Exclusive Interview by “Bad” Brad Berkwitt

“I was raised that your word is your bond and family is everything.”—Deirdre Marie Capone

Al Capone’s grandniece, Deirdre Marie Capone, has written an outstanding book called “Uncle Al Capone” that I recently reviewed on NewzBreaker that talks about the man behind the myth, her loving “Uncle Al.” Throughout the book, she tells inside stories about the family that has never gotten any press before.

From the moment we sat down to do our interview, I found a very warm lady that is no longer afraid to say she is a Capone for fear of being shunned – something she has dealt with along with many other of her family members over the years. In this exclusive interview, you are going to hear some things from Deirdre that are going to shock you, but if you really think about it, they are not hard to believe at all…

Ladies and Gentlemen, NB brings you Mrs Deirdre Marie Capone..

NB: What book events do you have coming up?

Fox News is actually talking with my publicist right now about doing a segment on me. It would be broadcast all over and is called “Fox News Edge.”

I also have several coming up, but the best thing for your readers to do is to check my schedule on my website, which I keep up to date…

NB: If someone buys your book, but it’s not at a book signing, how can they get it personally autographed?

They can actually purchase a personally autographed book from my website via credit card which is very safe. Another way, they can do it if they buy a book from another outlet, they can email me from my website and I will sign a label that they can put in the book.

NB: Has there been actor over the years that have even come close to portraying any part of your Uncle Al Capone?

As far as I am concerned, it was James Cagney. Cagney portrayed my Uncle when he was still alive in the 1931 movie THE PUBLIC ENEMY and he knew my Uncle as well. I would like to explain to you one reason why there are so many interpretations of mobsters out there because you really don’t know the real person. That was because, during those days, everybody practiced something called “Omerta.” Omerta is an Italian word that just means don’t talk to nobody. So no one ever ratted on anybody else – so nobody ever knew the true person or their true personality.

NB: If Al were alive today, and saw how the Outfit turned out where it seems there was no more rules like family members were not to ever be touched, how do you think he would feel?

He was around when this tendency was starting. Al was around all the heads of the many outfits in different cities back then because they all had an Al Capone who were competitors even in Chicago. The reason he is a poster child for mobsters is because he was Italian. Italians back then, were not supposed to rise to that kind of power that my Uncle had.

Back then, Italians were the first to be hired and the first to be fired. I also remind people that my Uncle Al and my Grandfather Ralph Capone were the first Italian millionaires. But there were some businessmen who wanted to bring him down because he would not cooperate with them. He hated bankers and people that took advantage of poor people and ill people. Al opened up the first soup kitchens after the 1929 stock market crash.

He would not have been in favor of any innocent person, such as a family member, being harmed. I was raised that your word is your bond and family is everything. So if somebody went into business with Al Capone and they ratted on him or snitched on him, there had to be retaliation. Because in order for that business to work in the 1920’s, the police were involved, the politicians were involved and the mobsters were all working together to provide the people with what they wanted. My grandfather swore to me on my father’s grave, who was his only son, that no innocent person was ever killed and no woman was ever made to do something she didn’t choose to do and no child was ever harmed.

NB: I happen to believe what you just said, but as we both know people want to be skeptical and will say this is just not true.

I totally understand their position and this is why Al wanted to get out of the business.

NB: From all accounts, how much longer do you think from when he first said he wanted out, would it have taken him to go legit? What do you think he would have done?

One thing he wanted to do is buy the Chicago Cubs. Then he was going to make Satchel Paige the first black to be in the major leagues. He also wanted to buy the Edgewater Beach Hotel and make it a resort to come and be entertained. What people don’t understand is that back in those days, there was a distinction between an Italian and a Sicilian. The extortion and the back-handers, which are all of things attributed to Al Capone, were not him, but the Sicilian branch.

NB: In your book you go into great detail about how the Capone name as a young child caused you be shunned. Today, I think you would not only be welcomed, but put on ever show there was to talk about Al. What does that say about society as whole from the 1940’s till modern day?

There is still a stigma with the Capone name. I go out to Alcatraz a lot and sign hundreds of books. When I go out, I ride on the employee boat and stay on the ground level to greet the first three passenger vehicles and let them know I am going to be upstairs signing books in the book store. Then the ranger will take over and greet the boats – telling the visitors I am up in the book store. The ranger came up one time and told me one of the ladies said, “She is only trying to make money off the Capone name.” So there is still that kind of biases and prejudice.

NB: What is one thing you can share about yourself that very few if any really know?

I collect elephants like my Uncle Al did.

NB: You have done so many interviews for the book and been asked an array of questions, but what is the one question you wish that an interviewer would ask?

What was the color of my Uncle’s Al eyes?

NB: So what color were they?

Blue…..

NB: In your book, you dispel many false points about Al, such as: he didn’t graduate high school, when he actually did. That he did not die from syphilis, but a massive stroke in front of his shower in his home on Palm Island.

In many movies, they portray Al as being very crazy…for example: fishing in a swimming pool. Was he really that out of it at the end of his life?

I didn’t go into a lot of explanation in my book, but I will tell you and you can publish it. The big businessmen (legit) in Chicago were worried about Al Capone getting out and getting back into power again. He was getting time off for good behavior in seven years rather than having to do the entire 11 year sentence he was sentenced to. So they were worried about this and they contacted my grandfather that they had a new treatment for syphilis and wanted to try it on Al Capone. That then started the newspapers saying he was “looney.” They were injecting him with Mercury Brad! When he got out, my mother was pregnant with me and my grandfather had a big party for him at his home in Cicero, Ill. My grandfather said Al would go up to his sister and say, who are you? Then to his brother, and who are you? He would go to the bathroom and not close the door or pass gas at will in front of people, just acting crazy. So my grandfather knew they had to do something and he got in touch with someone who knew a psychiatrist at John Hopkins in Baltimore.

I did talk to the psychiatrist’s wife extensively on the phone that was very sweet and she was also a psychiatrist and that she and her husband never really shared, but did about Al. They had to leech the poisons from his body. Then once a week, a nurse would come to his home in Miami and give him an injection with mineral and herbs which would help leech all of the poisons out of his body. Once they got that poison leeched from his body, he was fine.

NB: If you were stranded on a desert island and could only have one CD and one movie, what would you pick?

The CD would be “Dream With Me” by Jackie Evancho and the movie WEST SIDE STORY…

(Interviewer’s note, I didn’t honestly know who Jackie was before Deidre mentioned her, but I went to Youtube and was floored at her amazing voice and the kicker, she is only 11 years old!)

NB: Finally, what is the saying you live your life by?

“Your word is your bond.”

To find out more about Deirdre and her great book: Uncle Al Capone click here.

To read the NewzBreaker Book Review for Uncle Al Capone, click here.