Just the other day, I blogged about how Al Capone, Public Enemy #1, was brought down by the IRS. Now, it looks like as if the man who reportedly arranged the infamous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre of 1929 also had a tender side as well.
Capone wrote a song titled “Madonna Mia” while he was incarcerated at Alcatraz. The song, more than 70 years after it was written, has been recorded by a group of musician and singers with the help of Rich Larsen, a Capone expert and the conceptual director of the documentary The Other Side of Capone. Larsen said “Madonna Mia” was “a beautiful song, a tearjerker.” The CD will be ready for release next month.
The lyrics of the song were handwritten and signed by Capone. It was given to Vincent Casey, a Jesuit priest that Capone had befriended before his death. Casey visited Alcatraz in the ‘30s to offer spiritual guidance to the prisoners. Casey’s son Mike says the two talked every Saturday for two years and became good friends. Mike says his dad found Capone to be “humble and polite and courteous.” Capone gave Casey the sheet of music containing “Madonna Mia” one Christmas.
The song contains lyrics such as “With your true love to guide me, let whatever betide me, I will never go wrong. There’s only one moon above, one golden sun, there’s only one that I love, you are the one.” Larsen thinks Capone wrote the song for his wife Mae, but some think it was written about the Virgin Mary.
Why would a mob boss write a song? Capone, reportedly a religious man, had time to kill in prison and loved the speakeasies of the time. He could read music and play the banjo and mandola. In the documentary, Larsen states that Capone asked the prison warden for permission to form a band in prison, with the warden finally relenting. Fortunately for Capone, he learned his instruments could also be used as weapons. One time, Capone was stabbed in the back by another inmate and responded by hitting the inmate in the face with a banjo.
In addition to the song being recorded, the Chicago Tribune is reporting that the original inscribed copy is also being put up for sale by a Boston archives dealer for $65,000 after being sold by Mike Casey. The sheet has the inscription “To my good friend Father Vin Casey with the best in all the world for a Merry Christmas always for you, Alphonse Capone.”