Al Capone

The one True American Gangster; Al Capone.

Al Capone is the reason America thrived during prohibition era. During the 1800’s America was over taking a drastic change. The old agricultural ways of the world came dominated by European industrialization.

Businessmen became more handy than farmers. However, the laws still remained stuck in the old ways. Gambling, prostitution, opium, and alcohol all deemed illegal during this time. Organized crime rose as people desired to partake in these illegal activities. ( Much like we see today with people doing hard drugs.)

New York city, and Chicago two of the greatest cities known for developing some of the best organized criminals our nation has ever seen. In the 1820’s New York was making ridges in the polls by having gangster’s in full control of who went to office. By winning at the polls, a gang can take full control of the police force, and laws.

LIVING THAT GANGSTA LIFE

Who was the greatest American gangster ever seen in this time period? Al Capone. He was born in America and bred to a large family. His immense power to move up the ladder in organized crime so quickly makes him a notorious leader.

You want a psychotic criminal look somewhere else. Al Capone’s criminal behavior through his developmental stages, situational factors, and mental state that all aided in making him a famous depiction of the true American gangster.

Al Capone is the second child to Teresa and Gabrielle Capone; born in 1899 in Brooklyn, New York.

New York opened its doors to immigrants of all sorts making it a perfect blending pot for criminals to blend in.

“They were law abiding, hard working, and a striving family that got labeled outsiders based on their broken English or Roman Catholic religion. ( Lorizzo, 2003) How did Al Capone become such a great American gangster if his family was striving to be law abiding citizens? The social learning theory from psychology could be one of the reasons.

Why social learning can make you a gangster

The social learning theory “emphasizes such concepts as imitation models , and reinforcements one gains from one’s behavior. ( Bartol, 2010) Al Capone examples imitation when he was fourteen and created the navy street gang.

His gang started initially to put an end to “harassment on Italian girls and women from their Irish neighbors.” ( Lorizzo, 2003) The need to form gangs had to arise from somewhere. Risk factors towards delinquency or the act of becoming a criminal surround everyone. (Even today.)

Gangsta risk factors

Psychological risk factors are considered “inadequate cognitive and language ability, inadequate self regulation skills, poor interpersonal, and social skills.” ( Bartol, 2010) A risk like this for Al Capone is in the disciplinary problems where a principal gives him a good thrashing for the problem. This issue displayed as inadequate self regulation skills.

Family risk factors include “faulty or inadequate parenting, sibling influences, and maltreatment, or abuse.” ( Bartol 2010) His family not perfect. But it was not an exact risk for Capone. When his family bought cheap housing in a poverty stricken of New York causing a dire risk factor for him.

Poverty is defined as “ a situation in which basic resources to maintain an average standard of living within a specific geographic region are lacking. “(Batol 2010 ) A consistent pressure on him was bringing in money for the family, and with this pressure he swung towards criminality. He dropped out of school. Once a teenager he learned how to use knives and guns.

An instance where he used a “gun to fire in the basement of the Adonis club” is just an example of how reckless he could be. ( lorizzo, 2003) At the age of sixteen, he became a teenager who could put an adversary into the ground by sheer force. But his brain couldn’t keep him under the radar of the police. The real problem for him was joining organized crime this is what set him up for what we would call the most successful criminal.

Perspective

If you’re following me this far you must realize the importance of looking at young people and the gang life or thug life as some call it. In Capone’s case “the antisocial, peer rejected youth, seek out greater contact with similar peer-rejected and socially unskillful peers.” ( Bartol, 2010) If a person say you decided to smoke a cigarette and someone saw you thinking it was cool to do the same would be considered social conformity.

Gangs are one of the greatest forms of social conformity where the youth are shown how to become better criminals, and possible gang leaders. Al Capone had a knack for leadership since his youth but didn’t have enough experience to lead. But like every great piece of our history he uses his knack and opportunity to become a leader later in life.

Situational factors are when your luck runs out and opportunities are thin

If Al Capone never crossed paths with Frankie Yale (Yes Yale like the Ivy League school;)) he would of never been as notorious as he is today. What makes Frankie Yale so important here is that he had a lot of power from running the “Harvard INN on Coney Island which was a bar/ brothel having fights that often ended in a killing.” (Lorizzo, 2003)

Frankie taught Capone how to fight with his fists not his brains. He started under him as a collector who made sure payments from deadbeats, and pimps did not proceed that of the bar. By doing well he leaped from bouncer to bartender fast. Trouble arose here let me tell you.

Expectancy as a situational factor is one that argues “a person’s performance level is based on that expectation of behaving in a particular way will lead to a given outcome.”(Bartol, 2010) Capone said not to Frankie and that was like saying no to your mother when your five. It was not going to go down well no matter the outcome.

The outcome and where it brought Capone into Scarface

“ He was working one night at the inn, he saw a beautiful woman, and whispered something unwelcoming in her ear. The woman told Capone no, but Capone does not take no for an answer. In order to defend herself, she enlisted the help of her gangster brother Frank Deluchio. When Capone struck the guy back, the drunk guy who was carrying a knife responded by slashing him.The slashes left scars on him, with one jagged scar across the cheek like the image of modern day’s culture Joker from Batman” (Al Capone, 2014).

The situational theory touching on frustration-induced criminality explains that when someone is prevented from responding in a way that had previously produced rewards, their behavior often becomes more energetic, and vigorous”( Bartol, 2010). Capone’s married life prevented the thug life. A causality of picking love above his own desires. Which would explain why he traversed back into the gang life when “ gain a reputation as a loose canon, a young man quick who uses force to settle disputes “ (Iorizzo,2003). This fierce canon of a personality caused him to get under suspicion of murdering a prostitute, and killing a friend who had incurred a gambling debt with Frankie. His trouble here made him run out of New York in 1919, and into Chicago where his real climb to fame would begin.

Arriving in Chicago began the real fiasco. Is Capone a true psychopath or just an unresolved man? A psychopath is defined as “a person who demonstrates a discernable cluster of psychological, interpersonal, and neuropsychological features that distinguish him or her from the general population.“ ( Bartol, 2010) .Based on this analysis most Americans would be quick to label Al Capone a psychopathic gang leader. However, this is actually not the case. Al Capone was just taught to be a very smart man in the way he finagled through the underground organized crime. He can be considered a social psychopath which is not truly a psychopath a all. A social psychopath is defined as a “ display of aggressive, antisocial behavior they have learned from their subcultures, like their gangs or families” (Bartol, 2010 ) .Mainly, most of the aggressive behavior he learned came from Frankie Yale, and Johnny Torrio. His escape to chicago was requested by Frankie Yale, and the other New York gangsters. He was recommended to work at the four deuces which was run by Johnny Torrio. Torrio would be the perfect man to teach Capone how to use his brain over brawns when it comes to battles.

. His profits were most effective in gambling, prostitution, and bootlegging while trying to make it look like he was a proper businessman running a furniture store. While in Italy, Torrio placed Al Capone in charge. This placement was done at the start of the prohibition era causing an event that brought trouble for Al Capone’s suitable luxurious life as a gangster.

ST. Valentine murders

Men who looked like policemen that take gang members and line them up against a wall to slaughter them like sheep. Al Capone was never explicitly seen as the ringleader of the event, but because of his fame, the world placed the blame on him. His ability to be “ superficial charm, and above average intelligence are two of the psychopath’s main features” ( Bartol. 2010). Al Capone was certainly a figure of charm, and intelligence as people tried to imitate him with white hats, and rally for him. But the ST. Valentine’s day massacre convinced the public that Capone was no longer a safe criminal.

It was the first time the public saw a major execution of blood. Capone opened up a soup kitchen, but no one knows how long it stayed open for during the prohibition era. This showed a display of generosity from a famed gangster. But it was not very successful as the tabloids hardly reported on it. Most psychopaths would not show an open display of generosity like Capone tried to do. Though, it most likely was used to deter the public from seeing the crime that was going on around them. However, this was not what caused his downfall. Al Capone was caught by the government for tax fraud. Instead of having to withstand a 2 year sentence he was forced to spend only a quarter of an 11 year prison sentence in Alcatraz. He was placed in a modern prison before Alcatraz but he was able to pay off the workers so that he would live in luxury. By placing him in Alcatraz, the government made a public display of how they were going to shut down organized crime.

Al Capone was never sentenced for murder. Truly, he was not a psychopath. Nothing he did labels him as psychotic or crazy. He was just used by the public for his time, and died with his time because of the public. Capone died due to the syphilis he was attracted with, and ended living with his family while having the mindset of a 12 year old.

Al Capone was the only criminal that has remained as a huge public figure in the united States as the number one gangster. He’s not as psychotic as most criminals are, nor was he always depicted as evil. This man was a public figure for an age where without him Jazz music may not have prospered as well, and laws may not have changed as much.

The criminal behavior that he developed became apparent during his development stages which taught him the start of the brutality that living as a poor immigrant in a poor environment could cause.Al Capone was placed into some very difficult situations that formed factors on who he would later become. His mental state was very important on how he would spend his time in Alcatraz.

“He ended up with syphilis which is a mental disorder that can cause dementia, and other debilitating mental issues which helped cut his eleven year sentence in jail in half”(Al Capone, 2014). A figure that rose to fame through the public’s eye, would die by the public’s eye. He was not committed for any murder, nor was he truly evil which makes him hard to label as a psychopath even if there were killings done in his name. In the end, he was brought down by the same thing that pulled him up to such greatness. The public.

The reality of today is that people consider gangs to be an inn to be cool but they are just an escape from the truth.

Works Cited:

Bartol, Curt R., and Anne M. Bartol. Pearson Criminal Justice. New York: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2010. Print

Iorizzo, L. (2003). Al Capone a biography (p. 154). Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press

Al Capone [Motion picture]. (2014). Films Media Group.