Summary

Al Capone, most notorious gangster in American history, was born to Italian immigrant parents in Brooklyn, New York, in 1899. He was given the nickname Scarface as a young hoodlum after being cut in the face during an altercation. (His friends, however, called him Snorky, which means elegant.) As a member of New York's Five Points Gang, Capone went west to serve as muscle for Chicago crime boss "Big Jim" Colosimo. When Colosimo was murdered, Capone's friend Johnny Torrio took over as Chicago's top mobster, and when Torrio barely survived an assassination attempt, he fled Chicago and left Capone in charge. The fortunes to be made from alcohol sales during Prohibition led Capone on a vicious campaign to elim...
Al Capone, most notorious gangster in American history, was born to Italian immigrant parents in Brooklyn, New York, in 1899. He was given the nickname Scarface as a young hoodlum after being cut in the face during an altercation. (His friends, however, called him Snorky, which means elegant.) As a member of New York's Five Points Gang, Capone went west to serve as muscle for Chicago crime boss "Big Jim" Colosimo. When Colosimo was murdered, Capone's friend Johnny Torrio took over as Chicago's top mobster, and when Torrio barely survived an assassination attempt, he fled Chicago and left Capone in charge. The fortunes to be made from alcohol sales during Prohibition led Capone on a vicious campaign to eliminate his competition. Capone's reign of murders culminated in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929. He often avoided conviction through jury tampering and witness intimidation, but he was finally brought to justice in 1931 on charges of federal income tax evasion. After seven and a half years in prison, Capone was freed in 1938 as his syphilis grew worse. He died in 1947.
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124 items on Al Capone
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Panel: Banks aid tax evaders
Associated PressGENEVA — A U.S. Senate subcommittee accused banks in Switzerland and Liechtenstein of helping wealthy Americans evade billions in taxes each year and urged the establishment of tougher laws to combat offshore tax havens around the world. In a...Tags: Internal Revenue Service, State Budgets, Carl Levin, Financial Markets
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Drug lord Pablo Escobar's ranch becomes theme park
McClatchy NewspapersThe scavengers have come and gone. The lookout tower sentries have disappeared. The main house lies in ruins. And adorning one decrepit wall are three photos of the ranch's former owner and infamous drug lord. One was said to be Pablo Escobar's...Tags: Adolf Hitler, Animals, Tourism and Leisure, Corporations, Theme Park Vacations
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MC in Calif., but work filled with Chicago tales
Special to the Chicago TribuneAlthough Phashara recently relocated to Santa Clarita, Calif., and bills himself as a resident of Planet B-Boy on his MySpace site, the MC still considers Chicago his real home. For this reason, the 34-year-old is excited by his latest homecoming, a...Tags: MySpace, Venice, Rakim, Teen-agers, Santa Clarita (Los Angeles, California)
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Chain O' Lakes facts and figures
•Originally home to Native Americans, French explorers came to the Chain O' Lakes in the 1600s. •Stretching from the Wisconsin border, through Lake County and into McHenry County, the Chain O' Lakes includes nine main lakes and several... -
Chicago, city of broad strictures
Chicago's grit is the stuff of legend. The city's hard-scrabble history conjures images of wind-beaten dock hands; rugged immigrants working punishing factory jobs; and 500 acres of slaughterhouses and their hard-time killing floors.
At the same time,...Tags: Second City, Gun Control, Interior Policy, Restaurant and Catering Industry, Carl Sandburg
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Bay area entertainment
On the Yankees beatSometimes when you think of ballplayers' leisure time on road trips, the tendency is to think of restaurants, shopping and perhaps a late night drink or two. The Yankees (or some of them at least) went for more educational and......Tags: Mariano Rivera, Dwayne Johnson
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The Chicago Way: Obama does Connery
The Swampby James Oliphant For the mini-furor touched off by Barack Obama's remarks in Philadelphia Friday about bringing a gun to a knife fight, it's sort of amazing how few have passed upon what was so obviously his source material.......Tags: Sean Connery, Barack Obama, John McCain, Kevin Costner
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The destructive, twisted values of thug culture
You've heard of résumé inflation? You've heard of people who lie about having Ph.D.s or Ivy League pedigrees in order to get ahead? The world of thug culture has its own perverse equivalent, in which middle-class men with minor legal transgressions...Tags: Punishment, James Frey, Culture, Tony Soprano, Prisons
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Mission: Possible
Sun ReporterFugitive capture 986, which occurred four days after the man's image and violent rap sheet were broadcast throughout the nation March 22, was sure to bring a good night's rest to some crime-weary residents in Northeast Baltimore. As John Walsh spoke...Tags: Punishment, Government, George Bush, Kidnapping, Hollywood (Broward, Florida)
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National Museum of Crime and Punishment opening in D.C.
Los Angeles Times Staff WriterWashington, D.C. America's fascination with crime will take a new turn Friday -- opening day for the National Museum of Crime and Punishment. In film classics such as "Little Caesar" and "Dial M for Murder" and today's TV staples of "CSI" and "Law &...Tags: Punishment, Hollywood (Broward, Florida), Laws, Museum of Natural History, Hollywood (Los Angeles, California)
Jul 17, 2008
|Story| Chicago Tribune
Jul 2, 2008
|Story| Chicago Tribune
Jul 4, 2008
|Story| Chicago Tribune
Jul 2, 2008
|Story| Chicago Tribune
Jun 28, 2008
|Story| Chicago Tribune
Jun 12, 2008
|Blog| Newsday
Jun 16, 2008
|Blog| Chicago Tribune
May 6, 2008
|Story| Baltimore Sun
Apr 28, 2008
|Story| Baltimore Sun
May 18, 2008
|Story| Los Angeles Times
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