Term Paper on "Al Capone"

Term Paper 12 pages (3020 words) Sources: 12 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Al Capone Never Proven a Murderer

In 1915, a young roughian named Alphonse Capone joined the Five Points Gang, in New York City (Kelly, Robert J, 2000, p. xx). As a member of the Five Points Gang, it is suspected that Capone performed any kind of illegal or illicit crime, including murder. He kept company with men who would rise to become nationally recognized figures in organized crime, like Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Johnny Torrio, and Ciro Terranova. What is known of the early organized crime syndicates is that they cultivated political connections, bribing important public officials who would then influence the outcomes of criminal investigations and trial proceedings. By 1926, Alphonese "Al" Capone had garnered enough support and influence to become head of his own crime division in Chicago, where one of his first orders of business was dispensing with the ruling O'Bannion crime family. Following the murder of Charles O'Bannion, there was a gang war, and the streets of Chicago became the scene of numerous bloody murders in the grab for control of the lucrative bootlegging empire that existed in the city. The bloodletting spilled over into the outlying areas of Chicago, most notably in Cicero, where Al Capone had his headquarters at Hawthorne Inn. Because of the intricate network of public officials who were bribed, and therefore under the auspices of Capone or opposing crime bosses, it was difficult during the bloodiest years of gang warfare in Chicago to know who was responsible for killing whom. What could be certain, however, is that the gang bosses, especially Al Capone, were behind much of the bloodshed. Thus, the true story of how many people, and who, Al Capone was actually responsible for murdering is based mostly on speculation, uncorroborated reporting, and logical guesswork. There is no known record that exists today as to who and how many people Al Capone was responsible for murdering.

When the newly created Federal Bureau of Investigation, charged with curtailing organized crime activities that had gotten out of hand, finally arrested and convicted Alphonse Capone of a crime, it was not for any of the brutal murders he had either committed himself or commissioned as a Chicago crime boss; rather, it was, in 1931, for the lesser crime of income tax evasion, failure to file a tax return. Capone served his sentence and, upon release, retired to the state of Florida to live out the rest of his days battling the effects of a debilitating disease.

That the interest of the people in the United States prevailed over the interests of the few who were either actively involved in organized crime, or who were beneficiaries and accomplices by way of corruption of public officials; is significant in that there cannot be a dual set of governments and economies in a country without adversely impacting and taking its toll on the population's morale, pride, dignity, and sense of honesty and integrity. It was to the U.S. Government's credit that they elected to take on organized crime during the early twentieth century, even though people like Al Capone and other crime figures had become somewhat of urban heroes amongst blue collar workers and laborers.

The research and reporting here are intended to dispel the urban myth of associating Al Capone with Robin Hood; and taking as realistic a look as is permitted by the vast body of research that exists on the gangster to understand Capone's brutality and destruction. This is no small undertaking, and one that has been pursued in greater volume by researchers and experts; but it is one that is also worth examining in brief on the level of this research.

Capone's Political Influence

In order to understand how Al Capone evaded prosecution and avoided being implicated in some of the most brutal crimes in American history, we must first understand the players. That is the public officials at the federal, state, city, and county levels that accepted bribes and who looked the other way while, and, it is suspected, even went so far as to obstruct justice in order to benefit from the crimes of Al Capone.

In 1925, when Capone was seeking to gain control over Chicago, "None of the syndicates, no matter how organized, could have sustained a profit while remaining free of police interference without the support of the 1st Ward Democratic organization. According to John Landesco, 'Hoyne revealed an astonishing array of precinct committeemen and captains of the 1st Ward holding jobs as bailiffs, jail guards, as well as in other capacities in the courts, the Sheriff's office, the county treasurer's office, the county jail, and the Briedwell, especially where they can be of some help to the boys."

Relying on just the quote above, we see that nearly every facet of public office was infiltrated by organized crime and graff. To the extent that we do not make direct "hand-off" connections to highly connected public officials, and that we can only rely upon first-hand - sometimes questionable accounts - is evidence to the fact that the circle of corruption at the public office level was very coveted, and very secretive.

By 1927, the graft of Charles Healey seemed small-time compared with the real fortunes being made by the Capone syndicate in bootleg whiskey, numbers, and prostitution. Frank J. Loesch of the crime commission estimated that $260,000 of Capone booze money went directly into the (Mayor) Thompson campaign. The name of members of the William Hale Thompson Republican Club read like a Who's Who of Chicago crime."

It is Mayor William Hale Thompson who is credited with turning over the city of Chicago to organized crime elements; who then put a stranglehold on the city that soon erupted in one of the bloodiest eras in organized crime history. Workers and voters in Chicago were faced with leadership choices that fluctuated between organized crime leaders, and individual ward machines that were in the pockets organized crime leaders.

With this kind of political stranglehold on the city's infrastructure, it is no small wonder that organized crime syndicates like that of Al Capone flourished.

The Murders

That the Capone syndicated was well insulated by political and police protection made it possible for Capone's syndicate to deal with anyone who proved a force of opposition or competitor in a way that would permanently resolve that problem, and serve as a deterrent to potential competition for the industries of corruption that Capone lorded over.

It was prudent, if not necessary to use liaisons between Capone and the public officials and others he bribed and relied upon to operate his graft and schemes of corruption.

Capone relied upon intermediaries, like Alfred "Jake" Lingle, a Chicago Tribune reporter with 18 years service to that publication; who also served as the padding between Capone and public officials, and served, when necessary, as a bag man. It is ironic that Lingle was a crime reporter, who allowed his sense of power over Al Capone get the better of him. It was a mistake of massive proportions, and in the end was Lingle's undoing when he was brutally murdered for extorting money from Capone. Of course the murder itself could not be linked to Capone, since there were witness who saw a man, dressed as a Catholic priest, approach Lingle in the subway underpass at East Randolph Street, who shot Lingle dead. Lingle died with a cigar for which he had become known for smoking clenched between his teeth.

Capone was clever about eliminating his competition too. In what became one of the most infamously brutal and bloody gangland events in American history; Chicago's St. Valentine Day massacre, which, after some investigation, it was determined was masterminded by one of Capone's henchmen, Jack McGurn. However, McGunn did not attend the event, rather arranged for out of town hit men to come in and do the job of eliminating the competition, who happened to be gang members of a rival gang headed by Bugs Moran. It was by chance that Bugs Moran was not with his colleagues when the event occurred, otherwise Capone would have been successful in eliminating Moran that day.

To the extent that the details of the St. Valentine's Day massacre are understood, is only because a criminal by the name of Byron Bolton was arrested in 1931 on unrelated charges, and identified some of the participants in the event and shed some light on how it all transpired.

As it happened, McGurn had brought together a team of out of town hit men, a squad to impress Capone. Two of the men, according to Bolton, were dressed as police officers. While Mcgurn went free as a result of an "air tight" alibi, he was later gunned down outside a Chicago bowling alley, and in order to make sure no one mistook the reason for the mobster's death, a cartoon Valentine's Day card was left on the corpse. In the aftermath, a huge press feeding frenzy ensued, with full photographs of the brutality published for the… READ MORE

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