AL CAPONE

During the Prohibition era, Chicago became the setting for one of the most famous criminal empires in American history. At its centre stood Al Capone, a Brooklyn-born gangster of Italian immigrant descent who built his power through illegal alcohol, gambling, racketeering and corruption.

By the late 1920s, Capone had become both feared and celebrated by the press, while violent rivalry between Chicago gangs turned the city into a symbol of organised crime. Despite his reputation, it was not murder or bootlegging that finally brought him down, but tax evasion. Convicted in 1931, Capone became one of the most enduring icons of the gangster era.