Al Capone was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the Chicago Outfit. His seven-year reign as a crime boss ended when he went to prison at the age of 33.
In his early 20s, he moved to Chicago and became a bodyguard and trusted factotum for Johnny Torrio, head of a criminal syndicate that illegally supplied alcohol-the forerunner of the outfit- and was politically protected through the Unione Siciliana.
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When did Al Capone get syphilis?
Capone was first diagnosed with syphilis in 1938 while he was serving 11 years in the famous Alcatraz prison for tax fraud. The sexually transmitted infection had caused neurosyphilis, an infection of the central nervous system, which eventually led to dementia.
How did Al Capone get syphilis?
Capone began in Chicago as a bouncer in a brothel, where he contracted syphilis. Timely use of Salvarsan probably could have cured the infection, but he never sought treatment.
Did Capone’s wife have syphilis?
As reported by Deirdre Capone, a great-niece of Al Capone (the granddaughter of Ralph Capone), this was because Capone was sterile due to a birth defect.
Other sources claim that she contracted syphilis from Al, which caused each subsequent try for another child to end in miscarriage or stillbirth.
