Al Capone,
the most famous Prohibition gangster
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Al Capone Facts: Fast Fact Sheet
Fast, fun facts and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)
about Al Capone.
Who was the Al Capone? Al Capone was a
notorious gangster during the Prohibition
Era. He gained his notoriety due to his
involvement with organized crime as the boss
of the Chicago Mafia and his alleged
involvement with the St. Valentine's Day
massacre (February 14, 1929).
What was Al Capone's car? Al
Capone's favorite car was a 1928 Cadillac
V-8 Town Sedan which was customized to his
requirements by crooked auto dealer Joe Bergl.
The Capone Cadillac car was protected by
3,000lbs of steel armour and bulletproof
windows. How
did Al Capone die? On January 21, 1947
Al Capone had an apoplectic stoke which led
to Bronchial Pneumonia (Bronchopneumonia).
He died of heart failure on Saturday January
25,1947 at 7:25 pm at his home in Palm
Springs.
Where was Al Capone buried? Al Capone
was first buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in
Chicago's far South Side between the graves
of his father and brother Frank. In March,
1950 their remains were moved to Mount
Carmel Cemetery on the far West Side of
Chicago.
Al Capone
Facts for kids
The following fact
sheet contains interesting facts, trivia and information on Al Capone
Trivia and
40 Interesting Facts
about the Al Capone
Al Capone Fact
1: He lived the American Dream becoming
a Millionaire before he was 30 years old. His lavish
lifestyle included expensive, elegant clothes and
diamond jewelry, customized cars, houses and boats.
Al Capone Fact 2:
He was one of 7 children born to Gabriel and
Teresa Capone who had immigrated from Naples in Italy to
Brooklyn, New York City in 1894. He was the fourth of five sons and
two daughters. His brother names were Salvatore (Frank) Raffaele
(Ralph "Bottles") and Vincenzo. The names of his sisters were
Rosalia (Rose) and Mafalda.
Al Capone Fact 3:
He quit school in the sixth grade at
age fourteen and joined two "kid gangs" the Brooklyn
Rippers and the Forty Thieves Juniors.
Al Capone Fact 4:
Al Capone's nickname was due to the three
scars on his left cheek. In 1917 he was slashed across
the face by Frank Gallucio whilst working as a bouncer
for gangster Frankie Yale in a in Coney Island night
club called the Harvard Inn.
Al Capone Fact 5:
Al Capone was recruited to the James
Street Boys gang by Johnny "The Brain" Torrio, one of
the most successful Italian-American gangsters in
Brooklyn.
Al Capone Fact 6:
Johnny Torrio moved to Chicago in
1909 at the request of "Big Jim" Colosimo, an
Italian-American Mafia crime boss who built a criminal
empire in Chicago based on prostitution, gambling, and
racketeering. Extortion by the Black Hand ‘La Mano Nera’
was a serious threat to Colosimo's operation in Chicago
that Johnny Torrio would help him tackle.
Al Capone Fact
7: In 1918 Al met a tall slim pretty
Irish girl named Mae Coughlin at a party. The couple
married the same year. The following year Mae bore their
first & only child, Albert (later nicknamed Sonny)
Johnny Torrio was his Godfather.
Al Capone Fact
8: In 1919 Al Capone beat Irish "White
Hand" gang member Artie Finnegan to a pulp in a saloon
brawl. White Hand Gang boss William "Wild Bill" Lovett
let it be known that he was hunting for a scar-faced
man. Johnny Torrio transferred Al from New York City to
'lie low' in Chicago
Al Capone Fact
9: Gangsters traditionally made their
money from prostitution, extortion, gambling, and theft
but the passage of the 18th Amendment on Prohibition
provided the opportunity to develop another illegal
activity, bootlegging of illegal beer & whiskey.
Al Capone Fact
10: The 18th Amendment on Prohibition was
ratified on
January 16, 1919. The 18th Amendment was enacted by the
Volstead
Act
which went into effect January 29, 1920. The
Prohibition
Era (1920 to 1933) was born and saw the rise of
speakeasies, roadhouses and bootlegging which led to
widespread political corruption.
Al Capone Fact
11: The lucrative business of bootlegging
saw the rise in the criminal activities and gang warfare
of the
Prohibition
Gangsters which would later result in the infamous
1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
Al Capone Fact
12: In May 1920 "Big Jim" Colosimo was
murdered by an unknown assailant. Johnny Torrio and Al
Capone, took over control of his v ast crime empire.
They negotiated peace & cooperation amongst the various
Chicago gangs by organizing them into distinct
territories ruled exclusively by each gang. In 1923Al
Capone established his headquarters at the Lexington
Hotel, at the corner of east 22nd Street (Cermak Road)
and south Michigan Avenue, in Chicago.
Al Capone Fact
13: Johnny Torrio retired in 1925 with
$30 million after North Side gangsters almost killed
him. At the age of just 26 years old Al became the boss
of the Chicago mob earning millions of dollars from
illegal breweries and a transportation network that
reached to Canada.
Al Capone Fact
14: Combining the methods of the Italian
Mafia with those of American big business, Al Capone
evolved one of the most efficient financial enterprises
in the Prohibition Era - which became known as organized
crime. His rivals were gangsters such as George "Bugs"
Moran and Earl "Hymie" Weiss.
Al Capone Fact
15: The National Crime Syndicate was the
name given by the press to the organized crime syndicate
established at the 'peace meeting'. It later became
known as Murder, Inc.
Al Capone Fact
16: The bribery and corruption of the
police, politicians, judges, Prohibition agents and city
officials and the cooperation of Mayor Big Bill
Thompson, enabled Capone to operate his crime empire
with relative impunity. By 1924 he had gained control of
the suburb of Cicero, and had installed his own mayor.
Chicago's Police Chief Healy admitted about 60% of his
policemen were in the bootleg business, or in the pay of
gangsters.
Al Capone Fact
17: By 1927, Al Capone and his
Chicago Mafia were
pulling in approximately $60 million per year and
controlled the sale of liquor to over 10,000
speakeasies.
Al Capone Fact
18: In 1928 he bought a palatial,
waterfront $40,000 mansion in Palm Springs, Florida
designed in the latest Art Deco style. The security
minded gangster chose this retreat, 1,300 miles away
from Chicago.
Al Capone Fact 19:
Al Capone's car was customized
for his protection by crooked auto dealer Joe Bergl:
● The 1928 Cadillac V-8 Town
Sedan armor plated car had 3,000lbs of steel armor fitted and a
bulletproof gas tank
● The car was green with
black fenders (same colors as police cars)
● It had bulletproof windows
and a police siren. The back window dropped down so machine guns
could be fired
● Speed: 120mph
● The car had device that
created a smoke screen via the exhaust system
● The gangster paid $20,000
for the car
Al Capone Fact
20: The violence of the St Valentine’s
Day Massacre on 14 February 1929 attracted unprecedented
publicity. Seven members of the “Bugs” Moran mob were
machine-gunned against a garage wall by attackers posing
as police. The massacre was generally ascribed to the
Capone mob, although Al himself was in Florida.
Continued...
Trivia and
40 Interesting Facts
about the Al Capone
Famous Al Capone
Quotes
The following quotes were made
by the famous American gangster in the 1920s and 1930s.
Famous Al Capone
Quotes
Al
Capone Quotes: "I am just a businessman, giving
the people what they want,"
Al
Capone Quotes: "All I do is satisfy a public
demand."
Al
Capone Quotes: "You can get a lot farther with a
smile and a gun than you can with just a smile."
Al
Capone Quotes: "All I ever did was sell beer and
whiskey to our best people. All I ever did was to
supply a demand that was pretty popular."
Al
Capone Quotes: "They've hung everything on me
except the Chicago fire."
Al
Capone Quotes: On the stock market crash of
1929: "I deny absolutely that I am responsible."
Al
Capone Quotes:
"There's a lot of people in Chicago who've got me
pegged for one of those mobsters you read about in
the storybooks, but I'm not as black as I'm painted!
I'm human, I've got a heart in me & I'll help any
guy that needs help! I can't stand to see anybody
hungry or cold or helpless. I'll bet I've given a
million dollars to the poor! So I couldn't be the
worst man in the World."
Famous Al Capone
Quotes
40 Facts
about the Al Capone for kids
The following fact
sheet continues with trivia and interesting facts about Al Capone
Trivia and
40 Interesting Facts
about the Al Capone
Al Capone Fact 21:
Nicknames: Al Capone loathed the
nickname "Scarface" which had been given to him by the
press.
The picture of Al
"Scarface" Capone shows the horrific scars on the left
side of his face.
His close associates called him "Snorky", slang
for a sharp dresser. He was also known by the pseudonym
'Al Brown' and the nicknames "King Alphonse" and the
"Big Fella". The FBI had another nickname for him -
"Public Enemy Number One".
Al Capone Fact 22:
In 1929 the New York Times had
observed "Probably no private citizen in American life
has ever had so much publicity in so short a period".
Al Capone attempted to improve his image by financing a
Soup Kitchen during the
Great Depression.
His action strengthened his persona as a 'Modern day
Robin Hood'. For additionalfacts and information please
refer to the
Social Effects of the Great Depression.
Al Capone Fact 24:
On May 17, 1929, Scarface and his
bodyguard were arrested in Philadelphia for carrying
concealed deadly weapons by John J. Creedon and James "Shooey"
Malone. The members of the Outfit were sentenced to
terms of 1 year each. Al served his time and was
released in 9 months for good behavior on March 17,
1930.
Al Capone Fact 25:
Al Capone wanted to be a celebrity and
created a flamboyant public image. He even employed a
press agent called Damon Runyon. He photo was featured
on the cover of Time Magazine on March 24 , 1930
Al Capone Fact 26:
The FBI: The gang warfare of the
period were not within the Bureau’s investigative
authority. The FBI's involvement arose from his
reluctance to appear before a federal grand jury on
March 12, 1929 in response to a subpoena.
Al Capone Fact 27:
The FBI: The FBI (Federal Bureau of
Investigation) set up a special squad to take on Al
Capone at the end of 1930, headed by Special Agent Eliot
Ness.
Al Capone Fact 28:
The FBI and Eliot Ness: Eliot Ness (April 19, 1903 – May 16,
1957) was an American Prohibition agent, famous for his
efforts to enforce Prohibition in Chicago, Illinois, and
was
the leader of a team of law enforcement agents nicknamed
"The Untouchables".
Al Capone Fact 29:
The FBI and Eliot Ness: The squad of
the "Untouchables" led by Eliot Ness tailed the
lorries of the Chicago Mafia which collected empty beer
barrels from speakeasies and returned them to Capone’s
breweries. Once the FBI agents had identified the Mob's
warehouses, they busted one after another with their
battering ram.
Al Capone Fact 30:
The FBI and Eliot Ness: The efforts
of the squad of "Untouchables" were rewarded when, in
June 1931, just 6 months after its formation, Al Capone
and his associates were indicted on more than 5,000
Prohibition-related offences.
Al Capone Fact 31:
The FBI and Eliot Ness: There was
considerable legal wrangling and was decided it would be
difficult to get a jury to go against someone with the
celebrity status of Al Capone who had provided alcohol
to willing customers. It was decided that it would be
easier to have him found guilty for tax evasion.
Al Capone Fact 32:
On June 16, 1931 Al Capone went to court to
answer tax evasion and prohibition charges. George E.Q.
Johnson United States district attorney and prosecutor
Jacob I. Grossman went after Capone for income tax
charges and won. Federal prosecutor, Dwight H.Green,
helped put Al behind bars. Michael J. Ahern, part of
Capone's team of lawyers, was the chief defender.
Al Capone Fact 33:
On November 24, 1931 he was sentenced
by Judge James H. Wilkerson to 11 years in jail, fined
$50,000 and charged $7,692 for court costs, in addition
to $215,000 (plus interest) due on back taxes.
Al Capone Fact 34:
Following Capone's conviction for
income tax evasion Frank Nitti nominally assumed power
of the but it was run by Paul Ricca and Tony Accardo for
over 60 years.
Al Capone Fact 35:
After lodging appeals, he waited for
the results in the Cook County Jail. His appeals were
denied and he entered the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta
and was then transferred to Alcatraz.
Al Capone Fact 36:
The US Treasury seized his
armor-plated, bulletproof car in 1931 when "Scarface"
was sent to jail for tax evasion. Rumor has it that
Secret Service men briefly used the car for the
protection of President Franklin Roosevelt during WW2.
The infamous 1928 Cadillac car is now on display at the
Gangster Museum in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Al Capone Fact 37:
Al Capone was released on November
16, 1939, after having served 7 years, 6 months and 15
days in jail
Al Capone Fact
38: On release from jail he entered a
Baltimore hospital for brain treatment and then retired
to his Florida estate
Al Capone Fact
39:
He suffered had an apoplectic stoke on
January 21, 1947 which led to Bronchial Pneumonia
(Bronchopneumonia). Al Capone died of heart failure on
Saturday January 25,1947 at 7:25 pm at his home in Palm
Springs, Florida.
Al Capone Fact
40: Al Capone was initially buried in
Mount Olivet Cemetery in Chicago's far South Side
between the graves of his father and brother Frank. In
March, 1950 their remains were moved to Mount Carmel
Cemetery on the far West Side of Chicago.
Trivia and
40 Interesting Facts
about the Al Capone
Facts
about
Al Capone: Prohibition
For visitors interested in the history of
Prohibition refer to the following articles:
Al Capone Facts - President Coolidge Video
The article on Al
Capone provides detailed facts and a summary of one of the important
people during his presidential term in office. The
following Calvin Coolidge video will give you
additional important facts and dates about the
political events experienced by the 30th American
President whose presidency spanned from August 2,
1923 to March 4, 1929.
Trivia and Interesting Facts about Al Capone
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Interesting Facts about Al Capone for kids and schools
● Interesting facts and trivia about
Al Capone for kids
●
Al Capone facts and organized crime in US history
● Al "Scarface" Capone
●
Fast, fun facts and trivia about Al Capone
● Gangsters and organized crime
● Prohibition and
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