Friday, November 18, 2011

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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8 comments:

Mob Mistress said...

Now that is a loyal wife! Not like one who when the cameras start rolling and her ego grows she decides to divorce.

Claiming she just found out 2011 of his cheating when in fact she knew years ago and stayed.

And not that she has to stay with him, but damn keep it real or keep it to yourself.

Ed Scarpo said...

OK - thank you, ladies, I appreciate your comments. I am writing this here because it is probably the quickest way to reach you. I have had a change of heart about this story, check out my blog, the top story, which I just posted, and you will see. Daidone isn't her father, he killed her father -- that is what I believe. Please read it: A single fact about the Bruno murder tugged at my heart and made me believe it had to somehow be a message to me that I was on the wrong path. I don't believe in coincidences! EVL

Anonymous said...

They don't make them like Mae any more, that's for sure.

Chiara Soprano said...

EVL I will post my response to you here for our readers, as well as on your blog, for your readers.

Sorry Eddie, but your theory about Bruno being Carla's father is incorrect. Before you ask me for my sources, I will copy part of a transcript in which Carla was interviewed by Joy Behar and clearly says that her uncle was Bruno Facciolo. We do our homework over at mobwives.blogspot.com. In addition, as Mob Mistress pointed out yesterday, Carla told her Louis Facciolo is her father. Have a look at the transcript:

Now, Carla, you grew up in the Mafia, but you married a stockbroker.

CARLA FACCIOLO, "MOB WIVES": Yes.

BEHAR: That`s an interesting choice. So was your father -- your family, were they in the mob?

FACCIOLO: No. My father wasn`t in the mob.

BEHAR: Your father was not?

FACCIOLO: No.

BEHAR: So what`s your connection to the Mafia?

FACCIOLO: Well, they say that my uncle was involved.

BEHAR: Your uncle.

What was his name?

FACCIOLO: Bruno.

BEHAR: Bruno? Does he have a little -- like Bruno "Go Fish" Facciolo or something? Anything like that?

FACCIOLO: It was just Bruno.

link: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1104/21/joy.01.html

Sorry, but I know you like to have the correct information out there, as does Ms. Facciolo, and as do we.

Ed Scarpo said...

OK -- I got it wrong... again... But I have been making a sincere effort and used what I had; I made an educated guess, and I indicated that it was such. I will incorporate this info into my post when I get a chance.

But remember one thing: People, especially those belonging to the mafia, which is a secret criminal organization that robs, murders and deals drugs, have been known not to tell the truth on occasions. ("They say my uncle Bruno was involved..."). I prefer to find the documentation -- but now I am convinced this info is simply not in the public domain.

I am working on getting on the phone a retired FBI agent who worked OC back when Daidone and the crews of those days were in operation. I hope to speak with him about this, among other things.

Meanwhile, I'll amend my blog -- but I have dinner with the folks right now on my schedule. I'd like to link to your blog and give you thanks for caring enough to help with information, if I have your permission.

The "truth" is my guiding light, but this topic -- mobsters and their families -- is unchartered waters.

Thank you for your help.

Ed

Mob Mistress said...

Thanks for stopping by EVL!

I noticed you referred to us as competitors. We do not compete with any site or blogger. There is nothing for us to compete over. We are not a Mob Wives fan site. We are two miserable often bitchy who choose to research, interview and blog about several shows we watch, hence M.O.B. Wives.

I hope you enjoy the holidays.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for acknowledging I was really just trying to help and set the record straight on this issue EVL. I don't research all of the mafia, my focus is and has been almost exclusively to the Mob Wives and their families and friends. I appreciate when anyone advises me that I have gotten something wrong so that I may correct it. The truth is something we strive for in our blog and it is one of the reasons our readers keep coming back and the cast appreciates what we have to say (most of the time). I hope you find what you are looking for, we are satisfied that we have the correct information.

Chiara

Mob Mistress said...

Oh by the way Louis Facciolo is still alive.