Government has sought by inference, by presentation and by
circumstantial evidence to prove this defendant guilty.
sought to free itself from the law, to convict merely
because his name is Alphonse Capone.
Why does it
seek to convict him on such meager evidence? Because
Capone has grown into a mythical Robin Hood, whose name is bandied all
during the Punic Wars there lived a Sergeant named Cato. Cato passed
morals of the peasants and he decided what they should eat, what they
drink and what they should think.
twice, but Carthage
grew again and was once more powerful. Cato
concluded every speech he read in the Senate
must be destroyed.
censors of ours, these prosecutors, the newspapers all
cry, "Capone must be destroyed!"
evidence in this case shows only one thing against Capone -
that he was a spendthrift. The Government, is guilty of profligacy by
these witnesses here to recite their inferences.
spending thousands of dollars for that purpose, and in
these depressed times this money could be better spent on soup kitchens.
came from Florida to
tell of a conversation he had with Capone wherein Capone said he began
a bartender at Coney Island.
done so that it might prejudice you gentlemen, but
Grossman said, when we objected, that he sought to show the "humble
beginnings" of the defendant.
wished to show that Capone had not inherited money.
convict on this sort of evidence, every spendthrift in
the country should be imprisoned....
careful of taking liberty from
this defendant, Alphonse Capone. You, gentlemen, are the last barrier
the defendant and the encroachment and perversion of the government and
in this case....
By the same token, when the
United States Government reaches to all parts of the country for
spending large sums in this manner, the government is guilty of acts of
Far better for the government in these hard times to spend this money