Al Capone

===Move to Chicago===
In 1919, Capone left New York City for [[Chicago]] at the invitation of Torrio, who was imported by crime boss [[Jim Colosimo|James "Big Jim" Colosimo]] as an enforcer. Capone began in Chicago as a bouncer in a [[brothel]], where it is thought the most likely way for him to have contracted [[syphilis]]. Capone was aware of being infected at an early stage and timely use of [[Arsphenamine|Salvarsan]] probably could have cured the infection, but he apparently never sought treatment.<ref>''Get Capone: The Secret Plot That Captured America's Most Wanted'', by Jonathan Eig. p. 17</ref> In 1923, Capone purchased a small house at 7244 South [[Prairie Avenue]] in the Park Manor neighborhood in Chicago's [[South Side, Chicago|South Side]] for {{US$|5500}}.<ref>{{cite web|last=Hood |first=Joel |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-talk-caponeapr02,0,5381253.story |title=Capone home on the market – Chicago Tribune Archives |publisher=Chicago Tribune |date=April 2, 2009 |access-date=March 12, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090405100727/http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-talk-caponeapr02%2C0%2C5381253.story |archive-date=April 5, 2009 }}</ref>

According to the ''[[Chicago Daily Tribune]]'', hijacker Joe Howard was killed on May 7, 1923, after he tried to interfere with the Capone-Torrio [[rum-running|bootlegging]] business.<ref name="decade">{{cite news | last = Murchie| first = Guy Jr. | date = February 9, 1936 | title = Capone's Decade of Death | url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7709144/chicago_tribune_19360209/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171029012906/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7709144/chicago_tribune_19360209/ | url-status = dead | archive-date = October 29, 2017 | newspaper = Chicago Daily Tribune}}</ref> In the early years of the decade, Capone's name began appearing in newspaper sports pages where he was described as a [[boxing]] promoter.<ref>''Bootleggers and Beer Barons of the Prohibition Era'', by J. Anne Funderburg p. 235</ref> Torrio took over Colosimo's criminal empire after the latter's murder on May 11, 1920, in which Capone was suspected of being involved.<ref name="Biography Channel">{{cite web|url=http://www.biography.com/notorious/crimefiles.do?catId=259452&action=view&profileId=262834 |title=Notorious Crime Files: Al Capone |access-date=November 12, 2010 |publisher=Biography.com |work=[[The Biography Channel]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727215147/http://www.biography.com/notorious/crimefiles.do?action=view&profileId=262834&catId=259452 |archive-date=July 27, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first= Marilyn|last= Bardsley|url= http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/mob_bosses/capone/chicago_5.html|title= Chicago|access-date= April 3, 2008|publisher= Crime Library|work= Al Capone|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080531032517/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/mob_bosses/capone/chicago_5.html|archive-date= May 31, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Kobler, 37.</ref>

Torrio headed an essentially [[American Mafia|Italian organized crime group]] that was the biggest in Chicago, with Capone as his right-hand man. Torrio was wary of being drawn into gang wars and tried to negotiate agreements over territory between rival crime groups. The smaller [[North Side Gang]], led by [[Dean O'Banion]], came under pressure from the [[Genna crime family|Genna brothers]] who were allied with Torrio. O'Banion found that Torrio was unhelpful with the Gennas' encroachment, despite his pretensions to be a settler of disputes.<ref>{{cite book |title= Capone: The Man and the Era|url= https://archive.org/details/caponemanera00berg|url-access= registration|last= Bergreen|first= Laurence|year= 1994|publisher= Simon and Schuster Paperbacks|location= New York|isbn= 978-0684824475|pages= [https://archive.org/details/caponemanera00berg/page/131 131–132]}}</ref> In a fateful step, Torrio arranged the murder of O'Banion at his flower shop on November 10, 1924. This placed [[Hymie Weiss]] at the head of the gang, backed by [[Vincent Drucci]] and [[Bugs Moran]]. Weiss had been a close friend of O'Banion, and the North Siders made it a priority to get revenge on his killers.<ref>{{harvnb|Bergreen|1994|pp=134–135, 138}}</ref><ref name="myalcaponemuseum.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.myalcaponemuseum.com/id89.htm|title=Hymie Weiss|website=Myalcaponemuseum.com|access-date=October 2, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180914203544/http://www.myalcaponemuseum.com/id89.htm|archive-date=September 14, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

During [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]], Capone was involved with Canadian bootleggers who helped him smuggle [[liquor]] into the U.S. When Capone was asked if he knew [[Rocco Perri]], billed as Canada's "King of the Bootleggers", he replied: "Why, I don't even know which street Canada is on."<ref>{{cite book |last=Gervais |first=Marty |date= 2009 |title=The Rumrunners: A Prohibition Scrapbook |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FiZWrNjIPykC&q=al+capone+prohibition+smugglers+from+canada&pg=PA146 |publisher=Bibilioasis |page=113 |isbn=978-0920668085 |access-date=October 15, 2020 |archive-date=June 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607163021/https://books.google.ca/books?id=FiZWrNjIPykC&pg=PA146 |url-status=live }}</ref> Other sources, however, claim that Capone had certainly visited Canada,<ref>{{cite book |date=2019 |title=The Leamington Italian Community: Ethnicity and Identity in Canada |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hnqfDwAAQBAJ&q=Rocco+Perri+detroit+river&pg=PT147 |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press |isbn=978-0773554696 |access-date=October 15, 2020 |archive-date=January 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210104161841/https://books.google.com/books?id=hnqfDwAAQBAJ&q=Rocco+Perri+detroit+river&pg=PT147 |url-status=live }}</ref> where he maintained some hideaways,<ref>{{cite news|title=How a Town in Quebec Got the Nickname 'Little Chicago'|date=January 22, 2019|url=http://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/January-2019/How-a-Town-in-Quebec-Got-the-Nickname-Little-Chicago/|work=Chicago Magazine|access-date=June 7, 2020|quote=the gangster ran cross-border bootlegging operations and kept hideaways in the north.|archive-date=June 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607151524/http://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/January-2019/How-a-Town-in-Quebec-Got-the-Nickname-Little-Chicago/|url-status=live}}</ref> but the [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]] states that there is no "evidence that he ever set foot on Canadian soil."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/fun-facts-and-urban-legends|title=Fun facts and urban legends|publisher=rcmp-grc.gc.ca|date=December 17, 2014|access-date=January 4, 2021|archive-date=January 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210104161835/https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/fun-facts-and-urban-legends|url-status=live}}</ref>