Becoming Al Capone

[Story]

Al Capone is America's most legendary gangster, but his criminal reign in Chicago was surprisingly brief—a mere five years, from 1926 to 1931. In his new book, "Get Capone," former Wall Street Journal staff writer Jonathan Eig tells the story of Capone's rise and fall based on thousands of newly discovered secret government documents. In this excerpt, a brutal murder cements Capone's reputation as the city's most cutthroat criminal, and a key business decision by the man called Scarface sets the stage for his dramatic downfall.

Becoming Al Capone - WSJ.com

[Alvin Karpis]

Thanks Story - interesting piece. I've never been as intrigued by Capone as the motorized bandits of the 1930s but the description of how things "worked" back then in Chicago is really eye-opening.

AK

[Story]

Think You Know Al Capone? Not So Fast, Says Jonathan Eig - Chicago magazine

The May issue of Chicago magazine features a long excerpt about the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, the gruesome 1929 murders of seven gangsters in a Chicago garage, from a new book about Al Capone. That book, Get Capone: The Secret Plot That Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster ($28; Simon & Schuster) by the journalist and best-selling author Jonathan Eig, went on sale this past Tuesday—the same day Eig, who lives in Chicago, held the launch party for his book at the Chicago History Museum in Lincoln Park.

[Story]

Journalist JONATHAN EIG [‘EYE’G] tells us almost everything we know about legendary Chicago gangster Al Capone is wrong. Eliot Ness wasn’t the man on who brought down Capone; and newly discovered FBI records add more credence to Capone’s denial of responsibility of the Valentine’s Day Massacre. Through handwritten letters, wiretap transcripts and recently discovered government documents, Eig reconstructs this infamous American lore in “Get Capone: The Secret Plot that Captured America’s Most Wanted Gangster.”

The Capone You Never Knew | Radio Times | WHYY