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I'm an educator, and I'm also a parent. As with any parent, you want to empower your children with knowledge and support them so they can succeed, now and in the future. But each of my kids are different, and they each learn in different ways.
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We'll be back next week, of course, continuing our romp through the roaring 20s. But in the meanwhile, I want to introduce you to a podcast made by my friends over at Airship who do the sound design for HTDS. They're also the studio behind American Criminal, a new true crime history podcast that takes you inside the minds of some of our most notorious felons and outlaws exploring the dark side of the American dream, including Al Capone.
We spent a little time with Al, aka Scarface, in episode 160. But American Criminals got five whole episodes on Scarface, if you're ready for more. They've also got stories about Lyle and Eric Mendez, who brutally shot their own parents in 1989, the 1985 Salt Lake City bombings, or, more recently, the story of Crypto King fraudster Sam Bankman Freed.
But right now, here's a little taste from episode one of American Criminal's series on Al Capone. To listen to the full episode or others, go to AmericanCriminal.com or search for and follow American Criminal wherever you get your podcasts. It's 1929 and Chicago is a city ruled by vice, a place where the streets regularly run red with blood.
But today, there's crimson in the windows and flowers in the stores. It's Valentine's Day in the Windy City. Light flurries of snow tumble through the sky as Albert Wineshank hustles through Lincoln Park, one of Chicago's working-class neighborhoods.
The 35-year-old mobster is hurrying to meet his colleagues at a discreet garage. Their boss, Bugs Moran, has scored a shipment of old log cabin whiskey, and everyone is expected to be there when the deal goes down. Even Moran himself is supposed to show his face today, because the seller has insisted on him being there to close the deal.
Checking his watch, Weinshank picks up the pace. He dashes across a slushy street, ignoring traffic. Then he turns a corner and approaches the garage. He slides open the heavy metal door and steps inside. The garage is barely warmer than it is outside, and the air reeks of gasoline and exhaust. A radio plays feebly, the snowy weather playing havoc with the receptions.
And under a single grimy light bulb, the gang's mechanic, Johnny May, makes some repairs to a truck. His dog, Highball, sits beside him, his tail thumping on the cold concrete. Milling around the garage are five other men. They all turn at the sound of Weinshank's entrance, expecting to see their boss stroll in ready to complete the deal. And at first glance, a couple of them mistake Weinshank for Moran.
The two have a similar look, but realizing who it is, they relax, ribbing Weinshank for trying to copy the boss's fashion sense. But Weinshank's resemblance to Moran is no laughing matter. After all, Moran is a wanted man. Highball's ears go up and he barks protectively, right before the heavy garage door opens once more. Two cops walk into the dim space.
Behind them, a couple of guys in plainclothes. And all of them are armed. Shotguns and tongs. Someone turns off the radio. The new arrivals announce that they're here to stop an illegal shipment of whiskey. Then the cops order everyone to line up against the wall so they can be cuffed and taken in for questioning.
Weinshank and the other gangsters do as they're told, but they're not worried. With the gang's connections on the force, they won't be in custody long. Unfortunately, in this one instance, resisting arrest might have been the better idea. Because while their backs are turned and they raise their hands, they don't see the cops raise their guns. The gangsters fall where they stand.
As Albert Weinshank breathes out his last ragged breaths, his blood spills onto the floor, turning the barely lit concrete a dark valentine red. This message is sponsored by Greenlight.
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From Airship, I'm Jeremy Schwartz, and this is American Criminal. By the time of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, the gangs of Chicago had enjoyed almost a decade of spectacular profits. Prohibition had been in effect since the beginning of 1920, making it illegal to produce or sell alcohol throughout the country. The law might have changed in America.
But Americans hadn't. Booze was still big business, nowhere more so than in Chicago. People were willing to pay high prices for drinks served in illicit speakeasies and so-called soda parlors. That made alcohol smuggling incredibly lucrative. Of course, it also made it incredibly competitive.
For years, it was a never-ending, deadly game of one-upmanship, as mob bosses tried to prove they were the top dog in Chicago. By 1929, however, there was no doubting who Chicago's big fella was. Al Capone sat at the head of an operation spanning every vice and racket in the city. He ran his outfit with an iron fist and a dead-eyed smile, and he seemed untouchable.
But although he enjoyed a level of celebrity many can only dream about, Capone had his fair share of enemies in Chicago and beyond. While he built his own twisted version of the American dream, he'd attracted a rogue's gallery of foes who all wanted a bite of organized crime's top dog.
Like castles made of sand, Capone's empire couldn't last forever. And the fallout from the St. Valentine's Day Massacre was just the first in a series of waves that would knock down everything Capone had spent his life building. This is the first episode in our four-part series about Al Capone, the man they called Scarface. It's 1895 and the U.S. Immigration offices on Ellis Island, New York Harbor.
In a vaulted hall, hundreds of newly arrived migrants line up to complete their paperwork. The room is a cacophonous symphony of different languages, crying babies, and the dull thud and shuffle of luggage. Among those waiting in line is an exhausted young couple from Italy. 29-year-old Gabriele Capone's arms are full of battered suitcases. His wife, Teresa, keeps a firm grip on their two young sons.
Around them, hundreds of immigrants stand in line. Trepidation writ upon every face. The exhausting journey across the Atlantic took its toll, but the Capones know that it was worth it, will be worth it. Gabriele is a skilled baker and pasta maker. He's sure he'll do well in America. Like so many other Europeans, the Capones have heard about the boundless opportunities the United States has to offer.
Gabriele and Teresa are determined to show their children that if you work hard, anything is possible. Hours drag on and the Capones edge closer to the exit. Finally, all that stands between them and their new life in America is one man and a stamp.
Nervous for this final hurdle, Gabriele takes the lead, handing over their passports with a shaky smile. The immigration officer barely looks at the documents before he slams the stamp down onto the paper. After months of planning and saving and worrying, it's done.
The officer jerks a thumb over his shoulder, pointing the Capones to the doors directly behind him. Gathering up their luggage, Gabriele leads his family through the doors, out of the building and into America. The Capones come to the States with the best of intentions, but the family's life won't shake out like they imagined.
These two decent, hardworking immigrants will raise one of the most famous criminals in American history. Al Capone isn't yet born when his family makes the long journey from Italy. But as his parents begin their new life in America, they'll unknowingly set their son on the path to becoming a legend of the underworld. Brooklyn in the late 19th century defines the term ethnic melting pot.
It's already crowded with European families, fresh off the boat and eager to make good on what America has promised them. So finding a place to live is hard for the Capones. But by the end of 1895, the young family is settled into a tenement amongst other Italians near Brooklyn's Navy Yards. It's not uncommon for new arrivals to have to squash into overcrowded housing, but it's certainly not pleasant.
Conditions for immigrants are rough in New York. The city's rapidly expanding and there aren't enough jobs to go around. Despite his training in the culinary arts, Gabriele struggles to find work during his first couple of years in America. Luckily, he's not the home sole breadwinner. Like many women in her community, Teresa is determined to help elevate her family out of poverty.
So she picks up piecework for garment factories, which she can do from home while raising their children. Meanwhile, Gabriele leaves pasta-making behind and retrains as a barber. Eventually, the family move into a small apartment above his brand-new storefront. It's there, on January 17, 1899, that Alphonse Gabriele Capone is born.
It's a mixed upbringing for the young Al Capone. At home with his parents and siblings, he sticks to Italian. But out on the crowded streets of Brooklyn, playing alongside children of other immigrants, he speaks English. And Capone will always identify as an American. Later in life, he'll bristle whenever someone calls him Italian or even Italian-American.
Till the day he dies, he'll firmly correct people by saying, "I'm no Italian. I was born in Brooklyn." That strong sense of self radiates from Capone, even as a youngster. By eight, he's gained a reputation for being a fierce fighter. He's big for his age, and with a temper to match, few of his schoolmates dare to cross him. But Capone isn't some mindless thug.
He's a smart kid with a particular knack for numbers. Other poor parents in Brooklyn force their children to leave school early so they can get a job, start contributing an income. But Gabriele and Teresa can see their son has some brains on him. Although money is tight in the Capone household, they encourage him to continue his education as long as possible. And Capone does well at the local Catholic school. When he shows up...
And that's increasingly the problem. As Capone gets older, he'd rather run around the streets with other hooligans like his older brothers than sit behind a desk at school. Eventually, he'll skip so many days that he fails out of the sixth grade. After that, at the age of around 12, Capone decides he's had enough book learning.
His disappointed parents insist that if Capone isn't at school, he'll at least have to work to earn his keep. Some accounts have him working in a candy store. Others say he set up pens in a bowling alley. What seems certain is that sometime around 1913, Gabriel brings home a shoeshine box for his teenage son. He hopes to ignite an entrepreneurial spirit in the boy. And the plan works.
just not in the way Gabriele imagined. The 14-year-old Capone sets up his shoeshine box in the heart of Brooklyn, a couple of blocks away from the waterfront at the intersection of Union and Columbia. All around him, busy locals go about their lives, shopping at the stores and buying from street vendors. It's the perfect place for an enterprising shoeshine boy to make a killing. Capone's a confident kid and makes a persuasive salesman.
But on those first few days, he does so well that it's not long before other boys are flocking to the intersection with shoeshine boxes of their own. Capone doesn't like the competition. He'd rather work smart than hard. But as he offers his shoeshine services on the crowded streets, Capone can't help noticing the activities of a local Sicilian gang.
Muscle thugs go from store to store, demanding protection payments from businesses of all sizes. It's clearly good money. And with the number of shoeshine boys around him growing, Capone's mind starts ticking over. He does the math and comes up with a new business plan.
Inspired by the gangsters, Capone starts shaking down the other shoeshine boys in the area, insisting that they pay him for quote-unquote protection. Capone by himself is intimidating enough for a teenager, but he doesn't act alone. For enforcers, he enlists other kids, thereby keeping his hands clean.
Before long, the 14-year-old has a sizable group of youngsters reporting to him as part of the racket, which they call the South Brooklyn Rippers. Capone's making a tidy little income, but his setup eventually catches the attention of the full-fledged gang leaders in the area, who strongly suggest that the kids knock it off.
The seed has been planted, however. Honest work for honest pay doesn't sound so appealing to young Capone anymore. And over the next couple of years, Capone will leave the Shoeshine Boys behind and join with an established gang across the water in Manhattan. At first, he runs around with a group of small-time crooks. But his antics with them soon catch the eye of a far more sophisticated criminal.
Even today, many consider Johnny Torrio to be the smartest gangster America has ever seen. He will prove to be the most important role model in Capone's life. Born in Italy, Torrio traveled to the United States as a child in 1882. And like Capone, he displayed an early talent for criminal enterprise.
After leading a street gang of his own as a young man, Torrio branched out into the more lucrative pursuits of gambling and loan sharking. Torrio's in his early 30s by the time he and Capone cross paths. His gang now boasts several legitimate businesses, but the mobster makes the bulk of his money from the numbers game, a popular, if illegal, forerunner to modern lotteries.
Similar schemes are run by various gangs throughout the city, but Torrio is an unusual kind of mobster in many ways. His success stems from his core belief that there's always enough business for everyone.
In Torrio's eyes, rivalry between gangs may be understandable, but actively trying to eliminate the competition is a waste of time, money, and often lives. Not all Torrio's competitors hold such enlightened views, of course, so he keeps plenty of muscle around. But he'll always favor the smart solution over the violent one.
That's why Capone rises fast in Torrio's organization. Not thanks to his muscles, but to his mind. Capone becomes a runner, ferrying gamblers' bets across the city and using his mathematical skills to help tally up each day's take in the evening. That gives the impressionable teen an intimate look at how Torrio runs his operation.
He sees how the experienced mobster stays several degrees removed from the day-to-day of his businesses and rackets. Torrio trusts chosen men to handle his affairs properly, and Capone is soon one of them. By the time he turns 16, he's one of the mobster's favorites. The hands-off approach is what makes Torrio confident enough to leave New York behind in search of new opportunities.
He heads for the second city, Chicago. While he's away, he leaves Capone under the watchful eye of a trusted colleague, another mobster called Frankie Yale. Around 1917, Capone starts working at Yale's bar on Coney Island. At the age of 18, Al Capone's on a career path that will outstrip anything his father's shoeshine box could have provided.
After his rough and tumble start in Brooklyn, Capone's world will expand. The new life awaiting him is filled with danger, excitement, more money than Capone has ever dreamed of. It's a life of luxury and even fame, where violence is a currency and the price of doing business is sometimes murder.
To hear all five episodes of the Al Capone series or other American criminal stories, go to AmericanCriminal.com or search for and follow American Criminal wherever you get your podcasts. And we'll see you back here next week when I'd like to tell you yet more tales about the 1920s. Catch you then.
