Caponed Chicken

Last week the relentless forces of the Federal Government were closer than ever before to an inevitable show-down with Chicago's Alphonse ("Scarface Al") Capone. Out on appeal from a six-month sentence for contempt of Federal Court (TIME, March 9), Capone was arrested for Federal income tax evasion, released on $50,000 bond.

The newest Capone indictment contains 21 counts, chief of which is that during the years 1924-29 he failed to make returns on a known income of $1,038,654. Were he convicted on all counts, Public Enemy Capone would face a fine of $80,000, 32 years imprisonment.

The man who would rejoice most should Gangster Capone get 32 years is U. S. District Attorney George E. Q. Johnson. So far Attorney Johnson has prosecuted eight Chicago racketeers on tax evasion charges, has convicted all of them. Among them are Ralph ("Bottles") Capone, who has appealed his three-year sentence; Sam Guzick, another Capone-man, who started serving his year-and-a-day last week; Frank Nitti, Capone treasurer, who is locked in Leavenworth doing 18 months.

The charges against Gangster Capone are the result of two years of patient enterprise on the part of 100 Federal investigators. Rarely could the sleuths find an authentic bank account for the racketeer. Many records under aliases in Cicero, Ill., his suburban suzerainty, had been destroyed. But the archives of the bank did reveal canceled checks made in payment to the Capone organization for liquor consignments. Queried about their checks, saloonkeepers blandly replied: "Chickens; we bought chickens to serve our customers." "One saloonkeeper," said Attorney Johnson, "had given checks for enough chicken to feed all Chicago."

That Capone's maximum annual income had not been found to exceed $260,000 (1925) was explained by the fact that the wily criminal conducts most of his business on a cash basis, used currency to purchase his $175,000 estate, $40,000 yacht.

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