Alcatraz: A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years Part 9

A. Well, I wrapped a handkerchief around them.

Q. Wrapped a handkerchief- your handkerchief?

A. Mine.

Q. Have you anything to say in your defense?

A. Well he threatened to kill me.

Q. When?

A. Lots of people around knew- Q. When?

A. Several occasions. He tried to get guys to kill me. He tried to offer- Q. Name one.

A. I would rather not name them now.

Q. That type of evidence is immaterial if you cannot name- A. I can name him all right. Well, I am not- Q. What?

A. I don't want... He offered money to get me.

Q. He offered money to get you?

A. But I refuse to name who at the present time for several reasons, and he threatened my life up there. You might have heard that (turning to Junior Custodial Officer Sanders) when I was going up there to the hospital Q. That was after the facts.

A. That was Tuesday, but before this Q. Afterwards many things might be said after you had executed this unprovoked attack upon him.

A. He offered money to get me done for or he would do it and the other fellow would take the rap.

Q. Who did he offer that?

A. I would rather not say now, at the present time.

Q. That is insufficient evidence. Mr. Sanders what do you know about this case, what did you see on your end of it?

A. (By Junior Custodial Officer Thomas J. Sanders).

Why, the first I knew is that I saw this man attacking Capone and they were tangled up and fighting and I jumped over and told this man to surrender the weapon, which he did without any resistance to me. I turned the weapon over to you.

Q. What was it?

A. (J.C.O. Sanders) One piece of scissors.

Q. One half of a scissors?

A. (J.C.O. Sanders) One half of scissors.

Q. Did you find the other half of the scissors?

A. (J.C.O. Sanders) No... Oh, yes, the other half, I found it.

Q. Where did you find it?

A. (J.C.O. Sanders) In the Barber Shop on the stand.

Q. Did you find the screw?

A. (J.C.O. Sanders) Yes, sir.

Q. Where was it?

A. (J.C.O. Sanders) It was laying with the other part of the scissors.

Q. Where was it?

A. (J.C.O. Sanders) In the Barber Shop.

Q. This inmate has 3600 days good time, earned or to be earned under a sentence of thirty-years. I recommend that he forfeit the entire 3600 days. What is your recommendation (to Doctor Hess)?

Q. (By Dr. Hess) If you don't mind, I would like to ask him some questions. Where are you working, Lucas?

A. In the Laundry.

Q. (Dr. Hess) What were you doing down there?

A. Supposed to get a haircut.

Q. Down to get a haircut?

A. Yes, to get a haircut.

Q. (Dr. Hess) Are you sure that you did this because of some threat that Capone made to you or in conjunction with some grievances of others?

A. Well, he knows (indicating Deputy) what Capone said about me to him and not only to...

Q. Where there any words pa.s.sed before you struck him?

A. No.

Q. None whatever? How long after you went down stairs to get a hair cut before you struck him?

A. Oh, I would say twenty minutes, I don't know just the exact time.

Q. What did you use to loosen the scissors with?

A. They were loose, just a set screw.

Q. I see. Suppose there is any change of anyone unloosening those scissors purposely.

A. n.o.body knew anything about it.

Q. What barber's scissors did you take, do you know?

A. I looked them both over. I don't know what one.

Q. Why did you look them both over?

A. Just looking them over to see which one was the best.

Q. (By Deputy Shuttleworth to Lieutenant Miller). Anything to ask him?

A. Lieutenant Miller). No.

Q. (By Deputy Shuttleworth to Dr. Hess). What is your recommendation?

A. (By Dr. Hess) I would rather defer my opinion until I can talk to Capone.

Q. (By Deputy Shuttleworth to Lieutenant Miller). Your recommendation?

A. I recommend he lose all his good time.

Q. (By Deputy Shuttleworth to J.C.O. Sanders). That is all, put him away.

A. Dr. Hess requested that #85 be brought before the Board for the purpose of asking him some questions which might aid in finding the cause of the attack. Capone was brought before the board and asked a few questions, which satisfied the Doctor and he "recommended the loss of all his good time."

By late 1937, Capone started to withdraw further and further from prison society, spending the majority of his time withdrawn and secluded in his cell. As his health deteriorated, he would pa.s.s on visits to the recreation yard and instead spend time with close a.s.sociates in the bas.e.m.e.nt shower and band room areas where he worked providing janitorial services. He was witnessed on occasion talking to himself and acting bizarre, and on February 5, 1938 it became apparent that Al was seriously ill.

Doc.u.ments relating to Capone's treatment for syphilis while he was an inmate at Alcatraz.

During Capone's tenure at Alcatraz, his family visited as often as permissible by prison regulations. His inmate case file shows his family's commitment to travel across the country year round.

A press photographer snapped this photo of Al Capone's wife (Mae Capone) off boarding from the prison launch during her visit in March of 1938.

Al Capone's wife, Mae, tries to avoid photographers after a visit to see her racketeer husband in December, 1937. The original caption read: Morgan Hill, California: Mrs. Capone Glares At Cameraman. Mrs. Mae Capone, wife of Al Capone, former Chicago racket leader, glares at the cameramen who "stole" this picture while she and her driver, believed to be Ralph Capone, brother of Al, stopped at a gasoline station here after a 100 mile chase from San Francis...o...b.. cameramen and reporters. The chase started when they left San Francisco after visiting Capone on Alcatraz Island in San Francis...o...b..y. The photo was taken at a gasoline station on the Monterey Highway in Morgan Hill, California.

a.s.sociate Warden E.J. Miller described the episode: When we opened cells for mess this morning at breakfast time, Capone #AZ-85 came out of his with his blue clothes on. On being sent back to his cell to put on his coveralls, he returned, put them on and got in line and came in and drank some coffee.

After the meal was over and men went back to cells, Capone started up on the upper gallery instead of going to his own cell. Officers sent him back to his own cell and being locked in, he proceeded to get sick and threw up what he had eaten for breakfast and then appeared to be all right.

After we let the men go out to work, I went up to Capone's cell and talked to him to see what was the matter with him and what explanation he had for his actions. He was sitting on the toilet and in response to my questions all I could get were indistinct, incoherent mumblings.

At about 8:15, Mr. Amende, Cell House Officer, called me and said that Capone had thrown a fit in his cell. I went to Capone's cell and found he was laying on the floor and appeared to be in a hysterical fit of some sort. I immediately sent for the doctor and when Dr. Hess came and put him on the bunk and examined him, he said we had better take him to the hospital.

Capone was checked into the Hospital.

Capone had developed symptoms of syphilis, a disease that he had evidently been carrying for years. He was committed to the prison hospital, and would remain there for the duration of his imprisonment at Alcatraz. The prison doctors attempted a variety of treatments with no success. Capone was frequently restrained for rants of yelling "at the top of his lungs" and other irrational behaviors. At one point, Capone was located in the "A-Ward" hospital section and locked in what was termed a "bug cage" for mentally unstable or at risk patients. It was a stiff wired cage that sectioned off the large hospital wardroom, typically housing multiple patients. Inmate Alvin Karpis later recounted a fierce fight that ensued between Capone and an inmate named Carl Janaway.

Carl Janaway.

Janaway shared one of the adjacent beds, separated by steel-mesh wire enclosures, and it is claimed that the two men constantly argued like small children. Their fighting climaxed in an event that would have them both separated, and would finally convince the administration of the need to transfer Capone to a facility that could better care for his medical condition. The altercation stemmed from Janaway's insults, which were reciprocated by Capone using names such as "Bug House Janaway." At the peak of their exchange, both inmates started hurling the contents of their bedpans at each other through the wire caging. They would end up so saturated with urine and feces that they had to be hosed down before being removed from their enclosures to shower. In Another incident, Capone got into an altercation with inmate Phil Ryan (AZ-134) a.s.saulting him with a bedpan. In a prison report it stated in part: Capone has been turned into ward "A" by the guard on-duty in the Hospital, to empty his bedpan. He was in the toilet cleaning it perhaps with a towel which the Ward patients used to clean the table in Ward "A." Ryan who was mopping in front of the toilet, asked him not to use it. Capone flew into a rage and struck Ryan in the temple with the bedpan inflicting a small laceration. Ryan then struck Capone over the head with the mop. Capone grabbed the mop out of Ryan's hands and when the Guard, Mr. Comerford and Mr. Sabin arrived on the scene Capone was fighting off all of the patients in the Ward, but no other injuries resulted.

Capone underwent aggressive treatment for syphilis during his final years on Alcatraz and his family made frequent visits to help provide him support. Warden Johnston provided frequent updates on Capone's condition to the Bureau and surmised that he had both good and bad days while battling his illness. In one such report Johnston noted: You will note from the above that I told her that he is quiet, cooperative and has good att.i.tude and disposition and that if he continues as at present she may have her regular visit as scheduled.

My view of this is based upon reports from Doctor Hess, the a.s.sociate Warden and my own observations. I have seen him several times since he has been in the Hospital and not noticed anything about him or his conduct that make it necessary to cancel the regular visit of his wife. In fact, if it were not for my knowledge of his collapse on Sat.u.r.day, the fifth, and the history of syphilis, and what the Doctors say about possibilities of progressive deterioration, I would say to ordinary observation, he is just acting normal.

When I was in the Hospital the afternoon of Sat.u.r.day, the 12th, I walked into the small ward where Capone is and I observed that he had on the regulation hospital pajamas and robe and was by his bed where he had some magazines and writing paper. He greeted me in his usual manner, which as I have noticed on interviews and in conversation is generally a bit effusive. He made inquiry about being allowed to write his regular letters to his wife and possibility of having his regular visit and I told him that if he retained his privileges and took his treatments and there was no radical change that indicated that visiting would be undesirable, it would be allowed.

When I talked to h1m about how he was occupying his time he said he had been writing and he had been reading the magazines. I asked him what magazines he had been reading and he said the last one he read was the Cosmopolitan. I noticed that particularly because Dr. Hess had told me that his tongue was thick and speech slurring which was a noticeable sign in such cases, but I must say that at that particular time I thought his speech was quite clear and that he had no difficulty with the word "Cosmopolitan."

I noticed also that on a previous visit with him when I was endeavoring to appear casual and not testing him, I had some conversation with Dr. Hess not directed to Capone but in his presence and hearing, in the course of wh1ch I referred to another patient who had athletes foot, and Capone hearing it and wanted to get into the conversation, asked me if I knew what was the best thing for that. I said I did not know the best thing, and he said "Absorbine, Jr."

I mention this because I would expect him to be a bit thick tongued, although he was not, on such words as Absorbine, Jr. and Cosmopolitan and in the use of words that he ordinarily employed, he seemed all right. I have no doubt that in the tests that are made in which departures are from his regular vocabulary and sentences are given in order to test out his speech for clearness, that he may become thick.

When I asked him how he was getting along, he responded he was getting along all right and he was going to do whatever the Doctor told him and take whatever treatment was prescribed. I asked him if he was entirely clear and he said he was at that time. When I asked him what happened to him originally to get him to the hospital, he said he did not know exactly but he guessed that he was a bit "wacky". When I asked him to describe just what happened, he said "Well, it's hard to describe. I felt something coming on and seemed to get a little dizzy and things went black and I just laid down."

I asked him if he vomited any after breakfast on that first day, Sat.u.r.day, the fifth. He said "Well, they told me I did but I do not remember it." When I asked him if there was a feeling of nausea or biliousness and dizziness or what it was like, he said "Something like being bilious, felt kind, of dizzy" but I could not get any better description. I did not interrogate him in such manner as to make him think that I was taking it too seriously or that I wanted precise and accurate answers but Just as if my approach to it was more or less casual and I was just interested in finding out what happened originally and how he felt at the moment.

If there are any changes in the situation, I will advise.

J.A. Johnston.

Warden.

Al Capone's Terminal Island mug shot, taken on January 6, 1938, the day of his release from Alcatraz.

The United States Federal Penitentiary at Terminal Island, California.

Capone and his brothers Albert and Ralph (wearing their ranger style hats) in Mercer, Wisconsin. This never before published photo was taken during a hunting trip in 1944.

Capone at his Palm Island estate following his release from prison.

Early on the morning of January 6, 1939, a.s.sociate Warden E.J. Miller escorted Capone to the mainland, where Federal Marshals awaited to take custody of the famous prisoner. He was transferred to Terminal Island, a Federal Prison in Southern California where he would serve out the remainder of his sentence. His time served at Terminal Island, proved to be a continuum of harsh confinement. George Hess, the one-time Chief Medical Officer at Alcatraz (who had also transferred his practice to Terminal Island), wrote to the Medical Director at the Bureau of Prisons in September of 1939: Capone is now confined to one of the Segregation Cells but is permitted books, magazines, papers, commissary and proper exercise. It became necessary to segregate this man from other inmates for his own protection. His most recent a.s.sault of another inmate happened to be one of our model inmates who is very well liked by the inmate body as well as the officials. The feeling against Capone for this unprovoked a.s.sault was decidedly one of intense resentment. It is felt that the best interests of all concerned will be adequately protected by Capone's indefinite segregation under careful supervision.

He was released from prison on November 16, 1939, following a brief stay at the Federal Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and was then voluntarily transferred to the Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore to undergo a three week treatment program for paresis. The Department of Justice provided only a brief official news release to members of the press. It read simply: Alphonse Capone was released today from the United States Penitentiary at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. He was met by a member of his family. He was recently transferred to the United States Penitentiary at Lewisburg from, the Federal Correctional Inst.i.tution near Los Angeles, California.

Upon the pet.i.tion of Capone's attorneys the computation of his sentence has again been reviewed, and he is now being given credit for three days he served in federal custody between October 24, 1931 and October 27, 1931, the date on which the United States Circuit Court of Appeals granted a supersedeas suspending execution of the judgment under which he was originally incarcerated on October 24, 1931. He began service of the ten-year sentence on May 4, 1932, to be followed by a one-year sentence. Allowances for good conduct on both sentences and allowance for the time held in the jail between the date of his sentence and the granting of the supersedeas bring his release date to November 16, 1939.

Capone died on January 25, 1947 in his Palm Island Mansion, in Miami Beach Florida. On his death certificate, completed by Medical Examiner Kenneth Phillips, "Bronco- Pneumonia and Apoplexy" were listed as the official cause of death. His older brother Raffaele would also later serve time for tax evasion at McNeil Island Federal Penitentiary.