EP11 Murder, Moonshine & Tax Fraud

Welcome to Girls Just Wanna Get Haunted!

This week we're tackling one of the most infamous names in true crime history: Al Capone. From bootlegging and brothels to shootouts, tax evasion, and enough rumors to fill a speakeasy, we're separating fact from fiction while probably getting distracted along the way. We'll cover the rise of Chicago's most notorious gangster, the wild stories surrounding his empire. So grab a drink, hide your moonshine, and join us as we ask the important questions... like how did this man survive so many assassination attempts only to be taken down by paperwork? 

RESEARCH RABIT HOLES WE FELL DOWN...

• Mobsters and Gangsters: Organized Crime in America, from Al Capone to Tony Soprano – Life Books
• Al Capone: A Life from Beginning to End (Biographies of Criminals) – Hourly History 
•  History.com – Saint Valentine's Day Massacre
   https://www.history.com/articles/saint-valentines-day-massacre
•  FBI – History of the FBI
   https://www.fbi.gov/history/history-of-the-fbi
•  Smithsonian Magazine – Seeking the Humanity of Al Capone
  https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/seeking-humanity-al-capone-180960880/

Outro Music shoutout to Geoff Harvey - Pixabay

Transcript

Lacey 0:56

Your own new intro song?

Jasmine 0:58

Yeah. It sounds just like the old intro song, but really bad.

Lacey 1:03

I at least figured out what it was. I knew it was our intro

Jasmine 1:12

And sometimes that just gets stuck in my head

Lacey 1:16

Honestly, never for me

Jasmine 1:17

It sounds like it needs to. Well, I also listen to it a lot more than you because I edit everything

Lacey 1:24

Yeah, and your point?

Jasmine 1:26

Well, it doesn't mean I hear it a lot more than you. Makes sense. Boo, ba-doo, ba-doo, ba-doo, ba-doo. I

Lacey 1:34

hear it when I listen to our

Jasmine 1:35

episodes. Oh, man, I was trying to show someone at work something yesterday. Uh, well, well, hey, if anyone wants to listen to us on YouTube, we now have a YouTube at Girls Just Wanna Get Haunted, where you can listen to the pod appic- appit- eh, eh, eh- Episodes on YouTube Music. Um-

Lacey 2:03

As requested

Jasmine 2:04

yeah, a few people have asked for that to happen. But I was trying to show a coworker the little, uh, graphic I made for an episode, and, um, I don't know if it was our intro or if the episode started playing from, like, where I left off, but all I heard was my voice, and I went, "Ew, no, no, no." "Not in front of people. Not in front of people." No. And they were just like, "If it makes you feel any better, that's just what you sound like to us." And I was like, "No, no, it's not right. It's not right."

Lacey 2:40

I mean, other people do hear you- more than you hear yourself, obviously. God,

Jasmine 2:46

it was so cringey. I couldn't. Hated it.

Lacey 2:51

You just open your phone and your voice starts to play, and they're like, "What you listening to there, bud?"

Jasmine 2:58

Me. Myself.

Lacey 3:01

It's soothing. It brings me joy.

Jasmine 3:03

It doesn't. It makes me go,

Lacey 3:06

Please stop talking." I know I need to learn how to edit. It would be super helpful, I think. But, like, the thinking of listening to my voice, like especially over and over as I edit-

Jasmine 3:19

It's a little rough.

Lacey 3:20

I- Listening to my voice? Listening to my voice.

Jasmine 3:25

They're like,

Lacey 3:25

Yeah, your voice kinda sucks."

Jasmine 3:27

Yeah, your voice sucks. That's why I replaced you with Jessica.

Lacey 3:31

Cause I'm gonna stop telling you things- and I'm moving back to Pennsylvania.

Jasmine 3:38

What's, what's haunting you today, Lacey?

Lacey 3:41

Well, I have a whole list. Is it me? But today, yes, it's you. I had a dream that I, like, got in the car and we're gonna go work on the podcast, and Jess is like, "Actually, I replaced you with our other friend." And she laughed, and I'm, like, almost in tears, like, "This is the worst dream ever."

Jasmine 4:01

Hey, I didn't do that, so.

Lacey 4:02

Not yet. Now that I gave you the idea, you might.

Jasmine 4:05

Yeah, no, I keep saying, "If you keep it up, I'm gonna replace you with Jessica."

Lacey 4:10

And I just keep threatening to move away.

Jasmine 4:13

No, don't go back to Pennsylvania. It's terrible there. It

Lacey 4:16

actually wasn't. I think just the people I was around sucked.

Jasmine 4:21

Yeah, exactly.

Lacey 4:22

But sometimes some of the people I'm here with suck. That's

Jasmine 4:26

very true.

Lacey 4:28

Yeah. That is though on my list of things that have been haunting me is I was thinking about how, like, a week or two ago we didn't really see each other that week, and w- for wha- for whatever reason. But, like, now we hang out, like, at least once a week, usually to work on the podcast. And since we- I've been back in Michigan, we hang out all the time, but, like, when I moved away, we were lucky to see each other for, like, a year. Like once- Yeah a year.

Jasmine 4:56

Yeah.

Lacey 4:57

And now, like, not seeing you once a week was like, "This is really weird. I don't like this."

Jasmine 5:03

When was this? I don't

Lacey 5:05

know.

Jasmine 5:05

After

Lacey 5:06

Friskur's surgery

Jasmine 5:06

maybe? That's what's haunting me. My dog had surgery. It was terrible. Twice. He ripped his butt out.

Lacey 5:15

This is not fun times.

Jasmine 5:16

No.

Lacey 5:19

It was not fun times. But he's got on, like, cute little camo pajamas right now. He looks like he's ready for the swamp.

Jasmine 5:26

Yeah, he has to wear jammie jams so he doesn't, um, rip out his stitches. But he's very healed now, and he's doing much better. Um, it was very rough times, but luckily I have a job that allowed me to take off two weeks to be able to stay home while he healed, 'cause I don't know what I would've done. He's a crazy boy. Crazy, crazy boy. Mini Australian shepherds. I think any Australian shepherd or shepherd dog is gonna be crazy though.

Lacey 6:02

He's so cute though.

Jasmine 6:03

He's very cute. I love him very much.

Lacey 6:05

He's got that crazy side eye though.

Jasmine 6:07

He does. His eyes are very blue, and he's like-

Lacey 6:11

Like human blue.

Jasmine 6:12

Yeah.

Lacey 6:13

Like, he does not have dog eyes. It looks so- Sometimes it's like human eyes giving you the side eye. Like, you're adorable, but I need you to calm down 'cause you're freaking me out.

Jasmine 6:22

Stop staring into my soul please.

Lacey 6:26

Like you're gonna snatch it.

Jasmine 6:29

Side eye like, I'm a take that soul. Sometimes he's just like, "Humans."

Lacey 6:38

Such a rough life.

Jasmine 6:39

Yeah. Spoiled rotten.

Lacey 6:42

Absolutely rotten.

Jasmine 6:43

This morning, uh, our new morning routine is he wakes me up Whenever I get up, he has to go outside. We go outside. He lays into the, in the sun for as long as he wants. I take care of the garden. He goes to the bathroom. He lays in the sun some more. I do more gardening stuff, and then I'm like, "Dude, we need to go inside." He likes his sun. He's a very sun boy. He will literally cook himself. Sometimes I'm like, "You are too hot. Get up." When he had surgery, we ha- I mean, he had to go outside to go to th- do- to the bathroom, and sometimes he would just lay down in the sun and, like, l- roll over on his back. And I'm like, "Dude, you're cooking your stitches right now. We got to go." Like, I, I was standing... I know he was trying to sunbathe, but I was, like, standing- in the sun making shade 'cause I was worried about him burning his stitches. Like, what are you doing, dog?

Lacey 7:54

My cat also loves the sun. She hangs out, like, on the porch with us. Yeah. Man, she loves that sun. Her

Jasmine 8:02

little stone. Yeah. Little paver.

Lacey 8:05

The viral thing that people were getting, like big stones for their cats to lay on, that cement block or... It's not a block.

Jasmine 8:12

It's a paver.

Lacey 8:13

Yeah. I got one of those, and now she loves it. She's like, "Thanks for heating this up for me. I wasn't warm enough."

Jasmine 8:22

Yeah. When we were at TJ Maxx, and you were like, "Uh, a cooling blanket or cooling pad or something," I tried that already. Like, he would not use it. He would rather cook himself.

Lacey 8:34

I got one for Dixie, like, to have, like, in the living room when it gets warm. She didn't... She wanted nothing to do with it. She's like, "No, it's hotter outside. That's where I need to be." Let me go cook.

Jasmine 8:47

I have to go outside. This house is too cold. I need to be directly in the sun. Opposite of me.

Lacey 8:56

Opposite. Same.

Jasmine 8:57

Vampire.

Lacey 8:58

Same.

Jasmine 8:59

Will die in the sun, literally Literally I have like SPF

Lacey 9:06

100 usually on me

Jasmine 9:09

Yeah, I usually do the same, and I can just feel when I need to reapply it

Lacey 9:15

Same

Jasmine 9:16

But also now I take an antidepressant, and that, it's like a switch when I get overheated, and I just get physically ill. It's terrible

Lacey 9:29

I can't imagine already adding to my hatred of the heat

Jasmine 9:33

Like, I already didn't do super well in the heat, and now it's like 10 times worse. Like, what was it? Two years ago I went to Myrtle Beach with my sister and her husband, and we went to a water park, and all I wanted to do was the lazy river. That's kind of all my sister wanted to do too. So her husband went to do some water slides and stuff while we were in the lazy river, and we had gone around a few times and she kept going, "Are you good? Do you need to go out?" And I was like, "I think I got one more in me." And it's... I did not- have one more in me. Like, we had gotten a cabana, like rented a cabana that was like an ex- the exit for the lazy river was right there, so we could just get off and our cabana was right there. I died. Like, I laid down in the cabana. We had to put, uh, cold water, like water bottles all over me to cool me down. It was rough. It's like a switch, and I'm like, "Okay, I think I'm gonna die."

Lacey 10:38

I already feel like that, and I don't have like medication helping

Jasmine 10:43

It, it ain't, it, it ain't helping with that. Terrible

Lacey 10:51

When it's hot outside, I just like wanna crawl into a bathtub and you cover me in ice

Jasmine 10:56

But hey, it stops me from having panic attacks every day, so I will take that.

Lacey 11:04

I need

Jasmine 11:04

that. What are we talking about today, Lacey?

Lacey 11:09

Al Capone.

Jasmine 11:12

Your favoritest person ever, at least during this deep dive.

Lacey 11:17

It was a deep dive.

Jasmine 11:19

Your current hyperfixation.

Lacey 11:21

To be fair, though, like, you said I could. To, to

Jasmine 11:24

be fair.

Lacey 11:27

So when we went to Chicago, I'm like, "Hey, while we're there, can we go to the cemetery where Al Capone is buried?" And you're like, "Yeah, okay." But then we're like, "Oh, we should actually, like, do a whole episode on Al Capone." And I was like, "There's a lot on Al Capone." And I'm like, "Should I, like, go deep?" Yeah. And you're like, "Yeah." I'm like, "All right. You gave me permission." Mm-hmm. "Balls to the wall. Here we go."

Jasmine 11:51

Yeah.

Lacey 11:52

Um, I'd like you to know that 23 pages.

Jasmine 11:56

Oh my God. Are you serious? This is gonna be a four-hour episode.

Lacey 12:00

Um, I numbered my pages. Oh, sorry, there's 24. Let's see how this rollercoaster goes. You might wanna take a bathroom break now. Get your snacks.

Jasmine 12:14

This is a part seven episode- on Al Capone.

Lacey 12:20

See how fast I can talk. You know what? Just speed it up.

Jasmine 12:27

I think there's some audio issues with this episode. All I can hear is

Lacey 12:35

I wish I could talk that fast. I mean, I also listen to almost all audio, though, on at least, like, 1.5. Yes. Like, I speed things up. Otherwise, it's like, "Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo." Oh my God.

Speaker 3 12:49

Yeah.

Lacey 12:52

I was reading a book, and like, I didn't realize on what I was reading it that I could adjust the speed, and I just had to like stop it and just like... 'Cause I was reading, I also had the book in front of me, and I was like reading way faster than this audio, and I was like-

Jasmine 13:10

I've done that before

Lacey 13:11

I can't. I can't do it.

Jasmine 13:12

I was like, "I'm reading way faster than this. I need to speed this up."

Lacey 13:18

What you got there?

Jasmine 13:20

Slime.

Lacey 13:24

Now I'm distracted.

Jasmine 13:26

It's, it's thinking putty, so while you're talking, I can pay attention.

Lacey 13:29

You need extra things to do- 'cause I'm gonna be so boring in my 24 pages of Al Capone.

Jasmine 13:35

No, I have ADHD.

Lacey 13:41

I have AUDHD, so. She keeps sending me memes and TikToks of, like, people with autism, and it's just, like, directed at me.

Jasmine 13:51

It is. It was made for you.

Lacey 13:58

I keep telling people, "Sorry, I'm slightly very autistic."

Jasmine 14:03

Did you know that if you're autistic, you're more like- you're more likely to like the color green? That's weird. That's your favorite color. I

Lacey 14:16

know what you're trying to say. Everyone who's autistic, it's, their favorite color's green.

Jasmine 14:20

No, it just matched you so well.

Lacey 14:24

Um, I did see one that said that only people with ADHD and autism get, like, songs stuck in their head, and I'm like, "That can't be true. Literally no one else just has, like, an elevator music background in their head at all times?"

Jasmine 14:38

Sometimes it's elevator, sometimes it's circus music. I'll just walk around like, "Do, do, do-do-do-do, do, do, do-do, do, do-do-do-do, do, do." I'm not even joking.

Lacey 14:50

Uh, I don't think I've had that Right now I have the Puerto Rico song stuck in my head, so that's been fun for like two weeks. Just nonstop in the back of my head.

Jasmine 15:02

Do, do, do, do, do, do,

Lacey 15:04

do, do. And then I'll be at work and someone's like, "That song's still stuck in your head?" I'm like- How do you know?" It's 'cause I've been humming it. Or like making mouth noises.

Jasmine 15:15

Aw. Oh, you're still thinking of that one, are

Lacey 15:19

you? Can we move on now please? Like a new

Jasmine 15:23

song. My radio just keeps playing the same song over and over again.

Lacey 15:28

Do you take requests? Okay, let's get back to this 'cause we've got some pages to go.

Jasmine 15:42

Uh, yeah.

Lacey 15:44

Are you so excited?

Jasmine 15:46

Yeah.

Lacey 15:46

Also, you've now seen the movie of the musical Chicago.

Jasmine 15:53

I have.

Lacey 15:54

I'm very excited about that. So now when I-

Jasmine 15:57

Lacey made me watch it.

Lacey 15:59

Okay, listen, I'm doing all this deep dive research, and they kept going Cicero, and I was like, "Cicero from the song." And then, what was... Oh, the Cook County Jail, which is where they are in the musical, and that's... Not to give anything away, but at some point he does end up there for a little bit. Shocker. A mobster? No way. Crazy. Okay. So Al Capone, who has been described as a modern-day Robin Hood. During the Great Depression he opened soup kitchens, providing free meals to the unemployed, and donated charities. He's known for being a generous tipper, a man of the people, portrayed himself as a businessman providing a service, alcohol, that the public demanded. Alphonse Al Capone was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1899, son of Italian immigrants, but he embraced the cultural myth of the American dream. When anyone called him an Italian, he would say, "I'm no Italian. I was born in Brooklyn." His father, Gabriel, cut hair for a living. His mother, Teresa, made money sewing gowns. He had eight siblings, six brothers and two sisters, which I've saved-

Jasmine 17:15

That's so many siblings.

Lacey 17:18

It's too many. Too many kids. But there are a couple that I'm gonna talk about at the end.

Jasmine 17:23

Well, we saw some of their graves.

Lacey 17:26

Yeah, which coolest cemetery ever. I loved, like, that all the gravestones had, like, pictures on them

Jasmine 17:35

Giant cemetery

Lacey 17:38

Giant

Jasmine 17:38

It took us a while trying to figure out-

Lacey 17:41

Oh, it was, like, at least 20 minutes trying to fi- And it was, like, right by the entrance Yeah It couldn't have been easier to find, but we, uh- It's also, like, the one with, like, everyone puts stuff at the graves. Like, there were tons of coins.

Jasmine 17:56

Also, it was, like, split in half. Like, I was like, "Maybe th- maybe it's supposed to be on the other side of the road." Like-

Lacey 18:03

Oh, yeah. Like, there was, like, two parts-

Jasmine 18:05

Yeah

Lacey 18:06

with, like, a huge road in between. Like, this was a huge cemetery.

Jasmine 18:11

I mean, it is Chicago. That does make sense.

Lacey 18:14

Yeah. But still.

Jasmine 18:16

Yeah.

Lacey 18:18

I'm glad we went.

Jasmine 18:19

Yeah.

Lacey 18:20

I also wish it hadn't been raining. Yeah. It's also kinda cold, I think. It was

Jasmine 18:24

cold

Lacey 18:24

and windy. Yeah.

Jasmine 18:25

We're

Lacey 18:26

like, "We'll get out for a little bit," but I would've loved to explore more.

Jasmine 18:29

Yeah. Don't worry, it's still there.

Lacey 18:34

I'm not there currently, though. Al was a big kid, joined his first gang, Bim Booms, at 11. Lucky Luciano was also a member. Both boys moved on to become Five Pointers, where they met Johnny Torrio. He made good grades, but had a penchant for breaking the rules. At 14, he came to blows with one of his teachers. A teacher? Yeah. Um, everything has, like, different of what happened. Like, there's different, like, accounts of what exactly happened with this teacher. Like, um, he, this one, the one I found says he was punching her in the face, and in turn, he was beaten by the principal

Jasmine 19:18

That's so violent.

Lacey 19:19

He was definitely violent towards a teacher and he got expelled from school, that for sure. And-

Jasmine 19:26

What did the teacher do to cause this?

Lacey 19:28

That's a good question Yikes. Um, he then joined one of the borough's tough teens gangs. At 15, Capone began working for Johnny Torrio, one of the city's most notorious Italian-American gang leaders. Johnny was a lieutenant who was smart, not just street smart, a leader who let his minions do all the dirty work. Johnny would get Capone jobs. Like in 1917, 18-year-old Capone, while working as a bouncer at the Harvard Inn, provoked an incident that would gain him the nickname that would stick with him for the rest of his life, Scarface. In the decades that followed, he would make up other stories for the scars, like he was in World War I, although he never actually served.

Speaker 3 20:18

Hmm.

Lacey 20:19

He was working the door one night when a pretty girl came in, Lena Galluccio. Apparently, she was a stunning dark-haired Italian girl, also the sister of another local gangster, Frank Galluccio, who had a reputation for retribution to those who offended him. These names, by the way, some of them I definitely will struggle with.

Jasmine 20:38

I was like, "How is she saying these names so good?" I'm so proud of her right now. I would not be able to.

Lacey 20:46

Thank you. I've read them a lot- and I've just decided that's how they were probably This is right. That didn't stop Al Capone from trying his luck. He kept trying to shoot his shot, as she and her group drank, she ignored him until his flirting turned into harassment. Then, in a genius move, Al Capone decided to open his mouth with this gem, "You've got a nice ass, honey."

Jasmine 21:13

And then she punched him.

Lacey 21:16

Face red from rage, big brother Frank stood up and shouted, "I won't take that shit from nobody. Apologize to my sister now, ya hear?" I also am not gonna try Brooklyn accent.

Jasmine 21:29

It's probably a good idea.

Lacey 21:31

It's for the best, honestly. What happened next is unclear, but according to Galluccio, instead of apologizing, Al Capone charged him, and in an effort to defend himself, the drunken Galluccio pulled out a pocket knife and slashed Capone across the face three times.

Speaker 3 21:48

Oof.

Lacey 21:50

This stopped Capone in his tracks. He doubled over, clutching his face that was now spraying blood all over the dance floor. I'm sure. Galluccio and his gang quickly fled the scene. Apparently, blood spraying from someone's face is pretty sobering. It's said that if it wasn't for the quick-thinking staff at the Harvard, Capone probably would've died, but his face was bundled up with towels and sent to the nearby Coney Island Hospital. Several stitches later, the bleeding had ceased, but the scars would remain forever, as would the nickname Al Capone despised. Both Al Capone and Frank Galluccio wanted retribution, but senior mobsters intervened, and the two were made to make amends. Galluccio was prompted to apologize for the damage inflicted to Capone's face, and Capone pledged not to seek retribution Um, December 30th, 1918, Capone married his girlfriend Mae Josephine Coughlin. Less than a month prior, the couple had a son, Albert Francis Sonny Capone.

Jasmine 22:53

Oh. S-U-N-N or S-O-N-N?

Lacey 22:57

S-O-N-N.

Jasmine 22:59

Oh, man. I thought it was gonna be like Sunshine.

Lacey 23:04

Even as a young man, Capone was a big believer in marriage. He was determined that even though his son was born out of wedlock, that at the first opportunity he'd marry the mother of his child, and his son's parents would be married. Breathe. We have a lot to get through. Capone was a notorious womanizer. This type of philandering gave Capone syphilis- Yeah, it did which he would eventually pass down to his wife. He didn't seek treatment in spite of enduring painful sores, rashes, and regular flu-like symptoms, because in doing so he would then need to tell his wife about his adultery, like she didn't already know.

Jasmine 23:47

I mean, if she got sick too, wouldn't she have symptoms?

Lacey 23:51

You would think.

Jasmine 23:53

So she already knows she got sick from someone.

Lacey 23:57

Oh, wonder who that could be.

Jasmine 23:58

Yeah.

Lacey 23:59

But she's not sleeping around. But this once again is part of the duality of Capone. Family man, believed in marriage, but adulterer. There's also a myth that Capone kept a 15-year-old female mistress in an apartment during his early days in New York, but it's believed to be impossible. No way could he have afforded to do so, despite numerous biographies that purport it as truth, which honestly during research I've discovered is like a thing. Um, and I'm sure it'll come up again, but it's like how many times can you write the life story of one person? So each author tries to come up with like a new spin to sell their books.

Jasmine 24:41

How is it a new sp- it, it's still the same history. It's

Lacey 24:45

not a new spin. Exactly, but they try and come up with like, "But did you also know that he kept a 15-year-old in an apartment?" Like, people will find something little and like go with it. Yeah Uh, shortly after his marriage to Mae, Capone would transfer from New York to Chicago at the behest of monster Johnny Torrio. It was said that Capone jumped at the chance to make a name for himself in the Windy City. Terrible Johnny had gone to Chicago to oversee matters for his uncle, crime lord Big Jim Colosimo.

Jasmine 25:20

I thought you were gonna say Biggie. I was like, "What?"

Lacey 25:23

Yeah, Biggie. Big Jim Colosimo. The rackets spawned by the enactment of the Prohibition amendment, illegal brewing, distilling, and distribution of beer and liquor were viewed as growth industries. What? Yeah.

Jasmine 25:39

We may have talked about that a little bit already.

Lacey 25:42

No way. The mob also developed interest in legitimate businesses in the cleaning and dying field, and cultivated influence with receptive public officials, labor unions, and employee associations

Jasmine 25:56

Employee associations.

Lacey 26:00

Labor unions.

Jasmine 26:02

We just gotta dabble in a little bit of everything.

Lacey 26:06

In one of the books I was reading that was just about, like, all the mobsters, one of 'em, oh, I wish I remember who, one of 'em went to prison, and he got let out early because during the war he had his union guys on the docks, like, protect it, like, from oncoming war vessels or something. So he used his in at the docks.

Jasmine 26:31

Smart.

Lacey 26:32

True. And they're like, "You gotta leave." And then he might have tried to go to Cuba, and they're like, "No, that's way too close." So eventually he, I think he went back to Italy.

Jasmine 26:43

Oh.

Lacey 26:46

I was very fascinated. Total deep dive. I also, when writing this, like, kept going back f- and forth between, like, Al Capone and just Capone. I'm like, Al seems too, like, we're too friendly. Like, I don't know what to call him. Capone supposedly had a wish that he had started in the milk business before the beer business, since milk was always in demand and far easier to trade in than alcohol in prohibition Chicago. One big legend or myth of Capone is that he pushed for expiration dates on milk bottles after a relative got sick from drinking expired milk. But along with his brother, Capone did open his own dairy farm and manufactured milk that was sold in bottles with the expiration date on them.

Jasmine 27:37

Hmm. I remember you saying something about that.

Lacey 27:39

Which is what I've always heard-

Jasmine 27:40

Yeah

Lacey 27:41

is that he is the reason there are dates, like expiration dates on milk. Oh, God.

Jasmine 27:47

Just imagining things with no expiration dates.

Lacey 27:51

It wasn't a thing back then

Jasmine 27:55

My tummy hurts. I don't know why. My food s- was kinda smelly and had spots on it, but...

Lacey 28:01

That's why Kellogg had his big... Look, as a nerd who watches a lot of Food That Built America- and other History Channel things, like that's why Kellogg had his sanatorium or whatever it was that people went to get their stomachs fixed.

Jasmine 28:17

That's a whole different episode.

Lacey 28:20

I'm just saying. Expiration dates on food was not a thing. Like- grains were kept in huge barrels, and they would just, like, keep digging until they found the maggots.

Jasmine 28:31

Ugh.

Lacey 28:32

Yeah. It's gr- I couldn't. Like, with my 'tism now and food, like sometimes chicken is too chickeny, and it's not even...

Jasmine 28:42

This egg is too eggy.

Lacey 28:44

Again, it's a com- comes from a chicken. My thing is with chickens apparently.

Jasmine 28:48

Nuh-uh, because you had a problem with the, your Chinese food with the shrimp in it.

Lacey 28:53

I got the ick. The- I don't know if that... That wasn't too shrimpy. It was just the ick.

Jasmine 28:57

You're like, "Yep, I'm done with this phase."

Lacey 29:04

I didn't eat Asian food for a long time until today.

Jasmine 29:08

It was like a few months, wasn't it?

Lacey 29:10

At least a month.

Jasmine 29:11

Yeah.

Lacey 29:11

That I was like, "Oh, I can't do Asian food anymore."

Jasmine 29:15

Cause you were over here. Who knows which w- What, what tragedy you were over here for that time.

Lacey 29:23

What tragedy was this? It's been a rough couple of months. It

Speaker 3 29:27

has been.

Lacey 29:32

Luckily we had some podcasts prerecorded and ready to go. Yeah. That prerecording is the best thing we've ever decided to do. I'm so glad that we had some, like, in our back pocket.

Jasmine 29:45

Yeah.

Lacey 29:45

And then one day they were like, "Hey, do you know one of our episodes posted?" I'm like, "Did it?"

Jasmine 29:50

We've done that twice now. Yeah.

Lacey 29:52

It was, like, two in a row.

Jasmine 29:53

I'm like,

Lacey 29:53

Hey,

Jasmine 29:54

did

Lacey 29:54

you know?" Sorry.

Jasmine 29:57

I had scheduled.

Lacey 30:00

Yeah. The updates on TikTok and, uh, Instagram are not scheduled.

Jasmine 30:06

They are not.

Lacey 30:09

We're trying, guys.

Jasmine 30:11

We're trying. Sometimes life just be lifin'.

Lacey 30:16

It's lifin' a little too hard lately. It needs to calm down.

Jasmine 30:20

Yeah, for

Lacey 30:21

real In fact, family members of Capone said he always wanted to be a respectable businessman. Surviving members of his family believe that if it wasn't for his father's death when Capone was 21, he might have gone into legitimate business. But as it was, Al Capone was the child tasked with providing for his family. He was fiercely devoted to his mother, calling her on a daily basis while he began his career as a mobster. It was actually his love for his mother that prompted him to create a divide between work and home life in an effort to protect his family and shield them from his growing criminal exploits. Capone adopted this approach from his mentor, Johnny Torrio, who believed work and family should never mix, telling Capone to keep your hands clean and use others to do your dirty work. Okay, but side note, did you know that Michigan had banned the sale of alcohol two years prior to this act?

Jasmine 31:21

No.

Lacey 31:22

So Michigan, Detroit especially, their criminal element was already seasoned bootleggers at this point.

Jasmine 31:29

Oh. They said, "Don't worry, we got this." I

Lacey 31:33

mean, they had two years.

Jasmine 31:34

Yeah. We've been practicing.

Lacey 31:36

In the summer, Canada was only a boat ride away. Um, winter in Detroit, the river froze over. The pipeline between Ontario's distillery and Detroit's bottler, city found itself with two flourishing economies. Cars and booze Along with his criminal enterprises, Capone became a regular in the Chicago nightlife. Routi- routine... Oh my God, I can't speak today. It's been-

Speaker 3 32:02

Party.

Lacey 32:05

Just the whole... Routinely drinking and patronizing brothels- Nice where he'd become infected with syphilis. Capone was all about appearing legitimate, a legitimate businessman, and during the first few years in Chicago, he presented himself as a boxing promoter.

Jasmine 32:26

So random.

Lacey 32:28

I agree. What? May 11th, 1919, Jim Colosimo was taken out, murdered. A takeover by his own nephew. Some believe it was even carried out by none other than Al Capone. Possibly? Probably? Allegedly? Allegedly. But after the death of Jim Colosimo, Johnny Torrio took over and made Al Capone his right-hand man In 1925, Capone became boss when Torrio was seriously wounded during an assassination attempt. Torrio surrendered control and retired to Brooklyn. At just 26 years old, Capone was suddenly the most powerful gangster in all of Chicago.

Jasmine 33:11

Nice.

Lacey 33:12

This power meant he could take control of all the bootlegging operations and that he could increase the amount of force used to get what he wanted, and that local alcohol brewers who refused to work for him were attacked and even bombed, as were the businesses that refused his so-called protection. It's said that over 100 people lost their lives in these attacks in the 1920s alone.

Jasmine 33:37

My goodness.

Lacey 33:39

At the height of his heyday in Chicago, Capone made his base of operations in nearby Cicero.

Jasmine 33:46

Your favorite.

Lacey 33:49

The location provided him some detachment to create a safe haven in which his growing group of enemies would face a harder time reaching him. However, they still tried. One of his chauffeurs was found murdered and tortured.

Jasmine 34:02

Oof.

Lacey 34:03

So Capone began taking steps to up his security, like buying out the whole train car. They would also use assumed names when checking into hotels.

Jasmine 34:13

Smart.

Lacey 34:15

Capone sought to reinvent his image. Instead of just being seen as a two-bit crook, he tried to earn the favor of the public by appearing as a Robin Hood-type figure, made generous donations to charities and public trusts, became a kind of champion of the anti-prohibition movement through public advocacy of repealing the law, as well as his private sales of illicit liquor.

Jasmine 34:37

I'm against alcohol.

Lacey 34:40

Just kidding. No, he was trying to be against prohibition.

Jasmine 34:44

Oh,

Lacey 34:45

okay. He was anti-prohibition. He's just like, "Everyone should be able to drink. Do you wanna buy some alcohol?"

Jasmine 34:51

I thought you were saying the opposite. Like, "I am against alcohol."

Lacey 34:57

Just kidding. I'm against alcohol that I didn't sell to you. There you

Jasmine 35:03

go. See, the thing with making things illegal, though, is it just makes it dangerous for people- To consume those things. So-

Lacey 35:14

Which I think, I think we've already had this conversation Yeah.

Jasmine 35:18

So it's just people are still gonna do it. They're just gonna die doing it. And

Lacey 35:23

doing it less safely, yeah.

Jasmine 35:25

Yeah.

Lacey 35:26

I also, I really hate when someone's like, "This is against my beliefs, so you can't do it either." Like that, then just don't do it. That's fine. Yeah. Hang out with other people who don't wanna do it either.

Jasmine 35:38

Yeah.

Lacey 35:39

Like, find your people. Don't make everyone suffer because you've decided-

Jasmine 35:43

Well, I don't like it, so it's illegal now

Lacey 35:46

I'm on a diet, so you can't eat that donut.

Jasmine 35:49

Ooh, a donut sounds good.

Lacey 35:52

Donuts always sound good. Affection wouldn't last long. His brutal violence increased on top of an investigation report that blew the lid off of Capone's major operations, a brothel on the edge of suburban Cicero- Illinois. A reporter, 21-year-old Robert St. John, the editor of Cicero Tribune, went undercover and took down the testimony of several prostitutes, c- crafting an in-depth episode of the whole enterprise. The report wound up on the Tribune's very next issue and was flying off the newsstand. Capone was not happy, and Robert St. John was a marked man.

Jasmine 36:38

Oh, I'm sure.

Lacey 36:40

The story inspired a group of concerned citizens of Cicero, formed West Suburban Citizen Association, led by Reverend Henry C. Hoover. The goal was to remove illegal establishments that had been creeping up in suburban Chicago. They went to the police chief, who was like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll totally look into this. Crime is bad." Clearly this guy was on the payroll.

Jasmine 37:02

I was gonna say, is he being paid off?

Lacey 37:05

Yes.

Jasmine 37:05

Okay. Yeah, yeah,

Lacey 37:07

yeah. "Yeah,

Jasmine 37:09

yeah, I'll take a look." Maybe.

Lacey 37:12

So the citizen vigilantes decided to take measures into their own hands and raised $1,000 to pay a rival gang to do the job for them.

Jasmine 37:23

Now that is smart thinking. So they just- Like, the police won't do it, so-

Lacey 37:27

Police corruption of greater Illinois was apparently so bad that local citizens had to pay criminals in s- in order to stop the actions of other criminals. Nice. The committee discreetly deposited the money into the accounts of members of the O'Banion's old gang, now led by Hymie Weiss, a young man who had become a personal enemy of Capone. The gang promptly set the bordello on fire. An infuriated Capone woke up the next morning to hear that his brothel had been burnt to a crisp. Oof. But hey, at least the North Side Gang was polite enough to do it in the early morning hours when no one was around to get hurt.

Jasmine 38:08

Aw, that's nice.

Lacey 38:10

Crime, but cute.

Jasmine 38:13

Yeah. No one got hurt, that's great.

Lacey 38:16

Instead of going after the North Side Gang, Capone unleashed his full fury on the editor of the Tribune newspaper, Robert St. John. Yikes. A couple days after the fire, a carload of Capone's gang members pulled up on St. John while on his morning walk. This is also why I don't have a routine.

Jasmine 38:37

People can't know what you're doing.

Lacey 38:38

Yeah. I don't even know what I'm doing. The one leading the charge, Al Capone's brother, Ralph Capone. One of the- Ralph. One of the men was armed with a gun. Another had nothing more than a bar of soap in a sock that he wielded over his head like a medieval flail.

Jasmine 38:59

Okay, that's gonna hurt though.

Lacey 39:01

I agree.

Jasmine 39:02

He learned that move in prison.

Lacey 39:06

For some reason I thought you were gonna say Step Brothers. Yeah.

Jasmine 39:12

That movie was out back then.

Lacey 39:23

It was said that there were actually police eyewitnesses on the scene, but they just sat back and watched. According to most reports, Robert St. John completely negated fight versus flight, and instead flung himself on the ground and curled himself into a ball, feebly attempting to shield his head with his hands and let the gang beat the ever-loving crap out of him. He said,

Speaker 4 39:45

I deserve this, I deserve this, I deserve this."

Lacey 39:48

Eventually, the gangsters decided enough was enough and jumped into their car, fleeing the scene. It was only after the assailants, assailants left that he was rushed to the emergency room, where he would spend several days in the hospital recovering.

Jasmine 40:03

I'm sure.

Lacey 40:04

When he was checking out to receive his hospital bill, he found that an anonymous person had already paid for him. Was it Al Capone? Who was it? A concerned citizen who felt bad? Maybe an eyewitness? Nope. The clerk mentioned the donor had a long-running scar across his face. Dun, dun, dun. Huh. It was none other than Al Capone. He said,

Jasmine 40:28

Don't do that again."

Lacey 40:30

It may seem bizarre, but that was Al Capone's twisted mind at work. Corporal punishment for the unflattering story, but this was his way of showing no hard feelings. He wanted to continue to project his nice guy image after all. Robert St. John was not going to be swayed. He marched right to the police station to demand his assailants be prosecuted, badgered them for hours. Finally, they relented and said, "Fine. You know what? Come back tomorrow and we'll start the process." The next day when he arrived, he was led to an empty room and told to wait. Shortly after, the door opened and none other than Al Capone walked in. He was not there to intimidate. "I'm an all right guy. Sure, I got a racket. So's everybody. Most guys hurt people. I don't hurt nobody, only them that get in my way." I think that's still hurting people.

Jasmine 41:25

Just saying. Yeah,

Lacey 41:27

yeah, yeah. This was his rationale that nice guy Capone was attempting to convey to St. John. "Don't write unflattering pieces about me and you'll stay on my good side." Then he tried to sweeten the deal, a bribe, pulled out his wallet and started thumbing through $100 bills. He then acknowledged he was indeed the one to pay the hospital bill. He wanted to give further compensation for his pain and suffering. Without taking a single dime, he stormed out of the room, leaving Capone and his cash behind. Unlike the corrupt Chicago officials, Robert St. John could not be bought. But you know what could be bought? Because soon enough- A paper? Yep. Soon enough- Al Capone was the owner of the Cicero Tribune.

Jasmine 42:10

And you're fired.

Lacey 42:13

He still works there. Hymie Weiss, Capone's rival and nemesis, was shot and killed by a Chicago gangster outside O'Banion's flower shop in October of 1926 Also dead. So February 14th, 1929, St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

Jasmine 42:36

Was waiting for that one.

Lacey 42:37

Yeah, it's the big one. The Irish gangster Bugs Moran, one of Capone's longtime enemies, ran his bootlegging operations out of a garage at 2122 North Clark Street. On February 14th, seven of his gang members were gunned down while standing lined up while facing the wall of the garage. Some 70 rounds of ammunition were fired. When actual police officers showed up to the scene, one gang member, Frank Gusenberg, barely alive, when pressed, wouldn't reveal what happened. Police could find very few eyewitnesses, but eventually concluded that gunmen dressed as police officers had entered the garage and pretended to be arresting the men. Tragic bullet accident. With Tommy guns.

Speaker 3 43:23

Yeah.

Lacey 43:24

Shh. Bugs Moran had been on his way to the garage and had only missed getting killed by minutes. He instantly blamed Capone, later telling reporters, "Only Capone kills like that." Capone had been at his Florida estate at the time of the murders. When reporters reached out to him for a comment on the murders, he responded, "The only man who kills like that is Bugs Moran." No one was ever brought to trial for the murders and re- and it remains one of the biggest unsolved crimes in history Over the years, Al Capone consolidated control over most of Chicago's crime rackets by ruthlessly gunning down his rivals. In 1924, authorities counted 16 gang-related murders, and this style of killing would reach its high with 64 murders in one year in 1929.

Jasmine 44:17

My goodness.

Lacey 44:18

This was just the documented killings. It's guesstimated that Capone killed thousands during his reign. Oof. Federal authorities, including the FBI, had much less jurisdiction than they have today, and didn't include Chicago's gang-related activity. The St. Valentine's Day massacre spurred President Hoover to order a get tough edict on crime, specifically Capone. You see, the event did mark the end of any significant gang opposition to Capone's rule in Chicago, but it also can be said to have marked the beginning of his downfall. With his highly effective organization, his impressive income, it was estimated that he got, like, 60 million a year, and his estimated worth in 1927 was around 100 million.

Jasmine 45:04

Dang.

Lacey 45:05

And his willingness to ruthlessly eliminate his rivals, Capone had become the country's most notorious gangster, and the newspaper dubbed him Public Enemy Number One.

Jasmine 45:14

Oh, no.

Lacey 45:16

Um, I did go down- Isn't there a

Jasmine 45:18

movie called Public

Lacey 45:19

I went down a small rabbit hole, 'cause I was like, if... Like, the cops aren't working together, 'cause, like, a federal thing wasn't around.

Jasmine 45:28

Yeah.

Lacey 45:30

Yeah, so this is my rabbit hole. Directly from the FBI website, the country's cities had grown enormously by 1908. There were more than 100 with populations over 50,000, and understandably, crime had grown right along with them. In these big cities with their many overcrowded t- tenements filled with poor and disillusioned, with all the ethnic tensions of an increasingly immigrant nation stirred in good measure, tempers often flared. Clashes between striking workers and their factory bosses were turning increasingly violent. And though no one knew it at the time, America's cities and towns were also fast becoming breeding grounds for a future generation of professional lawbreakers. In Brooklyn, a nine-year-old Al Capone would soon start his life of crime.

Jasmine 46:18

Nine years old?

Lacey 46:19

I'm like... Yeah, so he was nine.

Jasmine 46:21

Okay, but also working back then was terrible. There's, like, no rules for anything.

Lacey 46:26

Exactly. In Indianapolis, a five-year-old John Dillinger was growing up on his family farm, and in Chicago, a young child christened Lester Joseph Gillis, later to morph into the vicious killer Baby Face Nelson, would greet the world by year's end

Jasmine 46:45

Oh, it's an animal at the door. I was like, what is that? What is that?

Lacey 46:52

What is happening right now?

Jasmine 46:54

That would be Friskert. I heard a little whine.

Lacey 46:58

He said, "Aroo." I hear you. Aroo. Uh, 1908 was the year that Henry Ford's Model T first began rolling off the assembly line. Another direct quote from the f- fbi.gov, "Making automobiles affordable to the masses and attractive commodities for thugs and hoodlums who would soon begin- buying or stealing them to elude authorities and move about the country on violent crime sprees." Hoodlums is such a good word. Uh, when Hoover took over in 1924, the Bureau had about 650 employees, including 441 special agents. Also, J. Edgar Hoover, not the President Herbert Hoover. No relation. Little side note. At the turn of the 20th century, the use of fingerprints to identify criminals was still in its infancy. For instance, in New York State, the prisons had only begun fingerprinting its inmates as early as 1903

Jasmine 48:02

Well, could they do anything with the fingerprints before then?

Lacey 48:05

I mean, not really. Yeah. It wasn't even a thought. But it's just great, like if you look at crime then, like you can't commit crime now 'cause like there's cameras everywhere. Yeah. There's just like, there is crime, but not like this. Like-

Jasmine 48:20

I mean, you could get away with a lot.

Lacey 48:21

Yeah By 1920 though, the International Association of Chiefs of Police had become concerned about the erratic quality and disorganization of criminal identification records in America. It urged the Department of Justice to merge the country's two major fingerprint collections, the federal one at Leavenworth, and its own set of state and local ones held in Chicago. And it wasn't until after Hoover took over in 1924 that he quickly formed a division of identification, and it wasn't until 1932 that they had their first official crime lab.

Jasmine 49:00

Ooh, crime lab.

Lacey 49:01

Crime lab. Um-

Jasmine 49:03

But what all, what do you, what are they doing with that?

Lacey 49:05

Exactly. Like, um, I- I even put it's absolutely crazy looking back at the technological advances we have now. Cameras for sure is a big one. So much harder to get away with anything nowadays, and law enforcement wasn't working together back then. Now everything is in an accessible database online. Yeah,

Jasmine 49:24

everything's connected.

Lacey 49:25

Yeah. And before, like the police departments didn't talk to each other.

Jasmine 49:30

No.

Lacey 49:30

Like, so if it happened a town away-

Jasmine 49:33

Yeah. It's how serial killers were so big.

Lacey 49:36

We just watched something about that. Who are we watching? I don't remember. The Deadpool Killer, that Wade Wilson guy. Do you remember? He was in two different towns, and the towns weren't talking about like the current criminal activity, that he like stole a car. So like the town over wasn't looking for him.

Jasmine 49:54

It sounds vaguely familiar.

Lacey 49:58

Okay, that's the end of my side quest. The FBI side quest in fingerprinting. Back to Capone. In March of 1929, Capone was subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury, postponed to March 20th because he'd been suffering from bronchial pneumonia in Miami and had been confined in bed since January 13th to February 13th, and due to his health- Oof he could not travel. US Attorney's Office requested the FBI look into it. They found that Capone had attended the racetrack in Miami and made the plane trip to Bimini and cruised to Nassau and appeared in good health at those occasions.

Jasmine 50:38

Oh, so he was actually faking. No,

Lacey 50:39

he's a liar. I was like, "Oh man,

Jasmine 50:42

that's really sick."

Lacey 50:43

Yeah, that'd be rough. Uh, March 20th, 1929, Capone appeared before the federal grand jury in Chicago and completed his testimony on March 27th, left the courtroom and was arrested by agents for contempt in court, an offense for which the penalty was one year in prison and $1,000 fine. He posted $5,000 bond and was released. May 17th, 1929, Capone and his bodyguard were arrested in Philadelphia for carrying concealed deadly weapons. Sentenced one year each, Capone was released in nine months for good behavior. That was March 17th, 1930. Then February 29th, 1931, Capone was found guilty in federal court on his contempt of court charge. Six months in the Cook County Jail. His appeal was

Jasmine 51:36

dismissed. Just the way you said Cook County.

Lacey 51:39

Cook County Jail. Sorry, I have Chicago stuck in my head. Cell Block Tango. I hope everyone has seen Chicago, or at least listened to Cell Block Tango. 'Cause this was stuck in my head Capone was found guilty in federal court on his contempt of court charge. His appeal was dismissed. June 16th, 1931, Capone pled guilty to tax evasion and prohibition charges, bragged to the press he struck a deal for two and a half year sentence. The judge informed him he was not bound by any deal, and Capone changed his plea to not guilty It is so crazy. Like, the only way they could get him was tax evasion because it was on his illegal affairs, like his illegal business.

Jasmine 52:24

Yeah.

Lacey 52:25

Why would you pay taxes on an ille-

Jasmine 52:27

For something that's illegal?

Lacey 52:28

Yeah.

Jasmine 52:28

You're not going to.

Lacey 52:29

Exactly. But that's how they got him.

Jasmine 52:31

Yeah.

Lacey 52:33

Blows my mind 1931, convicted after trial, and on November 24th was sentenced with 11 years in federal prison, fined $50,000 and charged $7,692 in court fees in addition to $215,000 plus interest due back in taxes. The six months on contempt of court sentence was to be served concurrently. When the judge sentenced him to 11 years, The New York Times said, "That fat man's face went dark and that ugly scar went white."

Speaker 3 53:06

That's so mean. So mean.

Lacey 53:11

While waiting for the results of appeals, Capone was confined, confined to the Cook County Jail. Upon denial of appeals, he entered the US Penitentiary in Atlanta, serving his sentence then or there and at Alcatraz November 16th, 1939, Al Capone was re- was released after serving seven years, six months, and 15 days and having paid all fines and back taxes. Suffering from syphilis, he deteriorated greatly during his confinement. Immediately on release, he entered a Baltimore hospital for brain treatment and went to his Florida home, which was near Miami. He never publicly returned to Chicago. In 1946, physician and Baltimore psychiatrist after examination concluded he had the mentality of a 12-year-old.

Jasmine 54:00

Aw.

Lacey 54:01

Capone lived out the rest of his days being cared for by his wife, Mae, and his brothers, spending most of his time in his pajamas at home having imaginary conversations with long-dead colleagues or enemies in his backyard, delusions the entire family often went along with. At age 48, Capone died of a stroke on January 25th, 1947. After visiting him not long before the end, his former accountant, Jack "Greasy Thumb" Guzik- That's

Jasmine 54:28

a good name

Lacey 54:29

said to a newsman, "Al, he's as nutty as a fruitcake." Al Capone would only run the Chicago Outfit for six years but is still one of the most notorious gangsters of all time. I think most people have heard of him. They may not know all the details, but they've definitely heard of him. He spent more time in prison than actually running his illegal bootlegging business.

Jasmine 54:52

Okay, but, like, just 'cause he was in prison doesn't mean he wasn't running things.

Lacey 54:57

Yeah. Um, also another myth about Capone was that he was a cocaine fiend.

Jasmine 55:04

Nice.

Lacey 55:06

Authors will sometimes go to bat with some things they pick up on during research and make immediate assumptions. It also serves them well if it can be sensational enough to put them ahead and make them stand out among the other biographies. For instance, the theory that Capone was a coke fiend suddenly appeared in 1994 when author Laurence Bergreen wrote about his... it in his book. He found a doctor in general medicine who agreed with his cocaine theory and ran with it.

Jasmine 55:33

Okay, do you have proof?

Lacey 55:35

No, 'cause here's the facts. Al Capone did have a hole in his septum, but it can be attributed to two of the following reasons: one, longtime illness of syphilis. Most longtime- Which he had. Yeah, most longtime sufferers have a hole in their nose and have what is known as a saddle nose.

Speaker 4 55:52

Ugh.

Lacey 55:53

It's so bad they have a name for it. two, a deviated septum. Capone had a long history of bad sinus trouble, and added in the fist fights at a very young age may have worsened his sinus problem on September fifth, 1929, he was operated on by Dr., Herbert Goddard for his sinuses and tonsils during his stay at Eastern State Penitentiary.

Jasmine 56:15

Ooh, that's rough as an adult.

Lacey 56:17

Yeah. But they're like, "Oh, he had a hole in his sinus? Coke fiend."

Jasmine 56:24

Okay, assumptions.

Lacey 56:27

Many f- many- Manny Manny. Many family members changed their surnames and moved away from Chicago in the generations after his death. Many of the grandchildren of some of Capone's former cronies made promises to their parents and grandparents to never discuss business outside the family, and are unwilling to speak to anyone about anything. Locally, he's been rumored to have hung a- about places in Michigan. They say that there's no real definitive proof that he owned property or anything, but like, yeah, obviously. He's not gonna have a hu- huge flashing neon sign to the authorities, like his name's not on the deed. Like, as soon as he puts his name somewhere, the cops are gonna be there.

Jasmine 57:10

Yeah.

Lacey 57:11

Obviously. He's no dummy. I own this. Um, Flynn Mansion in Sawyer allegedly was a hangout for Al Capone and mob boys to play cards. It was owned by John Flynn, a union guy from Chicago, and a treasurer for the Teamsters. I was nosy and Googled it, and it last sold for $685,000.

Jasmine 57:35

Wow.

Lacey 57:35

Six bedrooms, four baths, 3,750 square feet. Um, also where that bridge is, is I remember hearing about the ghost stories. Oh, is

Jasmine 57:45

that the-

Lacey 57:46

Yeah, you put your car in neutral on a full moon, your car's supposed to go up the hill, and there's a- Let's

Jasmine 57:51

go tonight.

Lacey 57:51

And there's a g- Ghost... Oh,

Jasmine 57:54

full moon.

Lacey 57:56

I'm down if you are. Um, and there's a ghost of a maid running down the hill to help, like, after, during a raid. Do you remember hearing that story?

Jasmine 58:08

I haven't heard it in a very long time. I

Lacey 58:10

mean, middle school is when I heard it. Yeah. So it's, it's been 84 years. We should look it up and go tonight. We should. Um, that place is, like, right by the, the gas station stop. Like, we stopped there for gas, and we- Oh,

Jasmine 58:27

that truck stop?

Lacey 58:28

Yeah.

Jasmine 58:28

Hmm.

Lacey 58:29

It's not that far from there.

Jasmine 58:31

Yeah, I didn't know that.

Lacey 58:33

Um, Frankfort, Michigan, is a house where the gang's pregnant girlfriends would come to secretly give birth to their out-of-wedlock babies.

Jasmine 58:41

Nice.

Lacey 58:41

Allegedly. Um, Capone made sure to have tunnels dug out that led to many businesses close by. Like, there's, like, a hotel. The owner, John Oberlin, was said to be a close friend of Capone. Apparently, the tunnels are filled now.

Jasmine 58:56

They always are.

Lacey 58:59

Which... I mean, it's almost as north as Traverse City. It's pretty, pretty north, but I think it's, like, on the water. This hotel. I... You can still stay at the hotel I looked it up.

Jasmine 59:12

Are there any ghosts here that wanna tell us about the tunnels- that were filled in?

Lacey 59:18

Were any babies born here?

Jasmine 59:25

Wah.

Lacey 59:25

Wah. He was said to have spent time at the House of David. There is a big building that they, I think are now condos. It used to be a hotel, and it says he had rented out the entire eighth floor when he would visit. Big

Jasmine 59:39

bucks.

Lacey 59:40

I think it's, like, the Vincent Place in Benton Harbor. I think I pointed it out live. You

Jasmine 59:44

pointed it

Lacey 59:45

out.

Jasmine 59:45

Yeah. Yeah.

Lacey 59:48

We're nearing the end. What? Are you excited or so sad?

Jasmine 59:53

I don't know. Let's see what happens.

Lacey 59:56

So his siblings, there is Richard James Hart. He was Al Capone's oldest sibling. He was only three years old when his parents decided to move to the USA. At 16, Richard decided to leave New York City and join a circus. Love. Do,

Speaker 3 1:00:13

do, do, do, do, do, do, do.

Lacey 1:00:16

It all ties back in. During his teenage years, Richard also decided to change his name to Hart to honor his idol, Western silent film star William S. Hart. During World War I, Richard fought in Europe. Information about Richard's time in Europe is murky, as there are conflicting reports of his activities. Following the war, Richard returned to the USA and officially changed his name to Richard James Hart. He got married, had four sons. He started to work as a prohibition agent and moved to Homer, Nebraska. Could he be any more opposite?

Speaker 3 1:00:55

Yeah.

Lacey 1:00:56

I, like, didn't wanna talk about the siblings earlier because it's funnier now- Yeah. that his oldest sibling is a prohibition agent. Oh, that's

Jasmine 1:01:05

hilarious.

Lacey 1:01:07

In 1926, he became a special agent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and was assigned to the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Later in his career, he was relocated to the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington. During this period, he managed to arrest at least 20 killers. killers of, um, on the- In Washington, he arrested 20 killers.

Speaker 3 1:01:33

Okay.

Lacey 1:01:34

Richard learned about his siblings' crimes after reading about them in the newspaper. Richard was nicknamed the Two-Gun Hart for his success as a prohibition agent. It's so f- Do we actually think he didn't know about- I, if he's in Nebraska, maybe not.

Jasmine 1:01:51

Okay.

Lacey 1:01:53

I mean, I doubt the, maybe they weren't close. That's up there. There were a ton of siblings.

Jasmine 1:01:58

Yeah, that's true. That's true.

Lacey 1:02:00

Ralph Capone was another of Al's oldest brothers. He was born in Italy. In 1920, following the death of his father, Ralph moved to Chicago with his brother Al and his son. During Prohibition, Ralph was in charge of the Chicago outfit's bottling plants, and attempted to monopolize non-alcoholic beverages and soft drinks. His business was so profitable that he became the second-biggest soft drink vendor after Coca-Cola during the 1933 World's Fair. Nice. In April 1930th, Ralph was listed on Frank J. Loesche's Chicago Crime Commission as a public enemy. In fact, as the manager of Chicago's Cotton Club, he was often involved in illegal gambling and prostitution. In 1932, he was arrested for tax evasion and served three years in prison. In 1935, Louis Alterie, a notorious hitman for the Chicago North Side Gang, was forced to testify against him. A few weeks later, he was found dead to, due to a gunshot wound. After Ralph was released, he moved to Wisconsin. He lived to be 80, and died of natural causes.

Jasmine 1:03:09

Wisconsin, you say?

Lacey 1:03:11

In 1950, the United Press published an article describing Ralph as, "In his own right, one of the overlords of the national syndicate which controls gambling, vice, and other rackets."

Jasmine 1:03:23

I'm just saying, I've been to a bottling company- supposedly owned by the Capones- in Wisconsin.

Lacey 1:03:36

No way.

Jasmine 1:03:37

Crazy.

Lacey 1:03:38

Frank Capone, like Capone, was born and raised in Brooklyn. Also like Capone, he was part of the Five Point Gang. Compared to his brother Al, Frank was considered mild-mannered. He often played the part of the respectable businessman, and was always dressed in the most expensive suit. Frank was killed by Sergeant Philip Jay, who in 1924 shot him several times. The funeral was set for April 4th. Not surprisingly, it was an extravagant one with $20,000 worth of flowers.

Jasmine 1:04:07

That is a lot of flowers-

Lacey 1:04:09

Frank's funeral- especially

Jasmine 1:04:10

back then.

Lacey 1:04:10

Yeah. Frank's funeral also featured 150 cars in the motorcade. Quite an impressive number for the time. Yeah. He was 28.

Jasmine 1:04:19

Hmm.

Lacey 1:04:20

Um, next came, it was then Al Capone, and then next came- Armina Capone, who unfortunately passed away at 10 months, seven days. Oh,

Jasmine 1:04:32

little baby.

Lacey 1:04:33

Little baby. Um, then John Capone. Very little is known about him. He was born in 1903 and died in 1985 at 82 years old.

Jasmine 1:04:42

He lived a life.

Lacey 1:04:44

Um, then there was another brother, Umberto Capone. Ooh, Umberto. And then Matthew Capone. Again, same thing. He's buried in Mount Carmel Cemetery, where Capone is. Um, Mafalda Capone was Al Capone's youngest sibling, born in 1912. Not much is known about her apart from the fact that in 1930 she married a man, um, called John J. Maritote. He was a lieutenant in Al's army. The two tied the knot at St. Mary of something in Cicero, Illinois. It's like-

Jasmine 1:05:21

This name is hard.

Lacey 1:05:24

Chestochowa? What

Jasmine 1:05:27

is that?

Lacey 1:05:29

Ch- I don't know. Chestachowa?

Jasmine 1:05:33

S-Chestahova Didn't get that, sorry Chestahova

Lacey 1:05:40

On April 26th, 1932, Mafalda gave birth to a baby daughter. She is also buried in Mount Carmel, close to her brother Matthew. And dun, dun, dun, that is 24 pages of- Al Capone Capone. Al Capone. Like how it hurts. How do you feel? Relief. I've been sitting on this one for a while. I don't know if I was more excited to get this one down or House of David. You were very excited to research this one. I-

Jasmine 1:06:18

I just wanna know what your next deep dive is gonna be. Which one, which are you gonna get so hyper-focused on?

Lacey 1:06:30

Honestly, it's probably gonna be Dillinger.

Jasmine 1:06:33

Nice.

Lacey 1:06:35

Big Dillinger fan. It's not like you fan-

Jasmine 1:06:38

That's why I was like, "Public enemy, you say?" Also, he's buried in Indianapolis. Oh, I didn't know that. So road trip? I went on a, um, a walking tour in Chicago, and wasn't he shot in Chicago? He was in Chicago. Yeah.

Lacey 1:06:59

I

Jasmine 1:06:59

don't know if he was shot. Was he, is that where he was killed? Was he killed in Chicago? Yeah, I think he was killed in Chicago. Walked by that alley. Fun times. Yeah. Love a good walking tour. Nothing ever happens, but you get to hear lots of ghost stories about random places you may not know about.

Lacey 1:07:20

The jail that he broke out of with that little fake wooden gun- Ooh used to be a museum, and I think they have permanently closed it 'cause that was-

Jasmine 1:07:30

Depressing

Lacey 1:07:31

yeah, that was definitely on my list of places I wanted to go. Let's just go on a trip. A

Jasmine 1:07:38

spooky trip.

Lacey 1:07:40

I need a trip. Me too.