Al Capone

Alphonsus Gabriel “Al” Capone, probably the most known gangster of in history, was born to Gabriel and Teresina Capone in Brooklyn, New York, on January 17, 1899. Al Capone’s parents immigrated from Italy in 1894. Capone was the forth oldest of nine brothers and sisters. Capone started his gang life early when he joined the Brooklyn Rippers and the Forty Thieves Juniors, two local gangs comprised of teenage troublemakers from around the neighborhood. He was then expelled from school for punching a teacher, and then quit school in the sixth grade. Capone joined the Manhattan based, Five Points Gang, headed by Frank Yale who owned the Harvard Inn. Al worked many odd jobs such as a candy store clerk, a pin setter in a bowling alley, and later worked for his gang’s leader as a bartender at the Harvard Inn. In 1918, Capone met an Irish girl named Mary "Mae" Coughlin at a dance in New York. On December 4, 1918, Mae gave birth to Capone’s first son, Albert Francis “Sonney” Capone. Later that month, on December 30, Capone and Mae exchanged vows at the Saint Mary’s Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Church. Capone was still working for Frank Yale and committed at least two murders before being sent to Chicago in 1919 to avoid the retribution of Bill Lovett, a violent lieutenant in the White Hand Gang. Capone was familiar with Chicago, having been sent there previously by Yale in order to help crime boss Big Jim Colosimo dispose of a group of troublemakers of the Black Hand Gang. Capone went to work for Colosimo's empire under Giovanni Torrio. Torrio immediately recognized Capone's talents and soon Capone was promoted to running the Four Deuces bar and given responsibility for illegal activities in Chicago, such as prostitution. Another activity he was over was smuggling of alcohol since Prohibition was still a law. In 1925, Torrio was severely wounded in an assassination