Al Capone Tax Evasion

About Al Capone Tax Evasion

Al Capone was Americas most notorious gangster, running a vast criminal empire in Chicago during Prohibition. The federal government could not convict Capone of murder, bootlegging, or racketeering. Instead, Treasury agent Eliot Ness and his team, the Untouchables, built a case for tax evasion. The strategy was simple: Capone had not paid taxes on his illegal income. The Supreme Court had ruled in 1927 that illegal income was taxable. Capone was convicted of tax evasion in 1931 and sentenced to 11 years in federal prison. He was also fined 50,000 and charged 215,000 in back taxes. The Capone case established that tax evasion charges could bring down even the most powerful criminals. The IRS Criminal Investigation Division continues to use tax charges against organized crime figures.