Birth Name:
Alphonse Gabriel Capone
Birth Place:
Brooklyn, New York, United States
Date of Birth:
January 17, 1899
What Race or Ethnicity?:
Italian
Capone’s father was originally from Naples and his mother was from Salerno, Italy.
Al Capone
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Capone was not half-Irish nor was he Sicilian. Both of his parents were Italians from the Campania region, so this is accurate. Capone married an Irish-American woman, Mae Coughlin, so it was his son, Albert Francis “Sonny” Capone, who was Italian/Irish.
The funny thing is that people always like to claim that all of the Italian/Italian-American gangsters were of Sicilian origin, when at least as many were of Neapolitan or Calabrian extraction. Al Capone here was Neapolitan as was Vito Genovese. Frank Costello (Castiglia before he Americanized it) was Calabrian. John Gotti was of Neapolitan heritage too. Two mobsters who were actually Sicilians were Carlo Gambino and Lucky Luciano.
Also, it should be known that Capone’s one known prejudice was against Sicilians. There are quotes of him denigrating Sicilians as being untrustworthy and not really Italian. With all the Greek, Arabic, French, Spanish, and other bloodlines in Sicily, Sicilians really are their own people to a large extent, who just happen to be Italian by nationality since the 1860′s or so when Italy was united.
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nice post, Al. thanks
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His mom was irish
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Big Al is actually Siciliano, not Italian, there’s a deffinative difference.
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You have made a big mistake!! Capone isn’t absolutely Sicilian!!!
His parents came from Castellammare di Stabia, near Naples!
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No, Al Capone married an Irish woman. Both his parents immigrated from Italy in 1883 :D
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That’s true. His wife was Mae Coughlin who had Irish parents. Their son ”Sonny” also married a woman of Irish descent by the name of Diana Casey.
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If I am not mistaken I read somewhere that Al Capones mother was Irish
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She was
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