Al Capone was left ‘insane’ following syphilis treatment in Alcatraz so couldn’t remember where $100m fortune was hidden – now last living relative claims she knows
WHILE most people think of Al Capone as a ruthless mobster to his niece Deirdre he was just “Uncle Al”, a “good man” who told "knock, knock" jokes, made spaghetti sauce with her and dressed up as Santa at Christmas.
In an exclusive interview, his last living blood relative said she wanted to set the record straight about her uncle - also known as "Scarface" - and reveal some of the secrets from his past before it's too late.
The great-niece of the infamous mobster, 79, told Sun Online that Capone was injected with mercury during his time at the notorious Alcatraz prison, San Francisco, as an experimental treatment for syphilis in the 1930s - causing his mental health to deteriorate.
As a result Capone, who was the brother of her grandfather Ralph Snr, was unable to give any instructions about where his lost fortune was kept.
Now, the mother of four and a grandmother of 14, believes over $100 million of her uncle's lost fortune may be hidden in safety deposit boxes in Cuba or hidden in underground vaults at other properties he secretly owned in the US.
She also revealed that there was a dark side to being a Capone, and said how her uncle had so many powerful connections that her dad, Ralph, was murdered when she was only 10 - as he tried to write a book about his brother’s crime gang - and her family pretended it was a suicide.
“Was Al Capone a mobster? Yes he was. But was he a monster? No he was not." Deirdre said.
Deirdre, who was only seven when her uncle died, grew up his shadow and remembers other children were not allowed to play with her or come to her parties because she was a Capone - and how she was fired from her first job at an insurance firm age 17, which she had taken on in order to support her mum and brother - because of her name.
PUBLIC ENEMY NO. 1
Capone, born in 1899, was boss of the organised crime gang the Chicago Outfit, which made millions of dollars illegally distributing alcohol during the Prohibition era, running brothels and gambling syndicates, money laundering and other criminal activities in the 1920s.
They also ran thousands of bars in Chicago and in 1926 the US Attorney's office estimated they had grossed $105 million.
Deirdre describes her uncle, who died in 1947 aged 48, as a smart, successful businessman who employed over 300 people at any given time, who he paid and treated well.
But at the time there were violent gang wars for control of the bootlegging operation - and those who stood in the bootleggers' way were often murdered in cold blood.
Capone has always been linked with the St. Valentine's Day Massacre - where seven gang rivals were executed in broad daylight in Chicago in 1929 - although Deirdre says her uncle played no part.
He was dubbed "Public Enemy No. 1" by the media at the time
'THEY INJECTED HIM WITH MERCURY'
Capone is believed to have hidden “millions” before he was imprisoned in 1932 on tax evasion charges, first at Atlanta Penitentiary before being moved to the notorious Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary off the coast of San Francisco, California.
Capone is thought to have contracted syphilis in his late teens as his son was born with the disease in 1919 - although Deirdre says he only began to show signs of poor health after his poor treatment in prison.
“My grandfather told me this with tears streaming down his cheeks. He said, ‘Deirdre, they called me from Alcatraz and said your uncle was getting out, but they just discovered they had a new treatment for syphilis and wanted to try it out on your uncle so I agreed’.
“They took him out of Alcatraz and they put him in the hospital on Terminal Island, Los Angeles and that is the first time that you will find any press at all that Al Capone became angry and violent and they had to put him in solitary confinement.
“And it's because they were injecting my uncle with mercury because they thought mercury could cure syphilis. If you read Alice in wonderland, you know what mercury does to the human brain. It causes insanity. That's exactly what happened to my uncle.
MEMORY FAILURE AND MISSING MILLIONS
"So when he got out of prison, my grandfather held a big party for him in November 1939.
“They said Al would go around to his own sister and say 'Who are you?' then he would go somebody else and then he'd come back to his sister and say 'Who are you again?'
“My grandfather knew there was something wrong. So they took him and they put him in the hospital at Baltimore, Maryland where he was treated by a psychiatrist.”
Deirdre, who has a TV documentary in the works, believes that Capone's failing health meant he was unable to pass on details of what happened to the money - all of which she believes would be rightfully hers as last living blood relation.
TREASURE HUNTING
Many treasure hunters have tried to trace the missing millions - and in 1986 30 million people watched a two-hour TV special in the US where talk show host Geraldo Rivera opened a secret vault discovered in a Chicago hotel once owned by Capone. The vault turned out to be empty.
Deirdre, who became a successful, legitimate business woman in Minnesota, says her grandfather always assured her that she would be “taken care of” but so far she has been unable to locate any of the money.
She does believe that some of the fortune was held in Cuba - and maybe in locations she knows he visited such as Wisconsin, Arkansas and Canada.
Deirdre says she has done all she can within her means to find the money, and has visited locations linked to her uncle - but a busy career and family life meant it couldn't take priority.
“I’m guessing more than $100 million," she said.
“I tried to do whatever I could from my perspective to locate the money but I don't have the wherewithal, I don't have the legal means.
“I really do believe that a lot of the money was put into the safety deposit boxes in Cuba. I remember seeing keys. But I'm sure they were all in different assumed names."
SECRET VAULTS
Even if the Cuba millions has gone missing, Deirdre does not believe her “smart” uncle would have only hidden his fortune in just one location - and thinks it may be spread out in a number of hidden vaults in the US.
She recalls visiting one of Capone's secret hideaway in Wisconsin - that no one knows about - although she is remaining tight lipped about the exact location of the property.
“It is not known that my uncle had property in Wisconsin but I was there, I experienced it many times," she said.
“That has never been told and it’s part of the business that I think people would be fascinated with - it wasn't a house, but more of a conference centre where Al and other bootleggers would meet and talk.
'NO BOOTLEGGER EVER LEFT A WILL'
"I also know they would meet in places in Hot Springs, Arkansas and Moose Jaw, Canada.
“I know there is no money in any place in Chicago but I’m certain that it is still lying around hidden in other places.
“But there’s no will or mention of anything, there’s no bootlegger that ever left a will.
“My grandfather told me, not once, not twice, that many times. ‘Deirdre, you have nothing to worry about. There's some money there for you’.
“People are interested in finding lost treasure and it would be very, very interesting to pursue that.
“Although people might not understand this, but truthfully the money is really not important to me - what’s important to me is that people know the person that Al Capone was.”
Deirdre, who has written her own book about her uncle, remembers spending a fun Christmas in 1946 with her Uncle Al and other family members in Chicago before he returned to Florida with wife Mae and became very ill, suffering a mini stroke followed by pneumonia.
Deirdre and her family rallied round and held vigil by his bed and he appeared to make a full recovery - but Capone died unexpectedly on January 25th after suffering another stroke getting out of the shower.
SHUNNED FOR BEING A CAPONE
Deirdre remains adamant her uncle was not “as bad as everyone thinks” and has fond memories of him sitting her on his lap, acting silly and teaching her to play the mandolin.
And she does not believe he ever killed anybody.
“Do we have any proof he killed anybody? The only thing that he was convicted of was income tax evasion," she said.
“Al Capone was chosen to be the ugly face of Prohibition but he was not a monster, he was a good man who did a lot of good," she said.
“When I grew up, I was shunned. I was fired from my job when they found out who I was.
“My father was murdered because he was writing a book telling the real story about my family.
"My father was naming names in his book. I saw the transcript.
“The family let my father's murder look like a suicide because there were too many powerful people involved.
“Those are pretty hard crosses to bear."
Deirdre believes her uncle's bad reputation is down in part to his portrayal in gangster movies such as The Untouchables.
"In my opinion, that movie is responsible for putting the very ugly face on the whole prohibition movement," she said.
"Was their bloodshed? Yes. But I equate the Prohibition era to the Wild West in the United States of America.
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"In the Wild West. If you're rustle somebody's cattle or stole somebody's woman, there was a price to pay.
"People would retaliate because we didn't have the ability to call the police and say 'This guy is bothering me, come over and arrest him' - You took care of things yourself.
"I was raised as a Capone and I was raised with the motto, 'Family is everything, your word is your bond and never let your head get too big for your hat'. And I follow that today.”