# Alphonse Capone

> A Brooklyn-born Chicago gang leader of the Prohibition era, Capone was convicted by a federal jury in 1931 of attempting to evade income taxes and failing to file returns. He served seven and a half years, much of it on Alcatraz, and died in Florida in 1947.

- Case: United States v. Alphonse Capone · Chicago, Illinois · 1931
- Section: historical case (closed; the defendant has died)
- Outcome: Convicted. Convicted in October 1931 on three felony counts of attempting to evade income tax for 1925, 1926 and 1927 and two misdemeanor counts of failing to file returns, and sentenced to 11 years. The conviction was affirmed on appeal and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review it. He was released in November 1939 and died on Jan. 25, 1947.
- Died: Jan. 25, 1947
- Last updated: 2026-10-27
- Editorial review: approved 2026-10-27
- Web page: https://criminalbackstories.com/history/al-capone/
- All defendants are presumed innocent until found guilty by a court of law. Charges and allegations described on this site are not proof of guilt.

## Why this case is remembered

Capone is among the Prohibition-era figures in *Crime and Punishment in America*, a four-part, eight-hour PBS documentary series directed by Lynn Novick and executive-produced by Ken Burns and Sam Pollard, which airs over four consecutive nights beginning Nov. 16, 2026.[17] The series traces American criminal justice from the colonial era to mass incarceration, including organized crime under Prohibition.[17]

## Case at a glance

- Charges: Attempting to evade federal income tax for 1925, 1926 and 1927 (Revenue Act of 1926, § 1114(b)) and failing to file returns for 1928 and 1929 (Revenue Act of 1928, § 146(a))[1]
- Court: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, Judge James H. Wilkerson; consolidated criminal cases 22852 and 23232[1][6]
- Verdict: Guilty on counts 1, 5 and 9 (felonies) and 13 and 18 (misdemeanors); not guilty on the other counts and on a separate one-count indictment. The verdict held by the National Archives is dated Oct. 17, 1931.[1][5]
- Sentence: 11 years in federal prison and a $50,000 fine, plus court costs, imposed Oct. 24, 1931[3][5][8]
- Appeal: *Capone v. United States*, 56 F.2d 927 (7th Cir. 1932), affirmed Feb. 27, 1932[1]
- U.S. Supreme Court: Certiorari denied May 2, 1932, 286 U.S. 553[2]
- Earlier convictions: Carrying a concealed deadly weapon, Philadelphia, May 1929 (one year); contempt of court, federal court in Chicago, Feb. 28, 1931 (six months)[8]
- Prisons: U.S. Penitentiary, Atlanta, from May 1932; Alcatraz, from August 1934; released Nov. 16, 1939[25][8][22]
- Died: Jan. 25, 1947, at his home on Palm Island, near Miami, age 48[8][20]

## The backstory

### The investigation

Capone kept no bank account and signed no checks, so Treasury investigators built their case from what he spent, including purchases, hotel bills and about $39,000 in telephone bills, according to Douglas O. Linder's account of the trial.[24] Linder writes that President Herbert Hoover told Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, "I want that man Capone in jail."[24] The investigation was carried out by the Bureau of Internal Revenue's Intelligence Unit; Special Agent Frank J. Wilson sent progress reports on "the Capone investigation" to the unit's chief, Elmer Irey, in March and April 1931.[9] The FBI's own history notes that gang violence in this period "was not within the Bureau's investigative authority," while the Treasury Department was developing the tax evidence.[8]

A key piece of evidence was a ledger from a gambling house, seized in a 1926 raid, which investigators traced to a cashier, Leslie Shumway, according to Linder.[24] In September 1930, Capone's lawyer, Lawrence Mattingly, gave Wilson a letter conceding that Capone had taxable income; Wilson later testified that Mattingly told him, "This is the best we can do. Mr. Capone is willing to pay the tax on these figures."[10] The letter, which said it was based "upon information and belief only," put his taxable income at not more than $26,000 for 1925, $40,000 for 1926 and $100,000 a year for 1928 and 1929.[10]

### The indictments

A federal grand jury indicted Capone on March 13, 1931, for failing to file a tax return for 1924, and on June 5, 1931, returned a second indictment covering 1925 through 1929.[25][24] On June 11 he was also indicted on a charge of conspiracy to violate the Prohibition Act.[25] The second indictment charged in count 1 that for 1925 he had "a gross income of to wit, $257,286.98" and owed "a tax of, to wit, $55,365.25."[1]

In June 1931 Capone pleaded guilty to the tax evasion and Prohibition charges, according to the FBI.[8] Linder writes that the plea was entered in expectation of a sentence of about two and a half years, and that in July Judge James H. Wilkerson refused to be bound, saying it was "utterly impossible to bargain with a Federal Court."[24] Capone then changed his plea to not guilty.[8]

### The trial

The trial began on Oct. 6, 1931, in federal court in Chicago before Judge Wilkerson.[25] Before jury selection, after learning that prospective jurors might have been approached with bribes, the judge exchanged his jury panel for another judge's, according to Linder and the chronology on his site.[24][25] The National Archives notes that jurors' names were printed in Chicago newspapers and that the judge kept the trial short and kept the jury confined at night.[5]

The National Archives describes the government's approach: prosecutors showed Capone's lavish spending as evidence of a large income and argued that he knew he was required to pay federal income tax.[5] In the excerpts of the transcript that survive in published form:

- **Gambling profits.** Shumway testified that he worked figuring the betting sheets at a gambling establishment that moved among several locations, that he took orders from its managers, and that he saw Capone there "in the office."[11] Fred Reis, a cashier at a Cicero gambling house called the Subway in 1927, testified that he bought cashier's checks with the house's profits, and estimated the 1927 profits at "around $150,000."[12] Reis testified that Capone's associate Jack Guzik told him whom to give the money to, and the court noted evidence that Capone called Guzik his "financial secretary."[12]
- **Spending.** Morrisey Smith, a clerk at the Metropole Hotel, testified that Capone stayed there under the name "Mr. Ross" and paid his bills in cash, in "hundred dollar bills, sometimes five hundred dollar bills."[13] A Western Union manager identified a $1,500 money transfer sent on July 2, 1928, to "Mr. Al Capone" at Palm Island, Miami Beach; Capone's lawyers later agreed that the transfers were sent when and where the government said.[14] Parker Henderson testified that Capone gave him the money for the binder on a house on Palm Island in 1928 and that the property was put in the name of Capone's wife.[15]
- **The Mattingly letter.** Over the defense's objection, Judge Wilkerson admitted the letter only "to show that the statement was made," instructing that its contents were not proof of the facts in it.[10]

The defense called bookmakers to testify that Capone was a heavy bettor on horse races who lost money.[24] Milton Held testified that Capone lost "about $12,000" with him in 1924 and 1925, which he later called "just an estimate."[16] In closing, defense lawyer Albert Fink called the government's evidence "chaff" and urged the jury not to convict merely because Capone was "a bad man," according to Linder.[24]

### The verdict and sentence

The jury found Capone guilty of the felonies charged in counts 1, 5 and 9, willful attempts to evade income tax for 1925, 1926 and 1927, and of the misdemeanors in counts 13 and 18, failing to file returns for 1928 and 1929.[1] It found him not guilty on the other counts and on the separate one-count indictment for 1924.[1] The verdict held by the National Archives is dated Oct. 17, 1931.[5] The jury deliberated about eight hours, Linder writes.[24]

Judge Wilkerson sentenced him on Oct. 24, 1931.[3] The sentence was 11 years in federal prison and a $50,000 fine, and he was ordered to pay court costs and $215,000 in back taxes plus interest.[7][8][25] A six-month sentence for contempt of court, imposed earlier in 1931, ran at the same time.[8] He was held in the Cook County Jail while he appealed.[8]

### The appeal

On appeal, Capone argued that the felony counts charged him only in the general words of the statute without saying what acts made up the attempt to evade the tax.[1] The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in an opinion by Judge Sparks for a panel of Judges Alschuler, Evans and Sparks, held that the counts were sufficient and that the objection was "one of form rather than of substance."[1] It noted that the defense could have asked for a bill of particulars and wrote that "appellant made no such request, and he now has no reason to complain."[1] It found no error on the misdemeanor counts and affirmed the judgment on Feb. 27, 1932.[1] The Supreme Court denied review on May 2, 1932.[2]

### The earlier convictions

On May 17, 1929, Capone and a bodyguard were arrested in Philadelphia for "carrying concealed deadly weapons," and both were sentenced to a year in prison within 16 hours, according to the FBI.[8] Eastern State Penitentiary says the weapon was an unlicensed .38-caliber revolver and that he served eight months of the sentence there; he had first been held at the county prison at Holmesburg.[29][25] He was released early for good behavior in March 1930.[8]

In March 1929, after his lawyers said he was too ill with bronchial pneumonia in Miami to answer a federal grand jury subpoena, he testified and was arrested for contempt of court as he left the courtroom, according to the FBI.[8] On Feb. 28, 1931, he was found guilty in federal court on the contempt charge and sentenced to six months in the Cook County Jail.[8]

## Personal backstory

### Early life

Capone was born on Jan. 17, 1899, in Brooklyn, New York, to Italian immigrant parents.[25][28] His parents were Gabriele and Teresina Capone; his father was a barber and his mother a seamstress, and the family lived in a tenement, according to History.com.[18] The FBI says he quit school after the sixth grade and joined a street gang.[8] History.com says he left school after a principal beat him for striking back at a teacher.[18]

While working as a bartender and bouncer at a Coney Island saloon, he was slashed in the face in a fight, leaving scars that History.com says inspired the nickname "Scarface."[18] Johnny Torrio, who ran a gambling operation near his Brooklyn home, became his mentor.[18]

### Marriage and Chicago

He married as a teenager, weeks after the birth of his son.[18] After a period working as a bookkeeper in Baltimore, he moved to Chicago in 1920, when his father died and Torrio invited him to join his business there, according to History.com.[18] When Torrio retired in 1925, Capone took control of the organization and expanded its bootlegging operations.[25] Britannica describes him as dominating organized crime in Chicago from 1925 to 1931.[28] In 1928 he bought a winter home on Palm Island, near Miami Beach.[15] In April 1930, the Chicago Crime Commission put him first on its first list of public enemies.[5]

Deirdre Bair's 2016 biography describes a household in which his wife and his mother and sister were at odds, according to a review in Publishers Weekly.[26]

### Illness in prison

Capone began serving his sentence at the federal penitentiary in Atlanta in May 1932 and was transferred to Alcatraz in August 1934.[25][22] On Alcatraz he was registered as No. 85.[22] In June 1936 another prisoner stabbed him in the back with barbershop shears, inflicting minor wounds, the Mob Museum reports.[22]

The FBI's history states that he was "suffering from paresis derived from syphilis" and had "deteriorated greatly during his confinement."[8] The Mob Museum writes that four years into his term the effects of improperly treated syphilis were taking a toll, and that he was treated in the prison hospital until he was moved to the federal prison at Terminal Island in Los Angeles in January 1939.[22] *The sources reviewed for this page do not include his prison medical records or say when or by whom the diagnosis was made.*

### Release and death

He was released on Nov. 16, 1939, after serving seven years, six months and 15 days and paying his fine and back taxes.[8] He went directly to a hospital in Baltimore for treatment, according to the FBI; the Mob Museum names it as Union Memorial Hospital.[8][22] In 1946, the FBI says, his physician and a Baltimore psychiatrist concluded that he "had the mentality of a 12-year-old child."[8] He lived in seclusion with his family at his Palm Island home, where he died on Jan. 25, 1947, at age 48.[8][20]

## Myth and record

- Claim: Capone ordered the St. Valentine's Day Massacre of Feb. 14, 1929, as many accounts say. Smithsonian magazine wrote in 2016 that he orchestrated the killings, and History.com says he "was widely believed to have ordered the hit."[20][19]
  The record: Capone was never charged with the killings, and no one was ever prosecuted for them.[19][23] The FBI's history of the case says the massacre was "generally ascribed to the Capone mob, although Al himself was in Florida."[8] The record neither proves nor disproves that he ordered it. Jonathan Eig argues in *Get Capone* that he was not behind it.[27]
- Claim: Taxes were the only crime the government could ever pin on Capone, as the case is commonly told: WTTW titled its account "How a Tax Evasion Charge Brought Down Chicago's Most Notorious Mob Boss."[21]
  The record: The tax case was not his only conviction. He was convicted in Philadelphia in May 1929 of carrying a concealed deadly weapon and served about nine months, and a federal court in Chicago found him guilty of contempt in February 1931 and sentenced him to six months.[8] In June 1931 he was also indicted on Prohibition charges, and he first pleaded guilty to both the tax and Prohibition charges before changing his plea.[25][8] The sources reviewed for this page do not show a trial on the Prohibition charges. He was never charged in the St. Valentine's Day killings.[19] Whether other crimes could have been proven in court is a question the record does not answer.
- Claim: Eliot Ness and his agents brought Capone down, as the popular account has it.[27]
  The record: The case that sent Capone to prison was the tax case, built by the Treasury's Intelligence Unit; Special Agent Frank J. Wilson reported on it to the unit's chief, Elmer Irey.[9] Wilson led the investigation and testified at trial.[24][10] Eig argues that the Ness account has little basis in fact.[27]

## The two sides

- Prosecution: The government argued that Capone had a large taxable income that he never reported. Witnesses tied him to the profits of gambling houses in Cicero, and others described his spending on hotel suites, wire transfers and a Florida house; prosecutors argued he knew he owed federal income tax.[5][12][13][24] Prosecutor Jacob Grossman described him as living like a "bejeweled prince," according to Douglas O. Linder's account of the trial.[24]
- Defense: The defense argued that Capone was a heavy bettor on horse races who lost money, and called bookmakers to testify to his losses.[24][16] On appeal, his lawyers argued that the felony counts stated the offense only in the general words of the statute and were too vague to support a conviction.[1]
- Later accounts: In *Get Capone* (Simon & Schuster, 2010), Jonathan Eig argues that while Capone committed many crimes, the government pursued the tax case by questionable means and that the punishment outweighed the offense, according to a review of the book.[27]

## Timeline

- Jan. 17, 1899: Capone is born in Brooklyn, New York, to Italian immigrant parents.[25][28]
- 1920: He moves to Chicago and joins Johnny Torrio's organization.[18][25]
- 1925: Torrio retires and Capone takes over the organization.[25]
- Feb. 14, 1929: Seven members or associates of Bugs Moran's gang are shot to death in a Chicago garage. Capone is in Florida. No one is ever prosecuted for the killings.[8][23][21][19]
- May 17, 1929: Capone and a bodyguard are arrested in Philadelphia for carrying concealed deadly weapons; each is sentenced to a year within 16 hours.[8]
- March 1930: He is released from the Philadelphia sentence early, for good behavior.[8][25]
- Feb. 28, 1931: A federal court finds him guilty of contempt for failing to appear before a grand jury in 1929 and sentences him to six months in the Cook County Jail.[8]
- March 13, 1931: A federal grand jury indicts him for failing to file a 1924 tax return.[25][24]
- June 5, 1931: A second indictment charges tax offenses for 1925 through 1929.[25][1]
- June 1931: He pleads guilty to the tax and Prohibition charges, then changes his plea to not guilty after the judge says he is not bound by any agreement.[8][24]
- Oct. 6, 1931: The trial begins before Judge James H. Wilkerson.[25]
- Oct. 17, 1931: The jury finds him guilty on three felony and two misdemeanor counts.[5][1]
- Oct. 24, 1931: He is sentenced to 11 years in prison.[3][5]
- Feb. 27, 1932: The Seventh Circuit affirms the conviction.[1]
- May 2, 1932: The U.S. Supreme Court denies review.[2]
- May 1932: He begins serving the sentence at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta.[25][8]
- August 1934: He is transferred to Alcatraz and registered as inmate No. 85.[22][25]
- January 1939: He is transferred to the federal prison at Terminal Island, Los Angeles.[22]
- Nov. 16, 1939: He is released after serving seven years, six months and 15 days, having paid his fine and back taxes.[8]
- Jan. 25, 1947: He dies at his home on Palm Island, near Miami.[8]

## What came after

From the Atlanta penitentiary Capone petitioned for habeas corpus, arguing that the indictment came too late under a three-year statute of limitations; the Fifth Circuit decided *Capone v. Aderhold* on May 31, 1933, and he stayed in prison.[4][8] In 1937 he asked the trial court to vacate the jail sentence on the failure-to-file counts, arguing that the verdicts were inconsistent; the Seventh Circuit dismissed his appeal, holding that failing to file is "a distinct and separate offense" from evading a tax.[3] After his release in 1939 he entered a Baltimore hospital for treatment and spent his last years in seclusion with his family on Palm Island, according to the FBI.[8] When the IRS later made its Capone investigation files public, it said they were an exception to the confidentiality of federal tax records, principally because Capone never filed a return.[9]

## Sources

1. [Capone v. United States, 56 F.2d 927 (No. 4672)](https://famous-trials.com/alcapone/1462-courtappellate). U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Feb. 27, 1932 (text reproduced by Famous Trials, Douglas O. Linder). (court or official record)
2. [Capone v. United States, No. 891, 286 U.S. 553 (certiorari denied)](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USREPORTS-286/pdf/USREPORTS-286-BackMatter-10.pdf). U.S. Supreme Court, May 2, 1932 (United States Reports, via govinfo). (court or official record)
3. [United States v. Capone, 93 F.2d 840 (No. 6372)](https://wilsontaxlaw.com/newsresources/interesting-tax-opinions/united-states-v-capone). U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Dec. 20, 1937 (text reproduced by Wilson Tax Law). (court or official record)
4. [Capone v. Aderhold, 65 F.2d 130 (No. 6880)](https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/65-f-2d-130-597160518). U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, May 31, 1933 (via vLex). (court or official record)
5. [American Originals: Al Capone](https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/american_originals/capone.html). U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. (court or official record)
6. [Al Capone: The United States of America v. Alphonse Capone (holdings highlight)](https://www.archives.gov/chicago/highlights/capone). National Archives at Chicago. (court or official record)
7. [The Taxman Cometh: U.S. v. Alphonse Capone](https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2011/07/26/the-taxman-cometh-u-s-v-alphonse-capone/). The Text Message (Prologue blog), U.S. National Archives, July 26, 2011. (court or official record)
8. [Al Capone (Famous Cases & Criminals)](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20121006224445/http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/al-capone). Federal Bureau of Investigation (fbi.gov, archived copy of Oct. 6, 2012, UNT Libraries Web Archive). (court or official record)
9. [Historical Documents relating to Alphonse (Al) Capone, Chicago](https://www.irs.gov/privacy-disclosure/historical-documents-relating-to-alphonse-al-capone-chicago). Internal Revenue Service. (court or official record)
10. [Testimony of Frank Wilson (trial transcript excerpt)](https://famous-trials.com/alcapone/1495-wilsontranscript). Famous Trials, Douglas O. Linder. (archival record or trial reporting from the time)
11. [Testimony of Leslie Shumway (trial transcript excerpt)](https://famous-trials.com/alcapone/1493-shumwaytranscript). Famous Trials, Douglas O. Linder. (archival record or trial reporting from the time)
12. [Testimony of Fred Reis (trial transcript excerpt)](https://famous-trials.com/alcapone/1492-reistranscript). Famous Trials, Douglas O. Linder. (archival record or trial reporting from the time)
13. [Testimony of Morrisey Smith (trial transcript excerpt)](https://famous-trials.com/alcapone/1494-smithtranscript). Famous Trials, Douglas O. Linder. (archival record or trial reporting from the time)
14. [Testimony of John Fotre (trial transcript excerpt)](https://famous-trials.com/alcapone/1485-fotretranscript). Famous Trials, Douglas O. Linder. (archival record or trial reporting from the time)
15. [Testimony of Parker Henderson (trial transcript excerpt)](https://famous-trials.com/alcapone/1489-hendersontranscript). Famous Trials, Douglas O. Linder. (archival record or trial reporting from the time)
16. [Testimony of Milton Held (trial transcript excerpt)](https://famous-trials.com/alcapone/1488-heldtranscript). Famous Trials, Douglas O. Linder. (archival record or trial reporting from the time)
17. ['Crime and Punishment in America,' new documentary from Lynn Novick, to air on PBS in November 2026](https://www.pbs.org/about/about-pbs/blogs/news/crime-and-punishment-in-america-new-documentary-from-lynn-novick-to-air-on-pbs-in-november-2026/). PBS. (news report)
18. [Al Capone](https://history.com/topics/al-capone). HISTORY.com Editors, A&E Television Networks (updated May 28, 2025). (news report)
19. [What Really Happened at the St. Valentine's Day Massacre](https://www.history.com/articles/valentines-day-massacre-capone). HISTORY.com, Dan Jones, Feb. 8, 2018 (updated May 28, 2025). (news report)
20. [Seeking the Humanity in Al Capone](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/seeking-humanity-al-capone-180960880/). Smithsonian magazine, Nathan Smith, Oct. 24, 2016. (news report)
21. [Catching Capone: How a Tax Evasion Charge Brought Down Chicago's Most Notorious Mob Boss](https://www.wttw.com/node/36520). WTTW (Chicago PBS station). (news report)
22. [Chicago crime boss Al Capone transferred to Alcatraz 90 years ago this month](https://themobmuseum.org/blog/chicago-crime-boss-al-capone-transferred-to-alcatraz-90-years-ago-this-month/). The Mob Museum, Christian Cipollini, Aug. 16, 2024. (news report)
23. [St. Valentine's Day Massacre (timeline)](https://themobmuseum.org/timeline_events/st-valentines-day-massacre/). The Mob Museum. (news report)
24. [Al Capone Trial (1931): An Account](https://famous-trials.com/alcapone/1474-home). Douglas O. Linder, Famous Trials (University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law). (book)
25. [The Al Capone Trial: A Chronology](https://famous-trials.com/alcapone/1475-chronology). Daniel M. Porazzo, Famous Trials. (book)
26. [Review of Deirdre Bair, Al Capone: His Life, Legacy, and Legend (Doubleday/Talese, 2016)](https://publishersweekly.com/9780385537155). Publishers Weekly, June 20, 2016. (book)
27. [Book Review: Misunderstood Al (review of Jonathan Eig, Get Capone, Simon & Schuster)](https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/magazine/2081058/book-review-misunderstood-al/). Washington Examiner, Edward Achorn, Dec. 6, 2010. (book)
28. [Al Capone](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Al-Capone). Encyclopaedia Britannica. (reference work)
29. [Al Capone's cell (Eastern State Penitentiary)](https://www.easternstate.org/node/358). Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site. (reference work)