In the early 1900’s the streets of downtown Brooklyn were filled with crime and young Al was exposed to the harsh realities of violence and corruption. He father died when he was only fourteen years of age, and he would drop out of school to join a tough youth gang. One of his early mentors during this period was Johnny Torrio, a prominent New York crime mogul.

Johnny Torrio

Torrio was an important role model for Al during his youth. The young Capone frequently ran errands for Torrio, and in turn, he was compensated generously. In Lawrence Bergreen’s exceptional biography of Capone, the author describes Torrio’s influence and mentorship:

Torrio was above all, a peacemaker; he had no bodyguard, carried no weapon, and always spoke in soft, measured tones. He considered himself a businessman, not a gang leader, and he conducted his rackets in a businesslike way... From Torrio he [Capone] learned the importance of leading an outwardly respectable life, to segregate his career from his home life, as if maintaining a peaceful, conventional domestic setting somehow excused or legitimized the venality of working in the rackets... It was a form of hypocrisy that was second nature to Johnny Torrio and that he taught Capone to honor. 

But despite his early links to organized crime circles, Capone was extremely popular with almost everyone who knew him. He was considered a respectful man, a capable leader and guardian of the families in his neighborhood. He was not a typical ruffian. In the early years, he helped support his family by taking on legitimate employment; once working in a bookbinding factory as well as a pinsetter in a bowling alley.

A Capone “family” gathering in Chicago Heights in 1926. Pictured top, left to right: Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn, Frank “The Enforcer” Nitti, Charley Fischetti, Ralph “Bottles” Capone, Rocco Fischetti. Bottom left to right: Frank La Porte, Capone’s Goddaughter Vera Emery, Al Capone, Sam “Golf Bag” Hunt, and Jim Emery.

Frankie Yale

Capone’s first invitation to join a formalized crime ring came from gangster Frankie Yale, the owner of a Coney Island bar called the Harvard Inn. Johnny Torrio had recommended Capone to Yale. By design, the Harvard Inn was Brooklyn’s preeminent platform for organized crime. Capone was versatile and loyal, and he would quickly develop a strong camaraderie with Yale. Frankie Yale was a resourceful and violent man who flourished by using strong-arm tactics, and he would become another mentor for Capone. Other historians have noted that Yale was involved in a multitude of illegal rackets, which included receiving a sizable flow of illegal “tax money” for protecting local businesses from harassment by other crime networks.

It was also at Yale’s club that Capone would receive the famous scar that later became his abhorrent trademark. Frank Gallucio was a smalltime New York crime figure who frequented the Harvard Inn. On one particular evening, Capone reportedly made an advance to Gallucio’s younger sister. His suggestive comments instigated a violent fight, during which Gallucio pulled a knife and inflicted a deep laceration on Capone’s left cheek. The bloody altercation would leave a permanent scar on Capone and he was forced to make amends with Yale’s associates. Some accounts indicate that famed gangster Lucky Lucania was brought in to mediate and help maintain peaceful relations between the “families.”  Lucania scheduled an after-hours truce meeting, and Gallucio and Capone were forced to sit at a table and calmly reconcile their differences.

It was during this period, in early 1918, that young Al met and fell in love with Mae Coughlin, a beautiful middle-class Irish girl. She was two years older than Al, and while it is unknown exactly how and where they met, their courtship was brief. On December 4, 1918, Albert “Sonny” Francis Capone was born and his birth was followed only three and a half weeks later by Al and Mae’s formal wedding. Sonny’s Godfather would be none other than Al’s old friend and mentor, Johnny Torrio.

After the birth of his son, Capone took legitimate employment with a construction firm as a bookkeeper. It is unclear why he took this job. Many historians speculate that he used this time to learn the mechanics of running a viable business. Whatever the case, he continued to maintain strong ties to Yale and Torrio. In November of 1920, the Capone family suffered a terrible blow when Al’s father Gabriele had a fatal heart attack at only fifty-five years of age. His death would mark the turning point for young Al as he would suddenly become the family’s main support, in terms of both income and moral guidance.

“Big Jim” Colosimo

Jim Colosimo’s nightclub, where Al Capone learned to navigate the treacherous politics of the underground.

Johnny Torrio had relocated to Chicago nearly ten years earlier to manage saloon-brothel rackets under “Big Jim” Colosimo. Colosimo was a tall, heavyset entrepreneur who owned and operated Colosimo’s Cafe, one of the most popular and profitable nightclubs in the area, just south of downtown Chicago. Colosimo’s wife Victoria Moresco was also a principle player and she ran a highly lucrative brothel behind the backdoors of the nightclub. Friction arose between Torrio and Colosimo when the Prohibition Law was passed in January of 1920. With smalltime bootleggers springing up throughout Chicago, Torrio saw an opportunity to expand his operations. Prostitution remained as the central business of organized crime in Chicago, and Big Jim Colosimo simply rejected the idea of expanding into other lines. As Torrio cultivated his business, Colosimo became more resistant and more of a hindrance to his activities.

In early 1920, Torrio recruited young Capone to come to Chicago and help him build his empire. He offered Capone a $25,000 annual salary, with percentage profits from the bootlegging business. Capone would start to prepare for his new job even before relocating. Al sought out the assistance of his Brooklyn mentor Frankie Yale, to permanently end the resistance of “Big Jim.”  On May 11, 1920, Colosimo was shot to death inside his nightclub, presumably by Yale. His funeral would draw over 5,000 mourners and Torrio publicly grieved his death, possibly to counter suspicion.

Capone arrived in Chicago in 1921, bringing his entire family with him. Torrio and Capone progressively built a powerful crime syndicate that would monopolize the entire bootlegging trade in Chicago. The two men found themselves presiding over an immense empire of gangsters, which kept illegal liquor flowing in and around Chicago by paying off the local politicians and police. By 1927 it was estimated that the two men were averaging a massive $240 million in annual revenues from their gangland rackets.

By this period, Capone had now mastered the art of politics and although he was already a wealthy, powerful gangland figure, he also attempted to balance his activities. Despite his illegitimate occupation, he had become a highly visible public personality. He made daily trips to city hall, opened soup kitchens to feed the poor, and even lobbied for milk bottle dating to ensure the safety of the city’s children. City officials often were embarrassed by Capone’s political strength, so they began leveraging his illegal activities. Police raids and even intentional fires at his places of business were no match for Capone’s supremacy.