Crime Daily
James Beaver
Who was Al Capone?
Born in an immigrant family in Brooklyn, New York in 1899, Al Capone quit school after the sixth grade and joined a well known street gang. Johnny Torrio was the street gang leader and along with the other members was Lucky Luciano, who would later attain his own popularity.
In around 1920, at Torrio’s invitation, Capone joined Torrio in Chicago where he had become a respected lieutenant in the Colosimo mob. The rackets formed by enactment of the Prohibition Amendment, illegal brewing, distilling and distribution of beer and liquor, were viewed as “growth industries.” Torrio, followed by Al Capone, intended to take full advantage of given opportunities. The mob also developed interests in businesses in the cleaning and dyeing field and cultivated influence with public officials, labor unions, and employees’ associations.
Capone's Notorious achievements
Capone maintained the Colosimo mob spreading fear, drugs, and illegal alcohol for many years making him a dominant figure of the Chicago underbelly.
The Fall of Capone
Suffering from paresis from syphilis, he had deteriorated greatly during his confinement. Immediately on release he entered a Baltimore hospital for brain treatment and then went on to his Florida home, an estate on Palm Island in Biscayne Bay near Miami, which he had purchased in 1928.
Following his release, he never publicly returned to Chicago. He had become mentally incapable of returning to gang politics. In 1946, his physician and a Baltimore psychiatrist, after examination, both concluded Capone then had the mentality of a 12-year-old child. Capone resided on Palm Island with his wife and immediate family, in a secluded atmosphere, until his death due to a stroke and pneumonia on January 25, 1947.