I saw a film clip of an unfortunate patron of a 1932 Chicago soup kitchen-speaking nicely about Al Capone (who provided financial support for the establishment).
Is this true? Was philanthropy a part of Al’s way of staying popular?
From what I understand, Chicago in the 1920’s was a pretty corrupt place-if you paid off the right people (aldermen, cops, etc.) you could could pretty much what you wanted. Capone dominated the booze trade in South Chicago, so he had plenty of money. When the Great Depression came along, did Al all of a sudden decide to help the poor?
That what I always heard.
Not that I have an internet link for it since I never looked to read about Al on the net.
Makes sense. Bars provide peanuts and pretzel and stuff after all. It’s good for business.
Wasn’t the Gambino crime family also pretty famous for their philanthropy?
The heads of local crime families, in my experience, are generous… especially when it comes to the local community.
This is first-hand experience.
Cite?
I have no first hand knowledge about Capone, but it wouldn’t be surprising. I’ve seen documentary footage of the famed Escobars (yes, the cocaine kingpins) handing out cash to people who’d lost their homes in natural disasters in Colombia.
MAYBE that just proves even evil men have some humanity. Or maybe it just means VERY rich crooks think it’s smart to buy good will among the poor.
It’s smart business: the people who benefit from your largess might end up on your jury.
I’ve also heard that he was instrumental in getting the Chicago public schools to serve milk to the kids with their lunches.
As Mario Puzo readers know, organized crime works hand in glove with the political establishment. Organized crime works much more smoothly and profitably when mayors, aldermen, prosecutors, judges, and police are friendly.
To ensure friendly government, elections must be won. Yes, elections can be rigged via fraud and intimidation, but these techniques are not foolproof. Capone was annoyed when a reformist mayor (William Dever) won the Chicago election of 1923, forcing him to temporarily decamp to Cicero. He found the 1927-31 adminstration of Big Bill Thompson to be much more congenial.
Since elections must be won, and cannot always be sufficiently rigged, the public must be wooed. Hence soup kitchens, good works, and cultivation of allies in the media to talk about it.
And yes, allies on juries help too.
Tom Pendergast, of the political machine of Kansas City, Mo., early 1900’s:
as quoted in “The Political Machine of Tom Pendergast of Kansas City, Missouri”
Or maybe it shows we need to redefine “evil.”
Al Capone was married and had a kid. The Chicago house is a museum now. It was surprisingly small and set in a very typical middle class Chicago neighborhood. I guess he wanted a normal life for his family.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all that he funded a few soup kitchens. He had plenty of money coming in and it really wouldn’t take much to help out. Local good will is important.
I think that’s the crux of the biscuit, there. People in this thread appear to be holding a definition of ‘evil’ that the person in question, Capone in this case, might not share.
Robert Heinlein once wrote, “Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes. Keep this in mind; it may offer a way to make him your friend. If not, you can kill him without hate — and quickly.”
It is possible that Capone did these things not because he needed goodwill, though he did, or wished to influence votes, which he also did, but because he felt it was the right thing to do.
After all, Hamas provides for schools and hospitals. And they did it long before they found themselves in a governing situation. Good and evil are never as black and white as they seem.
Here’s a picture of the one across the street from where I live.
Thanks for the info…probably a lot of out-of-work Chicago people thought a lot of Capone. When you are hungry, a sandwich or bowl of soup means a lot to you.
I disagree, at least with respect to individuals. I think when very destructive people do good, it to bolster their own egos.
The late John Gotti (formerly head of the NYC Gambino “family”) was well known for his neighborhood 4-th of July block parties-free icecream and fireworks (not permitted).
If organized crime works within the political establishment, all the more so it works within the ecclesiastical establishment. In Italy even more so, where via Christian Democratic parties the Vatican holds sway over politics to a considerable extent.
When I read the thread title, without looking anything up, I felt instinctively that this must have taken place via some church mediation. Am I right? It’s a very old-world custom for mobsters to publicly pay their due to the Church to maintain lu rispettu, because holding rispettu is of major importance to having de facto power there. Sad how the whole concept has become thoroughly corrupted over the millennia.
I lived for a while near Legs Diamond’s upstate NY home. He rarely committed crimes in his home county. I heard stories of him paying off a broke man’s grocery bill, and sending his driver to take a sick woman to the hospital. Never hurts to have a friend on the jury - his last trial was in a neighboring county, in order for a conviction. He was acquitted, but someone assassinated him - no one knows who, to this day.
I would say, rather, that very few people are 100% good, or 100% evil. Most people are a mix, and might have a soft spot for others in one situation or another. So while the guy who is in charge of running numbers sees nothing wrong in giving people an opportunity to win big (but they’re more likely to slowly bleed to death), he might also want to make sure that the schools are run well.