After researching about some of our candidates, I found a lot of interesting information on all three of the candidates.
The first candidate that I researched was Al Capone. Al Capone began his gang activity after he was expelled from school when he was 14 years old. Capone became dedicated to smuggling, bootlegging liquar, prostitution, bribing government figures, and other illegal activities. Although he was involved in many illegal activities, he became a public figure and known as the “modern day Robin Hood”. During the Prohibiton Era, Capone provided $100 million per year in revenue to the Outfit. He recieved his wealth from many illegal activities but majority of the money came from the illegal sale of alcohol. As Capone’s revenue increased, so did his grip on political figures and law enforcement, which helped Capone and his gang to operate without fear of legal intrusion.In 1931, Capone was indicated for income tax evasion and various violations of Prohibition. One of the facts that a found very interesting was what happened after his Cadillac was seized. There were many attempts to assasinate Al Capone, so other than being heavily guarded, Capone had his Cadillac fitted with bullet proof glass, run-flat tires, and a police siren. His car was seized in 1932 due to prohibition issues and was later used President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s limousine. Capone’s isolation at Alcatraz and the repeal of Prohibition in December 1933 reduced a major sourcce of his revenue and diminished his power. Even today, Capone has been the subject of articles, books, and films. His personality and character has been used as a model for crime lords and criminal masterminds ever since his death. The stereotypical image of a mobster wearing a blue pinstriped suit and tilted fedora is based on photos of Capone.
I found Billy the Kid to be especially legendary due to the fact that there’s several ways to tell the stories that are known about him. I favored Billy the Kid more so out of all the people on the list because of a tv episode that I have watched once. I believe it was an episode of unsolved mysteries when a man claimed to have been Billy the Kid eventhough most people said that Billy the Kid was killed. What really intrigued me was that some people thought that it was possible that the man could be Billy the Kid and some people thought that there was no way possible for the man to be Billy the Kid, but there is not any evidence that could prove either of these notions, so that will stay an unsolved mystery. Even as I tried to research about Billy the Kid I saw that there were many different variations to the stories of the things that Billy the Kid did. Most of the time they ended with the same things, death, but there were different variables that led up to the ending in each story. Eventhough there’s not a lot of concrete things about Billy the Kid and what he did, I would like to research him the most because I feel like the things that are unknown about him will make him the most interesting to learn about for me.
I didn’t spend quite as much time researching Henry Ford as I did Al Capone or Billy the Kid. The only things I knew about Henry Ford in the past is that he was responsible for building the Model T. I know that it is rumored that he used slaves to produce his cars but I did not look it up to see if it has been proven. Since I have spent most of my time doing extensive research on Al Capone and Billy the Kid, I will try to dedicate most of my time this week to research about Henry Ford and find some facts about him that really stand out to me.
The variety of stories about Billy the Kid is interesting and to some extent parallels Davy Crockett–a “Western” hero who also had many legends told about him during his own lifetime.