The Golden Age: Al Capone And The Roaring Twenties
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AL CAPONE
The 1920’s also known as the Roaring Twenties, or The Golden Age brought great change to America as it was going through a depression. It brought along the hollywood film industry as we know it today, new fashion, social, and economical trends. The 1920s also brought along the prohibition of alcohol, which led to the skyrocket in crime. During the height of prohibition Al Capone and his gang ran the streets of Chicago, and dominated organized crime, creating the first American gangster.
Born Alphonse Capone in Brooklyn New York to immigrant parents on January 17, 1899. Unlike many of the 1920’s Mobsters, Capone wasn't born to an extremely poor family, which would have forced him to join the life of crime to make ends meet. Capone…show more content… Torrio quickly noticed the progress Capone was making and promoted him to partner. In 1925 after almost having his life taken by rival gangsters, Torrio decided to hand over his empire to Capone, and retreat back to Italy. Despite his illegal occupation, Capone started to become a public figure, making frequent trips to city hall and opening up soup kitchens to feed the poor. The people loved Capone at the beginning, “The public glamorized Capone's activities and identified with him as a modern day Robin Hood” (Company). After it was suspected that Capone had ordered the death of a young prosecutor who recently tried to convict him, the view of Capone in the public eyes had drastically changed. The police department eventually came to conclusion that they didn't have enough evidence to bring Capone to trial, and the public was outraged. Capone had become one of the most powerful mobsters in Chicago, it was said that was even more powerful than the mayor. By 1929 Capone operation had grown, and was worth more than $62,000,000 and Capone was now ready to take down his biggest rival George Moran. Capone ordered his top hitmen Machine Gun Mcgurn to take care of Moran’s gang from the bottom to the top. Mcgurn would soon set up the day that would go on to make history and be remembered forever. On Valentines day Mcgurn and his crew lured several of Morans men in to a garage to buy liquor at a cheap price, when Moran’s crew showed up Mcgurn's crew posed as cops. Thinking they were just being arrested for purchasing alcohol Moran’s crew got up against a wall awaiting arrest, when they were brutally shot and killed, George Mcgurn had fled the seen earlier after noticing a police car. These murders would be remembered and receive national attention at the St. Valentine's Day Massacre amd Capone was