The Four Deuces: Alphonse Capone's First Murder

home on the south side and in moved Mae, Sonny, his recently widowed mother, and a few of his siblings. He rented the store next door, stocked it with old furniture, and stenciled the words, “Alphonse Capone Used Furniture” on the window. He was listed in the phone book as A. Capone, Antique Dealer. If someone called, the store was never open, although he operated expertly in the underworld as Al Brown constantly. Soon, Al was managing brothels himself and had become a quarter partner in Torrio’s speakeasy, “The Four Deuces”. In a brief bout of honest government in Chicago, Al and Torrio moved brothels into the suburban town of Cicero, IL, to serve as temporary headquarters. In 1925, Torrio was victim to a failed assassination attempt. A pistol

During the short duration of the Prohibition, over 700 gang members were killed, and Capone was linked to a good number of them. Capone committed his first murder in 1919. His victim was a small-time Brooklyn criminal named Tony Perotta. Perotta owed Frankie Yale $1,500 in gambling debts. Al tracked him down at a game of craps, and Perotta gave him attitude, but no money. Al shot the man, and being a good employee, carefully took $1,500 out of the dead man’s pockets. Later, however, Al ordered a hit on Yale, himself. The murderers he hired to kill Yale did such a good job that he hired them again, as well as several other experts for his next job. They dressed in police uniforms and stormed into a garage owned by Al’s arch-nemesis. The “cops” announced a police raid and the criminals dropped their weapons and lined up on the wall. At this time, the assassination squad let loose with a sawed off shotgun, two machine guns, and a .45 caliber rifle. Only the watchdog survived. This attack, which came to be known as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, had only one flaw. Al’s primary target, bootlegger Bugs Moran, showed up to the scene late, saw the cops, and drove

Despite this positive press, being under public speculation was bad for Capone. Eliot Ness and his group, “The Untouchables” targeted Al, and they planned to live up to their name. One of Capone’s men visited Eliot Ness one day offering a deal. A sum of money was offered in exchange for cooperation and an agreement to stop going after Al’s business. Ness declined, then immediately turned to the press, declaring that they would never be bought by Al Capone; their mission was unstoppable. Ness began to see the press as a major ally after his team earned their nickname. He made a habit of calling the press after each raid his crew made on Capone’s breweries. Critics argued that such publicity would harm the squad’s efforts, but Ness proved them wrong because Ness could operate under the Untouchables without recognition. The bureau’s investigation of Al arose from his reluctance to appear before a federal grand jury on March 12, 1929, in response to a subpoena. The day before the trial was scheduled, Al’s lawyers filed for postponement on the grounds that Al was suffering from bronchial pneumonia in Miami and couldn’t make the trip. His court date was reset for March 20. Working in Chicago’s justice department, Eliot Ness received an assignment to serve with a special unit to bring down Alphonse Capone. At the request of the U.S. Attorney’s office, Ness and his group