00:00En el corazón de Brooklyn, Nueva York, un hombre llamado Alphonse Gabriel Capone
00:05fue nacido en 1899.
00:07Little did anyone know, he would grow up to become
00:09one of the most infamous and feared figures in American history.
00:13This is the story of Al Capone, the man they called Scarface,
00:17and his violent rise and spectacular fall.
00:19Our story begins not in the glitz of a gangster movie,
00:23but in the gritty streets of early 20th century New York.
00:27Young Alphonse grew up in a tough neighborhood,
00:29dropping out of school in the 6th grade after a fight with a teacher.
00:32He soon fell in with street gangs,
00:35but he caught the eye of a mobster named Frankie Yale.
00:38It was while working for Yale as a bouncer and bartender
00:42that Capone received the injury that would define his public image.
00:45Three deep scars across his left cheek,
00:48earning him the nickname he hated, Scarface.
00:52But New York was just the training ground.
00:55The real stage for Capone's criminal empire would be Chicago,
00:59In the early 1920s, his mentor, a cunning racketeer named Johnny Torrio,
01:04summoned him to the Windy City.
01:07Why Chicago?
01:09Because a new law had just turned the entire country upside down.
01:13Prohibition.
01:14The nationwide ban on the production and sale of alcoholic beverages,
01:18meant to clean up society,
01:20ironically, created the single greatest business opportunity for organized crime.
01:25And Al Capone was about to seize it with both hands.
01:27Torrio was the architect.
01:29But Capone was the muscle and the ambition.
01:32Together, they built a formidable organization known as the Chicago Outfit.
01:36They started by taking over the city's illegal liquor trade,
01:40a practice called boot.
01:41They smuggled whiskey from Canada,
01:43operated secret breweries,
01:45and supplied thousands of illegal bars,
01:47known as speakeasies,
01:49that popped up all over the city.
01:51The profits were staggering,
01:53estimated to be over $100 million a year in today's money.
01:57Capone wasn't just a thug.
01:58He was the CEO of a massive,
02:00illicit corporation.
02:02His empire didn't stop at alcohol.
02:05The Chicago Outfit diversified its portfolio into gambling,
02:09loan sharking, and protection rackets.
02:11If you owned a business,
02:12you paid Capone's men for protection.
02:14Protection from them, of course.
02:15His influence grew like a cancer,
02:17extending deep into the very fabric of Chicago.
02:20He had politicians in his pocket,
02:22judges on his payroll,
02:24and police officers on his payroll.
02:26He once famously said,
02:27I own the police.
02:29And for a time,
02:30it seemed like he really did.
02:31While the public was often fascinated
02:33by his lavish lifestyle and his custom suits,
02:35diamond jewelry,
02:37and armored Cadillac,
02:38the reality of his business was brutal and bloody.
02:41Rival gangs who dared to challenge Capone's dominance
02:44were met with swift and merciless violence.
02:47The streets of Chicago became a war zone
02:49during the infamous Beer Wars,
02:50as different factions fought for control
02:52of the lucrative bootlegging territories.
02:55This wave of violence
02:56reached its horrifying peak
02:58on a cold winter morning.
03:00February 14th, 1929.
03:03The event would forever be known
03:04as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
03:07Seven members of the rival Northside gang,
03:10led by Bugs Moran,
03:11were lured to a garage
03:13under the pretense of a whiskey deal.
03:14But instead of bootleggers,
03:16they were met by men
03:17dressed as police officers.
03:19The victims were lined up against the wall
03:21and gunned down in a hail of machine gun fire.
03:24Al Capone was conveniently in Florida at the time,
03:27giving him a perfect alibi.
03:29No one was ever convicted for the murders.
03:31But the public and the press
03:33had no doubt who was behind it.
03:36The massacre was a turning point.
03:38It exposed the sheer ruthlessness
03:40of Capone's organization
03:41and shocked the nation.
03:43The public's fascination
03:44with the charismatic gangster
03:46began to turn to fear and disgust.
03:48President Herbert Hoover himself
03:50reportedly declared
03:51public enemy number one
03:53and demanded that federal authorities
03:55find a way to stop him.
03:57But how do you take down a man
03:58who seems to be above the law?
04:01He was too smart to be directly linked
04:03to the murders and violence
04:04his men carried out.
04:06The federal government realized
04:07that if they couldn't get him
04:08for his most heinous crimes,
04:10they would have to find another way.
04:12They decided to follow the money.
04:15A small, dedicated team
04:17of treasury agents
04:19led by a man named Elliot Ness
04:21began a relentless campaign
04:23to dismantle Capone's operations.
04:25This team,
04:26later mythologized as the untouchables,
04:28worked to disrupt his breweries
04:30and supply lines.
04:32However,
04:33the real breakthrough
04:33came from a different angle entirely.
04:36His taxes.
04:37While Capone was flaunting
04:39his immense wealth,
04:40he had never filed
04:41a single tax return in his life,
04:43believing his income
04:44was invisible
04:45because it was illegal.
04:46He was hung.
04:49A quiet, unassuming,
04:50forensic accountant
04:51named Frank Wilson
04:53and a team of IRS investigators
04:55began the painstaking process
04:56of piecing together
04:58Capone's financial records.
05:00They sifted through ledgers,
05:02interviewed bookkeepers,
05:03and traced the flow
05:05of illicit cash.
05:06They finally found
05:07the smoking gun,
05:08a ledger that
05:09not only detailed the outfit
05:11as profits,
05:11but also had entries
05:12showing payouts
05:13directly to Al Capone.
05:14It was the link they needed.
05:16The government wasn't going
05:17to prosecute him
05:18as a mob boss,
05:19but as a simple tax cheat.
05:20In 1931,
05:21Al Capone was indicted
05:23on 22 counts
05:24of federal income tax evasion.
05:26During his trial,
05:28Capone's bravado
05:29began to crumble.
05:30He tried to bribe the jury,
05:31but the judge,
05:33in a dramatic move,
05:34swapped the jury
05:35with one from another trial
05:37at the last minute.
05:39The verdict was in guilty.
05:43Al Capone,
05:44the untouchable king of Chicago,
05:46was sentenced to 11 years
05:47in federal prison,
05:48a stunningly long sentence
05:50for tax evasion at the time.
05:52His journey through
05:52the federal prison system
05:54began in Atlanta,
05:55but Capone soon learned
05:56that his influence
05:57didn't extend behind bars.
05:59He tried to bribe guards
06:01and manipulate the system
06:03as he had in Chicago,
06:04but the authorities
06:05had a new destination
06:05in mind for him.
06:07Alcatraz,
06:08the recently opened
06:09maximum security prison
06:11in the middle
06:11of San Francisco Bay
06:12was designed
06:14to be escape-proof
06:15and to house
06:16the nation's
06:17most incorrigible criminals.
06:19There,
06:20Capone was no longer
06:21a kingpin.
06:22He was just
06:23inmate number 85.
06:24The harsh reality
06:26of prison life,
06:27cut off from his empire
06:28and his power,
06:29began to take its toll.
06:31But an even more
06:32insidious enemy
06:33was attacking him
06:34from within.
06:35Years earlier,
06:36Capone had contracted syphilis,
06:38and it had gone untreated.
06:39In the isolation
06:40of Alcatraz,
06:41the disease progressed
06:42to its tertiary stage,
06:45neurosyphilis,
06:46and began to attack
06:47his brain.
06:48His mental faculties
06:49deteriorated rapidly.
06:51The once sharp,
06:52cunning mind
06:53of a criminal mastermind
06:55devolved into confusion
06:56and childlike behavior.
06:58His fellow inmates
06:59started calling him
07:00the WAP
07:01with the MAP
07:01because he was given
07:02simple,
07:03menial,
07:04cleaning tasks.
07:05After serving
07:05over seven years,
07:07a broken and sick
07:08Al Capone
07:09was released
07:09from prison
07:10in 1939.
07:11He was no longer
07:12a threat to society.
07:13He was a shadow
07:14of his former self,
07:16his mind ravaged
07:17by illness.
07:18He retired to his
07:19lavish mansion
07:20in Palm Island,
07:21Florida,
07:22the same place
07:23he had used
07:23as an alibi
07:24for the St. Valentine's Day
07:25massacre.
07:26He spent his final years
07:27in seclusion,
07:29fishing and playing cards,
07:30his criminal empire,
07:32a distant memory.
07:33On January 25th, 1947,
07:35Alphonse Capone died
07:37after suffering
07:37a stroke and pneumonia.
07:39He was only 48 years old.
07:41His story is more
07:43than just a gangster tale.
07:45It's a powerful
07:46and cautionary saga.
07:48It shows how the promise
07:49of the American dream
07:50can be twisted,
07:51how power can corrupt
07:53absolutely,
07:54and how,
07:54in the end,
07:56no one is truly
07:57above the law.
07:58Al Capone ruled an empire
07:59built on violence
08:00and fear,
08:01but he was ultimately
08:02brought down
08:02by a pen,
08:03a ledger,
08:04and the relentless
08:05pursuit of justice.
08:07Thank you for watching.
08:09If you found this journey
08:10into the American underworld
08:11fascinating,
08:12please hit that like button,
08:13subscribe to our channel,
08:15and ring the bell
08:15for more deep dives
08:16into history's
08:17most compelling figures.
08:19We'll see you
08:20in the next video.
08:22We'll see you in the next video.
08:22Gracias.
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