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Fifty-seven years ago today one of Chicago’s most famous city fathers died in obscurity at his Florida estate. Cause of death: syphilis. This city father–make that godfather–was Al Capone, in decline since leaving prison in 1939. Big Al is still a hot figure on eBay, though, lending his persona to no fewer than 193 sale items, ranging from trivial: T- shirts, bobble heads; to interesting: photos of him fishing off a pier in his robe, and at Cubs Park with his son, chatting up the great Gabby Hartnett; to the serious: a spice rack reputedly from his cabin in Michigan ($39). Wonder what his real personal effects, wherever they may be, would go for in our gangster-obsessed society.
