Al Capone

Alphonse Gabriel Capone (17 January 1899 – 25 January 1947), popularly known as Al "Scarface" Capone, was a famous American gangster in the 1920s and 1930s.

Quotes

 * I have spent the best years of my life giving people the lighter pleasures, helping them have a good time, and all I get is abuse, the existence of a hunted man.
 * As quoted in How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936) by Dale Carnegie,


 * Do I do business with Canadian racketeers? I don't even know what street Canada is on.
 * As quoted in Iced: The Story of Organized Crime in Canada (2009) by Stephen Schneider, chapter Five, p. 206


 * Don't get the idea that I'm one of these goddamn radicals. Don't get the idea that I'm knocking the American system.
 * As quoted in In Time of Trouble (1956) by Claud Cockburn


 * This is virgin territory out here for whorehouses.
 * Referring to suburban Chicago, as quoted in The Bootleggers and Their Era (1961) by Kenneth Alsop


 * This American system of ours ... call it Americanism, call it capitalism, call it what you like, gives to each and every one of us a great opportunity if we only seize it with both hands and make the most of it.
 * Interview with Claud Cockburn, as quoted in “Mr. Capone, Philosopher,” Cockburn Sums Up (1981)


 * I've been accused of every death except the casualty list of the World War.
 * The Bootleggers

Disputed

 * You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone.
 * Misquoted in Forbes (6 October 1986), actually attributed to humorist Professor Irwin Corey (1953)