Lindsey Graham

How'd that go for them?

Well, tell me about this judge and how he was able to undercut the deal that was made.

But that wasn't the only stumbling block for Capone.

He had his own lawyers to deal with.

Now, in this trial, Capone wasn't the only one struggling, he and his lawyers.

The federal government did not have a great case either.

So how did they make this stick?

So he was going down.

So before the trial started, Capone had already reconciled himself to going to prison for two and a half years, but that was not the sentence he got.

How long was he to be sent away and how did he react?

Al Capone, of course, went to prison on November 24th, 1931.

He got out of prison in 1939 after serving time in the notorious federal penitentiary of Alcatraz.

And he left that place a much diminished man.

What was the rest of his life like?

It's fascinating.

Yeah.

If there is a lesson for the federal government in how it got Capone, what is it?

Jonathan Ige, thank you so much for talking with me today on American History Tellers.

Thank you so much.

That was my conversation with Jonathan Ige, author of Get Capone, the secret plot that captured America's most wanted gangster.