Al Capone is a name pretty much everybody knows given that he was the most famous prohibition gangster of them all. Booze, brothels, gambling, and racketeering; Scarface had a hand in everything. We all know the story. A nobody who rose up to become the most powerful man in Chicago, wielding power through intimidation, bribes, and straight up charm. Thanks to his numerous donations and charities, he was considered by many as a modern day Robin Hood, at least until he had the balls to have seven of his rivals murdered in broad daylight in what became known as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. However, even then it was widely thought that no police or federal officer could take him down. Which was technically true, since it was the IRS that finally busted him for the less than sexy crime of not paying his taxes. Important lesson everybody, the IRS doesn't care how you make your money, just as long you pay your taxes. After seven years on top of the world, old Al was convicted and sent to prison. That's the story we all know, but what happened to him after that?
Capone was only 33 years old when he went to prison in 1931. The first jail he was sent to was the U.S. penitentiary in Atlanta. It was there that doctors discovered Capone’s little secret. No, not that you pervert, though close. Capone had syphilis. He also had gonorrhea and a cocaine addiction, but the syphilis is really the one to concentrate on. So what you might say, I've had syphilis five times and all you need is a little shot. Well guess what bucko, the antibiotics that so easily cure syphilis today weren't around back then. About the only treatment modern medical science could offer was taking pills made of mercury or arsenic, both of which had severe side effects and did little to impede the overall progress of the disease. Al had gotten syphilis at age 18 after sleeping with a hooker. The Atlanta jail offered to treat him, but Capone refused.
Jail was not an easy time for Capone. He was given a job stitching soles on shoes, which he was rather good at, but faced almost constant attack by petty thugs looking to make a name for themselves. Outside, Al was a powerful crime boss. Inside, he was a weak willed nearly illiterate man who was the perfect target for bullies. Several men on the inside worked to protect him, likely due to pay outs from his outside associates, but this just caused further problems as members of the public began to complain that the crime boss was getting special treatment. To combat these rumors, Capone was sent to a brand new state of the art prison in 1934, a little place known as Alcatraz.
Alcatraz was built to provide the hardest prison time imaginable. Everything was kept to a regimented routine, no talking was allowed, and any infraction resulted in time in solitary confinement. In Alcatraz, Capone was bullied even more, and rigid rules wore him down. In 1936, another inmate stabbed him. After that Capone wouldn't even go out into the yard, preferring to stay inside where he spent his time learning the banjo.
As syphilis rotted away his brain, the world's greatest crime boss began to go downhill fairly quickly. Sometimes Al would refuse to leave his cell, even to eat, passing the time by making and unmaking his bed. Other times he would spend hours crouched in a corner like an animal, mumbling in baby talk. The warden and guards thought Capone was just being an asshole, so they sent him to solitary confinement over and over. This did little to help the situation. Capone began spending long periods of time just staring at the wall, drooling, and grinning like an idiot. While at times he was completely lucid, such moments happened less and less. Eventually he could do little on his own beyond strumming a few tunes on the banjo.
Finally taking pity on what was left of Capone, the federal government transferred him to an easier prison in 1939, and then granted him early release due to his failing health in 1941. Capone’s family and friends took him in and did their best to hide the truth. His old associates gave him a secluded house in Miami, where they kept a close eye on him in case in his foggy state he started spouting off any secrets. Al spent the remainder of his days in that house, sitting by the pool in his pajamas, smoking cigars, with a useless fishing pole in his hands. Sometimes he’d try to play rummy. His friends always let him win. Eventually he began having tremors and seizures. He became paranoid that the mob was going to kill him. Doctor’s declared he had the mental faculties of a dimwitted twelve year old boy. Al Capone died in 1947, he was 48 years old.
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