Al Capone

Al Capone was a notorious gangster during the Great Depression, who throughout his life stole, killed, gambled, cheated, smuggled, and evaded tax. He was born on January 17, 1899, and grew up as a poor Italian boy in New York, who dropped out of school at a young age and joined the Five Points Gang. In his twenties he moved to Chicago where he served as bodyguard to Johnny Torio, head of a bootlegging operation. When a shootout with the North Side Gang occurred, Torrio was injured and decided to retire leaving Al Capone in charge. At this time Al Capone was on good terms with the Chicago Police Department, because he paid them not to go after him. Now the leader of the Five Points Gang, “Big Al”, as they called him, further expanded the bootlegging operation and did so in a sometimes violent way, though he retained his friendship with William Hail, the Mayor of Chicago. Despite his seemingly violent personality, Capone was viewed by many as a hero, with the money he made he donated to charitable organizations, and even started a soup kitchen for the poor. His public appeal was ruined though, after the St. Valentines Day Massacre in which Al Capone’s gang and another rival gang had a violent shootout, many gangsters were killed and it crushed Capone’s image, making him Public Enemy number 1. The police were now after him, however, he covered his tracks so well that the only thing that they could pin him for was tax evasion, so he was convicted and sent to the Atlanta U. S. Penitentiary for a record time of 11 years. He did not spend the entire time there, as he was transferred to Alcatraz, after suspicion arose that he was receiving special care for his Syphilis and gonorrhea. Although he only served 7 years in prison, when he got out he was in bad shape. His gang fell apart before long and he was in the hospital being treated for his illnesses. He spent the last part of his life in Florida, where he suffered from cardiac arrest and died with his family on January 25, 1947.

            Alphonse Gabriel Capone was probably the most famous gangster in the early thirties, he evaded capture for the entirety of his 7 year crime spree. He is mostly remembered for being a clever gangster who murdered and robbed during the great depression.

In 1920, the 18^th Amendment was passed, prohibiting the sale and transport of alcohol, and following this, organized crime levels grew more than ever. The reason for this was because the amendment did not actually prohibit drinking alcohol, so if people could get a hold of it, they could legally drink it, this is where the bootlegging came in, and people who were desperate enough would smuggle alcohol to customers, and they were called bootleggers because they wore long boots that they would stuff the bottles into so as not to be seen. As a direct result of the 18^th Amendment crime levels grew, so the increase can be directly linked to the government, this happens a lot today, the government institutes something to supposedly help, but it brings an even larger problem in the end as a result of short sightedness. However the government used this crime rate to their advantage, they made it an excuse to expand police control. Many times they exaggerated the stories about gangsters making them seem like cold blooded murderers, although gangs and gang leaders at this time were killers and robbers, they were not all that the police made them out to be. By the time the late 1930’s came, most of the big name criminals were either dead or in prison, and Al Capone was one of the only ones who was not killed in capture, and in contrast he died a free man in his own home.

Information gathered from Wikipedia and the Ron Paul curriculum 8^th grade history class.