Capone, Al (Alfonso or Alphonse Capone) (kəpōn`), 1899–1947, American gangster, b. Naples, Italy. Brought up in New York City, he became connected with organized crime and was involved in murder investigations. In 1920 he moved to Chicago and became a lieutenant to John Torrio, a notorious gang leader. They established numerous speakeasies in Chicago in the prohibition era. After eliminating his opponents "Scarface" Capone took over control from Torrio. He was implicated in brutal murders and received tribute from businessmen and politicians. His crime syndicate—which terrorized Chicago in the 1920s and controlled gambling and prostitution there—was estimated by the federal Bureau of Internal Revenue to have taken in $105 million in 1927 alone. Capone was indicted (1931) by a federal grand jury for evasion of income tax payments and was sentenced to an 11-year prison term. In 1939, physically and mentally shattered by syphilis, Capone was released.

Bibliography

See biographies by F. D. Pasley (1930, repr. 1971), J. Kobler (1971), and L. Bergreen (1994); K. Allsop, The Bootleggers and Their Era (1970).

Capone, Al(phonse)

(born Jan. 17, 1899, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.—died Jan. 25, 1947, Palm Island, Fla.) U.S. gangster. Quitting school after the sixth grade, he joined the James Street Boys gang, led by Johnny Torrio. In a youthful fight in a brothel-saloon he was slashed across the left cheek, prompting the later nickname “Scarface.” In 1919 he joined Torrio in Chicago to help run prostitution there. When Torrio retired (1925), Capone became the city's crime czar, running gambling, prostitution, and bootlegging rackets. He expanded his territory by killing his rivals, most famously in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, in which members of the Bugs Moran gang were machine-gunned in a garage on Feb. 14, 1929. In 1931 Capone was convicted for income-tax evasion and sentenced to 11 years in prison; eventually he served time in the new Alcatraz prison (see Alcatraz Island). Granted an early release from prison in 1939, in part because he suffered from an advanced stage of syphilis, he died a powerless recluse at his Florida estate.

Capone, (Alphonse) Al (1899–1947) gangster; born in Brooklyn, N.Y. He became the leader in Chicago bootlegging, gambling, and prostitution during the Prohibition Era. His involvement in gang and liquor wars left hundreds of people dead in Chicago and its suburbs. Increasingly implicated in the corruption of political, law enforcement, and labor officials, he was convicted of income-tax evasion (1931) and sentenced to 11 years. He was released in 1939 because, infected with syphilis, his mental condition was deteriorating.