Louis Capone

2025-09-06T19:36:39Z

2804:14C:6B:89FB:6CF9:6B45:81A2:B827:

{{Short description|American mobster}}
{{use mdy dates|date=May 2016}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name = Louis Capone
| image_name = Louis Capone.jpg
| image_caption = Capone 1936 mugshot
| birth_date = September 5, 1896
| birth_place = [[Naples]], Campania, Italy
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1944|3|4|1896|9|5}}
| death_place = [[Sing Sing Prison]], [[Ossining, New York]], U.S.
| alias = Lou Capone
| resting_place = [[Holy Cross Cemetery, Brooklyn]], U.S.
| conviction = [[First degree murder]] (1941)
| conviction_penalty = [[Capital punishment in New York|Death]]
| allegiance = [[Murder, Inc.]]
| death_cause = [[Execution by electrocution]]
| criminal_status = [[Executed]]
}}

'''Louis Capone''' (September 5, 1896 – March 4, 1944) was a New York [[organized crime]] figure who became a supervisor for [[Murder, Inc.]] Louis Capone had no known relation to [[Al Capone]], the boss of the [[Chicago Outfit]]. Capone was convicted of murder in 1941, and sentenced to death. He was electrocuted at [[Sing Sing]] Prison on March 4, 1944.

==Early life==
Capone was born in [[Naples]], Italy, and moved to New York City with his family as a child, where he grew up in the [[Coney Island]] section of [[Brooklyn]]. As an adult, Capone moved to [[Brownsville, Brooklyn]].

Capone was described as a suave, well-groomed man who projected sympathy. He had watery blue eyes and a broken nose.<ref name=Cohen>{{cite book|last=Cohen|first=Rich|title=Tough Jews|year=1999|publisher=Vintage Books|location=New York|isbn=0-375-70547-3|url=https://archive.org/details/toughjews00cohe|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/toughjews00cohe/page/32 32]|quote=Louis Capone.|edition=1st Vintage Books}}</ref>

==Mob rackets==
Capone's legitimate business was a ''pasticceria'' (an Italian-style cafe serving coffee and pastries) in Brooklyn. The ''pasticceria'' became a popular hangout for teenagers, including future street gang leaders [[Abe Reles]] and [[Harry Maione]]. Capone built up a rapport with the boys by giving them free food. These young men soon became Capone's protégés in crime.<ref name=turkus />

Capone had strong connections with the [[The Purple Gang|Purple Gang]] of [[Detroit]], and was operating loansharking operations in both Detroit and New York. He was also involved in labor racketeering with the local Plasterers Union and had close ties with mobster [[Joe Adonis]].<ref name=turkus>{{cite book|last=Turkus|first=Burton B.|title=Murder, Inc.: the story of "the Syndicate"|year=2003|publisher=Da Capo Press|location=[Cambridge, Mass.]|isbn=0-306-81288-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OH4mggAucJgC&q=%22louis+capone%22&pg=PA396|edition=2nd Da Capo Press|author2=Feder, Sid }}</ref>

==Murder, Inc.==
With the end of the [[Castellammarese War]] in 1931, Reles' and Maione's gangs developed into a network of contract killers that became known as [[Murder, Inc.]] [[Albert Anastasia]], a patron of Capone's restaurant, persuaded the two gang leaders that they could make a lot of money by working together for the [[Cosa Nostra]]. Anastasia would send Cosa Nostra murder contracts to mobster [[Louis Buchalter|Louis "Lepke" Buchalter]], the boss of Murder, Inc. Capone would recruit the individual hitmen from the Reles and Maione gangs. These hitmen were mainly Jewish and [[Italian-American]] hoodlums from [[Brooklyn]].<ref>[http://www.gangstersinc.info/MurderInc/index.album/louis-capone?i=2 Murder Inc.] Gangster Inc. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721202408/http://www.gangstersinc.info/MurderInc/index.album/louis-capone?i=2 |date=July 21, 2011 }}</ref> By 1934, all the Cosa Nostra families were using Murder, Inc. As time progressed, Capone spent considerable energy mediating disputes between the two gang leaders.<ref name=turkus />

==Murders==
In 1936, Capone participated in the murder of Joseph Rosen. Buchalter had previously ruined Rosen's trucking business and was now afraid that Rosen would implicate him in criminal activity. To protect himself, Buchalter ordered Rosen's murder. On September 13, 1936, [[Harry Strauss]], Emanuel Weiss and [[James Ferraco]] shot Rosen 17 times in his Brooklyn candy store, killing him instantly.<ref name="lepke convicted" /> Capone identified the victim and worked out a plan for the gunmen.<ref name=Cohen />
[[Image:Louis Capone and Emanuel Weiss.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Smiling convicted killers [[Emanuel Weiss|Emanuel "Mendy" Weiss]] (right) and Louis Capone, surrounded by detectives, ride the [[New York Central]] railroad "up the river" to the [[Sing Sing]] prison death house on December 3, 1941, the day after receiving their sentences.]]
In 1939, Capone allegedly participated in the murder of Irving Penn. Buchalter had ordered Capone to plan the murder of Philip Orlovsky, a mobster who was cooperating with the government in an investigation of Buchalter. Capone gave the job of identifying the target to mobster Jacob "Kuppy" Migden. On July 25, 1939, Migden mistakenly identified Penn, a publishing executive, to the alleged hitman [[Gioacchino Parisi|Gioacchino "Jack the Dandy" Parisi]], who then shot and killed Penn in front of his home in the Bronx.<ref name="penn murder">{{cite news|title=Lepke Aide Tried for Penn Murder |page=17 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1943/02/09/88514672.pdf|accessdate=December 27, 2011|newspaper=The New York Times|date=February 9, 1943}}{{subscription required}}</ref>

==Indictments==
In 1940, Reles became a government witness and helped break up Murder, Inc. In jail on a pending 1933 murder charge, Reles gave in to pleas from his wife and agreed to help prosecute Capone and the rest of the organization. In early 1941, as a result of Reles' assistance, Capone was indicted in the Penn murder. However, Capone never went to trial on these charges.<ref name="penn murder" />

On November 30, 1941, Capone and the other defendants were convicted of first degree murder in the 1936 Rosen killing. At that time, New York state law mandated the death penalty for this offense.<ref name="lepke convicted">{{cite news|title=Lepke Convicted With Two Aides; All Face Death |page=1 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1941/11/30/99261965.pdf|accessdate=27 December 2011|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 30, 1941}}{{subscription required}}</ref> Over the next two and a half years, Capone and his co-defendants filed a series of legal appeals that culminated in a case review by the [[United States Supreme Court]]. After their legal appeals were exhausted, the condemned men submitted clemency petitions to the governor of New York, which were all denied.

==Death==
On March 4, 1944, Louis Capone went to the [[electric chair]] at [[Sing Sing]] Prison in [[Ossining (town), New York|Ossining, New York]]. Capone had no final words. He was followed in the chair by Weiss and Buchalter.<ref name="hill jacobs">{{cite book|author=David H. Jacobs |title=The Mafia's greatest hits|year=2006|publisher=Citadel Press|location=New York|isbn=0-8065-2757-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Eiz93kUq8NYC&pg=PA101 }}</ref>

Capone was buried in [[Holy Cross Cemetery, Brooklyn|Holy Cross Cemetery]] in [[Brooklyn]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=pF2gDwAAQBAJ&dq=louis+capone+holy+cross&pg=PT155 ''Lord High Executioner'']</ref>

==In popular culture==
In the 1960 film ''[[Murder, Inc. (1960 film)|Murder, Inc.]]'', Capone was portrayed by [[Lou Polan]].

==See also==
* [[Capital punishment in New York (state)]]
* [[Capital punishment in the United States]]
* [[List of people executed in New York]]
* [[List of people executed in the United States in 1944]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{American Mafia}}{{Murder, Incorporated}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Capone, Louis}}
[[Category:1896 births]]
[[Category:1944 deaths]]
[[Category:American gangsters of Italian descent]]
[[Category:American gangsters of the interwar period]]
[[Category:American people executed for murder]]
[[Category:Murder, Inc.]]
[[Category:Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Brooklyn]]
[[Category:Executed American gangsters]]
[[Category:Inmates of Sing Sing]]
[[Category:20th-century executions by New York (state)]]
[[Category:People executed by New York (state) by electric chair]]
[[Category:20th-century executions of American people]]
[[Category:People convicted of murder by New York (state)]]
[[Category:Italian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Italian people convicted of murder]]
[[Category:Italian people executed in the United States]]
[[Category:People from Brownsville, Brooklyn]]

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Louis Capone