Ralph Capone

Ralph James Capone (/ˈkəˈpoʊn/;[1] born Raffaele James Capone; Italian: [raffaˈɛːle kaˈpoːne]; January 12, 1894 – November 22, 1974) was an Italian-American Chicago mobster and an older brother of Al Capone and Frank Capone. He got the nickname "Bottles" not from involvement in the Capone bootlegging empire, but from his running the legitimate non-alcoholic beverage and bottling operations in Chicago. Further family lore suggests that the nickname was specifically tied to his lobbying the Illinois Legislature to put into law that milk bottling companies had to stamp the date that the milk was bottled on the bottle. He was most famous for being named by the Chicago Crime Commission "Public Enemy Number Three" when his brother Al was "Public Enemy Number One".

Ralph Capone
Born
Raffaele James Capone

(1894-01-12)January 12, 1894
Angri, Campania, Italy
DiedNovember 22, 1974(1974-11-22) (aged 80)
Hurley, Wisconsin, U.S.
Resting placeMount Carmel Cemetery, Hillside, Illinois, U.S.
NationalityItalian
Other namesBottles
CitizenshipAmerican
OccupationBootlegger, mobster
Spouse(s)
Florence Muscato
​
(
m. 1915; div. 1921)

Velma Pheasant
​
(
m. 1923; div. 1938)

Madeline Capone
(
m. 1951)
Children1
RelativesAl Capone (brother)
James Vincenzo Capone (brother)
Frank Capone (brother)
AllegianceChicago Outfit

Early life

Capone was born in 1894, in Angri, a small town in Campania, Italy, near Mount Vesuvius, and he was the middle son of Gabriele and Teresa (née Raiola) Capone. He had eight siblings, Vicenzo, Frank, Al, Ermina, John, Matthew Capone and Mafalda Maritote. He arrived in America on a ship named Werra on June 18, 1895 with his older brother Vincenzo and mother Theresa, entering via Ellis Island. His father had come to the United States by the way of Canada, six months previously. They settled in Brooklyn, living near the Navy yards.

On September 24, 1915 at the age of 21 he married Filomena (Florence) Muscato, age 17. They had a son, Ralph Gabriel Capone in 1917.

Life in Chicago

After the death of his father Gabriel in November 1920, Ralph was brought to Chicago by his younger brother, Al. His wife didn't want to move so Ralph took Ralph Jr. to Chicago where he was raised by his mother as her youngest child. Ralph Sr. returned to New York in 1921 and got a divorce decree from Florence on the charge of abandonment.

In 1923, he married for the second time to Velma Pheasant. They had no children and divorced in March 1938.[2]

Capone was placed in charge of the Chicago Outfit's bottling plants during Prohibition. The Outfit was attempting to monopolize non-alcoholic beverages and soft drinks (specifically ginger ale and soda water, commonly used in mixed drinks) during this period when the sale of alcohol was banned. Ralph Capone made large profits for the Outfit and became the dominant soft drink vendor other than Coca-Cola during the 1933 World's Fair. In April 1930, the elder Capone was included in Frank J. Loesch's Chicago Crime Commission "Public Enemies" list. He was Public Enemy #3, while his brother Al was Public Enemy #1.

The entrance of Al Capone's mansion where Ralph Capone hosted several high-level Outfit conferences. The mansion is located in 93 Palm Ave. in Miami, Florida.

Following Al Capone's conviction for tax evasion in 1931, Ralph Capone remained with the Outfit. He hosted several high-level Outfit conferences at his brother's residence in Palm Island, Florida. As the manager of Chicago's Cotton Club, Capone was reportedly involved in syndicate gambling and vice districts. In 1932, he was also convicted of tax evasion and served three years.[3]

In many ways, the elder Capone was a front man for the Outfit. Authorities once described him as an "elder statesman" of the Outfit. In 1950, the United Press described Capone as "…in his own right… one of the overlords of the national syndicate which controls gambling, vice, and other rackets". In actuality, Ralph held relatively little power in the Outfit and the National Crime Syndicate. This finally became evident during his testimony before the U.S. Senate Kefauver Committee, in 1950.

In the 1930s, Capone purchased a home and later managed a hotel/tavern in Mercer, Wisconsin. The hotel was named "The Rex Hotel" and the tavern was named, "Billy's Bar".[4] After Capone's release from prison, he moved to Wisconsin and lived there until his death.

Death

On November 22, 1974, Capone died of natural causes in Hurley, Wisconsin. He was cremated at Park Hill Cemetery in Duluth, Minnesota. His ashes were buried at the Capone Family grave site by his granddaughter Deirdre in June 2008. He was survived by his wife Madeline, whom he had married in 1951.[5]

Further reading
  • Binder, John J. (2003). The Chicago Outfit. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-2326-7.
  • Enright, Laura L. (2005). Chicago's Most Wanted: The Top Ten Book of Murderous Mobsters, Midway Monsters, and Windy City Oddities. Dulles, Virginia: Potomac Books Inc. ISBN 1-57488-785-8.
  • Iorizzo, Luciano J. (2005). Al Capone: a biography. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-32317-8.
  • Johnson, Curt; Sautter, R. Craig (1994). The Wicked City: Chicago from Kenna to Capone. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80821-8.
  • Kobler, John (2003). Capone: The Life and Times of Al Capone. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-81285-1.
  • Pasley, Fred D. (2004). Al Capone: The Biography of a Self-Made Man. Garden City, New York: Garden City Publishing Co. ISBN 1-4179-0878-5.
  • Schoenberg, Robert J. (1992). Mr. Capone. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0-688-12838-6.
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References
  1. "The definition of Al Capone". Dictionary.com. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
  2. https://newspaperarchive.com/oakland-tribune/1938-03-10/page-15
  3. Crime Library Archived December 7, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  4. Travel Wisconsin Gangster Tour
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-04-17. Retrieved 2015-06-27.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "Domenick Lombardozzi Joins Boardwalk Empire, Unforgettable Adds Detective". Deadline Hollywood.
  • Sifakis, Carl (2005). The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3.
  • Sifakis, Carl (2001). The Encyclopedia of American Crime. New York: Facts on File Inc. ISBN 0-8160-4040-0.
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