Al Capone Major Accomplishments

Alphonse Capone, also known as ‘Al’ or ‘Scarface’ rose to fame in the early 1920’s as an American Gangster and Co-founder (later boss) of the Chicago Outfit, an organized crime unit based in Chicago, Illinois. Born in 1899, in Brooklyn, New York, Al was the fourth of eight children. His parents Gabrielle and Teresina had immigrated from Naples, Italy just five years before his birth. During this time, many immigrant families would face prejudice, especially in big cities. Al would often claim that he was an ‘American, born and bred’, and he was, though his Italian roots were often blamed as the reason he became such an infamous gangster. As a student, he was very intelligent, but started to fall behind. He had to repeat sixth grade,

Due to of his good behavior, and declining health, his sentence was cut in half. Suffering from neurosyphilis, he was moved to a mental hospital in Baltimore in 1939, where he stayed for 3 years. With rapidly declining health, Capone lived out the rest of his days with his wife and son in Miami, where he eventually died of cardiac arrest on January 25, 1947.

Early Life and its Effects on His Later Life There are many theories as to why Al Capone turned to a life of crime. Some say it is because of his Italian ethnicity, and others prejudice towards him and his family during his developmental years. However, the most accepted reason is because of his father’s death. Al was just 19 at the time that Torrio reached out to Capone and invited him to join his operation, but not where his involvement in gangs originated. He first started running errands for Torrio when he was just ten years old. It is hard to say how he really got involved with gangs, other than the fact he was just in the right place at the right time, like many people in history are.

Impact on American

To this day, Chicago has a huge problem with gang violence, which may have even started because of Capone business. The crime rate today might not be as high if Capone was not as successful as he had been. He also helped the public realize alcohol and criminality were not appropriate solutions to social problems. Because of Capone, the FBI was established as an efficient and low-abiding enforcement agency. While Capone could bribe politicians and Chicago’s police, the FBI held a level of honesty that no one can live up to, even now. The agents during this time were called ‘The Untouchables.’ Besides his impact through crime, he also impacted history through his social contributions. Many who knew Capone personally described him as an extremely kind man. During the Great Depression, he would pay people to rent out their basements, or houses, even though he never really used them. He would give them money and say ‘he might need to use it,’ though he never did. A quote from Capone says ‘I'm a kind person, I'm kind to everyone, but if you are unkind to me, then kindness is not what you'll remember me