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4 ‘poundea:*Belore “PURE aus Be= Ne ame boone ons S=capone- seh ased a organized, or even started, the _ ttfee men In the room at 740 North Sipte street had fled. few days Jater Al Capone called Chief of Police Morgan Collins. “IT hear that people are saying Capone killed Weiss,” he stated. “I did not. I am sorry he’s dead. When he was shot I was out of town, But if you want me to come in for ques- tioning, I will be glad to do it.” Chief Collins told him not to come. “What was the use?” he asked later. “Capone had his alibi perfected. It brasil isa good In April, 1927, Assistant State's Attorney William MecSwiggin, youth- ful son of a policeman and a prod-_ uct of the west side, where he be- came acquainted with many of the youngsters who later were impor- tant cogs in the gangland machines, was slain in Cicero, With him died two gangsters who had opposed Capone r There were unofficial assertions that Capone had ordered the triple murder. These at length reached his ears. fN“That js absurd,” he averred. “Billy McSwiggin was my good ipiend. I am sorry he is dead. And y was in Florida when he was bumped off." The police. again, did not question Capone, What was the use? In Mas of that year Commander Francesco de Pinedo, Premier Mus- solini's around the world fiyer, set hig Marchetti hydroplane down in the lake off Grant park, On @ mil: lionaire’s. yacht was a_ reception committee, With judges and other officials stood Al Capone. He was now quite definitly the first of the public enemies, A re porter wanted to know why he had been invited to welcome the distin: guished visitor. “It's this way,” was the reply. “We heard that there might be an anti-Fascist demonstration. If any- thing like that was planned,.Capone would be more effective in squetch- ing it than a hundred policemen.” Such appearances were ill-advised, In general, Capone realized this, and while he was often seen in pub- lic gatherings — particularly prize fights and baseball games—he never again took part in a public func- tion, He would have preferred the darkness. But he had grown so great that he could no longer re- rin out of print. And he had felt } the lash of publicity as early as De- ciimber, 1926, two months after the U Weiss killing. "With his entourage he went to California for a vacation, An as identity of guarantee his “privacy. Attempts were made to interview him in the hotel. These were unsuc- cessful, but the news that s0 no- torlous a person was in their midst caused the Californians to cry loud- ly for his ousting, The perspiring management of the hotel, hearing this public clamor, at length re- quested that Capone surrender his accommodations. This s0 irritated the Big Fellow (this was the name his henchmen used in referring to him) that he really did grant an interview. “T wouldn't stay in any town that didn’t. want me,” he declared. “I'll go back ta my own city. And I'm going because I want to go. The hotel didn’t ask me to leave, either,” Returning to Chicago, he made the experiment of organizing him- self into a minister of propaganda, He attempted, rather clumsily, to give the news about Capone a fa- vorable twist, With his omnipresent guards care- fully concealed, he received a re- porter in the hallway of his nomi nal home at 7244 Prairie avenue. He was a strange appearing Capone, Over his underwear he wore a long pink apron, He had on carpet slip- pers and he held, in‘one diamonded hand, a pan of spaghetti richly drowned in sauce, “Come in and have a Hille of this spaghet I cooked myself,” he urged. “Let's quit talking about bootleg- ging and such things. Positively I have retired. I am a plain business man, and all I ask is that the news- papers Jet me alone.” It was not a convincing picture and the reporter wrote it for what it was, @ half comic interlude intended to deceive, When he first went to Miami, with a huge roll of thousand dollar bills in his pockets, there was a storm of criticism. For a time it appeared that his fortune was so tainted that he wouldn't be allowed to spend it. Hardened now in such matters, the Big Fellow called on the chief of police. “Let's lay the cards on the table,” he said. “I am here to enjoy my- self. I am not a criminal and I have never been in jail for anything. Against me there is nothing but gos- sip. Does Miami want me as a vis. itor who'll mind his own business and spend his money, or do I have to appeal to the courts for my con- stitutional rights.” The authorities withheld their de- cision for a little while. Then they said there was no law that could keep him out. Further. which they didn't mention, the real estate mar- ket was not exactly beoming, and there were many honest real estate men seeking buyco—— plendia walled estate on Patt Island. It e- came a center for gay parties, and the Big Fellow's parties outsho: thore of many a winter colonist ancient wealth igh social pa. sition, He kept his pledge to let Florida alone and the only com- Plaint about his menage was that it looked funny to have armed sem tinels on guard around the house, oe ‘Thus we find Capone nearing the height of his power. Bootlegging, brothels, gambling paid their trib- utes on a acale more than county-wide—and the county held more than four million per- sons. Local governments could not touch him. Enough, It would seem, for any man. He had, and spent, a million a year. Yet it was not enough for Capone. Like a good many others, he dreamed of dominating Chicago's labor organizations with strong arm methods, His first chance to break into that field came almost by accident. Mor- ris Becker, who conducted several dry cleaning establishments, began having trouble with rivals and with employes, There was a rumor that he had formed @ partnership with Capone, and Becked confirmed ig “That's right,” he said, “I don't need the police to help any more. I have tne best protection in the world now.” By this time the Capone methods and resources were too well known for any one to doubt that he would soon try to dominate unions. George (Red) Barker, an ex-con- vict, and Murray Humphreys set out on the work, With unerring instinct Capone ordered them to attack the teamsters’ and chauffeurs’ organiza- tions, They got results. How Barker seized the coa} teamsters’ union was told later by an official he ousted. “Lefty Flynn was our chief in 1928," said this informant. “Like me, he had come up from the ranks. He knew the game and was useful ,to the union. But he was not a gun- man and he was 60 years old. Barker set out on a systematic course of terrorism, “First he tried to kidnap Flynn's children. ‘That failed, Flynn took his family to a summer home in| Wisconsin. Barker followed him there and shot him. ‘If you ever! come back to Chicago you'll be killed’ he told the wounded man, “and so will your whole family.) | Barker appeared at the nekt union meeting With a bunch of {41- lows carrying shotguns, ‘Whefe does the business agent sit?’ he h-) quired. Somebody showed him. ‘That's my place,’ he said. ‘Front now on I'm boss here.'” ir) ‘S) Go