Al Capone

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Crime Causation

Al Capone

The ultimate symbol of a gangster rule is a man the name of Alphonse Capone, nickname Al Capone, who dominates the Chicago underworld crimes: such as illegal gambling, prostitution, and alcohol during prohibition. Capone's life of gang activates at a very young age, created a multi-million dollar empire of crimes in Chicago. He has been referred to as one of the most notorious criminals of all time. (Stockdale 45). He was a smart businessman, good family man, and a generous person, that lived the life full of murders and other crimes.

His father Gabriele Capone was a barber that lived in Naples, Italy who decided to escape the rural life in the promise of work of the new world. He was one of the 43.000 Italians who arrived in the U.S. in 1894 (Stockdale 7-8). Gabriele was 30 years old and his 27 year old wife Teresina and their three sons. He was planning to start a barbershop when he got to America. On January Teresina gave birth to their fourth son named Alphonse Capone (Bardsley 2). The Capone family lived a very normal life with its barbershop in an Italian district in South Brooklyn. This move exposed Capone to a different kind of life on the streets. He became member of a junior gang called the Forty Thieves Juniors, which taught its members the art of petty vandalism. The gang taught the use of violence to get what they want. When he was 14 years old, Al Capone got expelled from school and never went back after hitting a teacher. By this time, Al Capone was destined to live a life of crimes (Stockdale 9-11).

By the time he was 14 years old, he was experienced street fighter and had learned how to use a knife and gun successfully and he became a good leader of the junior gang and was introduced to the Five Points Gang in Brooklyn. Al Capone was 16 years old when he was introduced to prostitution, gambling, extortion (Schoenberg 23-25). Al Capone worked at the Harvard Inn as a bouncer. One night the tried to pick up a woman that he found attractive, not knowing that her brother was sitting next to her. Her brother jumped up and hit Capone in the face. Capone became raged and the other man pulled out a knife and cut Capone's face before he ran out of the Harvard Inn with his sister.

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