How Al Capone got the nickname “marked”

Born in Brooklyn, New York, on January 17, 1899 to Italian immigrants Gabriele and Teresa, Alfonso Capone he would become one of the most notorious gangsters of all time.

The “Robin Hood” of the Prohibition era was equally a popular hero to the general public, yet he was the number one public enemy in the eyes of federal agents and remains one of the most notable personalities of his time. Dominated in organized crime in Chicago from 1925 to 1931 and became perhaps the most famous gangster in the United States. But do you know how he got the nickname “Marked”, with which he is widely known?

Here’s how Al Capone got his famous nickname

Before the age of 21, Capone was already involved in many violent incidents. Under Torrio’s supervision, Capone met Brooklyn’s Italian-American gangster Frankie Yale, who hired him as a bartender and sometimes as a thumbs up in both the Coney Island ballroom and salon at the Holiday Inn.

While working there, Capone, according to mentalfloss.com, appears to have insulted the sister of a local thug named Frank Galluccio. He, in support of his sister’s honor, immediately injured Capone with a pocket knife or razor, marking his left cheek with three scratches. The healed wounds from this involvement eventually led to the famous nickname “Marked”, with which Capone became widely known.

A nickname, however, that did not interest him so much, as he preferred to be called “Snorky” by his closest friends and associates. In fact, much later, Capone said he suffered three scars from debris while fighting in France during World War I, even though he had never actually been to war.

Despite the permanent scars left by Galluccio’s attack on Capone, thanks to Yale’s intervention, there was no bad follow-up between them, and when he took over the Chicago mafia, Capone hired Galluccio as his bodyguard, with the astronomical then, $ 100 as a weekly salary.

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