Fill in the gaps: fought, worked, lesson, apologise

When Capone was 16 years old, he as a bartender. One day, Capone made a rude remark about Lena Gallucio, a pretty female customer.

Capone didn?t realise that Lena was the sister of Frank Gallucio, an important gangster. Gallucio hit Capone and the two men .

Gallucio slashed Capone?s left cheek with a knife. The scars earned Capone the nickname Scarface.

Capone lost the fight and got badly hurt. Afterwards, the other gangsters also made him to Frank and Lena Gallucio.

Even so, Capone didn?t learn his . He always said what he wanted, and he was famous for getting into fights.

From big boss to disaster

Find words that mean: against the law, criminal, gave up work, sent away from

AL Capone was born in New York. When he was 13, Capone made friends with a gangster called Johnny Torrio. Capone joined Torrio's gang, the James Street Boys, and became involved in illegal gambling.

When he was 14, Capone was expelled from school. He became a full-time gangster. His new jobs included robbery and other violent crimes.

In 1919, when Capone was 20, he and Torrio moved to Chicago. Both men worked for an important mafia chief called Big Jim Colosimo.

A year later, Capone killed Big Jim. Torrio became the boss and Capone was his lieutenant. During the same year, US leaders made drinking alcohol illegal. Because so many ordinary people wanted to drink, the new laws made Capone and his gangster friends rich. Making and sending illegal alcohol made Capone a millionaire. By 1927, he had earned US$100 million.

The police couldn't catch Capone for being a gangster. But they caught him for not paying taxes. In 1931, Capone was sentenced to 11 years in jail for tax-evasion.

Capone served eight years. Because he was ill, he was released early. He retired to Florida and lived there quietly until his death in 1947.

The Prohibition years

Find words that mean the opposite of: conservative, legal, healthy, purified

Between 1920 and 1933, special laws called Prohibition laws made it illegal for anyone to make, sell or drink alcohol. But many people wanted to drink wine, beer and cocktails, so they partied in secret.

Movies like Al Capone, Chicago and The Untouchables show what Prohibition life was like, and explain the following 1920s slang terms.

Speakeasy: an illegal club. Because drinking alcohol was illegal, bartenders would ask customers to be quiet an ?speak easy?. Speakeasies had secret entrances so that customers could get away if the police raided them.

Moonshine: homemade illegal alcohol. People made wine, beer, whiskey and other drinks secretly and sold it to make money. Homemade drinks can be nice. But badly made moonshine can be contaminated with toxins, so some homemade alcohol made people very sick.

Bootlegging: making, selling or transporting illegal goods. Bootleggers like Mae Capone, Al Capone?s wife, made a fortune from smuggled alcohol and cigarettes.

Flapper: fashionable women who wore short skirts, cut their hair short and danced to the new jazz music at speakeasies. As other women wore long hair and long dresses, flappers were seen as rebels.

'You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone'

True or false?

To test your memory, try answering without referring to the text. If you can?t remember the details, read the piece again.

1 Al Capone was born in Sicily, Italy.

2 Al Capone was nicknamed Scarface.

3 Al Capone was never convicted or put in jail.

4 A speakeasy is slang for an illegal club.

5 Al Capone made millions of dollars from selling moonshine.

Answers

November 18

From favourite: tactics, defeated, genius, plotted

Armoured tanks: heavy, fortified, dangerous, appeared

Defeat at El Alamein: problem, desert, battle

True or false: 1. F, 2. T, 3. T, 4. F, 5. T