Al Capone: The King of Chicago

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Chicago has always been known for its not so good reputation, but have you ever wondered where that reputation started. How guns, drugs, and prostitution came to be so closely associated with Chicago. Even the state Chicago resides in, Illinois, has been regarded as one of the most corrupt states in the country. All the things we have associate with Chicago were brought out be the famous gangster, Al Capone. Al Capone, whose life as a criminal began at a young age, made Chicago known for violence and crime.
Al Capone didn’t start out in Chicago, he was born in Brooklyn New York to Teresa and Gabriel Capone, who immigrated to the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century (Woog 25). Growing up Capone had an average grade score and almost perfect attendance, but his behavior was a different story. At the age of fourteen Capone struck his teacher for unknown reasons, and as punishment got a beating from his teacher (26). This caused Capone to drop out of school and join the Brooklyn Contingent of the Five Point gang, who specialized in Protection. Protection was a way of extorting money for businessmen in return for not bothering their shops, and Cope was in charge of showing people what happen if the money wasn’t paid (Kobler 23). At the age of eighteen Capone still worked for the Brooklyn Contingent, but had a day job at a local bar. It was there that he fell for a girl named Lena Galluccio, But Lena did not share the same feeling towards Capone. Lena ask her brother, Frank Galluccio, to kindly ask Capone to stop chasing after her, but Frank had a different idea about how to get Capone to stop. Frank showed up at the bar Capone worked at with a four-inch knife and attacked Capone. As a result Frank was killed...

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... the history of the nation. Capone single handedly gave Chicago its reputation for violence and crime. Capone was seen as a mindless criminal and public enemy number one, but treated people fairly. Capone is still talked about today because at one he was considered the king of Chicago. He controlled everyone and everything. Capone will always be remembered as one of the most ruthless criminals of all time.

Works Cited

Kobler, John. The Life and World of Al Capone. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1971.
Print.
“The Life of the Times 1919 – 29.” Great Events of the 20th Century. Ed. Richard
Marshall. Pleasantville, NY: Readers Digest Association, 1977. 199-202. Print.
Trespacz, Karen. The Trial of Gangster Al Capone. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Rutgers
University Press, 2001. Print.
Woog, Adam. “Six Bosses.” Gangsters. San Diego, CA: Lucent Book, 2000. 25-30.
Print.

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