A Brief Look at Alphone Capone - 814 Words

BACKGROUND INFORMATION Alphonse Capone was born January 17, 1899 in Brooklyn, New York. He was Gabriel and Teresa Capone’s, fourth of nine children; his parents were Italian immigrants. At the age of 14 Capone was expelled from school for assaulting a female teacher. Capone then started working for Johnny Torrio as a bouncer at one of his brothels; this is when Capone really began to get exposed to the mobster life. He was exposed to the mobster life because Johnny Torrio was one of Brooklyn’s most notorious mobsters. (Gottesman Brown) Not too long after working as a bouncer, Al took a blade to the face and that’s how he got the nickname â€Å"Scarface†. He was soon welcomed into the Five Points Gang where he partook in burglary, prostitution, long-sharking, and extortion. (Dictionary of American Biography) In late 1919- early 1920’s, Torrio moved to Chicago to partner up with mobster, Jim Colosimo and took young Al Capone with him (he was about 20-21). Capone was now a part of the â€Å"Outfit†; a mobster organization that was ran by Jim Colosimo (Gottesman Brown); he was in complete control of the prostitution trade and a restaurant in Chicago (Dictionary of American Biography). Torrio was in charge of the resorts in Stickney and Burnham, Chicago; a â€Å"working class suburb†. During the 1920’s, the prohibition act took place, prohibiting the sell and consumption of alcohol. (Dictionary of American Biography) People were demanding alcohol, Torrio and Capone saw it as an opportunity