Al Capone
Prohibition led to the bootlegging of liquor and the gang wars of the 1920’s. The most notorious gangster of all time, known as Al Capone, was the most powerful mob leader of his era. He dominated organized crime in the Chicago area from 1925 until 1931. Capone grew up during the roaring 20s in Chicago. He joined the James Street gang, lead by Johnny Torrio. In 1920, Torrio asked Capone to move to Chicago and work with his uncle who controlled the city’s largest prostitution and gambling ring at the time. Capone had liked that idea. Later that year the Prohibition act came into affect and Capone became interested in selling illegal whiskey and other alcoholic beverages. Al Capone was America's best known gangster and greatest symbol of destruction of law and order in the United States during the Prohibition era because of his leading role in the illegal activities which gave Chicago its reputation as a lawless city.
Capone’s network came through Torrio’s business. Capone and Torrio took over his uncles business after his uncle died (Haller, 358). Torrio’s uncle did not agree with Capone’s idea in the first place. His uncle was shot by his rival, which gave the business to Torrio. They both created the selling of illegal alcohol in the city of Chicago (Haller 359). This impacted the U.S. because it gave many men and women beverages for their needs. Capone developed contacts to obtain imported liquor from Detroit, New York, and Miami (Haller 360). These purchases gave Capone power and wealth because he sold alcohol all over Chicago. After Torrio was shot and almost killed by a rival gang, he retired from the underworld, which left Capone to run the organization alone (World Biography). Now Capone was on the top of his organization and at the age of 26, he was managing more than 1,000 employees, which included a payroll of more than $300,000 a week (World Biography). Capone demanded loyalty from all of his employees. During this time Capone became so rich he gave out free food for Chicago’s unemployed which made him look like a good influence.
Unemployed people did not care that the money he gave them was made illegally, to them money was money. Capone also supplied booze to the poor. “Even though bootlegging was illegal at this point in time, if you got people alcohol, you were respected by the community”(Kobler). People were in the depres...
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...January 21, 1947, he had an apoplectic stoke that was probably unrelated to his syphilis” (Al Capone). He regained consciousness and began to improve until pneumonia hit Capone on January 24. He died the next day from cardiac arrest. Capone was first buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Chicago's far South Side next to the graves of his father, and brother. In March of 1950 all three were moved to Mount Carmel Cemetery on the far West Side. That is why Al Capone was known as America’s best known gangster in the prohibition era.
Work Cited
Bergreen, Laurence. The Man and the Era. Simon and Schuster Trade, New York. July
1996.
Haller, Mark. American National Biography, Oxford University Press. New York
1999
Hornung, Rick. Al Capone. Random House Value Publish. Staff Incorporated
1998
Kobler, John. Capone: The Life and World of Al Capone. G.P. Putnam’s Sons. New
York, New York. 1992
Encyclopedia of World Biography. Al Capone. 2nd ed. Volume 17. Gale Research.
Thomson Corporation Company. 1998
American Decades CD – ROM. Al Capone. Gale Research. Gale Group, Thomson
Corporation Company. 1998
Al Capone. http://www.chicagohs.org/ (25, Mar. 2001)
Sandbrook is incorrect to remark that from the moment the Volstead Act came into effect, America’s National gangsters saw it as a business opportunity. This is because the early years of Prohibition were years where enforcement was particularly strict, which made the distribution of alcohol very risky. Yet regardless, by far criminals who had the most to gain were gangsters such as Al Capone, who made $100 million a year from speakeasies and casinos alone. Violence played a large role in organised crimes during the years of Prohibition, with an increase in burglary, theft and battery assaults by a total of 22%. There were also wars between gangsters over each other’s territory, and the most famous act of violence during the years of Prohibition came from Capone’s army of 700 gangsters, who committed over 300 murders in Chicago. Willoughby points out that although organised crime existed in the years before and after Prohibition, it was “albeit on a smaller scale.” This is convincing as the affluence that the twenties created, along with demands for alcohol provided alternative opportunities for organised crime. Arguably, Clements acknowledges that even after the repeal of Prohibition, the wealth that corrupted illegal organisations accumulated made them turn to other areas where they could make a vast amount of profit, such as prostitution, gambling and drugs. Certainly,
Prohibition was during the Progressive Era, which was an attempt by people to correct all of society’s ills, and alcohol was an important issue. All of the gangsters knew there was a new way to make millions of dollars, and they didn’t mind breaking the law. They found a business to capitalize on and it worked quite well as Prohibition officials soon called Chicago ‘the wettest city in the United States. Capone’s empire expanded during Prohibition, which is shown in Rosenberg’s writing,.only 26-years old, [Capone] was now in charge of a very large crime organization that included brothels, nightclubs, dance halls, race tracks, gambling establishments, restaurants, speakeasies, breweries, and distilleries.
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Alphonse Gabriel Capone was the most notorious bootlegger in American History. He was born on January 17, 1899 and died of a heart attack on January 25, 1947. Capone grew up in Brooklyn and became a member of the Five Points Gang. During a street fight he had received a scar on his face that gave him the nickname “Scarface”. Capone quickly moves up the ranks in the mafia world, often noticed for his toughness, in 1919 he grabbed the attention of mobster John Torrio of Chicago. Capone was promoted to bodyguard of the mob boss James Colosimo. When Capone moved to Chicago, bootlegging was just starting to blow up. These bootleggers pounced on the opportunity to completely control the business of making, importing, and distributing alcohol and all alcohol products. Alcohol wasn't the only flourishing industry for the the mob, they also did trade in
Considered the most notorious gangster in history, Alphonse Capone, otherwise known as Scarface Al, was born in New York, 1899, in a small apartment in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Having many run-ins with the police growing up, he was always around the local street gang led my Johnny Torrio. After beating one of his sixth grade teachers, he quit school, and quickly learned the way of the streets, joining the Torrio gang, call the James Street Gang. James Street also included Lucky Luciano, one of Capone’s best friends, who would later also become a notorious gangster (Internet 1, 1).
It is said that for every market that is destroyed, a new underground market is created. This was exactly the case with prohibition. Though domestic violence did decrease, much crime increased. Bootlegers (people who made/sold their own whiskey) popped up everywhere. Speakeasies, which were underground bars, were frequented by virtually everyone. Seceret drinking was considered a glamorous thing-even in Washington parties. Bootlegging gangs began to increase, thus an increase in street crime occured. One of the most famous of these gangsters was Al Capone. Capone's bootlegging ring earned him approximately 60,000,000 dollars a year. One example of gang related crime was the St. Valentines Day Massacre, in which Capones's gang gunned down and killed seven members of "Bugs" Morgans' gang.
Prohibition was the creation of bootlegging and gang wars that would make up the roots of the 1920’s. One of the most known gangsters in American History, Al Capone, was the most powerful gang or mob leader in his era. Capone was the roots of organized crime in Chicago area from the mid 20’s to the early 30’s. Al grew up in the 20’s in Chicago. In his younger days, he joined the James Street Gang whose leader was Johnny Torrio. In the year 1920, Johnny asked Al Capone to join his uncle in Chicago who had control of the city’s largest prostitute and gambling circuit. Capone ended up being a big fan of that idea. In the later months of 1920 the Prohibition act was passed into effect and Al Capone decided his next money maker was bootlegging illegal
Overall, Al Capone is one of the most infamous gangsters in American history. He built a massive empire on popular illegal activities of the 1920s. He fascinated the public until the horrendous murders became very public and the worst economic times of America set in. The mob age began to settle down. However, over 60 years later Capone’s legacy still lives and his crazy life is shown through movies.
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Once in Chicago, Capone went to work for Yale's old mentor, John Torrio, who also became godfather to his son. Torrio saw Capone's potential, his combination of physical strength and intelligence, and took him under his wing. In January 1920, the 18th Amendment of the Prohibition Act came into force, which made the brewing, distilling and distribution of alcohol completely illegal. The era of Prohibition was underway, and Chicago's criminal underworld, including Johnny Torrio who was prepared to make bootlegging alcohol a very profitable business. Around the end of 1920 Capone's father tragically died, but Capone was doing well in Chicago venture and did not go astray. At just 22 years of age Capone became Torrio's partner in his Chicago businesses, and was Torrio's number-two man helping to mange the bootlegging, saloons, gambling houses, and even the brothels. Capone now had greater responsibilities and was given the opportunity to expand the operation to the Chicago suburb of Cicero.
Al Capone was a child from an Italian immigrant family, And was one of the most Notorious and infamous Mafia leader in the world during the Prohibition Era in Chicago. Also he was known as "Scarface," Al Capone was sent to Alcatraz Prison in Philadelphia in 1931 from a tax evasion conviction. Al Capone had a personal fortune estimated at $100 million and was responsible for countless murders, His most famous one was the St.Valentine’s Day Massacre.
Capone had mastered the art of politics, and as a wealthy, powerful gangster figure, he attempted to balance his activities. Despite his illegitimate occupation, he had become a highly visible public figure. He made daily trips to City Hall, opened soup kitchens to feed the poor, and even lobbied for milk bottle dating to ensure the safety of the city's children. City officials often were embarrassed by the politic strength of Capone, and began leveraging his illegal activities through police raids, along with setting intentional fires to his places of business.
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