Letters From Alcatraz - Michael Esslinger [73]
A Capone “family” gathering in Chicago Heights in 1926. Pictured top, left to right: Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn, Frank “The Enforcer” Nitti, Charley Fischetti, Ralph “Bottles” Capone, Rocco Fischetti. Bottom left to right: Frank La Porte, Capone’s Goddaughter Vera Emery, Al Capone, Sam “Golf Bag” Hunt, and Jim Emery.
Frankie Yale
Capone’s first invitation to join a formalized crime ring came from gangster Frankie Yale, the owner of a Coney Island bar called the Harvard Inn. Johnny Torrio had recommended Capone to Yale. By design, the Harvard Inn was Brooklyn’s preeminent platform for organized crime. Capone was versatile and loyal, and he would quickly develop a strong camaraderie with Yale. Frankie Yale was a resourceful and violent man who flourished by using strong-arm tactics, and he would become another mentor for Capone. Other historians have noted that Yale was involved in a multitude of illegal rackets, which included receiving a sizable flow of illegal “tax money” for protecting local businesses from harassment by other crime networks.
It was also at Yale’s club that Capone would receive the famous scar that later became his abhorrent trademark. Frank Gallucio was a smalltime New York crime figure who frequented the Harvard Inn. On one particular evening, Capone reportedly made an advance to Gallucio’s younger sister. His suggestive comments instigated a violent fight, during which Gallucio pulled a knife and inflicted a deep laceration on Capone’s left cheek. The bloody altercation would leave a permanent scar on Capone and he was forced to make amends with Yale’s associates. Some accounts indicate that famed gangster Lucky Lucania was brought in to mediate and help maintain peaceful relations between the “families.” Lucania scheduled an after-hours truce meeting, and Gallucio and Capone were forced to sit at a table and calmly reconcile their differences.
It was during this period, in early 1918, that young Al met and fell in love with Mae Coughlin, a beautiful middle-class Irish girl. She was two years older than Al, and while it is unknown exactly how and where they met, their courtship was brief. On December 4, 1918, Albert “Sonny” Francis Capone was born and his birth was followed only three and a half weeks later by Al and Mae’s formal wedding. Sonny’s Godfather would be none other than Al’s old friend and mentor, Johnny Torrio.
After the birth of his son, Capone took legitimate employment with a construction firm as a bookkeeper. It is unclear why he took this job. Many historians speculate that he used this time to learn the mechanics of running a viable business. Whatever the case, he continued to maintain strong ties to Yale and Torrio. In November of 1920, the Capone family suffered a terrible blow when Al’s father Gabriele had a fatal heart attack at only fifty-five years of age. His death would mark the turning point for young Al as he would suddenly become the family’s main support, in terms of both income and moral guidance.
“Big Jim” Colosimo
Jim Colosimo’s nightclub, where Al Capone learned to navigate the treacherous politics of the underground.
Johnny Torrio had relocated to Chicago nearly ten years earlier to manage saloon-brothel rackets under “Big Jim” Colosimo. Colosimo was a tall, heavyset entrepreneur who owned and operated Colosimo’s Cafe, one of the most popular and profitable nightclubs in the area, just south of downtown Chicago. Colosimo’s wife Victoria Moresco was also a principle player and she ran a highly lucrative brothel behind the backdoors of the nightclub. Friction arose between Torrio and Colosimo when the Prohibition Law was passed in January of 1920. With smalltime bootleggers springing up throughout Chicago, Torrio saw an opportunity to expand his operations. Prostitution remained as the central business of organized crime in Chicago, and Big Jim Colosimo simply rejected the idea of expanding into other lines. As Torrio cultivated his business, Colosimo became more resistant and more of a hindrance to his activities.
In early