Ralph Capone

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Ralph "Bottles" Capone (January 12, 1894-November 22, 1974) was a Chicago mobster and an older brother of Al Capone.

Born Raffaele James Capone, Ralph Capone was brought to Chicago by his brother, Al Capone, and placed in charge of syndicate bottling plants as the Chicago Outfit was attempting to gain a virtual monopoly over distilled, non-alcoholic beverages and soft drinks (specifically ginger ale and soda water commonly used in mixed drinks) during Prohibition. This would become apparent from large profits by Ralph Capone who, with the exception of Coca-Cola, was the dominant vendor during the 1933 World's Fair, from which his nickname "Bottles" it thought to have been attributed to. It has long been speculated the murder of Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, an opponent of the syndicates monopoly, who was gunned down shortly before he was to officially open the fair. In April 1930, he was one of several organized crime figures to be included in Frank J. Loesch's "public enemies" list.

Following Al Capone's conviction for tax evasion in 1931, Ralph Capone remained with the Chicago Outfit as the host to several high-level syndicate conferences from his brother's residence in Palm Island, Florida. As the manager of Chicago's Cotton Club, Ralph was reportedly involved syndicate gambling and vice districts and, in 1935, Ralph himself was convicted of tax evasion [1].

Although though by the public and federal authorities alike as an "elder statesman" of sorts, described in 1950 by the United Press as "...in his own right [Ralph Capone] is now one of the overlords of the national syndicate which controls gambling, vice, and other rackets.", Ralph Capone's membership in the Chicago Outfit was an honorary position and held relitivly little power in the crime syndicate as demonstrated during his appearance before the Kefauver Committee in 1950. A month following his testimony, his son, Ralph Capone, Jr. committed suicide after swallowing a number of cold tablets and vodka.

Following his death in Hurley, Wisconsin on November 22, 1974, Ralph Capone was cremated at Park Hill and his ashes sent to a funeral home.

He was later portrayed by Ed O'Ross in the 1987 film The Verne Miller Story and by Titus Welliver in the 1990 television movie The Lost Capone.

[edit] Further reading

Binder, John. The Chicago Outfit. Arcadia Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0-7385-2326-7
Enright, Laura L. Chicago's Most Wanted: The Top Ten Book of Murderous Mobsters, Midway Monsters, and Windy City Oddities. Dulles, Virginia: Potomac Books Inc., 2005. ISBN 1-57488-785-8
Iorizzo, Luciano J. Al Capone: a biography. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2005. ISBN 0-313-32317-8
Johnson, Curt and R. Craig Sautter. The Wicked City: Chicago from Kenna to Capone. New York: Da Capo Press, 1994. ISBN 0-306-80821-8
Kobler, John. Capone: The Life and Times of Al Capone. New York: Da Capo Press, 2003. ISBN 0-30681-285-1
Pasley, Fred D. Al Capone: The Biography of a Self-Made Man. Garden City, New York: Garden City Publishing Co., 2004. ISBN 1-4179-0878-5
Schoenberg, Robert J. Mr. Capone. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1992. ISBN 0-68812-838-6

[edit] References

Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3
Sifakis, Carl. The Encyclopedia of American Crime. New York: Facts on File Inc., 2001. ISBN 0-8160-4040-0