The "public enemy number one", as he was defined by the American press, the most famous mafioso in history, a symbol of Italian-American gangsters, was eventually framed for a "trivial" tax evasion. It happened today, 88 years ago: on October 17, 1931, a popular jury convicted Al Capone of tax evasion (actually accepting only part of the charges) and sentenced him to eleven years in prison and a heavy fine of $50.000.
That day therefore began the descending parable of a character who has become legendary: at the age of just 32 Capone thus ended up in prison, first in the penitentiary of Atlanta, Georgia, where he received favorable treatment and was able to continue in part to follow his own interests; then, from 1934, the boss born in 1899 in Brooklyn from a family of immigrants originally from Castellammare di Stabia he was transferred to the new and dreaded Alcatraz prison, where he received harsher treatment, and all contacts with the outside world were thus cut off.
In 1938, doctors diagnosed Al Capone with a form of syphilis, contracted at a young age, and had him admitted to the hospital section of Alcatraz, where he spent the whole year. Finally, in November 1939, Capone returned to freedom, after that his sentence had been reduced to six years and five months for good behavior and prison work credits. But by now his health conditions were compromised and he died a few years later, in 1947 in Miami, at the age of only 48.
Capone entered the world of crime at a very young age, having dropped out of school at the age of eleven. As a boy he made his debut as a bouncer and bartender and it is there that he is given the nickname of Scarface, the nickname that in 1983 it will inspire a successful film with Al Pacino that recalls the figure albeit through the fictitious Tony Montana, a Cuban immigrant. The story of the Italian-American boss has also inspired other films, including The Untouchables - The Untouchables, focused on the work of the federal agents who managed to neutralize him. From 2010 to 2014 he was played by English actor Stephen Graham in the television series Boardwalk Empire, produced by Martin Scorsese.
Although he had been included in the FBI's list of dangerous criminals for some time, to frame him it was precisely necessary to examine all the financial transactions of Capone's associates, including those which later proved to be decisive on the alcohol trafficking, which at the time was prohibited under the Volstead Act, the prohibition law. On October 6, 1931, Capone appeared in federal court for the start of his trial; his associates had obtained the list of potential jurors and began to bribe them by any means possible, but at the last moment the jury was replaced by an entirely new one, who was placed under protection. This jury convicted him on October 17th 88 years ago.
