Wednesday, August 22, 1934

Straightened up the house a little bit. It is not quite so hot today.

Alcatraz Island
Prisoner Delivery - August 22, 1934

Al Capone arrived on the island on August 22, 1934 along with 52 other convicts from Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, Georgia. He had several jobs on the island including sweeping the cellhouse and working in the laundry. Capone was not popular on Alcatraz; he received no special privileges, but his notoriety made him a target for other cons. Capone got into a fight with another inmate in the recreation yard and was placed in isolation for eight days. While Capone was working in the prison basement, an inmate standing in line waiting for a haircut stabbed him with a pair of shears. Capone eventually became symptomatic from syphilis, a disease he had been carrying for years but had avoided treating. In early 1939 the authorities transferred him to Federal Correction Institute Terminal Island in Southern California to serve out the remainder of his 11-year sentence.

Saturday, August 11, 1934

Rained a little today. Daddy went over to Troost Lake. Tomorrow is Ford Day at Fairyland.

Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone (January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947)

On August 11, 1934, Capone was transferred from Atlanta U.S.
Penitentiary to the newly established Alcatraz prison in San Francisco
to finish serving his 11-year sentence for income tax evasion. The warden kept tight security and cut off Capone’s contact with colleagues.

Capone ran The Chicago Outfit, dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early 1920s to 1931. Despite his illegitimate occupation, Capone became a highly visible public figure. He made various charitable endeavors using the money he made from his activities, and was viewed by many to be a “modern-day Robin Hood”. Capone was publicly criticized for his supposed involvement in the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre, when seven rival gang members were executed.

In the final years of Capone’s life, he suffered mental and physical deterioration due to late-stage neurosyphilis, which he had contracted as a youth. On January 25, 1947, he died from cardiac arrest after suffering a stroke.

Friday, November 24, 1933

Daddy took us girls to school. I went swimming today. Went to dentist in the evening, then played pinochle. I stayed all night with Mrs. Raifert.

Where are the jobs?

By November 1933, unemployment in America had skyrocketed to over 23%
and the Dow plummeted to 90, a loss of nearly 75 percent of its previous value.

In this photo, unemployed men queued outside a Depression-era soup kitchen
opened in Chicago by Al Capone in an effort to clean up his public image. The
storefront sign reads: "Free Soup, Coffee and Doughnuts for the Unemployed."
    

Thursday, May 11, 1933

Played baseball outside in Gym today. Have a Mathematics test tomorrow. It rained and hailed, also.

Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone - 1931 mug shot
A notorious gangster who ran an organized crime syndicate in Chicago during the 1920s,
 Capone, was both charming and charitable as well as powerful and vicious. He became
an iconic figure of the successful American gangster before being convicted of income tax
evasion and sentenced to 11 years in federal prison. His incarceration included a stay at Alcatraz.
In the final years of Capone's life, his mental and physical health deteriorated due to neurosyphilis.
 On January 25, 1947, he died from cardiac arrest following a stroke in Miami Beach, Florida.