Alongside The Sopranos, HBO ’s Boardwalk Empire is one of the best two TV shows about the mob (Martin Scorsese serves as executive producer after all). Set in the 1920s during the Prohibition Era, the show revolves around Atlantic City politician and gangster Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi). However, the beauty of Boardwalk Empire is that it has plenty of real-life mobsters as supporting characters—the best one being the notorious Al Capone (Stephen Graham).
Capone is one of the most infamous mobsters of all time but in the show, he is still on the rise. He’s the main henchman for Chicago crime boss Johnny Torrio. It’s not until the end of the series that he becomes the influential boss we’ve known him to be. Despite the focus being on his younger days, Capone stands out even more than Nucky. Here are his best moments.
Capone Makes A Statement
In one of the most memorable scenes of the first season, a young Al Capone is serving liquor in his bar when he is approached by a Chicago Tribune reporter and asked to comment about the recent killing of previous Chicago crime boss Big Jim Colosimo. The reporter implies that Capone’s boss, Johnny Torrio is responsible for the murder then he asks Capone to give a comment.
Capone agrees to make a statement and so the reporter grabs a pen. But to his shock, Capone goes on to make a statement the Capone way. He smashes a bottle on his head before landing several kicks on him. And when Torrio asks him what’s going on, he says “I am making a statement.” Classic Capone.
The Transition To His Iconic Fedora Hat
Most real-life photos of the legendary gangster show him wearing a fedora. But it wasn’t his preferred fashion choice from the beginning. In Boardwalk Empire, the change happens when he is attending a bar mitzvah. He is wearing his favorite newsboy cap and when an older man sees it, he calls him out for it. “You’re a man, yet you wear the cap of a boy.”
This statement touches Capone. Immediately after that, he ditches his cap for a fedora. He also becomes bolder and starts acting like a boss instead of just a henchman. It’s a moment that signifies his turn to maturity and him taking a path that would eventually lead him to notoriety.
Beating A Man To Death Before Throwing Dollars At His Corpse
When Capone’s accountant goes to collect money from a debtor, he gets brutally beaten and insulted. The debtor refers to him as fat and smelly. Distraught, the accountant reports the incident to Capone. Angry, Capone goes to deal with the man in a speakeasy. He pounces on him with punches and kicks. When the man tries to draw a gun, Capone doesn’t let him.
He continues beating him and eventually hits him with a stool. leaving him dead. After he’s done, he throws dollar bills at the body before proclaiming, “You wanna pick on people who can’t defend themselves?” He then instructs the horrified crowd to use the money to “Pay for his funeral.”
Singing “My Buddy” To His Deaf Son
He might be many things but a bad dad isn’t one of them. In one of the most emotional moments in the series, Capone wakes his deaf son from his sleep and shows him a ukulele. He then goes ahead to strum it as he sings “My Buddy.” His son puts his arms around his shoulders and even though he can’t hear anything, he appreciates the moment.
Throughout, the run of the series, Capone’s love for his family is emphasized. He adores his son and his son equally adores him too. Despite being a man of uncontrollable rage, he at least tries to tone it down when he’s at home. Truly, gangsters have hearts, too.
Forcing A Hotel Owner To Buy His Liquor Stock
Capone approaches a hotel owner in the Greek Town neighborhood and requests him to buy liquor from his gang. The owner insists that Greek gangster Charlie Sheridan warned him not to buy from anyone else. Capone wittily responds with ‘Good, because we are not everybody else."
He then tells the hotel owner that since he’s Greek and Greeks invented arithmetic, he should be able to calculate what happens next. He then knocks him down and tells him to prepare for the supply. He also tells him to tell Sheridan to come and see him if he has a problem.
War Against Rosetti
In Season Three, Al Capone and his gang arrive in Atlantic City to give Nucky Thompson the much-needed aid in his was with Siccillian gangster Gyp Rosetti. As soon as they are in the city, Capone tells Nucky, “We need a bath, some chow, then you and me sit down, and we talk about who dies.”
It’s a shame that a spinoff about Capone has never happened. He is just too interesting. Literally everything that came out of his mouth could be classified as a golden quote. A #MakeACaponeSpinoff hashtag would be a good way to start. Or would it?
Shooting A Random Cop For No Reason
After Capone’s brother Frank gets killed, he completely loses his mind. When he sees a cop outside a police station, he just shoots him for no reason at all. Clearly enraged, he blames the police for his brother’s death. This is also a daring moment because he totally doesn’t fear to receive the same treatment that his brother got.
Shortly after that, he goes after rival gang leader Dean O’Banion who he believes tipped the police about the presence of the Capone brothers in the riots where Frank was killed. The death of his brother pumps up his ruthlessness for the rest of the series.
The Massacre Of Masseria’s Men
In one of the best scenes of the entire series, Capone and Chalky’s gangs hide in the forest at night and wait for bootlegger Giuseppe “Joe” Masseria’s men as they are driving away from the city. In a gruesome scene similar to the authorities shotting the two lovebirds in the final scene of Bonnie & Clyde, Capone and Chalky emerge from the forest with their men and stage a surprise attack.
They go on to spray the vehicles with bullets until all of Masseria’s men are dead. After the ambush, Capone and Chalky smile at each other before they parting ways. It’s hard to think of a massacre that’s as good as this one in any mob movie ever made.
Fury When His Name Is Misspelt In A Newspaper
In the first episode of the fourth season, Chicago boss Johnny Torrio summons Capone with his brothers Ralph and Frank into a room. There, Torrio is sitting with Cicero mayoral candidate Joseph Z. Klenha. He’s the man who the mafia wants to win.
Torrio shows Capone a newspaper with a headline where the democratic candidate is planning to hunt down all criminal elements. Capone feels this is nothing to worry about because he believes their candidate Klenha will win easily. However, his mood changes when he realizes that the newspaper is referring to him as Torrio’s ‘factotum’ (general servant). He also gets hilariously angrier when he realizes that his name has been misspelled. Who thought gangsters can be grammar nazis too?
‘‘Who Is Feeling Like A Hero?"
Since the mob badly wants Cicero mayoral candidate Joseph Z. Klenha to win, Al Capone does everything in his power to make sure this happens. He gathers his goon and goes on to disrupt a rally organized by the democrats. “Who’s feeling like a hero?” Capone asks before descending on a member of the crowd with a steel pipe.
The message is clear: supporting the democrats might just get you injured or dead. Everybody runs because back in the Prohibition Era, heroes normally got bullets. Nobody wants to be the hero. Not even the federal agent present in the crowd.
