Al Capone in Alcatraz: How the Notorious Gangster Spent His Time in the Famous Prison

To Americans of the 1920s and 1930s, he was the notorious gangster Scarface Al, Public Enemy # 1. But when he arrived at Alcatraz in late August 1934, Alphonse “Al” Capone took on a more humiliating name: Prisoner. 85.

As Prisoner 85, Al Capone led a very different life from his days of freewheeling on top of Chicago snowshoes. He became a serious reader, musician and composer. A model prisoner, he kept a low profile, carried out his prison duties and rarely resorted to violence unless provoked, in one case hitting the head of a fellow inmate with a basin.

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