Police "Pedigree" Document for Alphonse Capone

Al Capone 1899-1947
Born Brooklyn, New York

Al Capone-"Scarface"-the most notorious gangster of the 1920s, was a bootlegger in Chicago, a city whose violent "beer wars" during prohibition made it the symbol of organized crime in America. Capone's flamboyance-custom-made suits, expensive cigars, bodyguards, and armor-plated Cadillac-along with his dominating personality and violent temper, made him a leader among the city's gangsters and played to the public fascination with crime figures. Capone's men perpetrated the famous St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929. He attracted considerable press and the attention of President Herbert Hoover, who instructed federal agents to put him in jail. This photograph was taken by the New York police after Capone was apprehended in connection with a shooting. An arrest for carrying a concealed weapon, followed by a conviction for income tax evasion, brought his criminal career to an end at the age of thirty-two.