Alphonse
Gabriel
(Al)
"Scarface"
Capone
Born about in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States
Ancestors 
Brother of
Vincenzo James (Capone) Hart, Raffaele James Capone, Frank Salvatore Capone, Erminio John Capone, Albert Umberto Capone, Amadeo Nicholas Capone and Mafalda Gonzales (Capone) Maritote
Husband of
Mary Josephine (Coughlin) Capone
— married
30 Dec 1918 in New York, United States
Father of
Alphonse Albert Francis (Capone) Brown
Died
at about age 48
in Miami, Dade, Florida, United States
Profile last modified
| Created 9 Jan 2009
This page has been accessed 99,420 times.
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Contents |
Biography
Al "Scarface" Capone was a notorious gangster during the heyday of bootlegging and prohibition. [1] [2]
The Beginning
His parents, Gabriele Capone and Teresina Raiola, were immigrants from Italy. [3]
The official birth of Alphonse Gabriel Capone was on 17 Jan 1899 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. [3] [1] [4] However on the 1900 Census of Brooklyn, NY he was recorded with his family 2 years old and born in May 1898. [5]
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| Al and his mother |
Al was a dissident from an early age and was kicked out of the Catholic schools. [1] Growing up, his mentor was Johnny Torrio, a gangster. [3] [1] At the time of the draft for World War I, Al was working as a paper cutter for United Paper Box Co. in Brooklyn, NY .[4] He was 5'7" tall, medium build, with grey eyes and dark brown hair.[4] He hadn't yet acquired his legendary scar. [4]
Al Capone married on 30 Dec 1918 in New York to Mary Mae Josephine Coughlin. [3] [6] Mae, an Irish gal, worked as a sales clerk in a neighborhood department store. [citation needed] Their son, Albert "Sonny" Francis Capone, was born 04 Dec 1918. [3]
Supposedly Al's grand niece, Mae Coughlin was not Sonny's biological mother. Al had a relationship with a young woman who died in or shortly after childbirth, and Al's mother Theresa, "arranged" the marriage between Mae and Al, with the understanding that Mae would raise Sonny as her own. [7] Mae reportedly couldn't have children, so she agreed and raised and loved Sonny as her own. [7] The infant contracted syphilis from his mother, and dealt with the side effects his entire life. [7] [3]
Wanting to go straight for his family's sake, he moved to Baltimore, Maryland with Mae and Sonny, and worked as a bookkeeper. [6] Following the death of his father, though, he answered Torrio's call and headed for Chicago, Illinois. [6]
Following their move to Illinois, Al lived with his wife Mae and son in a large home in Chicago Heights. [6] When Al's father died in 1923, the rest of his family moved to Chicago, Illinois to be closer and lived in a house provided by Al. [6]
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| The Chicago Capone home |
He also owned Capone Estate at 93 Palm Island in Biscayne Bay near Miami, Florida which he had purchased in 1928. [2]
Al loved baseball and frequently attended games.[citation needed]
Scarface
Al worked as a bartender at the Harvard Inn in New York City. [2] One night a man named Frank Gallucco came in with his sister and Al made an "unfavorable comment" about her. [2] Frank pulled out a pocket knife and slashed Al's face, leaving him with a permanent scar, four inches long across the left cheek, the origin of his nickname "Scarface". [1]
He began his life of crime in Brooklyn with Tarrio's Five Points Gang. [3] [1]
About 1921 Al moved to Chicago, Illinois to work for Johnny Torrio, a "gentleman gangster" with specific ideas and codes of honor concerning his business enterprises. [3] [1] He was famous for being a numbers racketeer but did keep a good income from prostitution coming in on the side. [3] Al became the head of the "Chicago Outfit", a crime syndicate during the Prohibition era, focusing on illegal alcohol, following Torrio's retirement in 1925. [1] On the record, he stated he sold used furniture. [citation needed]
St. Valentine's and Alcatraz
Al Capone's plan to wipe out "Bugs" Moran went wrong at the St.Valentine's Day Massacre on 14 Feb 1929. [3] [1] It brought too much attention to the gangster and gave Eliott Ness what he needed to finally nab Capone. [3] [1] Eliott Ness was more than an aggravation to Capone, always busting up distilleries and stopping Capone's gang from making deliveries. [3] [1]
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| Al's Philadelphia Prison Cell |
Federal charges in June 1931 involved income tax evasion for which he was convicted. [3] [1] There were twenty-two counts of tax evasion for a sum of over $2,000. [1] First sent to an Atlanta, Georgia Federal Prison, then after to California and the infamous Alcatraz Prison. [3] [1] On 16 Nov 1939 Al Capone was released after having served seven years, six months and fifteen days, and having paid all fines and back taxes. [3] [1] He returned to his villa in Miami, Florida to live with Mae and Sonny. [8] [1]
The End
Al Capone died on 25 Jan 1947 at his home in Miami, Florida of apoplexy and bronchopneumonia brought on by untreated syphilis. [3] [9] He was buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois [3][10] [3] [1] and reburied in March 1953 at Mount Carmel Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois, USA.[11][12]
Sources
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 Al Capone at Biography.com, accessed 28 Sep 2017.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Wikipedia Contributors, Al Capone accessed 28 Sep 2017.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVJ1-B13K : 13 Dec 2015) citing memorial#2845, Find a Grave; for Alphonse Capone, d: 1947; buried: Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA; Find A Grave: Memorial #2845 & Find A Grave: Memorial #170
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KXY6-PB8 : 12 Dec 2014), citing National Archives and Records Administration in Washington DC; NARA#M1509; FHL#1754393; for Alphonse Capone, 1917-1918; res: #48, New York City, New York, USA.
- ↑ "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MSFK-MBZ : accessed 13 Aug 2017) citing National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC, 1972; NARA#T623; FHL#1241050; ed#159, sheet#5A, family#96; for Alfonsa Capone in household of Gabriele Capone, res: Election District #7, Borough of Brooklyn, Ward#11, New York City, Kings County, New York, USA.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Al Capone on History.com, accessed 28 Sep 2017.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Capone, Deirdre Marie, "Uncle Al-the Untold Story from Inside His Family", Recap publishing 2012.
- ↑ "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VTH8-QSW : accessed 18 Aug 2017) citing Records of the Bureau of the Census 1790-2007; National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC, 2012; USA Census#16; RG#29; NARA#T627; roll#581; ed#13-42A, sheet#2A, line#28, family#42, for Alphonso Capone, res: Election Precinct #31, Miami Beach, Dade County, Florida, USA.
- ↑
Death Certificate - ↑ "Illinois, Archdiocese of Chicago, Cemetery Records 1864-1989" database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2HJ-4YPJ : 31 Oct 2016) citing FHL#1,613,260; for Alphonse Capone, d: 04 Feb 1947; buried: Mount Olivet, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA.
- ↑ "BillionGraves Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/QKNK-LZ3N : 8 Oct 2015), Alphonse Gabriel Capone, died 25 Jan 1947; citing BillionGraves (http://www.billiongraves.com : 2012), buried: Mount Carmel Cemetery, Hillside, Cook County, Illinois, USA.
- ↑ "Illinois, Archdiocese of Chicago, Cemetery Records, 1864-1989," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2HF-XNGJ : 11 March 2018), Alphonse Capone, 30 Mar 1953; citing Hillside, Cook, Illinois, United States, Hillside, Cook, Illinois, United States,Mount Carmel, Archdiocese of Chicago, Illinois; FHL microfilm 1,487,390.
See also:
- Wikidata: Item Q80048, en:Wikipedia
- FBI. "Alphonse Capone." vault.fbi.gov. Accessed 10 Apr 2016. https://vault.fbi.gov/Al%20Capone
- "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XS2R-HVD : accessed 28 Sep 2017) citing National Archives and Records Administration in Washington DC, 2002), NARA#T626; roll#427; FHL#2340162; ed#336, sheet#6B, line#68, family#95, for Mary Capone in household of Theresa Capone, res: Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA.
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How sad that the boy suffered throughout his life because of his fathers lifestyle. I hope everything turned out alright for him in the end.
I just stumbled across his gravesite while editing some cemetery categories. I thought you'd like to add it to the profile: Al Capone on Find-a-Grave.
Cemetery where he is buried:
Category: Mount Carmel Cemetery, Hillside, Illinois
Al is 23 degrees from Isaac Asimov, 25 degrees from David Attenborough, 24 degrees from Bill Bryson, 26 degrees from Richard Dawkins, 33 degrees from Bengt Feldreich, 36 degrees from Ruth Gates, 28 degrees from Stephen Hawking, 34 degrees from Julius Miller, 21 degrees from Bill Nye, 31 degrees from Magnus Pyke, 29 degrees from Carl Sagan and 20 degrees from David Randall on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
C > Capone > Alphonse Gabriel Capone
Categories: Chicago Mafia | Bootleggers and Moonshiners | Chicago History | Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, San Francisco Bay, California | Mount Carmel Catholic Cemetery, Hillside, Illinois | Example Profiles of the Week | Notables
Living her whole life in Miami,FL, Alice L. Walters Leffler took on some private duty nursing so she could be more flexible with her time and be available to Lefty, her war injuried husband. In 1946, Alice was sent on a nursing assignment but for which she had not been given any prior information. Only thing she was to report to 93 Palm Isle Estate along Biscayne Bay. Reaching the residence, she found a small fortress with concrete walls and heavy wooden doors. Alice was not 100% sure but she thought this might be the home of the Chicago gangster, Al Capone. She did know he had a Miami home since 1928 and in 1939 he had been released from prison. Once she entered the front entrance and was escorted by large burly men to a room off the main hallway the truth was now learned. Yes, she was at the Capone residence and the former gangster himself was the patient. In 1946, his physician and a Baltimore psychiatrist, after examination, both concluded Al Capone had the mentality of a 12-year-old child due to the effects of syphilis, plus he suffered from dementia. Alice was to serve as one of his private duty nurses. The hours and the pay were good, so she took the position. Capone may not have been the ruthless gangster of the 1920s and 30s anymore but he still had his coalition of supporters and followers. During one incident this became very clear to Alice. She needed to administer some of his daily medication at a precise time. When she was barred by some his thugs from entering his room to give him the medicine just because he was on the phone, she knew she could not be the efficient nurse she need to be in this type of environment. Even using her most commanding tone, “I am his nurse, Mr. Capone has to take this medicine under my supervision, let me in now!" In spite of her insistence the refusal remained in place, Alice then knew it was time to quit.