The Greatest Criminal In History Sold Something That Is Completely Legal today

Al Capone also known as Scarface is considered to be the greatest criminal of all time. He got the nickname “Scarface” due to the 3 scars he had on his face.

Al Capone was born in 1899 in an Italian immigrant family in Brooklyn.

When he was 14 years old, he quit school after he got expelled for slapping a teacher in the face.

He joined Johnny Torio’s notorious street gang at the age of 14. In 1920, Torio invited him to move to Chicago to join the Colosimo mob. This gang specialized in brewing, distilling, and distributing liquor and alcohol.

Alcohol

In 1920, alcohol was made illegal to reduce crime and corruption, solve social problems, reduce the tax burden created by prisons and poorhouses, and improve health and hygiene in America.

Nevertheless, the law failed tremendously. Even crime increased since there were organized mobs selling alcohol. In 1933, the law got canceled.

Back to Al Capone

After having established a decent reputation, Torio killed Big Jim Colosimo, the former leader of the gang, and Torio became the new leader.

In 1925, Al Capone became the leader of the gang since Torio had been seriously wounded in an assassination attempt, surrendered control, and retired to Brooklyn. He renamed the gang “Bad Blood”.

Valentine

Al Capone is most famous crime by far was the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. The massacre occured on the 14th of February 1929.

In Chicago, there were two main gangs. George Moran ran the Irish mob on the north side and Al Capone ran the “Bad Blood” gang on the south side.

Al Capone wanted to end the competition. Seven men of Moran’s gang met up with a bootlegger on North Clark Street to buy some whiskey. Minutes after they had arrived, five other men (dressed up as police officers) sent by Al Capone entered the garage.

Al Capone’s hitmen shot all seven of Moran’s men with a total of 70 bullets. This was the end of Moran’s gang. Nobody was ever arrested for the crime, and no one could prove Al Capone was behind the murders since he was in Florida.

The end

For many years, Al Capone could commit his crimes without being prosecuted. He bribed politicians, judges, and police officers and nobody dared to testify against him.

He did get arrested a couple of times, but often agreed on a deal with the police which would send him to prison for less than a year.

Meanwhile, the IRS and FBI were gathering evidence of tax evasion for Al Capone and his brothers.

Al Capone expected the trial to go as planned since he had bribed the entire jury. But just before the trial started, the jury was swapped. The jury convicted him of fraud.

The penalties weren’t mild, he got sent to prison for 11 years, fined $50.000, charged $7.600 for court costs, and in addition he got charged $215.000 for tax evasion plus interest.

The release

After having served 7 years, 6 months, and 15 days in prison, and having paid all fines and all charges, he received his freedom back. He was actually released early because of his health.

He suffered from paresis derived from syphilis. Immediately after he was released from prison, he went to the Baltimore hospital for brain treatment.

In 1946, both his physician and Baltimore’s psychiatrist concluded he then had the mental age of a 12-year-old. He died 1 year later in his Florida mansion.

Final Thoughts

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