Al Capone and Criminal Justice System

[caption id="attachment_40529" align="alignnone" width="297" caption="An arrest record with images of Capone (Courtesy of About.Com, downloaded on 16 July 2009)"][/caption] Chicago’s history during 1920s and 1930s was marked by the fear of crime due to the high intensity of gangsters’ activities. Al Capone was the most notorious gangster in Chicago at that time, but he was actually a native of New York. Capone started his career as a gangster when John “Johnny the Fox” Torrio and Frankie Vale hired him as a bouncer in their brothel and drinking den (Southwell, 2006 : 30). When Torrio moved to Chicago, Capone was called to assist him in running the business in the town.  Later, Chicago witnessed how Capone developed his underworld business from his position as Torrio’s lieutenant to the big boss who “ruled” the city and put numerous politicians, judges and police officers under his influence (Southwell, 2006 : 31). Capone’s main business was bootlegging and this was boosted by people’s addiction to alcohol. History has recorded that alcohol was once prohibited in the US, but it has also been the fact that people can never get enough of alcohol. Capone was not a social scientist, but such a social fact was simply an opportunity for him to gain millions of dollars by running underground breweries, clandestine alcohol shipment and illegal drinking dens. Unfortunately, his success also made him a target of murder attempts. His rivals wanted to kill Capone, but he had always circumvented them. To a certain extent, Capone practiced the principle of reward and punishment in his business. He offered wealth and “good positions” for the rivals who agreed to cooperate. On the contrary, bullets of the Tommy gun were awarded to those who refused to cooperate. Dion O’ Banion and Earl “Hymie” Weiss were examples of two rival- gangsters murdered under Capone’s instruction (Southwell, 2006 : 31-32). Police had difficulties in implicating Capone in the cases because he had always been managed to wash his hand by using various alibi. Besides, many police officers were under his influence. The St Valentine’s Day Massacre in which Capone hired gunmen to murder his rival George “Bugs” Moran was the most brutal slaying in his career (Southwell, 2006: 32- 33). Moran escaped from the murder because he arrived late in the crime scene, but six of his men were killed brutally. Again, no one charged Capone for the murder. As we can learn from the history, law enforcement officers had difficulties in implicating Capone for any murders. He was a cunning criminal and knew how to escape from the punishment. Moreover, Capone’s money had paralyzed law enforcement officials. Money had made them served the evil. This was why the US government finally sent a young agent from the Treasury Department. His name was Eliot Ness and the Prohibition Bureau in Chicago saw a better prospect after his arrival in the Bureau. Ness who studied criminology, commerce and laws as well as the student of Professor August Volmar knew how to deal with Capone (Bardsley, www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/cops_others/ness, last viewed on 14 July 2009).  His experience with the Treasury Department seemed to be the background of his tactical policy in dealing with Capone. Instead of focusing on the murders, he and his “The Untouchables” team scrutinized Capone’s tax evasion. However, Ness and his team also raided Capone’s illegal breweries as the realization of Prohibition Bureau’s duties. Consequently, Capone suffered financial losses and this undermined his bootlegging business. Eventually, Ness and “The Untouchables” succeeded in bringing Capone down from his throne by proving that this Mobster was guilty of tax evasion. Stories around Capone still interest people around the world. Various movies were made and one of them was Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables in which Kevin Costner played as Eliot Ness. However, one thing that we need to learn from it is that Capone’s notorious success in the underworld business was undeniably the result of the crippled criminal justice system to a certain extent. A criminal justice system is a system consisting of the agencies and personnel who are charged with the responsibility of enforcing the criminal law, including police, prosecution and defense, courts as well as corrections (Reid, 1993 : 4). Reid elaborates further that a criminal justice system is designed to prevent people from violating its rules and to sanction, or impose legal punishments, on those who do. (Reid, 1993 : 7). When police officers and judges were subdued by Capone’s money, the criminal justice system lost its power. Citizens actually rely on the police as the long arm of the laws who put laws in the book into laws in action. The duty is realized by the police through the enforcement of the criminal sanction and the maintenance of the public order. Moreover, the court did not work properly because judges lost their independence and integrity. The consequence of the crippled criminal justice system was clear during the Capone era.  Instead of establishing justice and protecting the innocents, the system favored the evil. This was why the appointment of Ness as the leading officer in combating Al Capone was the right choice due to his reputation as a clean law enforcement official. Capone and his efforts to disrupt the criminal justice system are now topics in the history of the law enforcement. One lesson that we must learn is that the criminal justice system must be secured from any evil deeds. Besides, in the context of the governance, the criminal justice system must be regarded as one of the most  strategic elements of a state. A weak or crippled criminal justice system characterized by crooked cops, corrupt judges and dishonest law enforcement officials will only make a weak state. When law enforcement officials are subdued by hot money, a state may fall into the hands of mafia or mobsters. Then, an external threat is not the only threat for the existence of a state. A state will surely be destroyed by its crooked criminal justice system. Are we aware of it?