Alcatraz: A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years

by Michael Esslinger

  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 a respectful man, a capable leader and guardian of the families in his neighborhood. He was not a typical ruffian. In the early years, he helped support his family by taking on legitimate employment; once working in a bookbinding factory as well as a pinsetter in a bowling alley.

  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 1920, Torrio recruited young Capone to come to Chicago and help him build his empire. He offered Capone a $25,000 annual salary, with percentage profits from the bootlegging business. Capone would start to prepare for his new job even before relocating. Al sought out the assistance of his Brooklyn mentor Frankie Yale, to permanently end the resistance of “Big Jim.” On May 11, 1920, Colosimo was shot to death inside his nightclub, presumably by Yale. His funeral would draw over 5,000 mourners and Torrio publicly grieved his death, possibly to counter suspicion.

  Capone arrived in Chicago in 1921, bringing his entire family with him. Torrio and Capone progressively built a powerful crime syndicate that would monopolize the entire bootlegging trade in Chicago. The two men found themselves presiding over an immense empire of gangsters, which kept illegal liquor flowing in and around Chicago by paying off the local politicians and police. By 1927 it was estimated that the two men were averaging a massive $240 million in annual revenues from their gangland rackets.

  By this period, Capone had now mastered the art of politics and although he was already a wealthy, powerful gangland figure, he also attempted to balance his activities. Despite his illegitimate occupation, he had become a highly visible public personality. He made daily trips to city hall, opened soup kitchens to feed the poor, and even lobbied for milk bottle dating to ensure the safety of the city’s children. City officials often were embarrassed by Capone’s political strength, so they began leveraging his illegal activities. Police raids and even intentional fires at his places of business were no match for Capone’s supremacy.

  In the beginning, the public glamorized Capone’s activities and identified with him as a modern day Robin Hood. It wasn’t long, however, before public opinion started turning against him when it was believed that he had ordered the death of a famed lo
cal public prosecutor named Billy McSwiggin. The young prosecutor had earlier tried to pin the violent murder of a rival gang member on Capone. Although many argued against Al’s involvement in McSwiggin’s death, there was a great outcry over gangland violence at the time, and public sentiment went against Capone.

  Capone quickly went into hiding, fearing he would be tried for McSwiggin’s murder. He remained out of sight for nearly three months, and then after realizing he couldn’t live the remainder of his life underground, he negotiated his own surrender to the Chicago Police. The authorities eventually recognized that they lacked sufficient evidence to bring Capone to trial, and though the decision proved very unpopular with the public, he was eventually set free. The community was outraged and law officials were left publicly embarrassed by the incident. “Big Al” had become one of the most powerful crime czars in Chicago. It was said that Capone was now larger than life, and more powerful than the Mayor himself.

  By 1929 Capone’s personal empire was worth over $62 million and he was ready to wage war on his most prominent bootlegging rival, George “Bugs” Moran. Bugs was another of Chicago’s principal gangsters. He was known to talk openly against Capone and he maintained an attitude of spiteful arrogance that was said to anger Capone so much that Moran became one of Al’s regular topics of discussion. It was rumored that Capone gave orders to take Bugs down by assassinating his gang members from the bottom up, not stopping until they reached Bugs himself.

  Capone was now living lavishly on Palm Island in Miami Beach, Florida, and he drafted one of his top associates Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn to mastermind the hit. McGurn had one of his bootleggers lure members of the Moran gang into a garage to buy liquor at an unreasonably cheap price. The deal was made and the delivery was scheduled to take place on St. Valentine’s Day, 1929. McGurn and his men awaited their victims in stolen police uniforms. When the rival mobsters arrived, McGurn’s gang pretended to be policemen making a bust and ordered all of Moran’s men to stand facing the wall. Thinking that they had just been caught by the police, seven members of the Moran gang turned to the wall awaiting arrest. McGurn and his men then opened fire with machine guns, killing all of the gangsters. Bugs himself had seen the police car before stopping his vehicle and thinking that it was a raid, he fled the scene. Capone was credited with what would be one of the most famous mass murders in American history, the “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.”

  A waterfront view of Al Capone’s Palm Beach Mansion.

  A mug shot of Capone taken in Miami, Florida.

  The scene of the brutal St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.

  Seven members of George “Bugs” Moran’s gang were lined up against a wall and mowed down by two machine gunners impersonating police officers.

  A diagram showing how the massacre unfolded at the S.M.C. Cartage Company at 2122 North Clark Street in Chicago. Chicago Gangster Frank Gusenberg (left) suffered twenty-two bullet wounds and later died at the hospital. Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn (right) was one of Capone’s hit men and speculated as the mastermind of the massacre.

  Law enforcement officials recreate the massacre at the North Clark Street property.

  The massacre received national attention and Capone was glamorized in books and newspapers across the country. Capone was now a high-class, family-oriented and self-made gangster-millionaire, who had everyone’s full attention. Many local politicians began complaining about Capone and his self-proclaimed political stature. However the publicity surrounding Capone ultimately backfired, by attracting the attention of President Herbert Hoover. Hoover had just started his presidential term and as one of his first moves, he demanded that Capone be brought to justice. Hoover pressured Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon to spearhead the government’s battle against Capone. Mellon collected damning evidence which exposed his gang affiliations, bootlegging, prostitution rings and flagrant evasion of taxes.

  Al Capone in 1931, at a baseball game in Chicago. Note the bodyguard behind Capone, who is reaching for his handgun as the peanut vendor approaches. Frank “The Enforcer” Nitti (known as Capone’s master killer) is seen seated next to Capone, along with his son.

  It would take nearly five years of an intensive undercover operation before Capone was finally convicted. Then on October 17, 1931, Alphonse Capone was sentenced to eleven years in prison and $50,000 in fines, and was forced to pay court fees totaling over $30,000. The judge refused to allow Capone to be released on bail and the gangster remained confined at the Cook County Jail until arrangements were made for his transfer to Atlanta. On May 4, 1932 Capone began serving out his federal prison sentence at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. Capone flaunted his power even in prison, and quickly secured the ability to dictate his own privileges. He was given unlimited access to the Warden and was said to maintain large reserves of cash hidden in his cell, often generously “tipping” guards who would assist him by yielding to special requests. His time spent at Atlanta would not be as plush as his confinement at Cook, but he still found means to manipulate the system.

  Capone boarding the prison train for Atlanta Federal Penitentiary on May 3, 1932. He is seen here under heavy guard with federal agents and U.S. Marshal Henry Laubenheimer as his personal escort.

  Capone’s criminal history from his inmate file.

  A request by Capone to use the prison recreation yard at Atlanta State Penitentiary.

  A contemporary photograph of Capone’s uniquely furnished cell at Eastern State Penitentiary. Before his arrival at Alcatraz, Capone had managed to set the terms of his own privileges while incarcerated at other prisons.

  Before his transfer to Alcatraz, Capone had already become a master at controlling his environment at the federal penitentiary in Atlanta. Despite strict rulings from the courts, Capone was always able to persuade his guards to bend rules and accommodate his unique requests, often setting his own terms of confinement. It was rumored that he had convinced many of the guards to be on his payroll and his cell boasted expensive furnishings including personal bedding, and many other amenities that were not extended to other inmates serving lesser sentences. His cell was carpeted and he had a radio around which many of the guards would sit with him, conversing and listening to their favorite serials. His friends and family maintained residence in a nearby hotel, and each day he was flooded with visitors who were personally escorted to his cell.

  In 1934, Attorney General Homer Cummings, and Sanford Bates, the Director of Federal Prisons, made arrangements to send Capone to a facility where he would be unable to leverage the system. Alcatraz was the perfect answer to a problem that no one seemed able to manage. On August 19, 1934, without any formal notice, Capone was placed in a secure prison railroad car and was taken on a journey along with fifty-one other inmates to America’s “Devil Island”. In keeping with the heightened level of security, Capone would remain handcuffed and shackled and would be personally accompanied to California by Atlanta’s Warden, A.C. Aderhold.

  Capone’s transfer order to Alcatraz signed by Bureau of Prisons Director Sanford Bates.

  * * *

  Al Capone arrived at Alcatraz on August 22, 1934, as inmate AZ-85, and from the first moment of his arrival, Capone worked to manipulate the system. Warden Johnston had a custom of meeting the “new fish” when they first arrived at Alcatraz, and he usually participated in their brief orientation. Johnston wrote in his personal memoir that he had little trouble recognizing Capone as he stood in the lineup. Capone was grinning and making quiet, smug comments from the side of his mouth to other inmates. When his turn came to approach Warden Johnston, it appeared that he wanted to show off to the other inmates by asking questions on their behalf, as if he were already their leader. Johnston quickly assigned him his prison number, and made him get back in line with the other convicts. During Capone’s time on Alcatraz, the famous prisoner would make several attempts to con Johnston into allowing him special privileges, but all were denied. Johnston maintained that Capone would not be
given any special rights and would have to follow every rule without exception or privilege.

  The cellblock corridor known by inmates as Michigan Avenue. Capone’s cell B-181 was located on the second tier in the right of this photograph.

  A present day photograph of Al Capone’s cell B-181.

  Like every other inmate at Alcatraz in the early 1930’s, Capone was to do hard time. He was among the first group that arrived from Atlanta Federal Penitentiary during what was considered the toughest era at Alcatraz. The mandatory rule of silence was in full implementation and strictly enforced by the correctional staff. Capone would occupy a standard cell located on the second tier of B Block (B-181), coined Michigan Avenue by fellow inmates. Almost overnight, Capone had been completely stripped of his persona as a crime czar. The great Capone was now little more than a common inmate. He received favorable reports at his work assignments which included a detail in the prison laundry and a stint as a cellhouse orderly delivering books and magazines to other inmates, as well as performing menial tasks such as sweeping and mopping. It is documented that Capone’s favorite pastimes at Alcatraz were reading celebrity magazines and playing the tenor banjo.