Why Al Capone is still the most famous mobster of all time

With Al Capone’s 125th birthday’Since his birth on January 17, the legacy of the notorious American gangster remains a subject that intrigues Hollywood producers and novelists alike to this day.

Capone, who gained notoriety in the “Roaring Twenties” as co-founder and head of the Italian-American organized crime syndicate known as the Chicago Outfit, was convicteddescribed by some as Prohibition’It’s Robin Hood, who donated part of the money from his illegal activities to charity. He also stood out from other gangsters by being very present in the public eye, talking to reporters and throwing large parties while he spoke.participation in illegal activities.

But like many criminal figures of the past, the cowardly but charismatic gangster divides opinions. Idolized by some, Capone was still responsible for “a criminal empire” in Chicago that was based on “gambling, prostitution, smuggling, bribery, drug trafficking, robberies and murders,” according to the FBI.’site.

Who was Al Capone?

Born in 1899 in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Neapolitan immigrants, Alphonse Gabriel Capone came into contact with organized crime at a young age. As a teenager, he became a member of the “Five Points Gang” – a criminal street gang of primarily Irish-American origin, based in Five Points of Lower Manhattan – where he would extort protection money (fees criminals charge people in exchange for agreeing not to harm them or damage their property).

Capone, however, quickly learned that violence alone would not guarantee the lasting success of a criminal enterprise.

In 1917, gangster Frank Gallucio pulled a knife on Capone’his face in a bar after he made a rude comment to Gallucio’and sister. She was given the nickname “Scarface” and Capone later made the attacker his bodyguard.

Shortly after, Capone shot his first man, got into trouble with an Irish gang, and beat a mobster to death with his bare hands. Knowing he couldn’t get caught again, he left New York for Chicago.

In his heyday in Chicago, from 1925 to 1929, Capone had a reputation as the most notorious mobster in the United States.

Capone, however, no’I do not see himself as The Criminal but as one businessman – someone who was also known for acts of generosity with the wealth he accumulated as the head of organized crime in Chicago in the 1920s. The consortium led by Capone boasted sources of income ranging from the illegal sale of alcohol to prostitution.

Saint Valentine’Valentine’s Day Massacre

The 1929 Saint Valentine’The St. Paul’s Day Massacre is described by the FBI as the “culminating violence of the Chicago gang era, as seven members or associates of the ‘Insects’ Moran’s mob was machine-gunned against a garage wall by rivals posing as police officers.”

Although Al Capone was at home in Florida at the time, he was widely credited with ordering the massacre.

He was never shocked by the murders, but ended up being arrested only for the crime of tax evasion, ending his stint as crime boss at the age of 33.

He spent most of his time in the notorious Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on the coast of San Francisco before being released in 1939, by which time his mental capabilities had deteriorated significantly.

Al Capone died in 1947 of cardiac arrest following a stroke at age 48.

Al Capone: a fascinating figure

The infamous gangster left his mark not only on the streets of 1920s Chicago, but also on 20th century Hollywood through several mob films inspired by his life and crimes. The image of a mobster adorned in a striped suit and tilted fedora harks back to Capone imagery. His accent and mannerisms have also inspired numerous depictions of gangsters in comics, films, popular music, and literature.

For example, as early as 1931, for the film “Little Caesar,” actor Edward G. Robinson spent time at an Al Capone trial to get a sense of his body language as inspiration for his role as an outlaw who rose through the ranks. of organized crime. .

Capone appears in a Mario Puzo segment’The detective novel “The Godfather” (1969), which was made into a celebrated film by Francis Ford Coppola in 1972. It was the inspiration for Armitage Trail’s “Scarface” (1929), a novel that was also adapted into two films over the years.

The Brian De Palma-directed masterpiece “The Untouchables” is another notable Capone-inspired drama’history. With Robert De Niro playing the gangster, the film is based on how Treasury agent Eliot Ness, played by Kevin Costner, took down Chicago’s notorious mobster.

More recently, the 2020 film “Capone”, starring Tom Hardy in the lead role, also chronicled the life of the man who ruled a criminal empire.

The fascination surrounding Al Capone continues 125 years after his birth.

His story embodies not only the American dream – the immigrant son who rises from rags to riches – but also the ambivalence of American culture during Prohibition, an era characterized by both puritanical restraint and excessive consumption. And these contrasting historical features are still part of the country’culture to this day.

Edited by: Elizabeth Grenier