Текст книги "Alcatraz: A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years "

Автор книги: Майкл Эсслингер

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Strikes and Protests

The inmates at Alcatraz were not always amenable to the confinement rules enforced by their keepers. During the course of the island’s history as a federal penitentiary, there were twenty-four major inmate strikes in protest of the harsh rules. Former inmate Roy Gardner would comment in his 1939 memoir entitled Hellcatraz:

... discipline. Rigid, severe, unrelenting. Rules on Alcatraz, like the bars, are steel. Both are inflexible; neither bends.

In January of 1936, nearly one hundred and forty inmates went on strike to protest the rule of silence and the lack of privileges at Alcatraz. As inmates filed from the cellblock to their work assignments, many of them encouraged fellow convicts to help them protest by joining the strike. The tower guards came out onto the catwalks and raised their weapons toward the inmates, who walked defiantly and slowly to their assignments. The prisoners who refused to work were marched back into the cellhouse and locked down in their cells. Then one by one, the inmates were pulled from their cells and given hearings. A small percentage of them chose to return to work, but several were hostile toward the administration, and maintained their stance. The known ringleaders and vocal agitators where escorted to the dungeon cells in the basement.

The following day, kitchen workers joined the strike, forcing the prison staff to take over the kitchen. The inmates who continued their protest were fed only bread and water. Most of the prison population returned to work after only a few days on the reduced diet, but a handful continued to stand their ground. As the strike continued, a group of six inmates who had refused to take a full meal after nearly five days on bread and water were taken the hospital and force-fed with a tube. This was a traumatic experience, and all of the men eventually returned to work.

Over the years, there were a vast multitude of other strikes and protests, generally all taking aim at the prison regulations and strict confinement practices. When protests occurred inside the cellhouse, the inmates would throw toilet paper or anything else at hand into the cellblock corridors. The inmates would thud their steel-framed bunks onto the floor, drag their tin cups across the bars, and yell at the top of their lungs, thus creating a thunderous and resonating surge of sound. Former Correctional Officer Louis Nelson (nicknamed “Red” by fellow officers),who would later become the Warden of San Quentin, described the noise:

It didn’t happen too often, but when it did, it was fierce. It sounded similar to standing inside a stadium with the crowd yelling and stomping their feet. The first time I experienced it; I admit that it was a little intimidating. When new inmates would arrive, the rest of the population would let off a little steam and put a little fear into the new fish. It haunted the new inmates for at least a few days.

On average there would be six to ten small-scale riots in the Mess Hall per year, whenever the food quality waned. Phil Bergen recalled that on some occasions the stewards would fail to budget properly and toward the end of the month, they would be forced to serve the same type of meal for days on end. This would provoke the inmates into protests in which they would violently overturn the tables, and pitch food all over the floor. These outbreaks would often cause the officer on the Mess Hall catwalk to punch out windowpanes and take aim at the inmates. The prisoners would then file back to their cells without any further disturbance. In the prison’s entire history there were only eighteen major strikes, aside from those incidents that occurred in the Mess Hall.

Famous Inmates

The concept of using Alcatraz as a maximum-security penitentiary was developed in the 1930’s as a response to gangster violence.

When Alcatraz opened as a Federal penitentiary in 1934, the operating premise was to gather the nation’s worst offending criminals under one roof, in a strict minimum privilege / maximum security setting, under the securest possible circumstances. One important principle of this plan was to punish notorious convicts by never allowing them to see their names in print again, and thus deglamorize the gangster mystique. The famous inmates who inhabited Alcatraz during its tenure as a Federal penitentiary included Al Capone, George “Machine Gun” Kelly, and Robert Stroud, the much-publicized “ Birdman of Alcatraz,” who has been characterized in a number of classic books and films. These men and others like them contributed to the mythology of the famous prison, which eventually became an icon of the struggle between the forces of crime and the rule of law in the United States during one of the country’s most troubled eras.

Alphonse “Scarface” Capone

Alphonse “Scarface” Capone

Al Capone’s Alcatraz mug shot photographs. The shot on the bottom left was from Eastern State Penitentiary. The top photo was taken the day of this arrival.

Al “Scarface” Capone, the overlord of the underworld and considered as America’s Ace Enemy, is a name which remains indelibly linked with the lore of Alcatraz. This infamous gangster lived to become the best-known symbol of organized crime during the Prohibition Era. In a biography written by Warden James Johnston in 1949, he reminisced about the intensity of public interest surrounding Capone’s imprisonment, stating he was continually barraged with letters and questions about “Big Al.”  Each day newspaper reporters and press agents flooded his office with phone calls, wanting to know every detail, from how Capone liked the weather to what job assignment he was currently working. Al Capone was considered the most powerful criminal figure of the era of gangsters and prohibition. But even with his wide-ranging influence and networks of hit men and corrupt politicians, he couldn’t budge the strict regimen of the Rock.

Alphonse Capone was born on January 17, 1899 in Brooklyn, New York, to Gabriele and Teresina Capone. His parents had arrived only five years earlier at Ellis Island from a small village in southern Italy. They had crossed the Atlantic seeking a life of promise, hoping to raise their children in a value-driven society. But America was struggling through hard times, and instead the couple found themselves financially destitute. Al would be the third of five children. His father Gabriele was a well-liked barber in Brooklyn and his mother Teresina was a devoutly religious homemaker. Life was rough for the Capone family. Struggling to get by on Gabriele’s meager salary, they were considered a proud family, but poor by most standards; living with no running water and few furnishings in their small apartment situated above the family’s barbershop in Brooklyn.

In the early 1900’s the streets of downtown Brooklyn were filled with crime and young Al was exposed to the harsh realities of violence and corruption. He father died when he was only fourteen years of age, and he would drop out of school to join a tough youth gang. One of his early mentors during this period was Johnny Torrio, a prominent New York crime mogul.

Johnny Torrio

Torrio was an important role model for Al during his youth. The young Capone frequently ran errands for Torrio, and in turn, he was compensated generously. In Lawrence Bergreen’s exceptional biography of Capone, the author describes Torrio’s influence and mentorship:

Torrio was above all, a peacemaker; he had no bodyguard, carried no weapon, and always spoke in soft, measured tones. He considered himself a businessman, not a gang leader, and he conducted his rackets in a businesslike way... From Torrio he [Capone] learned the importance of leading an outwardly respectable life, to segregate his career from his home life, as if maintaining a peaceful, conventional domestic setting somehow excused or legitimized the venality of working in the rackets... It was a form of hypocrisy that was second nature to Johnny Torrio and that he taught Capone to honor. 

But despite his early links to organized crime circles, Capone was extremely popular with almost everyone who knew him. He was considered a respectful man, a capable leader and guardian of the families in his neighborhood. He was not a typical ruffian. In the early years, he helped support his family by taking on legitimate employment; once working in a bookbinding factory as well as a pinsetter in a bowling alley.

A Capone “family” gathering in Chicago Heights in 1926. Pictured top, left to right: Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn, Frank “The Enforcer” Nitti, Charley Fischetti, Ralph “Bottles” Capone, Rocco Fischetti. Bottom left to right: Frank La Porte, Capone’s Goddaughter Vera Emery, Al Capone, Sam “Golf Bag” Hunt, and Jim Emery.

Frankie Yale

Capone’s first invitation to join a formalized crime ring came from gangster Frankie Yale, the owner of a Coney Island bar called the Harvard Inn. Johnny Torrio had recommended Capone to Yale. By design, the Harvard Inn was Brooklyn’s preeminent platform for organized crime. Capone was versatile and loyal, and he would quickly develop a strong camaraderie with Yale. Frankie Yale was a resourceful and violent man who flourished by using strong-arm tactics, and he would become another mentor for Capone. Other historians have noted that Yale was involved in a multitude of illegal rackets, which included receiving a sizable flow of illegal “tax money” for protecting local businesses from harassment by other crime networks.

It was also at Yale’s club that Capone would receive the famous scar that later became his abhorrent trademark. Frank Gallucio was a smalltime New York crime figure who frequented the Harvard Inn. On one particular evening, Capone reportedly made an advance to Gallucio’s younger sister. His suggestive comments instigated a violent fight, during which Gallucio pulled a knife and inflicted a deep laceration on Capone’s left cheek. The bloody altercation would leave a permanent scar on Capone and he was forced to make amends with Yale’s associates. Some accounts indicate that famed gangster Lucky Lucania was brought in to mediate and help maintain peaceful relations between the “families.”  Lucania scheduled an after-hours truce meeting, and Gallucio and Capone were forced to sit at a table and calmly reconcile their differences.

It was during this period, in early 1918, that young Al met and fell in love with Mae Coughlin, a beautiful middle-class Irish girl. She was two years older than Al, and while it is unknown exactly how and where they met, their courtship was brief. On December 4, 1918, Albert “Sonny” Francis Capone was born and his birth was followed only three and a half weeks later by Al and Mae’s formal wedding. Sonny’s Godfather would be none other than Al’s old friend and mentor, Johnny Torrio.

After the birth of his son, Capone took legitimate employment with a construction firm as a bookkeeper. It is unclear why he took this job. Many historians speculate that he used this time to learn the mechanics of running a viable business. Whatever the case, he continued to maintain strong ties to Yale and Torrio. In November of 1920, the Capone family suffered a terrible blow when Al’s father Gabriele had a fatal heart attack at only fifty-five years of age. His death would mark the turning point for young Al as he would suddenly become the family’s main support, in terms of both income and moral guidance.

“Big Jim” Colosimo

Jim Colosimo’s nightclub, where Al Capone learned to navigate the treacherous politics of the underground.

Johnny Torrio had relocated to Chicago nearly ten years earlier to manage saloon-brothel rackets under “Big Jim” Colosimo. Colosimo was a tall, heavyset entrepreneur who owned and operated Colosimo’s Cafe, one of the most popular and profitable nightclubs in the area, just south of downtown Chicago. Colosimo’s wife Victoria Moresco was also a principle player and she ran a highly lucrative brothel behind the backdoors of the nightclub. Friction arose between Torrio and Colosimo when the Prohibition Law was passed in January of 1920. With smalltime bootleggers springing up throughout Chicago, Torrio saw an opportunity to expand his operations. Prostitution remained as the central business of organized crime in Chicago, and Big Jim Colosimo simply rejected the idea of expanding into other lines. As Torrio cultivated his business, Colosimo became more resistant and more of a hindrance to his activities.

In early 1920, Torrio recruited young Capone to come to Chicago and help him build his empire. He offered Capone a $25,000 annual salary, with percentage profits from the bootlegging business. Capone would start to prepare for his new job even before relocating. Al sought out the assistance of his Brooklyn mentor Frankie Yale, to permanently end the resistance of “Big Jim.”  On May 11, 1920, Colosimo was shot to death inside his nightclub, presumably by Yale. His funeral would draw over 5,000 mourners and Torrio publicly grieved his death, possibly to counter suspicion.

Capone arrived in Chicago in 1921, bringing his entire family with him. Torrio and Capone progressively built a powerful crime syndicate that would monopolize the entire bootlegging trade in Chicago. The two men found themselves presiding over an immense empire of gangsters, which kept illegal liquor flowing in and around Chicago by paying off the local politicians and police. By 1927 it was estimated that the two men were averaging a massive $240 million in annual revenues from their gangland rackets.

By this period, Capone had now mastered the art of politics and although he was already a wealthy, powerful gangland figure, he also attempted to balance his activities. Despite his illegitimate occupation, he had become a highly visible public personality. He made daily trips to city hall, opened soup kitchens to feed the poor, and even lobbied for milk bottle dating to ensure the safety of the city’s children. City officials often were embarrassed by Capone’s political strength, so they began leveraging his illegal activities. Police raids and even intentional fires at his places of business were no match for Capone’s supremacy.

In the beginning, the public glamorized Capone’s activities and identified with him as a modern day Robin Hood. It wasn’t long, however, before public opinion started turning against him when it was believed that he had ordered the death of a famed local public prosecutor named Billy McSwiggin. The young prosecutor had earlier tried to pin the violent murder of a rival gang member on Capone. Although many argued against Al’s involvement in McSwiggin’s death, there was a great outcry over gangland violence at the time, and public sentiment went against Capone.

Capone quickly went into hiding, fearing he would be tried for McSwiggin’s murder. He remained out of sight for nearly three months, and then after realizing he couldn’t live the remainder of his life underground, he negotiated his own surrender to the Chicago Police. The authorities eventually recognized that they lacked sufficient evidence to bring Capone to trial, and though the decision proved very unpopular with the public, he was eventually set free. The community was outraged and law officials were left publicly embarrassed by the incident. “Big Al” had become one of the most powerful crime czars in Chicago. It was said that Capone was now larger than life, and more powerful than the Mayor himself.

By 1929 Capone’s personal empire was worth over $62 million and he was ready to wage war on his most prominent bootlegging rival, George “Bugs” Moran. Bugs was another of Chicago’s principal gangsters. He was known to talk openly against Capone and he maintained an attitude of spiteful arrogance that was said to anger Capone so much that Moran became one of Al’s regular topics of discussion. It was rumored that Capone gave orders to take Bugs down by assassinating his gang members from the bottom up, not stopping until they reached Bugs himself.

Capone was now living lavishly on Palm Island in Miami Beach, Florida, and he drafted one of his top associates Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn to mastermind the hit. McGurn had one of his bootleggers lure members of the Moran gang into a garage to buy liquor at an unreasonably cheap price. The deal was made and the delivery was scheduled to take place on St. Valentine’s Day, 1929. McGurn and his men awaited their victims in stolen police uniforms. When the rival mobsters arrived, McGurn’s gang pretended to be policemen making a bust and ordered all of Moran’s men to stand facing the wall. Thinking that they had just been caught by the police, seven members of the Moran gang turned to the wall awaiting arrest. McGurn and his men then opened fire with machine guns, killing all of the gangsters. Bugs himself had seen the police car before stopping his vehicle and thinking that it was a raid, he fled the scene. Capone was credited with what would be one of the most famous mass murders in American history, the “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.”

A waterfront view of Al Capone’s Palm Beach Mansion.

A mug shot of Capone taken in Miami, Florida.

The scene of the brutal St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.

Seven members of George “Bugs” Moran’s gang were lined up against a wall and mowed down by two machine gunners impersonating police officers.

A diagram showing how the massacre unfolded at the S.M.C. Cartage Company at 2122 North Clark Street in Chicago. Chicago Gangster Frank Gusenberg (left) suffered twenty-two bullet wounds and later died at the hospital. Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn (right) was one of Capone’s hit men and speculated as the mastermind of the massacre.

Law enforcement officials recreate the massacre at the North Clark Street property.

The massacre received national attention and Capone was glamorized in books and newspapers across the country. Capone was now a high-class, family-oriented and self-made gangster-millionaire, who had everyone’s full attention. Many local politicians began complaining about Capone and his self-proclaimed political stature. However the publicity surrounding Capone ultimately backfired, by attracting the attention of President Herbert Hoover. Hoover had just started his presidential term and as one of his first moves, he demanded that Capone be brought to justice. Hoover pressured Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon to spearhead the government’s battle against Capone. Mellon collected damning evidence which exposed his gang affiliations, bootlegging, prostitution rings and flagrant evasion of taxes.

Al Capone in 1931, at a baseball game in Chicago. Note the bodyguard behind Capone, who is reaching for his handgun as the peanut vendor approaches. Frank “The Enforcer” Nitti (known as Capone’s master killer) is seen seated next to Capone, along with his son.

It would take nearly five years of an intensive undercover operation before Capone was finally convicted. Then on October 17, 1931, Alphonse Capone was sentenced to eleven years in prison and $50,000 in fines, and was forced to pay court fees totaling over $30,000. The judge refused to allow Capone to be released on bail and the gangster remained confined at the Cook County Jail until arrangements were made for his transfer to Atlanta. On May 4, 1932 Capone began serving out his federal prison sentence at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. Capone flaunted his power even in prison, and quickly secured the ability to dictate his own privileges. He was given unlimited access to the Warden and was said to maintain large reserves of cash hidden in his cell, often generously “tipping” guards who would assist him by yielding to special requests. His time spent at Atlanta would not be as plush as his confinement at Cook, but he still found means to manipulate the system.

Capone boarding the prison train for Atlanta Federal Penitentiary on May 3, 1932. He is seen here under heavy guard with federal agents and U.S. Marshal Henry Laubenheimer as his personal escort.

Capone’s criminal history from his inmate file.

A request by Capone to use the prison recreation yard at Atlanta State Penitentiary.

A contemporary photograph of Capone’s uniquely furnished cell at Eastern State Penitentiary. Before his arrival at Alcatraz, Capone had managed to set the terms of his own privileges while incarcerated at other prisons.

Before his transfer to Alcatraz, Capone had already become a master at controlling his environment at the federal penitentiary in Atlanta. Despite strict rulings from the courts, Capone was always able to persuade his guards to bend rules and accommodate his unique requests, often setting his own terms of confinement. It was rumored that he had convinced many of the guards to be on his payroll and his cell boasted expensive furnishings including personal bedding, and many other amenities that were not extended to other inmates serving lesser sentences. His cell was carpeted and he had a radio around which many of the guards would sit with him, conversing and listening to their favorite serials. His friends and family maintained residence in a nearby hotel, and each day he was flooded with visitors who were personally escorted to his cell.

In 1934, Attorney General Homer Cummings, and Sanford Bates, the Director of Federal Prisons, made arrangements to send Capone to a facility where he would be unable to leverage the system. Alcatraz was the perfect answer to a problem that no one seemed able to manage. On August 19, 1934, without any formal notice, Capone was placed in a secure prison railroad car and was taken on a journey along with fifty-one other inmates to America’s “Devil Island”. In keeping with the heightened level of security, Capone would remain handcuffed and shackled and would be personally accompanied to California by Atlanta’s Warden, A.C. Aderhold.

Capone’s transfer order to Alcatraz signed by Bureau of Prisons Director Sanford Bates.

*     *     *

Al Capone arrived at Alcatraz on August 22, 1934, as inmate AZ-85, and from the first moment of his arrival, Capone worked to manipulate the system. Warden Johnston had a custom of meeting the “new fish” when they first arrived at Alcatraz, and he usually participated in their brief orientation. Johnston wrote in his personal memoir that he had little trouble recognizing Capone as he stood in the lineup. Capone was grinning and making quiet, smug comments from the side of his mouth to other inmates. When his turn came to approach Warden Johnston, it appeared that he wanted to show off to the other inmates by asking questions on their behalf, as if he were already their leader. Johnston quickly assigned him his prison number, and made him get back in line with the other convicts. During Capone’s time on Alcatraz, the famous prisoner would make several attempts to con Johnston into allowing him special privileges, but all were denied. Johnston maintained that Capone would not be given any special rights and would have to follow every rule without exception or privilege.

The cellblock corridor known by inmates as Michigan Avenue. Capone’s cell B-181 was located on the second tier in the right of this photograph.

A present day photograph of Al Capone’s cell B-181.

Like every other inmate at Alcatraz in the early 1930’s, Capone was to do hard time. He was among the first group that arrived from Atlanta Federal Penitentiary during what was considered the toughest era at Alcatraz. The mandatory rule of silence was in full implementation and strictly enforced by the correctional staff. Capone would occupy a standard cell located on the second tier of B Block (B-181), coined Michigan Avenueby fellow inmates. Almost overnight, Capone had been completely stripped of his persona as a crime czar. The great Capone was now little more than a common inmate. He received favorable reports at his work assignments which included a detail in the prison laundry and a stint as a cellhouse orderly delivering books and magazines to other inmates, as well as performing menial tasks such as sweeping and mopping. It is documented that Capone’s favorite pastimes at Alcatraz were reading celebrity magazines and playing the tenor banjo.

During his years on The Rock, Capone did receive discipline for misconduct on occasion. On February 20, 1935, Capone was placed in solitary confinement for starting a fight with inmate William Colyer, and it was noted by other inmates that he had been trying to “bully” several of them. Warden Johnston wrote about the event, stating in part:

A page from Al Capone’s conduct report at Alcatraz.

Alphonse Capone, #85-AZ, and William Colyer, #185-AZ, were working in the laundry on opposite sides of a mangle. Capone was feeding towels in the mangle; Colyer was taking them out the other side.

Colyer became angered because, according to his claims, Capone was not feeding the mangle properly, with the result the towels were coming through partially wet, but Capone’s claim was that he was feeding them correctly but faster than Colyer could handle them. At any rate, Colyer, receiving some towels on his side that did not suit him, threw them back at Capone, whereupon Capone went around the mangle to Colyer’s side and punched him in the eye.

Colyer sought to get a tool to resist Capone but Capone picked up a wooden bench and either struck Colyer in the wrist or Colyer, endeavoring to strike him, hit his wrist against the bench, at any rate the result was a sprained wrist. It all happened very quickly and the guard on-duty separated them and brought them both immediately to the Deputy, who heard their stories and locked them both in solitary.

Capone’s various offenses at Alcatraz would range from fighting with other inmates, to spitting, to destroying and throwing his clothing from his cell tier onto the aisle floor. It is documented that Capone attempted to manage the affairs of several other inmates, with little success. He was unable to establish any underground networks at Alcatraz, and his communications to the outside world were strictly censored. Gifts sent to Capone were never accepted and visits from family members were limited to the same number as for other inmates.

There were also rumors that Al’s life was threatened by his fellow prisoners. It is suggested in several documents that other inmates schemed to take advantage of Capone’s financial status, in order to secure outside assistance and collaboration in potential escapes. In a letter written to Al’s brother Ralph by fellow Alcatraz inmate and music teacher Charles Mangiere on May 18, 1936, it is alleged that some inmates plotted to kill Al if he refused to front the money to hire a gun boat for one such escape attempt. Mangiere stated that inmates Charles Berta and Bert McDonald had told him that unless Al provided them with $5,000, they would never let him leave Alcatraz alive. He further alleged that several others were plotting to frame Capone under a similar pretense.

Capone himself was aware of these threats, at least one of which would have near fatal consequences. On June 23, 1936, Capone was assaulted by a violent Texan inmate, Jimmy C. Lucas. Lucas was serving time for bank robbery, and he also boasted a previous murder conviction, as well as several reported escape attempts from other institutions.

Jimmy C. Lucas

The following reports chronicle the attack:

Re: ATTACK UPON CAPONE #85-AZ 6-23-36

About 9:30 A.M. this date I received a call from Mr. Hansen at the west end of the cell house stating there was a cutting scrape just happened in the basement. I rushed back there to find out from Mr. Hansen that Lucas #224 stabbed Capone #85 and that both of them were up in the hospital.

I immediately went to the hospital. Waiting outside in the hallway of the hospital was Lucas with Junior Custodial Officer Lapsley. I asked Lucas what happened. He said that he had struck Capone with a pair of scissors. Asked him why he had done it and he said because Capone “snitched to you and had me removed from the barbershop.”  I told him that Capone had nothing to do with his removal from the barbershop and went on into the Hospital to see the condition of Capone.

He was on the table in the Out Patient Office, lying on his side stomach, upper of his body stripped. The Doctor with Guard Attendant Ping was attending to stopping the heavy flow of blood from a small wound on the left side of his back and about half way down his back, near the side.

At this time he was conscious, smiling, and I asked him what had happened and he said that Lucas had come up from behind him, stuck him in the back while he was standing looking at a mandolin which was laying on the counter in the Clothing Room. Upon being attacked he grabbed the mandolin and swung it around, hitting Lucas in the head. Lucas continued to attempt to attack him and in the attempt to disarm Lucas, he got a few minor cut on his hands.

Asked him what the cause of the attack was and he said it was the same old story, because he would not furnish money requested by Lucas.

Guard Sanders who was on duty in the Clothing Room at the time reports that a few minutes before he had gone in the clothing room and went over to a small desk with #107-Best. They were drawing a design for some additional pigeonholes for inmates clothing. Mr. Sander’s back was towards the door. He noticed Capone enter the Clothing Room and saw him looking at the mandolin but did not notice Lucas come in. The first he noticed was when he heard a scuffle and yelling.

At that time Capone was trying to protect himself against the attack of Lucas. Mr. Sanders was only about ten feet away, pulled out his club and jumped over to them, pushed Capone behind him and with Lucas in front of him ordered Lucas to surrender the half of scissors he was holding in his hand, which Lucas did without any resistance. Mr. Sanders took Lucas then up the stairs to the cellhouse and turned him over to Mr. Lapsley. At the same time he blew a whistle to attract attention of the cellhouse guard.