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KF5JRV > TODAY 17.10.18 13:27l 44 Lines 2336 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 23252_KF5JRV
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Subj: Today in History - Oct 17
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<IK6ZDE<F1OYP<AB0AF<KF5JRV
Sent: 181017/1123Z 23252@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.16
On this day in 1931, gangster Al Capone is sentenced to 11 years in
prison for tax evasion and fined $80,000, signaling the downfall of one
of the most notorious criminals of the 1920s and 1930s.
Alphonse Gabriel Capone was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1899 to
Italian immigrants. He was expelled from school at 14, joined a gang and
earned his nickname “Scarfaceö after being sliced across the cheek
during a fight. By 1920, Capone had moved to Chicago, where he was soon
helping to run crime boss Johnny Torrio’s illegal enterprises, which
included alcohol-smuggling, gambling and prostitution. Torrio retired in
1925 after an attempt on his life and Capone, known for his cunning and
brutality, was put in charge of the organization.
Prohibition, which outlawed the brewing and distribution of alcohol and
lasted from 1920 to 1933, proved extremely lucrative for bootleggers and
gangsters like Capone, who raked in millions from his underworld
activities. Capone was at the top of the F.B.I.’s “Most Wantedö list by
1930, but he avoided long stints in jail until 1931 by bribing city
officials, intimidating witnesses and maintaining various hideouts. He
became Chicago’s crime kingpin by wiping out his competitors through a
series of gangland battles and slayings, including the infamous St.
Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929, when Capone’s men gunned down seven
rivals. This event helped raise Capone’s notoriety to a national level.
Among Capone’s enemies was federal agent Elliot Ness, who led a team of
officers known as “The Untouchablesö because they couldn’t be corrupted.
Ness and his men routinely broke up Capone’s bootlegging businesses, but
it was tax-evasion charges that finally stuck and landed Capone in
prison in 1931. Capone began serving his time at the U.S. Penitentiary
in Atlanta, but amid accusations that he was manipulating the system and
receiving cushy treatment, he was transferred to the maximum-security
lockup at Alcatraz Island, in California’s San Francisco Bay. He got out
early in 1939 for good behavior, after spending his final year in prison
in a hospital, suffering from syphilis.
Plagued by health problems for the rest of his life, Capone died in 1947
at age 48 at his home in Palm Island, Florida.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
email: KF5JRV@ICLOUD.COM
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