Al Capone Essay, Research Paper

The most famous gangster in our nation was Alphonse Capone, better known as Al Capone or Scarface. You will learn more about Al Capone s childhood and much more about this gangster. He has an anger problem and often over reacted to things and this is how his gangster life started.

Alphonse Capone was born on January 17th, 1899 in Brooklyn to two Italian immigrants. He had nine siblings, which included seven brothers and two sisters. He grew up in a quiet home, which still puzzles many why did Al Capone do what he did. Facing a life of low paying jobs he decided to join a street gang led by Johny Torrio.

After the passage of prohibition in 1920 Torrio kept telling Jim Colosimo to establish underground drinking establishments. Colosimo would not listen to Torrio, and Torrio became fed up. On May 11th, 1920 Torrio had Al Capone kill Colosimo. Capone soon became the manager of alcohol for Chicago.

Capone became the head of the Chicago Mafia after Torrio was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt. With his Mafia or mob he ran the streets of Chicago. Capone had mayors, legislators, governors, congressmen, and over + of Chicago s police force on his payroll.

In 1929 he made his biggest blunder by ordering the shooting of Bugs Moran, on February 14th. Capone s men killed a group of seven people in what is now known as the St. Valentine s Day Massacre. Moran was not one of the seven killed. The St. Valentine s Day Massacre changed the public s view about organized crime.

All this time the IRS had been gathering tax evasion information on Capone through Eddie O Hare, who was a hired agent. O Hare ran Capone s dog and racetracks and told the IRS where to find Capone s financial records. On November 24th, Al Capone was sentenced to eleven years in prison, fined $50,000, charged $7,692 for court costs, and $215,000 in back taxes.

He was released from prison in 1939, after serving seven years, and paying back all of his back taxes. His mental and physical condition was terrible and he entered Baltimore hospital immediately after his release. Before he died on January 25th in 1947 from stroke he managed to kill Eddie O Hare, the man that stabbed him in the back and got him into prison.

I chose Al Capone because he helped America set up tougher laws for criminals and banish the idea of organized crime. He did both of these indirectly, but he did help. He is America s original gangster. I do not think anyone will ever get away with as much crime as Al Capone did.