The Rise And Fall Of Al Capone — страница 2

evicted. Men were hospitalized with broken arms, broken legs, and skull fractures. Capone was repeatedly arrested for assault, but was always released thanks to Torrio’s police connections. While working at The Four Deuces, Capone strangled at least twelve men with his bare hands. The bodies were dragged to the basement through a trap door that led to the alley behind the club. There a fast getaway car would always be waiting for Capone to flee in. The underworld of Chicago at the time was being run by a man named “Big Jim” Colosimo. Colosimo was a flamboyant man. He dressed in expensive suits and was covered in diamond jewelry. He was always seen eating at expensive restaurants, and owned all the brothels, saloons, and gambling establishments in Chicago. (Nash 605) Johnny

Torrio grew very jealous of Colosimo and soon sent for his most loyal hitman, Al Capone. When Capone arrived in Chicago, he was assigned the small jobs as a bouncer and bartender to disguise Torrio’s real reason for sending for him. “Big Jim” Colosimo was killed on the night of May 11, 1920. (Nash 606) The reason for his death was due mostly to the prohibition act to be passed in 1920. The prohibiton act was a law that forbid alcohol to be distributed to all the bars in Chicago. Torrio, the nephew of Colosimo, often asked him to start an underground operation that could supply all the bars with beer and liquor, but Colosimo would never let him. After Capone s hit on Colisimo, Torrio agreed to give Capone control of his new alcohol distributing operations. (Allsop 56) Al

Capone’s mob ran the streets of Chicago. While Capone’s street mob was at its peak, it had over 1,000 members and half of the Chicago police force. Capone’s payroll at the time consisted of police officers, state’s attorneys, mayors, legislators, governors, and even congressmen. (Nash 608) At the time Capone was known as the “King of Chicago”. Being the king of Chicago had its downfalls. There were numerous threats on his life caused by rival mob members. Capone was shot at in the streets, and even had poison slipped into his food at clubs. In a near death experience a rival gang member, Dion O’Banion, shot 1,000 rounds into the Hawthorn Inn where Capone was staying. After he had cheated death, the arranging of O’Banion’s death would be marked as one of

Capone’s greatest accomplishments. This assassination was performed by Capone’s two best hitmen, John Scalise and Albert Anselmi. Unfortunately for Al Capone, the hit on Dion O Banion was not very successfull. The killing of O Banion led to hostility between one of O Banions fellow leaders, Bugs Moran. Capone s sought to strike first on Moran and his gang before it was to late. The plan to knock off Moran s gang was later nicknamed The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Capone’s men dressed as police officers and lined seven of O Banion and Morans gang members up across a garage wall. The gang offered no resistance because they thought it was a regular police routine. Instead Capone’s men opened up over 1,000 rounds of machine gun fire slaughtering the gang members.

Unfortunately for Capone, Bugs Moran was not present among the seven men who were killed. (Nash 112) After Capone’s failed attemp to knock off Moran, his opperations became very sloppy. Capone s eventual downfall was caused by one of his own business agents who ran Capone’s dog and horse race tracks. The man’s name was Eddie O’Hare. O Hare was working undercover under the IRS. He informed the IRS where books containing Capone’s income could be taken. Capone had never paid any tax s and for this very reason he was brought up on charges of tax invasion in front of the federal court. Capone tried to bribe the federal government by offering them $400,000 to drop the case against him, but they rejected the offer. Capone was convicted and given the maximum sentence which was

a $50,000 fine, court costs of $30,000, and eleven years in jail. (Nash 116 ) Capone started his sentence in an Atlanta prison. In 1934 he was transferred to Alcatraz, also known as The Rock . Five years later he was released from Alcatraz due to a case of untreated syphilis he recieved from sleeping with prostitutes. Later that year, Al Capone was judged insane and was released to the care of his family. (Sifakis 613 ) In January 1947 Capone had a massive brain hemorrhage and died. His body was removed from his estate in Florida and transferred back to the seen of his underworld triumph, Chicago. The family held a private ceremony at the cemetery, but were affraid of grave robbers taking the body so they reburied Capone in a secret place in Mt. Carmel Cemetery. (Kobler 122)