Extremely rare DS, signed “Alphonse Capone,” six pages, 8.75 x 14.5, April 26, 1930. Special demurrer in relation to the case between the State of Florida and the defendant Alphonse Capone, in part: "Come now the defendants, Alphonse Capone, Mae Capone, John Capone and Frankie Newton, by their undersigned solicitors, and jointly and severally, specially demur to that certain part or portion of the second paragraph of the bill of complaint filed herein reading as follows: 'Persons engaged in the illegal use, sale and exchange of spiritous wines, malts and liquors, in violation of the laws of the State of Florida, and of the Constitution of the United States;' upon the following grounds: 1. Said part or portion of said bill is scandalous. 2. Said part or portion of said bill is impertinent. 3. A building or place frequented by persons engaged in the illegal use, sale and exchange of spiritous wines, malts and liquors, in violation of the laws of the State of Florida, and of the Constitution of the United States, is not a nuisance as defined in and by the law of the State of Florida." Signed at the conclusion in purple ink by Capone. Includes a civil witness subpoena from the State of Florida-County of Dade Circuit Court, one page, 8.5 x 7, June 5, 1930, in part: “You are hereby requested to summon Alphonse Capone, Frankie Newton, Frank Gallatt and Louis J. Schwartz personally to be and appear before the Judges of our Circuit Court of the State of Florida, at the Court House in Miami, on the 10th day of June, A. D., 1930, at 10:00 A. M., to testify in behalf of the State in a certain suit pending in said Court, wherein State of Florida is Plaintiff, and Alphonse Capone, et al., Defendant and herein fail not under penalty of the law.” In fine condition.
On April 23, 1930, a week after being released from Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary following an eight-month stretch on a concealed weapon charge, Capone found himself atop the Chicago Crime Commission’s list of ‘public enemies.’ Unable to return to the Windy City, Capone sought refuge down south. In spite of Florida Governor Doyle E. Carlton’s best efforts, the mobster returned to his Palm Island mansion on Easter Sunday, April 20, 1930, protected by an injunction that barred law enforcement of Florida’s twenty counties from ‘seizing, arresting, kidnapping and abusing’ its infamous new resident. This demurrer, which lists Capone, his wife Mae, his younger brother John, and Frankie Newton, the caretaker of the Palm Beach villa, likely relates to a raid conducted at the aforesaid residence by Dade County sheriffs on March 20th, 1930, during which the latter two men were arrested for vagrancy and possession of alcohol; all charges were dismissed on August 1, 1930. After a myriad of other court appearances, Capone was convicted of income tax evasion and sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on October 24, 1931. A superb document that spotlights the start of a decade of near constant imprisonment for the Chicago gangster.
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