Just to add to the Godfather questions: in the novel, it was mentioned that one of Don Corleone’s early rivals in NYC, was allied with the Capone Mob (in Chicago). As I recall, Capone sent two goombas from Chicago to assist in muscling in on the Corleone family-and Luca Brazi murdered them both.
My question: is this historically accurate? As far as I know, Al Capone never moved to extend his empire outside the City of Chicago-he had quite enough to keep him busy there. Mario Puzo was pretty good about historical accuracy in his novels-was there actually an incident where Capone’s gang actively collaborated with any of the NYC crime families?
I fail to see how Capone would have profitted from such an action.
This isn’t a great answer as I’m taking my information from another fictional work, Boardwalk Empire, but Capone came up under Arnold Rothstein and worked closely with Lucky Luciano before heading west to Chicago, so it would be reasonable to assume he still had many ties in NYC.
Capone was originally from New York and a partner and ally of Joe “The Boss” Masseria. In fact he started as a soldier in New York under then Masseria capo Frankie Yale. Masseria aided Capone in his struggle with Joe Aiello and George Moran in Chicago ( which also involved hitting Detroit boss Gaspar Milazzo, an Aiello supporter ), while Capone intervened to aid Masseria in New York. The two were allies in the wider Catellammarese War. It was Capone that hit former employer and friend, increasingly powerful New York boss Frankie Yale ( almost certainly with Masseria’s agreement ), which was one of the first blows in said war.
As for why get involved, although there is a tendency to think of the Chicago Outfit and the New York families as separate entities, in fact all of the diverse Mafia families were politically and economically intertwined, at least to some extent. For example after becoming a boss in Chicago, Capone was dependent on Yale’s Canadian Whiskey smuggling for much of his bootlegging supply. This dependance eventually ended Capone and Yale’s former friendship.
HBO’s Boardwalk Empire is currently dramatizing some of these events.
It’s hard to get a straight story on the workings of the mob, but it does appear that Capone moved to Chicago because it was open territory, under the control of unaffiliated gangs unlike the Northeast cities where consolidation was occuring. If he gained significant power in NY for instance, he would likely have been killed.
Trivia tidbit: My wife possesses a full length mink coat that was owned by Capone.
The show *Boardwalk Empire *is a fictional account based on real events. The book *Boardwalk Empire *is non-fiction.