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Record

Finding aid

1931-03-13/1942-04-01

National Archives Catalog

The United States of America v. Alphonse Capone: criminal case file, Nos. 22852 and 23232

National 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.

Date: 1931-03-13/1942-04-01
Kind: finding-aid
Source: National Archives Catalog
Retrieved: 2026-10-11
NAID: 1105475
Docket: No. 22852 and No. 23232 (consolidated), U.S. District Court, N.D. Ill., Eastern Division
Rights: A record of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, held by the National Archives at Chicago in Record Group 21. A United States government work, public domain in the United States under 17 U.S.C. § 105. The National Archives catalog lists access and use as unrestricted.

This is the file unit, not a single document. The National Archives catalog titles it “The United States of America v. Alphonse Capone” and records court case numbers 22852 and 23232 as its identifiers. It sits in the series Criminal Case Files (NAID 624785), Record Group 21, Records of District Courts of the United States. The creator is the U.S. District Court for the Eastern (Chicago) Division of the Northern District of Illinois, and the file is held by the National Archives at Chicago.

The catalog describes the file as containing the indictment, appearances, bench warrants, citations, dockets, mandates, motions, notice of appeal, petitions, orders, statement of proceedings, subpoenas, and the verdict, with a small amount of testimony. It lists 226 item-level descriptions under the file, most with page images. The file unit itself carries no images; they are attached to the items.

This archive files fifteen of those items as their own pages, from the March 1931 indictment to the 1942 docket. Other items in the file, among them the testimony of 30 and 31 July 1931, the order allowing appeal, the 1937 petition to vacate, and the trial subpoenas, are listed in the catalog but are not filed here. The description follows the National Archives catalog entry.

itemIndictment in Case Number 22852 (March 1931)The first income-tax indictment against Alphonse Capone, returned by a federal grand jury at Chicago in the March Term 1931. Its one count concerns tax for 1924. The jury acquitted him on it.

itemIndictment in Case Number 23232 (June 1931)The twenty-two-count income-tax indictment returned against Alphonse Capone on 5 June 1931. He was convicted on counts 1, 5, 9, 13 and 18.

itemOrder consolidating Nos. 22852 and 23232 (30 July 1931)Court order of 30 July 1931 consolidating Capone's two income-tax indictments for trial. The catalog title prints the second number as 23832.

itemDemurrer to Indictment in Case 23232 (29 September 1931)Defense demurrer of 29 September 1931 challenging the sufficiency of indictment 23232. The court overruled it, and the Seventh Circuit upheld that ruling.

itemJury verdict, United States v. Alphonse Capone (17 October 1931)The signed jury verdict: not guilty on indictment 22852, guilty on counts one, five, nine, thirteen and eighteen of indictment 23232, returned before Judge Wilkerson on 17 October 1931.

itemMotion in Arrest of Judgment (23 October 1931)Defense motion in arrest of judgment filed after the verdict in the Capone tax case. The court heard argument and overruled it on 24 October 1931.

itemJudgment and sentence, United States v. Alphonse Capone (24 October 1931)Judgment of 24 October 1931 on counts One, Five, Nine, Thirteen and Eighteen of indictment 23232: imprisonment totaling eleven years and fines totaling $50,000, with costs of prosecution.

itemCommitment to the Cook County Jail and the Leavenworth penitentiary (24 October 1931)Commitment writ of 24 October 1931 for Alphonse Capone, addressed to the U.S. Marshal, the warden at Leavenworth and the Cook County jailer, covering the felony terms of ten years and $30,000 in fines.

itemPetition for Appeal filed by Ahern and Fink (24 October 1931)Petition for appeal to the Circuit Court of Appeals, filed by Capone's counsel Ahern and Fink on the day of sentencing.

itemOrder Amending Judgment and Sentence of October 24, 1931 (9 November 1931)Order of 9 November 1931 in D.C. No. 23232 restating the sentence on the misdemeanor counts so that the record matches the sentence announced from the bench.

itemMandate of the Circuit Court of Appeals (3 May 1932)Mandate of the Seventh Circuit returning the Capone tax case, Nos. 22852 and 23232, to the District Court at Chicago after the appeal was decided.

itemCommitment to the Atlanta penitentiary in lieu of Leavenworth (3 June 1933)Commitment paper of 3 June 1933 directing Capone's confinement at the U.S. Penitentiary at Atlanta, Georgia, in place of Leavenworth.

itemMemorandum denying petition to vacate misdemeanor sentences (12 August 1937)District Court memorandum of 12 August 1937 denying Capone's petition to vacate the county-jail sentences on counts 13 and 18. The Seventh Circuit dismissed the appeal.

itemPartial transcript of evidence before Judge Wilkerson, 17 October 1931 (filed 1937)Partial transcript of proceedings before Judge James H. Wilkerson on 17 October 1931, the day of the verdict, filed in 1937 during the dispute over the jail sentences.

itemDocket for Case Number 23232 (to 1942)The court's docket sheets for criminal case 23232, the indictment on which Capone was convicted. The last entry is dated 1 April 1942.itemCapone v. United States, 56 F.2d 927 (7th Cir. 1932)The Seventh Circuit affirms Alphonse Capone's 1931 conviction on three felony counts of attempted income-tax evasion and two misdemeanor counts of failing to file returns. Decided 27 February 1932.itemUnited States v. Capone, 93 F.2d 840 (7th Cir. 1937)The Seventh Circuit dismisses Capone's appeal from the refusal to vacate his 1931 county-jail sentences on counts 13 and 18. Decided 20 December 1937.itemCapone v. Aderhold, Warden, 2 F. Supp. 280 (N.D. Ga. 1933)The federal court at Atlanta dismisses Capone's habeas corpus petition, which argued that his felony sentences were void under the three-year statute of limitations. Decided 25 January 1933.itemRecords Relating to the Prosecution of Alphonse Capone (U.S. Attorney, Chicago)The U.S. Attorney's file at Chicago on the 1931 income-tax prosecution of Alphonse Capone: correspondence with Washington, notes, reports and drafts. Seven items are digitized.