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| Al Capone |
He dominated organized crime in Chicago for almost a decade in the 1920s. At the height of his power Capone employed over 1,000 gunmen and half the cops in the city were on his payroll.
Yet, by the end of his life he was a shell of his former self. He had been reduced to living in a state of constant fear. He believed that the ghost of one of his many victims had come back to haunt him—others point to a mental illness as the cause for this deterioration.
Alphonse Capone was born in Brooklyn, he was the son of Italian immigrants. He moved to Chicago to be a friend’s bodyguard. This friend, Johnny Torrio was head of a crime syndicate that supplied alcohol during the Prohibition Era.
By the age of 26 Capone had become a prominent crime boss in Chicago. He used bribery and intimidation to influence local political elections and violence and murder to insure his illegal businesses thrived.
The notorious Saint Valentine’s Day slaughter in 1929 was ordered by Capone to get rid of a rival Irish bootlegging gang—known as the North Side Gang.
Capone was conveniently in Florida at the time so he and the men he sent to do these murders were never accused of this crime.
In May of 1929, Capone was convicted on a lesser charge—carrying a weapon on a trip to Philadelphia. He was sentenced to a prison term at Eastern State Penitentiary.
His cell reflected his power and influence. He had a comfortable bed as opposed to a cement slab. Oil paintings hung on the wall, a state of the art radio sat against one wall along with other fine furnishings.
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| Capone’s cell at Eastern State |
But Capone’s stay was not to be comfortable. It was not long before this tough guy’s piercing screams were heard every night. He was also heard begging for “Jimmy to let him alone.”
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| Jimmy’s body is one on right against the wall. |
Jimmy was James Clark or his real name—Albert Kachellek. He was second in command of of the North Side Gang run by George Moran. He was shot down with 6 others in cold blood during the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre. Capone believed Jimmy’s ghost was haunting him to exact revenge.
After 6 months Capone was released. Members of his gang believed this ghost continued to torment their boss.
It wasn’t long before Capone was convicted on tax evasion and was sent to Atlanta US Penitentiary and then Alcatraz for a combined 11 years. Jimmy’s ghost followed him into these prisons. In fact, this ghost terrorized him until his death in 1947.
After 6 and half years in Alcatraz, Capone was released only to be put in a mental hospital in Baltimore. He was held there for 3 more years.
Some believe that Capone’s problem was just mental illness and not a ghost. At the age of 20, he had worked in a brothel as a bouncer. He contracted syphilis. He never had this disease treated.
It eventually turned into an advanced case of neurosyphilis, which led to Capone having dementia.
It should be noted here that Capone claimed to see Jimmy’s ghost way before he lost his mind.
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| Capone’s gravesite |
By 1946, one physician who examined Capone said he had the mental capacity of a 12-year old. If Capone was tormented by Jimmy’s ghost will never be known but despite his life of crime he was and is considered a celebrity.
Even today, people leave offerings of booze, cigars and flowers on his grave at Carmel Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois.
Even today, people leave offerings of booze, cigars and flowers on his grave at Carmel Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois.
