IRS: Historical Documents relating to Alphonse (Al) Capone, Chicago

The Internal Revenue Service's Freedom of Information Act page publishing five documents from the Intelligence Unit's investigation of Alphonse Capone, released because he never filed a tax return.

Date: 2026-06-28
Kind: agency-history
Source: Internal Revenue Service
Retrieved: 2026-10-11
Rights: A page of the Internal Revenue Service, a United States government work. Public domain in the United States under 17 U.S.C. § 105.

An IRS Freedom of Information Act page, marked “Notice: Historical Content.” The date given here is the page’s “Last Reviewed or Updated” date, 28 June 2026; the documents it publishes date from 1931 to 1936.

The page explains that federal tax records are confidential by law, and that a review under Internal Revenue Code § 6103 found these could be released, “principally because Capone never filed a tax return.” It links five PDF files: the revenue agents’ report of July 8, 1931; Special Agent Frank J. Wilson’s summary report of December 21, 1933; Wilson’s letters of March 27 and April 8, 1931, to the Chief of the Intelligence Unit; and an excerpt from the Intelligence Unit’s narrative of 1919 to 1936, which the page says Elmer Irey prepared for Commissioner Guy T. Helvering. Each has its own page here.

The page also says Capone “served 11 years in prison.” That is the length of the 1931 sentence, not the time he served, and this archive does not repeat it as fact. The page is an agency’s introduction to the records, not a record itself.

itemRevenue agents' report in re Alphonse Capone, 7244 Prairie Avenue (8 July 1931)Confidential report of Internal Revenue Agents Hodgins, Westrich and Clagett to the Agent in Charge at Chicago, setting out the basis for the tax determined against Capone, with income and tax worksheets.itemSpecial Agent Frank J. Wilson's summary report on Alphonse Capone, SI-7085-F (21 December 1933)Sixty-page report by Special Agent Frank J. Wilson to the Chief of the Intelligence Unit on case SI-7085-F, the evasion of income taxes by Alphonse Capone for 1924–1929, from referral to sentence.itemLetter from Special Agent Frank J. Wilson to Chief Irey (27 March 1931)Status letter from Special Agent Frank J. Wilson at Chicago to the Chief of the Intelligence Unit reporting that 'the Capone investigation is going steadily ahead.'itemLetter from Special Agent Frank J. Wilson to the Chief, Intelligence Unit (8 April 1931)One-page report from Special Agent Frank J. Wilson on the agents' new Chicago office and a conference with the First Assistant U.S. Attorney about a possible conspiracy indictment.itemIntelligence Unit narrative, 1919–1936: excerpt on Al CaponeSeven-page excerpt from the Bureau of Internal Revenue Intelligence Unit's narrative history of 1919 to 1936, covering the Capone income-tax case and its aftermath.itemThe United States of America v. Alphonse Capone: criminal case file, Nos. 22852 and 23232National Archives file unit for the 1931 federal income-tax prosecution of Alphonse Capone in the U.S. District Court at Chicago, case numbers 22852 and 23232. The catalog lists 226 item-level descriptions under it.