailed behind him like a train. From the first grades, he loudly and violently cursed with classmates and teachers, and in the sixth grade he even tried to beat the teacher right in the lesson. Shortly thereafter, the teenager drops out and joins a local gang that would later become part of the famed New York Five Points gang.

Photo by Alfonso Capone | Zing News

Young people were mainly engaged in extortion and illegal gambling. To cover his real occupation, the guy worked as a bouncer at the Harvard Inn club, and also acted as a professional billiards player. Al Capone's height was not too big, only 170 centimeters, but he was always very large and produced the effect of a thug. By the way, it was in the billiard room that a fight took place that “gave” Al Capone a scar on his face. He made an unambiguous remark about one of the girls, and she turned out to be either a sister or the wife of a criminal who was also present in the hall.

A stabbing ensued, and Alfonso got his famous scar on his cheek. It is curious that the future head of the mafia was always ashamed of such a banal story, so he invented an alternative version: supposedly the scar is the result of participation in heroic battles during the First World War. In fact, Capone not only did not fight, but did not serve in the army at all. By the age of 18, Alfonso Capone was suspected by the city police of a variety of crimes, including two murders. Therefore, the young man decided to seek his fortune in another metropolis and moved from New York to Chicago.

Mafia career

In the new place, "Great Al", as his friends called him, took up pimping in one of the provincial brothels. Among the gangsters of Chicago in the 30s, this was considered almost the most humiliating occupation, but Capone managed to make an incredibly profitable business. He turned it from an ordinary brothel into a four-story bar "The Four Deuces", where the beer house, sweepstakes, casino and the brothel itself were located floor by floor. What started out as a cheap haunt quickly turned into a $35 million a year business. Translated into today's money, this will be approximately 420 million per annum.

Capone started out as a pimp and rose to mafia leadership | BuGazete

Therefore, it is not surprising that by the age of 26, Al Capone becomes the owner of the entire criminal empire, after the previous head of the mafia, John Torrio, also referred to as "The Fox" or "Papa Johnny", resigned this authority. First of all, the newly minted crime boss introduced such a previously unknown concept as racketeering. That is, he offered honest entrepreneurs to pay him a bribe, and a very considerable one, and for this he provided them with protection from other gangs, and sometimes from the police.

At the head of the Italian mafia | Free Keyword

If businessmen refused, then their institution, and often themselves, was threatened with death. The mafia also began to exploit prostitution, introduced a fraudulent scheme, which many years later became known as “money laundering”, “bought” police officers and even high-ranking politicians for bribes, which was previously unimaginable. By the way, the invention of the money laundering scheme is also attributed to Alfonso Capone.

Capone invented a money laundering scheme | Chrontime

The fact is that his personal business was directly related to the smuggling of alcoholic beverages, which were banned in those years in the United States. The profit had to be legalized, and for this the mafiosi opened a chain of laundries. Prices for services were set so low that the number of customers could not be counted. Accordingly, the gigantic profits actually received from the liquor trade were officially shown by the laundries. Actually, because of the laundry, the scheme was called “money laundering”, however, this term was first used only decades after the death of Al Capone.

home distinguishing feature mafia Al Capone - non-stop criminal showdown, usually ending in the death of one of the bandits. During the first five years of Capone's “reign”, over half a thousand far from ordinary gangsters died in skirmishes. Alfonso completely exterminated the Irish, Russian and Mexican gangs in Chicago, getting rid of the competition. It was his idea to replace the pistols familiar to Italian gangsters with machine guns, and then with light machine guns.

It was Capone who armed his people with light machine guns | out gun

Also, according to his approval, explosive devices connected to the car's starter were used, which destroyed the car with the driver and passengers after the ignition was turned on. A series of gangster killings has become widely known as the "Valentine's Day Massacre". It began precisely on February 14, 1929, in a garage in which one of the gangs kept a warehouse of whiskey. Capone's armed men broke in in police uniforms, and the competitors, who thought they were victims of justice, meekly lined up against the wall for arrest, but were shot on the spot.

Notes on everything

Similar shocking murders were repeated several more times. Direct evidence for these episodes of Capone was not found, so he, like all his wards, escaped punishment. Actually, for those mass executions, the police did not punish anyone at all, which once again proves how high the law enforcement agencies got Al Capone's hand. However, it was the "Valentine's Day Massacre" that caused Alfonso to be closely monitored by representatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI officers, not seeing an opportunity to arrest him for banditry, nevertheless found another lead to catch one of the most legendary gangsters of the 20th century - they turned to the Internal Revenue Service.

Personal life

From adolescence, revolving in criminal circles, Al Capone's personal life was inextricably linked with ladies of easy virtue. By the age of 16, the young man had several venereal diseases, including syphilis, which he tried to treat, but soon abandoned this business. Later, such a disregard for health will affect the son of Al Capone. Alfonso married at the age of 19. Al Capone's wife, an Irish saleswoman and an ardent Catholic May Josephine Coughlin, gave birth to him a month before the wedding only son Albert Francis, who was called Sonny in the family.

Wedding of Alfonso and May Capone | Gazeta.ua

It is curious that, due to his minority, Capone could not go down the aisle without the consent of his parents, so his father Gabriel wrote a written permission to the official services. As for the son, Albert Francis Capone, he was significantly affected by the carefree behavior of his father. The boy was born with congenital syphilis and a serious complication on the brain, underwent a series of operations in infancy, was able to survive, but was almost deaf.

With son Alfred Francis "Sonny" Capone | InfoSMI

It is noteworthy that just once in his life, Albert tried to feel like a criminal and stole some trinket in a store, but he was immediately arrested by the police. Capone Jr. was sentenced to two years probation, and he did not break the law until the end of his life. In already adulthood Albert changed his famous surname to Brown, got married and gave birth to four daughters. So Alfonso Capone still has biological descendants.

Prison and death

As mentioned above, the police either could not or did not want to catch the head of the Italian mafia for criminal acts. And since even the FBI could not prove Capone's involvement in most of the crimes, the authorities found another loophole: they accused Alfonso of non-payment income tax. In the fall of 1931, the mafia boss was sentenced to 11 years in prison and a huge fine. So that Capone could not lead his subordinates from prison, he was placed in a correctional institution in Atlanta, and later even in an isolated prison on Alcatraz Island.

Photos in the prison "Alcatraz" | Alcatraz History

Of the 11 years, the gangster served only seven, but they were enough for Alfonso to finally undermine his health and be released, completely losing his criminal influence. In prison, his chronic syphilis entered the final stage of the destruction of the body, although Al Capone died for a different reason. At the end of January, he had a stroke, three days later, doctors additionally diagnosed pneumonia, and on January 25, 1947, Alfonso Capone died of cardiac arrest in his country house in Florida.

Grave of Alfonso Capone | pressa.tv

The mafia boss was buried in Chicago, but due to the huge flow of tourists, which actually turned into a pilgrimage, his body was reburied at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Illinois. In history, the name Capone remained as the personification of organized crime, but had a certain halo of gangster romance, which is very often used in cinema. Dozens of famous actors have played in Al Capone's films and television series, including the legendary Hollywood stars And .

The personality of Al Capone is also interesting for collectors. They even sell weapons that belonged to him at auctions. For example, in January 2017, the Smith & Wesson 32-gauge Capone revolver, with which the mafia did not part even while playing golf, becomes the main highlight of American trading.

Alphonse Gabriel "The Great Al" Capone(ital. Alphonse Gabriel "Great Al" Capone; January 17 - January 25) - an American gangster of Italian origin, who operated in the 1920s and 1930s in the territory of Chicago. Under the guise of a furniture business, he was engaged in bootlegging, gambling and pimping, as well as charity (he opened a network of canteens for unemployed fellow citizens). Bright representative organized crime in the United States of the era of Prohibition and the Great Depression, which originated and exists there under the influence of the Italian mafia.

early years

Capone was born in Brooklyn and was the fourth child of Gabriele Capone (December 12 - November 14) and Teresa Rayol, (December 28 - November 29). Parents were Italian immigrants (both were natives of Angri) who came to the United States in 1894 and settled in Williamsburg, a suburb of Brooklyn, New York. Father was a hairdresser, mother was a seamstress. In total they had 9 children: 7 sons - James Vincenso, (March 28 - October 1), Rafaelle James (January 12 - January 22), Salvatore (July 16 - April 1), Alfonse, Ermino John (April 11 - July 12 ), Albert Umberto (January 24 - January 14) and Matthew Nicholas ( - ), - and two daughters - Ermina ( - ) and Mafalda (January 28 - March 25). James and Ralph were the only ones born in Italy, since Salvatore, all the other Capone children were born in the States.

Alphonse from an early age showed signs of a clear excitable psychopath. Ultimately, as a sixth grader, he attacked his school teacher, after which he left school and joined the James Street gang, led by Johnny Torrio, who then joined the famous Five Points gang Paolo Vaccarelli, better known as Paul Kelly. [ ]

In front of the true affairs (mainly illegal gambling and extortion) and the actual refuge of the gang - a billiard club - the overall teenager Alfonso was arranged as a bouncer. Addicted to playing billiards, he won absolutely every tournament held in Brooklyn during the year. Thanks to physical strength and size, Capone enjoyed doing the job in his boss Yale's squalid and shabby establishment, the Harvard Inn. It is to this period of life that historians attribute the stabbing of Capone with the felon Frank Galluccio. The quarrel occurred because of the sister (according to some reports, wife) Galluccio, against whom Capone released a cheeky remark. Galluccio slashed the young Alfonso in the face with a knife, giving him the famous scar on his left cheek, which in the chronicles and pop culture will earn Capone the nickname "Scarface" (Scarface). Alfonso was ashamed of this story and explained the origin of the scar by participation in the Lost Battalion. (English) Russian, offensive operation Entente troops in the Argonne forest in the First World War, due to the incompetence of the command, which ended tragically for infantry battalion American troops. In fact, Alfonso not only was not in the war, but he never even served in the army.

Personal life

On December 30, 1918, 19-year-old Capone married May Josephine Coughlin (April 11 - April 16). Coughlin was Irish Catholic and had given birth to their son, Albert Francis "Sonny" Capone, earlier that month (December 4–August 4). Since Capone was not yet 21 years old at that time, his parents required written consent to the marriage.

Mafia career

In 1917, Capone was closely interested in the New York police: he was suspected of involvement in at least two murders, which served as an excuse for him to move after Torrio to Chicago and join the gang of "Big" Colosimo, the owner of several brothels and Torrio's uncle. Just during this period, there was a dispute between Colosimo and Torrio about expanding the scope of activities by bootlegging. Torrio was in favor, Colosimo was against. The greedy and unprincipled Torrio, having exhausted all the arguments, decided to simply eliminate the intractable relative, and in this enterprise he found a supporter - Alfonso. The performer was an old acquaintance from the Five Points gang - thug Frankie Yale.

In the bootlegging business, the newly minted Torrio gang faced fiercer competition. After a few years of more or less peaceful coexistence, a conflict of interest led to a clash between Torrio's group and Deion O'Banion's Irish North Side gang, which eventually resulted in the latter's murder. The O'Banion gang did not accept defeat, and the next notable victim of the confrontation was Alfonso's younger brother Frank. Two attempts on his life and severely wounding Torrio in a shootout forced him to retire and appoint Al Capone as his successor. At that time, the gang consisted of about a thousand fighters and collected 300 thousand dollars of income per week. Alfonso was in his 26th year and he was in his element.

Alfonso lived up to the Mafia's expectations. Al Capone introduced such a thing as "racket"; the mafia also began to exploit prostitution, and all this was covered by huge bribes paid by Capone not only to policemen, but also to politicians. The war of bandits under Capone took on unprecedented proportions for that time. Between 1924 and 1929 alone, more than five hundred gunmen were shot dead in Chicago. Capone mercilessly exterminated the Irish gangs of O'Banion, Dougherty and Bill Moran. Machine guns joined the machine guns and hand grenades. The bandit practice included explosive devices installed in cars that worked after the starter was turned on. The beginning of this series of murders entered the history of American forensic science under the name "Massacre on Valentine's Day."

Massacre on Valentine's Day

Organized by a gang of southerners Torrio for leadership in the bootleg alcohol market in the city. In November 1924, Torrio orders the assassination of O'Banyon and unleashes open war against his associates. As a result of the retaliatory actions of the northwestern, Torrio, who barely escaped reprisal, goes on the run, appointing Capone responsible for the operation, who himself almost died in the confrontation in September 1926.

At the appointed hour, members of the Capone gang in the form of Chicago police officers broke into the garage, where the Moran gang organized a warehouse of smuggled whiskey. Moran's men, taken by surprise, raised their hands in the air, convinced of the authenticity of the policemen. They obediently lined up against the wall, but instead of the expected search, shots rang out. Seven people were killed. Nevertheless, the main goal, for which the crime was planned, was not achieved - Bugs Moran was late for the meeting and, seeing the police car parked at the warehouse, disappeared. Attracted by the shots, passers-by crowded in front of the garage. They were overly surprised by the quickness of the guardians of order, when Capone's guys in a new, as if from a needle, uniform, left the place of the massacre.

No direct evidence of Capone's involvement in the episode was found. Moreover, no one has been brought to justice for the crime.

The published images from the crime scene shocked the public and badly ruined Capone's reputation in society, and also forced federal law enforcement agencies to come to grips with the investigation of his activities.

Capone's fall and death

In July 1931, Capone appeared in federal court and was sentenced to eleven years in prison at the Atlanta Correctional Institution for tax evasion of $388,000. In 1934 he was transferred to a prison on the island of Alcatraz, from where he came out seven years later terminally ill with syphilis. Capone lost his criminal influence.

On January 21, 1947, Capone suffered a stroke, after which he regained consciousness and even recovered, but on January 24 he was diagnosed with pneumonia. Capone died the next day.

The most famous american gangster Al Capone lived not the longest, but very eventful life. He managed to rise from the very bottom of the US criminal world and became the most influential mafia of his time. About how the fate of Al Capone, this post will tell.

The classic image of the American mafia of the 1920s and 1930s, with high-profile gunfights and ruthless hitmen, arose, in fact, thanks to one person. No one knows exactly how many people were killed on his orders, but Al Capone's name alone terrified even his most ferocious colleagues in the "criminal business."
The birthplace of Alfonso Gabriel Fiorello Capone, better known as Al Capone, is still being debated. The mafia boss himself said that he was born in Naples on January 17, 1899, but some of his biographers are sure that Alfonso was actually born in Castellammare del Golfo in 1895.
In 1909, Alfonso and his family followed a typical route for Italians of that time - to the USA.
The large Capone family (Alfonso's father had nine children) began to settle in a new place, in Williamsburg, a suburb of Brooklyn, and the grown-up Alfonso got a job as a butcher. However, his bad inclinations manifested themselves even at school - he could beat a classmate for no reason, even raised his hand to teachers.
It is not surprising that very soon he began to play the role of a boy in the wings in one of the local gangs. Mentor on the criminal path for Alfonso was the leader of the group, Johnny Torrio. The bandit saw great prospects in the recruit - excellent physical condition along with cruelty and ruthlessness.

Where is the scar from?

Officially, Alfonso began to play the role of a bouncer in a billiard club, which was the headquarters of the Torrio gang. Unofficially, he played the role of a killer, eliminating those who did not please the leader. However, at first Alfonso's victims were only minor figures, like the owner of a small Chinese restaurant who quarreled with bandits.

Al Capone with his son, 1931

Alfonso's criminal career could have ended in the Brooklyn suburb, as the impudent young bandit often quarreled with more serious "authorities". There was almost always a reason: experienced criminals were infuriated by Alfonso's skill while playing billiards, and he often accompanied his victories with bold comments.
Once Capone grappled with the gangster Frank Galluccio, and he slashed Alfonso with a knife in the face. From this cut came the later nickname of Capone - "Scarface". It should be noted that no one called the gangster that during his lifetime, and he himself, who had not served in the army for a day, said that he had been wounded at the front during the First World War.
Meanwhile, Johnny Torrio became influential person in the criminal world of the United States and moved to Chicago, where he headed one of the local gangs. Capone first stayed in New York, but then followed the boss. Firstly, Torrio needed a reliable hitman in Chicago, and secondly, past affairs Capone in New York came to grips with the police.

Underworld reformer

The main occupation of the criminals in the United States at that time was the sale of alcohol. In a country where Prohibition was in effect, this was an extremely profitable business. However, the Torrio group in Chicago had many competitors in this market, and Capone, who received the nickname "Al Brown", took up the fight against them.

Al Capone on vacation, 1930

Before Capone, the mafiosi, of course, also did not stand on ceremony in the fight against each other, but more often knives, brass knuckles, and much less often pistols were used. Capone, who created a real “special forces of killers” in the Torrio gang, did not take into account conventions, and terrified his opponents with his cruelty.
The Torrio group was at war with the gang of the Irishman Dayon O'Banion. Her victims, in addition to ordinary fighters, were her younger brother Alfonso, who also became a bandit, and O'Banion himself. Johnny Torrio was seriously injured, as a result of which he retired, transferring control of the group to his "right hand" - Al Capone, who by that time was 25 years old.
Desperate pensioners and swindlers-losers. How did the high-profile robberies of recent years end?
The Capone gang has changed the criminal world of America. The new boss, without abandoning the liquor trade, brought the proceeds of prostitution under the control of criminals and engaged in what is today understood as the word "racket", having achieved enormous profits.
Al Capone dealt with competitors ruthlessly - it was thanks to him that the criminal world was enriched by shootings from automatic weapons and blowing up car bombs. Competitors were eliminated in broad daylight, sometimes throwing grenades, often dealt with not only the hostile bandit himself, but also his family members.
Opponents, of course, tried to get to Al Capone himself, but they couldn’t do it - he had guards armed to the teeth, an armored car, and he dealt with those suspected of betrayal so cruelly that there were practically no people willing to go over to the side of competitors.

King of Chicago

The so-called "Massacre on Valentine's Day" on February 14, 1929, when Capone militants dressed in police uniforms broke into a rival group's underground liquor warehouse, lined up opponents against the wall and shot them with machine guns, entered the history of America. Competitors, until the last sure that they were detained by the police, did not even have time to be surprised. Seven people were killed in this massacre.

Aftermath of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, February 1929.

The income of Capone's empire at the peak of his power reached the astronomical sum of America in those years at 60 million dollars. The mafia boss bought the loyalty of policemen, politicians, journalists and was uncrowned king Chicago. During the Great Depression, he opened canteens for the poor at his own expense, which earned him popularity among the lower strata of society.
Historians estimate that at least 700 people died in the mafia wars waged by Al Capone, of which about 400 were killed on his personal orders.
However, the structure of the mafia was such that none of these crimes could be proved.

tax trap

To put an end to Capone, the new head of the FBI, Edgar Hoover, undertook. Realizing that it would not be possible to imprison the mafia leader for murders and racketeering, he went from the other side. First, in 1929, Al Capone was sentenced to 10 months in prison for illegal possession of weapons. But Capone did not even notice this period - he lived in comfort in prison, received visitors and continued to manage the group.
However, in 1931, Al Capone was sentenced to 11 years for tax evasion. It took a lot of effort for the authorities to get a guilty verdict, but in the end they succeeded.
At first, the story of managing a gang from prison repeated itself, but then Capone was transferred to a federal prison in Atlanta, and his ties were broken. It was finally possible to cut off the ringleader from his criminal empire in 1934, when he was transferred to the most legendary and harsh US prison - Alcatraz.

Alcatraz prison, where Al Capone was serving his sentence.

Here, a bloodthirsty gangster was brought down to his arrogance, forced to work as a janitor, which is why the rest of the prisoners began to call Capone "boss with a mop."
Over time, his health deteriorated, and doctors discovered that Capone had syphilis in an advanced stage. There was nothing surprising in this - the criminal in Chicago kept a whole "harem" of prostitutes, and did not bother himself with protective measures.
In 1939, Al Capone, stricken with partial paralysis, was released for health reasons. He lost his influence in the criminal world, and this sick and aged man could not, as before, with an iron hand manage a group of 1000 bandits.

Al Capone's grave.

Despite all this, Al Capone in a certain sense lucky. Unlike many of his colleagues, he died in his bed, last years living in his own home in Florida. The bloodthirsty gangster died on January 25, 1947. The cause of death was poor health, the effects of a stroke and pneumonia.

About where he was born Alfonso Gabriel Fiorello Capone, better known as Al Capone are still debatable. The mafia boss himself said that he was born in Naples on January 17, 1899, but some of his biographers are sure that Alfonso was actually born in Castellammare del Golfo in 1895.

In 1909, Alfonso, along with his family, followed a typical route for Italians of that time - to the USA.

Large Capone family (father Alfonso had nine children) began to settle in a new place, in Williamsburg, a suburb of Brooklyn, and the grown-up Alfonso got a job as a butcher. However, his bad inclinations manifested themselves even at school - he could beat a classmate for no reason, raised his hand even to teachers.

It is not surprising that very soon he began to play the role of a boy in the wings in one of the local gangs. Mentor on the criminal path for Alfonso was the leader of the group Johnny Torrio. The bandit saw great prospects in the recruit - excellent physical condition along with cruelty and ruthlessness.

Where is the scar from?

Officially, Alfonso began to play the role of bouncer in one in the billiard club, which was the headquarters of the Torrio gang. Unofficially, he played the role of a killer, eliminating those who did not please the leader. However, at first Alfonso's victims were only minor figures, like the owner of a small Chinese restaurant who quarreled with bandits.

Al Capone with his son, 1931 Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Once Capone grappled with a bandit Frank Galluccio, and he slashed Alfonso in the face with a knife. From this cut came the later nickname of Capone - "Scarface". It should be noted that no one called the gangster that during his lifetime, and he himself, who had not served in the army for a day, said that he had been wounded at the front during the First World War.

Meanwhile, Johnny Torrio became an influential person in the criminal world of the United States and moved to Chicago, where he headed one of the local gangs. Capone first stayed in New York, but then followed the boss. Firstly, Torrio in Chicago needed a reliable killer, and secondly, the police came to grips with Capone's previous cases in New York.

Underworld reformer

Al Capone on vacation, 1930 Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Before Capone, the mafiosi, of course, also did not stand on ceremony in the fight against each other, but more often knives, brass knuckles were used, and much less often -. Capone, who created a real “special forces of killers” in the Torrio gang, did not take into account conventions, and terrified his opponents with his cruelty.

Torrio's group waged war with the Irishman's gang Dion O'Banion. Her victims, in addition to ordinary fighters, were her younger brother Alfonso, who also became a bandit, and O'Banion himself. Johnny Torrio was seriously injured, as a result of which he retired, transferring control of the group to his "right hand" - Al Capone, who by that time was 25 years old.

The Capone gang has changed the criminal world of America. The new boss, without abandoning the liquor trade, brought the proceeds of prostitution under the control of criminals and engaged in what is today understood as the word "racket", having achieved enormous profits.

Al Capone dealt with competitors ruthlessly - it was thanks to him that the criminal world was enriched by automatic weapons firefights and car bomb explosions. Competitors were eliminated in broad daylight, sometimes throwing grenades, often dealt with not only the hostile bandit himself, but also his family members.

Opponents, of course, tried to get to Al Capone himself, but they couldn’t do it - he had guards armed to the teeth, an armored car, and he dealt with those suspected of betrayal so cruelly that there were practically no people willing to go over to the side of competitors.

King of Chicago

Aftermath of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, February 1929. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

The income of Capone's empire at the peak of his power reached the astronomical sum of America in those years at 60 million dollars. The mob boss bought the loyalty of cops, politicians, journalists and was the uncrowned king of Chicago. During the Great Depression, he opened canteens for the poor at his own expense, which earned him popularity among the lower strata of society.

Historians estimate that at least 700 people died in the mafia wars waged by Al Capone, of which about 400 were killed on his personal orders.

However, the structure of the mafia was such that none of these crimes could be proved.

tax trap

The new head of the FBI undertook to put an end to Capone Edgar Hoover. Realizing that it would not be possible to imprison the mafia leader for murders and racketeering, he went from the other side. First, in 1929, Al Capone was sentenced to 10 months in prison for illegal possession of weapons. But Capone did not even notice this period - he lived in comfort in prison, received visitors and continued to manage the group.

However, in 1931, Al Capone was sentenced to 11 years for tax evasion. It took a lot of effort for the authorities to get a guilty verdict, but in the end they succeeded.

At first, the story of managing a gang from prison repeated itself, but then Capone was transferred to a federal prison in Atlanta, and his ties were broken. It was finally possible to cut off the ringleader from his criminal empire in 1934, when he was transferred to the most legendary and harsh US prison - Alcatraz.

Alcatraz prison, where Al Capone was serving his sentence. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Here, a bloodthirsty gangster was brought down to his arrogance, forced to work as a janitor, which is why the rest of the prisoners began to call Capone "boss with a mop."

Over time, his health deteriorated, and doctors discovered that Capone had syphilis in an advanced stage. There was nothing surprising in this - the criminal in Chicago kept a whole "harem" of prostitutes, and did not bother himself with protective measures.

In 1939, Al Capone, stricken with partial paralysis, was released for health reasons. He lost his influence in the criminal world, and this sick and aged man, as before, could not manage a group of 1000 bandits with an iron fist.

Al Capone's grave. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Despite all this, Al Capone was lucky in a way. Unlike many of his colleagues, he died in his bed, spending the last years of his life in his own home in Florida. The bloodthirsty gangster died on January 25, 1947. The cause of death was poor health, the effects of a stroke and pneumonia.

Alfonso Capone, the most famous American gangster of the golden age of organized crime, was born on January 17, 1899 in the New York area of Brooklyn to a family of Italian immigrants. Although he was not the most powerful gangster in American history, it was he who became the living embodiment of the mafia of its heyday and was named public enemy number one by the press.

For seven years, the American law enforcement system struggled to put Capone in jail, and as a result, the famous gangster went to jail just for tax evasion. The prison destroyed Capone, after eight years in prison he came out a decrepit and feeble-minded man, and there could be no question of restoring his former influence.

Gangster youth

Al Capone was born in New York to a family of a hairdresser and a seamstress. He had 8 brothers and sisters, some of them later helped him in. Capone from childhood was distinguished by an explosive and unbridled character, which led to the fact that he could not even finish school. At 14, he was kicked out of a Catholic school after he punched a teacher in the face in anger.

Young Al Capone, third from right (1929)

Capone, like many immigrant children, grew up on the street. At first, for some time he still tried to earn honestly: either as a messenger in a candy store, or as an errand boy in a bowling alley, but he soon left these classes, deciding that semi-legal and illegal crafts would bring him much more money.

While still a teenager, Capone met a promising gangster of Italian origin, nicknamed the Fox. Torrio organized a small gang and after a while saved up enough money to open his own billiard room, which became their headquarters.

Soon, serious people, Paul Kelly himself, drew attention to Torrio. His real name was Paolo Vacarelli and he was also an Italian immigrant, but he Americanized his name after moving to the US. Kelly made a fortune by participating in boxing matches. The money earned allowed him to open a network of boxing clubs through which he recruited newcomers to one of the most famous gangs in New York - the Five Corners, which he headed.

"Five Corners" is a real legend of the American underworld, many criminal celebrities of the 30s came out of this one: Frankie Yale, Johnny Torrio. The gang almost entirely consisted of emigrants and children of emigrants, mostly ethnic Italians. Difficulties in adapting to a new homeland, poverty, isolation in national ghettos contributed to the emergence of ethnic criminal groups in America at the beginning of the 20th century, especially after two large-scale waves of migration from Europe - Jewish and Italian.

So, Kelly drew attention to Torrio and invited him to the gang. And Torrio attracted the still young Capone to his, inviting him to work in a billiard club. It was Torrio who had the greatest influence on Capone, in fact becoming his mentor.

After some time, having appreciated the outstanding physical dimensions of Capone and deciding that it was no longer possible for him to work as an errand boy, Torrio arranged for Capone to be a bouncer in a bar with his friend Frankie Yale.

The man with the scar

It was in this bar with an extremely bad reputation that the 18-year-old Capone received his famous scar on his cheek. One evening, a local petty gangster, Frank Galuccio, came into the bar with his sister. Capone began to stare at the girl, smiling meaningfully. She didn't like it and asked her brother to talk to the bouncer. Capone at the same moment decided to compliment her, noting the beauty of her behind, but Galuccio heard this and became furious. He demanded an apology from Capone, but he said that it was just a joke. Then, heated by drunken alcohol, Galuccio grabbed a knife and tried to hit Capone in the neck, but missed and cut his cheek.

Capone received stitches, after which the incident was dealt with by local crime bosses. They, being harsh and conservative people, did not appreciate the young Capone's joke and considered him guilty of this incident, demanding to apologize to the girl. Galuccio was recognized as right, because he defended the honor of his sister.

Because of this huge scar across the entire cheek, Capone received his most famous nickname - the Scarred Man. At the same time, he was not at all proud of him, as one might think, but terribly shy. Capone, having already become a famous gangster, liked to be photographed by newspaper reporters, but always turned to them with the right side of his face, hiding the scar on his left cheek. Like the hero of The Heart of a Dog, Sharikov, who explained the origin of his scar as a wound on the Kolchak fronts, Capone said that he received a scar in the First World War, although not only had he never been to the war, but had not even served in the army.

Moving to Chicago

Some time after this incident, Capone's mentor moved to Chicago, where he was called by the local mafia boss James Colosimo, who kept a huge network of brothels in the city. Colosimo had problems with competitors and invited Torrio to settle things on the advice of his wife, who was Torrio's aunt.

Capone at that time was a 20-year-old young man and did not play any significant role in mafia affairs. He would have remained a bouncer in a cheap Brooklyn bar if not for a fight with the Irish from the White Hand gang. Distinguished by great physical strength, Capone so mutilated one of his opponents that he opened a real hunt for him, and Frankie Yale sent his bouncer to Chicago. He was supposed to lay low there for about a year until everything settled down, but Capone never returned to New York.

Torrio arranged for Capone, first as a bouncer in one of the brothels, and then as a manager in the Four Twos, a new brothel that Colosimo opened with the participation of Torrio.

At this time, a prohibition law came into force, prohibiting the sale of alcohol. This not very thoughtful ban brought down a real golden stream on the heads of the mafiosi.

Torrio immediately appreciated the potential that new law, and suggested that Colosimo take up bootlegging. However, Colosimo still believed in brothels and refused. After some time, he was killed in one of the cafes. According to the most common version, the murder was organized by Torrio, who invited an old friend Frankie Yale for this purpose. There is also a version of involvement in the murder and Capone. However, no one has ever been convicted of killing a mafia boss, and this remains just a theory.

Torrio became the heir to the Chicago crime ring. Meanwhile, Capone abused his official duties in a brothel and contracted syphilis from one of the prostitutes. He did not go to the doctors, and the symptoms soon disappeared. Later, this had the most decisive influence not only on Capone's career, but throughout his life.

Meanwhile, Torrio began to sell alcohol on a grand scale, making bootlegging almost the main business of the gang. He also promoted Capone, who came into his mind, who became his right hand and trustee.

However, not everyone in Chicago liked the expansion of the Italian group Torrio. The main and most irreconcilable competitor of the Italians was a gang from the North Side. At first, the parties only robbed each other's liquor trucks, but the Irish decided to neutralize the competitor by having the police arrest Torrio red-handed when buying an underground brewery.

Torrio managed to get out on bail and organized the murder of the leader of the competitors. In response, they attacked Torrio, riddling his car with bullets. The Italian received several severe wounds, but still managed to survive. An assassination attempt on Capone was also organized, but he managed to avoid the trap. This happened in 1925.

Crime King Chicago

Torrio's injuries were very severe, and he was forced to retire for a long time, handing over the reins of power to Capone. 26-year-old Al Capone, who worked as a bouncer in a small bar a few years ago, was at the head of one of the most powerful criminal groups in Chicago.

Income from bootlegging constantly grew, Capone became richer, he began to dress elegantly and attend secular parties, his photographs began to fall into newspaper pages. Undoubtedly, almost everyone suspected Capone of links with bootlegging, but he himself evasively answered that he was only doing business and helping people who had a demand for certain goods.

The war with the Northside gang continued, the clashes became more and more bloody. During the year, several close friends of Capone and his brother died, and his driver was found brutally tortured. Torrio, who always disliked bloodshed, decided not to return to the old craft, so as not to be at the epicenter of the criminal war. After serving a year of imprisonment for the alcohol trade, he left for Europe, officially transferring all the affairs and powers to Capone.

Money flowed like water, for a week Capone earned about 300 thousand dollars. Of course, this income was divided among the members of the gang, but the amounts were still colossal. With that kind of money, Capone felt relatively safe handing out tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to officials and policemen to turn a blind eye to his business.

Capone even managed to bribe the former mayor of Chicago, William Thompson, who lost his post, but in the 1927 elections, thanks to the support of Capone, who generously financed his election campaign, he was able to win and return to the mayor's chair.

To this day, Thompson is considered one of the most corrupt and unscrupulous politicians in American history, and Chicago has never had a Republican Mayor elected since. After Thompson's death in 1944, nearly $2 million in cash was found in his safe deposit boxes.

It is believed that Capone was somehow involved in the murder of at least 33 people. Capone's guilt in these murders has never been proven, and his involvement in them is only a version. Most of Capone's victims are members of rival gangs. A smaller part are killers sent by competitors to kill Capone himself. A few more dead are members of the Capone crime syndicate, suspected of betrayal. Contrary to popular myths about Capone's indomitability and cruelty, he never went to war with the state, there are no federal agents, police officers or other people who worked to imprison him on the lists of his victims.

Massacre on Valentine's Day

The incident that happened on February 14, 1929 greatly shook Capone's position. The war between Capone and the Northside gang continued, and the execution of 7 people, dubbed the "Valentine's Day Massacre" in the press, became one of the key events this war.

Bugsy Moran - it was he who was supposed to be a victim in the massacre on Valentine's Day

Capone's men organized a cunning operation against competitors, the main target of which was Bugs Moran - one of the leaders of the Northsiders. Two performers had to lure them into a trap under the pretext of selling a large batch of alcohol in one of the Chicago garages. Seven members of Moran's gang arrived at the meeting. Suddenly, a police car drove up to the garage, in which Capone's men dressed in police uniforms were sitting. They pretended to arrest all the participants of the meeting. Moran's men meekly obeyed, thinking that they were policemen. They were put against the wall, after which the police suddenly took out their machine guns and shot everyone point-blank. Only Moran escaped, who was late for the start of the meeting, but when he arrived at the place, he saw a police car at the garage and ran away.

After the execution, the false police officers brought out two of their associates under the guise of arrested people in order to confuse the onlookers who had fled to the shots. After that, they calmly left the place of execution.

The massacre caused great outrage in American society due to the impunity of the mafia. It was still possible to turn a blind eye to the illegal trade in alcohol and the protection of prostitution, but arrange fighting with a mountain of corpses right in the middle of a huge city - this is already too much.

It was obvious to everyone that the Capone organization was behind the massacre, but the investigation did not have a single piece of evidence, and all the leaders of the Italians had a 100% and confirmed alibi, which was taken care of in advance.

First problems

Everyone in America knew that Capone was a criminal, but no one had evidence and evidence to start a trial against him. After the massacre on Valentine's Day, Capone became firmly entrenched in the cliché "Public Enemy No. 1". President Herbert Hoover considered Capone his personal enemy, who, by his very existence, offends America, violating its laws. He ordered Capone to be imprisoned at all costs, no matter what.

The American courts went into a zero tolerance regime for Capone, they brought cases against him simply for being Capone. Even if the case eventually fell apart, the gangster had to spend effort, resources and, in the end, nerve cells to make excuses. In Chicago, he was convicted of contempt of court, in Philadelphia - for carrying weapons, both times Capone spent a short time in prison.

Capone tried to fix his shaky image by doing charity work, just then the Great Depression began, the cities were full of impoverished unemployed Americans. He launched a large chain of canteens with free meals for the needy, but it was too late.

"Untouchables"

By order of the federal authorities, a group of tax specialists had already been formed, whose task was to find dirt on Capone. This group was called the "Untouchables", and it was sometimes allowed to go beyond the law in its activities. By that time it was accepted the federal law that even illegal income is taxed, and failure to pay these deductions is tax evasion. The law was passed specifically against bootleggers, who became criminals by default.

But in the case of Capone, everything was not so simple. Officially, he did not have any property at all, all his mansions were recorded on other people. He didn't even have a bank account. Capone tried to legalize part of the business and even agreed to pay taxes on it, but it was important for the government not to get money from Capone, but to imprison him under any pretext.

But for this it was necessary to have at least a remote idea of the amounts that Capone has. The "Untouchables" began to raid Capone's bootleggers, hoping to seize the gang's ledgers during operations.

Also, several agents were introduced into the gang, whose task was to gain access to Capone's treasured accounting. In the end, the feds managed to win over the lawyer O'Hara, who was one of Capone's confidants. Thanks to this, they received the gangster's account books and ciphers for them.

The collapse of the criminal organization

Through the efforts of so many individuals, it was finally possible to approximately estimate Capone's assets and charge him with tax evasion. In 1931, Capone was charged with tax evasion. In addition, right before the meeting, the composition of the jury was completely changed so that Capone could not bribe them.

Capone agreed to a deal with justice - an admission of guilt in exchange for a reduced sentence. In this case, he would have to serve quite a bit, for tax evasion then they were given short terms, for example, Capone's brother had previously been sentenced to only three years. However, the judge appreciated the historicity of the moment and refused. His main task was to put Capone for as long as possible, any other outcome of the case would have been a collapse for the career of a judge.

As a result, Capone was sentenced to an unprecedented 10 years in prison. At that time, not a single person in America received so much for not paying taxes. Moreover, the judge added another year "from himself" for contempt of court.

The orderly plump Capone (by that time he weighed 110 kilograms) was sent to the most severe prison in America - where the most inveterate and dangerous thugs were sitting. In this prison there was the most strict regime, even small personal belongings familiar in other prisons and the right to correspond with relatives had to be earned by discipline and work.

During a medical examination, Capone was diagnosed with advanced syphilis, which developed into neurosyphilis and gonorrhea. In addition, Capone was bullied by other prisoners. The harsh conditions of the prison had a detrimental effect on the health of gangster No. 1. By the age of thirty-five, he had turned into a decrepit ruin.

In addition, neurosyphilis led to progressive dementia, i. dementia. At the end of 1939, Al Capone was released for health reasons, having served eight of the eleven years assigned to him by the court. They tried to treat him, but it was too late. Of course, there was no question of any return to the top of the criminal world, the psychiatrists who examined him concluded that, according to the level of their intellectual development Capone after the conclusion is at the level of a 12-year-old child. And in the future, the situation only worsened.

The last eight years of his life, Capone spent with his family in one of his estates, completely not participating in criminal cases. In January 1947, he had a stroke, and a few days later - heart attack from which he died at the age of 48.

After the arrest of Capone, the shadow Chicago empire did not fall apart and continued its activities, but it no longer had a pronounced leader. Capone's mentor and the man who introduced him to the world of crime - Johnny Fox Torrio - lived a long life. He was always careful and kept away from big blood, because he believed that gangsters should cooperate with each other, and not be at enmity. To this end, he tried to unite disparate criminal gangs and "families" into one giant syndicate. He died in the barber's chair at the age of 75, outliving his protégé by ten years.

Capone became a legend of the underworld during his lifetime. When he was still at large and when he was on trial, many gangster sagas were shot in Hollywood, in the main characters of which Capone was unmistakably guessed. Some of these films are now considered Hollywood cinema classics. He had a huge impact on America in the 1920s and 30s, becoming the personification of mafia revelry and the omnipotence of the Prohibition era.

Popularity and fame ruined Capone, he became too familiar, there were too many of him, he threw money too boldly and smugly smiled at newspaper reporters. Genuine crime lords like Meyer Lansky and Carlo Gambino (reputedly the inspiration for " Godfather”) lived long lives and had almost no problems with the law, trying not to shine in front of photos and movie cameras. But on the other hand, what killed Capone made him immortal. Who knows Lansky and Gambino other than crime historians? And Capone is perhaps the most famous bandit in the world, his very name has become a household name. It has grown into a brand and one of Chicago's top attractions.