Chicago in the 1930s 5,000 "Prohibition" violations that could have "nailed him" for 25,000-years-to-life if convicted on all the charges. And, it has been said that Capone underling Gus Winkler was prevented by other Capone men from freeing him outright, with $100,000 upfront (a tax payment, not a bribe) to the federal taxman. On 24 October 1931, one week after he was convicted of tax evasion, Al Capone was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison (first, Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, then Alcatraz Island), fined $50,000 and charged $30,000 in court costs. While awaiting transfer to Atlanta to serve his sentence, Capone sat in Cook
Crime in New York City so notorious that it even caught the attention of Abraham Lincoln, who visited the area before his Cooper Union speech in 1860. The predominantly Irish Five Points Gang was one of the country's first major organized crime entities. As Italian immigration grew in the early 20th century many joined ethnic gangs, including Al Capone, who got his start in crime with the Five Points Gang. The Mafia (also known as "Cosa Nostra") first developed in the mid-19th century in Sicily and spread to the East Coast of the United States during the late 19th century following waves of Sicilian and