Al Capone (film) Al Capone (film) Al Capone is a 1959 biographical crime drama film directed by Richard Wilson, written by Malvin Wald and Henry F. Greenberg, and released by Allied Artists. It starred Rod Steiger as Al Capone. Steiger reportedly refused the producers' first offer to star in this film because he thought the initial screenplay inappropriately romanticized Capone and criminality. In an interview Steiger said, "I turned the picture down three times." According to TCM, he agreed to play the role only after the producers agreed to rewrite. The finished film was noted for its deglamorized portrayal of the subject. Chicago,
Al Capone suspected of being involved. Torrio headed an essentially Italian organized crime group that was the biggest in the city, with Capone as his right-hand man. He was wary of being drawn into gang wars and tried to negotiate agreements over territory between rival crime groups. The smaller North Side Gang led by Dean O'Banion (also known as Dion O'Banion) was of mixed ethnicity, and it came under pressure from the Genna brothers who were allied with Torrio. O'Banion found that Torrio was unhelpful with the encroachment of the Gennas into the North Side, despite his pretensions to be a settler