Uncle AL Capone fan letter

I just finished reading your book.  It did not surprise me in the least that you said he was a good man.

 

When I was growing up, my father used to watch all the programs on TV.  He used to go ballistic.  He said, "Al Capone was a good man.  He never did 1/8th of what everyone said he did.  If he did, how come the government could only charge him with tax evasion."    He told me that when one of Mr. Capone's men caught a kid stealing something, that they had orders from Mr. Capone to set the kid up on a corner with newspapers and teach them to make money, not steak.  He also used to say that Mr. Capone had nothing to do with the St. Valentine Day's Massacre.  He used to say it was two labor unions fighting over territory.  He said he was there right after it happened.  He said he worked for Mr. Capone.  I believed him.  He was my father.  I now wish I had asked him more. 

 

This is what I was told by him.  He was born and raised in Homewood, Illinois.  He was a cop in Chicago.  He worked for Al Capone, and the had the highest regard for him.

 

My dad was a hardworking automobile mechanic.  He never asked for a hand out and he was never in prison.  I do not know if any of it was true, but after reading your book a lot of it correlates with my dad's feelings about your uncle.  Don't know if anyone is still alive that would remember the name, but it was Joe Hantzman.  He died in 1979.

 

I am so happy you wrote the book.  I wish you the best in your life.