Mob Wives: Chicago's Mae Capone

Mae Capone was a beautiful and private woman

Jennifer Graziano has managed to pull off a huge coup!  A Chicago spin off can only be a hugely successful show, after the already popular Mob Wives of Staten Island. It got me to wondering about the mob wife behind the notorious mobster, Al Capone. Who hasn’t heard of Al Capone?  Capone’s name is synonymous with the Chicago mob.  I wonder if his wife, Mae Capone, had any stories she could tell?  If she did, they are gone with her.

Mae (Mary) Coughlin Capone was born on April 11, 1897 in Brooklyn, N.Y. and died on April 16, 1986, in Hollywood, Florida.   She lived a long life of 89 years. She was born to Irish parents. Mae worked as a sales clerk in a department store when she met Al.  She didn’t married Al until after giving birth to their first and only child, Albert Francis Capone (Sonny) on December 4, 1918.  The marriage took place on December 30, 1918, three weeks after Sonny was born.

Mae Capone was beautiful.  She was also a mystery because she liked to keep her private life, private.  It’s very hard to find anything of substance on her or any pictures.  Maybe that’s because Al, like all good mobsters back in the day, kept his family life and mob life separate.  Also, like virtually all mobsters, Al was known to have his share of mistresses and contracted syphilis from a prostitute he had known before marrying Mae.  The disease went unnoticed.  Capone became the mob boss, in 1925 at only 26 years old.  By the time he was 32 years old he had gotten into a lot of legal trouble, and by 1934, was sent to Alcatraz.  Mae stuck by her husband through it all. While at Alcatraz, the long term effects of syphilis had taken hold of Al and he began to become disoriented, had convulsions, slurred speech, and shuffled walking.  He was paroled in 1939.  Mae took him to many doctors, none of whom could help him.  She then took him to live out his remaining years in his home in Florida.  Al died at the age of 48, on January 25, 1947.  Sonny grew up to be an upstanding citizen with no mob ties.

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