Capone's sphere of influence was enormous, but not so large as to mean anything in Alcatraz, in "The Rock." Here, among the prisoners, their own hierarchy reigned, which did not coincide with the hierarchy of the criminal world. Capone's situation in federal prison was difficult, not so much because of the cruelty of the penal system and its employees, but because of the "comrades" of the prisoners.
One day, Capone and other prisoners were lined up at a barbershop for their monthly haircut. The mighty Capone saw no reason to wait and stood at the front of the line, interfering with the haircut of James Lucas, a Texas bank robber who was serving a 30-year sentence.
Lucas knew who Capone was, but he didn't care much. He said irritably, "Hey, you fat ass, go back to the end of the line!" Capone turned and looked at Lucas with a withering look that would sober up any gangster on the loose.
- Do you know WHO I AM, idiot? - Capone asked him.
Lucas turned purple with rage. He grabbed a pair of scissors from a prisoner getting a haircut and held them to Capone's thick neck.
“Yes,” he said. - I know who you are, fat man. And if you brute don't go to the end of the line, then I'll find out who you were.
Capone returned to the back of the line and never drove his license at Alcatraz again. But this did not protect him from further hostility. Capone suffered further mistreatment when he did not join a strike following the death of a prisoner who was denied medical attention by a guard who said he was faking it.
Capone ignored the protest and remained at his prison laundry job. Then other prisoners began calling him “strikebreaker” and “rat.” Capone was then allowed to go to his cell until the strike was broken. When he returned to work, an unknown prisoner threw something heavy at his head. Another prisoner pushed him aside, and train robber Roy Gardner punched Capone in the arm, deeply cutting it. Capone was transferred to a new job cleaning baths, which is why the prisoners quickly nicknamed him “the Italian with the mop.”
His enemy, Lucas, one day snuck up behind him and dealt a treacherous blow. Capone was hospitalized for a week, and Lucas was put in a punishment cell. There were other attempts to maim or kill Capone, but friendly prisoners, attracted by Capone's money from being free, defended him. They foiled a plan to poison Capone's morning coffee with lye. And on another occasion, Capone was on his way to the dentist when a prisoner jumped out from behind and nearly strangled him before Capone broke free and threw him to the ground with one blow.
Such stories reached the press, which informed their curious readers of how far the once powerful King of Chicago had fallen. Capone's wife unsuccessfully petitioned the attorney general to have Capone transferred to another prison, so the persecution of the "Italian with a mop" continued.
Later in his imprisonment, Capone began to lose clarity of thought. His semi-paralysis, caused by an advanced stage of syphilis, prompted most of the prisoners to stop their attempts on his life, extending to him the sympathy due to any prisoner going mad.
In January 1939, Capone was transferred from Alcatraz to the Federal Penitentiary on Terminal Island near Los Angeles. He was too sick for the rigors of The Rock. Capone was released from prison in November, and he lived out eight years of his life, gradually losing his sanity. When he was released, Chicago reporters asked his longtime and loyal assistant Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik whether Capone would return to control of the gangsters. Guzik replied: “Al is as helpless as a fruit pie!” There is no doubt that the insult that Al Capone suffered as a "Italian with a mop" did not contribute to his recovery, quite the contrary, and the former King of Chicago began to slowly fade away.
On January 21, 1947, Capone suffered a stroke, after which he regained consciousness and even began to recover, but on January 24 he was diagnosed with pneumonia. The next day, Capone died of cardiac arrest.
