Frank Capone

Frank Capone b. Salvatore Capone (born July 16, 1895 in Brooklyn , New York , † April 1, 1924 in Cicero , Illinois ) was an Italian-American mobster of the Chicago outfit and a brother of the gangsters Al Capone and Ralph Capone . Frank was more meek than his brother Al, projecting the image of a respectable businessman who was always seen dressed in a neat suit.

Life

Frank Capone was born on July 16, 1895 under the name Salvatore Capone in Brooklyn and was the third son of Gabriele and Teresa (née Raiola) Capone. His older brothers James Vincenzo Capone and Ralph Capone arrived about a month before he was born on June 18, 1895 from a small town called Angri ( Italy ) with their mother on a ship called “Werra” in America, which crossed Ellis Island ( New York City). His father Gabriele had come to the United States through Canada six months earlier . The Capone family eventually settled in Brooklyn .

Growing up in New York, Frank and his brother Al came into contact with gangster Johnny Torrio and the Five Points Gang . In 1918 Torrio had moved to Chicago to stand by Jim “Big Jim” Colosimo , officially the first boss of the Chicago Outfit, and to help him defend his business. Al soon followed Torrio and went to Chicago as well. In 1920 Torrio took over the leadership of the organization and the prohibition era began. At this time, Al brought his brothers Frank and Ralph to Chicago.

Al Capone was given more responsibility from time to time and extended the influence of the organization to Cicero . To protect the gang's political control over Cicero, Frank unleashed a wave of terror in the city. In a prefix of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party under the favored Capone Joseph Z. Klenha in the spring of 1924, Frank members sent his gang with machine guns and sawed-off shotguns in the polling stations to ensure that local residents voted in their favor. Uncooperative voters were threatened or attacked and prevented from voting. Frank carried out an attack on the campaign headquarters of an opponent, ransacked his office and attacked several campaign workers. In one case, Democratic campaigner Michael Gavin was shot in both legs and held against his will with eight other electoral officials until election day ended. As the riot wore on on election day, indignant Cicero citizens turned to Cook County, Illinois, judge Edmund J. Jarecki for help. The Chicago Police Department (CPD) sent 70 plainclothes policemen to Cicero to keep order in the elections.

At dusk, a detective squad led by Sergeant William Cusack stopped at the corner of Cicero Avenue and Twenty-second Street after spotting Frank Capone, Charles Fischetti, and another man outside a polling station next to the Western Electric factory building . The detectives got out of their car and started walking towards the gangsters when, for some inexplicable reason, gunfire broke out. What then happened in detail is controversial. Several witnesses later alleged the gangsters did not open fire. In the later investigation, however, the police claimed that Frank Capone had shot first; they would have found a pistol with three missing cartridges that they swore he was using. Frank allegedly believed these plainclothes officers were rival gangsters. What is certain is that Capone was shot dead by Sergeant Phillip J. McGlynn. At the end of the day, the Capone candidate Klenha had won the election.

Because of his hot temper, Al is said to have shot a politician and a police officer in revenge. After Frank's death, the Chicago newspapers were filled with articles either praising or condemning the CPD. A coroner's later investigation found that Frank's killing was a justified cause, as Frank would have resisted arrest.

On April 4, 1924, Frank Capone received an extravagant funeral with over 150 cars in a motorcade and flowers worth $ 20,000 placed around the silver-plated box. He was buried in Mount Carmel Cemetery (Hillside) outside of Chicago. Out of respect for his dead brother, Al Capone closed Cicero's gambling dens and whispering bars for two hours during the funeral .

In the movie

• In 8 episodes of the second season of The Making of the Mob , Frank Capone is played by George Harrison Xanthis.
• Morgan Spector plays Frank Capone in the Boardwalk Empire series .
• In the film Brother War (OT: The Lost Capone ) from 1990, Frank Capone was played by Anthony Crivello .

literature

• Deirdre Marie Capone: Uncle Al Capone: The Untold Story from Inside His Family . Recap Publishing, 2010, ISBN 978-0-9828451-0-3 .
• Laura L. Enright: Chicago's Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Murderous Mobsters, Midway Monsters, and Windy City Oddities . Potomac Books, 2005, ISBN 1-57488-785-8 .
• Luciano J. Iorizzo: Al Capone: a biography . Greenwood Press, 2005, ISBN 0-313-32317-8 .
• Fred D. Pasley: Al Capone: The Biography of a Self-Made Man . Garden City Publishing Co., 2004, ISBN 1-4179-0878-5 .
• John Kobler: Capone: The Life and Times of Al Capone . Da Capo Press, 2003, ISBN 0-306-81285-1 .
• Robert J. Schoenberg: Mr. Capone . HarperCollins , 1992, ISBN 0-688-12838-6 .

Web links

• Biography of the Capone Brothers on Crime Magazine
• Capone family photos on My Al Capone Museum

Individual evidence

1. ^ Find a Grave - Frank Capone
2. ↑ Crime Magazine - The Brothers Capone ( Memento of the original from October 25, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ Le Tre Scimmiette - Al Capone, il gangster americano piu 'famoso del mondo era di origini angresi
4. ↑ American Mafia History - Ralph Capone - Big Brother to Al “Scarface” Capone
5. ↑ La Cosa Nostra Database - Frank Capone
6. ^ True Crime Story - Al Capone in Cicero
7. ^ My Al Capone Museum - The Capone era Cicero, Illinois
8. ↑ National Crime Syndicate - How Did Frank Capone Get Killed?
9. ^ Find a Grave - Salvatore Capone