THE REAL AL CAPONE

Nearly eight decades after his death, Alphonse Capone remains the most notorious mobster of all time, thanks in part to film and TV. But who was the man behind the myth? A gripping new book takes a deep dive into Prohibition-era Chicago to reveal the truth

- Otto English

ON a freezing January afternoon in 1927, a group of journalists gathered outside a respectable looking house on Prairie Avenue in downtown Chicago and, presumably with some trepidation, knocked on the door. The premises were home to a certain Al “Scarface” Capone who, at just 29, sat at the head of the Southside Outfit, the most ruthless and powerful organised crime gang in Prohibition America.

Capone’s enemies had the unfortunate habit of ending up in the hospital, the morgue, or at the bottom of Lake Michigan. To get on the wrong side of him was very foolish indeed. But Capone could also defy expectations, as I discovered while researching my new book, Notorious: History’s Villains and Why They Matter.

And as the journalists stood, stamping their feet in the winter chill, they were stunned when he appeared in front of them dressed in slippers and a pink apron, clutching a wooden spoon. Having invited them in, they were led to a dining room where, over a slap-up meal of fine wines and pasta, cooked by Capone himself, the mob boss held court.

Capone loved to share his opinions on subjects as diverse as baseball, opera, the plight of the poor and the role of “proper history” in public schools. Sounding every inch the populist politician, he declared that he was no villain but a regular guy who gave the public what they wanted in the face of a bad law.

Most of all, he stressed that he did not have time for violence, for the simple reason it was bad for business. By the time the journalists stumbled out into the street several hours later, Scarface had been transformed Cinderella-like into a witty and urbane latterday Robin Hood.

In later life, Capone would regret having courted the press and thus made the fatal error of drawing attention to himself, but from that bizarre press conference in January 1927, he became easily the most famous gangster in the world.

It had all begun very differently.