- James Vincenzo Capone
Richard James Hart (born James Vincenzo Capone) (1892 –
October 1 1952 ) was the oldest brother ofAl Capone , the most noted gangster in 1920s and 30s Chicago.James left home at the age of 16 and moved from
Brooklyn toNebraska , ostensibly to join a circus. He worked to lose his Brooklyn accent and tried to disguise his Italian ancestry as well. He enlisted in the Army inWorld War I and earned a commission as a lieutenant.After the war, Capone legally changed his name to Richard James Hart, partly in honor of his favorite cowboy film star,
William S. Hart . He married in 1919 and soon became a federal Prohibition agent, making his home inHomer, Nebraska . Following a series of successful raids against bootleggers, he gained the nickname of "Two-gun" Hart. In the mid-1920s, newspaper reporters learned of his kinship to the Chicago gangster; the resulting publicity forced Hart and his family to move from Homer.In 1926, Hart became a special agent of the
Bureau of Indian Affairs . He was assigned to the Cheyenne Indian reservation inSouth Dakota . While there he once had the duty of protecting PresidentCalvin Coolidge and his family on their visit to theBlack Hills . Later, he was transferred to the Spokane Indian Reservation inWashington . He was credited with the arrest of at least 20 wanted killers while in that area, besides pursuing Indian law breakers and hunting down moonshine stills. He spent some time as a law enforcement officer on the Nez Perce reservation in Plummer, Idaho.Hart returned to Homer as a Prohibition agent in 1931. With the repeal of Prohibition two years later, he became a justice of the peace. He died in Homer on
October 1 ,1952 of a heart attack at the age of 60.External links
* [http://www.crimemagazine.com/brothers_capone.htm The Capone brothers, including James Capone/Richard Hart]
* [http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/mob_bosses/capone/hart_10.html Biography]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.