Italian Immigration to America

In 1861, Sicily became part of the Kingdom of Italy after more than 75% of Sicilians (those allowed to vote) voted in favor of annexation. However, new taxes on the largely rural and undeveloped region along with terrible fighting between the Italian special police and the Mafia created instability and poverty. Thousands of people decided to seek out a life elsewhere.

In the period of 1880-1915, 13 million Italians migrated out of Italy, which is the largest voluntary emigration in world history. (Choate, 2008). The vast majority of immigrants came from Sicily and the lower half of Italy. 4 million Italians landed in the United States during this period, Al Capone's parents, Gabriele Capone and Teresa Capone, included.

The Mafia came to America along with the immigrants, forming a similar yet separate system to the original in Italy. Growing from impoverished Italian neighborhoods in New York's East Harlem, Lower East Side, and Brooklyn, it spread to other cities along the east coast and elsewhere, Chicago and New Orleans in particular.

Prohibition and the 18th Amendment

On January 17, 1920, the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed, making it illegal to manufacture, transport, or sell alcohol and marking the start of America's Prohibition period. The social movement to ban alcohol had originated around the turn of the century and was led by pietistic Protestants and social Progressives among the political parties. However, there remained a large percentage of the population who opposed the movement and wanted to buy and drink alcohol, which created the right opportunity for a flourishing black market.

The profits that could be made from selling and distributing alcohol were worth the risk of punishment from the government, which had a difficult time enforcing prohibition. The American Mafia took advantage of prohibition and made fortunes off of bootlegging (illegally moving and selling) liquor. Different families and factions took over different parts of the country's alcohol business, causing turf wars to erupt among them over the enormous profits that were to be had. It was during this time that Al Capone rose to prominence.

Al Capone's Rise to Power

Al Capone was born in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on January 17, 1899 to Italian immigrant parents. He was expelled from his Catholic school at age 14 for hitting a female teacher in the face. He quickly became involved in small-time gangs in New York and was mentored by mobsters like Johnny Torrio and Frankie Yale. Once Johnny Torrio moved to Chicago, he invited Capone to follow him, and the two took over Chicago's crime empire.

After killing the Irish-American gang boss Dean O'Banion in the North Side of Chicago, Torrio retires for fear of retribution and Capone completely takes over. He becomes a very wealthy and prominent figure in Chicago, presenting himself as a businessman who provides a valuable service to the people. At this time, his crime syndicate was making around $100 million a year from bootlegging, gambling, prostitution, racketeering and other illicit activities.

The mobsters needed protection from law enforcement, so Capone made an alliance with mayoral candidate William Thompson. Capone made generous contributions to Thompson, as well as using intimidation tactics to help him get elected. At one poll booth, Capone's men even bombed the site with hand grenades to discourage voters who opposed Thompson, killing 15 people (Russo, 2004).

Saint Valentine's Day Massacre

By the mid-morning of February 14, 1929, a garage on the north side of Chicago was hit with the one of the worst events of Mob violence the city had ever seen. Tensions between Capone's Italian gang and the Irish gang in the North Side had never really settled down after Torrio's murder of O'Banion. It was rumored (and quite likely) that Capone had helped Torrio kill O'Banion, so even after Torrio's departure the two gangs were sworn enemies. In 1929 Bugs Moran was the leader of the North Side gang, however, he wasn't the immediate successor to O'Banion. Since O'Banion's death, two other bosses had already taken over and been killed before Moran gains control.

Disguised as police officers, Capone's men lined up Moran's men against a wall and gunned them down with machine guns, killing seven men. The main target, Moran himself, escaped because he had decided to sleep in that morning! This event marked the end of significant opposition to Capone's organized crime syndicate in Chicago, as well as a turn in public opinion against Capone.

The Fall of Al Capone

In response to the public outcry over the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, President Herbert Hoover ordered the federal government to step up its efforts to convict Capone on anything that they could. The Supreme Court had ruled in 1927 that income gained on illegal activities was taxable. Capone certainly hadn't been paying taxes on his ill-gotten gains for a decade, which gave the government a strong case against him. On June 5, 1931 the U.S. government finally indicted Capone on 22 counts of income-tax evasion.

Capone had been arrested before, and he had always gotten off by intimidating witnesses or bribing officials. During this trial, he attempted to do the same with the jury members, but at the last moment, the judge switched to an entirely new jury. Capone was found guilty and sent to prison for 11 years.

Imprisonment and Alcatraz Island

At first, Capone was imprisoned at the Federal penitentiary in Atlanta in 1932 at the age of 33. Upon being admitted, he was diagnosed with gonorrhea and long-untreated syphilis. He was also suffering from withdrawals from cocaine. In prison, Capone's mental state began to break down. His health problems combined with his new environment required other convicts from his gang to protect him from bullying inmates. Under suspicion of bribing the guards, Capone was moved to Alcatraz Penitentiary.

Based on an island off the coast of California, Alcatraz was built for prisoners who caused trouble in other, lesser prisons. Ever since it opened in 1934, it gained the reputation as the toughest prison in the country and escape-proof.

In Alcatraz, Capone truly started to mentally decline. His syphilis had started to attack his brain, reducing mental capacity and causing disorientation and confusion. After being released from prison in 1939, he was sent to a mental hospital in Baltimore.

Repeal of Prohibition

The longer Prohibition lasted, the less it was supported. Many farmers and rural populations who had initially supported it stopped because of the negative impact it had on agriculture. States had made a lot of money off of alcohol sales before Prohibition, and once the Great Depression hit in the early 1930s, that tax revenue looked appealing. Even social progressives that had argued for Prohibition by claiming alcohol caused crime and dysfunction couldn't deny how the ban had given great money and influence to organized crime syndicates around the country. The 18th Amendment was appealed on December 5, 1933 with the ratification of the 21st Amendment. The Federal government no longer could ban the sale of alcoholic beverages.

Death of Al Capone

Capone spent the last years of his life at his house in Florida. He was very sickly, and his physician from Baltimore stated that by 1946, the infamous Al Capone had degraded to the mental capacity of a 12 year old due to his neurosyphilis.  In late January of 1947, Al Capone died due complications after a stroke at the age of 48.

Capone was the most notorious gangster of his age. He has inspired books and movies to be created around his life and is the inspiration of the stereotypical gangster in our modern fiction.