Al Capone

Object Details

Artist

Unidentified Artist

Sitter

Al Capone, 17 Jan 1899 - 25 Jan 1947

Exhibition Label

Al Capone, called "Scarface," was the most notorious gangster of the 1920s. He was a bootlegger in Chicago, a city whose violent "beer wars" during Prohibition made it the symbol of organized crime in America. Capone's flamboyance-custom-made suits, expensive cigars, bodyguards, and armor-plated Cadillac-along with his dominating personality and violent temper, made him a leader among the city's gangsters and played to the public fascination with crime figures. Capone's men perpetrated the famous St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929. He attracted considerable press and the attention of President Herbert Hoover, who instructed federal agents to put him in jail. This photograph was taken by the New York police after Capone was apprehended in connection with a shooting. An arrest for carrying a concealed weapon, followed by a conviction for income tax evasion, brought his criminal career to an end at the age of thirty-two.

Credit Line

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Dec 26, 1925

Object number

NPG.97.220

Restrictions & Rights

Usage conditions apply

Type

Photograph

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Dimensions

Image: 16.2 x 11.1cm (6 3/8 x 4 3/8")

Sheet: 17.8 x 12.8cm (7 x 5 1/16")

Mat: 35.6 x 45.7cm (14 x 18")

Place

United States\New York\Kings\New York\Brooklyn

See more items in

National Portrait Gallery Collection

National Portrait Gallery

Topic

Costume\Headgear\Hat

Interior\Police station

Al Capone: Male

Al Capone: Law and Law Enforcement\Criminal\Racketeer

Al Capone: Law and Law Enforcement\Criminal\Organized crime leader

Portrait

Record ID

npg_NPG.97.220

Usage of Metadata (Object Detail Text)

Not determined

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm44dd6484c-4e37-4733-88f2-09d3a87a736b