Al Capone and Probation Essay -- essays research papers

Al Capone is the single greatest symbol of collapse of law and order in the United States during the Prohibition Era. The act of Prohibition brought power to Al Capone, which he used to expand his organized crime activities into a stranglehold over the city of Chicago. Liquor trade became very profitable during Prohibition, and the struggle for control over the bootleg empire erupted into a full-scale war between rival gangs in Chicago. Capone gradually came to symbolize all the criminal evils of prohibition; to many throughout the world, he became the symbol of a lawless nation#. Publicity grew around the actions of Capone, with accounts of his sordid activities published in newspapers along with his image of power, money, and wickedness#. Using the funds that he had collected from his bootlegging operations, Capone ensured that friends were elected to certain political positions, which in turn, amplified his control over Chicago#.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Alphonsus Capone was born on January 17, 1899 in Brooklyn, New York. Capone quit school in the sixth grade at age fourteen. He became part of the notorious Five Points gang in Manhattan and worked in gangster Frankie Yale’s Harvard Inn as a bouncer and bartender. While in New York Capone murdered two men and hospitalized a rival gang member, however he was tried for his crimes. With a reputation for a willingness to kill, Yale sent Capone to Chicago to work as a bodyguard.#   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Capone arrived in Chicago in 1919 and started to work for head mobster John Torrio.# Soon he was helping Torrio manage his bootlegging business and increasing the territory of gang control. Capone eventually became Torrio’s full partner in saloons, gambling houses, brothels, nightclubs, distilleries and breweries and earned a reported income of $30,000,000 a year from liquor alone#. Capone expanded his control into the suburbs to the extend that some places became known as â€Å"Caponeville.†# When Torrio was shot by rival gang members and consequently decided to leave Chicago and the â€Å"outfit†, he reportedly told Capone, â€Å"It’s all yours, Al.† #   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Prohibition did not create organized crime#. However, it did create a new opportunity for lawbreakers and for the spread of criminal activity. It allowed Capone to expand his force and gain incredible power over the city of Chicago. P... ...ion for the years 1925-1929 and for failing to file tax returns for the years 1928 and 1929. The Department of Justice also charged him with conspiracy to violate Prohibition laws from 1922-1931.# Although Capone had his lawyers offer to settle his tax claims for four million dollars, the Treasury Department was not willing to make any deals. Found guilty on several accounts, Capone was sentenced to eleven years in federal prison. After his release, Capone’s health deteriorated rapidly and he was forced to withdraw from the outfit. In 1947, at the age of forty-eight Al Capone died of health complications.#   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Through his organized crime activities, Al Capone seized the opportunity that the Prohibition Act created in the 1920s. By exploiting the demand for liquor created by Prohibition, his bootlegging activities helped to fund and expand his organized crime empire#. Al Capone has aroused the nation against prohibition’s gangs and developed a deep as lasting revulsion among the people. Brought to power by prohibition, Al Capone clearly demonstrated to America the evils of organized crime.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚