Capone

by Laurence Bergreen

  1925,? Arrested, Olean, N.Y. (Denied) Disorderly. Released.

  6–7-26; Indicted at Chicago, Ill. Viol. Nat’l Pro. Act.—Dismissed.

  7–15-26; Indicted, Stickney, Ill. Vote Fraud. Dismissed in Dec, 1926.

  7–28-26; Arrested, Chicago, Ill. Murder. Charge withdrawn.

  10–1-26; Indicted, Chicago, Ill. Viol. N.P. Act (With 78 others) Dismissed.

  11–12-27; Arrested, Chicago, Ill. Refusal to Testify. Dismissed.

  12–22-27; Fined $2600.00, Joliet, Ill., with 5 other Henchmen. Concealed weapons.

  May 17, 1929; Received at Eastern State Pen., Philadelphia, Pa. to serve 12 months for Concealed Weapons. Disch. by Exp. Sentence 3–17-30.

  5–8-30; Arrested at Miami, Fla. Suspicion. Kept in jail over night and released.

  May 1930; Arrested several times at Miami, Fla., from May 8th to May 17th. Suspicion, Vagrancy, Perjury. Consolidated and dismissed.

  2–27-31; Sentenced at Chicago, Ill. to serve 6 months for Contempt. Appealed the case. Conviction affirmed (part of this sentence)

  Indictment pending, Chicago, Ill. Cons. Viol. Nat’l Pro, Act.

  He yielded: ibid.

  the federal prison system: Godwin, Alcatraz, pp. 34–35.

  Like all new arrivals: NYT, May 6, 1932.

  Myrl E. Alexander: Gainesville Sun, February 27, 1991.

  “When he entered” Author’s interview with Myrl E. Alexander.

  The jail’s medical staff: Report of Stephen T. Brown, M.D., September 7, 1932. BP-AC.

  “The prostate soon”: ibid.

  During his career: Rudensky and Riley, The Gonif, passim.

  “Atlanta would soon strip”: ibid., p. 56.

  “Hey, Rusty”: ibid.

  “Al’s complexion”: ibid.

  “How the hell”: ibid.

  “grubby two-bit nonentities”: ibid., p. 57.

  “Capone was unpopular”: Conway, “20 Months in Alcatraz,” Saturday Evening Post, February 19, 1938. Conway was also in the Atlanta Penitentiary at the same time as Capone.

  “I sent word out”: Rudensky and Riley, The Gonif, p. 57.

  “It was right comical”: Conway, “20 Months.”

  “A hulking figure”: Daily Mirror, April 14, 1934. The article emphasizes that Capone had been working in this manner for the previous two years.

  “Just seeing your idea”: Rudensky and Riley, The Gonif, p. 57.

  “My wife sent”: July 26, 1932. BP-AC.

  It wasn’t hero worship: Rudensky and Riley, The Gonif, pp. 57–58.

  Judge Underwood dismissed: NYT, December 10, 1933, January 26, 1934.

  One brother, Albert: CT, June 6, 1932.

  President Hoover: NYT, July 20, August 10, 1932.

  “He behaves so well”: Allsop, The Bootleggers and Their Era, pp. 347–348.

  He had passed: Tacoma News, February 27, 1934.

  “Capone became a model”: NYT, February 27, 1934.

  “Frank and I”: NA-FN.

  disciplinary incidents: BP-AC.

  “There is an allegation”: The Biography of Al Capone’s Life in the Atlanta Penitentiary; Report of E.E. Conroy. FBI-AC.

  “My knowledge”: ibid.

  “death and bodily”: FBI report, March 4, 1935. FBI-AC.

  U.S. House of Representatives: Congressional Record-House, January 25, 1933, p. 2647.

  On May 27: Associated Press dispatch, May 28, 1934.

  “The pile is like”: Rudensky and Riley, The Gonif, p. 60.

  “Rusty,” he sighed: ibid.

  “Nobody’s taking me”: ibid., p. 61.

  “Capone, to me”: ibid., p. 62.

  gangster melodramas: Peary, Little Caesar, pp. 9–13.

  “Women’s clubs”: ibid., p. 10.

  fifty-one new gangster films: Fetherling, The Five Lives of Ben Hecht, p. 95.

  Doorway to Hell: Peary, Little Caesar, pp. 12–13.

  “terrific explosion”: Burnett, Little Caesar, pp. 16–22.

  Further blurring the line: Peary, Little Caesar, p. 17.

  In New York: ibid., p. 25.

  1933 survey: ibid., pp. 25–26.

  expressions such as: ibid., p. 27. In his autobiography, the film’s director, Mervyn LeRoy, boasted of the popularity of the expressions introduced in the film.

  “is immune”: Burnett, “The Czar of Chicago,” Saturday Review of Literature, October 8, 1930.

  $1,000 a day: Fetherling, The Five Lives of Ben Hecht, p. 96.

  Al Capone is not dead: Cowdery, Capone’s Chicago, p. 17. (Originally published as Al Capone on the Spot by Richard T. Enright, 1931.)

  “Anything glaringly improbable”: The Living Age, February 1933.

  Carrying a Gun for Al Capone: Lacey, Little Man, p. 313.

  “Big gangsters”: Manchester, The Glory and the Dream, p. 95.

  Max Allan Collins: Author’s interview with Max Allan Collins.

  in his strip: Crouch, Dick Tracy, pp. 26, 56–57.

  In the guise: ibid., p. 34.

  “Dillinger does not”: Manchester, The Glory and the Dream, p. 94.

  “charmed life”: NYT, May 9, 1934.

  “I think we ought”: NYT, April 25, 1934.

  Mercer, Wisconsin: ibid.

  For the previous five months: Cromie and Pinkston, Dillinger, pp. 1–4, 251–261.

  “Al Capone”: NYT, May 9, 1934.

  As midnight tolled: NYT, August 20, 1934.

  Despite the attorney general’s refusal: NYT, August 21, 1934.

  As the train neared Yuma: Kobler, Capone, p. 358.

  As a Coast Guard cutter: Kansas City Times, August 23, 1934.

  “Alcatraz Island is”: Johnston, Alcatraz, pp. 1–2.

  “The convict’s dread”: Conway, “20 Months.”

  “All of a sudden”: Ellis, Alcatraz Number 1172, pp. 13–14.

  Arriving at the dock: CT, February 14, 1988.

  I didn’t have any trouble: Johnston, Alcatraz, p. 31.

  “They are not”: NYT, August 24, 1934.

  Capone’s cell: Karpis, On the Rock, pp. 34–35.

  “Men slowly go”: Conway, “20 Months.”

  “The guards always shot”: ibid.

  brooded ceaselessly: CT, February 14, 1988.

  Roused by a 6:00 A.M.: ibid.; Conway, “20 Months.”

  He became fascinated: CT, February 14, 1988; Turano, “America’s Torture-Chamber,” American Mercury, September 1938; The New Yorker, March 7, December 19, 1936.

  Isla de los Alcatraces: Johnston, Alcatraz, pp. 3–8; Thompson, The Rock, pp. 76–77.

  “Here may be isolated”: Karpis, On the Rock, p. 15.

  San Francisco’s chief of police: Thompson, The Rock, pp. 351–369.

  “friendly, ruddy-faced”: Taylor, “Trouble House,” Collier’s, July 25, 1936.

  “You’re my Warden now”: Johnston, Alcatraz, pp. 31–34. In the interest of clarity I have made minor alterations in Johnston’s erratic punctuation.

  first significant breach: CT, February 14, 1988.

  Jimmy Lucas: NYT, June 24, 1936.

  “Outside of losing”: CT, February 14, 1988.

  “Anything I can”: ibid.

  he wanted to start: ibid.; Ellis, Alcatraz: Number 1172, pp. 60–61.

  “It is difficult”: Conway, “20 Months.”

  That morning: FBI-AC.

  “The dirty shit”: CT, February 14, 1988.

  “Anyone who stays”: Conway, “20 Months.”

  “Just a Life of Hell”: San Francisco Chronicle, February 25, 1936.

  “Dutch” Bowers: Milwaukee Journal, May 24, 1937; Taylor, “Trouble House.”

  “The stucco mansion”: NYT, October 20, 1936.

  “We had them beat”: Kobler, Capone, p. 369. In the interest of clarity, I have made minor alterations in the letters’ punctuation.

  My Dear Husband: Mae Capone to Al Capone, October 24, 1936, Earl E. Wallar Collection, HDC # 438. Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Historic Documents Coll
ection, San Francisco, California.

  “Creepy” Karpis was the most notorious: Karpis, On the Rock, pp. 3–4.

  “pale, shrunken figure”: ibid., pp. 58–60.

  “the talent scout”: Bennett, I Chose Prison, pp. 98–102.

  “The convicts in Alcatraz”: Karpis, On the Rock, p. 85.

  Johnston retaliated: Kobler, Capone, p. 370.

  “The obstacle is Al Capone”: Karpis, On the Rock, pp. 101–102.

  Since his arrival: Bennett, I Chose Prison, p. 36. In his memoir, Bennett suggests that Capone refused treatment for syphilis, which would have consisted of bismuth and arsenicals, but his medical records, which are more accurate on such matters, state otherwise. In any event, Capone’s condition was incurable, and the treatment then available could not reverse the course of the disease.

  “What happened”: Bennett, I Chose Prison, p. 37.

  “It was announced”: BP-AC.

  “DUE TO THE RUMORS”: ibid.

  “HAVE JUST HAD”: ibid.

  “I had to convince”: Bennett, I Chose Prison, pp. 37–38.

  Neuro-Psychiatric Examination: BP-AC.

  When number 85 was escorted: United Press dispatch, August 3, 1936; FBI-AC.

  “When we both”: Karpis, On the Rock, pp. 118–119.

  “I now feel”: Romney M. Ritchey to Warden, November 19, 1938. BP-AC.

  “We asked the State”: Irey, The Tax Dodgers, p. 163.

  Klein traveled: World Telegram, March 9, 1939; New York Post, March 9, 1939; NYT, March 10, 1939; Messick, Secret File, p. 99; Kobler, Capone, p. 371.

  description of Alcatraz: Alcatraz continued to function as a federal penitentiary until 1963, when Attorney General Robert Kennedy ordered it to be shut down. It is currently a part of Golden Gate National Park. Ferry boats regularly carry hundreds of tourists each day to the Rock, where they can tour the cell house, purchase souvenirs, and gaze out over the waters that once separated the most notorious convicts in the country from freedom.

  “During the first few”: George Hess to the Medical Director, Bureau of Prisons, January 16, 1939. BP-AC.

  “He brands Hearst”: George Hess, M.D. to James V. Bennett, October 26, 1939; Clinical Record, June 20, 1939. BP-AC.

  “Ralph has now agreed”: Memorandum for the Attorney General, October 21, 1939., BP-AC.

  “Al Capone seemed”: R.B. Hood to J. Edgar Hoover, October 26, 1939. FBI-AC.

  “Do you feel”: Kobler, Capone, p. 372.

  As the expiration: Hoyt King to J. V. Bennett, November 3, 1939. BP-AC.

  parole regulations: Certificate of Conditional Release for Alphonse Capone, January 19, 1939. BP-AC.

  “Capone didn’t seem”: Alexander interview.

  “Capone is sane”: Murray, “ ‘When I Get Out of Prison . . . ’ Al Capone Talks,” Look, October 24, 1939.

  “where there is”: NYT, November 18, 1939. Murphy knew that Capone was going to Baltimore for medical treatment (and not to Miami) because James V. Bennett had written to Murphy about the trip on October 21. Once Capone arrived in Baltimore, Attorney General Murphy admitted the truth but gave no reason for the change in his story. Soon after, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Murphy to the U.S. Supreme Court.

  Chapter 12: After Capone

  He stood trial: letter from Harold Hagen to author, April 3, 1992.

  a letter bearing no address: letter in possession of Harry Hart.

  “They came with ponies”: letter from Harold Hagen to author, April 3, 1992.

  “I just remember”: Hart interview.

  “There was nothing”: ibid.

  “Al Capone, the eminent Chicago racketeer”: MC; NYT, November 17, 1939.

  “Capone is Free”: NYT, November 17, 1939.

  Capone says that he was infected: MC.

  Dr. Moore [Mencken wrote] planned: ibid.

  Dr. Moore inoculated: Author’s interviews with Dr. Jack Shapiro and Dr. Thomas Turner.

  When Mae learned: Author’s interview with Dr. Richard D. Hahn.

  I am told that he bears: MC.

  penicillin mold: Shapiro interview.

  a secure rented house: Hahn interview.

  “I presume”: James V. Bennett to Dr. J.E. Moore, December 21, 1939. BP-AC; NYT, February 18, 1941.

  bade farewell: Hahn interview.

  “Although the former”: Miami Herald, March 23, 1940.

  “Who’s this”: Time, February 3, 1947.

  “brain paralysis”: Miami Herald, August 3, 1940.

  “tickled to death”: Baltimore Sun, May 23, 1940.

  “It was determined”: TO: Director, FBI, April 13, 1945. FBI-AC.

  “He operated”: ibid.

  An examination of his personnel record: ibid.

  “It is known”: ibid.

  Attempting to learn: ibid.

  “The CAPONE family”: ibid.

  On April 18: Kobler, Capone, p. 377.

  “a rough customer”: Author’s confidential interview.

  “Al speaks”: TO: Director, FBI, April 13, 1945. FBI-AC.

  On Wednesday: CT, November 9, 10, 11, 1939.

  On February 20, 1942: Newark Star-Ledger, February 20, 1992.

  In 1949: ibid.; CT, September 18, 1949.

  At the time of his death: Allsop, The Bootleggers and Their Era, p. 375.

  By 1940: Author’s interview with Jonathan Margolis.

  “We drove down”: Hart interview.

  “the picture”: Author’s interviews with Harry Hart and Raymond Longwell.

  “During the Government’s”: George E. Q. Johnson to J. Edgar Hoover, October 30, 1933. Ness Collection, WRHS.

  “Beware of Ness”: H. H. Clegg to Director, December 7, 1943. FBI-EN.

  “CLEVELAND”: Jedick, Cleveland, p. 43.

  he became so close to Fritchey: ibid., p. 45.

  “There is one interesting”: Cleveland News, June 19, 1936.

  “Thousand Young”: Cleveland News, April 4, 1936.

  the Harvard Club in Newburgh Heights: Nickel, Torso, pp. 47–49.

  “I’m Eliot Ness”: ibid., pp. 49–50.

  “the Unknowns”: ibid., p. 100.

  “We both realized”: ibid., p. 150.

  “the sexiest”: Author’s interview with Marion Hopwood Kelly.

  practical jokes: Jedick, Cleveland, p. 48.

  “When the party”: Kelly interview.

  ran a red light: Author’s confidential interview.

  Morris Barney “Moe” Dalitz: Roemer, War of the Godfathers, pp. 52–53.

  Charles Polizzi: Nickel, Torso, p. 155.

  “Ness’ Bride”: Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 26, 1939.

  “Evaline liked”: Condon, “The Last American Hero,” Cleveland, August 1987.

  Evaline’s bodyguard: Kelly interview.

  “Military Saboteur”: Ness, “Venereal Disease Control in Defense,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, March 1942.

  “Most were genuinely puzzled”: Nickel, Torso, pp. 187–188.

  March 4, 1942: Condon, “Last American Hero.”

  “Cleveland is”: Cleveland Press, April 27, 1942.

  Elizabeth “Betty” Anderson: Nickel, Torso, p. 203.

  “carefully avoids”: Fortune, January 1946.

  “My business affairs”: Condon, “Last American Hero.”

  “vibrant, spirited city”: Cleveland News, July 30, 1947.

  “He’d come”: Author’s interview with Al Sutton.

  “Who’d want”: Jedick, Cleveland, p. 55.

  “Al wants”: Pontarelli interview.

  Capone suffered: Miami Herald, January 22, 1947.

  7:25 in the evening: Certificate of Death for Alphonse Capone. Office of Vital Statistics, State of Florida, State File No. 626.

  “As word”: Miami Herald, January 25, 1947.

  “shrunken and colorless”: NYT, January 27, 1947.

  Abraham Teitelbaum: ibid.

  “end of an evil”: ibid.<
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  “In the days”: CT, January 26, 1947.

  “the event would”: Liebling, “The Wayward Press,” The New Yorker, March 1, 1947.

  “Death had beckoned”: Time, February 3, 1947.

  Qui Riposa: Newsweek, February 17, 1947.

  “I remembered”: Sullivan and Kobler, “Caddying.”

  “Why don’t you”: Murray, The Legacy of Al Capone, p. 12.

  “The Roman Catholic Church”: ibid.

  “He was a very”: Author’s interview with Jack Foyle.

  “He would drop”: ibid.

  “They’re putting me”: ibid.

  “writing an article”: Author’s interview with Corinne Lawson.

  $150 a week: Nickel, Torso, p. 208.

  “You’ll have to get”: ibid., pp. 208–209.

  “He told me”: Lawson interview.

  On May 16, 1957: Jedick, Cleveland, p. 57; Nickel, Torso, pp. 214–215.

  At the time of his death: ibid.; Arruda, “Eliot Ness Revisited,” The Investigator, May 1988.

  “I would find”: Lawson interview.

  “Did you have”: Hearings Before the Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, pp. 1226–1247.

  “I love you”: Kobler, Capone, p. 380.

  On March 16, 1951: Chicago Herald-American, March 16, 1951; Associated Press dispatch, March 16, 1951.

  In September 1951: Lincoln Star, September 20, 1951.

  Hart spent five hours: Sioux City Journal, September 22, 1951.

  “The very name Capone”: Lincoln Star, December 13, 1952.

  “Your father broke”: Balsamo interview.

  annual allowance: Roemer interview; Roemer: Man Against the Mob, p. 90.

  shoplifting in the Kwik Chek: Miami Herald, Miami News, August 7, 1965; Miami Herald, November 16, 1965.

  Ralph died: Certificate of Death, State of Wisconsin, Department of Health and Social Services, No. 74 034707.

  April 16, 1986: Certificate of Death, Office of Vital Statistics, State of Florida.

  Harry Hart, Al Capone’s nephew: Author’s interviews with Joyce and Harry Hart.

  Selected Bibliography

  Abadinsky, Howard. Organized Crime. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1981.

  Adler, Larry. It Aint Necessarily So. London: Collins, 1984.

  Albini, Joseph L. The American Mafia: Genesis of a Legend. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1971.

  Allen, Frederick Lewis. Only Yesterday. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1931.

  Allsop, Kenneth. The Bootleggers and Their Era. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1961.