Al Capone

Al Capone

Al Capone
"American Gangster"

My name is Al Capone. I was born in Brooklyn, New York to an Italian family. My father was a barber, and my mother was a seamstress. After being expelled from school, I embarked on low-paying jobs such as selling furniture, and working in a candy store and bowling alley. I soon met a man by the name of Johnny Torrio. He led me to the life of a gangster.
After my initial stint with small-time gangs, including The Junior Forty Thieves, I joined the Five Points Juniors, and then the notorious Five Points Gang. It was in this field that I received the scars that gave me the nickname "Scar face". I unconsciously insulted a woman while working the door at a Brooklyn night club, provoking a fight with her brother. My face was slashed three times on the left side.
On December 30, 1918, I married Mae Josephine Coughlin, an Irish woman. Earlier that month she had given birth to our son, Albert Francis Capone. I moved to Chicago the invitation of Torrio, who was seeking business opportunities in bootlegging following the onset of prohibition.
I soon was exposed to murders and illegal smuggling of alcohol. After Torrio left the criminal world, I became the head of the mafia. I allowed my empire to grow to include speakeasies, bookie joints, brothels, horse and race tracks, and gambling houses.
I am also responsible for one of America's infamous murders. It became known as "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre". I ordered four of my men, dressed in police uniforms, to enter a garage. It was the headquarters of our rival gang. When the rival gang dropped their guns and put their hands against the wall, my men gunned them down. Although I both ordered and committed murders, I also have another side. Shortly after the stock market crash in 1929, I opened soup kitchens and arranged for local merchants to give away food and clothing to needy people, at my own expense.
I grew famous for my notorious murders and distribution of illegal...