Al Capone charities and was viewed by many as "modern-day Robin Hood". However, the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, in which seven gang rivals were murdered in broad daylight, damaged Chicago's and Capone's image, leading influential citizens to demand government action and newspapers to dub Capone "Public Enemy No. 1". The federal authorities became intent on jailing Capone and prosecuted him in 1931 for tax evasion. During a highly publicized case, the judge admitted as evidence Capone's admissions of his income and unpaid taxes during prior (and ultimately abortive) negotiations to pay the government taxes he owed. He was convicted and sentenced to
Capone (film) recognize Nitti, instead thinking that he is an FBI agent. Nitti's bodyguard tells Nitti that people said that Capone used to be a smart man, but Nitti – who had shown his ambition and loyalty throughout the movie – finally disregards this and expresses his true feelings about Capone, saying that Capone was stupid and forgetful, and only cared about killing people. As the two of them leave, Capone continues to lose his mind until he dies a year later. Screenwriter Howard Browne had written about Al Capone a number of times previously, including "Seven Against the Wall" for "Playhouse