Mr. Capone

“Fascinating. . . . [P]ortrays the mob leader as 'a businessman of crime' who took chaotic underworld enterprises . . . and put them on a rational business basis.” —New York Times All I ever did was to sell beer and whiskey to our best people. All I ever did was to supply a demand that was pretty popular. Why, the very guys that make my trade good are the ones that yell the loudest about me. Some of the leading judges use the stuff. When I sell liquor, it's called bootlegging. When my patrons serve it on silver trays on Lake Shore Drive, it's called hospitality. — Al Capone This acclaimed portrait of Al Capone tells of his childhood delinquency, his Brooklyn mob apprenticeship, and his move to Chicago, tracing his development into a man who was at times surprisingly rational despite his tendency toward manipulation and brutality. “[Schoenberg makes] Capone real again, rescuing his reputation from the Hollywood mythmakers. . . . Schoenberg's Al Capone is far more human, complex and worthy of attention than the one-dimensional myth.”— Chicago Sun-Times “Schoenberg has done massive research. . . . There are rich descriptions of many of the apocalyptic events of the roaring Chicago '20s.”— Los Angeles Times Book Review “Masterful . . . the definitive biography of one of America's most colorful gangsters.” —The Detroit News “Readers of Mr. Capone will . . . revel in the old stories of “beer killings,” as Chicago police captain John Stege called them, and savor any new tidbits.” —Chicago Tribune “Written with style and verve . . . Even where Mr. Schoenberg lays to rest favorite tall tales, the true accounts are usually even more fascinating.” —The Washington Times