Al Capone

A detailed Summary of Al Capone

The Great Depression had strong effects on many families in the early 1900's. Many people were left with out jobs or homes to reside in. Most unemployed workers turned to the West, such as California, to search for new jobs to support their families. Realizing once they had gotten there that most opportunities had been taken. (Steinbeck) Then there are the others who took matters in their own hands. Revolting against the government became a new trend. Al Capone was the single greatest leader of illegal scams, which defied the United States government during the 1920's prohibition era.

Al Capone was born on January 17, 1899, in Brooklyn, New York. Baptized "Alphonse Capone" by his father Gabriele and his mother Teresina. Capone was the first of his family to be born and conceived in America (Bardsley). He grew up in a rough neighborhood and was a member of two "kid gangs", the Brooklyn Rippers and the Forty Thieves Juniors (Kobler 11). Capone, at age fourteen, was expelled from school when he physically lost his temper with his teacher. He never went to school again (Bardsley). Between scams he was a clerk in a candy store, a pin boy in a bowling alley, and a cutter in a bookbindery (Halper 102).

Most common people used Capone's speakeasies, but were afraid of his short temper. Capone was unpopular in much of the country (Ness 101). In 1930, at the peak of his power, Capone was on Chicago's new list of the twenty-eight worst criminals. Al Capone had become the city's "Public Enemy Number One" (Bergreen 35).

While in Alcatraz, Capone showed signs of syphilitic dementia. He spent the rest of his felony sentence in the hospital. He later returned to his home in Palm Island where his mind and body continued to deteriorate. On January 21, 1947, Capone had an apoplectic stoke. He regained consciousness and began to improve until pneumonia set in on January 24. Capone Died January 25, 1947 from cardiac arrest (Kobler 25).

Capone's most notorious killing was the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. On February 14, 1929, four Capone men entered a garage at 2122 N. Clark Street, in Chicago. The building was the main liquor headquarters of bootlegger George "Bugs" Moran's North Side Gang (Allsop 51). Capone's assassination team changed into police uniforms and drove to the garage in a stolen police car. The men raided the garage as though they were the police arresting the gang. The bootleggers did as they were told, and lined up against the wall obediently. The four men in police uniforms took the bootleggers' guns and opened fire with two machine guns, a sawed-off shot gun, and a .45 (Bardsley). Capone's men fired more than 150 bullets into the gang members. Six of the seven killed were members of Moran's gang and the seventh was an unlucky friend (Allsop 53). The target of the shooting, Bugs Moran, was across the street hiding once he s

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Approximate Word count = 1108
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: People