CONCORD, N.H. – A New Hampshire auction house is adding a signed deposition by gangster Al Capone, a pistol and a love song about his wife to its “American Gangsters, Outlaws and Lawman” auction planned for next month.

The Jan. 24, 1925, deposition signed “Alphonse Capone” on each of the four pages is part of a 50-page archive of police interviews, testimony and notes in the attempted murder of Capone’s mentor, John Torrio. Bobby Livingston of RR Auction in Amherst estimated the file could bring in $100,000 at the auction.

At the time Capone was interviewed by Chicago police, he and Torrio were part of a gang at war with rival gangs. Torrio was shot in front of his home while unloading packages from his car with his wife.

Capone told police he had called Torrio at the hospital. When asked if Torrio told him who did it, Capone said he did not ask and Torrio didn’t tell him “because he was in no condition to talk.”

When police asked if he’d tell them if he knew who shot Torrio, Capone said: “No, I value my life too much to tell if I did know.”

“This is at the crossroads of Capone’s life and it captures him so vividly, so that’s what makes it so remarkable,” Livingston said of the Prohibition-era document.

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Torrio recovered and moved to Italy, leaving Capone, his right-hand man, in charge.

“The historic significance of these signed documents cannot be understated, especially given the subject matter at hand and at such a critical time responsible for Capone’s ascension as Chicago’s undisputed crime boss,” Livingston said.

He said information on the shooting was nearly impossible to collect at the time. Details from the case file are mentioned in the book “Mr. Capone” by Robert J. Schoenberg, published in 1993. The documents were part of the collection of historical autograph dealer Robert Batchelder and were eventually bought by other collectors.

Also up for sale at the 130-item auction is Capone’s Colt .25-caliber semi-automatic vest pocket pistol, given to one of his bootleggers for personal protection. There’s also a handwritten musical score titled “Madonna Mia,” a love song he wrote in homage to his wife while he was imprisoned in Alcatraz.

The Sept. 30 auction in Nashua also features guns retrieved post-mortem from outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow and a John Dillinger death mask. There’s also a vintage press ID card signed by Prohibition investigator Eliot Ness from the 1930s, after Ness left Chicago for Cleveland to serve as director of public safety.

 


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