"Scarface"
Perhaps the most famous gangster of all time is Al Capone, who was born in 1899 in Brooklyn, New York. He came from a poor Italian immigrant family and dropped out of school when he was in sixth grade in order to become part of a street gang. Capone quickly learned and began working with Johnny Torrio, a well-known gangster in New York. Capone married Mae Coughlin when he was 19 and attempted to lead an honest life by working as a bookkeeper in Baltimore; however, when his friend Torrio returned from Chicago he invited Capone to come back with him and he went (www.fbi.gov). At first Capone created a reputation as a loud, drunk when he came to Chicago, but as his family arrived he got his act together and calmed down. Torrio retired to Italy after an assassination attempt in 1925, and Capone took full control of the mob. He soon controlled several areas in Chicago and was living an extravagant lifestyle. “Newspapers of the time estimated Capone’s operations generated $100 million in revenue annually” (www.history.com).
St. Valentine's Day Massacre
Al Capone's criminal record and fingerprints.
Capone’s most famous scandal is the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Capone and his best hit man Jack McGurn had both almost had their life taken from them by Bugs Moran, who was Capone’s rival. Capone finally decided to retaliate by taking harsh means and planned to kill Moran and his fellow gang members. Capone had McGurn and his gunmen dress up in police uniforms and wait in the Clark Street garage. When Moran and seven of his men walked in, Capone’s men killed them all except for Moran who escaped. Though Capone was in Miami, the entire public knew that he was behind the massacre. President Hoover ordered that the federal government investigate Capone further in order to charge him with income-tax evasion. He served six and a half years in prison for this crime; the first half was in Atlanta and the second was at Alcatraz. In 1939 when Capone was released he had dementia and was not in his right state of mind whatsoever. He spent his last years in Miami with his wife until he died of cardiac arrest on January 25, 1947 (www.history.com).