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”

spoken dutiful Al Capone                                                                               How did the soft- spoken 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 respectable-looking 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 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 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                                                     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