Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Essay on street gangs in america
Essay on street gangs in america
The history of juvenile gangs
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Essay on street gangs in america
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 interventio...
... middle of paper ...
... lavish meal and drank as much wine as there hearts desired, the smile that had been on Capone’s face disappeared and now silence fell over the table and the unsuspecting guests looked up nervously at Capone. Then Capone said "You thought that I didn’t know, huh? Well there is one offense that I never forgive that is disloyalty." Even though Capone was ruthless, he still carried out the old custom of hospitality before execution. With saying that, his bodyguards leaped on the men and started to strangle them. Al came out with a base ball bat in hand. He beat all of them to death and, to make sure they were dead, they also shot them in the back of the head.
Something else that surprised me was the competition between the gangs, who could give the most flowers and give the most lavish funerals to the men they killed from the opposite side of town. Al Capone was a very ruthless killer but he still had style, a certain classy air about him.
We all know of Al Capone as a gangster but in his time he actually gave to a lot of charities and organizations. Some people thought of him as hero. To the upper class people he was an outlaw but, to the poor people, he was Santa Clause.
On january 17, 1899, in Brooklyn, New York, Alphonso Caponi "Scarface" was born. Al attended school till the sixth grade, at which point he horrifically beat his teacher up. He taught himself at a young age that the main purpose of life was to acquire power and wealth. Al began to participate in criminal activities as a way of achieving success in what he saw as an unjust society. Johnny Torrio, a ganster that gave Al a job in a gang and knew Al did not mind violence and often had him beat up people who were unable to repay loans. During a fight in a bar Al was taughting a woman and received a razor cut on his cheek by the woman boyfriend, which gained him the nickname "Scarface." Johnny Torrio moved to Chicago in 1909 to help run the giant
With Johnny Torrio out of his way, Al Capone planned a raid on his rival gang leader, Bugs Moran (History.com para 1). Bugs Moran was the criminal that lead crime in North Chicago (History.com para 2). Throughout the 1920’s, Moran and Capone fought for control over bootlegging and prostitution (History.com para 2). Accordingly, Capone and Moran had been trying to kill each other and their gangs ever since Johnny Torrio was sent to prision (History.com para 2). With Moran's assassination attempt on Capone and a 50,000 bounty on Al Capone’s head, Capone starts to plan Bugs Moran's death (History.com para 4).
Al Capone’s family came with a wave of other Italian immigrants that migrated to the United States in the 1800’s. Most immigrants in that time were living in poverty and in very urban areas. Capone’s family lived in the heart of Brooklyn, but his father was a successful barber which allowed them a slightly better lifestyle than most. Al Capone was the fourth of nine children and grew up with a very tight-knit Italian family who were trying to succeed in their new country”. Capone attended public school in the city and had a natural brightness by keeping a “B average” despite playing hooky on many occasions. The sixth grade showcased Capone’s short temper when he hit a female teacher who was lecturing him. This incident reveals the beginning of who Al Capone would come to be. After being suspended for his violence, he never officially furthered his education. He began his life of crime by joining the kid gangs that existed all over Brooklyn. These “gangs” were nothing more than children being hoodlums and participating in petty crimes, although they would be the ...
“Torrio taught Capone the importance of leading an outwardly respectiable life to segregate his carreer from his home life, as if maintaining a peacefull, conventional domestic setting somehow excused or legitimized the venality of workingin the rackets. I was a form of hypocrisg that was second nature to Johnny Torrio and that taught Capone to honor” (A&E Biography. Al Capone, Scareface). Like youths of his time he ran in territorial gangs at first he was with the South Brooklyn Rippers, then the Forty Theives, and lastly the Five Point Juniors. Capone worked hard at boreing jobs he cut paper and other odd jobs.
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
As he grew older, Capone was hired by the gang leader, Torrio, to be a bouncer at a bar in Brooklyn, taking his first step up the “gang ladder”. One night, Capone’s cheek was slashed during a fight at the bar over a girl. It was from then on he was known as Scarface. Later in his life, when asked by reporters where he got this scare, he often lied of serving in the “Lost Battalion” in WWI, even though he never served in the military (Internet 1, 1).
...s. Was Capone fully to blame for the violence that plagued his life? Or was he adapting to the times in which he lived? Maybe he was a man who believed in self-defense in a cruel time where he was just as likely to be killed by an opposing bootlegger. In several interviews, he spoke of peace. He asked for peace from other men that challenged him. Some might even call him generous. Whatever Al Capone was, there was one type of person that he believed to be truely evil. In the words of Capone, "There's one thing worse than a crook, I think...and that's a crooked man in a big political job. A man who pretends he is enforcing the law and is really making dough by breaking it. Even a self-respecting hoodlum hasn't any use for that kind of fella..he buys them like he'd buy any other article necessary to his trade. But he hates them in his heart," (Blumenthal 102).
January 17, 1899 Alphonse Gabriel Capone was born to Gabriele and Teresina Capone (about.com). Capone was the fourth of nine children born in to the family. Capone’s mother and father emigrated from Naples, Italy and settled in Brooklyn, New York. Capone’s father was a barber, and his mother stayed home with the children (about.com). Capone was in two gangs as a child, Five Point Gang, and Brooklyn Dive (chicagohs.org). In sixth grade, Capone dropped out of school; some say it is because he beat up his teacher. Others say he dropped out to help earn money for his family. After dropping out of school, for whatever reason, Capone had quite a few different jobs. He was a candy store clerk, a pin boy at a bowling alley, a cutter at a book bindery, and a bouncer bartender at the Harvard Inn. While working at the Harvard Inn, Capone got into a fight with Frank Gallucio after Capone said a comment to Gallucio’s sister (about.com). During the fight Gallucio pulled out a knife and slashed Capones face. The cut left a scar leaving Capone with the nickname, Scarface.
He came up from almost nothing in a poor immigrant home of Italian decent. His mother and father were working class citizens. Capone began using the Italian heritage at a young age with a slight twist of dastardly aggressiveness. Being kicked out of school at an early age from assault of a teacher then joining a gang was the future for Capone. Torrio left all his work in the hands of Capone, and Al did not disappoint. He was successful in making money. Prohibition alcohol, gambling, prostitution, speakeasy’s, and hits were just a few tactics of his reign in Chicago during the roaring twenties. With his attitude and ability to practically decide who will win elections made him so fearful, and if you ever crossed him you were due to payment for ticking him off. Valentine’s Day and the small-thug are just two examples of the raw decisions of Capone to commit murder. There is no possible answer to the amount of killings Capone is responsible for. Al Capone was finally caught after all the chaos and killing in 1931 where he would serve in Alcatraz and in Baltimore until returning to Miami where he would dance with the devil one last time. The notorious Al Capone never died in Chicago as the Chiraq still ran wild. Al Capone is one of Americas most famous gangsters from the prohibition era and will rest knowing that he is a symbol for modern destruction of law and order
Al Capone, America’s most prominent Mafia figure in the 1920’s, also known as “Scarface” for a scar running down his left cheek. Capone didn’t hide in the shadows like most figures in such a shady occupation. He didn’t shy away from the camera, more like he welcomed it, and aimed to be seen by the public as a respectable businessman and a pillar of the community. Surprisingly, Capone wasn’t from a distinctly poor community, his father earned a living as a barber. Capone was introduced to the gang life by a friend and from there it all went downhill and into the life of a gangster.
His name is Frank Gulouchyo. Frank Gulouchyo scarred Capone for life. Capone got up, walked over to the young lady’s table, and told her that she had a nice butt. Then Gulouchyo got up and pulled a knife out of his pocket and sliced the left side of his face. That is how Al Capone acquired the nickname of Scarface.
Alphonse Capone was born on January 17, 1899, in Brooklyn, New York to Gabriele and Teresina Capone. He grew up in a rough neighborhood and was a member of two gangs; the Brooklyn Rippers and the Forty Thieves Juniors. Alphonse did well at school until the 6th grade when he was expelled for retaliating against a teacher who hit him. He was fourteen at the time. He became part of the Five Points gang in Manhattan and worked in gangster Frankie Yale's bar, the Harvard Inn, as a bouncer and bartender. While working at the Inn one night, local gangster Frank Gallucio was drinking with his sister at the Harvard Inn. Capone approached the girl to compliment her, and Gallucio took offense to him started a fight. Gallucio pulled a knife and cut Capone's face three times. That is how "Scarface" came to be.
Al Capone was born in Brooklyn, New York, on January 17,1899. He was the fourth of seven sons and two daughters. His parents, Gabriel and Theresa, were one of thousands of Italians who arrived in New York in 1894 for a better living. The early Capone was slashed with a knife across his left cheek by a young hoodlum in a restaurant , For harassing a woman, prompting the later nickname ‘’Scarface.’’Then Capone met a gangster named Johnny Torrio, who taught Capone how to build a corporate empire. Torrio moved from New York to Chicago in 1909 to help run a giant brothel business. In 1919 Capone joined Torrio’s James Street Boys gang in Chicago, Where he had become an Influential Lieutenant in the Colosimo mob. In 1925, Al Capone became boss when Torrio was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt, surrendered control and retired to Brooklyn. As Prohibition began, New bootlegging operations opened up and drew in immense wealth. Capone started running gambling, prostitution, and gunning down rival gangs. Capone kidnapped opponents, election workers and threatened voters with violence. Later he eventually won office in Cairo but then his brother frank had been killed in a shootout with the Police of Chicago. Capone left for Miami with his wife and children and bought Palm Island estate,...
A mob hit such as this one seems tough but only someone with the man power and skill could have pulled it off. It took Capone awhile to think about because he needed an alibi. His alibi was finally established and it was time to go to part one of the Valentines Day Massacre. Something you probably didn't know was Al Capone did not participate in the killings or plans of this crime. All though Capone was the main man behind the massacre, he had "Machine Gun" McGurn take care of the set up. Jack McGurn was responsible for many of Chicago's gangland murders, often without Capone's consent. McGurn upset Capone on a number of occasions for going over the top in violence, because everything McGurn did reflected on Capone in the media.
...et of alcohol. The leader of the crime during the time was Al Capone. Capone was the ring leader of the mafia. He would do anything to get his money from his underground alcohol trafficking ring. Al Capone is a well known mafia leader. Al Capone Was the major trafficking leader during the prohibition. Al Capone was involved with gangs most of his life. This formed him into one of the greatest gang leader.