There Al met Johnny Torrio who would play a huge role in his future. Torrio got Capone a lot of jobs in New York and other places. One of the earliest was what provided him his nickname. Al was working a the Harvard Inn when he insulted a women a the bar. Her brother happened to be there and slashed Capone three times with a knife, the press would later dub him Scarface. Also inmates of his have been known to call him Snorky. In 1919 Capone joined Torrio in Chicago and was assigned to low level chores. What Torrio had in mind took place May 11th when someone killed Big Jim Colosimo. Johnny Torrio now became top dog and names Al Capone his right hand man. Capone would specialize in bootlegging and their attendant homicides.
Their were a lot of different gangs they had as competition ,like in the North side the Irish and Polish mob ran by Dion O'Bannion. Torrio tried to give everyone different areas but Capone was always trespassing. In November 1924 three of his men shot O'Bannion dead in his floral shop. They got revenge by shooting Johnny five times. He survived but handed the reins to Capone. After this O'Bannion's successor, Hymie Weiss wanted Capone dead. | Al Capone was one of the most famous people in the 1920s. Born in Brooklyn, New York on January 17, 1899 Capone was son of a barber and a seamstress. . When 14 years old he quit school after he had knocked down a female teacher and then was beaten by the principal.
Already part of street brawls, at age 11 he had joined his first gang, Bim booms, which Lucky Luciano was also a member of. Both of the boys moved on to become Five Pointers.
Capone's home in Chicago (top) & the St. Valentines Day Massacre (bottom) |
In September 1926 while Capone was in Hawthorne Coffee Shope next to his head quarters in Cicero, Weiss sent 10 cars and had each stop outside. They all emptied their guns, more then 5,000 bullets were fired, Capone went unhurt but was rattled. Before the end of the year Hymie Weiss was gunned down. One Al Capone's most famous killing was the St. Valentines Massacre.
On February 14, 1929 5 Capone goons, 3 disguised as cops entered a garage on North Clark.
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They lined up seven of Bugs Moran's men and machine gunned them to death. Bugs was suppose to be there but was running late. Scarface said that he was in Florida in the time of the Massacre. The Valentines Massacre spurred President Hoover to order a get-tough edition crime, specifically for Capone. Capone never paid income tax which is what the IRS nailed him for.