Louis Capone

Louis Capone
Capone 1936 mugshot
Born	1896 Naples, Campania, Italy
Died	1944 (aged 47–48) Sing Sing Correctional Facility, Ossining, New York, U.S.
Other names	"Lou Capone"
Criminal charge	Murder
Criminal penalty	Death
Spouse(s)	Sophie Capone
Conviction(s)	Murder

Louis Capone (1896 – March 4, 1944) was a New York organized crime figure who became a supervisor for Murder, Inc. Louis Capone was not related to Al Capone, the boss of the Chicago Outfit.

Born in Naples, Italy, Capone moved to New York City with his family and grew up in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn. As an adult, Capone moved to Brownsville, Brooklyn.

Capone was described as a suave, well-groomed man who projected sympathy. He had watery blue eyes and a broken nose.

Capone's legitimate business was a pasticceria (an Italian-style cafe serving coffee and pastries) in Brooklyn. The pasticceria became a popular hangout for teenagers, including future street gang leaders Abe Reles and Harry Maione. Capone built up a rapport with the boys by giving them free food. These young men soon became Capone's proteges in crime.

Capone had strong connections with the Purple Gang of Detroit, and was operating loansharking operations in both Detroit and New York. He was also involved in labor racketeering with the local Plasterers Union and had close ties with mobster Joe Adonis.

With the end of the Castellammarese War in 1931, Reles' and Maione's gangs developed into a network of contract killers that became known as Murder, Inc. Albert Anastasia, a patron of Capone's restaurant, persuaded the two gang leaders that they could make a lot of money by working together for the Cosa Nostra. Anastasia would send Cosa Nostra murder contracts to mobster Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, the boss of Murder, Inc. Capone would recruit the individual hitmen from the Reles and Maione gangs. These hitmen were mainly Jewish and Italian-American hoodlums from Brooklyn. By 1934, all the Cosa Nostra families were using Murder, Inc. As time progressed, Capone spent considerable energy mediating disputes between the two gang leaders.