#FunFactFriday: Haunted Al Capone Goes to the Atlanta Penitentiary
Infamous mob boss Alphonse “Al” Gabriel Capone entered the Atlanta Penitentiary on this day, May 4th in 1932. His stay was brief, as he was then transferred to Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in 1934. Despite popular belief, Capone was jailed for carrying a concealed weapon and a second time for tax evasion, not murder. It was during his stint in Eastern State Penitentiary that he became haunted.
On Valentine’s Day in 1929, Capone ordered his men to dress up as police officers and ambush rival mob boss George “Bugs” Moran. One of the men killed was James “Jimmy” Clark (1887-1929), the 41-year-old son-in-law to Moran. The murder spree became the infamous Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre. Capone was arrested, convicted, and imprisoned for concealing a weapon. He was remanded to Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia and lived in a plush, furnished single cell. Capone had a roommate: Jimmy. Capone claimed that the ghost of Jimmy was haunting him. Other inmates would hear Capone shouting, “Jimmy, leave me alone!”
On May 4, 1932, Capone was relocated to the Atlanta Penitentiary. It was here that Capone was diagnosed with syphilis and gonorrhea. He was eager to leave Jimmy behind; however, Jimmy followed. Capone supposedly hired a psychic, either Alice Britt or Anne Britt, to rid him of Jimmy by attempting to move Jimmy on. It failed. All the while Capone was in Atlanta so was Jimmy. Less than 2 years later, Capone was again relocated. This time he was incarcerated at Alcatraz. Again, Jimmy followed, or so the stories go. By this time, Capone’s body was being ravaged by syphilis, an unforgiving disease.
Capone did not die in prison. Instead, he finished out his sentence, stayed in a transitional facility, and was then paroled on November 16, 1939. Unfortunately, he lived out his days trapped in the mind of a 12-year-old boy. On January 25, 1947, the man known as “Scarface” died from cardiac arrest with his body and mind ravaged by paresis, late-stage syphilis causing dementia and paralysis. There may be medical evidence supporting his hallucinations, or Capone may have been cursed to live his final years with the ghost of a man he ordered killed. Both options seem fitting for the mobster.
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I’ve visited both Eastern State and Alcatraz and heard about Capone’s time there, but if I learned he’d had STDs I’d forgotten. But now I find this intriguing because I’m watching the Frankenstein Chronicles and I believe it’s syphilis that Sean Bean’s character has? One of the doctors who treats him asks if he’s having hallucinations. I wonder if Capone was really haunted, or just hallucinating the haunting? Or if he was really being haunted and his syphilis contributed to being able to see the ghost? We’ll never know now I guess but it’s so intriguing. Another great post!
I initially chose this topic for the Atlanta connection, but the more I read up on it, the more I got to thinking about the hallucinations and syphilis link. What’s sad is that many patients with syphilis probably were labeled psychotic because of the hallucinations. Thanks for posting!
Oh my goodness! I didn’t even contemplate that angle of it. That is sad. And makes me appreciate how far medicine has come.