cover image Mr. Capone

Mr. Capone

Robert J. Schoengerg. William Morrow & Company, $23 (480pp) ISBN 978-0-688-08941-2

``I guess it's all over,'' Al Capone told his lawyer after being sentenced to prison for tax evasion in October 1931. But, as Schoenberg ( Geneen ) diligently shows, the public has never gotten over its obsession with the legendary mobster. Schoenberg traces Capone's life from his Brooklyn boyhood (he was a notable delinquent) through his famous Chicago years to his release from prison in 1939 and his death from neurosyphilis. This fast-paced, fact-filled, behind-the-scenes account of a skilled and brutal gangster lays bare the realities behind the myths about a man still known throughout the world 45 years after his death. Schoenberg's lively biography resonates with details of Capone's dealings with other gangsters, the press, government agents and agencies. Photos not seen by PW. (Aug.)