Al Capone: a Biography of a Notorious Gangster

With his record of bloodshed and death, Al Capone may be considered to be the most notorious gangster in American history. His crimes--which include murder, illegal gambling, and bootlegging--will never be ignored and his death will surely leave a lasting legacy(pbs). Arriving as a child to the United States in 1894, his family and him made resident in Brooklyn, New York.(umich). As a teenager, he did errands for the gangster Johnny Torrio(umich). He was eventually in a bar fight and received three slashes across the face(umich). These eventually led to his nickname “Scarface”(umich). Eventually when Capone was older, he moved to Chicago and then to Cicero to continue working with Torrio(umich). After Torrio was arrested, Capone became in charge of his territory, and began his history of crimes(umich). One of his most infamous crimes is the St. Valentine's Day massacre, in which several rival gangsters were murdered brutally by his henchmen who were dressed up as policemen and made it seem like it was a raid.(pbs). However the murder was never officially pinned on Al because he was not in the city where the murder took, as it was in Chicago and he was currently in Miami(pbs). He went to jail several times for multiple of reasons but on October 1931, he was sentenced 11 years in prison for tax evasion(pbs). Capone only served six of those years,as his sentence was shortened for good behavior(pbs). After he was freed, Capone went and stayed in Miami(pbs). His health up to that point was in a steep decline because of a case of Syphilis he had received in his teenage years(pbs). On January 25,1947, Al Capone died of a cardiac arrest at age 48(pbs).

Even after his death, it's sure that Al Capone will leave a lasting legacy in the history of the United States. His murders and his crimes will never be ignored. He could potentially be the deadliest gangster to live in the United States,and he could potentially be the most infamous bootlegger. The 18th amendment that place a ban on alcohol only led to more business opportunities for Capone(American History).This ban caused many bars and saloons to close. Thus, any location or person that sold alcohol to become very profitable. Al saw this as a business opportunity and had opened up multiple speakeasies,which were essentially secret bars(American History). Plus, his location at Chicago only gave him more of an advantage than other bootleggers(American History). His organization was one of the largest organization and one that held a lot of influence on bootlegging(American History). However, Al Capone did do things that could be considered unexpected. Capone had opened up a soup kitchen in Chicago, which was one of the first soup kitchen there(American History). And according to those who had ate there, he had done more for them than any other relief effort(American History). In all, Al capone is sure to leave a lasting legacy that won't be diminishing anytime soon and his presence in the 20’s will sure to be remembered.