“You can go a long way with a smile. You can go a lot further with a smile and a gun.”-Al Capone. The 1920’s was a time of crime and rebellion introduced to America through the work of Al Capone and his mafia, the prohibition movement, and the creation of Speakeasies. Al Capone was born on January 17 1899 in New York to his parents who moved to New York from Italy. He grew up in the slums near the Navy Yard, surrounded by bars and sailors who sought vice. “The family was a regular, law abiding, albeit noisy Italian-American clan and there were few indications that the young Al Capone would venture into a world of crime and become public enemy number one”(Biography 4). But it was Capone's schooling, both insufficient and brutal at a Catholic
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“In 1923, when Chicago elected a reformist mayor who announced that he planned to rid the city of corruption, Torrio and Capone moved their base beyond the city limits to suburban Cicero”(History 9). But election issues followed them and their operations to Cicero. “To ensure they could continue doing business, Torrio and Capone initiated an intimidation effort on the day of the election, March 31, 1924, to guarantee their candidate would get elected(History 9). “Some voters were even shot and killed”(History 9). One year later, in 1925 ,Torrio retired. Capone became crime czar of Chicago, running gambling, prostitution, and bootlegging rackets and expanding his territories by the gunning down of rivals and rival gangs”(Biography 6). He felt Capone was more than capable of running the business they had created. “From there, Al began living a luxurious and public lifestyle, spending money lavishly, although always in cash to avoid a trial”(History 10). “Newspapers of the time estimated Capone’s operations generated $100 million in revenue annually”(History 10). ‘As his popularity grew with his business, so did his reputation for being brutally violent. In 1926, when two of Capone’s sworn enemies were spotted in Cicero, Capone ordered his men to gun them down”(History 12). “Unbeknownst to Capone, William McSwiggin, known as the ‘Hanging Prosecutor,’ who had tried to prosecute him for a previous murder, was
“In 1923, when Chicago elected a reformist mayor who announced that he planned to rid the city of corruption, Torrio and Capone moved their base beyond the city limits to suburban Cicero”(History 9). But election issues followed them and their operations to Cicero. “To ensure they could continue doing business, Torrio and Capone initiated an intimidation effort on the day of the election, March 31, 1924, to guarantee their candidate would get elected(History 9). “Some voters were even shot and killed”(History 9). One year later, in 1925 ,Torrio retired. Capone became crime czar of Chicago, running gambling, prostitution, and bootlegging rackets and expanding his territories by the gunning down of rivals and rival gangs”(Biography 6). He felt Capone was more than capable of running the business they had created. “From there, Al began living a luxurious and public lifestyle, spending money lavishly, although always in cash to avoid a trial”(History 10). “Newspapers of the time estimated Capone’s operations generated $100 million in revenue annually”(History 10). ‘As his popularity grew with his business, so did his reputation for being brutally violent. In 1926, when two of Capone’s sworn enemies were spotted in Cicero, Capone ordered his men to gun them down”(History 12). “Unbeknownst to Capone, William McSwiggin, known as the ‘Hanging Prosecutor,’ who had tried to prosecute him for a previous murder, was