Al Capone Revisited
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(Conspiracy Nation, 3/12/05) -- Al Capone (image, left) has
been depicted in a one-dimensional manner in The Untouchables and in common
history. The true story, however, of Capone has apparently yet to be
told. Conspiracy Nation, over
time, has gathered bits and pieces, vignettes of Mr. Capone, which
offer glimpses of a more complex situation than the cartoon history
which has been told.
The sketches here assembled provide a theoretical framework, a
tentative portrait of a deep man. Yes, one perspective, that of Capone
as a thug, is valid; but he was three-dimensional and one perspective
does not do justice to the truer story.
Most people have little understanding of continual British
machinations. They are not aware, for example, that British agents
helped stir up trouble in the South, leading to the American Civil War.
As recently as 1896, the U.S. was "at a hair's breadth from actual war
with Great Britain over a territorial dispute between Venezuela and
British Guiana." [1] Prior to U.S. entry into the Great War (World War
I), British intelligence worked to manipulate American
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opinion, for example through the controversial Zimmerman Telegram
and the suspicious Lusitania
tragedy.
So author Bill Nunes, although providing fascinating background in
his book, Illinois Crime,
still shows shallow understanding when he dismisses Chicago mayor Big
Bill Thompson as an "Anglophobe." It was Thompson, on-and-off Chicago
mayor during the 1920s, who declared, "Keep out of foreign wars and
make the King of England keep his nose out of our affairs." During Big
Bill Thompson's rule, the official language of Illinois was American, not "English." Thompson
"blamed the British for dragging us into World War I" and "criticized
the number of pro-British books in the Chicago Public Library." [2]
Countering Mayor Thompson was Colonel Robert McCormick. The Colonel
published the Chicago Tribune
newspaper, which emerged to prominence following bloody
turn-of-the-century circulation wars with rival newspapers. Like
William Randolph Hearst, McCormick established a propaganda empire, and
solidified his immense power by acquiring or establishing "forestlands,
paper mills, hydroelectric installations, and shipping companies (all
to supply the Tribune with newsprint) as well as radio and television
facilities and additional newspapers." [3] McCormick, wealthy heir to
the Cyrus McCormick and Joseph Medill fortunes, did not like Mayor
Thompson's isolationist stance and easy-going attitudes toward the
Chicago underworld.
There is some indication that the Chicago
Tribune has been and/or is allied with British interests. Given
the "Anglophobia" of Big Bill Thompson, the fierce political battle
between the mayor and Colonel McCormick can therefore be seen as an
Anglophile vs. Anglophobe war, played out in Chicago during the 1920s.
Naturally aligned with Thompson, who considered gambling, prostitution,
and "speakeasies" as inevitable, were the Chicago underworld and its
chief, Al Capone.
Payoffs To The Feds
President Warren G. Harding, a mulatto who "passed" for white,
headed an administration favoring a "return to normalcy" following
America's involvement in the horrific First World War. This meant a
tendency to disconnect from foreign entanglements. Unfortunately,
Harding's presidency was corrupt. Although Prohibition was in effect,
the president and his pals routinely enjoyed drinking liquor in the
White House. Harding was "a regular guy" who didn't object to "business
as usual." In May of 1930, a book by Gaston Means, a Secret Service
employee and "bag man" for Harding's "Ohio Gang," was released. The
Ohio Gang, according to Means, ran a "protection racket" for
bootleggers. In return for cash payoffs handed over to "bag man" Means,
the Feds were held in check and the bootleggers' business was not
severely disturbed. [4] But Means did not mention any payoffs from
Capone and the Chicago mob. Did Al Capone dare to say, "Screw you,
feds. This is Chicago"?
But it would not be easy for the Feds to retaliate against Capone
for "disrespecting" their protection racket. Capone had once worked as
a bookkeeper and knew a few things about hiding money from prying eyes.
And the Harding administration's crookedness was leading to implosion,
so its protection racket proved to have decaying teeth. Also, in those
days before widespread air travel, Chicago was effectively far-removed
from East Coast power.
Yet for Capone to have "dissed" the Feds could not have been
countenanced indefinitely. In the underworld argot, the Feds had a
"rep" (reputation) to maintain. If Capone could get away with such
disrespect, others might do likewise.
Naturally allied with the federal protection racket crowd was
Colonel Robert McCormick. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Capone
had "dissed" the feds, thereby making them his enemy. Anglophile
McCormick was a bitter enemy of Anglophobe Thompson, who was on
friendly terms with Al Capone and the Chicago underworld. So, in the
late 1920s, McCormick whispered to president Herbert Hoover that Capone
could be nailed by income tax laws.
McCormick's vigilante gang, "The Secret Six," had failed to
out-muscle Capone. But nitpicking accountants eventually succeeded in
toppling the Chicago crime boss. Al Capone dealt strictly in cash and
figured he was safe from income tax enforcers. "Capone had been advised
by inept lawyers that he didn't need to file tax returns since his
income was derived from illegal activities. Capone agreed it didn't
make sense for the government to try and collect legal taxes on illegal
income. Filing such a return, he figured, would violate the Fifth
Amendment right not to incriminate one's self." [2]
Because Capone was so skilful about hiding his financial trail, at
his trial the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) could not prove the gang
chief's income. So the IRS "called in witness after witness, who
described his extravagant lifestyle and reported seeing him carry
around huge wads of cash. The government put heavy pressure on the
prosecutors and the judge to get a conviction." [2] Capone was found
guilty, and eventually was exiled to Alcatraz.
Loose Ends
Capone was deposed, but this of course did not eradicate the Chicago
underworld. Reportedly, Capone's successor was Murray "The Camel"
Humphreys, inventor of the idea of "laundering" dirty money. [2]
In 1931, a rumor surfaced that Al Capone had been murdered in 1929.
Allegedly, Capone had been subsequently impersonated by his
half-brother, Giacomo Calabrese, who was "scarred by a plastic surgeon
to resemble the dead chieftain." [5]
Allegedly, a plot to get Capone (Calabrese?) out of prison was
hatched by his friends on the outside. The alleged plot hinged on the
March 1, 1932 kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh's baby and Capone's offer
to track down the kidnappers if he were released from prison. [2]
Reportedly, Capone wrote memoirs which were eventually published and
presumably would shed more light upon the true story of the underworld
czar. Rival newspaper to the Chicago
Tribune was the Chicago Daily
News, whose reporter Howard O'Brien was authorized by Capone to
interview him. O'Brien got scared about things Capone had revealed to
him, and delayed publication of Capone's memoirs until after the
Chicago crime boss finally died, in 1947. [2]
Also presumably containing startling information would be a book by
Des Plaines, Illinois bootlegger, Roger "The Terrible" Touhy,
reportedly entitled The
Stolen Years. Shortly after the book came out, Touhy was
assassinated, in 1959, possibly for revealing too much.
------- Notes -------
[1] Rothbard, Murray N. Wall Street, Banks, and American Foreign Policy. Center For Libertarian Studies, 1995.
[2] Nunes, Bill. Illinois Crime. nunesbook@aol.com 2002
[3] Encyclopedia Britannica entry, "McCormick, Robert"
[4] "Ohio Gangster" Time magazine, May 31, 1930
[5] "No Capone?" Time magazine, May 11, 1931
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