Alphonse Capone - Iconic Gangster

Al Capone

Alphonse Capone, one of the most iconic gangsters in the history of the nation, was born in Brooklyn, in 1899 to two Italian immigrants. He had a relative normal childhood, but at age 14 dropped out school to work in all kinds of low paying jobs, until he joined the street gang led by Johnny Torrio and Lucky Luciano. At age 18, began working for Frankie Yale, another New York mobster, from who he learned a lot.

Late in December 1918, Capone killed a man, and in order to avoid murder charges fled to Chicago to start working for Johnny Torrio, his old friend, now a crime boss in this city. In just a few years Capone proved his worth to his new boss who soon promoted him to head of the organization, after Torrio was seriously wounded in a murder attempt.

Al Capone, at age 26, was now the new crime boss of Chicago, in charge of a very large organization that included nightclubs, race tracks, gambling establishments, restaurants, breweries, and distilleries.

In the late 1920s, the president Herbert Hoover, ordered to investigate and put him behind bars. Al Capone, who had always managed to escape from being prosecuted for all his crimes, was captured, prosecuted and found guilty of tax evasion. In October 1931 he was sentenced to ten years. Released on parole in 1939, Capone spent the rest of his life at his estate in Palm Island, Florida, where he died on January 25, 1947.

Sources:

"Biography: Al Capone." Angelfire.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Sep 2011. <http://www.angelfire.com/co/pscst/capone.html>.

Rosenber, Jennifer. "Al Capone, A Biography of the Iconic American Gangster." About.com . About.com, n.d. Web. 8 Sep 2011. <http://history1900s.about.com/od/people/a/Al-Capone.htm>.

"Al Capone Biography." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Notable Biographies, n.d. Web. 8