Al

Al

“Alphonse Capone was born on January 17,1899 in Brooklyn New York to Gabriele, who was thirty years old, and his pregnant twenty-seven-year-old wife Teresina, his two-year-old son Vincenzo and his infant son Raffaele (Bergreen 1996 p.7).” Capone grew up in a rough neighborhood by the time he was eleven he was in two gangs one was the kids gang the brooklime rippers and the forty thieves juniors. Capone quit school in sixth grade at the age fourteen. Between scams, he was a clerk at a candy store, a pin boy at the bowling alley and a cutter in a bookbindery; later on he became part of the notorious five points gang in Manhattan. Capone was once a bouncer at the Harvard Inn for Frankie Yale. Capone got the nickname scar face from an incident he had at the Inn where he insulted a female patron and was attacked by her brother. The attack left a scar on Capone’s face. Capone met an Irish girl in 1918 named Mara (Capone nicknamed her Mae) at a dance. On December 4th Mae gave birth to their son Albert “Sonny” Francis Capone, and on December 30th they married (Kobler 1992 p.20). The first time Capone was arrested he was charged with disorderly conduct and the murder of two men, Capone was never tried for the murders. Yale sent Capone to work with his old mentor John Torris, who was working for his uncle, “Big Jim” Colisimo. Colisimo was a Chicago crime boss. When Colisimo forbade Torris from running a bootleg racket, Torris decided to eliminate his uncle. Torris saw Capone’s potential and soon Capone was helping Torris manage his bootlegging business. By 1922 Capone was Torris’s right hand man and became a full partner in his businesses, which included saloons, gambling houses and brothels.

Torris was shot by a rival gang member and decided to leave Chicago. Capone became a major crime boss, the men trusted Capone and he proved to be a better business man and expanded his business holdings and now controlled night clubs, horse tracks, breweries, brothels and gambling houses there were reports that said his income was $100,000,000 a year. He also got a cleaning and drying plant chain in Chicago. The mayor also known as big bill Hale Thompson Jr said that Capone was bad for his political image so he ran him out of Chicago (Tully 1958 p.