Al Capone and the Rise of the Mafia

Murder, deception, crossed alliances and corruption. Italian-American mafia has affected our nation in ways we cannot imagine - its trickle-down effect has tarnished the system of fairness and real justice. Good day Mrs Thompson and class, He may have not been the president of the United States, or the CEO of some fancy company, but Al Capone was without a doubt the leader of the Chicago area and was one of America's most feared, greatest-known gangsters and the utmost symbol of the fail of law and order during the 1920’s Prohibition era. On the 17th of January, 1899, the 5th out of 9 children of Gabriele and Teresina Capone was born. Alphonse Capone was born in Brooklyn, New York into an Italian immigrant family. Originating from a poor family that came to America seeking a better life, Al Capone lived a typical immigrant lifestyle in a New York slum. Capone’s father was as a barber, and his mother was a seamstress.

At a young age, Capone's schooling, was both inadequate and brutal. He schooled at a Catholic institution surrounded with violence which ultimately ruined the susceptible young man. Capone was a promising student in his elementary years, but slowly began falling behind which was evident when his teacher hit him for displaying impudent behaviour and he struck back. The principal gave him a beating, and Capone never returned to school again. It was around this time that he started hanging around Brooklyn corners and thought of joining a street gang as a boy.

Like many other American children at the time, Capone was taught that the main purpose of life was to acquire wealth and that the United States was the land of opportunity. Angered by the gap between the American dream and his own reality, Capone began to engage in criminal activities as a way of achieving success in what he saw as an unjust society.

Capone worked at odd jobs for a while but found his calling when a gangster named Johnny Torrio who later became his mob mentor hired him to work in a bar. Torrio knew Capone did not mind violence and often had him beat up people who were unable to repay loans. Over time, Capone learned more and more about the criminal world. One day, after insulting a female patron, Capone was involved in a fight when the brother retaliated, leaving him with three permanent scars on his cheeks. He then gained the nickname 'Scarface,” which he intensely disliked. Capone would attempt to shield the scarred side of his face in photographs, and tried to write them off as war wounds—although he never served in the military. He then met Mae Coughlin who soon became his wife, and was the woman who bear his one and only son, Albert Francis Capone commonly known as Sonny.

In the United States the consumption of alcohol was accepted as a common part of American life. Alcohol is consumed at sporting events and restaurants. However, less than a hundred years ago the prohibition movement was one of the greatest conflicts in the early century. The demand for liquor was in high demand and Al Capone was the man with the solution. As Prohibition began, new bootlegging operations opened up and drew in immense wealth. After Torrio retired, Capone became the crime leader of Chicago, running gambling, prostitution and bootlegging and expanding his territories by the gunning down of rivals and rival gangs.

As Capone's reputation grew, he still insisted on being unarmed as a mark of his status. But he never went anywhere without at least two bodyguards and was even sandwiched between bodyguards when traveling by car. Capone moved his newfound status to Chicago to become more visible but he was different from many gangsters who normally avoided publicity: he was always smartly dressed, and set out to be viewed as a respectable businessman and pillar of the community, which was ironic from actions such as kidnapping opponents' election workers and threatening voters with violence. He did so to expand his status and it did work as he eventually won office in Cicero. After suspicions of murder from a shoot-out rivalry, high-profile investigations against Capone failed. The police therefore constantly raided his whorehouses and gambling dens.

Even with this knowledge, Capone managed to stage yet another Massacre, namely the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. That day, multiple men were lured by a bootlegger into purchasing whiskey in a garage but it ended with yet again, cold blood. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre became a national media event displaying Capone as one of the most ruthless, feared, and smartest gangland bosses who ever lived. Capone even went to extremes of killing two colleagues whom he believed betrayed him. He cleverly invited them to a normal banquet where he brutally pulverized them with a baseball bat. After May 1927, it was ruled that a bootlegger had to pay income tax on his illegal bootlegging business, therefore Capone’s income could be documented. Al Capone made sure every transaction was on a cash basis and the only major evidence of a source of income was his tangible assets.

All eyes were on Capone now. After watching a movie in Philadelphia, when leaving the cinema, he was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon but was soon released for good behaviour and put on America’s Most Wanted list which publicly humiliated him after wanting to be regarded as a worthy man of the people. After some time, Capone’s Prohibition violations were exposed and his bootlegging industry was coming to any end. Alcohol was dumped, equipment was seized and large breweries were closed. Al Capone was finally charged with multiple income tax evasions and prohibition violations. He was escorted by 14 detectives to the Federal Court. Here he was found guilty and was sentenced to 11 years in a prison in Atlanta. He then moved to the Alcatraz prison in San Francisco and his good behaviour reduced his sentence to six and a half years in prison. In 1947, the mobster, Al Capone died of cardiac arrest at the age of 48.

Al Capone can be seen as a real life character that relates to the fictional character Jay Gatsby. Both lived in the prohibition era of the United States of America, where Gatsby lived in West Egg, near New York and Al Capone in America from Italy. Both characters became extremely rich from illegal work. They also had power and respect from others in the places they lived. Gatsby was known for his extravagant parties and was a powerful man. Although, Al Capone was feared, he was a powerful man that even other Mafias respected. Both their similarities prove that the only quality needed to succeed in life is determination because success is only achieved through perseverance.