Alphonse “Al” Capone was one of history’s most notorious gangsters. Born in 1899 in Brooklyn, N.Y., he started his criminal career early, joining a street gang as a teen after quitting school in sixth grade. In 1918, while working as a bouncer, he was slashed in the face after insulting a woman, earning him the nickname “Scarface,” which he intensely disliked.
In the early years of Prohibition, Capone moved to Chicago, and by the late 1920s, he had built a criminal empire raking in over $100 million a year thanks to his control of illegal alcohol, prostitution and gambling. The charismatic Capone enjoyed his time in the spotlight. But he was ruthless and violent and had no qualms about eliminating potential rivals. He was linked to a number of crimes, including the deadly St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929, though he was never charged.
In fact, Capone managed to evade serious repercussions for his crimes. It wasn’t murder or racketeering that eventually brought him down. Instead, the federal government decided to use a new approach to prosecuting organized crime. In 1931, Capone was convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to 11 years in federal prison.
Al Capone’s Years as Inmate No. 85
Capone was at the top of his game when he was arrested, but his time in prison marked the start of a steady and humiliating decline.
He was initially sent to the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, where he tried to maintain his control over his criminal empire. He used his ill-gotten gains to bribe guards and fund special meals and favors. When officials got wind, they quickly stepped in, and in 1934, Capone was transferred to the newly opened maximum security prison in San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz.
With new strict procedures in place, Capone was simply one among many of the prison's infamous inmates, including fellow gangsters George “Machine Gun” Kelly and Arthur “Doc” Barker. As Inmate No. 85, he had little contact with the outside world and worked alongside other prisoners, spending hours in the prison’s laundry. He also joined the prison band, The Rock Islanders, where he played banjo.
It was while he was in Alcatraz that Capone’s health began to rapidly decline. He’d contracted syphilis years earlier, and by the mid-1930s, the disease entered its final stages. Capone showed signs of memory loss and confusion. Already a volatile personality, he now suffered severe mood swings and was increasingly erratic. He began talking to himself and spent hours isolated alone in his cell. Soon, he was unable to continue working in the laundry or perform any physical labor.
In February 1938, prison doctors formally diagnosed Capone with syphilis of the brain and declared him mentally unfit. His wife Mae stepped in, petitioning the prison’s warden to release her husband early. In November 1939, he was released from “The Rock" to a mental hospital after having served a little over seven years of his 11-year sentence.
The Decline of “Public Enemy No. 1”
Capone eventually moved to a house in Palm Island, Fla., which he had purchased during the peak of his criminal career. But he returned there, unable to even care for himself. Capone’s family was forced to tend to him as he slipped further and further into obscurity. His life was filled with family members and medical staff who tried to protect his deteriorating state from becoming public.
He wandered the property in a dazed state, having conversations with imaginary figures. Where he’d once dressed the part of a powerful gangster with a special flair for fashion, he now dressed simply as he spent his days fishing or meeting with visiting friends.
In late January 1947, Capone suffered a stroke. On January 25, he died from cardiac arrest at the age of 48. Surrounded by family, he passed quietly, his end a far cry from the violent chaos that had defined much of his life. Syphilis had so ravaged his brain that doctors estimated it had weakened his cognitive skills to those of a 12-year-old at the time of his death.
Although Capone’s final years were marked by a tragic and public unraveling, his legacy as one of the most infamous crime figures remains.. His story has been told and retold in books, documentaries and films offering a dramatic tale of power, corruption and decay, including 1932’s Scarface, starring Paul Muni in a role inspired by Capone, 1967’s The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and most famously, The Untouchables, the 1987 movie starring Robert DeNiro.
