Al Capone's Influence On Organized Crime

Who was the biggest and most daring criminal during the Roaring twenties when bootlegging and was at it organized crime was at its peak? Many would say it was Al Capone. Alfonso Caponi was born in Brooklyn, New York in January of 1899. He was the fourth child of ten children born to his family. Al Capone was a normal kid growing up, that is until he got into an altercation with his 6th grade teacher and afterwards was whipped by his principle. Even though Capone was 14 years-old at the time he never returned to school after the altercation. He eventually moved on to a neighborhood gang where he eventually met his future boss and partner Johnny Torrio.
When he was 16 years-old Torrio introduced Capone to another gangster running a bar on
Coney Island. The bartender and bouncer “Frankie Yale’’employed Capone at the Harvard Inn in 1917. Shortly after Capone received his retched nickname “Scarface”. In a detrimental bar fight, Capone was given three slashes across his face from Frank Gallucio because of a vulgar comment made to his sister. While working for Frankie Yale Capone learned various methods of violence and aggression to maintain control over his bar. The experiences from working with Yale would soon escalate him to the top of Torrio's pole. While still working for Frankie Yale under Torrio, he married his wife Mae Josephine Coughlin on December 18, 1918. His wife, not long after their marriage, gave birth to their son Albert Francis. Johnny Torrio, being so close to the Capone, became the boy's godfather. Trying to avoid prosecution for two homicides, Capone moved his family away from New York to Chicago around 1921. There he became a member Torrio's Five Points Gang.
Torrio watched as Capone gained respect of the gang along with his bringing of multiple members. Over the next few years, he became Torrio’s top assistant. This position brought a new level of expectation from Capone. When Chicago’s new mayor insisted on bringing an end to all of the bootlegging and prostitution, the two partners moved their empire to Cicero where they dominated over the town’s election system. Capone accompanied by two other gangsters the O' Donnell brothers, waged war on the city for their home turf. The war resulted in a little over two hundred deaths, along with the shooting of the notorious Bill McSwiggins known as the “anging prosecutor”. The crime duo then sent thugs out to threaten pedestrians at the voting polls. Capon’s selected mayor won by a Landslide, but tragically proclaimed in further weeks he would shut down the operations of Capone and Torrio. Capone being furious showed his power by personally knocking the newly elected mayor down the town hall steps The next year, conflict between Capone and rival gangs escalated, especially between their arch nemesis the North Side Gang. Torrio having the first command had the gang's leader Dion O’Banion shot down. While extracting their revenge, the North Side found Torrio and had him nearly killed before running out of ammunition. Clinging for life in his hospital bed he then announced his retirement to Capone, and in February of 1925, Torrio set off to Italy with his family and thirty million dollars. After the departure of Torrio, “Scarface” would draw even more attention to himself by setting operations back up in downtown Chicago.
The press estimated the yearly earnings of his empire to be about 100 million U.S. dollars per year. Capone, for the next few years, would flaunt and display his wealth openly with fancy dining, expensive suits, and even a green Cadillac. The Cadillac was equipped with armored shields, bullet proof windows, and tires that when flat were still operational. He purchased a 14 room mansion in Palm Island Florida in 1928. With all of his profits from the past decade, it wasn't surprising when Capone and his former bodyguard were released after being arrested for concealed weapons. At this time, it was March 20, 1929, a little over a month after the “St. Valentine Day Massacre”. Al Capone, after being suspected of the murders of 6 men, testified and posted a bond of five thousand dollars. He was released after spending only nine months in prison. The Massacre was Capone’s attempt to kill Hymie Weiss, and George “Bugs” Moran; the North Side Gang members responsible for the the attack on Torrio. Although Hymie Weiss was confirmed to be killed, “Bugs’’ escaped the cataclysmic
event. With the occurring offenses of Al Capone over the past decade, President Herbert Hoover finally found a way to put him in a prison cell.
On November 24, 1931, he was sentenced to 11 years of hard labor in a Federal prison in Atlanta and was later transferred to Alcatraz. With the fine of $57,692 and extension of $215,000 with interests due on his back taxes, Al Capone was bound to serve his sentence this time. After 9 years of imprisonment, Capone was released on parole from Alcatraz Island on November 16, 1939 because his mind was deteriorating away due to the STD, Syphilis. After his release from a hospital in California, he returned to is estate in Palm Island Florida where he lived out the rest of his life with his wife. On January 24, 1947, his Syphilis caused him to contract pneumonia, and the very next day he died of cardiac
arrest.