Al Capone
...arts. He joined a gang ran by Johnny Torrio in 1920 and moved with them to Chicago. Al was also good friends with the Colosimo mob and the two worked together on business ventures that included bootlegging and home-brewing beer. Torrio was shot in a gang fight in the mid 20’s and Capone became the leader of the gang. He was fierce and aggressive; anyone who got in his way was killed. The Chicago suburb of Cicero was known as Capone’s territory. The most interesting move Capone’s gang pulled was one that ended up beginning the end for him. On Valentine’s Day in 1929 Capone’s gang posed as cops. They acted as if they were going to search the Moran mob and then pulled out their guns and started firing. Capone wasn’t charged because he was in Florida at the time but failed to show up for a subpoena claiming he was sick when he was really vacationing. He was arrested for that and then arrested later for carrying a weapon. It all went down from there. Al Capone loved bragging to the press; in the end, he turned himself in by doing it. So when he was in jail for his concealed weapon the government investigated his finances and arrested him on tax evasion and prohibition charges. Capone was sentenced to eleven years in prison. When in prison, Capone developed syphilis that led to paresis. He was released after serving seven and a half years and immediately started undergoing brain treatment. Capone still ran his business most of the time he was in prison, which is pretty amazing considering he was committing the same crime he was in prison for from prison. After he was released he had to retire, mostly due to the fact that his brain had deteriorated to the level of a tw...