Mob FilesPublic-domain archive of American organized crime
Letter of 25 July 1968 from Clyde Tolson to James A. Farley about Al Capone's car, from the FBI Vault, Part 22
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Clyde Tolson's reply to James A. Farley about Capone's car and President Roosevelt (25 July 1968)

FBI Associate Director Clyde Tolson tells James A. Farley that the FBI has no information on whether President Franklin D. Roosevelt used Al Capone's car, since Capone's tax conviction was outside its jurisdiction, and suggests the Secret Service.

Date
1968-07-25
Kind
case-file
Source
FBI Records: The Vault
Retrieved
2026-10-12
Rights
A record of the Federal Bureau of Investigation released under FOIA. A work of the United States government, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. Mr. Farley's letter is described, not reproduced.

Part 22 of the FBI Vault’s Capone file, scans 14 to 16. Scan 14 is a letter of July 19, 1968 to Clyde Tolson from James A. Farley, on his letterhead, forwarding an inquiry from a third person whose name is redacted. Scan 15 is Tolson’s reply of July 25, 1968, addressed to “Honorable James A. Farley, Chairman of the Board, The Coca-Cola Export Corporation”, New York, and signed by Clyde Tolson. Scan 16 is the file note on the second page of the reply.

After thanking Farley for his letter and enclosures, Tolson writes: “Concerning [redacted] interest in the possible use of Al Capone’s car by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, I wish I could answer his inquiry. Unfortunately, however, we do not have the information he is seeking. Although the FBI did investigate Capone, he was sentenced on October 24, 1931, for violation of the Federal income tax laws which do not come within our investigative jurisdiction. Following this conviction we had no reason to determine what disposition was made of his vehicle.” He suggests that the inquirer write to James J. Rowley, Director of the United States Secret Service, about records of automobiles used by Presidents. The text was read from the page image stored here.

The note on scan 16, read from OCR only, records that Mr. Farley was on the Special Correspondents List and was addressed by his first name, and that the Bureau’s liaison section had checked with the Secret Service. The exchange establishes nothing about the car. It is filed here as a record of how the FBI described its role in the Capone case in 1968.

itemFBI Vault file on Alphonse CaponeThe FBI Vault's release of the Bureau file on Alphonse Gabriel Capone, in 36 parts, with the Bureau's own summary of the investigation.itemTamm memorandum on Drew Pearson's inquiry about Capone's anticipated death (25 January 1947)Edward A. Tamm tells Hoover that columnist Drew Pearson telephoned for 'color' about the anticipated death of Al Capone, and that he gave Pearson the Bureau's write-up of the 1929–31 contempt case.itemHoover reply stating that Capone died on 25 January 1947 at Palm Island, Miami (15 January 1964)A Bureau form reply to a Memphis writer gives Capone's tax sentence of 24 October 1931, a release from Terminal Island dated 19 January 1939, and his death on 25 January 1947 at Palm Island, Miami. A file note gives the sources for the death.itemFBI reply on the 'Capone Gang' with a list of alleged members furnished in 1936 (26 August 1983)The FBI's Office of Congressional and Public Affairs answers a Pennsylvania legislative research analyst with summaries, photographs and a list of alleged members of the 'Capone gang' 'per information furnished in 1936', noting that the gang's activities were mostly outside federal jurisdiction.