Al Capone is one of the biggest names in the history American Mafia. He was born in 1899 and had an affinity for violence from when he was little. He grew up to be one of the most feared men in Chicago, however, at the end of his life he wasn’t more than a weak shadow of the type of man he used to be. Keep on reading and discover why his health declined so rapidly!
Al Capone Went From Big Maffia Boss To Tragic Weak Man
Al Capone was sent to jail for 11 years for evading taxes. However, his time in jail wasn’t so bad in the beginning. He was still a feared man and manipulated his surroundings even in prison. He would enjoy special privileges and had bribed multiple guards to give him extras.
This eventually changed after he was sent to Alcatraz, a prison designed for the most dangerous criminals in the United States of America. Here he lost all his power to manipulate his surroundings, causing his mental health to decrease at a rapid rate. He was also suffering from multiple diseases that he didn’t know about, causing even more trouble.
The Real Reason Capone’s Life Ended This Way
In 1931, when Al Capone went to prison for tax evasion, doctors diagnosed him with neurosyphilis, gonorrhoea and damage from prolonged drug use. He never got treated for any of these diseases which made his body weak. Resulting in a rapid decline in his health. Doctors suspected that when Capone was in his early twenties, he was involved with women who gave him Syphilis. This is the disease that probably cost him his life! While it is now a curable disease, back then there was not much you could do against it. He also didn’t go to a doctor for it since the symptoms weren’t visible anymore. They had turned to the inside of his body and went undetected for a very long time!
Eventually, he was too sick to stay in prison and he was released to his family in 1939. His wife became his primary caretaker and helped him as much as possible. The family kept a small circle of people around him. He would switch between moments of clarity and moments where he would speak to imaginary people or old associates of his who died a long time ago.
These conditions quickly eroded his mental and physical health, leaving him with the cognitive function of a pre-teen by the time of his release in 1939. Capone spent his final years in isolation at his Miami mansion, mentally regressed and physically deteriorating, before passing away in 1947 at the age of 48. His tragic end serves as a stark reminder of the dangers of untreated illness and substance abuse.
