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Table of Contents
Al Capone was a gangster and businessman notorious during the Prohibition Era. He co-founded and led the group Chicago Outfit for seven years and ended his leadership when he was sent to prison.
See the fact file below for more information on Al Capone, or you can download our 24-page Al Capone worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.
Key Facts & Information
BACKGROUND
- Alphonse Gabriel Capone was born on January 17, 1899, in Brooklyn, New York City.
- He was born and raised by Italian immigrant parents, Gabriel Capone, a barber, and Teresa Capone, a seamstress.
- He has eight siblings – Vincenzo, Raffaele James, Salvador, Ermina, Amino, Albert, Matthew, and Mafalda.
- Two of his siblings, Ralph and Frank, were also members of his gang.
- Al Capone was an excellent student, but he had trouble following the rules at his strict Catholic school.
- He stopped attending school at 14 years old when he got expelled for hitting the face of his female teacher.
- Al Capone entered unusual jobs, including working in a candy store and bowling alley.
- He was a semi-professional baseball player for two years.
- He was influenced by Johnny Torrio, a gangster who was also his mentor.
- At the age of 19, Al Capone married Mae Josephine Coughlin, who was an Irish Catholic.
- As he was under 21 years old, he got the consent of his parents in writing to get married.
- They got married on December 30, 1918, and a month later, they gave birth to their son Albert Francis “Sonny” Capone.
- Despite his title as notorious and having a criminal lifestyle, both of them had a happy marriage.
CAREER
- Al Capone joined small-time gangs in New York, including the Junior Forty Thieves and the Bowery Boys.
- He also joined Brooklyn Rippers and the Five Points Gang.
- Frankie Yale, a bartender, employed Al Capone and became his mentor.
- Al Capone was also known as Scarface.
- He got this nickname when he was slashed thrice on his face with a knife by Frank Galluccio, the brother of the woman who was said to have been unintentionally insulted by Al Capone.
- Al Capone moved to Chicago in 1919 at Johnny Torrio’s invitation.
- He worked as a bouncer in a brothel.
- He might have contracted syphilis while he was working here.
- He never got treated for it but was believed to be cured due to the use of Salvarsan.
- Al Capone became known in newspaper sports as a boxing promoter.
- Al Capone was suspected of being involved in the murder of James “Big Jim” Colosimo.
- Upon his death, Johnny Torrio took over Colosimo’s group.
- Johnny Torrio led an Italian crime group, which was considered the biggest in the city.
- He had Al Capone as his trusted right-hand man.
- Johnny Torrio avoided being included in gang wars, so his approach was to negotiate agreements on territories with his rival crime groups.
- Al Capone knew some bootleggers in Canada who helped him smuggle liquor to the U.S.
- In January 1925, an incident happened that had Al Capone shaken yet unhurt.
- After 12 days, his boss, Torrio, was shot several times while going home from a shopping trip.
- When he recovered, he resigned and handed the group’s responsibility to Al Capone.
- Al Capone led an organization that took illegal breweries and transportation extending to Canada.
- They were protected by political and law enforcement, so he gained more revenue by instilling violence.
- Some local members of the black community helped Al Capone in his operations.
- Like a typical gang leader, he dressed in costly jewelry and custom suits and filled himself with cigars, gourmet food and drink, and females.
- Due to his activities, he became a national celebrity who was always the talk of the town.
- He lived in Cicero, Illinois, and bribed and intimidated the people for him to take over the town-city elections.
- North Siders found it hard to target him with this move.
- There were ploys outside the Capone headquarters for him to come out of the windows.
- Shooting broke out, but Al Capone was left unhurt.
- Despite his calling for a truce, the agreements they had failed.
- Killing incidents kept happening thus, making Al Capone increasingly wary of his security.
- Al Capone’s life was again put at risk due to his feud with Joe Aiello.
- Joe Aiello allied with the other enemies of Al Capone and had several attempts to kill Antonio Lombardo, the head of Unione Siciliana, and Al Capone.
- Joe Aiello offered around $10,000 to $35,000 to the chef of Al Capone’s favorite restaurant to put prussic acid in Al Capone and Lombardo’s soup.
- The chef refused to do it and exposed the plan to Al Capone.
- Al Capone countered the plot by firing on one of Joe Aiello’s stores, which wounded Joe Aiello’s brother.
- Joe Aiello continued his plans to kill Al Capone; he hired hitmen but was unsuccessful.
- He even offered a reward to eliminate Al Capone, which was joined by at least ten gunmen who were unsuccessful in fulfilling the plan.
- Ralph Sheldon, one of Al Capone’s allies, tried to kill him for the reward.
- However, the intelligence network of Frank Nitti learned about it and had Ralph Sheldon shot.
- In November 1927, Aiello planned to ambush Al Capone and Lombardo but again failed due to an anonymous tip.
- The police raided several places and arrested the hired gunmen of Aiello.
- They admitted that they were hired by Aiello, thus, arresting the latter.
- Upon arrest, Al Capone sent his gunmen to wait for Aiello’s release.
- They were not discrete about their purpose; thus, the media rushed to the scene to cover and see Aiello’s expected murder.
- Al Capone also assumed responsibility for the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929.
- The massacre aimed to murder the North Side Gang head, Bugs Moran.
- The plan was said to have been made due to the hijacked illegal transportation of expensive whiskey from Canada to Cook County, Illinois.
- Four of his gunmen disguised as police initiated a police raid.
- The seven victims lined up on the wall, and the faux police signaled to their accomplices, who had machine guns and shotguns at the time.
- The photos of the murdered victims shocked the public and affected Al Capone’s image.
- Despite this, Bugs Moran was not among the slain victims.
- Days after, Al Capone was summoned to testify on the Chicago grand jury under the charges of Prohibition violations.
- However, Al Capone refused to attend and said he was ill so he couldn’t go.
- Al Capone tried to clean his image by donating to charities and sponsoring a soup kitchen in Chicago.
CHARGES
- After testifying to the grand jury for his investigation of violations of federal prohibition laws, he was arrested by FBI agents on March 27, 1929.
- His contempt of court for faking illness to avoid an appearance led to his arrest.
- He also carried a concealed weapon in Philadelphia; thus, he was arrested on May 16, 1929.
- Al Capone’s guilty plea led him to prison for a year.
- He became a “public enemy” a week after his release in March 1930, when he got listed on the unofficial Chicago Crime Commission’s list.
- When he visited Miami Beach, he was arrested again for vagrancy charges.
TAX EVASION
- President Herbert Hoover ordered the arrest of Al Capone due to his income tax evasion.
- The U.S. Supreme Court in 1927 argued that revenue from illegal operations must also be taxable.
- On June 1931, Al Capone was indicted with 22 counts of income tax evasion.
- He bargained for a two-and-a-half year imprisonment; however, the judge did not grant his request.
- His case went to trial, and he tried to bribe the proceedings.
- Due to this, the court changed the jury, and Al Capone was convicted; he was condemned to imprisonment for 11 years.
DEATH
- On November 16, 1939, Al Capone was released from prison due to his health issues.
- He was referred to the John Hopkins Hospital for his treatment of syphilitic paresis, but they refused to treat him.
- Union Memorial Hospital willingly took him, and due to his gratefulness, he donated two Japanese weeping cherry trees to the hospital.
- Despite being so ill, he went to his mansion in Palm Island, Florida, on March 20, 1940.
- Al Capone was one of the first American patients to be treated with penicillin which was just mass-produced in 1942.
- The development of his disease slowed down, but it was too late for him to save the damage to his brain.
- In the same year, his physician concluded that Al Capone had a mentality that of a 12-year-old kid.
- He spent his remaining time with his family in the mansion.
- He had a stroke on January 1947 but recovered.
- However, he contracted another disease called bronchopneumonia.
- He had a cardiac arrest days after and died after his heart failed due to apoplexy.
- He had a private funeral after his body was sent to Chicago a week after his death.
- He was buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Chicago and was transferred with the remains of his father and brother Frank to Mount Carmel Cemetery in Illinois.
Al Capone Worksheets
This fantastic bundle includes everything you need to know about Al Capone across 24 in-depth pages. These ready-to-use worksheets are perfect for teaching kids about Al Capone, a gangster and businessman notorious during the Prohibition Era.
Download includes the following worksheets:
Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.
- Al Capone Facts
- Al Capone
- How I See Al Capone
- Revealing The Truth
- Who Are They?
- Robin Hood
- The Qualities
- I Remember It Happened
- Al Capone’s Lawyer
- Prohibition Era and Al Capone
- Al Capone vs. Robin Hood
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Al Capone?
Al Capone was an American gangster and crime boss who rose to prominence during the Prohibition era. He was the head of the Chicago Outfit, one of the most notorious criminal organizations in American history.
What was Al Capone’s role in the Prohibition era?
During the Prohibition era, Capone became one of the most powerful and wealthy criminals in the country by controlling the illegal production, transport, and sale of alcohol in the Chicago area.
How was Al Capone finally brought to justice?
Capone was finally brought to justice on tax evasion charges in 1931. He was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison and was eventually sent to Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay.
How did Al Capone die?
Al Capone died of cardiac arrest on January 25, 1947, at the age of 48.
Why is Al Capone significant in American history?
Al Capone is significant in American history as one of the most notorious and powerful gangsters of the 20th century. He personifies the criminal underworld of the Prohibition era and remains an infamous figure in American popular culture.
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