Al Capone

by Deirdre Bair

  Here again, exaggerated rumors abounded: Welcome to Baltimore, Hon!, http://welcometobaltimorehon.com/​al-capones-cherry-tree.

  “inadequate”: Moore to Phillips, History and Summary of AC’s condition, Jan. 15, 1941.

  “grandiose ideas, a marked tendency”: Moore to Phillips, May 27, 1940.

  Mae donated two weeping cherry trees in Al’s name: One was cut down in the 1950s to make way for a new addition; the other split in half after a heavy snowfall in 2010, and the wood was given to a craftsman, Nick Aloisio, who turned it into bowls and other objects that were sold on eBay in 2012 as a fund-raiser for the hospital. Still standing to this day are trees alleged to have been created from the one felled, all listed on the national registry of historic landmarks.

  The doctors concluded: Moore’s March 20, 1940, initial assessment, to Phillips.

  the entire Capone family was living on the weekly $600: Information about money received is from the massive files the FBI maintained on AC during the last years of his life.

  “he said things he should not have”: Three separate members of the older generation of the Capone family are the source of this information. All asked to remain unidentified.

  Totally untrue were the stories: A scene in the 1975 movie Capone, which starred Ben Gazzara as AC, showed such a scene and reinforced the continuation of the falsehood.

  Diana Ruth Casey: She was born Ruth Diana, but after her divorce when she moved to California in the 1960s, she reversed the names and became known as Diana Ruth Casey.

  Boogie: The nickname was given to her by her younger brother, who could not say “Ruthie,” as she was originally called by her family. His pronunciation stuck, and that was how she was known throughout her life.

  Mae’s sister Muriel: Some biographers claim that “Daniel” Coughlin and his wife, “Winnie,” lived in the house as well. Mae’s brother, Dennis (called Danny), was the youngest of her six siblings, and he was not in residence during AC’s final years. He lived in Miami on and off during World War II but afterward moved to California in the late 1940s. Information about life at Palm Island is from Diane Capone and other members of the extended Capone family.

  Gertrude F. Cole: Information about Gertrude Cole is from her granddaughter, Jan Day Gravel, Aug. 7, 2013, and from Bobby Livingston of RR Auction, who sold “Al’s Grocery List” that same month.

  “Mama Mae loved him dearly”: Diane Capone, telephone conversation, June 5, 2015.

  All the FBI’s spying memos: FBI, Al Capone file.

  “in aid of execution”: Teitelbaum to Phillips, Feb. 10, 1941.

  Dr. Moore wanted to examine Al: Moore to Phillips, Dec. 16, 1940. Actual visit took place January 10–12, 1941.

  “Mr. Ralph and Mr. John”: Moore to Phillips, June 11, 1940.

  Dr. Phillips was frustrated: Dr. George W. Hall practiced in Chicago and for a time was asked to consult by Dr. Moore. In a letter to Moore, April 12, 1940, he said he had seen AC when he was at Alcatraz, “as a visitor, but had nothing whatever to do with recommending treatment in his case.” Hall appears from the correspondence to have been the go-between until Moore and Phillips resolved AC’s supervision.

  “Here is your friend Al Capone”: AC, handwritten letter to Phillips, Aug. 25, 1941, Hurley, Wis. I have reprinted it exactly as he wrote it.

  “Recheck examinations are essential”: Moore to Ralph Capone, Sept. 2, 1941. In a telephone conversation, June 5, 2015, AC’s granddaughter said that to the best of her knowledge her grandmother was never treated during the years she was adult enough to have been aware of illness or hospitalization; she said the same about her father.

  going from one movie to another: Diane Capone, e-mail letter, Sept. 24, 2015.

  “He has become quite obese”: FBI AC File, memo of April 13, 1945.

  his greatest delight was to walk: Veronica was born in 1943, Diane in 1944. Diane learned to walk at age ten months. Being with “Papa” in the garden is one of her cherished memories. Telephone conversation, July 12, 2015.

  The stories of Al in pajamas: The claim that the pool was stocked with fish was made in various television interviews in 2014–2015 by Deirdre Marie Griswold, who now calls herself Capone, recorded at the time the Palm Island house was undergoing renovations. AC’s granddaughters and all others who were in the house during AC’s lifetime agree that she was never there during his lifetime.

  “that never, ever happened”: Diane Capone, July 12, 2015. She is referring to a photograph in the self-published book Uncle Al Capone: The Untold Story from Inside His Family (n.p.: Recap, 2012), 169, by Deirdre Marie Griswold, who now calls herself Deirdre Marie Capone. She is the granddaughter of Ralph Capone and the daughter of his son, Ralphie (Ralph junior). The photograph shows a girl on the lap of a man in a Santa suit. It is not Al Capone.

  Shortly after the start: The only evidence to date that AC made this second trip to Ralph’s lodge is the mention in Phillips’s letter to the Dade County Medical Society, June 23, 1946. Diane Capone (telephone conversation, July 12, 2015) thinks she might have heard her grandmother Mae speak of other, earlier, summer trips but says she has no written evidence to support it. Harry Hart, the son of Vincenzo “Two Gun Hart” Capone, claimed AC was there on several other occasions between 1941 and 1945. John Binder consulted his files and found no reference to the 1945 visit or any other after 1941. None of the biographies write of any other trip than 1941, except for Bergreen, who quotes Hart in Capone, 592–93. Because AC’s summer trips to Wisconsin are a matter of continuing speculation, I offer the above to add to the mix.

  “up north doing business”: Information that follows is from Phillips to national and local press services, June 23, 1946.

  He survived the injuries long enough: Chicago Daily News, June 25 and 26, 1946.

  “save you many possible headaches”: The telegram is among the Moore-Phillips archives, now owned by Marc and Mary Perkins.

  In January 1947, the wrath: Phillips to Dr. Elmo D. French (chairman of the Press Relations Committee, Dade County Medical Society, Miami), Jan. 22, 1947.

  he bought a partnership in a restaurant: He was in partnership with Ted Traina, who owned the popular Ted’s Grotto. Sonny eventually took full control and changed the name simply to the Grotto.

  a small bedroom at the back of the house: This is a correction AC’s granddaughters would like to make regarding the small bedroom: “There was also a beautiful blue satin chaise longue in that little bedroom that Mama Mae made into a sitting room off the third guest bedroom [where AC allegedly died]. He did not die in that little room with the twin beds. He died in his own big bed in the master bedroom. Maybe Mama Mae slept there [with him] sometimes, but he was not in that room when he died. He was in the master bedroom, in their big bed.” Telephone conversation, Aug. 7, 2014.

  “stertorous”: Phillips to Moore, “Death Report,” entries dated Jan. 21–27, 1947. Mark and Mary Perkins collection.

  CHAPTER 24: THE END

  The end, when it came: Unless otherwise noted, information about AC’s final illness is from the Phillips-Moore correspondence, particularly the Death Report, Jan. 21–27, 1947. Also, from members of the Capone family who do not wish to be cited by name.

  It was one of the last times: Diane Capone shared this memory in telephone conversations, June 5 and July 12, 2015.

  “paresis, a chronic brain disease”: “Al Capone Dead of Heart Attack,” Baltimore Sun, Jan. 26, 1947.

  “tourists and the curious”: “Al Capone Dies in Florida Villa,” Chicago Tribune, Jan. 26, 1947.

  “I don’t want that son of a bitch”: Schoenberg, Mr. Capone, 354. A note on p. 455 gives the source as a Milt Sosin interview.

  When Al’s death happened: Among the many sources with different versions of his life and death were “Capone Dead at 48; Dry Era Gang Chief,” Associated Press, Jan. 26, 1947; “Al Capone Dead of Heart Attack,” Baltimore Sun, Jan. 26, 1947; “Apoplexy, Not Gun, Kills Al Capone,” Los Angeles Times, Jan. 25,
1947. Like most others, these were front page.

  Even the paper of record: “Capone Dead at 48; Dry Era Gang Chief,” New York Times, Jan. 26, 1947. The Times was one of the few papers that did not run the story on the front page; it was on p. 7.

  “hiding their faces”: Of all the graveside stories, this is the only one Phillips kept. Phillips-Moore Archive, Marc and Mary Perkins Collection.

  “I’ll kill any son of a bitch”: Schoenberg, Mr. Capone, 355.

  “The wages of sin is death”: New York Times, Jan. 27, 1947.

  “officially…tied up”: “701 Gang Deaths in Capone’s Time,” Los Angeles Times, Jan. 26, 1947.

  “the generosity of his brothers”: Abraham Teitelbaum, interview with New York Times, Jan. 27, 1947.

  CHAPTER 25: THE LEGACY

  “a piece of Al”: Private 2013 correspondence with a collector who does not wish to be identified.

  The house was sold shortly after she died: Schoenberg, Mr. Capone, 360, is among the first; Deirdre Marie Griswold (who now calls herself Capone) is among the second; various Capone scholars (including William J. Helmer) are among the third. The many newspapers who wrote about the sale are so contradictory that I cite none of them here.

  The desire for “a piece of Al”: The Huffington Post, June 20, 2011, cited NBC Chicago as the source for the $16,500 sale of an autographed photograph of AC and an autographed $5 bill at $9,500. At the time, Christie’s London was selling a 1929 model .38-caliber Colt Police Special revolver for $80,550, with sale price expected to be in the range of $112,000 or more.

  Recently, a collection of twig porch furniture: Meghan Edwards, “Wright Launches Style Sale Concept with Blackman Cruz,” Interior Design, April 3, 2015.

  his descendants commissioned a biography: Jeff McArthur, Two Gun Hart: Lawman, Cowboy, and Long-Lost Brother of Al Capone (Burbank, Calif.: Bandwagon Books), 2013.

  Quite simply, his family was destitute: Richard Hart, great-grandson of Two Gun Hart, e-mail, Dec. 19, 2014, stated that the family discussed the allegations with the author, who “watered it down.” Richard Hart believes the rumors of stealing were started by Kathleen Hart’s brother, Richard Winch, “who never really got along with Richard [Hart]. On occasion, Richard did not pay for items, but they were traded for services given his skill as a handyman.”

  The Kefauver Crime Commission called Ralph: John (Mimi Capone) Martin was also called before the Kefauver Committee, but like Ralph he told them very little of substance. They gave testimony to the Kefauver Committee, formally known as the Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, in September 1951.

  “Hart-or-Capone”: “Capone Tax Quiz Turns Up Long Lost Brother,” Chicago Tribune, Sept. 20, 1951.

  Two Gun testified before a grand jury: Information contained in the eight-page testimony of “Richard J. Hart,” to the grand jury for his brother’s income tax evasion trial, given September 21, 1951, National Archives, Chicago, v. 4 and v. 5. The charges were dismissed after the 1952 trial.

  “whiskey-soaked corpse”: I am grateful to John Binder for providing information from his personal archives about Ralphie’s college career, marriage, change of name, and the birth of his children. Other information comes from Chicago Tribune, Daily News, Sun Times.

  Ralphie was thirty-three: Ralphie was the name by which he was known in the family. The Chicago Sun Times, Nov. 10, 1950, gave him the nickname Risky, which Schoenberg, Mr. Capone, 361, repeats. The paper invented the nickname, and he was never called by it.

  there was no onus attached to the name: Contention made by his daughter, Deirdre Marie Gabriel O’Donnell Griswold (who now calls herself Capone). An article in the Chicago Tribune, “Capone Kin’s Ex-wife Gets Name Changed,” Sept. 21, 1960, states that Elizabeth Marie Capone, forty-one, and her son, Ralph Dennis Capone, seventeen, had their names officially changed “to give [Mrs. Capone’s] son a better chance.” She stated that they married in March 1938, before Ralphie’s graduation, in Warren County, Indiana, with his name given as Ralph Gabrail Caponi Jr. (sic) and his father’s as Ralph James Caponi (sic). Elizabeth Capone told the judge they divorced in 1945 and Gabriel was the name they used throughout their marriage and under which they registered the births of their children. By the time of the official legal name change, her nineteen-year-old daughter, Deirdre, was not involved, because she was married in 1959 to her first husband, Thomas O’Donnell, and was using his name legally. Deirdre Griswold, calling herself Capone, told the Chicago Tribune that her father “got his law degree from Loyola, but the Chicago Bar Association wouldn’t allow him to practice because his last name was Capone.” “Deirdre Capone Softens a Notorious Icon,” Chicago Tribune, Dec. 29, 2012. A search of the Loyola University Alumni Directory by John Binder revealed no listing for the name Gabriel or any variant of Capone. There are no other university records to confirm that he ever attended, graduated, or took the bar exam. A letter from the Law Registrar of Loyola Law School to John Binder, Nov. 4, 2015, stated that the school had no record he was ever admitted, attended, or was graduated from the law school.

  At his daughter’s birth: From Certificate of Birth, no. 2896, Chicago, Central Hospital, Cook County, for “Diedre” (sic) Marie Gabriel. It marked the first time Deirdre Gabriel was ever called by that surname.

  the note to Jean Kerin: “Find Capone Jr., Nephew of Gang Chieftain, Dead,” Chicago Tribune, Nov. 10, 1950. “I was astounded when I was called about Ralph’s death,” she said. “I talked to him Saturday and we were on good terms.”

  “nothing but warmth and love”: Brian Gabriel, telephone interview, Aug. 13, 2014.

  Ralph ended his days in Mercer: For information about Ralph Capone in Mercer, I am indebted to Jane Kinney Denning, Bob and June Kinney, Kevin Kinney, Gennaro “Jeep” Capone, and Joanie Stern. Also “Time Rewards AC’s Brother with Luxury of Obscurity,” Milwaukee Sentinel, May 1, 1972; “Bygones,” Duluth News Tribune, Nov. 24, 1972; McKevitt-Patrick Funeral Home Inc., Ironwood, Michigan: obituary for Sherman W. Hart, Oct. 16, 2010.

  “he became Santa Claus”: Milwaukee Sentinel, May 1, 1972.

  her granddaughters auctioned a collection of jewelry: Madeleine Kozup was a nurse and chairwoman of the Iron County Republican Party when she married Ralph Capone. After his death, she married his business partner, Serafino “Suds” Morichetti. As of 2014, she was in her nineties and was living in a nursing home in Hurley, Wisconsin. In August 2015, her granddaughters consigned various jewelry, photographs, and objects (one alleged to be a 4.25-carat pinkie ring owned by AC; all other sources give the carat weight of AC’s ring as 11) to ATR Estate Sales, Kenosha, Wisconsin.

  Mafalda never conquered: Charges against policeman by Mae Maritote, Freeport Journal-Standard, March 26, 1958.

  Diana came from a background: Diane Capone provided information about her parents in numerous telephone conversations throughout 2013–15.

  Only once did she relinquish: They asked Ralph to join them in the suit, and he refused. It was the last time Mae did battle with her brother-in-law. According to most Capone descendants, she never forgave him and only communicated with him when she had no other choice. For an excellent overview of the legal dispute, see “Suit Brought by Capone Heirs Dismissed: Judge Sees Need for Remedy in Such Cases,” Chicago Tribune, June 17, 1964. The judge ruled that the defendants did “unjustly enrich” themselves, but the law was vague about whether the right to privacy continued after the death of the injured party, and he had no choice but to dismiss the Capone family’s suit. Earlier, in 1962, Mafalda Maritote lost a separate $9.5 million suit in which she tried to assert that an Allied Artists movie had violated property rights to AC’s name and private life.

  Having done his shopping: News stories differ about what these objects were; most say bottles of aspirin and packets of batteries.

  “everyone has a little larceny”: From stories in the Miami Herald, the Miami Daily News, and the Chicago Tribune, Aug. 7, 1965.

  July 8, 2
004: He died on July 8, but by law the certificate had to be dated when the doctor signed it, and he did not do so until after midnight, which made it July 9.

  The catalyst for the group decision: Deirdre Marie Capone, Uncle Al Capone. So many statements in the book are false that I do not list them here, but there are some allegations that particularly offend AC’s granddaughters, who would like to have them addressed. They believe the photograph in the frontispiece has been Photoshopped. Deirdre Griswold denied it in an exchange with me on March 23, 2015, via e-mail. In the photograph, p. 169, she claims she is sitting on AC’s lap while he is dressed in a Santa costume. AC’s granddaughters insist vehemently that he never dressed in costume and would not have been mentally capable of doing so around Christmas 1944, when the picture must have been taken and when he spent the holiday with his wife, son, and granddaughters. The photograph of two persons in front of a car on p. 174 is not, as the subtitle has it, of Mae and Sonny outside his restaurant. The couple are Diana and Sonny Capone, and the house in the background is where they lived with their four daughters.

  “I am the last person”: Blog by adelesymonds, “At Home with Al Capone,” Oct. 19, 2012. She further alleged, in a series of remarks beginning with “no one else still alive” that she is the only one who has family photographs, documents, and archives, sat on Al’s lap as a child, was taught by him to play the mandolin, helped prepare the large Sunday meals served at Prairie Avenue, and can “describe the exhilarating highs and depressing lows of my childhood and adulthood as Capone.”

  Christopher Knight: Unless otherwise noted, information about and from Christopher Knight comes from interviews with him, June 19 and July 1, 2013.

  a 1927 newspaper article: “Hollywood Too Lonesome So Scarface Goes Home,” Atlanta Constitution, Dec. 17, 1927.

  the book he self-published: Chris W. Knight, Son of Scarface: A Memoir by the Grandson of Al Capone (New York: New Era, 2008).