CAPONE TRIAL

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 119, 12 January 1932, Page 7

CAPONE TRIAL

P strange types REVELATIONS OF LIFE OF " AMERICA'S GREAT GAWGSTER LUXURIOUS HOME AND LIVING The jury in the Alphonse Capone trial for income tax evasion — rural gentlemen of simple and rather careless habits of dress — pursed its lips in the Federal Court as it learned from salesmen witnesses for the Government what the -well-dressed gangster wears, his taste in home decoration, and his preferenee in diamonds and niotor cars, says the "New York Times." Silk shirts at 30 dollars each, silk underwear at 14 dollars a set, suits at 135 dollars apieee, diamond belt buckles at 275 dollars each (bought by the dozen), ties at 5 dollars (by the dozen) were a few samples of Mr. Capone's taste in haberdashery and suitable garments for street wear. His cars cost him 12,000 dollars 1 apiece, his glassware and silver came high, and he was finicky abont interior decorations for his home, picking the colours and fabrics himself. i Grave, sometifnes lost in day dreams, Capone listened to the public revelations of his expenditures as if he were disinterested ; but when one of the salesmen began to describe the texture of the glove-silk underwear he b-lushed all Qver his fat face and added an emharrassed smirk to the chorus of laughter evoked by the description. A rough estimate of the expenses of Mr. and Mrs. Capone on the proxy' shopping tour through which the jury was guided would he between 80,000 dollars and 90,000 dollars. It eovers only a part of what was spent during the period under consideration in the trial, but the Government, adding it to the reeord of expenditures for real estate and other properties, gleaned from other witness- | es, felt it has enough to prove that ; Gapone was a man with a big in- ! come. Jean Rieves, hook-keeper for a Chicago furniture house, was the first witness against Capone. She stood on the witness stand, reading from the company reeords under the green-shaded lamp on the bench to refresh her memory as to Capone purchases. Capone, his elbow on the counsel table, his head resting on a hairy fist, had a far-away look in his jet-black eyes. "China bowls, elephants, lamps, more lamps, rockers, fernery, chaise longue," she droned off. The jurymen nodded. Jacob I. Grossman, assistant Federal attorney, took over the reeords and began to read them J to the jury. "Chairs, more chairs, 1 armchairs, rockers, more lamps j there must have been scores of them in the Capone home), more bronze elephants" — Capone had selected most of the stuff himself, had paid the deposit with three 500-dollar cheques drawn on the Equitable Trust Company by Jack Guzik, his fmancial secretary. Two days later Capone paid the balance with separate cheques, one for j 1,500 dollars, two for 2,000 dollars , each. I In cross-examining the witness, j Albert Fink, a counsel for Capone, j referred to the defendant as "Al." He had done it on other occasions, and so had Mr. Grossman, but this time the Court stopped it. "When counsel speaks of Al, I assume he means the defendant?" Judge Wilkerson's voice was a bit chilly and his eyebrows shot up. Mr. Fink hastened to assure the Court that no affront was int.ended. "The Defendant "I think," said the judge, "that I would prefer to have the defendant referred to as the defendant," and only onee the rest of the day did Mr. Fink forget himself. Guy C. Buxton, automobile salesman, testified he first saw Mr. and Mrs. Capone in his place of business in 1924. He sold a 12, 500-dollar "special built" cabriolet, which was to be used by Mrs. Capone. Later the car was exchanged for a new model and Mrs. Capone's chauffeuf came for [ it, bringing 3,500 dollars in cash to J make up the difference between the , price of the used car and the new one. C. M. Ari, of the shirt department of the city's biggest department store, replaced Mr. Biixton on the stand. He identified Mr. Capone. He had sold him shirts. No, not out of stock — custom made. "How much did you get for the shirts, Mr. Ari?" asked Grossman. "From 18 to 27 dollars apiece." Somewhere in the deep Court . room, back where the blinds were j drawn and the shadow was deeper, I somebody gave a low whistle of sur- | prise. The gentlemen of the jury I cocked their ears, almost wabbled them. They had been stirred out of their lethargy. Judge Wilkerson was ruffling the pages of a heavy law volume. He did not even look up. Mr. Ari read off an order he got on May 18, 1927. "Four shirts, 22.50 dollars each; one for 23.50 dollars; three for 27.50 dollars each; one for 30 dollars; three at 12 dollars each; 18 eollars at two dollars each; six eollars at one dollareach; 24 monograms for the sleeve at 17 dollars." A low munnur worked its way around the chamber. Two jurors who park their false teeth outsxde let their upper lips drop a little lower on their chins in astonishment. " Mr. Ari recited other purchases,i batches of shirts at 22 dollars each oi* 24 dollars each, more two-dollai' eollars, more monograms, all bought by .Capone. Sometimes he had some of his followers with him. He picked their shirting too, and paid for it, teaching the boys what well-dressed racketeers sho.uld wear. As Ari testified Capone shifted a mint in his heavy jaws and stared off j into space. A look o"f baby-like inno- i j cenee was spread over his countenj ance. 1 Earl Corbett, another salesman in i the shirt department of the same ! store, noted frpm his order hook that [ on Novemher 14, 1927, he got 213.50 dollars worth .of .orders from Mr.

Capone; sold him 28 ties at 4 dollars and 5 dollars each, and 28 handkerchiefs at 2.75 dollars each. Paul H. Mincer, rug salseman for a Chicago furniture house, took up the thread of Capone expenditpre, and did a bit of weaving, but didn't seem to enjoy it. His voice was slightly craclced and quavery. Expengive Rugs Yes, he admitted, Mr. Capone had come in and bought rugs — Chinese rugs. One order ran up to about 1,400 or 1,500 dollars. Some went to the Capone home in Prairie Avenue, some to the Capone headquarters at the Lexington Hotel. Mr. Capone paid in eurrency. F. W. Wehrhan, another rug salesman, told how he sold Mr. Capone some rugs in Novemher, 1927, for "about 3,000 or 4,000 dollars," and some bronze elephants, and some hook endsi The name on the saies slip, he testified, was "Al Brown," one of the Capone aliases. And he told about chairs. "Canary-coloured chairs," . the the witness droned as he seanned the saies slip; "canary-coloured tables, green chest, green cabinet." Capone seems to have a weakness for canary and green. One of his suits was pea green. It was too much for the rural gentlemen in the box. They look like men who would have no use f,or Chinese rugs and wouldn't feel right in canary chairs and green rockers. One of them spanned his forehead with a tired hand, as if dazed by it all. Johanna Sullivan, a nice lady in a peaeh costume and green hat, told of the purchase by Mr. Capone, for cash, of a new seven-passenger sedan! Then came C. A. Roy,. of Palm Be'aeh, interior decorator. Through his testimony the jury got a peep into the bedroom in the Capone win'ter home on Palm Island, near Miami. He told how Capone picked the drapes and gave his ideas on what to use for the bedspreads and for upholstering. With the end of Roy's testimony, the morning session ended and the spectators went into the windy streets with an impression of Al Capone, the home man; Capone, the Beau Brummell. Real Estate The new slant on the seigneur of Chicago's underworld went deeper at the afternoon session. Capone came into Court wqaring a tan topcoat with a rich brown velvet collar. When Russell Garnett, Miami real estate man, took the stand, breezy figure in a light suit, white shoes and fiaming tie, he flashed him a grin of recognition. Mr. Garnett told how he took Mr. Capone around Palm Beach in Novemher, 1927, and finally got him a six months' lease on an Indian Creek property for 2,500 dollars. That was before Capone bought the Palm Island bungalow. Mr. Nathan Shapiro, wholesale jeweller, testified that h'e sold Mr. Capone a chest of silver for 400 dollars in December, 19£8, then another for 400 dollars, and some glassware for 800 dollars., The glassware items were read into the reeord, and there was a list of silver champagne buckets and silver trays. Oscar De Feo, partly bald, nearsighted, and rather short, was the next witness. He is a tailor in a large department store. Yes, he knew Mr. Capone; had measured him for suits. He couldn't recall how many suits he had made for the defendant, more than 20, and they cost 135 dollars each. Ira Gay, of the clothing department in the same store, figured that Mr. Capone's suits and topcoats cost him about 2635 dollars in 1927, and about 1,080 doilars, for part of 1929. They were all paid for in curreney, not cheques. Sam Steinberg, jeweller, brou'ght a gasp from the rural gentleman when he told of Mr. Capone's purchase, around Christmas time in 1927, of "all the beaded bags I had in the place, about 20 of them," and of "30 diamond belt buckles at 275 dollars each." A sample buckle, handed to the jury for inspection, kicked fire and colour where the overhead lights teased it. One juror put on • his glasses for a better look at the bauble. Underwear Then came the underwear salesman, Mr. Oles. Gasps and laughs greeted his description of the silky underthings purchas.ed by big Al Capone. "Well," said Mr. Oles, "he bought. some suits of underwear at 12 dollars each, athletic style, you know. And another man in the department sold him nine undershirts and nine shorts at 5 dollars a garment. He paid it all in cash." "Were these undergarments speeially made?" Mr. Fink wanted to know. "No, sir," said the underwear man. "They were not specially made, but they were of the finest Italian glove silk, ready made." "Glove silk? What's that?" "It is knit silk," Mr. Oles informed the lawyer. "It is similar to the ladies' silk knit gloves. It's really just a nice suit of underwear." Capone's head turned around in a pivotal attempt to show all in /the room that he was laughing with them, but the half-inch scar that seams his left cheek, from temple to the mouth corner, stood out "as he blushed. "The price of that underwear has come down two dollars now," the witness informed Mr. Fink.