La Cosa Nostra: The Mafia - An Expose: Al Capone (1997)

Al Capone was many things: murderer, pimp, extortionist, bootlegger, and Chicago gangster kingpin. His life and career are explored in depth in this video which features Mafia experts, archival film c... read more lips, and re-creations. The fourth of nine children to immigrant parents from Naples, Italy, Capone left school during the sixth grade and grew up to be a member of the brutal Five Points Gang, which had been in existence for well over half a century. At the age of 26, Al Capone became the leader of a large Chicago gang. The Capone Mob numbered over a thousand gangsters. Capone benefited greatly from Prohibition, providing bootleg whiskey for speakeasies (underground illegal saloons) that even otherwise honest citizens frequented. For a time he was publicly popular. Eventually, however, rivalry with another gang led him to order the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre." The public bloodletting of that hit helped turn public opinion against him. Never convicted of murder, Capone was sent to Alcatraz prison for tax evasion. He was released after seven and a half years, his health wrecked by syphilis. La Cosa Nostra: The Mafia -- An Expose: Al Capone takes a close look at this fascinating and controversial life. ~ Steve Blackburn, Rovi