To keep the neighbors suspicions down Capone posed as a dealer in secondhand furniture. In reality Capone controlled speakeasies, bookie joints, gambling houses, brothels, and made an income of $100,000,000 a year (Kobler 20).
Though Capone is accused of being a suspect for multiple murder cases, he was never tried for most of his crimes. He was arrested in 1926 for killing three people, but spent only one night in jail because there was insufficient evidence to connect him with the murders (Bardsley). The reason Al Capone was finally convicted was illegal gambling and income tax evasion. The popular belief was that illegal gambling earnings were net taxable income. Later, a ruling claimed that illegal profits were in fact taxable. Capone had done all of his business through front men so that he was anonymous when it came to income. The government wanted to indict Capone for income tax evasion, but Capone had never filed an income tax return, and never made a declaration of assets or income (Ness 84-86). Special agent Frank Wilson from the IRS was assigned to the Capone case. Wilson accidentally found a cash receipts ledger of income, with Capone's name on it (Halper 104-105). .
In 1931, Capone was indicted for income tax evasion for the years 1925-29 and failing to file tax returns for the years 1928 and 1929. The government claimed Capone owed $215, 080.48 in taxes. The jury found Capone guilty on eighteen of the twenty-three counts. Capone was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison and one year in the country jail (Ness 92). Capone served the first part of his eleven-year sentence in an Atlanta prison. Even in prison Capone took control, he had special privileges. Therefore Capone was switched to Alcatraz were he had no knowledge of the outside world (Bardsley). .
While in Alcatraz, Capone showed signs of syphilitic dementia. He spent the rest of his felony sentence in the hospital. He later returned to his home in Palm Island where his mind and body continued to deteriorate.
