Al Scarface Capone Brief History Part 2
Was Al- Capone the Robin Hood sentenced to 11 years imprisonment?
Capone continued to expand his bootlegging empire. In a word, he met the immense demand for alcohol (almost all adults drank bootleg alcohol during Prohibition) with an equally large supply (Bergreen, 529).
On a trip to New York to have his son's chronic ear infections treated with surgery, Capone met with his old accomplice Frankie Yale to ensure the purchase of a large quantity of Canadian Scotch whiskey. Throughout the next years, Capone met with increasing pressure from law enforcement agencies and from outside crime operations.
He continued to expand his empire outside of the realm of bootlegging to insure that he would have a profit-base if Prohibition was ever rescinded. The violence reached a peak of epic proportions on Valentine's Day, 1924. Capone and his friend Jack McGurn planned an assassination attempt on Bugs Moran, who had tried to murder McGurn twice.
The plan seemed to go off without a hitch--Capone's men, dressed as police officers and lined a group of bootleggers they assumed to contain Moran against a wall, as if they were conducting a raid. The two "officers" ran machine guns at the men and led two of Capone's men off the site as if they were captured bootleggers. Unfortunately, Bugs Moran wasn't in the group.
Somewhat ironically, it was the pen pushers from the tax office who were to pose the greatest threat to the gangsters' bootlegging empires. In May 1927, the Supreme Court ruled that a bootlegger had to pay income tax on his prohibited bootlegging trade.
With such a ruling, it wasn't long before the petty Special Intelligence Unit of the IRS under Elmer Irey was capable to go after Al Capone. Al left for Miami with his wife & son and bought Palm Island estate, a property that he instantly started to renovate expensively.
This gave Elmer Irey his opportunity to document Capone's income and spending. But Capone was cunning. Each transaction he made was on a cash basis. The only exception was the tangible property of the Palm Island estate, which was proof of a major source of income.
Ultimately, Capone’s activities, including the Valentine’s Day Massacre, attracted the attention of President Herbert Hoover. In March, 1929, Hoover asked Andrew Mellon, his secretary of the Treasury, "Have you got this fellow Al-Capone yet? I want that man in jail."
Mellon set out to get the necessary evidence both to prove income tax evasion and to accumulate enough evidence to prosecute Capone magnificently for Prohibition violations.
Eliot Ness a vigorous young agent with the U.S. Prohibition Bureau was charged with collecting the evidence of Prohibition violations.
He accumulated a team of daring young men and made extensive use of wiretapping technology. While there was doubt that Capone could be effectively prosecuted for Prohibition violations in Chicago, the government was certain it could get Capone on tax evasion.
In May 1929, Al- Capone attended to a "gangster" conference in Atlantic City. Then he saw a movie in Philadelphia. At the time of leaving the cinema, he was arrested and imprisoned for carrying a hidden weapon.
Al was soon imprisoned in the Eastern Prison, where he stayed until March 16, 1930. Later he was released from jail for good behavior, but was put on the America's "Most Wanted" list, which publicly disgraced a mobster who so frantically wanted to be regarded as a worthy man of the people.
Elmer Irey undertook a cunning strategy to use undercover agents posing as hoods to investigate Al- Capone's organization. The operation took nerves of steel. Though an informer ending up with a bullet in his head before he could testify, Elmer managed to accrue adequate evidence through his investigators posing as mobsters to try Al-Capone in front of a jury.
With two vital bookkeepers, Leslie Shumway and Fred Reis, who had once been in Al-Capone's employment, now safely under police protection, it was only a matter of time before Capone's days as Public Enemy No. 1 were concluded.
Agent Eliot Ness, infuriated by Capone for the murder of a friend, managed to enrage Capone by exposing Prohibition violations to ruin his bootlegging industry. Millions of dollars of brewing equipment was seized or damaged, thousands of gallons of beer and alcohol had been dumped and the biggest breweries were closed.
On March 13, 1931, a federal grand jury met surreptitiously on the government's claim that in 1924 Al- Capone had a tax liability of $32,488.81. The jury returned an indictment against Capone that was kept undisclosed until the investigation was complete for the years 1925 to 1929.
On October 6, 1931, 14 investigators escorted Capone to the Federal Court Building. He was dressed in a conservative blue serge suit and was without his usual pinkie ring and gaudy jewelry. It was inevitable that Capone's henchmen procured a list of jury members to bribe, but unbeknownst to Capone, the authorities had been aware of the plot.
When Judge Wilkinson entered the courtroom, he suddenly demanded that the jury be exchanged with another in the same building. Al- Capone and his lawyer were upset. The fresh jury was even confiscated at night so that the Capone mob couldn't get to them.
Here is a video that shows Capone's tax evasion case.
During the trial, Attorney George E. Q. Johnson made a ridicule of Al-Capone's claim to be a
"Robin Hood" figure and man of the people. He stressed the act of a man who would spend thousands of dollars on meals and luxuries but give little hypocrisy to the poor and unemployed.
They queried regarding the source of income of Capone’s possess so much property, vehicles, even diamond belt, buckles. On October 17, 1931, after nine hours of discussion, on the jury found Capone guilty of several counts of tax evasion. Judge Wilkerson sentenced Al-Capone to 11 years in prison, $50,000 in fines, and court costs of another $30,000. Bail was denied.
Capone continued to expand his bootlegging empire. In a word, he met the immense demand for alcohol (almost all adults drank bootleg alcohol during Prohibition) with an equally large supply (Bergreen, 529).
On a trip to New York to have his son's chronic ear infections treated with surgery, Capone met with his old accomplice Frankie Yale to ensure the purchase of a large quantity of Canadian Scotch whiskey. Throughout the next years, Capone met with increasing pressure from law enforcement agencies and from outside crime operations.
He continued to expand his empire outside of the realm of bootlegging to insure that he would have a profit-base if Prohibition was ever rescinded. The violence reached a peak of epic proportions on Valentine's Day, 1924. Capone and his friend Jack McGurn planned an assassination attempt on Bugs Moran, who had tried to murder McGurn twice.
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| Al Scarface Capone Brief History Part 2 |
The plan seemed to go off without a hitch--Capone's men, dressed as police officers and lined a group of bootleggers they assumed to contain Moran against a wall, as if they were conducting a raid. The two "officers" ran machine guns at the men and led two of Capone's men off the site as if they were captured bootleggers. Unfortunately, Bugs Moran wasn't in the group.
Somewhat ironically, it was the pen pushers from the tax office who were to pose the greatest threat to the gangsters' bootlegging empires. In May 1927, the Supreme Court ruled that a bootlegger had to pay income tax on his prohibited bootlegging trade.
With such a ruling, it wasn't long before the petty Special Intelligence Unit of the IRS under Elmer Irey was capable to go after Al Capone. Al left for Miami with his wife & son and bought Palm Island estate, a property that he instantly started to renovate expensively.
This gave Elmer Irey his opportunity to document Capone's income and spending. But Capone was cunning. Each transaction he made was on a cash basis. The only exception was the tangible property of the Palm Island estate, which was proof of a major source of income.
Ultimately, Capone’s activities, including the Valentine’s Day Massacre, attracted the attention of President Herbert Hoover. In March, 1929, Hoover asked Andrew Mellon, his secretary of the Treasury, "Have you got this fellow Al-Capone yet? I want that man in jail."
Mellon set out to get the necessary evidence both to prove income tax evasion and to accumulate enough evidence to prosecute Capone magnificently for Prohibition violations.
Eliot Ness a vigorous young agent with the U.S. Prohibition Bureau was charged with collecting the evidence of Prohibition violations.
He accumulated a team of daring young men and made extensive use of wiretapping technology. While there was doubt that Capone could be effectively prosecuted for Prohibition violations in Chicago, the government was certain it could get Capone on tax evasion.
In May 1929, Al- Capone attended to a "gangster" conference in Atlantic City. Then he saw a movie in Philadelphia. At the time of leaving the cinema, he was arrested and imprisoned for carrying a hidden weapon.
Al was soon imprisoned in the Eastern Prison, where he stayed until March 16, 1930. Later he was released from jail for good behavior, but was put on the America's "Most Wanted" list, which publicly disgraced a mobster who so frantically wanted to be regarded as a worthy man of the people.
Elmer Irey undertook a cunning strategy to use undercover agents posing as hoods to investigate Al- Capone's organization. The operation took nerves of steel. Though an informer ending up with a bullet in his head before he could testify, Elmer managed to accrue adequate evidence through his investigators posing as mobsters to try Al-Capone in front of a jury.
With two vital bookkeepers, Leslie Shumway and Fred Reis, who had once been in Al-Capone's employment, now safely under police protection, it was only a matter of time before Capone's days as Public Enemy No. 1 were concluded.
Agent Eliot Ness, infuriated by Capone for the murder of a friend, managed to enrage Capone by exposing Prohibition violations to ruin his bootlegging industry. Millions of dollars of brewing equipment was seized or damaged, thousands of gallons of beer and alcohol had been dumped and the biggest breweries were closed.
On March 13, 1931, a federal grand jury met surreptitiously on the government's claim that in 1924 Al- Capone had a tax liability of $32,488.81. The jury returned an indictment against Capone that was kept undisclosed until the investigation was complete for the years 1925 to 1929.
On October 6, 1931, 14 investigators escorted Capone to the Federal Court Building. He was dressed in a conservative blue serge suit and was without his usual pinkie ring and gaudy jewelry. It was inevitable that Capone's henchmen procured a list of jury members to bribe, but unbeknownst to Capone, the authorities had been aware of the plot.
When Judge Wilkinson entered the courtroom, he suddenly demanded that the jury be exchanged with another in the same building. Al- Capone and his lawyer were upset. The fresh jury was even confiscated at night so that the Capone mob couldn't get to them.
Here is a video that shows Capone's tax evasion case.
During the trial, Attorney George E. Q. Johnson made a ridicule of Al-Capone's claim to be a
"Robin Hood" figure and man of the people. He stressed the act of a man who would spend thousands of dollars on meals and luxuries but give little hypocrisy to the poor and unemployed.
They queried regarding the source of income of Capone’s possess so much property, vehicles, even diamond belt, buckles. On October 17, 1931, after nine hours of discussion, on the jury found Capone guilty of several counts of tax evasion. Judge Wilkerson sentenced Al-Capone to 11 years in prison, $50,000 in fines, and court costs of another $30,000. Bail was denied.
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