Capone
Page 91
FBI-EN
FBI Permanent File for Eliot Ness. FBI, Washington, D.C.
FBI-FN
FBI Permanent File for Frank Nitti. FBI, Washington, D.C.
BP-AC
Federal Bureau of Prisons’ file for Al Capone. Federal Bureau of Prisons, Washington, D.C.
BP-RC
Federal Bureau of Prisons’ “Notorious Offenders” file for Ralph Capone. National Archives Trust Fund Board. Atlanta, Georgia.
DJ
Department of Justice, Tax Division. Washington, D.C.
NA-JG
“Notorious Offenders” prison file for Jack Guzik. National Archives and Records Administration. Washington, D.C.
NA-FN
“Notorious Offenders” prison file for Frank Nitti (alias Nitto). National Archives and Records Administration. Washington, D.C.
TRAN
Transcript of the trial of Al Capone for Federal income tax evasion, Chicago, Illinois, 1931. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Division. Washington, D.C.
Publications:
NYT
New York Times
CT
Chicago Tribune
Notes
Prologue:
All I know: Author’s interview with Anthony Russo.
Chapter 1: Campanilismo
“You who only”: CT, May 18, 1929.
“equal to one-tenth”: Lodge, “The Restriction of Immigration,” North American Review, January 1891.
“We have the right”: ibid.
“paupers and criminals”: Lodge, “Lynch Law and Unrestricted Immigration,” North American Review, May 1891.
“We are overwhelmed”: New York Herald, December 5, 1892.
“Steerage passengers from Naples”: Ross, “Italians in America,” Century Magazine, July 1914, in LaGumina, ed., Wop!, pp. 138–141.
“promptly reproduces conditions”: Riis, How the Other Half Lives, pp. 36–39.
the numbers exploded: Nelli, The Business of Crime, p. 22. Nelli’s source is U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957, pp. 56–57.
Teresina Raiola: Certificate of Death, State of Illinois, #82971.
“There is nothing”: Hutton, Naples and Southern Italy, p. 1.
Proverbs dear to the peasantry: Nelli, The Business of Crime, p. 4.
“levied blackmail”: ibid., p. 18.
The various forms: Koren, “The Padrone System and Padrone Banks,” Bulletin of the Department of Labor, p. 113.
The Camorra played: Nelli, The Business of Crime, p. 19.
The Camorra succeeded: Iorizzo, ed., An Inquiry Into Organized Crime, p. 7.
Naples was divided: Nelli, The Business of Crime, pp. 18–20.
42,977 Italians: ibid., p. 22.
Raffaele: State of Wisconsin Certificate of Death, #74 034707.
campanilismo: Candeloro, “Suburban Italians: Chicago Heights, 1890–1975,” in Holli and Jones, Ethnic Chicago, p. 244.
“a slum that faces”: Miller, A View from the Bridge, p. 88.
The Capone family: Author’s interview with Angela Pitaro.
Rents in the district: Kobler, Capone, p. 18.
“tall and handsome”: Pitaro interview.
The subject states: December 14, 1931, BP-RC.
Senate investigation committee: Hearings Before the Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, pp. 1239–1240.
January 17, 1899: Registration Card for Alphonse Capone. Order number A2840. Local Board for Division #48, City of New York, State of N.Y. Brooklyn, Kings County, September 12, 1918.
infant mortality rate: Kobler, Capone, p. 20; Pilat and Ransom, Sodom by the Sea, p. 273.
February 7: Baptismal Certificate, St. Michael and St. Edward’s Church. The author thanks William Balsamo for obtaining this document.
“Depart from”: Weller, The Roman Ritual, pp. 43–61.
street festival: Kobler, Capone, pp. 23–24.
U.S. census: 1900 U.S. census, State and City of New York, Kings County, Borough of Brooklyn Enumeration District 159; page 5A, lines 9–16.
May 25, 1906: Petition to Become a Citizen of the United States: County Court, Kings County, Brooklyn, vol. 331, p. 202.
New York City: Tomasi and Engel, The Italian Experience in the United States, pp. 138–141.
“The Italians are”: ibid., p. 167.
“They were a”: Mulvaney, “A Brooklyn Childhood,” The New Yorker, December 18, 1943.
“Hey, you long-legged”: Kobler, Capone, pp. 25–26.
“When Al Capone”: Pitaro interview.
“best and dearest”: Asbury, Gem of the Prairie, p. 321.
“As an organizer”: ibid., pp. 320–321.
simple test: Russo interview.
Paolo Antonini Vacarelli: Sifakis, Mafia Encyclopedia, p. 121; Kobler, Capone, pp. 31–33.
youth gangs: Author’s interview with William Balsamo.
Mafalda: State of Michigan Certificate of Death, #015597.
the eldest Capone boy: BP-RC; author’s interview with Harry Hart.
the only Capone to enter: Hart interview. Photograph in possession of Hart.
Capone family knew nothing: Pitaro interview.
gonorrhea: BP-RC.
On October 20, 1915: BP-RC; Ralph Capone’s Affidavit for License to Marry and Certificate and Record of Marriage: New York City Department of Records and Information Services, Municipal Archives.
three years working: BP-AC.
“something of a nonentity”: Fuchs, “Where Al Capone Grew Up,” New Republic, September 9, 1931.
“Let me say”: Sullivan, “I Know You, Al,” North American Review, September 1929.
Adonis Social Club: Kobler, Capone, p. 36.
infected early in his life: MC.
Estimates of syphilis: Author’s interview with Dr. Jack Shapiro; Kolmer, “A Social Menace,” Hygeia, June 1929.
Girolamo Fracastoro: Buret, Syphilis, vol. 1, p. 27.
“Know syphilis”: Briskman, “Syphilis—The Unfortunate Disease,” Hygeia, March 1931.
As he later told: MC.
“Frequently the initial”: Dattner, Thomas and Wexler, The Management of Neurosyphilis, p. 299.
“slicker had stopped in”: Sullivan, “I Know You, Al.”
His original name: Balsamo interview.
the ice route: Pilat and Ransom, Sodom by the Sea, pp. 273–274.
the laundry business: Kobler, Ardent Spirits, p. 263.
Established in 1916: Pilat and Ransom, Sodom by the Sea, pp. 274–278.
“Honey, you have”: Balsamo interview. Gallucio related this incident to Balsamo in 1959.
Salvatore Lucania: Balsamo and Carpozi, Under the Clock, pp. 255–256.
Hearing the story: Balsamo interview.
He told Capone: Balsamo interview; Kobler, Capone, p. 36.
Domenica: Author’s confidential interviews.
Carroll Street: Kobler, Capone, p. 36.
the Coughlins resided: 1900 U.S. Census, State and City of New York, Kings County, Borough of Brooklyn, Enumeration District 64, Sheet 4A, lines 40–44, Ward 6, Block B.
On January 28, 1894: Certificate of Marriage for Michael Coughlin and Bridget Gorman, Church of St. Anthony, #1340, vol. 7, p. 88.
On September 12: Registration Card for Alphonse Capone. Order number A2840. Local Board for Division #48, City of New York, State of N.Y. Brooklyn, Kings County, September 12, 1918.
“When deafness”: Dennie and Pakula, Congenital Syphilis, p. 370.
Even though Sonny’s: Dennie and Pakula, Congenital Syphilis, p. 363; Nelson, Textbook of Pediatrics, pp. 453–461.
On this document: New York State Department of Health, Marriage License, December 30, 1918, Kings County, Borough of Brooklyn: New York City Department of Records and Information Services, Chambers Street, New York.
“I have not”: ibid.
On December 30: Certificate of Marriage for
“Albert Capone” and “Mary Coughlin” [sic], St. Mary Star of the Sea Church, Brooklyn, N.Y.
“Evidently he was”: Author’s interview with Mike Aiello.
the census taker: 1920 U.S. Census for household of Gabriel Caponi [sic]. New York City, Borough of Brooklyn, Enumeration District 557, Sheet 6, Lines 28–33.
“chronic myocarditis”: Death Certificate of Gabriel Caponi [sic], November 14, 1920, State of New York, Department of Health of The City of New York, Bureau of Records, cert. #21742.
“He said that he was”: Aiello interview.
Chapter 2: Where the East Meets the West
In the spring: Hart interview.
tribute to his hero: ibid.
limited career opportunities: ibid.
“Hart pushed”: Reprinted in the Omaha World-Herald Magazine, October 7, 1951.
The Winches had arrived: Hart interview.
On his youngest son’s: Birth certificate of Richard Hart Jr. Nebraska State Department of Health, #18024. MM.
“Pictures of Hart’s raid”: Reprinted in the Omaha World-Herald Magazine, October 7, 1951.
“dim lights flitting”: Bridgeport News-Blade, n.d., in possession of Harry Hart.
“is becoming”: Reprinted in the Omaha World-Herald Magazine, October 7, 1951.
“I wish to commend”: letter in possession of Harry Hart.
“You’ve got”: Hart interview.
On the evening of October 23: Deposition of Walter Gumm, Logan Lambert, and Richard J. Hart, State of Nebraska vs. Richard J. Hart. MM. (Hereafter referred to as “Deposition”)
“We were satisfied”: ibid.
“Hart discharged”: ibid.
“determined the cause”: ibid.
“Hart and I”: ibid.
“Now the bootleggers”: Reprinted in the Omaha World-Herald Magazine, October 7, 1951.
“the officers accused”: Unidentified newspaper clipping headlined, “Slain Man’s Widow Sues,” MM.
“CORONER’S JURY”: Unidentified newspaper clipping. MM.
“This is not a question”: Harry L. Keefe to A. M. Smith, October 16, 1923. MM.
“guilty of careless indifference”: Mabel Walker Willebrandt to James C. Kinsler, April 19, 1924. MM.
“all the shooting”: James C. Kinsler to the Attorney General, Washington, D.C., April 23, 1924. MM.
Hog Butcher: Sandburg, Complete Poems, p. 3.
“This will be”: Rand McNally Guide to Chicago, p. 3.
And they tell: Sandburg, Complete Poems, p. 3.
In a city obsessed: Statistics for Chicago in the early 1920s come from the Rand McNally Guide to Chicago, passim.
“All the legal”: Rand McNally Guide to Chicago, p. 26.
“two-fisted”: St. John, This Was My World, p. 108.
“the most intense”: Gunther, Inside U.S.A., p. 370.
“Here in Boston”: St. John, This Was My World, p. 109.
H. G. Wells: Gunther, Inside U.S.A., pp. 369, 379.
Laughing the stormy: Sandburg, Complete Poems, p. 3.
“When I came”: Washington Herald, March 11, 1932.
“First in violence”: Steffens, The Shame of the Cities, pp. 234–235.
For many years Chicago: Landesco, Organized Crime in Chicago, pp. 2–4.
“conservative estimate”: Thrasher, The Gang, p. 5.
A racketeer may: Chicago Journal of Commerce, December 17, 1927, in Asbury, Gem of the Prairie, p. 365.
“Sexual commerce”: Wilson, Chicago, pp. 53–54.
Cadets’ Protective: Kobler, Capone, p. 43.
Michael “Hinky Dink” Kenna: Pasley, Al Capone, p. 13.
racketeers mingled: Lindberg, To Serve and Collect, pp. 156–157.
“Here they could”: Harrison, Stormy Years, p. 305.
On the last day: Burns, The One-Way Ride, pp. 13–18.
“The murder of James Colosimo”: Chicago Daily News, May 12, 1920, in Landesco, Organized Crime in Chicago, p. 36.
“Big Jim”: Burns, The One-Way Ride, p. 17.
A procession: Landesco, Organized Crime in Chicago, p. 191.
“It is a strange commentary”: Asbury, Gem of the Prairie, p. 316.
The list of suspects: Nelli, Italians in Chicago, pp. 150–151.
“So long, vampire”: Lindberg, To Serve and Collect, p. 159.
In February 1922: Balsamo and Carpozi, Under the Clock, pp. 114–123.
William H. Thompson Republican Club: Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 237.
“Modern crime”: Nelli, Italians in Chicago, p. 150.
organization was making: Wendt and Kogan, Big Bill of Chicago, p. 238.
“swarthy, heavy-set fellow”: Waller, Chicago Uncensored, pp. 67–68. Waller dates this incident to the summer of 1923, but by then Capone’s days as a lowly street hustler were behind him, and he was running Torrio’s vice empire. Thus, the incident probably occurred a year or more earlier.
Four Deuces: Asbury, Gem of the Prairie, p. 319.
“a colorless”: McPhaul, Johnny Torrio.
“They’re tortured”: Kobler, Capone, p. 67.
“ALPHONSE CAPONE”: Pasley, Al Capone, p. 19.
Each was devoted: Burns, The One-Way Ride, p. 37; Pasley, Al Capone, p. 70.
Jack Guzik: There is little agreement over how Jack Guzik spelled his name. The newspapers called him Jack, Jake, and Jacob, but he generally referred to himself as Jack. The spelling of his last name also varies; some popular versions are Cusick, Gusick, and Gusik.
The parents: 1900 U.S. Census, Illinois, vol. 45, ED 603, Sheet 20, Line 67 (311a Taylor, Chicago, Cook County).
precinct captain: CT, February 22, 1956.
“The Blue Goose”: Pre-Parole Investigation. NA-JG.
December 3, 1917: Chicago Crime Commission to United States Board of Parole, May 16, 1932. NA-JG.
In August 1922, while drunk: Lyle, The Dry and Lawless Years, p. 72.
“Alfred Caponi”: Pasley, Al Capone, p. 20.
“To this picnic”: Author’s interview with Rio Burke.
7244 South Prairie Avenue: Pasley, Al Capone, pp. 88–90.
Only Ralph: Hearings before the Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, pp. 1227, 1231.
The Capones soon became known: Pasley, Al Capone, pp. 88–90.
“This guerrilla war”: Kobler, Capone, p. 111.
Western Electric plant: St. John, This Was My World, p. 178; Mayer and Wade, Chicago, p. 250.
“whoopee’ spot”: BP-RC.
In his first: St. John, This Was My World, p. 172.
“I saw no harm”: Kobler, Capone, pp. 122–123.
It sheltered: Sifakis, The Mafia Encyclopedia, pp. 314–315.
complicated business: Landesco, Organized Crime in Chicago, p. 180.
“ ‘I’m going to Chicago’ ”: Pitaro interview.
“great respect”: Cohen and Nugent, Mickey Cohen, pp. 24–25.
“See, I was”: ibid.
“Are you crazy”: ibid., p. 29.
“You know, a ten-dollar”: ibid.
“they were just”: ibid.
Peter Aiello was coming: Aiello interview.
Robert St. John: Author’s interview with Robert St. John.
“I started the paper”: ibid.
“harassed my reporters”: ibid.
“Why don’t you”: St. John, This Was My World, p. 173.
Once the plan: ibid.
The experience: CT, April 2, 1924.
“Polling places”: ibid.
Edmund K. Jarecki: ibid.
“I noticed a neatly”: St. John, This Was My World, p. 179.
“They tell us”: ibid.
One of the policemen: Chicago Daily News, April 2, 1924.
“When we rolled”: St. John interview.
7,878 votes: CT, Chicago Daily News, April 2, 1924.
“When I could get”: St. John, This Was My World, p. 181.
“Practically all”: CT, April 3, 1924.
>
At the inquest Al testified: Chicago Daily News, April 2, 1924. In time, the circumstances of Frank Capone’s death became embellished with extravagant flourishes. According to Herbert Asbury’s Gem of the Prairie, Frank stood shoulder to shoulder with his brother Al and other Capone gunmen, exchanging shots with the police. After Frank fell, “Al Capone fled down Cicero Avenue, encountered another group of policemen, and with a gun blazing in each hand fought them off until darkness came to his aid and he escaped.” In fact, Al Capone did not fire on the police or anyone else that day, let alone with a “gun blazing in each hand.”
“GANGLAND BOWS”: Chicago Daily News, April 5, 1924.
“Dressed in their best”: CT, April 6, 1924.
“curious commingling”: ibid.
“He could twist”: Pasley, Al Capone, p. 45.
“Chicago’s arch-criminal”: Asbury, Gem of the Prairie, p. 341.
“was banked”: Kobler, Capone, p. 116.
“ground into powder”: Chicago Daily News, April 5, 1924.
“You people”: ibid.
“Scarface”: CT, April 5, 1924.
“Listen, you Dago pimp”: Lyle, The Dry and Lawless Years, p. 73; Chicago Daily News, December 23, 1930.
“I am certain”: Pasley, Al Capone, p. 27.
“stooping behind”: CT, May 9, 1924.
GUNMAN: ibid.
“hanging prosecutor”: Lyle, The Dry and Lawless Years, p. 73.
“I hear the police”: Pasley, Al Capone, p. 29.
“We, the jury”: ibid., p. 30.
Hawthorne Inn: Asbury, Gem of the Prairie, p. 335.
“Entrance was”: Pasley, Al Capone, pp. 62–63.
The liquor flowed: Kobler, Capone, p. 117.
The racketeers’ lingo: Asbury, Gem of the Prairie, p. 340; Pasley, Al Capone, p. 37.
Al’s real retreat: Author’s interview with Roy Kral. This building still stands, looking very much as it did in Capone’s day, as does the Anton, but the Hawthorne Inn has long since been torn down.
“perforated nasal septum”: U.S. Penitentiary, Alcatraz, California, Neuro-Psychiatric Examination, June 4, 1938. BP-AC.
“Ninety-nine percent”: St. John interview.
“One midnight”: St. John, This Was My World, p. 182.
“All were blasé”: ibid., p. 184.
The atmosphere: St. John interview.
“I had undertaken”: St. John, This Was My World, p. 184.