Just about every Chicagoan has an Al Capone story. And most of them are myths.
Jonathan Eig debunks many of the long-held legends of the iconic gangster in "Get Capone: The Secret Plot That Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster."
Eig is also the author of "Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig" and "Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season." Eig will discuss "American Lives: From Gehrig to Capone" at 2:30 p.m. March 12 in the Star Pavilion.
Much of Alphonse "Scarface" Capone's mystique comes from television and film images, such as "The Untouchables," according to Eig.
His book is a fresh view of the gangland chief that uncovers unreported facts, many from the papers and files of Chicago's U.S. Attorney George E.Q. Johnson, who successfully prosecuted Capone in 1931 for income tax evasion.
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Discovery of these papers was "thrilling ... the kind of thing you live for, pray for," Eig said in a recent telephone interview. The discovery was also "just a matter of good luck and good timing."
When Chicagoan Eig began researching "Get Capone," he sketched out key characters - including Johnson - for whom he sought personal papers and related documents.
The National Archives had few of Johnson's papers, and Eig discovered that the family had given the papers to a college professor who never wrote a book as planned.
Eig drove to Nebraska where the professor shared a massive collection of documents: notes, hand-drawn maps, transcripts of wiretap conversations by Capone nemesis Eliot Ness, chief investigator of the Prohibition Bureau for Chicago.
Eig said he was lucky to find Johnson's papers early in his three-year research process. The former writer and editor for The Wall Street Journal and former executive editor of Chicago magazine is fanatical about giving a factual treatment so the story comes to life and rings true.
"Get Capone" is also a social history - a portrait of life in the '20s. Understanding Capone requires understand Prohibition, and understanding Prohibition requires an understanding of life in the '20s, according to Eig.
Eig explained that President Herbert Hoover took Capone's fame and success personally.
Hoover - a self-made man who worked hard and chose public service over wealth and viewed the law as paramount - and Capone - a wealthy, bragging criminal - were opposites.
"Hoover was obsessed with making an example of Capone and showing America that even if you didn't like Prohibition, it was the law," Eig said.
The threads of Capone are still woven into America's fabric.
Johnson's innovative legal strategy - prosecution of Capone on income tax evasion, his smallest crimes - still is used effectively today, Eig said. The United States often pursues terrorists for crimes such as tax evasion.
There's an app for "Get Capone." You can check out gun-battle scenes, hide-outs and other Capone-related sites, along with Eig's summaries, on your iPhone.
myths debunked
Jonathan Eig selected an excerpt from "Get Capone: The True Story of Al Capone." Here's a portion of the excerpt. Read the entire selection at azstarnet.com
"As patrons inside the Hawthorne restaurant ducked for cover, six or seven cars rumbled in a line down Twenty-Second Street, 'a veritable battalion of death,' as one newspaper called it. Machine guns blasted from the open windows of the automobiles: glass flew, metal clanged, the screams of men, women, and children pierced the air. When the last car in the caravan reached the hotel, a man in khaki overalls stepped from the running board to the street. He knelt down, rested his Tommy on one knee, and, like a gardener watering his flowers, sprayed the entrance of the hotel."
Gangster myths debunked
Jonathan Eig selected the following excerpt from "Get Capone: The True Story of Al Capone."
"As patrons inside the Hawthorne restaurant ducked for cover, six or seven cars rumbled in a line down Twenty-Second Street, 'a veritable battalion of death,' as one newspaper called it. Machine guns blasted from the open windows of the automobiles: glass flew, metal clanged, the screams of men, women, and children pierced the air. When the last car in the caravan reached the hotel, a man in khaki overalls stepped from the running board to the street. He knelt down, rested his Tommy on one knee, and, like a gardener watering his flowers, sprayed the entrance of the hotel. Without pausing to admire his work, he got up and jumped back in his car, which followed the others back toward Chicago.
"As smoke from the machine guns drifted over the street and the smell of gunpowder lingered, Capone peeled himself off the floor and stepped outside to survey the damage. Twenty cars were parked in front of the Hawthorne and every one of them was damaged. One of Capone's men had intercepted a slug with his left shoulder. A Louisiana horse owner and his wife had been grazed by bullets and showered with glass. But given the sheer volume of metal flying through the air - police estimated 1,000 bullets - the injuries were remarkably few. After the shooting, boys from the surrounding neighborhoods rode their bikes to the scene, their feet crunching glass on the sidewalk. They counted bullet holes. Capone was standing among the crowd, still full of swagger, when the Daily News caught up with him.
" 'Sure I saw it," Capone told a reporter. "It's a wonder no one was killed." He told another reporter that the gunmen had shot so erratically that he doubted they were aiming for anyone or anything in particular. With that, he quickly excused himself, saying he had a meeting with his lawyers.
