Al Capone

Al Capone, probably the most notorious and well known gangster in history, was born in 1887 in Naples, Italy. His father, Gabriel Caponi, immigrated to Brooklyn from the slums of Naples in 1910. After he came here he changed his last name too Capone too blend in more. Al Capone’s gang activities started out when he was young. He was in the Five Points Gang, who were known for their violence. The gang’s tradition was to scar their victims with a knife cut from the outside corners of their eyes to their ears.

At the time, Johnny Torrio was a major mob boss and his uncle, Jim Colosimo (AKA "Big Jim"), hired Capone as a bouncer. Al Capone was a large man, did his job well, and soon he came to recognition in Torrio’s gang. During his stint as a bouncer, Capone one time made a disrespectful comment to Frank Galluccio’s (a member of the Brooklynite gang) sister. Galluccio pulled out his pocket knife and went for Al’s face. When it was over, Capone had 3 big scars on his face. This earned him the nick name Scar Face. He hated the name, and whoever said it to his face would not live to regret it. After his recovery, he forgave Galluccio and because of this gesture he was hired as a body guard for Torrio at $100 a week. Capone eventually told the public that his scars were old war wounds received in France.

Al Capone married Mae Coughlin in 1918 and together they had a son, Albert Francis, and chose Johnny Torrio as his Godfather. Torrio gave his godson $5000 a year. Shortly after, facing possible murder charges, they fled to Chicago.

When Colosimo died, Capone became the right hand man of Torrio’s gang. Together, Capone and Torrio expanded the gang’s territories

by taking out the their leaders. On one occasion there were Sicilians in the Sicilian Mafia and Al for a dinner in their "honor." After they had finished their lavish meal and drank as much wine as there hearts desired, he killed the unsuspecting visitors. They also tightened there political control over the city. Capone boasted "I own the police." He actually did own the police. This was most prominent during the November elections of 1929 when a lawyer by the name of Frank Lowsch persuaded Capone to have the elections be fair. He asked to have the police arrest any gangsters or hoodlums , and they did. There was not one incident of intervention in the ballots and there were no complaints of harassment at all. In fact, that was the first fair election in 40 yeas. This was the biggest display of power that that any outlaw has ever achieved, to have complete control over the nation’s second largest city. Eventually, like most gangsters of the time, Torrio was hit by a member of the O’Banionites of the north section of Chicago. So now the south side was controlled by Capone and he had a plan to make the whole city of Chicago his domain. He was now public enemy number one. The only threat to his absolute power was Dion O’Banion. One day when Dion O’Banion was out side his flower shop he was gunned down by an unknown assassin. It is not very odd for Capone not to be involved in it, because O’Banion had a lot of enemies from other gangs .

Al Capon’s biggest battle was the St. Valentines massacre The whole story behind the St. Valentines day massacre starts off in the city of Chicago, 1929. At the time, the city was divided in half between two gangs, the north side gang and the south side gang. The mob bosses behind it were the notorious Al Capone to the south and the infamous Bugs Moran to the north. Thanks to prohibition, the two had become the crime lords of Chicago, running gambling, prostitution and bootlegging rackets while continuously expanding their territories by getting rid of rival gangs. Capone’s yearly gross income was estimated at $75,000,000. Today that’s a lot of money and back then that much was unheard of . He had to take down "Bugs" Moran at any cost. If he did, he would have complete control of the city. But, since Moran was one of the leading gangsters in Chicago, he was not an easy target to take down. So, in order to get rid of Moran, Capone chose to start at the bottom and get rid of Moran's gang, eventually leaving him defenseless.

On one cool February evening in North Chicago at 2122 Clark Street at 10:30 p.m., 7 men from the north side (Morans gang) meet at a local place to get in on a deal to smuggle some alcohol from Canada. Frank and Pete Gusenberg, who were there to drive the trucks to pickup smuggled whisky, James Clark (Moran’s brother in law), Adam Hayer, Al Weinshank, and Reinhardt Schwimmer met at a local warehouse. Suddenly police rushed in on the mobsters who cooperated with the officers, and dropped all their weapons. Then the fake policemen force them up against the wall. As soon as their backs were turned,