"Scarface" Al Capone was born in Brooklyn, New York on January 17, 1899. His parents, Salerno and Teresa, were Italian immigrants born in Angri, a town in the Province of Salerno.

From that humble beginning by the time Al was 21, he was the head of a multi-million dollar Chicago operation in bootlegging, prostitution and gambling dominating the organized crime scene. The ratification of the 18th Amendment, which made all sales or use of alcohol illegal, was a key to the success of organized crime.

Violent actions against other gangs were commonplace. The most notorious of these encounters was the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929 where in a garage on the city’s North Side on February 14, 1929, seven men associated with the Irish gangster George “Bugs” Moran were lined up and machine gunned to death. Moran escaped the massacre by arriving late and seeing police officers at the scene.

On June 5, 1931 the U.S. government indicted Capone on 22 counts of income-tax evasion. During the trial Capone used the same tactic that had served him well for years, bribery and intimidation. But at the last moment, the judge switched to an entirely new jury. Capone was found guilty and sent to prison for 11 years.

Capone's declining health was exacerbated by tertiary syphilis. He was released from prison and lived out his last days in Miami with his wife. He died of cardiac arrest on January 25, 1947.

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