60 Fun Facts About Al Capone

In which New York borough was Al Capone born in 1899?

Al Capone was born in Brooklyn on 17 January 1899, the fourth of nine children of Italian immigrants Gabriele and Teresa Capone.

What was Capone's famous nickname, which he loathed?

Newspapers called him Scarface for the scars on his left cheek; Capone hated the name and preferred Snorky, his friends' slang for a sharp dresser.

How did Capone get the scars on his face?

Slashed by a man whose sister he insulted: Frank Galluccio cut Capone's face at the Harvard Inn after Capone insulted Galluccio's sister; Capone later passed the scars off as war wounds.

Which powerful Lower Manhattan outfit did the teenage Capone join?

The Five Points gang, Paul Kelly's Lower Manhattan outfit, took Capone in as a teenager; there Frankie Yale became his mentor and employed him at the Harvard Inn on Coney Island.

What was Capone's father's trade?

Gabriele Capone's trade was Barber: he ran his own barbershop after emigrating from Italy, while Al's mother Teresa worked as a seamstress.

Why was Capone expelled from school at 14?

Expelled at 14 for Hitting a female teacher in the face, Capone never returned to school and instead took odd jobs in a candy store and a bowling alley.

Which one of Capone's brothers became a Prohibition agent in Nebraska under a different name?

James, as Richard Hart: the eldest Capone brother, Vincenzo, left home as a teenager, renamed himself Richard Hart and became a Prohibition agent in Homer, Nebraska, known as 'Two Gun' Hart.

Who was the mentor who brought Capone to Chicago?

Johnny Torrio, whom Capone had known in New York, invited him to Chicago to work for Big Jim Colosimo's vice empire, which Torrio took over after Colosimo's murder in May 1920.

What was Capone's first job in Chicago?

Bouncer in a brothel was Capone's first Chicago job, at the Four Deuces, a saloon, gambling den and brothel named for its address, 2222 South Wabash Avenue.

How old was Capone when Torrio retired and handed him the organisation?

Capone was 26: Torrio, shot and badly wounded by North Side gunmen in January 1925, handed him the organisation that March and withdrew from Chicago.

Whose murder in his flower shop in November 1924 set off the war with the North Side Gang?

Dean O'Banion, boss of the North Side Gang, was shot dead among his flowers at Schofield's on North State Street on 10 November 1924; Hymie Weiss took over vowing revenge.

In which Illinois town did Capone base himself after taking over its elections?

Cicero, just west of Chicago, became Capone's base after his gunmen terrorised its April 1924 town election; he ran the Outfit from the Hawthorne Inn there.

What did North Side gunmen do at the Hawthorne Inn on 20 September 1926?

Sprayed the restaurant with machine guns from cars: a North Side motorcade fired about a thousand rounds into the Hawthorne Inn while Capone sat inside; he was unhurt, and Hymie Weiss was shot dead three weeks later.

Asked if he knew Rocco Perri, the northern neighbour's top bootlegger, what did Capone say?

Capone's reply was 'I don't even know which street Canada is on'; the RCMP never found evidence he set foot in Canada, despite rumours linking him to Hamilton bootlegger Rocco Perri.

From which brewing family did Capone buy his Palm Island mansion in 1928?

Clarence M. Busch of the Anheuser-Busch brewing family sold Capone the Palm Island house in 1928 for $40,000; Capone died there in 1947.

How did rival Joe Aiello try to kill Capone at his favourite restaurant?

Joe Aiello's plan was Bribing the chef to put prussic acid in his soup at Diamond Joe Esposito's Bella Napoli Café; the cook warned Capone instead, and Aiello's bakery was shot up in reply.

What bounty did Aiello eventually offer to anyone who killed Capone?

Aiello's bounty reached $50,000; several out-of-town gunmen who came to Chicago to collect it were found shot dead instead, and Aiello himself was machine-gunned in October 1930.

Which Chicago mayor, elected in 1927, allegedly took a $250,000 contribution from Capone?

William Hale Thompson, 'Big Bill', won back City Hall in 1927 on a wide-open, anti-Prohibition platform, and Capone's Outfit allegedly put $250,000 into his campaign.

Which of Capone's brothers was shot dead by police during the April 1924 town election?

Frank Capone, Al's older brother, was shot dead by Chicago police detectives on 1 April 1924 while the gang was intimidating voters at a suburban town election.

Where was Capone when the St Valentine's Day Massacre took place in 1929?

Capone was At his Miami-area mansion on Palm Island and that morning was being questioned by the Dade County solicitor, a neat alibi, yet he was widely assumed to have ordered the killings.

How many people were killed in the St Valentine's Day Massacre?

Seven men were lined up against the garage wall and machine-gunned by killers dressed as police: members of the North Side gang, their mechanic John May and optician Reinhardt Schwimmer.

Who was the intended target of the massacre, who was not among the dead?

Bugs Moran, the North Side boss, was running late and took the scene from down the street for a police raid, so he turned away and survived; he died in Leavenworth in 1957.

At what address did the massacre take place?

The SMC Cartage Company garage at 2122 North Clark Street was the North Siders' liquor depot; Capone's men had rented rooms across the street to watch it.

Capone allegedly beat three treacherous lieutenants with what before having them shot?

A baseball bat, in the oft-told story of a May 1929 banquet at which Capone clubbed John Scalise, Albert Anselmi and Joseph Giunta before they were shot; some biographers doubt it.

Which newspaper publisher met Hoover in March 1929 to demand federal action against Capone?

Walter A. Strong, a Chicago newspaper publisher, pressed the newly inaugurated Hoover in March 1929, and Hoover ordered the Treasury and Justice departments to concentrate on Capone.

Who dubbed the incorruptible Prohibition agents 'Untouchables'?

Charles Schwarz coined it; the squad included Eliot Ness.

For what offence was Capone jailed for a year in Philadelphia in 1929?

Carrying a concealed weapon: Capone and his bodyguard were arrested in Philadelphia in May 1929 and sentenced within a day; he served most of the term in Eastern State Penitentiary, released in March 1930.

Which unofficial body's list first named Capone 'Public Enemy #1' in 1930?

The Chicago Crime Commission, a citizens' body led by Frank J. Loesch, published its list of 28 public enemies on 24 April 1930 with Capone at the top.

Which Supreme Court case of 1927 confirmed that illegally earned income was taxable?

United States v. Sullivan (1927) held that a bootlegger's illegal income was taxable and had to be declared; Assistant Attorney General Mabel Walker Willebrandt pioneered the tax tactic.

What key piece of evidence sank Capone at his tax trial?

A letter from his own lawyer conceding his taxable income: tax attorney Lawrence Mattingly, seeking a settlement in 1930, wrote that Capone earned about $100,000 a year in 1928 and 1929.

Which judge refused to honour Capone's plea bargain and presided over his tax trial?

Judge James Herbert Wilkerson refused to be bound by the deal under which Capone would have pleaded guilty for a short term, swapped the jury panel on the first morning, and presided over the October 1931 trial.

On how many counts of tax evasion was Capone convicted in October 1931?

Five: on 17 October 1931 the jury found him guilty on three felony counts of evading tax for 1925-27 and two misdemeanour counts of failing to file for 1928-29, out of 22 charged.

How long was Capone's federal prison sentence?

Eleven years, handed down on 24 October 1931, together with a heavy fine and liability for about $215,000 in back taxes plus interest; he served under eight of them.

What did Capone's defence lawyers argue had happened to essentially all his income?

It was lost gambling, the defence claimed, calling bookmakers to testify to huge losses at the track; but gambling losses can only be set against gambling winnings, and his spending betrayed him.

To which prison was Capone first sent in May 1932?

Atlanta U.S. Penitentiary received Capone in May 1932; reports that he was buying favours there were among the reasons he was later moved to the new Alcatraz.

Which instrument did Capone play in the Alcatraz prison band, the Rock Islanders?

Banjo: Capone took up the banjo in Alcatraz and played it in the inmate band, the Rock Islanders, which gave Sunday concerts for the other prisoners.

What disease eroded Capone's mind in prison, formally diagnosed in 1938?

Neurosyphilis, the late stage of the syphilis he had caught as a young man, was formally diagnosed in February 1938 after he became confused at Alcatraz, where he spent his last year in the hospital wing.

Which Baltimore hospital refused to treat Capone after his release in 1939?

Johns Hopkins turned Capone away because of his notoriety when he arrived in Baltimore in November 1939; the nearby Union Memorial Hospital treated him instead.

Capone was among the first American patients treated with which new drug in 1942?

Penicillin, then barely available, was given to Capone in 1942, making him one of the first American civilians to receive it; it was too late to reverse the brain damage.

According to a 1946 examination, Capone had the mentality of a child of what age?

Twelve: in 1946 his physician and a Baltimore psychiatrist examined him and concluded that his mind had regressed to that of a 12-year-old child.

What was the immediate cause of Capone's death in January 1947?

Heart failure after a stroke and pneumonia: Capone suffered a stroke on 21 January 1947, developed pneumonia three days later and died of cardiac arrest on 25 January, aged 48.

Who took over the Chicago Outfit after Capone went to prison?

Frank Nitti, Capone's former enforcer, fronted the Outfit from 1932, having just finished an 18-month tax-evasion sentence himself; Paul Ricca was widely seen as the real power behind him.

What did Capone sponsor in Chicago during the Depression to improve his image?

A soup kitchen: in November 1930 Capone opened one at 935 South State Street that served thousands of free meals a day, and the newspapers duly reported on the gangster's charity.

Which TV host opened Capone's walled-off vault at the Lexington Hotel live in 1986?

Geraldo Rivera hosted The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults on 21 April 1986, a two-hour live syndicated special watched by about 30 million viewers.

What did Capone's Lexington Hotel vault contain when it was opened on live TV?

Nothing but debris: after two hours of build-up the vault yielded only dirt and rubble, though the special was the most-watched syndicated broadcast of its era.

Eliot Ness's parents, who ran a Chicago bakery, were immigrants from which country?

Norway: Ness's parents, Peter and Emma, were Norwegian immigrants who ran a bakery on Chicago's South Side; Eliot, born in 1903, was their youngest child.

Capone's parents were both born in Angri, a small town outside which Italian city?

Naples: Angri lies about 30 km south-east of Naples, in the province of Salerno; Gabriele and Teresa Capone emigrated from there to New York in the early 1890s.

What sport did the young Capone play semi-professionally from 1916 to 1918?

He also worked in a candy store and a bowling alley before falling under Johnny Torrio's influence.

What was the nickname of Capone's elder brother Ralph?

Bottles: Ralph Capone earned the nickname running the Outfit's soft-drink and soda-water bottling companies, and was himself convicted of tax evasion in 1930.

How old was Capone when he married Mae Coughlin?

Capone was 19 when he married Mae Coughlin on 30 December 1918; being under 21 he needed his parents' written consent, and their son Albert 'Sonny' had been born that December.

In which month and year was Capone transferred to the newly opened Alcatraz?

August 1934: Capone reached Alcatraz on 22 August 1934 in the first trainload of federal prisoners moved to the island, weeks after its new penitentiary opened.

Which song did Capone transcribe and arrange at Alcatraz as a tribute to his wife?

Madonna Mia was the love song Capone wrote out and arranged for his wife Mae in Alcatraz, where good behaviour earned him a place in the prison band despite being stabbed by inmate James Lucas in 1936.

What did a grateful Capone donate to Baltimore's Union Memorial Hospital after treatment in 1939?

Two weeping cherry trees, of a Japanese variety, were Capone's thank-you to Union Memorial for treating him in 1939; one of them survived on the hospital grounds for decades.

Which informant was shot dead in Chicago a week before Capone's 1939 release?

Edward J. O'Hare, a dog-track lawyer who had fed prosecutors information for Capone's tax case, was shot dead on 8 November 1939; his son Butch later gave Chicago's airport its name.

In 1950 Capone's remains were moved to which cemetery in Hillside, Illinois?

Mount Carmel Cemetery in Hillside received Capone's body in 1950, when his family moved him and his father from Mount Olivet on Chicago's South Side, where he had been buried in 1947.

Who played Capone in Brian De Palma's 1987 film The Untouchables?

Robert De Niro, who gained weight and wore silk underwear modelled on Capone's for the role; it was his fourth film with De Palma, and Sean Connery won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

Which composer wrote the Oscar-nominated score for The Untouchables (1987)?

Ennio Morricone's score for The Untouchables lost the Oscar to The Last Emperor but won a Grammy and the BAFTA for film music.

Which actor plays Capone-inspired gangster Tony Camonte in Howard Hawks's 1932 film Scarface?

Paul Muni plays Tony Camonte, the Capone-like hoodlum whose scar and coin-flipping sidekick George Raft became iconic; Ben Hecht wrote the script in 11 days for producer Howard Hughes.

Which actor played a dementia-stricken Capone in the 2020 film Capone, first announced as 'Fonzo'?

Tom Hardy played the ailing, incontinent Capone of his final year in Josh Trank's film, which skipped cinemas and went to premium video-on-demand in May 2020 because of the pandemic.

To which street did the Capone family move during Al's boyhood?

Garfield Place, in Park Slope, where the family took a house at number 38 after years in a tenement by the Navy Yard; Capone met Mae Coughlin in that neighbourhood.