Frank Capone

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Frank Capone (January 1895-April 1, 1924) was a Chicago mobster and older brother of Al Capone.

Born Salvatore Capone, Frank arrived in Chicago with his brother Al during the start of Prohibition. Although Al Capone had been violent in his criminal career, Frank Capone was reportedly considered much more so, often using violence immediately, explaining that "You never get no back talk from a corpse", where his brother first attempted to negotiate with an opponent.

During the early 1920s, the Torrio-Capone organization based their operations in the suburb of Cicero, Illinois after being driven from the city by reform Mayor William Dever in 1923.

Within a year, local city manager Joseph Z. Klenha and the town committeemen were on the Torrio-Capone payroll. During the 1924 Chicago Primary election, Frank Capone was with members of the Torrio-Capone organization who went to polling booths with machine guns and sawn-off shotguns to see that local residents "voted right". With Klenha running against popular reform candidate William K. Pflaum, Frank Capone led an attack on Pflaum's campaign headquarters, ransacking his office and assaulting several campaign workers.

On April 1, Frank Capone blocked voters from booths unless they confirmed that they were voting for Klenha. In one incident Democratic campaign worker Michael Gavin was shot in both legs and held against his will with eight other campaign workers until Election Day was over.

Upon hearing reports of election fraud, Cook County Judge Edmund J. Jareki brought in 70 Chicago police officers and swore them in as deputy sheriffs under the command of Detective Sergeant William Cusick. Arriving outside a polling booth near the Western Electric Plant, they encountered Frank and Al Capone, as well as cousin Charles Fishchetti and David Hedlin. Thinking that they might be members of the North Side Mob, Frank Capone fired at them, but was killed when they returned fire.

Frank Capone was given an extravagant funeral, with $20,000 worth of flowers from Dion O'Bannion's Schofield's Flower Shop lining the casket [1], as the Chicago Tribune reported that the event was appropriate for "...a fitting gentleman". Out of respect for Capone, the gambling dens and speakeasies of Cicero were ordered closed for two hours.

[edit] References

Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 978-0-8160-5694-1
Sifakis, Carl. The Encyclopedia of American Crime. New York: Facts on File Inc., 2001. ISBN 978-0-8160-4040-7