Iceman, the broad facts of Capone's career were portrayed more or less accurately in the film. But:
--His romantic interest, "Maureen Flannery" (Fay Spain) was total fiction. The real life Capone married Mae Coughlin very young and had a son with her. Though he had many floozies (mostly prostitutes in his brothels), none of his biographers ever credited him with a serious mistress.
--The police captain "Schaefler" (James Gregory) is very loosely based on a Captain Stege of the Chicago Police who tried, unsuccessfully, to nail Capone. But neither the Chicago Police nor the FBI nor the so-called "Untouchables" got him--he was nailed by Treasury Department agents on an income tax rap.
--"Mac Keeley" (Martin Balsam) is loosely based on Jake Lingle, a rewrite man for the Chicago Tribune. "Keeley" is portrayed as Capone's closest adviser. The real-life Lingle was on Capone's payroll but was never close to Capone--he was one of hundreds who were paid off by "The Organization" for various purposes. In fact, it's not altogether clear that Capone ordered his murder.
--When Capone came to Chicago, he did not go directly to work for Johnny Torrio. He worked for Jake (Greasy Thumb) Guzik, who mentored him. He got close to Torrio later.
--Although Torrio is generally credited with ordering the murder of his uncle, Big Jim Colosimo, and Capone with carrying out or taking part in the murder, Capone's latest biographer, Lawrance Bergreen, says Capone hadn't yet arrived in Chicago at the time of Big Jim's murder. Bergreen says the murderer was Francesco (Frankie Yale) Uole, Capone's Brooklyn mentor. (To be fair, Bergreen never makes a convincing case as to why Yale came all the way to Chicago to kill Colosimo.)
--Although Capone was slashed once by a prisoner at the Atlanta Federal pen and assaulted once in Alcatraz, he was never attacked by a mob of prisoners as portrayed at the end of the film.
I came out about where you did on "Capone." A great performance by the great Steiger (IMO, the best of his career, and certainly the best Capone portrayal of all those in movie history). But an undistinguished film overall. BTW: Nehemiah Persoff, who did a nice job playing Torrio, was the cabdriver in the famous "I coulda been a contenduh" scene in "On the Waterfront."
