- Published: September 18, 2022
- Updated: September 18, 2022
- University / College: The University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney)
- Level: Secondary School
- Language: English
- Downloads: 15
St. Valentines Day Massacre The members of Al Capone’s gang displayed, acceptance and loyalty to his leadership styleas it can be seen during the planned and executed massacre against Moran at the Garage. The leader-member relation that Al Capone had with the members of his gang can be termed as being positive. This is supported by the fact that, the massacre was an idea of one of Al Capone’s gang members, an upcoming lieutenant, John McGurn who was himself a subject of a previous hit (Allen). Normally, if the leader-member relationship is negative, the leader would not tolerate ideas ad plans from his members, which is contrary, to Al Capone did in this case, accepting and going ahead with a ruthless and violent plan devised by one of his gang member.
The leadership structure of Al Capone’s gang would be argued to have been somewhat organized and rule driven with clear tasks and goals. For instance, Al Capone’s goal was never to kill, eliminate, or take control of Moran’s gang but was to destabilize and weaken Moran’s gang and its perceived threat to the operations of Al Capone (Allen). This depicts a clear goal and task. In addition, organization in terms of leadership structure is also depicted and can be argued in the sense of leadership positions such an accountant position, which was the occupied by Jake “ Greasy Thumb” Guzik, the distribution and sales and liquor a responsibility of Al Capone’s brother, Ralph, and the idea that gang members hoped to climb the leadership ranks. In terms of operation goals, Al Capone’s gang had clear ones, which included complete control of the flow of all illegal alcohol, prostitution business, with the goal of making huge profit margins.
Al Capone gained his power from his mentor, Johnny Torrio who brought him from New York to Chicago to come and help in operating the network of gambling and brothel establishments (Allen). Al Capone used violence to ensure the dominance of his gang. In order to gain influence, Al Capone used his power to intimidate, and kill people opposed to his control or posed a threat to his business and gang. He managed to control almost all the alcohol flow and more than half the city through corruption, violence, intimidation, and organized crime.
Works Cited
Allen, Andrew. History on Film. Web. 22 Feb. 2012.