Essay About Times Of Al Capone And Teresa Capone

The Life and Times of Al Capone
Essay title: The Life and Times of Al Capone
The Life and Times of Al Capone
by Bill Rollindubeys
Alphonse Capone was born in New York City by two parents Gabriel
and Teresa Capone. Capones parents immigrated to the United States in
1893 from Naples, Italy. Capone came from a large family and was the
fourth oldest of nine children. (Kobler 10). As a child, Capone was very
wise when it came to living on the streets of New York. He had a clever
mind when it came to street smarts. As far as school goes, Capone was a
near-illiterate. He came from a poor neighborhood in Brooklyn, so education
was not a top priority.
At about the age of eleven Capone became a member of a juvenile
gang in his neighborhood. While this was taking place, around the year
1900, about eleven percent of all the foreign born population in the United
States were Italian. Capone was forced to either deal with a miserable low
wage job with a hopeless future or make an improvement for himself by
committing first minor, then serious crimes. Al Capones philosophy was
that laws only applied to people who had enough money to live by them.
While in the “Bim Booms” gang, Capone was taught how to defend himself
with a knife, and with a gun. By the time Capone reached the sixth grade he
had already become a street brawler. Capone never responded well to
authority and for this very reason his schooling would soon come to an end.
While attending school, Capone was responsible for beating a female teacher
and knocking her to the ground. The principal of the school rushed in and
punished young Capone and for this very reason he would never return to
school again. (Sifakis 603)
After dropping out of school, Capone took up jobs such as working as
a pin-setter at a bowling alley, and working behind the counter at a candy
store. Capone was terrific at pool, winning every eightball tournament held in
Brooklyn. He also became an expert knife fighter. Although the “Bim
Booms” gang was the first gang Capone ever entered, he was quickly picked
up by the “Five Pointers”. The “Five Pointers” was the most powerful gang in
New York city. The gang was headed by Johnny Torrio, and was made up of
over 1,500 thugs who specialized in burglary, extortion, robbery, assault, and
murder. While working as a strong arm enforcer under Torrio, Capone
learned all the lethal tricks that would help him get from rags to riches in no
time at all. Capone was very grateful to Torrio. Torrio first set Capone out to
do all of his “dirty work”. Capone was sent to beat up loan shark victims
behind on their payments, then a pimp, beating up girls who were holding out
on their nightly take. Torrio finally got Capone a job as a bouncer at the
Harvard Inn. By this time Capone was recognized by his gang as being a
vicious fighter with both