Al Capone's unprovable role in Chicago gang murders

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 G-Men

Al Capone was a centerpiece of focus for Herbert Hoover's administration. "His wealth and political influence, his wide open defiance of the law, and his highly publicized wars, lifestyle, and loutish personality combined to create the image of a criminal who was more than a match for anything law abiding society could pit against him." The federal government was tired of organized crime's blatant anti-law manipulations that made government at all levels look bad, complicit and illicit. Unfortunately, Capone had insulated himself against being implicated in any murders, and even though he had come under federal scrutiny, he maintained an imbedded network of paid informants who would keep him one step ahead of law enforcement. Meanwhile, Capone's sphere of criminal influence and operations had expanded from the city limits of Chicago, into the nearby suburbs.

Playing to the public that might have been fascinated with his crime persona, Capone was public and outspoken, saying, "I'm a public benefactor... Some call it bootlegging. Some call it racketeering. I call it business. They say I violate the prohibition law. Who doesn't" it was amazing that the bold murderous gangster could go public in his defiance of the law. He was, however, careful in choosing his words not to implicate himself in something that could be much more serious. Still, he was bold and taunting of the law enforcement officials who seemed unwilling or unable to stop him.

The federal government's response to lawlessness culminated with the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby; although organized crime played in the discussion that brought about the creation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Commercial popular entertainment could not fail to reflect the extent to which the depression public had turned crime into a symbol of national demoralization. The nation's fascination with the public enemy was seen as a harbinger of society's failure to defend itself against an impending moral breakdown."

The federal government felt a need to respond to the people's misdirected values and morals as it did to respond to the likes of Al Capone. The Department of Justice had a vision of handling crime in a way that would be a deterrent to organized crime and to lesser gangs and bank robbers. That vision included building super maximum prison complexes

These complexes would use the notoriety of the inmates and their murderous crimes to serve as the impetus for the complexes; and the complexes would be unbeatable, meaning no breakouts. They would be constructed on islands, or, it was once suggested, in Alaska, where the harsh conditions would result in certain death even if a prisoner did escape.

The problem was that the FBI had no case against Alphonse Capone; they could not link him to any murder or catch him in the act of bootlegging in order to bring him up on charges for that illicit activity.

Murder and heinous crimes are difficult to prove, but tax evasion is not, and law enforcement took advantage of Capone's disregard for the infrastructure of the federal government when he neglected to file tax returns to report his illicit income.

Law enforcement officers were never able to prove that Al Capone was directly involved in any of the countless murders he planned including the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre that killed seven rival mobsters in a matter of seconds on February 14, 1929."

In June, 1931, the gangster Al Capone was formally charged with income tax evasion, and he was tried and convicted in October of that year. It was reported that Capone attempted to bribe officials with a bribe in the millions, but he had, finally, overestimated the lengths to which the federal government had decided to go to get him off the streets of Chicago.

Even though Capone was convicted on tax evasion, he was sentenced to 11 years hard labor, and began serving his sentence in Atlanta, and, later, at the newly constructed super maximum prison, built for celebrity criminals like Capone, at Alcatraz. While incarcerated, Capone lost his power as an organized crime boss; and he also suffered a debilitating disease that took its toll him mentally and physically.

Conclusion

It was not surprising to find that the authorities could not document Capone's many murders for which to try him. Early on in Capone's career, there was a prevailing behavior among politicians and law enforcement at every level of city, county and state government that implicated itself in organized crime graft and corruption. With the insulation of organizations like Chicago's Democratic Machine, it is no wonder that Al Capone was well protected and it was impossible to detect his murderous schemes and actions.

It would be a mistake to perceive Capone as a modern day Robin Hood - though that is the public image he attempted to cultivate in the community - and one which served to make his criminal behavior less conspicuous. There is no reason to suspect that Capone was less than a brutal man, who worked his way up from the lower echelons of organized crime in New York City, to the highest levels of that industry in Chicago. Just as people committed heinous acts of violence and murder on behalf of Capone, it should be suspected that Capone himself did likewise during his rise to fame and leadership in organized crime.

There is no disagreeing with the federal government's assessment that Capone and other gangsters like him were an indication of something going morally awry in America. That Capone and others like him were being romantically depicted in film and news and feeding an American public appetite for that sort of portrayal was indeed something to be concerned with.

When a set of criminals announce publicly their intention of killing one another, and carry out that intention in the full glare of newspaper publicity, the general prestige of those responsible for law and order must inevitably suffer.... The fate of a Jack Diamond is without significance in itself. The social attitude toward him is significant of much. All the machinery of law exists in America, but the thing does not work properly. It does not work properly because the public conscience does not function as it should.... The gangsters are an inconsiderable proportion of the population in America, but they carry on their activities unchecked, and the only reason for that can be that at bottom the public does not mind them, does not feel that what they do is wrong. You cannot blame the police in such a case. The police are merely the instruments whereby the public sense of what is right or wrong expresses itself."

With this boldness available to Al Capone, that he could stop short of saying that he was responsible for murdering individuals, and then treating those murders as a public service; is evidence of the direction that the country was moving in. It was important that the federal government step up to the plate and take the appropriate action to remove Alphonse Capone from the public sphere. However, it was equally incumbent upon the federal government to do it in a way that was consistent with the laws and Constitution of the United States.