Who Was Al Capone's Son?

While incarcerated at Alcatraz for income tax evasion, Al Capone penned a three-page letter to his son that read in part, "Well heart of mine, sure hope things come our way for next year, then I'll be there in your arms." He signed it, "Love & Kisses, Your Dear Dad Alphonse Capone #85." They were some of the most endearing words ever associated with the architect of Prohibition's most vicious criminal undertakings. Sonny clearly brought out the beauty in his beast of a father. But there were hideous aspects to being Capone's kid.

As told in Capone: The Man and the Era, Albert "Sonny" Capone was born on December 4, 1918. Per History, this was a little more than a year before the 18th Amendment went into effect and effectively propelled Al Capone from small-time thuggery to a booming bootlegging business. Sonny didn't inherit his father's sins, but he did inherit his syphilis. Initially it seemed he dodged the biological bullet, appearing healthy at birth. But soon, Sonny's compromised immune system showed him to be prone to infections. At age eight he contracted a nasty mastoid infection and needed surgery that would rob him of his hearing.

It seemed that for Al Capone, money was the best medicine. He offered a doctor in New York $100,000 to operate on Sonny. The physician insisted on accepting the standard $1,000. Al traveled to the Big Apple with Sonny. It might have been for moral support but since he wasn't very moral, Al also used the trip to discuss booze shipments with his former boss, mobster Frankie Yale.