Bonita Springs, FL, June 4, 2012 – Only a family knows the unvarnished truth about someone. Everyday, face-to-face interactions can reveal character more effectively than anything else. Al Capone’s brother, Ralph Capone, knew this – and that’s why he begged his granddaughter Deirdre Marie Capone not to publish the Capone family secrets until she was the last living member of the family. Uncle Al Capone, The Untold Story from Inside His Family (Recap Publishing) is the result, revealing for the first time many startling facts about one of the most famous gangsters of the twentieth century.
In one hard-hitting chapter after another, Capone examines her great-uncle’s involvement in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, the real reason he went to Alcatraz, ethnic prejudice in the early twentieth century, and much more. She offers compelling evidence that Al Capone was specifically targeted for prosecution by law enforcement agencies with the collaboration of the media, which made gross exaggerations of her uncle’s exploits and fueled a phenomenon of half-truths and utter falsehoods. From the family’s roots in Angri, Italy to the author’s ongoing investigations today, this debut offers a comprehensive and moving portrait of an iconic American family and one woman’s efforts to make peace with the past.
As a child, she didn’t know he was a notorious gangster; he was just her Uncle Al. He taught her how to swim, ride a bike, and play the mandolin. But after he died on her seventh birthday she began paying the price of being a Capone. From age 7 to 13 her classmates were not allowed to play with her. When she was 10 her father committed suicide due to the burden of the Capone name. At age 18 she was fired from her first full-time job because of her name. As soon as she could, she left Chicago and her family name behind.
Readers have found Uncle Al Capone dramatic, unyielding and provocative. A moving, highly readable portrait of the Capone family and its mob ties, the book takes a close look at what it means to survive a legacy of notorious criminal activity. Through years of meticulous research and exhaustive interviews with aunts, uncles and cousins, Capone tells the story that eluded dozens of writers: Al Capone as a loving, if flawed, family man.
Deirdre Marie Capone has been a guest on a number of regional and local radio and television shows, and appeared on NBC’s Today Show, the CBS Sunday Morning Show, the Fox Network and The History Channel.

Deirdre Marie Capone