Hey!
This is probably going
to be the last post I write, but I am also going to post a self-evaluation
later on. It saddens me that it’s almost over, but we’ll talk about that later.
Dallas has been amazing and I’m sad to leave it in just two days. I met some
friend here and they showed me around. Before I leave Dallas I’m going to meet
them at a restaurant to talk about anything and everything! ;) Today’s theme is…
mafia! Or Al Capone to be more specific. You all know how much I love mafia.
Al Capone is one of the
most famous gangsters in American history. Capone is also known as “Scarface”.
He rose to infamy during the Prohibition era as the leader of the Chicago
mafia. He was born of an immigrant family in 1899 in Brooklyn, New York. Capone
dropped out of school only 14 years old, after he was expelled for hitting a
female teacher in the face. So he was a badass (not to mention kind of mean) at
a young age. He was far from being a poor immigrant family; he was from a
respectable, professional family who turned crime to make a living. After that, he worked at strange and odd jobs
around Brooklyn, including a bowling alley and a candy store. He associated
with a notorious street gang, easily becoming an accepted member. Johnny Torrio
was the gang leader, and a mentor to Capone.
At the age of 19, on
December 20, 1918 Capone married Mae Josephine Coughling who was Irish
Catholic. She had earlier that month, given birth to their first son. Quite
young? Moreover, with children? It was probably like that for many people who
were immigrants. Good thing he as under the age of 21 *sarcastic*, cause his
parents had to consent to the marriage in writing. It was when he met Johnny Torrio
it would prove to be the greatest influence on the would-be gangland boss. He
joined Torrio’s James Street Boys gang, eventually named the Five Points Gang.
In a scrapie in a brothel-saloon, a young hoodlum slashed Al with a razor or
knife across his left check, prompting the later nickname “Scarface”. He was
probably ugly with that scar. (He wasn’t actually ugly, I saw some photos and
the scar wasn’t that horrendous.) In 1925 Torrio was seriously wounded in an
assassination attempt, he surrendered control to Capone and retired to Brooklyn,
and Capone became boss. He built a rather fearsome reputation in some of the
ruthless gang rivalries of the period.
The St. Valentine’s Day
Massacre on February 15, 1929 was one of the worst massacres in American
history by gangster. Seven members or associates of the “Bugs” Moran mob were
killed by rivals, after being machine-gunned against a garage wall posing as
police. Although Capone was in Florida at that time, the massacre were
generally ascribed to the Capone mob. It became a national media event, and
immortalizing Capone as the most feared, smartest, ruthless and elegant of
gangland bosses. He was put on several trials, but never actually went to Jail.
However, in November 1931, he was sentenced to eleven years in federal prison
for income tax evasion, as wells as and various violations of the Volstead Act
(Prohibition). He was in May 1932, aged 33 sent to Atlanta U.S. Penitentiary.
After he was released from prison, he went to Johns Hopkins Hospital in
Baltimore for the treatment of paresis. On January 21, 1947, he had a stroke
and didn’t die, but he contracted pneumonia. And on January 25, 1947 Capone did
die, but died in his home surrounded by his family. That was a good way to die,
even though you had pneumonia. (That’s at least what I think.)
That was all from now,
I hoped you like it! Mafias and gangsters is such an interesting theme and I
love reading about it. See you soon! :D
Sources:
