Al Capone was a famous gangster and businessman operating in Chicago, United States. It is estimated that by 1929, Al Capone’s net worth was about $30 million (Linder, 2017). However, he had not filed any income in his name. In the case of the United States v. Sullivan, the court had established that Fifth Amendment privileges didn’t protect Manley Sullivan from self-incrimination after being convicted for failure to file tax returns detailing profits obtained from his illegal activities (Linder, 2017). Through the information obtained in this case, President Herbert Hoover instructed Al Capone to be charged for failing to remit tax from his illegal business activities. In February 1931, Al Capone was arrested and found guilty of contempt of court and sentenced to Cook County Jail for six months (Linder, 2017). While serving his six months sentence, the U.S. Treasury Department gathered evidence on his tax evasion charges.
Measures Taken by Law Enforcement
Investigator Frank Wilson and his investigation team began the work of developing a case against Al Capone. However, their task was difficult because Al Capone maintained no bank account, and he never signed any receipts or checks (Linder, 2017). However, Linder, (2017) explains that his extravagant lifestyle could be used as evidence for his substantial unreported income. Investigators examined car dealerships, department stores, hotel records, and jewelry stores to establish evidence regarding his expenditure. Investigations in these places established purchasing high-end goods such as furniture, jewelry, customized clothing, and expensive cars and bookings in high-end hotel suites (Linder, 2017). Although these unusual extravagancies are not proving taxable income, the investigators established that the juror could draw such inferences about it.
Events at the Initial Court Appearance
The prosecution presented that Al Capone owned several gambling halls in court, deriving huge profits from such businesses. Several witnesses testified that indeed al Capone was the owner of the gambling machines. Moreover, Leslie Shumway, a cashier at one of the gambling machines, also presented evidence in court, and he described the procedures for accounting at al Capone’s gambling hall. He also estimated that in two years, the business had raked in more than $550,000 (Linder, 2017). Once it was established that al Capone was the owner of those businesses, the prosecution asked several questions to establish whether al Capone was in full control of his businesses.
Charges
Al Capone was charged for tax evasion. The prosecution established that Al Capone owned several gambling halls, deriving huge profits from such businesses but knowingly failed to remit tax returns (Linder, 2017). Al Capone was aware that he was guilty of tax evasion. The prosecution argued that Al Capone’s lifestyle was so evident that even children could deduce that indeed he had a considerable income (Linder, 2017).
The Trial Process
Although the trial progress naturally, there several issues that led to heated debates in the process. For instance, (Linder, 2017) explains that when the prosecution tried to introduce letters from al Capone’s tax lawyer expressing his willingness to settle his clients’ tax liability for 1924 to 1929. According to Albert Fink, the defense attorney, lawyers should never on behalf of their clients. Other than such issues, the trial process usually progressed.
The Plea
The defense attorneys attempted to present Al Capone as a horse racing addict who lost a lot of money in his businesses, especially in the years being questioned. By presenting such a plea argument, the law establishes that gambling losses can only be dedicated against gambling winnings, and even though the testimony of the defense had been accepted, it wouldn’t have absolved al Capone from the duty to pay taxes, mostly from income arising from his numerous businesses (Linder, 2017). Moreover, the defense also pleaded with the jury to stand against a very oppressive government looking to use tax laws to punish al Capone. The defense argued that the prosecution’s defense was weak and could not prove that he had a gross income. The defense also pleaded that although Al Capone could have been the worst man alive; there was no enough evidence to prove that he attempted to defraud the government of any income tax (Linder, 2017). The defense also argued that the government was generally oppressive. It was using questionable charges to jail al Capone to satisfy the persecutors and the newspaper (Haller, 2000). As such, the defense pleaded with the jury to act as the final barrier between the Al Capone and the government’s attempt to perverse and encroach on the law.
The Sentence and Its Specifics
On November 24, 1931, Al Capone was convicted and sentenced to 11 years behind bars in federal prison. He also received $7,692 as court costs charges and a fine of $50,000 (Linder, 2017). At the time, eleven years of sentence was considered the most extended term for tax evasion charges. Although Al Capone attempted several appeals, they all failed. During the appeal trial, Al Capone had been incarcerated in Cook County Jail. Still, once the appeal was denied, he was entered into the U.S. Penitentiary located in Atlanta, where he served his sentence at Alcatraz (Linder, 2017).
Al Capone was released after serving for less than eight years. However, at the time of his release, he was suffering from paresis, a condition that has been caused by the fact that he had untreated syphilis (Linder, 2017). Al Capone would later die from a stroke on January 25, 1947, while in Florida at the Palm Island (Linder, 2017).
Conclusion
From the preceding, Al Capone was a famous gangster and businessman operating illegal in Chicago, and it was estimated that by 1929, his net worth was about $30 million. However, he had not filed any income in his name. The prosecution established that Al Capone owned several gambling halls in court, deriving huge profits from such businesses but never remitted any tax returns. In his defense, al Capone pleaded that there was no enough evidence to prove that he attempted to defraud the government of any income tax. The defense also argued that the government was generally oppressive. It was using questionable charges to jail al Capone to satisfy the persecutors and the newspaper. Al Capone was convicted and sentenced to 11 years behind bars in federal prison. He also received $7,692 as court costs charges and a fine of $50,000. However, he only served a prison sentence of seven years, after which he was realized in 1939. At the time of his release, he was suffering from paresis developed because of untreated syphilis. He would later die from a stroke in 1947. The story and trial process of Al Capone is an example of a trial process in a typical criminal justice system.
