fpb

You couldn't make it up dept no.83 - Brothers under the skin

Aug 13, 2008 02:38

Al Capone's oldest brother, Vincenzo (who took the name of an early Western movie star, Richard Hart), became, quite independently of his younger brother, a frontier lawman in Nebraska. The same opportunity made both brothers: while young Al went to Chicago and swiftly grew rich on Prohibition smuggling, his brother went to Homer, Nebraska, ( Read more... )

you couldn't make it up

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fpb August 13 2008, 17:22:40 UTC
Likely enough. Al did not stick to Cicero, and travelled a lot around America, but always to large towns with expensive hotels (and useful safe houses); Vincenzo/Richard, on the other hand, seems to have had a real predilection for the open air and from 1920 on rarely saw a larger town than Homer (current population, 570). So their tastes would have made pretty sure they would not easily meet. Even so, I dare say that it was not a coincidence that Richard did not allow his family to know, nor arrange a family reunion, until Al was defanged and wrecked by syphilis.

As one of the sites I consulted points out, "It seems unbelievable that the two brothers, Richard Hart and Al Capone, could have lived such remarkably different lives on opposite sides of the law. Yet when you look at the qualities that made each of the two brothers successful in their own milieu, fraternal similarities are visible: intelligence, initiative, risk taking, strength of will and purpose, persistence and conviction, and the ability to lead and persuade others." Also, a complete absence of Italian or Sicilian chauvinism - Al's gang was full of Jews and others whom he hired purely on ability, and his Irish enemies hated the fact that he engaged and paid richly black jazz musicians. At the same time, Richard was making himself popular with reservation Indians by learning their languages and their ways.

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headnoises August 14 2008, 03:32:00 UTC
In geek speak:
both were lawful.

Just one was lawful good, one was lawful evil....

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