Al Capone Legacy

The Legacy of Al Capone:
How He Changed the World of Crime Gambling, boot-legging, extortion, and money racketeering are just some of the many profitable, yet illegal activities that aided Al Capone’s domination of the Chicago underworld. From its small beginning as gamblers and brothel owners to its domination of labor unions and distribution of illegal alcohol, the Capone organization and its members changed the world of organized crime forever. In the early 1900s ruthless business man, Al Capone and his syndicate, later to be known by the world as the Capone Gang, was able to corrupt political offices, form allied relationships with police officers, and intimidate the citizens of Chicago allowing organized crime to flourish and create…show more content…
Often immigrants that came from Europe were viewed “at the bottom of the economic and social ladder” (Gale par.3). By associating themselves with the Capone gang, they were able to improve their status in society. Members of an organized crime were part of a “complex pattern of illegal activity that includes gambling, prostitution, loan sharking, narcotics trafficking, and different types of planned and coordinated acts of fraud, theft and extortion.”(Gale, par. 1). Capone’s gang, often called the syndicate, was able to take advantage of people to make a maximum profit. “Syndicate Crime”: Henry Barret Chamberlain, operating director of Chicago Crime commission described increasingly efficient “syndicate” crime: “modern crime, like modern business, is tending toward centralization, organization, and commercialization. Ours is a business nation. Our criminals apply business methods…The men and women of evil have formed trusts” (Peterson 35). Capone’s gang took advantage of every situation possible in order to increase their profits and decrease their risk of getting caught. “The phenomenon of gangs represented, and continues to represent, an organizational response to a particular economic condition- poverty” (Urban America- Gangs 1). Although Capone targeted his control towards…show more content…
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