Public Enemy Number One

The name Al Capone is no stranger to most Americans. He’s not remembered for doing any good deeds, but rather for his leading role in the illegal activities that lent Chicago its reputation as a lawless city in the 1920s Prohibition Era. Capone was America’s best-known gangster and the single greatest symbol of the collapse of order and law in the United States of his time.

During the 1920s, America underwent a lot of drastic changes and tradition was forced to take a back seat. Women were dressing more provocatively, an economic boom was occurring now that the war was over, and most importantly the Eighteenth Amendment was put into action. Americans were more rebellious than ever.

It was a time in which mobsters, like Al Capone, corrupted politics and ran the large cities by bribing officials. The Chicago Outfit, which was run by Al Capone, was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early 1920s until 1931.

Capone was a danger to the city and no one wanted to get involved because they feared for the safety of their families. He was finally arrested and put behind bars for tax evasion because that’s the only evidence that the city had against him on paper.

The term public enemy was actually coined in the early 1930s in an attempt to publicly denounce Capone and other organized crime gangsters. Capone was “honored” with the title of Public Enemy Number One on account of how dangerous he was to the entire city.

Frank J. Loesch, then chairman of the Chicago Crime Commission, said, “I called them Public Enemies, and so designated them in my letter, sent to the Chief of Police, the Sheriff every law enforcing officer. The purpose is to keep the publicity light shining on Chicago's most prominent, well known and notorious gangsters to the end that they may be under constant observation by the law enforcing authorities and law abiding citizens."

Al Capone 

Sources:
http://www.biography.com/imported/images/Biography/Images/Profiles/C/Al-Capone-9237536-2-402.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition_in_the_United_States
http://www.chicagohs.org/history/capone.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_enemy