Ralph Capone

Ralph James Capone (; born Raffaele James Capone, ; January 12, 1894 – November 22, 1974) was an Italian-American mobster and an older brother of Al Capone and Frank Capone. He got the nickname "Bottles" not from involvement in the Capone bootlegging empire, but from his running the legitimate non-alcoholic beverage and bottling operations in Chicago. Further family lore suggests that the nickname was specifically tied to his lobbying the Illinois Legislature to put into law that milk bottling companies had to stamp the date that the milk was bottled on the bottle. He was most famous for being named by the Chicago Crime Commission "Public Enemy Number Three" when his brother Al was "Public Enemy Number One". Early life Capone was born in 1894, in Angri, a small town in Campania, Italy, near Mount Vesuvius, and he was the middle son of Gabriele and Teresa (née Raiola) Capone. He had eight siblings, Vicenzo, Frank, Al, Ermina, John, Matthew Capone and Mafalda Maritote. He arrived in America on a ship named Werra on June 18, 1895 with his older brother Vincenzo and mother Theresa, entering via Ellis Island. His father had come to the United States by the way of Canada, six months previously. They settled in Brooklyn, living near the Navy yards. On September 24, 1915 at the age of 21 he married Filomena (Florence) Muscato, age 17. They had a son, Ralph Gabriel Capone in 1917. Life in Chicago After the death of his father Gabriel in November 1920, Ralph was brought to Chicago by his younger brother, Al. His wife didn't want to move so Ralph took Ralph Jr. to Chicago where he was raised by his mother as her youngest child. Ralph Sr. returned to New York in 1921 and got a divorce decree from Florence on the charge of abandonment.