The Life and Crimes of Al Capone (Part II)

Imprisonment

Capone was sent to Atlanta U.S. Penitentiary in May 1932, aged 33. Upon his arrival at Atlanta, the 250-pound (110 kg) Capone was officially diagnosed with syphilis and gonorrhoea. He was also suffering from withdrawal symptoms from cocaine addiction, the use of which had perforated his nasal septum. Capone was competent at his prison job of stitching soles on shoes for eight hours a day, but his letters were barely coherent. He was seen as a weak personality, and so out of his depth dealing with bullying fellow inmates that his cellmate, seasoned convicts Red Rudensky, feared that Capone would have a breakdown. Rudensky was formerly a small-time criminal associated with the Capone gang, and found himself becoming a protector for Capone. The conspicuous protection of Rudensky and other prisoners drew accusations from less friendly inmates, and fueled suspicion that Capone was receiving special treatment. No solid evidence ever emerged, but it formed part of the rationale for moving Capone to the recently opened Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary off the coast of San Francisco, in August 1934.  On June 23, 1936, Capone was stabbed and superficially wounded by fellow-Alcatraz inmate James C. Lucas.

At Alcatraz, Capone's decline became increasingly evident as neurosyphilis progressively eroded his mental faculties; his formal diagnosis of syphilis of the brain was made in February 1938.  He spent the last year of his Alcatraz sentence in the hospital section, confused and disoriented.  Capone completed his term in Alcatraz on January 6, 1939, and was transferred to the Federal Correctional Institution at Terminal Island in California to serve out his sentence for contempt of court.  He was paroled on November 16, 1939, after his wife Mae appealed to the court, based on his reduced mental capabilities diagnosed.

Chicago aftermath

The main effect of Capone's conviction was that he ceased to be boss immediately on his imprisonment, but those involved in the jailing of Capone portrayed it as considerably undermining the city's organized crime syndicate. Capone's underboss, Frank Nitti took over as boss of the Outfit after he was released from prison in March 1932, having also been convicted of tax evasion charges.  Far from being smashed, the Outfit continued without being troubled by the Chicago police, but at a lower level and without the open violence that had marked Capone's rule. Organized crime in the city had a lower profile once Prohibition was repealed, already wary of attention after seeing Capone's notoriety bring him down, to the extent that there is a lack of consensus among writers about who was actually in control and who was a figurehead "front boss".  Prostitution, labor union racketeering, and gambling became moneymakers for organized crime in the city without incurring serious investigation. In the late 1950s, FBI agents discovered an organization led by Capone's former lieutenants reigning supreme over the Chicago underworld.

Failing health and death

Due to his failing health, Capone was released from prison on November 16, 1939, and referred to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for the treatment of paresis (caused by late-stage syphilis). Hopkins refused to admit him on his reputation alone, but Union Memorial Hospital accepted him. Capone was grateful for the compassionate care that he received and donated two Japanese weeping cherry trees to Union Memorial Hospital in 1939. A very sickly Capone left Baltimore on March 20, 1940, after a few weeks of inpatient and a few weeks of outpatient care, for Palm Island, Florida.  In 1942, after mass production of penicillin was started in the United States, Capone was one of the first American patients treated by the new drug.  Though it was too late for him to reverse the damage in his brain, it did slow down the progression of the disease.

In 1946, his physician and a Baltimore psychiatrist examined him and concluded that Capone had the mentality of a 12-year-old child.  Capone spent the last years of his life at his mansion in Palm Island, Florida, spending time with his wife and grandchildren.  On January 21, 1947, Capone had a stroke. He regained consciousness and started to improve, but contracted bronchopneumonia. He suffered a cardiac arrest on January 22, and on January 25, surrounded by his family in his home, Capone died after his heart failed as a result of apoplexy.  His body was transported back to Chicago a week later and a private funeral was held. He was originally buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Chicago. In 1950, Capone's remains, along with those of his father, Gabriele, and brother, Salvatore, were moved to Mount Carmel Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois.

Victims

According to Guy Murchie Jr. from the Chicago Daily Tribune, 33 people died as a consequence of Al Capone's actions.

·         1              Joe Howard        May 7, 1923        Tried hijacking Capone-Torrio beer and was a braggart.

·         2              Dean O'Banion                 November 10, 1924         Ran North Side liquor business and declared, "To hell with the Sicilians!"

·         3              Thomas Duffy    April 27, 1926     Suspected of treachery by Capone.

·         4              James J. Doherty

·         5              William H. McSwiggin   Happened to be with Duffy and Doherty that night.

·         6              Earl Hymie Weiss            October 11, 1926              O'Banion's successor on the North Side and out to get Capone.

·         7              John Costenaro                January 7, 1927                 Planning to testify against Capone in a conspiracy trial.

·         8              Santo Celebron

·         9              Antonio Torchio                May 25, 1927      Imported from New York to kill Capone.

·         10           Frank Hitchcock                July 27, 1927       Bootlegger enemy that Johnny Patton wanted out of the way.

·         11           Anthony K. Russo            August 11, 1927                Imported from St. Louis to kill Capone.

·         12           Vincent Spicuzza

·         13           Samuel Valente               September 24, 1927        Imported from Cleveland to kill Capone.

·         14           Harry Fuller        January 18, 1928               Hijacked Capone's beer and liquor.

·         15           Joseph Cagiando

·         16           Joseph Fasso

·         17           "Diamond Joe" Esposito              March 21, 1928 Did not want to support Capone on election day.

·         18           Ben Newmark   April 23, 1928     Tried to organize a rival gang; bodyguard of Capone tried to conceal his own treachery by carrying out the murder of Newmark.

·         19           Francesco Uale (Frank Yale)       July 1, 1928         Double-crossed Capone when serving as rum-running manager.

·         20           Frank Gusenberg             February 14, 1929            Were in the Moran gang hangout during the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

·         21           Pete Gusenberg

·         22           John May

·         23           Al Weinshank

·         24           James Clark

·         25           Adam Heyer

·         26           Dr. Reinhardt Schwimmer

·         27           Albert Anselmi                 May 8, 1929        Part of Joseph Giunta's plan to assassinate Capone.

·         28           John Scalise

·         29           Joseph Giunta (Juno)     Was planning on assassinating Capone.

·         30           Frankie Marlow                June 24, 1929     Refused to pay a debt of $250,000.

·         31           Julius Rosenheim            February 1, 1930               Informant to the police and newspapers on Capone's activities.

·         32           Jack Zuta              August 1, 1930   Spied on and double-crossed Capone.

·         33           Joe Aiello            October 23, 1930              Rival gang leader and ally of Bugs Moran.

In popular culture

Capone is one of the most notorious American gangsters of the 20th century and has been the major subject of numerous articles, books, and films. Particularly, from 1925 to 1929, shortly after Capone relocated to Chicago, he enjoyed status as the most notorious mobster in the country. Capone cultivated a certain image of himself in the media, that made him a subject of fascination.  His personality and character have been used in fiction as a model for crime lords and criminal masterminds ever since his death. The stereotypical image of a mobster wearing a blue pinstriped suit and tilted fedora is based on photos of Capone. His accent, mannerisms, facial construction, physical stature, and parodies of his name have been used for numerous gangsters in comics, movies, music, and literature.

Literature

Capone is featured in a segment of Mario Puzo's The Godfather as an ally of New York mob boss Salvatore Maranzano in which he sends two "button men" at the mob boss' request to kill Don Vito Corleone; arriving in New York, the two men are intercepted and brutally killed by Luca Brasi, after which Don Corleone sends a message to Capone warning him not to interfere again, and Capone apparently capitulates.

Capone appears in Hergé's comic book Tintin in America, one of only two real-life characters in the entire The Adventures of Tintin series.

A reincarnated Capone is a major character in science fiction author Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy.

Capone's grandniece Deirdre Marie Capone wrote a book titled Uncle Al Capone: The Untold Story from Inside His Family.

Al Capone is the inspiration for the central character of Tony Camonte in Armitage Trail's novel Scarface (1929), which was adapted into the 1932 film. The novel was later adapted again in 1983 with the central character of Tony Montana.

 Jack Bilbo claimed to have been a bodyguard for Capone in his book Carrying a Gun for Al Capone (1932).

Al Capone is mentioned and met by the main character Moose in the book Al Capone Does My Shirts.

Film and television

Capone has been portrayed on screen by:

Rod Steiger in Al Capone (1959)

Neville Brand in the TV series The Untouchables and again in the film The George Raft Story (1961)

José Calvo in Due mafiosi contro Al Capone (1966)

Jason Robards in The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967)

Ben Gazzara in Capone (1975)

Robert De Niro in The Untouchables (1987)

Ray Sharkey in The Revenge of Al Capone (1989)

Eric Roberts in The Lost Capone (1990)

Titus Welliver in Mobsters (1991)

Bernie Gigliotti in The Babe (1992), in a brief scene in a Chicago nightclub during which Capone and his mentor Johnny Torrio, played by Guy Barile, meet the film's main character Babe Ruth, portrayed by John Goodman.

William Forsythe in The Untouchables (1993–1994)

William Devane in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, season 2, episode 7: "That Old Gang of Mine" (1994)

F. Murray Abraham in Dillinger and Capone (1995)

 Anthony LaPaglia in Road to Perdition (2002), in a deleted scene

Julian Littman in Al's Lads (2002)

Jon Bernthal in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009)

Stephen Graham in Boardwalk Empire (2010–2014)

Isaac Keoughan in Legends of Tomorrow (2016)

Michael Kotsohilis in The Making of the Mob: Chicago (2016)

Cameron Gharaee in Timeless (2017)

Tom Hardy in Capone (2020)

Actors playing characters based on Capone include:

Wallace Beery as Louis "Louie" Scorpio in The Secret Six (1931)

Ricardo Cortez as Goldie Gorio in Bad Company (1931)

Paul Lukas as Big Fellow Maskal in City Streets (1931)

Edward Arnold as Duke Morgan in Okay, America! (1932)

Jean Hersholt as Samuel "Sam" Belmonte in The Beast of the City (1932)

Paul Muni as Antonio "Tony" Camonte in Scarface (1932)

C. Henry Gordon as Nick Diamond in Gabriel Over the White House (1933)

John Litel as "Gat" Brady in Alcatraz Island (1937)

Barry Sullivan as Shubunka in The Gangster (1947)

Edward G. Robinson as Johnny Rocco in Key Largo (1948)

Ralph Volkie as Big Fellow in The Undercover Man (1949)

Edmond O'Brien as Fran McCarg in Pete Kelly's Blues (1955)

B.S. Pully as Big Jule, an intimidating, gun-toting mobster from "East Cicero, Illinois" in the film adaptation of Guys and Dolls (1955), reprising the role that Pully had originated in the Broadway musical.

Lee J. Cobb as Rico Angelo in Party Girl (1958)

George Raft as Spats Colombo and Nehemiah Persoff as Little Bonaparte in Some Like It Hot (1959)

Cameron Mitchell as Boss Rojeck in My Favorite Year (1982)

Harvey Atkin as "Al Koopone" (King Koopa) in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show episode "The Unzappables" (1989)

Al Pacino as Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy (1990)

Music

Prince Buster, Jamaican ska and rocksteady musician, had his first hit in the UK with the single "Al Capone" in 1967.

The British pop group Paper Lace's 1974 hit song "The Night Chicago Died" mentions that "a man named Al Capone, tried to make that town his own, and he called his gang to war, with the forces of the law".

British rock band Queen referenced Al Capone in the opening of their 1974 song "Stone Cold Crazy", which was covered in 1990 by the American rock band Metallica.

 In 1979, The Specials, a UK ska revival group, reworked Prince Buster's track into their first single, "Gangsters", which featured the line "Don't call me Scarface!"

Sketch of Capone made by Partizan fans in Belgrade, Serbia.

Al Capone is referenced heavily in Prodigy's track "Al Capone Zone", produced by The Alchemist and featuring Keak Da Sneak.

"Al Capone" is a song by Michael Jackson. Jackson recorded the song during the Bad era (circa 1987), but it wasn't included on the album. The song was released in September 2012 in celebration of the album's 25th anniversary.

 Brazilian musician Raul Seixas has a song entitled "Al Capone", included in his 1973 debut album Krig-ha, Bandolo!

Multiple hip hop artists have adopted the name "Capone" for their stage names including: Capone, Mr. Capone-E and Al Kapone.

The R&B Vocal Group The Fantastic Four recorded a song entitled "Alvin Stone: (the Birth & Death Of A Gangster)" in 1975 from their album of the same name. The main protagonist was a gangster with a name very similar to Al Capone

Sports

Fans of Serbian football club Partizan are using Al Capone's character as a mascot for one of their subgroups called "Alcatraz", named after a prison in which Al Capone served his sentence. Also, in honour of Capone, a graffiti representation of him exists in the center of Belgrade.

 Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight Nikita Krylov is nicknamed "Al Capone". Coincidentally, he had his first UFC win in Chicago.