When Gabriele Capone, an Italian immigrant who could read and write, arrived in the United States, he found a job as shop assistant, and he wanted to save money to open a barber´s shop. His wife, Teresina, worked as a seamstress in order to make ends meet. They live in Brooklyn, and they have already three children, Vicenzo, Raffaele and Salvatore, when Alphonse comes along. The Capone family respect traditional values as well as the law. Nobody could ever imagine what Alphonse would become with time.

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Alphonse starts going to Adams Street’s public school. In the school system, there are many prejudices against children of Italian immigrants and they’re not really encouraged to study. Life in school is hard, there are strict rules to be followed, and often discipline adopts the form of violence, teachers and students often coming to blows.

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Gabriele Capone reaches the status of American Citizen. His children keep their names within the family, but officially they become: James (Vincenzo), Ralph (Raffaele), Frank (Salvatore) and Al (Alphonse).

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Until year 6 Al is a very good student, but after that, life in school starts getting worse; discipline is too strict for the youngster and violence seems to be the only solution to his problems. During an argument, at the age of 14, his teacher hits him and Al hits him back. This costs him to be fired from school, and he never goes back to studying. His family moves to Garfield Place.

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Near from their new home is the headquarters of one of the bands to which Johnny Torrio belongs. Capone starts doing little assignments for Torrio and he quickly becomes his role model. Al wins Torrio’s trust, gaining responsibilities with time. He learns how to separate his personal and professional lives, in order to avoid suspicion. Al becomes a member of several gangs; his life centers therefore around gambling, petty theft, vandalism and fights against rival gangs.

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Al works in a munitions factory, where he works cutting paper. He is seen as a very good employee, well educated and sociable. His family also sees him as a good boy.

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Frankie Yale (Francesci Ioele) opens the « Harvard Inn » in Coney Island and hires Al as the barman, following Torrio’s advice. Both his boss and his customers like Al, until the day he makes a compliment out of order to a young lady. Her brother stands up and hits Al. Al tries to defend himself but he gets stabbed several times, some of them in the face. He earns the nickname “Scarface”.

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Al becomes Yale’s protégé. Yale is a violent man who teaches Al how to rule a business by using violence, pawns, and other fiddles. He then meets Mae Coughlin, an Irish girl. They get married on the 14th December 918, after having a son, Albert Francis. Johnny Torrio would be the godfather of the child. Al decides it’s time get a lawful job, so he leaves Yale’s bar and moves to Baltimore, where he becomes an accountant.

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The 18th Amendment comes into force. The Prohibition bans the production, sale, transport, import and export of any alcoholic drink with a volume over 0.5% in each and every state of the United States.

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“Big Jim” Colissimo is a gangster at the top of Chicago’s prostitution and he makes business with Johny Torrio, who has become a businessman. Frank Yale kills Big Jim in order to steal his business but, even if he escapes justice, Yale will never achieve his purpose of controlling the empire, since Torrio takes over.

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Al’s father, Gabriele, dies aged 55, due to a heart problem. At 21, Al is left without a paternal authoritarian role model to follow. He then leaves his job as an accountant and his legal career. During all this time Torrio had extended his clandestine empire up to Chicago, and Al goes back to being under his orders.

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Torrio runs thousands of brothels and clandestine bars. Al enters this underworld and rapidly he becomes his associate more than his employee. Ralph (Raffaele) joins Torrio’s empire while Al associates with Jack Guzik.

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Thanks to his new job, Al is able to buy a house in Prairie Avenue. His wife Mae and their son, nicknamed Sonny, move in with him, as well as Al’s mother, brothers and sisters. He is known as a trader of second hand furniture. His reputation within the community is a priority for him.

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William Dever, the successor of “Big Bill” Thompson, a corrupt mayor, is willing to reform the municipal administration. Suspecting the worst, Torrio and Capone decide to move the headquarters to Cicero. At this point Torrio goes back to Italy and young Capone remains in charge. He asks his brother Frank (Salvatore) to open a brothel (The Stockade). Capone gets to conquer the city without major complications.

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Wishing to influence the elections to his favor, Al kidnaps electoral employees from his opponents. Around 80 policemen are sent to the city to protect civilians. Frank Capone is killed by police during the conflict. As revenge, Al kidnaps even more officials and kills one of them. Shortly after Al kills Joe Howard, who had attacked Guzik. He avoids prison because witnesses lost their memory; but even if he evades the law, he earns a reputation as a gangster.

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Al Capone becomes the main enemy of the law and gangsters. At that point, Al’s worst enemies are “Hymie” Weiss and Bugs Moran. Two weeks after this “duo” of criminals tried to assassinate him again, Torrio comes back to Chicago, and ends up in hospital after the duo attacked him. Torrio is condemned shortly after.

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When Torrio is freed, he decides it is time to get retired, and bequeaths all of his possessions to Al. In a few seconds, Al Capone sees how his power increases more than he could have imagined. He then starts behaving like the important person that he has grown to be. He becomes a charitable, kind person and, in order to increase his power, he starts showing an interest for politics.

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Billy McSwiggin, a lawyer who wanted to imprison Capone in 1924, together with “Klondike” O’Donnell, a professed enemy of Capone, go out drinking in Cicero. This is seen as a territorial insult, for which Al and his men, without noticing the presence of the lawyer, get their submachine guns and kill both men. Although everybody knows Al is responsible for the deaths, no incriminating evidence is brought up, but police take their own revenge, setting fire to Al’s brothels and illegal bars.

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Al disappears during the summer and nobody can find him, even though big research is carried out. He starts gaining a good name among the Italian community, since he relies on many Italian immigrants for smuggling. At this point he starts thinking in finally retiring from his life as a criminal.

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Al disappears during the summer and nobody can find him, even though big research is carried out. He starts gaining a good name among the Italian community, since he relies on many Italian immigrants for smuggling. At this point he starts thinking in finally retiring from his life as a criminal.

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He turns himself in to the police, but since there is not enough evidence to arrest him, Al avoids prison yet again. He is willing to become a pacificator, so he proposes to Weiss a lucrative peace related business. Weiss refuses and he is found dead the day after. Some time after this, Al organizes a “peace conference” where he asks people not to use violence. He achieves his purpose and for the following two months nobody related to smuggling gets killed.

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Al Capone becomes a jazz producer by opening Cotton Club in Cicero, producing the best black jazz musicians of their time. He is not racist and cares for everyone working for him.

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Al tries to get citizenship in Miami. Despite his respectable appearance, Capone orders to kill Frank Yale, since Yale betrayed him in one of his whisky smuggling business deals . Capone has to face again Bugs Moran and his gang of North Siders.

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Al and his friend McGum plan the killing of Moran, for which they bring together a big group of murderers. Members of Moran’s gang are supposed to meet a smuggler who will offer them good quality whisky at a good price. The delivery was planned for 10.30h the 14th of February.

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McGurn and his men dress as police officers and hide in the garage. The smugglers are caught red handed and the four men dressed as policemen open fire and kill them all except for one. Everything went according to plan except for the fact that Moran, their main target, hadn’t turned up. This incident is known as “Saint Valentine's Day Massacre”. But as Capone is in Florida, nobody is accused, although the whole country knows who is to be blamed for this crime.

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President Hoover wants Al Capone imprisoned. He commands to reunite evidence accusing Capone of violation of the Prohibition and tax evasion.

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Al takes part in a conference in Atlantic City where gangsters from the whole country talk about cooperation. They divide the country in “spheres of influence”. The bad publicity from the crime of St. Valentine convinces Al to reach an agreement with a police chief of Chicago to be arrested for unlawful weapon possession. Al is imprisoned for 10 months.

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Al, who wanted to be seen as an influential person in society, reaches the status of “public enemy No.1”. Police officers will infiltrate Al’s organization.

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One of the infiltrated agents works as a croupier in one of Al’s casinos in Cicero. Ralph Capone, who was waiting for a trial, had to be saved by the gang, who were supposed to make witnesses disappear. But luckily, the officers become aware of their plans and the witnesses are granted better protection. The officers succeed in finding evidence to accuse Capone. Al opens a charitable dining hall to help those who had lost their jobs due to the “Depression”.

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Ralph, Guzik and Nitti remain in charge while Al is in jail. Unfortunately there is an investigation and they have to face court for tax evasion. They are also put under wire tapping in order to find evidence to incriminate Al Capone. Al is at that moment freed from prison thanks to his good conduct.

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Police want to see Al in prison but they also want to humiliate him in public. For that purpose they organize a convoy of trucks that had been seized from the organization. They call Al and ask him to look outside his house at a given moment and, the moment he pops out the house he sees the convoy pass in front of his apartment, making him mad with fury.

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An important federal jury is called and blames Al for an outstanding balance of $32,488.81 for the tax year 1924. The Jury delays the public court until they have brought together the necessary evidence regarding tax evasion from other years.

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The grand jury accuses Al of 22 charges of tax evasion for a total of more than $200,000. A week later, the jury accuses Capone and 68 member of his gang of breaking the terms of the Prohibition around 5,000 times. Al faces a sentence of 34 years in prison. He must plead guilty in exchange of a reduced sentence of 2 to 5 years. The government accepts to reduce the sentence in order to protect the two infiltrated officers, since Al has put a bounty on their heads.

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Al Capone goes to court and pleads guilty. The judge adjourns the meeting until the 30th of the month. But when he returns to court, the judge announces that, although he has to listen to the propositions of the government, he is not obliged to apply them. In shock, Al Capone achieves in withdrawing his guilty plea.

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During the summer, Capone’s gang bribes the potential members of the jury. Capone goes to court of his own free will, thinking that his men have taken care of the jury, and that he only has to behave and keep a low profile in court. But the members of the jury happen to be people from the countryside, something that nobody expected, so Capone doesn’t know what to think anymore.

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Al is declared guilty of some of the charges of tax evasion. On the 24 October he is sentenced to spend 11 years in prison, in addition to a fine of $50.000 and 30.000 for trial expenses. The government decides not to prosecute him for violations regarding the Prohibition.
The prohibition is abrogated. Al becomes the most famous prisoner in Atlanta’s penitentiary. He lives better than the rest of prisoners, being better looked after, thanks to the thousands of dollars he is bringing into prison.

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He is transferred to Alcatraz, where he receives the same treatment as the rest of the inmates. In addition, officers here censor letters received, retyping them so prisoners don’t know what’s going on outside. Before getting married, Capone had contracted syphilis, and it had gotten worse while being imprisoned. By now he is suffering of neurosyphilis.

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Al is freed after just 6 years and 5 months due to good conduct, and his wife takes him to Baltimore Hospital where his condition improves until March 1940.

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During his last years, his health has slowly worsened. He has an apoplexy and loses consciousness. He does wake up eventually but 3 days later he bacomes ill with pneumonia.

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His wife stays beside him until his death. Capone dies from a heart crisis and he is buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery. But after his death the organization doesn’t fade away. They have enough money for diversification and they create a network linking them to other groups, creating a network of organized crime as extended as possible.

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Al Capone’s remains are moved to Mount Carmel Cemetery.

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