Alcatraz_ A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years - Michael Esslinger [72]
Alphonse “Scarface” Capone
Alphonse “Scarface” Capone
Al Capone’s Alcatraz mug shot photographs. The shot on the bottom left was from Eastern State Penitentiary. The top photo was taken the day of this arrival.
Al “Scarface” Capone, the overlord of the underworld and considered as America’s Ace Enemy, is a name which remains indelibly linked with the lore of Alcatraz. This infamous gangster lived to become the best-known symbol of organized crime during the Prohibition Era. In a biography written by Warden James Johnston in 1949, he reminisced about the intensity of public interest surrounding Capone’s imprisonment, stating he was continually barraged with letters and questions about “Big Al.” Each day newspaper reporters and press agents flooded his office with phone calls, wanting to know every detail, from how Capone liked the weather to what job assignment he was currently working. Al Capone was considered the most powerful criminal figure of the era of gangsters and prohibition. But even with his wide-ranging influence and networks of hit men and corrupt politicians, he couldn’t budge the strict regimen of the Rock.
Alphonse Capone was born on January 17, 1899 in Brooklyn, New York, to Gabriele and Teresina Capone. His parents had arrived only five years earlier at Ellis Island from a small village in southern Italy. They had crossed the Atlantic seeking a life of promise, hoping to raise their children in a value-driven society. But America was struggling through hard times, and instead the couple found themselves financially destitute. Al would be the third of five children. His father Gabriele was a well-liked barber in Brooklyn and his mother Teresina was a devoutly religious homemaker. Life was rough for the Capone family. Struggling to get by on Gabriele’s meager salary, they were considered a proud family, but poor by most standards; living with no running water and few furnishings in their small apartment situated above the family’s barbershop in Brooklyn.
In the early 1900’s the streets of downtown Brooklyn were filled with crime and young Al was exposed to the harsh realities of violence and corruption. He father died when he was only fourteen years of age, and he would drop out of school to join a tough youth gang. One of his early mentors during this period was Johnny Torrio, a prominent New York crime mogul.
Johnny Torrio
Torrio was an important role model for Al during his youth. The young Capone frequently ran errands for Torrio, and in turn, he was compensated generously. In Lawrence Bergreen’s exceptional biography of Capone, the author describes Torrio’s influence and mentorship:
Torrio was above all, a peacemaker; he had no bodyguard, carried no weapon, and always spoke in soft, measured tones. He considered himself a businessman, not a gang leader, and he conducted his rackets in a businesslike way... From Torrio he [Capone] learned the importance of leading an outwardly respectable life, to segregate his career from his home life, as if maintaining a peaceful, conventional domestic setting somehow excused or legitimized the venality of working in the rackets... It was a form of hypocrisy that was second nature to Johnny Torrio and that he taught Capone to honor.
But despite his early links to organized crime circles, Capone was extremely popular with almost everyone who knew him. He was considered