If Al Capone was never in a mafia, then what exactly was he in?

Al Capone's crew was never a Mafia, its called the Outfit. he's crew is not limited to Italians. anyone can join as long as he is a good earner. . .

GoodFella

thanks Oggie

DV, Try to look for "Mafia; History of the Mob in America" dvd. its a very good source of information on the Mafia's from prohibition, unions, including the Kennedy's. you will see the actual footage of Jack Ruby on Harvey Oswald live on national TV. Same as how Rocco did to Hyman Roth. . .

GoodFella

and the footages of Al Capone, Lucky Luciano etc . . .

GoodFella

Oswald? wasnt he killed after he killed Kennedy? When was he on tv?

yup. he's one of the suspects but until now they did'nt know who really did it. Jack Ruby is a member of the Mafia. try to get one DV, its really a good one to own. . .

GoodFella

nah, I'll just take your word for it.

Yes. That is a good DVD. Cheap to. $12 at Best Buy.

damn! i bought mine for $18 plus shipping!

GoodFella

I heard Al was a used cars salesmen.

i never heard that. But before his crime life, he worked at a resturant, he was waiting a table that had a woman and guy there. He went up and wispered to her, "You have a nice ass, and i mean that in a good way." The guy who was her brother heard this and pulled a switchblade and slashed him up giving him the infamous nickname...."Scarface Al"

never heard of that too. Scarface Al was also a darling of the press same as John Gotti. . .

GoodFella

He also played baseball before having an injury. That's how he got to know how to use a bat so well.

DV, I heard that same story about Capone and the switchblade but I think that he was a bartender. Im not 100% sure though.

yes, he was a bartender/bouncer/waiter. He was waiting that specific waiter, so thats why i said that. So, we're both right.

I learned somewhere that Al Capones business card said he was a used furniture salesman. He probably had a few different legal occupations. Obviously he was not going to write Gangster, Racketeer and Bootlegger on it.

Capone's business card said, "A. Capone, Antique Dealer." He also went under the alias, "Albert Brown."
Capone was working as a waiter in Frankie Yale's College Inn when he made the remark about the girl's ass. Her brother, Frank Galuccio, took offense and carved up Capone's face. Later, in one of the grandstanding gestures for which he was famous, Capone made Galuccio one of his bodyguards.
The Chicago Outfit under Capone definitely was not Mafia. It was highly eclectic: his second in command was Jake (Greasy Thumb) Guzik, a Moscow-born Jew to whom Capone was devoted (the only person Capone ever killed with his own hands in Chicago was someone who had slapped Guzik around). Guzik ran the Outfit with Frank Nitti when Capone was in Alcatraz. Another high-ranking non-Italian was Murray (the Camel) Humphries, born in Wales, who was one of the Outfit's top labor guys into the Seventies. There was a Mafia in Chicago during Capone's time. It was called the Unione Siciliano, and it was something like a civic organization with muscle. Capone treated the Unione and its president, Mike Merlo, with great respect--even asking (and not getting) Merlo's permission to whack Dion O'Banion. He moved on O'Banion after Merlo died, then moved heaven and earth to get his own, Sicilian-descended underlings to be president of the Unione so he could dominate it--even warring on Joe Aiello, one of Merlo's successors. Paul (the Waiter) Ricca was the guy who actually merged the Unione and the Outfit, but it still included non-Italians (like Humphries).

So, Turnbull, I'm I right about the baseball thing?

Never heard that. What are you basing this on? I did a paper in college about Chicago in the prohibition times and did a lot of research into Capone, but never heard anything about that.

You could be right, JJ. But none of Capone's biographers say anything about him being a hotshot baseball player. Here's what Lawrence Bergreen, his most recent biographer, says re. this subject:
"Although he adored the company of sports figures and frequented gyms almost as much as he did brothels, Capone was no athlete. He had excelled at pool in his youth, but since much of his life consisted of eluding his enemies and hiding indoors, he had little interest in exercise."

So it's not considered a Mafia if you allow non-Italians in it?

No, because you can have non Italians in a mafia, but they cannot be "made". Remember Goodfellas, Henry and Jimmy couldn't be made because they had Irish blood in them.

you won't be MADE in the Mafia's if you're not 100% italian. others may join if they're a good earner but they'll remain associate for the rest of their life. like Henry and Jimmy in GoodFellas.

GoodFella

you beat me by two minutes DV!

GoodFella

thats ok. Maybe next time!