Young Al Capone. The Untold Story of Scarface in New York, 1899-1925

284 Pages·2011·11.7 MB·English

by  William Balsamo

Also by William Balsamo:
Under the Clock: The Inside Story of the Mafia’s First 100 Years
(with George Carpozi Jr.)
Young Al Capone
The Untold Story of Scarface in New York, 1899-1925
William Balsamo
John Balsamo
Copyright © 2011 by William Balsamo and John Balsamo
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner
without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Balsamo, William.
Young Al Capone : the untold story of Scarface in New York, 1899-1925 /
William Balsamo and John Balsamo. p. cm.
Includes index.
9781616080853
1. Capone, Al, 1899-1947. 2. Criminals--New York (State)--New York. 3.
Criminals--Illinois--Chicago. 4. Gangsters--New York (State)--New York. 5.
Gangsters--Illinois--Chicago. I. Balsamo, John. II. Title.
HV6248.C17 B35 2010
364.1092--dc22
[B]
2010034682
Printed in the United States of America
This book is dedicated in memory of our beloved mother, Helen Balsamo-
Martinez (1915–1994) and John’s wife, Johanna (1938–2006).
“I’m a spook, born of a million minds.”
—Al Capone, commenting on his tax trouble
Table of Contents
Also by William Balsamo:
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Authors’ Note
Introduction
Gang Rosters
1 - Touch Us If You Dare!
2 - Shoeshines and Shopping Bags
3 - Eyes in the Mirror
4 - A Yale Education
5 - The Cigar Box
6 - Going for Baccala
7 - To Catch a Star
8 - The Man Who Created Scarface
9 - Ma, Dance with Pa!
10 - Chicago, Here I Come!
11 - Crazy Benny’s Watery Grave
12 - The Interrupted Honeymoon
13 - New Underworld Order
14 - Fish in the Barrel
15 - The Peg Leg Murders
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Index
Authors’ Note
MANY YEARS AGO, we began to realize that all of the books written about Al
Capone (we think we have most of them in our possession) offer only cursory
descriptions of the most exciting period in the life of the man known as
“Scarface.” It is no wonder that the subject’s early days have been shrouded in
mystery. Even the most exhaustive research would fail to bring never-before-
published material to light for one important reason: None of the previous
biographers had the opportunity to live with and to work with people (on the
Brooklyn waterfront) and elsewhere who actually knew Alphonse Capone. We
can reliably state that no one else can match the years of research we incurred in
chronicling young Capone’s remarkable existence unless they wish to hold their
interviews at so many gravesides.
Collecting personal data and piecing together Young Al Capone has been more
than a hobby for us. It’s been a family tradition, with relatives and friends
sometimes supplying leads. Most of them turned out to be dead ends. Others,
such as the interviews with Frank Galluccio, the man who put the knife (and
caused the scars) to Capone’s face and lived to tell about it, were truly startling
and the sessions with Frankie Yale’s henchman, Gido Bianco, painted intimate
and revealing insights into Capone’s early days, when young Al learned all there
was to know about strong-arming, thievery, and extortion in Brooklyn, on the
banks of the Gowanus Canal. Mr. Bianco was a fantastic source of information
pertaining to Capone’s younger years. Having known Alphonse since childhood,
Bianco’s powerful accounts provided the impetus for us to invest countless hours
toward composing this book, which is a result of numerous personal interviews,
tape recordings, newspaper articles dug out from the public libraries, and facts
compiled through court records and other official documents.
We also claim a distinct advantage over other Capone historians, as we are
related by blood to Batista Balsamo (1868–1940), generally regarded as the first
godfather of Brooklyn, New York, where Capone’s roots lay. A search of our
family tree has verified that our great-uncle, Batista was a descendent of the
infamous Giuseppe Balsamo, a.k.a. Count Allessandro Di Cagliostro (1743–
1795), an alchemist and noted mystic who was prosecuted in the affair of the
diamond necklace that involved Marie Antoinette and Prince Louis de Rohan.
Perhaps Di Cagliostro’s shady résumé also included an association with the
Sicilian Mafia in the mid-1700s, because we subsequently learned that the
mention of our great-uncle’s name to selected mob associates opened doors, as
well as mouths, for us in our attempts to ferret out details from those who knew
Alphonse Capone or who had dealings with him.
The dialogue in this book is written with the hopeful intention of providing a
plausible discourse to the events as defined by the historical record. When a
character’s jargon seems atypical, bear in mind that Al Capone was bilingual, as
were many of his contemporaries. They often communicated in Italian, though
sometimes in English with Brooklyn slang thrown in the mix. When Capone’s
cousin Sylvester Agoglia thinks something is “unpretentious,” that doesn’t imply
that he utilized words of more than three syllables in his speech. Most of these
criminals were grade-school dropouts. However, neither Agoglia or any other
unsavory thug in this book should be limited in their expression of thought, for
although they were uneducated, many of them were dangerously clever.