Al Capone
Overview
Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone (January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947) was an American
Americans
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...

 gangster
Gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....

 who led a Prohibition-era
Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...

 crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit
Chicago Outfit
The Chicago Outfit, also known as the Chicago Syndicate or Chicago Mob and sometimes shortened to simply the Outfit, is a crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois, USA...

, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling
Smuggling
Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...

 and bootlegging
Rum-running
Rum-running, also known as bootlegging, is the illegal business of transporting alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law...

 liquor
Alcoholic beverage
An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...

, and other illegal activities such as prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...

, in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 from the early 1920s to 1931.

Born in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 to Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...

 immigrants, Capone became involved with gang activity at a young age after being expelled from school at age 14.
Quotations

You can go a long way with a smile, You can go a lot further with a smile and a gun.

I have spent the best years of my life giving people the lighter pleasures, helping them have a good time, and all I get is abuse, the existence of a hunted man.

As quoted in How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936) by Dale Carnegie, p. 26

Don't get the idea that I'm one of these goddam radicals. Don't get the idea that I'm knocking the American system.

As quoted in In Time of Trouble (1956) by Claud Cockburn

This is virgin territory out here for whorehouses.

Referring to suburban Chicago, as quoted in The Bootleggers and Their Era (1961) by Kenneth Alsop

This American system of ours ... call it Americanism, call it capitalism, call it what you like, gives to each and every one of us a great opportunity if we only seize it with both hands and make the most of it.

Interview with Claud Cockburn, Quoted in “Mr. Capone, Philosopher,” Cockburn Sums Up (1981)

You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone.

As quoted in Forbes (6 October 1986)

My Jesus, mercy.

Epitaphs|Epitaph

I've been accused of every death except the casualty list of the World War.

The Bootleggers

 
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