Lost History – “Two-Guns” Hart, Al Capone’s estranged policeman brother
Al Capone is the most famous gangster in history. His exploits during the prohibition era garnered him international fame and elevated his status and notoriety. Yet, few know the story of his older brother, a man who built a long and illustrious career on the other side of the law to his notoriously sinful sibling. Beguiled by the daring feats of southern cowboys, Capone’s brother, known as Hart, sported the customary clothes and wielded the traditional weapons with cinematic grace and accuracy. Even though they seldom met and served opposing purposes, the temperamental similarities the brother’s shared were striking.
Richard James “Two-Guns” Hart, was born Vincenzo Capone in Salerno, Italy in 1892. The eldest of the nine Capone children, he fled his New York family home aged sixteen and travelled with a circus across the United States. He adopted the name “Hart” in honour of his hero, the silent film star, William S Hart, on whom he modelled his cowboy, gun-slinging, ten-gallon-hat-wearing demeanour. By the time he had enlisted in the US army he had lost his Brooklyn accent and had successfully concealed his Italian ancestry. After the war, he moved to Nebraska and became a prohibition agent. It was in Nebraska that he earned his moniker “Two-Guns”, because of his contribution to several triumphant raids on local bootleggers. Tough, energetic and powerfully built, Hart’s dark hair, eyes and complexion gave acquaintances the impression that he owed his lineage to Mexican or Indian descent. All were oblivious to his close connection to the most feared and influential mobster in America at the time.
Hart, who had severed communications with his kin after departing New York, only learned of his brother’s bloody escapades in Chicago from the newspapers. The conundrum of concealing his true identity must have become even more unsettling. Like his little brother, Hart became a favourite of the press, a heroic pin-up figure who symbolised the fastidious and selfless service to society against the diabolic, self-enriching gangsters who were reaping vast fortunes off their murderous trade. Indeed, his commitment to executing the law, with no exceptions, led to Hart arresting some of his own colleagues, including a Marshal in Nebraska. The experience entrenched a deep distrust in him against local law enforcement personnel.
After his celebrated career in Nebraska, he moved to the Yankton Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He worked hard to build good relations with the resident tribes and learned various dialects, becoming proficient in the Lakota and Omaha vernaculars. His exemplary record and growing fame qualified Hart to be a part of the protection detail to President Calvin Coolidge when he visited the Black Hills in 1927. It is a strange turn of events, the unidentified brother of the biggest criminal in America being entrusted to guard the Commander-in-Chief.
Hart arrested dozens of bootleggers and murderers, conducted famous manhunts for violent killers and even once purposefully disarmed himself to make for a fairer fight against a defiant fugitive. The fugitive reportedly bellowed out of the window of his surrounded hideout that if Hart was without guns, he’d give him a “good licking”. Hart apparently smiled and accepted the challenge. After dodging the fugitive’s blows, he proceeded to pummel the man until he cried “Enough!”.
Despite his audacious and acclaimed reputation, a number of tragic incidents began to blemish Hart’s esteem. During a chase for a bootlegger, Hart and his partner shot and killed the driver, a popular resident mechanic and father to a newborn. His dogged devotion to the rooting out of bootleggers could at times result in gratuitous violence. This precipitated a cultural division between those who agreed with his manner and methods (the dries) against those who thought he took a ridiculous law too seriously (the wets).
While all this ensued, he still made no known attempt to contact his notorious little brother. Al employed his siblings Frank and Ralph in his Chicago racket, but they were all totally unaware of Hart’s true identity. In 1937, penniless and out of options, Hart reluctantly reached out to Ralph while Al was incarcerated for tax evasion. Ralph invited Hart to his summer retreat in Wisconsin, bought him new clothes and provided him with a monthly allowance. After Al’s release from Alcatraz in 1939, Hart was finally reunited with his infamous sibling. Their first conversation in years must have been strange and even awkward, to say the least.
A champion of crime and a hero of law enforcement, the two men shared brash tendencies, an extraordinary fearlessness and noted lethal abilities, to which, they undoubtedly owed to their shared heritage. What else would explain their success going down such divergent paths?