Al Capone rose from a Brooklyn street tough to become one of the most powerful crime bosses in American history, but his criminal empire was ultimately dismantled not by murder investigations, but by tax evasion charges. Capone was born on January 17, 1899, in Brooklyn, New York, to parents who had emigrated from Angri, a small commune outside Naples, Italy. His father, Gabriele Capone, worked as a barber, while his mother, Teresa, was a seamstress. The family settled at 95 Navy Street in Brooklyn after arriving in America in 1893, later relocating to Park Slope.
The young Capone showed academic potential but struggled with the strict rules of his Catholic parochial school. At age 14, he was expelled for punching a female teacher, ending his formal education. He held odd jobs at a candy shop and a bowling alley, played semi-professional baseball, and began looking up to gangster Johnny Torrio as a mentor. At age 19, Capone married Josephine Coughlin on December 30, 1918.
His Irish Catholic wife had given birth to their son, Albert Francis “Sonny” Capone, earlier that month. The boy had lost most of the hearing in his left ear during childhood. Capone first became involved with minor street gangs like the Bowery Boys and Junior Forty Thieves before joining the Brooklyn Rippers and the Five Points gang in Lower Manhattan. During this period, fellow racketeer Frankie Yale hired him as a bouncer at the Harvard Inn, a dance hall and saloon in Coney Island.
While working the door, Capone unintentionally insulted a woman whose brother, Frank Galluccio, slashed him three times on the left side of his face with a knife. The incident earned him the nickname “Scarface,” which Capone detested. In 1919, Capone left New York for Chicago at Torrio’s invitation. Torrio had been brought to the city as an enforcer by mob boss James “Big Jim” Colosimo.
It is believed Capone first worked in Chicago as a bouncer in a brothel, where he most likely contracted syphilis. After Colosimo’s murder on May 11, 1920, in which Capone was allegedly involved, Torrio inherited the largest organized crime organization in Chicago. Torrio ran the operation with Capone as his right-hand man. Torrio attempted to broker territorial agreements between competing criminal organizations to avoid gang wars.
On November 10, 1924, Torrio orchestrated the murder of North Side gang leader Dean O’Banion at his flower shop. Hymie Weiss then became the North Side gang’s leader, supported by Vincent Drucci and Bugs Moran, and made vengeance against O’Banion’s killers a top priority. Capone was shaken but unharmed in an ambush in January 1925. Twelve days later, Torrio was shot multiple times while returning home from a shopping trip.
After recovering, he effectively abdicated his position and handed control of the organization to Capone, then 26 years old. The enterprise included illegal breweries and a transportation network extending to Canada, all operating under the protection of the political and law enforcement establishment. On September 20, 1926, the North Siders pulled a ruse on Capone outside his headquarters at the Hawthorne Inn to get him to look out the windows. Gunmen in several cars then opened fire on the restaurant’s first-floor windows with shotguns and Thompson submachine guns.
Capone, unharmed, attempted to arrange a truce but failed. Weiss was killed outside the North Siders’ headquarters at O’Banion’s former flower shop three weeks later. Capone did not hesitate to use violence to maintain power and eliminate enemies. In one infamous incident, he allegedly ordered the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929, in which seven members of a rival gang were brutally gunned down in a garage.
The rival gang was the North Side gang led by Bugs Moran, though Moran himself was not present at the scene and narrowly avoided being among the victims. The seven men were lured to a garage on Chicago’s North Side under the pretense of receiving a shipment of bootleg whiskey. Once they arrived, they were lined up against a wall and gunned down by several men dressed as police officers. The victims included Peter Gusenberg, Frank Gusenberg, Albert Kachellek, Adam Heyer, John May, Reinhardt Schwimmer, and James Clark.
The brutality and scale of the massacre made it one of the most infamous incidents of organized crime in American history. After the massacre, Capone faced increased scrutiny from law enforcement and the public. Many called for him to be brought to justice, but despite extensive investigations and witness testimony, Capone was never formally charged in connection with the crime. A lack of concrete evidence and witness intimidation made it difficult for authorities to build a case.
In 1929, Capone was indicted for contempt of court and jury tampering after he allegedly tried to bribe jurors during a previous trial against him. He had been charged with violating Prohibition laws, but the jury had acquitted him due to intimidation and bribery. During the contempt trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Capone had tried to bribe several jurors, including offering one juror $50,000 to vote for his acquittal. His defense team argued the charges were baseless and the evidence flimsy.
The trial was marked by delays and legal maneuvering and ultimately ended in a mistrial when the jury could not reach a verdict. In 1931, Capone was charged with tax evasion based on evidence that he had earned millions through illegal activities but had failed to pay taxes. Prosecutors presented financial records seized during a raid on Capone’s home, along with testimony from his associates. His defense argued that he was a horse racing addict who lost as much money as his businesses earned during the years in question.
The jury found Capone guilty of five counts of tax evasion. A week later, he was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison, fined $50,000 plus $7,692 for court costs, and held liable for $215,000 plus interest in back taxes. He began his sentence at the United States Penitentiary in Atlanta but was later transferred to Alcatraz, the maximum-security prison on an island in San Francisco Bay. Capone’s health deteriorated during his imprisonment, and he was diagnosed with syphilis.
Due to his failing health, he was released from prison on November 16, 1939. His condition worsened over time, causing mental and physical deterioration. Despite treatment including penicillin therapy, his health declined further. In 1946, a doctor and a psychiatrist in Baltimore examined him and concluded that Capone had the mental capacity of a 12-year-old child.
On January 21, 1947, Capone suffered a stroke. He regained consciousness and began to recover but then developed bronchopneumonia. Capone died on January 25, 1947, surrounded by his family at home, after his heart failed as a result of apoplexy.
He was 48 years old.