◆ SpookStack

Nay, SUA ; ©. america's Public Enemy No. 1, th Gangster Rulé oS Tre composite portrait is that - | by Bribery and Gun “Tt am getting too prominent for hi in good.”—Al Capone, Dec. 16, , me alone.”—Al Capone, Jan. 24, 1927. EHOLD Alphonse Capone at the height of his arrogant power; any time between late 1926 and mid-May of teas, A grosa man, fat, with thick lipf] da scar on one cheek. A pow, erful man, Immune to the penalties, ef the law that applied to lessey mortals. When he went abroad it was in an armored car that weighed seven tons, Picture this strong man in his fortresses—the Hawthorne hotel in Cleero, with the metal shutters im- pervious to bullets; or the Lexington hotel in Chicago, where he and his followers heid whole floors at a time: or on his feaside estate outside Miami. No policemen ever raided these places. They knew that raids would be futlle gestures. The courts would net held Alphonse Capone to ac count. Picture Capone the shaking hands with judges, call- qing assistant state’s attorneys his ‘friends, telling representatives ithe state capitol and aidermeh itm the city council (whom he ha set In their places) how he wontdj them to vote. the Metropole | politician, | ‘symbol of all the crime the prohibl- tion era produced; of a man abovs the law: a man who feared nothinjt —=#xcept publicity. he os The Capone power had ripened in obscurity. Already It has been related how he came to be the partner of John 'Torrio in a business which in 1924 ‘controled bootlegging on the south “Iam not im any rackets; I° am an honest real estate dealer. | 1 wish the newspapers would leave’ side, owned a chain of brothels in a crescent of west and southwest suburbs, and operated dozens of , gambiing hells. Early in 1924 in front of his home at 7104 Clyde avenue a spray of bullets was directed at Torrico. One leaden pellet passed through his lower jaw. It shattered his courage as well as the jawbone. When he racov ered he wanted no more of the fame. He retired and his manile vif upon Capone, That rising young executive alse vas the target of the men whb eliminated Torrico. They poured a withering rain of bullets upon his automobile as it stood In the street, and Capone escaped only because fortune had decreed that he should be at the moment in a restaurant nearby. Promptly he bought the bulletproof car and strengthened his force of guards. He obtained the absolute lovaity of those guards by making it more profitable for them to be his men | than to be anybody else's. The sal- e100 wand * aryv'was $100 a Week. Also Capone clothed them, fed them, and gave parties for thelr amusement. He asserted that it cost him $3,500 a week for his personal protection. A In 1924 the Torrio-Capone organi- zation dominated only the southr jeide and the suburbs it hed taken over. North side bootlegging was ‘Sn the hands of a ,ang of tough men headed by George (Bugs? Moran and Dean O'Banion. On the People. {Peon wrest side was another gang, of (Sicilian origin, headed by the six ‘Genne brothers. These Gennas were important They invented a new tech: nique in the manufacture of alley hol, They put it in the home, Hundreds of their fellow country: men, each In his own little house, cooked alky. The Genna organiza- tion collected each cocker’s output @aily and paid cash for the work. [Capone i in a bathing suit in Flor; Ida, one of his alibi costumes. — er ye Jb Foe 2: *