Al Capone Al Capone is the best known gangster in America. He is the most interesting example of a corrupt “leader”. A lot of gangsters are usually from a rough background, influencing their crimes and acts to make a living, but not this one. Al Capone came from an immigrant Italian family, where his father made a living as a barber and his mother a seamstress (“Al Capone”, biography.com). Capone decided to do bad on his own, without the influence of others in his family or people close to him. His ambition to get to the top of being an infamous gang leader is where he succeeded, but was also brought down.
Al Capone’s bad behavior started just in the sixth grade, while he was 14 years old. He was a bright kid but soon started to fall behind
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It all got to his head and he didn’t take the advice from Torrio to stay low. The most infamous gangland massacre was The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre that Al Capone was behind. A rival gang had been a threat for years and Capone wanted to get rid of them, but he didn’t want to be the one to do it. He decided that his top hit man should do it, along with others. They posed as police at a whiskey deal, and shot seven people besides the main man. Capone wasn’t there but was still blamed for the massacre (“Al Capone”, history.com). A Chicago mayor wanted Al Capone gone because he was bad for his political image, so police were paying close attention to him. They somehow couldn’t arrest him for the many crimes he committed, but after raiding his businesses he was arrested for income-tax evasion; out of all things. Capone was found guilty and went to prison for 11 years. After he served 6 ½ years, his health wasn’t good so he was sent to mental hospital. His psychologist said that he had the mentality of a 12 year old. He was diagnosed with syphilis, and then neurosyphilis, causing dementia. He was confused and disoriented, his health going downhill quickly. He eventually died from cardiac arrest, with his wife in Miami. The result of Al Capone dropping out of school at such a young age and joining gangs, resulted in his jail time and