This is the last of the three Al Capone items, and it just happens to be my favorite. I originally spotted this exploitation rag in a Chicago museum about three years ago. I immediately tried to buy it on eBay, but I wasn't sure what to pay, so I passed it up at a $80 price tag, thinking it would come up again, and I'd get a chance to buy it at a lower price. Three years pass. It never comes up, until just a few weeks ago. I paid a tad less, but was it worth the wait to save just a few bucks...probably not. Anyway, this magazine is from 1931 and is a one-shot publication. It was sold at an expensive price for its time (50 cents when most magazines where 10 cents). After the first issue, it was banned immediately. Not sure why-- perhaps the garish murder-scene photographs? Perhaps they thought it was glorifying Capone?
Congratulations on such a wonderful find. Patience pays off!
ReplyDeleteMulto buono---ketchup and all. That's Caponay, pre-Alcatraz of course. He didn't look so mean or big after six years or so at the Rock. Though sort of crazy his last few years due to syphillis.
ReplyDeleteDe Niro in The Untouchables did a good Al, baseball bat and all. That said, during Prohibition, Caponay and his mob ran soup kitchens in Chi-town (and probably NY), kicked down some to the street peeps. Hard to say which is worse--mafia, or Feds......
I guess it does!
ReplyDelete