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Back to Podcast EpisodesAl Capone, the Real Scarface (Part Two)
In 1929, Al Capone was worth an inflation adjusted 1.5 Billion Dollars.
Most speakeasies and night clubs serving illicit alcohol provided entertainment in some form, mostly jazz or a vocalist with a band. One of these entertainers named Joe E. Lewis was a regular performer at the Green Mill, a club that was owned by the Outfit. As compensation, Al Capone gave Jack McGurn a piece of the club’s profits and when McGurn found out that Lewis was not going to renew his contract and was going to earn more money at the Rendezvous, a North Side Gang operation, he confronted the singer-comedian and told him he couldn’t leave.
Lewis brushed him off, said his contract was up and that was that. He actually performed at the Rendezvous for a week, protected by a bodyguard who accompanied him to and from his hotel residence. Lewis then decided he didn’t need protection, that McGurn had only been trying to scare him. On November 9, 1927, seven days after he opened at his new club, three men showed up at Lewis’ Commonwealth Hotel room, burst in on the sleepy Lewis when he opened the door and pistol whipped him into unconsciousness. Then one assailant took a large knife to Lewis’ throat and mouth and even cut off part of the singer’s tongue. Although they could have merely shot the defiant entertainer, the thugs instead sent a terrible message to Lewis and any other performer who attempted to assert such independence. Joe E. Lewis managed to crawl into the hallway and was quickly taken to a hospital where he underwent extensive but successful surgery. He recovered but eventually became a stand-up comedian, his voice now a bullfrog like croak, no longer able to belt out night club standards. Ironically, most likely to counter the public outcry over the incident, Al Capone actually went out of his way to patch things up, claiming to Lewis personally that he knew nothing about the attack and that Joe should have come to him personally if he had a problem. Capone also got him back to the Green Mill, equaling his deal at the Rendezvous, and gave Lewis winning tips at dog and horse races controlled by the Outfit. Lewis’ career continued successfully well into the sixties, and a biographical film starring Frank Sinatra called the Joker Is Wild was produced in 1957, reiterating Lewis’ terrible ordeal and recovery.
Published on 3 years, 5 months ago