Al Capone, born and raised in Brooklyn, and ruler of the Chicago underworld during the mid-1920's to early-1930's, is generally considered as the most infamous American gangster of all time. Before he was jailed on income tax evasion charges in 1931, he made millions of dollars from illegal activities, and was responsible for ordering the deaths of hundreds of persons. Not the kind of guy that most of us would want to be associated with!

Throughout most of his reign, Al had as his right-hand man his brother, Ralph Capone. Ralph, born Raeffele in Italy in 1893, came to the United States as an infant with his parents. Though he was 6 years older than Al, and though he would outlive him by almost 30 years, Ralph never became a top Chicago mobster or racketeer in his own right, even though he was said to have been involved in the national syndicate's gambling and vice rackets. Considered to be sloppy, greedy and dumb, he was nowhere near as smart as Al when it came to hiding his wealth and financial transactions, which led not only to his downfall, but also contributed to his brother's. Nonetheless, when Al was the Chicago mob boss, Ralph was a man to be reckoned with. Known as "Bottles" because he also operated a legitimate business distributing bottled water in Chicago, Ralph was primarily in charge of the organization's liquor empire in its heyday during Prohibition.

Ralph (featured in the 2 photos on this page) came to Chicago in the early 1920's at Al's behest to assist his brother, by now Chicago boss Johnny Torrio's partner. When the mob moved its base of operations from Chicago to Cicero, IL, where they owned the city government and police department and could operate with impunity, Ralph was given the assignment of opening up a working-class brothel called the Stockade for Cicero's heavily blue-collar populace. In 1925, grown weary of the stress of mob infighting, Torrio retired and turned over to the Capone brothers his vast empire of nightclubs, whorehouses, gambling joints, breweries, and speakeasies in the greater Chicago area.

When Al was jailed for a year in Pennsylvania for carrying a concealed weapon on his way back to Chicago after attending the first nationwide underworld conference in Atlantic City, NJ, in May, 1929, he left the running of the business to Ralph and 2 other associates, frequently telephoning Ralph at Ralph's headquarters in the Montmartre Café in Cicero. Ralph's sloppiness caught up to him. The IRS had been investigating Ralph for years, with Elliot Ness of "The Untouchables" wiretapping his phones, including the one in an alcove behind the bar on which he talked to Al in prison. Ralph was indicted on tax evasion charges in October of 1930. Wanting to send a message to other gangsters, federal agents led Ralph away from a boxing match in handcuffs. In addition, the wiretaps had garnered much evidence that would later be used to show that Al was violating Prohibition laws as well as evading income tax.

As soon as Al was released from jail in mid-March of 1930, the first "Public Enemies" list was published in Chicago, and quickly adapted by J. Edgar Hoover to become the FBI's list of the "Most Wanted" criminals. The list was led by Ralph and Al - labeled Public Enemy Number One - along with several other Capone lieutenants. The Capones turned to familiar tactics in preparing for Ralph's trial, intending to coerce the government's witnesses. However, the IRS found out and arranged for extra protection. The witnesses were not harmed, and Ralph was found guilty.

Al was later convicted of income tax evasion as well, sentenced to 11 years in prison, and sent to Alcatraz. The syphilis he had contracted decades began affecting his brain while there, and when he was released from prison, he no longer had the mental abilities to attempt to restake any claim to his former Chicago empire. He retired to his Florida estate, where Ralph was a frequent visitor. Al died in 1947. Ralph lived until 1974, out of the limelight.

Family Links to the Capones

At least two SweetMilks crossed paths with Ralph Capone during the heyday of the Chicago mob.

The first story is that of Charles J. Sismilich, in 1927 a young man of 19 who got a job as a clerk with the Universal Atlas Cement company on Lexington Avenue in New York, at a salary of $60 per week. During his 3 years of employment there in these years leading up to the Great Depression, he was involved with purchasing of building cement, occasionally visiting job sites and suppliers. On at least one occasion, his job found him headed on a Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western railroad train out of Hoboken, NJ, to Chicago. Charles occasionally told the story of how, on this trip, he sat with a guy in his late 20's or early 30's travelling to Chicago from Brooklyn. They became friendly during the long ride, and this fellow told Charles tales of how important a man in Chicago his brother was, and how they should get together in one of his brother's places for some drinks with some ladies once they got there, and generally have a good time. Charles thought it was a great idea, took the fellow's card, and planned to get together with him after his business was complete. At the end of the next day's meetings, probably in response to a question about what he was planning on doing after work that night, Charles off-handedly told the businessman he was visiting about his traveling companion. Forty years later, Charles would still describe in vivid detail how this man's face turned ashen white as he handed him Ralph Capone's business card! After recovering, the fellow sat Charles down and told him just who Ralph and Al Capone were! Armed with this information, Charles - unfortunately for storytelling purposes here - never took Ralph Capone up on his offer to paint the town.

The second story is set in Forest View, IL - like Cicero, another town set up by the Capones to avoid having problems with the local police. Josefa Sedlacek Susmilch, the wife of Hynek Susmilch, owned property in Forest View. As the Depression settled in, times became tough for Josefa, and so she decided to rent the barn/garage to Ralph for "manufacturing purposes". This was the era in which most of Ralph's business arrangements quickly became known to federal agents through the wiretaps. As a result, the rental of Josefa's property to Ralph Capone only lasted a few weeks before being discovered. Her property was confiscated by the government, but she was allowed to live on the property until her death in 1952. Coincidentally, several of Josefa's sons were allegedly involved in less-than-honorable occupations during Prohibition, including speakeasies and women. However, apparently they were not very good at it, managing to lose most of the money that Hynek and Josefa had accumulated. One son, who owned a tavern in Lyons, IL during prohibition, later became a saxophone player and moved to the west coast. One story told about him is that he used to try to sell (sell, not give!) his publicity pictures to his mother Josefa when he came back from road trips!