Amadeo / Matthew Nicholas "Matty" Capone

Matthew Capone

The last Capone brother, born in 1908, was named Amedoe, but was called Matthew, Mattie, or Matt. During the mid-1920s, Matt became friends with Mickey Cohen, a small- time Chicago hood who would one day make a name for himself on the West Coast.

Cohen had done some boxing in Chicago and through his friendship with Ralph and Matt was invited to several of the Capone family's Sunday dinners. Al liked Cohen and helped him and Matt get a poker game going in the Chicago Loop section. Soon both of them got in trouble with Al when they tried to start a crap game there. According to Cohen, Matt and Al were not always on the best of terms. Mattie was said to resent Al's prominence.

In the mid-1940s, Matt was running the Hall of Fame tavern in Cicero. One night two employees got into a fight over a $5 bill that was missing from the register. Witnesses said Matt started rifling through a drawer while the two employees pummeled each other. Suddenly a shot rang out and Matt ran out of the bar. Police later found the body of one of the employees in an alley some distance from the tavern. Police wanted to question Matt, but he had gone into hiding. By the time he reappeared, almost a year later, witnesses had disappeared and the case was dropped.

While attending Al's funeral in 1947, Matt threatened a photographer who was attempting to take a picture of his mother, Teresa Capone. Matt died on Jan. 31, 1967, at the age of 59. Only 25 people attended the service. Two reporters covering the funeral were called upon to act as pallbearers.

One of the strengths of the Capone family was its ability to stay intact during the most adverse times. Their strength came from their numbers. They had survived the disappearance of the oldest brother James, and overcome their grief at the loss of Frank. However when both Al and Ralph were removed in the early 1930s, the family's ability to maintain control of the Chicago mob vanished. With Al in Alcatraz for eight years in the 1930s, no other brother could really take his place. The younger brothers – John, Albert and Matt – simply weren't that interested in devoting their lives to crime after seeing the price their three older brothers had paid. As for Ralph he was too easy-going and accommodating while lacking Al's drive, daring, and ruthlessness. Ralph was content to hang around the racetrack or the nightclubs tending to his own interests. Smarter men, who came up through the ranks, were now taking over the Chicago outfit. Although many believed Al would be back one day, his deteriorating mental state in the late 1930s eliminated that possibility. The great Capone dynasty was over. Source: http://www.crimemagazine.com/brothers-capone