In this episode of pplpod, we explore the rise and collapse of Al Capone, the most infamous gangster of Prohibition-era America. Born Alphonse Gabriel Capone in Brooklyn in 1899, he was the son of Italian immigrants, a bright student whose formal education ended after a violent incident with a teacher. The episode follows his early jobs, his brief semi-professional baseball career, his entry into the Five Points Gang, and the knife attack at the Harvard Inn that left him with the scars behind the nickname he hated: “Scarface.” It also traces his move to Chicago under Johnny Torrio, where Capone’s mix of physical intimidation, business sense, and appetite for attention made him the perfect figure for a new kind of criminal enterprise created by Prohibition.

The episode also follows Capone’s transformation from young enforcer to the boss of t ...