The Rise of the “Original Gangster”
Presentation by Allison Price
No More Alcohol!?
At midnight, January 16, 1920, the
United States went dry. Breweries,
distilleries, and saloons were
forced to close their doors.
Public Enemy
Number 1
Mafia Leader, Crime
Lord, Murderer,
Intelligent
businessman,
bootlegger,
bookkeeper, prison
inmate in Atlanta
and Alcatraz
Capone’s School Life
• Al Capone found school “a place of
constant discipline relieved by sudden
outbreaks of violence..."
• Al did quite well in school until the sixth
grade when his steady record of B's
deteriorated rapidly.
• At fourteen, he lost his temper at the
teacher, she hit him and he hit her
back. He was expelled and never went
to school again.
Kids in Gangs
Italian gangs, Jewish gangs and Irish
gangs.
They were not the vicious urban street
gangs of today, but rather groups of
territorial neighborhood boys who hung
out together.
Capone belonged to the South Brooklyn
Rippers and then later to the Forty
Thieves Juniors and the Five Point
Juniors.
A Normal Life
He worked faithfully at
exceptionally boring jobs,
first at ammunitions factory
and then as a paper cutter.
He was a good boy, well
behaved and sociable.
“Momma’s Boy”
How did the softspoken dutiful Al Capone
metamorphose into the spectacularly
successful and violent super
gangster?
Scar Face
• Capone became a bartender on Coney Island at
the age of 18 under Frankie Yale.Here is where
he got his nickname “Scar Face”.
• Watch What You Say!
* With a wife and child, Al
moved to Baltimore, MD
*Quite suddenly, Al did another
about face when his father died
November 14, 1920, of heart
disease at the age of fifty-five.
*This event could be marked as
the end of Capone's legitimate
career.
Chicago- It’s Perfect
• Chicago was a perfect place to
build a criminal empire.
• It was a bloody and brutal city
• It was strictly a commercial town
with no appetite for snobbery or
"old money."
• “Big Jim” Colosimeo owned the
Colosimo Cafe, one of the most popular
nightclubs in the city.
• As business grew, Big Jim brought in
Johnny Torrio from Brooklyn to operate
and grow their empire.
• At the age of 22, Capone came into
being business partners with Torrio in
Chicago and ran the Four Deuces (a
speakeasy, gambling joint, and brothel)
• Capone decided that he wanted all-out
conquest of a suburb outside of Chicago
• He installed his older brother Frank
(Salvatore), a handsome and respectablelooking man of twenty-nine.
• Capone had people running for office in the
city. He feared this would become ruined
by a noisy reporter. He was correct.
Death of Frankie
• Frank Capone was approached by a
convoy of Chicago policemen
• Someone recognized him and the cars
emptied out in front of him.
• In seconds, Frank's body was riddled
with bullets.
• Technically, the police called it self
defense, since Frank, seeing the police
coming at him with guns drawn, had
drawn his own revolver.
Crime
• There was just a ridiculously large amount
of violence between rival gangs, even
between men in the same groups. They
would trick, steal, lie, and kill their own. It
was just a matter of time before they would
all go to jail.
Assassination Attempts
• Capone and Torrio looking out for
“Hymie” Weiss and other Dion
associates including Bugs Moran
• Torrio hid in Hot Springs, AR
• Capone hired as many bodyguards as
possible to surround him. Still several
attempts were made on his life.
• In January of 1925, Johnny Torrio came back
to Chicago. He and his wife Ann were just
returned from a shopping trip and got out of
their car to walk to the door of their
apartment building.
• Torrio has Been Shot!
Hospital Stay
• Capone slept by Torrio in the hospital and
had his own bodyguards stand guard around
the hospital since security there was terrible
• Torrio healed and was able to stand trial for
a raid he had done.
• Torrio wanted out to retire and wanted Al
Capone to take his place.
St. Valentine’s Day Massacre
• Lured the men in with the promise
of cheap liquor
• The delivery was to be made at
10:30 am and McGurn’s men were
to be waiting with them dressed in
stolen police uniforms and trench
coats, staging a raid
• Capone and McGurn were both very far
away when this took place. Their men
thought they saw Bugs Moran and got
ready.
• The assassination squad got into their police
uniforms and drove over to the garage in
their stolen police car.
• The bootleggers, caught in the act, did what
they were told: they lined up against the wall
obediently.
• The four assassins took the bootleggers' guns,
and opened fire with two machine guns, a
sawed-off shotgun and a .45. The men slumped
to the floor dead, except for Frank Gusenberg
who was still breathing.
• Anyone who watched this show believed that
two bootleggers in trench coats had been
arrested by two policemen. The four assassins
left in the stolen police car.
• It was a brilliant plan and it was brilliantly
executed except for one small detail
• Soon, real policemen came to the garage
and saw Frank Gusenberg, on the floor,
dying from twenty-two bullet wounds.
• The police could never pin the crime on
Capone or McGurn
You Talkin ‘Bout Me?
• Capone continued with his daily
activities. He thought he had
more pressing matters to resolve.
Evidence was mounting that two of
his Sicilian colleagues were
causing him problems.
• This is how he decided to settle
things:
Settle It
• "Seldom had the three guests of honor
sat down to a feast so lavish…
• Capone proposed toast after toast to
the trio. Saluto, Scalise! Saluto,
Anselmi! Saluto, Giunta!
Eat Up Gentlemen
• A strange silence fell over the room.
• Nervously, the “guest” glanced up and down
the long table. Capone leaned toward them.
The words dropped from his mouth like
stones.
• So they thought he didn't know? They
imagined they could hide the offense?
• He never forgave disloyalty
Hospitality then Execution
• Capone had observed the old tradition.
Hospitality before execution.
• The Sicilians were defenseless
• He halted behind the first guest of
honor.
He Handled It
Slowly, methodically, he struck again
and again
He moved to the next man and then to
the third.
Get the Gun
Ness and His Untouchables
• Elliott Ness and his group “The
Untouchables” wanted to humiliate and
imprison Al Capone
• Wanted to Get Him For:
-Tax Evasion
- Illegal Bootlegging
They Got Him!
• June 5, 1931 the grand jury charged Capone with
22 counts of tax evasion totaling $200,000
• A week later, another indictment was returned on
the evidence provided by Ness and his team.
Capone and sixty-eight members of his gang were
charged with some 5,000 separate violations of the
Volstead Act, some of them going back to 1922.
• The income tax cases took precedence over the
Prohibition violations.
Outcome
Facing a possible 34 years in jail
Capone's lawyers presented U.S.
Attorney Johnson with a deal- Plead
guilty, for a relatively light sentence.
They accepted the deal and agreed to
recommend a sentence between 2 and
5 years.
A Surprise
Judge Wilkerson did not have to agree to
the deal that the lawyers made.
The deal was off and he could withdrawal
the guilty plea and a trial was scheduled for
October 6
Bribery
• Capone’s men spent all summer long
bribing the jurors.
• The Judge ruined everything.
GUILTY
• October 17, 1931, after 9 hours of
discussion, the jury found Capone guilty of
some counts but not all counts of tax
evasion.
• The judge sentenced Capone to 11 years,
$50,000 in fines and court costs of another
$30,000.
Livin’ Like A King
He was living "like a king."
He clearly lived better than the
rest of the prisoners.
He secreted several thousand
dollars in cash.
Alcatraz
Everything was censored
No newspapers were allowed; magazines had to be
more than seven months old. The only source of
news was new arrivals.
Limited ablity to write
Only immediate family could visit
How Al Capone Did in Jail?
• By 1938, he was confused and
disoriented.
• He was in the hospital section being
treated for syphilis.
• He was released in November of 1939.
Mae took him to a hospital in Baltimore
where he was treated until March of
1940.
For his remaining years, Al slowly
deteriorated in the quiet splendor
of his Palm Island palace. Mae
stuck by him until January 25,
1947 when he died of cardiac
arrest at age 48