Uncle Al Capone: The Untold Story from Inside His Family

Deirdre Marie Capone

Oct 2010 · Recaplodge LLC

About this ebook

This is the revised edition, March 2015. The untold story from inside his family. Dramatic, unyielding, and provocative, Uncle Al Capone by Deirdre Marie Capone, Al Capone's grandniece, is a fascinating memoir and engaging biography. This moving, highly readable portrait of the Capone family and its mob trade examines what it has meant to survive the storied legacy of the family's forbearers. As Capone traces the arc of regret and what fuels the Capone myth, she finds redemption and a way to coexist with her legacy. In seventeen chapters with titles like "The Making of the Mafioso," "Trading the Chicago Outfit for the Chicago Cubs," and "The Saint Valentine's Day Truth," Capone outlines organized crime in Chicago and offers vignettes of American history during the early and mid-twentieth century. Using years of research and exhaustive interviews with her aunts, uncles, and cousins, she weaves an engaging anecdotal narrative of what it meant to be a Capone, what it meant to lose her father to suicide, and what it meant to have a mother who lived in constant fear. She offers compelling evidence that Al Capone was specifically targeted for prosecution by law enforcement agencies assisted by the media, which made gross exaggerations of her uncle's exploits and fueled a phenomenon of half-truths and utter falsehoods. From the family's roots in Angri, Italy to the author's ongoing investigations today, this debut offers a comprehensive and moving portrait of an iconic American family and one woman's efforts to make peace with the past.

Ratings and reviews

I’m a history junkie, and love everything about the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s era. So when my friend got me this book for my birthday, I was more than thrilled! This was such a dramatic and intense read! As I was reading it, I was so amazed by what I was reading because some of the things you read in this book, they don’t tell you in school. In school, I can remember all my teachers telling that Al Capone was this horrible criminal gangster, which he might have been but this book shows that he did have a soft side to him. This book shows that he was a human-being just like you or me, but he just choose a different lifestyle. This book doesn’t just show you a different side of Capone but it shows you a different side of his ENTIRE family. It This book is told from one of his relatives, and I’m glad it was. It adds to the story and makes it better. It shows you that the Capone family is just like any other family in America. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves or wants to know more about the 1920’s, and 30’s era. And if you just want a good read! This book was well written, fast-paced, dramatic, and it kept me interested the whole time. There’s not one boring part in this whole book. I even passed the book along to my history professor for next semester to see if he’ll use the book in class! *fingers-crossed*

OOoo! This is one of my favorite books ever!!! I really couldn't put it down!! I read it cover to cover twice! This book is truly an interesting, informational, dramatic read! I learned so much from reading this book, like about life back then, and I learned more about Al Capone as a person! The book is told from Al Capone's grandniece's point of view, which makes the story even better! It gives the reader, a deep look into Capone's family life, and his actual life. And it shows you how his family felt about him. I was shocked by some of the things I read, but in a good way. I mean in history class, my teachers always made Capone seem like this horrible, terrible person who did all these bad things. They made him seem like a monster but this book shows you that some of those things, we learned were lies. It shows you a good side of him. And it was really nice to see the other side of things or the other side of Al Capone. I've always been interested in Al Capone since grade school because we learned so much about him, and it was really nice to know more. Especially from someone in his family. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves history, or that era of time or anyone who just wants a good read! It's really fast-paced, dramatic, and TRUST me, you won't want to put it down! ;)

Author contends that he died from a stroke. According to the official coroners report, the cause of events were: Stroke, Pneumonia, Heart Attack. To me, the immediate cause was a Heart Attack. Author claims he was badly injured in an inmate attack; according to all recorded account, it was a Slight scizzor wound - not life threatening, and no organs were injured.

About the author

In "Uncle Al Capone", I will take you where few people were ever allowed to go: past the bodyguards and inside the Capone home at 7244 S. Prairie Avenue, Chicago, the house built for Uncle Al to recover from prison in Wisconsin, and the home where he died in Miami, Fl. I'll introduce you to my family in a way so that you will understand them, and hopefully understand how difficult it was for me to grow up with the name Capone. I did nothing wrong but I bore the 'sins of my fathers'.