Chicago gangster and murderer. He grew up in the slums of Brooklyn and received the nickname "Scarface" as the result of a knife wound (3 scars on the left side of his face) infliceted by Frank Galluccio, a tough hood, in a quarrel about a girl at a Brooklyn bar in 1917. In 1920 Capone moved to Chicago to work for Johnny Torrio, a syndicate chief. The Torrio-Capone gang engaged in war with other mobs, killing rival leaders, such as Charles Dion O'Banion in 1924. Capone soon took control from Torrio and organized the syndicate with a plan to make crime in Chicago and throughout the US run like a business monopoly. He established a $110-million-a-year empire out of bootleg liquor, gambling, prostitution, and labor rackets. Through violence,using sawed-off shotguns and machine guns, Capone became king of the Chicago underworld, "The Master Criminal". His henchmen machine-gunned to death seven members of the Moran gang on February 14, 1929, in what became known as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. The Chicago Police tried many times to shut down Capone's numerous speakeasies and breweries, but failed; too many of Capone's interests were tied to legitimate business and too many policiticians and officials were indebted to Capone for their jobs. In 1931 he was found guilty of income tax evasion and sentenced to 11 years imprisonment. Suffering from severe syphilitic paresis, probably acquired during his youth, Capone was released from prison in 1939. He retired to his Florida estate, where he died of bronchial pneumonia and a stroke on January 25, 1947.