Al Capone

It does the heart good somehow to see an inflated reputation reduced to a popped balloon by a few piercing words. In that spirit, American Heritage does solid service with its second annual list of the most overrated and underrated people, things, ideas, and events in U.S. history.You may find yourself lingering upon the "overrated" list, especially given the scathing treatment some of the subjects receive. Among those whose reputations are cut down to size: Gloria Steinem, Al Capone, Ernest Hemingway, Isaac Asimov, the 1960s, Shel Silverstein, John Adams, Boss Tweed, atomic power, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Hunter S. Thompson, Gary Cooper, the idea of progress, Alexis de Tocqueville, Yalta and the Beatles.

For more than 60 years, barber John V. Patti Jr. was known for his 15-minute haircuts and for wielding quite possibly the fastest pair of scissors in a North Howard Street tonsorial parlor.Mr. Patti, who was known as the "mayor of Howard Street," died Sept. 9 of congestive heart failure at Northwest Hospital Center near his home in Margate, Fla. He was 86.Mr. Patti, who also maintained a home in Milford Mill, bought his first shop on the west side of Howard Street near Baltimore Street in 1940.

The story of Union Memorial's Al Capone tree has become part of Baltimore lore -- a tale often repeated at this time of year, when the old weeping cherry just east of the hospital's 33rd Street facade bursts into bloom.Legend has it that Capone gave the hospital the tree as a gift after being treated there for syphilis. No one has ever proven this to be true, although hospital employees have long sworn by the story.It is hard to think of this glorious botanical specimen as the legacy of one of gangland's most famous characters, the man remembered as the architect of the bloody St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

The story of Union Memorial's Al Capone tree has become part of Baltimore lore -- a tale often repeated at this time of year, when the old weeping cherry just east of the hospital's 33rd Street facade bursts into bloom.Legend has it that Capone gave the hospital the tree as a gift after being treated there for syphilis. No one has ever proven this to be true, although hospital employees have long sworn by the story.It is hard to think of this glorious botanical specimen as the legacy of one of gangland's most famous characters, the man remembered as the architect of the bloody St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

CHICAGO -- Frankie swaggers onto the black bus with bullet holes in the windows and snarls at the passengers. "All right, shut up!" Then he pulls out his gun and starts firing.Everybody ducks, before the momentary shock gives way to guffaws. Frankie, a k a Michael Moylan -- surrogate gangster, tour guide, historian, comedian -- smiles mischievously. "Hmm," he mutters, "you must all be from New York."With that, we're off to Prohibition-era Chicago on a most unconventional tour, led by Moylan and his partner in crime re-creation, "Shoulders," street name for Randy Craig.

ST. LOUIS -- Someone said to me, while I watched a big gambling boat suck and spew suckers in St. Louis, ''Did you know that birds shed their brains when they migrate?'' I didn't know that, but seeing the tourists being swallowed by the casino, I could believe it.My interlocutor was bird-like himself, a Chicago salesman who had been spending so much time on the road, he had begun studying migratory birds in an effort to understand himself.There is an unspoken solidarity among us travelers.

They say we've left behind the era of heroes, which is just as well. Because heroes, boys and girls, will break your heart.Pull up a chair, and I'll tell you all about it.Yesterday, they arrested Duke Snider. Yeah, the Duke. Got him for tax evasion, like he was Al Capone or somebody. Let me tell you something, pal, Al Capone couldn't hit a lick.The Duke was my first hero, maybe my only hero. You probably don't even know who he is. That's OK. Why should you know a 68-year-old, broken-down man who may go to jail for six months for not reporting income from baseball memorabilia shows?

There ought to be a bus marked George Mohr's Tours.It would depart from Winner Avenue, not too far from some of the oldest barns at Pimlico Race Course, ramble along Belvedere Avenue and crisscross Mount Washington.For the next hour, you'd learn about the people, the hidden landmarks, the bulldozed farms and the vanished streets of the racing village that once surrounded Old Hilltop.George Mohr at 78 is a legend in racing circles, a distinguished trainer of top thoroughbreds who has never left his old neighborhood.

MOSCOW -- Thugs had been demanding protection money from the businessman for some time. Then one recent day, his wife opened the door of their apartment and a bomb went off. She bled to death in front of their two small children.At Russia's fortress-like police headquarters, Officer Vladimir A. Petukhov, the harried and dour veteran lawman in charge of investigating contract killings, estimated that 100 to 150 businessmen have been murdered this year by extortionists, gangsters and free-lance hit men. As for the gangland-style bombing at the home of the manager of a Russian-Swiss venture, it raised no eyebrows.

Al Capone has never looked so lovable. Chipmunk-cheeked and bushy-browed, he smiles down on the cars that whiz east along Ohio Street into the heart of Chicago. He looks a little like Ed Asner, a good-natured guy with an irascible streak, a rascal but not a killer.In fact, Capone's giant portrait is so prominently positioned along a thoroughfare chockablock with tourist-filled taxis that good old Uncle Al could pass for the official city greeter.This is the kind of thing that once sent Chicago tourism officials lurching for the Maalox.

State Sen. Ulysses Currie, whose work for Shoppers Food Warehouse is being investigated by the FBI's public corruption squad, was paid more than $200,000 by the regional grocery chain over five years, according to documents unsealed yesterday. Federal authorities are looking at whether the Lanham-based supermarket company hired the leading Prince George's County Democrat to use the prestige of his office to secure favorable legislation and actions by state agencies, documents show. According to portions of a search warrant affidavit unsealed at the request of The Sun and other media organizations, Currie was paid about $207,000 between 2003 and 2007.

A colorful chapter in the history of Northwest Baltimore - where Al Capone once had a hideout and revelers came to dance the night away - was closed this week with the news that Bonnie View Country Club will be moving to make way for more housing. The club, whose 167-acre golf course on Smith Avenue sprawls across the city-county line near Mount Washington, announced that it would move within two years to a new home near Reisterstown. The move, Bonnie View officials said, is contingent on the $15 million sale of the club to Stavrou Associates of Lanham, which plans to build a retirement community on the property.

Catoctin Colorfest in Thurmont Welcome fall at the 37th Annual Catoctin Colorfest Arts and Crafts Show, Saturday and Sunday in Thurmont. The event will feature the wares of more than 360 juried craftspeople. Browse the many stands displaying paintings, stained glass, pottery, baskets, tablecloths, leather and woodcrafts. Feast on your choice of crab cakes, soup, hot dogs, apple pie and barbecue chicken. Entertainment will be provided by the Hagerstown Country Western Dance Association and students of Linda L. Elower's Studio of Dance.

For more than 60 years, barber John V. Patti Jr. was known for his 15-minute haircuts and for wielding quite possibly the fastest pair of scissors in a North Howard Street tonsorial parlor.Mr. Patti, who was known as the "mayor of Howard Street," died Sept. 9 of congestive heart failure at Northwest Hospital Center near his home in Margate, Fla. He was 86.Mr. Patti, who also maintained a home in Milford Mill, bought his first shop on the west side of Howard Street near Baltimore Street in 1940.

It does the heart good somehow to see an inflated reputation reduced to a popped balloon by a few piercing words. In that spirit, American Heritage does solid service with its second annual list of the most overrated and underrated people, things, ideas, and events in U.S. history.You may find yourself lingering upon the "overrated" list, especially given the scathing treatment some of the subjects receive. Among those whose reputations are cut down to size: Gloria Steinem, Al Capone, Ernest Hemingway, Isaac Asimov, the 1960s, Shel Silverstein, John Adams, Boss Tweed, atomic power, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Hunter S. Thompson, Gary Cooper, the idea of progress, Alexis de Tocqueville, Yalta and the Beatles.

The story of Union Memorial's Al Capone tree has become part of Baltimore lore -- a tale often repeated at this time of year, when the old weeping cherry just east of the hospital's 33rd Street facade bursts into bloom.Legend has it that Capone gave the hospital the tree as a gift after being treated there for syphilis. No one has ever proven this to be true, although hospital employees have long sworn by the story.It is hard to think of this glorious botanical specimen as the legacy of one of gangland's most famous characters, the man remembered as the architect of the bloody St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

The story of Union Memorial's Al Capone tree has become part of Baltimore lore -- a tale often repeated at this time of year, when the old weeping cherry just east of the hospital's 33rd Street facade bursts into bloom.Legend has it that Capone gave the hospital the tree as a gift after being treated there for syphilis. No one has ever proven this to be true, although hospital employees have long sworn by the story.It is hard to think of this glorious botanical specimen as the legacy of one of gangland's most famous characters, the man remembered as the architect of the bloody St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

CHICAGO -- Frankie swaggers onto the black bus with bullet holes in the windows and snarls at the passengers. "All right, shut up!" Then he pulls out his gun and starts firing.Everybody ducks, before the momentary shock gives way to guffaws. Frankie, a k a Michael Moylan -- surrogate gangster, tour guide, historian, comedian -- smiles mischievously. "Hmm," he mutters, "you must all be from New York."With that, we're off to Prohibition-era Chicago on a most unconventional tour, led by Moylan and his partner in crime re-creation, "Shoulders," street name for Randy Craig.

ST. LOUIS -- Someone said to me, while I watched a big gambling boat suck and spew suckers in St. Louis, ''Did you know that birds shed their brains when they migrate?'' I didn't know that, but seeing the tourists being swallowed by the casino, I could believe it.My interlocutor was bird-like himself, a Chicago salesman who had been spending so much time on the road, he had begun studying migratory birds in an effort to understand himself.There is an unspoken solidarity among us travelers.

They say we've left behind the era of heroes, which is just as well. Because heroes, boys and girls, will break your heart.Pull up a chair, and I'll tell you all about it.Yesterday, they arrested Duke Snider. Yeah, the Duke. Got him for tax evasion, like he was Al Capone or somebody. Let me tell you something, pal, Al Capone couldn't hit a lick.The Duke was my first hero, maybe my only hero. You probably don't even know who he is. That's OK. Why should you know a 68-year-old, broken-down man who may go to jail for six months for not reporting income from baseball memorabilia shows?