--- title: Al Capone: Read the Gangster's Obituary From 1947 description: The infamous 'Public Enemy Number 1' died on Jan. 25, 1947. Here's how he was remembered at the time. canonical: https://time.com/4639795/al-capone-obituary/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-25T14:00:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:49:05.397Z article:section: History og:title: Read Al Capone's Obituary From 1947 og:description: The infamous gangster died on Jan. 25, 1947 og:url: https://time.com/4639795/al-capone-obituary/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1e5d274f320bed97/6988b64aa988cace5c6bab0e/capone.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Al Capone Police Museum og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Al Capone's Obituary From 1947 twitter:description: The infamous gangster died on Jan. 25, 1947 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1e5d274f320bed97/6988b64aa988cace5c6bab0e/capone.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read Al Capone's Obituary From 1947  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jan 25, 2017 2:00 PM UTC  Al Capone on Oct. 16,1929. Al Capone on Oct. 16,1929.Santi Visalli / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jan 25, 2017 2:00 PM UTC When notorious gangster [Al Capone](http://time.com/3485839/al-capone-1931/) died 70 years ago—on Jan. 25, 1947—it was quietly, like little else in his life. As TIME’s report on [Capone](http://time.com/3742696/history-fbi-top-ten-list/)‘s death made clear, the scars on his face were the outward symbol of his “hot-tempered, dramatic, sentimental and tough” personality. When he moved to Chicago, during [Prohibition](http://time.com/3605609/a-toast-to-the-end-of-prohibition/), that personality turned into a business asset, as his fame spread within the city’s world of bootlegging and brothels. In 1929, during the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, his gunmen put an end to the rival O’Banions. And, as the story explained, winning that war was just one part of the damage he did: --- > “” --- But, though he successfully managed to foil both enemies who wanted to kill him and those who wanted to try him for murder, he was eventually convicted in 1931 for evading taxes. During his time at [Alcatraz](http://time.com/3092939/alcatraz-by-the-numbers/), he fell ill—the result of an old syphilis case. Released in 1939, he kept to himself, leading a quiet life until his death. “He was 48,” the obituary concluded. “Death had beckoned to him for years, as stridently as a Cicero whore calling to a cash customer. But Big Al had not been born to pass out on a sidewalk or a coroner’s slab. He died like a rich Neapolitan, in bed in a quiet room with his family sobbing near him, and a soft wind murmuring in the trees outside.” [_Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter_](http://time.com/newsletter) **_Read the full story, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Big Al](http://time.com/vault/issue/1947-02-03/page/25/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4639795/al-capone-obituary/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4639795/al-capone-obituary/"},"headline":"Read Al Capone's Obituary From 1947","datePublished":"2017-01-25T14:00:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:49:05.397Z","description":"The infamous gangster died on Jan. 25, 1947","url":"https://time.com/4639795/al-capone-obituary/","keywords":["People"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1e5d274f320bed97/6988b64aa988cace5c6bab0e/capone.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1e5d274f320bed97/6988b64aa988cace5c6bab0e/capone.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Al Capone Police Museum","caption":"Al Capone Police Museum","creditText":"Santi Visalli / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4639795/al-capone-obituary/","name":"Read Al Capone's Obituary From 1947"}}]}] ```