How Did Al Capone's Actions Affect Society

With famous attacks and events such as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, and the national publicized persecution of Al Capone, his actions affected those all across America of the time. This momentous event, which featured Al Capone and his gang members masquerading as police officers and murdering seven people of an opposing gang in cold blood, sparked national press and infamy for Capone (Accettola 5). Capone quickly became Public Enemy #1 on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s list of criminals, leading to an exceptionally publicized search across the country. The FBI became involved with the serious crimes mobsters were committing, even though they had turned a blind eye multiple times in the past, leading to growing concern from the public. Capone’s actions sparked a sense of danger among the public which led to their call for his persecution. Had Capone stayed in the shadows, he could have continued to spread his organization across the entirety of the country. …show more content…
He was murdered while investigating early happenings of organized crime while in Palermo, Italy. As the first police officer to be involved in an organized crime killing and the first to be killed in a foreign country, Petrosino became a staple of the fight righteous police officers took against the gangs and mobsters (“CREAM OF THE COPS”). The film that depicts Petrosino’s murder sparked public interest and worked as propaganda against the actions of the mobsters by showing the life and story of their first victim (The Adventures of Lieutenant Petrosino). Petrosino became an icon as the ideal of a police officer and then later as a man. He was used in order to convince the people, especially of New York City, that organized crime was something to be stopped, not simply ignored. Petrosino was used as a martyr in the fight against the