MiamiCubano
El Martillo (My Boxing Name)
He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. *That's* the Chicago way...
Not to tread on anyone else's turf, but...
It was on this day, in 1931 -
Al Capone is sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax evasion and fined $80,000, signaling the downfall of one of the most notorious criminals of the 1920s and 1930s.
Alphonse Gabriel Capone was born, one of nine children, in Brooklyn, New York, in 1899 to Italian immigrants, Gabriele Capone and Teresian Raiola. His father had been a barber back in the Boot, with his mother being a seamstress. They first wound up going to Canada, followed by ultimately settling in the Navy Yard section of Brooklyn. He was expelled from school at 14 for punching a teacher, and then his family moved to another part of Brooklyn - Park Slope. He worked some odd jobs during this time, including a stint in a candy store and bowling alley. He met up with Johnny Torrio then and then joined a gang and earned his nickname "Scarface" after being sliced across the cheek during a fight - though various stories abound as to the nature of the fight and what gave rise to it. In any case, Capone hated this nickname of his with a passion.
By the 1920s, Capone had moved to Chicago, where he was soon helping to run crime boss Johnny Torrio's illegal enterprises there, which included alcohol-smuggling, gambling and prostitution. Interestingly, Capone tried to portray his "legitimate" business as that of a "used furniture dealer." Torrio ended up retiring in 1925 after an attempt on his life and Capone, known for his smarts and all around tough-guyness, was put in charge of the organization. Prohibition, which lasted from 1920 to 1933, proved extremely lucrative for bootleggers and gangsters like Capone, who raked in millions from these activities.
Capone was at the top of the F.B.I.'s "Most Wanted" list by 1930, but he avoided long stints in jail until 1931 by bribing city officials, intimidating witnesses and maintaining various hideouts. He became Chicago's crime kingpin by wiping out his competitors through a series of gangland battles and slayings, including the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre (at the Lincoln Park area of Chicago's North Side) in 1929, when Capone's men gunned down seven rivals. This event helped raise Capone's notoriety to a national level.
Among Capone's enemies was federal agent Elliot Ness, who led a team of officers known as "The Untouchables" because they couldn't be corrupted. Ness and his men routinely broke up Capone's bootlegging businesses, but it was tax-evasion charges that finally stuck and landed Capone in prison in 1931. Although Capone always did his business through front men and had no accounting records in his own name (even his mansion was in his wife's name), Al Alcini started linking him to his earnings. This let the government see that Al Capone was not paying substantial income tax. The federal income tax laws allowed the federal government to pursue Capone on tax evasion, their best chance of finally convicting him. Alcini testified against Capone in Court, with Capone ultimately pleading guilty in the hopes of obtaining a nice plea bargain. No such luck for Capone. Al Capone was found guilty on five of 22 counts of tax evasion for the years 1925, 1926, and 1927, and willful failure to file tax returns for 1928 and 1929. Capone's legal team offered to pay all outstanding tax and interest and told their client to expect a severe fine. The judge sentenced him to eleven years in a federal prison and one year in the county jail, as well as an earlier six-month contempt of court sentence; he ultimately served only six and a half years because of good behavior in prison. He also had to pay fines and court costs totalling 80,000 dollars.
Capone began serving his time at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta, but amid accusations that he was manipulating the system and receiving cushy treatment, he was transferred to the maximum-security lockup at Alcatraz Island, in California's San Francisco Bay. During his early months at Alcatraz, Capone made an enemy by showing his disregard for the prison social order when he cut in line while prisoners were waiting for a haircut. James Lucas, a Texas bank robber serving 30 years, reportedly confronted the former syndicate leader and told him to get back at the end of the line. When Capone asked if he knew who he was, Lucas reportedly grabbed a pair of the barber's scissors and, holding them to Capone's neck, answered "Yeah, I know who you are, greaseball. And if you don't get back to the end of that fucking line, I'm gonna know who you were."
He was released from Alcatraz early in 1939 for good behavior, after spending his final year in prison in a hospital, suffering from syphilis, confused and disoriented. Plagued by health problems for the rest of his life, Capone died in 1947 at age 48 at his home in Palm Island, Florida. His death was not a quick one, and along with dementia, the latter part of his life was plagued by complications of his syphilis. Capone was first laid to rest in Mount Olivet Cemetery, in Chicago's South Side between the graves of his father, Gabriele, and brother, Frank. However, in March 1950, the remains of all three family members were moved to Mount Carmel Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois, west of Chicago.
Not to tread on anyone else's turf, but...
It was on this day, in 1931 -
Al Capone is sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax evasion and fined $80,000, signaling the downfall of one of the most notorious criminals of the 1920s and 1930s.
Alphonse Gabriel Capone was born, one of nine children, in Brooklyn, New York, in 1899 to Italian immigrants, Gabriele Capone and Teresian Raiola. His father had been a barber back in the Boot, with his mother being a seamstress. They first wound up going to Canada, followed by ultimately settling in the Navy Yard section of Brooklyn. He was expelled from school at 14 for punching a teacher, and then his family moved to another part of Brooklyn - Park Slope. He worked some odd jobs during this time, including a stint in a candy store and bowling alley. He met up with Johnny Torrio then and then joined a gang and earned his nickname "Scarface" after being sliced across the cheek during a fight - though various stories abound as to the nature of the fight and what gave rise to it. In any case, Capone hated this nickname of his with a passion.
By the 1920s, Capone had moved to Chicago, where he was soon helping to run crime boss Johnny Torrio's illegal enterprises there, which included alcohol-smuggling, gambling and prostitution. Interestingly, Capone tried to portray his "legitimate" business as that of a "used furniture dealer." Torrio ended up retiring in 1925 after an attempt on his life and Capone, known for his smarts and all around tough-guyness, was put in charge of the organization. Prohibition, which lasted from 1920 to 1933, proved extremely lucrative for bootleggers and gangsters like Capone, who raked in millions from these activities.
Capone was at the top of the F.B.I.'s "Most Wanted" list by 1930, but he avoided long stints in jail until 1931 by bribing city officials, intimidating witnesses and maintaining various hideouts. He became Chicago's crime kingpin by wiping out his competitors through a series of gangland battles and slayings, including the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre (at the Lincoln Park area of Chicago's North Side) in 1929, when Capone's men gunned down seven rivals. This event helped raise Capone's notoriety to a national level.
Among Capone's enemies was federal agent Elliot Ness, who led a team of officers known as "The Untouchables" because they couldn't be corrupted. Ness and his men routinely broke up Capone's bootlegging businesses, but it was tax-evasion charges that finally stuck and landed Capone in prison in 1931. Although Capone always did his business through front men and had no accounting records in his own name (even his mansion was in his wife's name), Al Alcini started linking him to his earnings. This let the government see that Al Capone was not paying substantial income tax. The federal income tax laws allowed the federal government to pursue Capone on tax evasion, their best chance of finally convicting him. Alcini testified against Capone in Court, with Capone ultimately pleading guilty in the hopes of obtaining a nice plea bargain. No such luck for Capone. Al Capone was found guilty on five of 22 counts of tax evasion for the years 1925, 1926, and 1927, and willful failure to file tax returns for 1928 and 1929. Capone's legal team offered to pay all outstanding tax and interest and told their client to expect a severe fine. The judge sentenced him to eleven years in a federal prison and one year in the county jail, as well as an earlier six-month contempt of court sentence; he ultimately served only six and a half years because of good behavior in prison. He also had to pay fines and court costs totalling 80,000 dollars.
Capone began serving his time at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta, but amid accusations that he was manipulating the system and receiving cushy treatment, he was transferred to the maximum-security lockup at Alcatraz Island, in California's San Francisco Bay. During his early months at Alcatraz, Capone made an enemy by showing his disregard for the prison social order when he cut in line while prisoners were waiting for a haircut. James Lucas, a Texas bank robber serving 30 years, reportedly confronted the former syndicate leader and told him to get back at the end of the line. When Capone asked if he knew who he was, Lucas reportedly grabbed a pair of the barber's scissors and, holding them to Capone's neck, answered "Yeah, I know who you are, greaseball. And if you don't get back to the end of that fucking line, I'm gonna know who you were."
He was released from Alcatraz early in 1939 for good behavior, after spending his final year in prison in a hospital, suffering from syphilis, confused and disoriented. Plagued by health problems for the rest of his life, Capone died in 1947 at age 48 at his home in Palm Island, Florida. His death was not a quick one, and along with dementia, the latter part of his life was plagued by complications of his syphilis. Capone was first laid to rest in Mount Olivet Cemetery, in Chicago's South Side between the graves of his father, Gabriele, and brother, Frank. However, in March 1950, the remains of all three family members were moved to Mount Carmel Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois, west of Chicago.
