We're ending close to where we started, because that's how Capone's story ends too—in a loop.
The Metropole Hotel stood near here. Before Capone moved to the Lexington, this was his headquarters. He rented entire floors. Threw massive parties. Lived like a king.
But by 1931, it was over. The IRS had built a tax evasion case, and Capone was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison.
He served time at Alcatraz, where his mental state deteriorated due to syphilis he'd contracted years earlier and never treated properly.
By the time he was released in 1939, he had the mental capacity of a 12-year-old. He spent his final years in Florida, confused and diminished.
He died in 1947 at age 48.
The most powerful gangster in American history ended up a syphilitic shell of himself, sitting by a swimming pool in Miami, unable to remember his own empire.
The Metropole is gone. The Lexington is gone. Most of the places Capone knew have been torn down. But the stories survived.
Some of them are
even true.
— From the tour: Bootleggers, Bullets & Baloney
