Page 1: a typed writ in the name of the President of the United States of America, District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, addressed to the Marshal, the Warden of the United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth and the Jailer of the Cook County Jail, reciting the sentence of October 24th, 1931 for terms aggregating ten years. — Open the full imageJPG, 1600 × 2635 px, 0.6 MB

Commitment 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.

Date: 1931-10-24
Kind: case-file
Source: National Archives Catalog
Retrieved: 2026-10-11
NAID: 55311719
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.

The catalog title is “Commitment to County Jail of Cook County and the United States Penitentiery at Leavenworth, Kansas”; “Penitentiery” is the catalog’s spelling. The writ runs in the name of the President of the United States and is addressed to the U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of Illinois, the Warden of the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, and the Jailer of the Cook County Jail at Chicago.

It recites that on October 24, 1931, Alphonse Capone, under the aliases listed, was sentenced on a jury verdict finding him guilty of certain felonies and misdemeanors. It commits him for felony terms aggregating ten years and fines aggregating $30,000.00 on the felony counts. The judgment’s totals of eleven years and $50,000 include the two misdemeanor counts, which this writ does not cover.

A later commitment of 3 June 1933 sends him to the penitentiary at Atlanta in place of Leavenworth.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.