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Al Capone Facts

Al Capone Facts
Al Capone was born on January 17th, 1899 in Brooklyn, New York to Italian immigrants. His full name at birth was Alphonse Gabriel Capone. His father Gabriele Capone was a barber and his mother Teresina Raiola was a seamstress. Al was the fourth child of nine born to Gabriele and Teresina. He had two sisters and six brothers. He grew up in a rough area of New York, and although he showed promise as a student, he was expelled for violence at the age of 14. Soon after Al Capone met a gangster named Johnny Torrio who taught him how to run a racketeering business. Al Capone followed Torrio to Chicago in 1909. When Torrio retired in 1925 A Capone became the new crime czar. Al Capone would become one of history's most famous mafia figures.
Interesting Al Capone Facts:
Al Capone got into a fight at a bar where he was working as a bouncer in 1917. He was slashed in the face with a knife and this was how he got the name ‘Scarface'. Al did not like the nickname.
Al Capone married Mary Coughlin in 1918, when he was 19. She had given birth to their son 18 days before they married.
Al and Mary's son was Albert Francis (Sonny) Capone. Al Capone never had another child.
When Al Capone was 20 he left for Chicago, and worked as a bouncer for the gangster Torrio.
Capone became known as a boxing promoter in the early 1920s.
Capone began bootlegging alcohol in the 1920s because of prohibition and the demand for illegal alcohol.
In 1925 Torrio was shot and almost killed. He retired and Al Capone became the head of the crime organization.
Al Capone's crime organization included nightclubs, race tracks, gambling houses, restaurants, breweries and distilleries, speakeasies and brothels.
Al Capone liked to dress in colorful clothing and wore an 11.5 carat diamond ring.
Al Capone was very generous to those in need. He was known to supply clothing and fuel during the winter to the poor.
Al Capone was responsible for some of the Great Depression's very first soup kitchens.
Al Capone had committed many crimes over the years, including murder, but the St. Valentine's Day Massacre on February 14th, 1929 brought Capone to the attention of the federal government.
The St. Valentine's Day massacre ended with seven of Capone's rival's henchmen being shot dead.
President Hoover wanted Capone arrested and sent Eliot Ness and the ‘Untouchables', to shut Capone down and to find evidence of tax evasion.
On October 6th, 1931 Al Capone was charged with 22 counts of tax evasion. He was also charged with 5,000 violations of the Prohibition laws.
Capone was sentenced to 11 years in prison. He was 32 years old.
After Capone had been able to bribe prison guards for special treatment at Atlanta Penitentiary he was sent to Alcatraz.
Al Capone was prisoner number 85 in Alcatraz.
Capone became very ill in prison and in 1939 he was paroled.
On January 19th, 1947 Al Capone had a stroke and he died on January 25th, 1947 from a heart attack.
Al Capone was 48 when he died.


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