In 1929, Al Capone was worth an inflation adjusted 1.5 billion dollars. Al Capone as a child with his mother On January 17, 1899, Alphonse Gabriel Capone became the fourth child born into this family, and the second native American.  Including the two born in Italy, the Capone family later consisted of nine children, eight surviving into adulthood.  Al’s father was a barber by trade, eventually moving the family to a better home that also contained his shop.  His father, unlike his mother, was literate and spoke English.  Although relatively poor, the Capones seemed like just another ordinary, hard working couple putting their children through school and looking to make their way in the new world.  There was nothing to indicate mental instability or dysfunction that eventually produced a remarkably anti-social progeny. Johnny Torrio From a young age, Donato “Johnny” Torrio was focused on organizing criminal activities involving gambling and loan sharking that he operated from behind a legitimate business, a neighborhood pool hall.  Although not flamboyant, Torrio, born in Montepeloso, Italy, was a sharp operator who allied himself with Manhattan’s Five Points Gang and quickly began to branch out into more malevolent criminal activity involving prostitution, extortion and even narcotics.  Torrio also kept a close eye on the neighborhood, always eager to find teenagers that he could depend on to run errands and generally handle tasks without asking too many questions. James "Big Jim" Colosimo This change was prompted by Johnny Torrio, by now himself relocated to Chicago and the brains behind the racketeering organization operated by James (Big Jim) Colosimo, a rags to riches gangster and restaurateur, who covertly ran a huge vice operation that dealt especially in brothels and prostitution.  His Colosimo’s Café was one of the most popular and opulent restaurants in the city and Colosimo, sporting diamonds, wearing a white suit, tall and certainly carrying more than a few extra pounds was a literally larger than life figure.  Torrio was the perfectly reserved and concealed manager who paid attention to day to day operations while Colosimo spent most of his time partying and taking advantage of his proximity to a large stable of obliging females. Dean O'Banion Warned by his gang buddies to stop provoking Torrio, O’Banion famously responded, “To hell with the Sicilians,” evincing a bravado that was recklessly foolhardy.  Because, O’Banion was a heavyweight gangland figure with strong connections, the Outfit tread carefully but methodically forward.  O’Banion also had a lucrative florist business that focused especially on the elaborate floral designs necessitated by any number of gangland deaths in Chicago.  The shop was directly across from the Holy Name Cathedral, an immense downtown Chicago Catholic church and location that generated even more business.  O’Banion actually supervised the business personally and was usually on the premises.  On November 10, 1924, three men entered the store, ostensibly to pick up a sizable order.  Exactly who these men were has always been the subject of rumor, but the best guess revolves around Frankie Yale, who O’Banion would not have suspected and two other men, John Scalise and Albert Anselmi, two individuals who eventually became the most feared hitmen in the Outfit but at that time were unknown, recent emigres from...