05-08-17 History 102 Micah Mullin History Project Life of Al Capone Al Capone is the most famous gangster of American hisory. He is known for his powerful criminal network during the prohibition. He was married to Mae Josephine Coughlin and had a son named Albert Francis (Sonny) Capone. Capone first became involved with smaller gangs that including the Bowery Boys and Junior Forty Thieves. Later he joined a much more powerful gang known as the Brooklyn Rippers, and then moved on to the even more powerful five point gang. During this time, he worked for and was taught by a fellow racketeer by the name of Frankie Yale. One day Capone inadvertently insulted a woman while working the door at a Brooklyn night club. This lead to her brother …show more content…
Capone worked as a bouncer in a brothel, it was at this time that he contracted syphilis. For some reason Capone never sought treatment that likely could have cured him. In 1923, he purchased a house and his name began to pop up in the papers sports pages. Jonny Torrio took over the whole Chicago operation after the boss was murdered. It is suspected that Capone was involved in his murder. Their new territory was vast, reaching all the way to Canada. The operation was the largest organized crime group in the city. Torrio was very concerned with a gang war and would try to negotiate instead of fight. The north side gang was a smaller gang that was led by Dean O Banion. The north side gang came under pressure from another gang that was allied with Torrio. O Banion discovered that despite Torrio’s talk about wanting to negotiate instead of fight, he wouldn’t lift a finger to fix the problem. Eventually Torrio had O Banion killed and those who took his place made revenge their number one …show more content…
Despite all of the crime Capone was implicated in, there was no evidence that would allow law enforcement to make a serious charge stick. They decided if they couldn’t get him on a charge such as murder, they would have to find something else. Since Capone did not report his illegally acquired earnings to the IRS they decided they could put him away for tax evasion. In prison he was able to complete his job of sewing soles onto shoes, but it was evident from the letters he sent from prison that his mentation was deteriorating. Capone was eventually moved to Alcatraz island. He was stabbed by another inmate and spent the last year of his prison sentence in the hospital. His sentence was completed on June 6th