Get Capone The Secret Plot That Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster

by Eig, Jonathan

• ISBN13: 9781416580607
• ISBN10: 1416580603
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-04-12
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Summary

Drawing on thousands of pages of recently discovered government documents, wiretap transcripts, and Al Capone's handwritten personal letters, New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Eig tells the dramatic story of the rise and fall of the nation's most notorious criminal in rich new detail. From the moment he arrived in Chicago in 1920, Capone found himself in a world of limitless opportunity. He was an impetuous, affable young man of average intelligence, ill prepared for fame and fortune, whose most notable characteristic was his scarred left cheek. Yet within a few years, Capone controlled an illegal bootlegging business with annual revenue rivaling that of some of the nation's largest corporations. Along the way he corrupted the Chicago police force and local courts while becoming one of the world's first international celebrities. A furious President Herbert Hoover insisted that Capone be brought to justice because the criminal was making a mockery of federal law. Legend credits Eliot Ness and his "Untouchables" with apprehending Capone. But it was the U.S. attorney in Chicago and little-known agents working on direct orders from the White House who compromised their ethics - and risked their lives - to get their man. The most infamous crime attributed to Capone was the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, a crime that Capone insisted he didn't commit. Using newly discovered FBI records, Eig offers a surprising explanation for the murders. Get Capone explores every aspect of the man called "Scarface," paying particular attention to the myths that have for so long surrounded and obscured him. Capone emerges as a worldly, emotionally complex man, doomed as much by his ego as by his vicious criminality. This is the real Al Capone.

Author Biography

Jonathan Eig is the author of two highly acclaimed bestsellers, Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig and Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season. Mr. Eig lives in Chicago, half a mile from the site of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, with his family.

Table of Contents

Capone Rising
The Getting of It	p. 3
Good-bye, Diamond Jim	p. 10
A Little House on South Prairie	p. 18
ôI'm Sure It Was Caponeö	p. 24
Funny Notions	p. 32
A Man of Destiny	p. 38
Heat Wave	p. 45
ôHe Will Knock You Flat Just for Funö	p. 50
The Peacemaker	p. 57
Q Is for Quincy	p. 66
Sorry About That, Hymie	p. 73
A Smile and a Gun	p. 81
The Grinder	p. 85
The Better Element	p. 92
King Capone
ôThere's Worse Fellows in the World than Meö	p. 101
Uneasy Lies the Head	p. 115
Deepest in Dirt	p. 126
Pineapples and Coconuts	p. 130
The Graduation of Frankie Yale	p. 143
Hooverization	p. 153
ôI Do Not Stay Up Lateö	p. 160
The Enforcer	p. 163
The Formidable Alphonse	p. 173
Little Caesar	p. 180
St. Valentine's Day	p. 187
Capone Falling
ôAn Unsolved Crimeö	p. 197
ôThe Most Sore Necessity of Our Timesö	p. 203
The Brightest Days	p. 211
ôHave You Got Capone Yet?ö	p. 219
Locked Up	p. 226
Elegant Mess	p. 234
The Napoleon of Chicago	p. 247
The Big Fellow Chills	p. 254
Silent Partner	p. 260
ôLady, Nobody's on the Legitö	p. 266
Public Enemy Number One	p. 278
ôThere Is No Friendship Among Hoodlumsö	p. 294
Contempt	p. 303
Death and Taxes	p. 311
United States Against AI Capone	p. 320
The So-Called Untouchables	p. 336
ôWho Wouldn't Be Worried?ö	p. 343
Big Spender	p. 353
The Verdict	p. 360
Epilogue	p. 369
Acknowledgments	p. 399
Sources	p. 403
Notes	p. 407
Index	p. 451
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