On this day in 1894 Al and Frank Capone‘s older brother Ralph Capone was born. Although he was the older brother he never got involved with the dirty side of the Outfit, and never held a position of great power. He did however, live until 1974, dying of natural causes aged 80.

On this day, January 12, in 1894, Ralph "Bottles" Capone was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Italian immigrant parents Gabriel and Teresa Capone. Though history has largely overshadowed him by the towering infamy of his younger brother Al, Ralph Capone was very much a fixture of the Chicago Outfit's operations during its golden — and most violent — era.

Ralph was the fourth of the Capone children and, like so many young men of his generation growing up in the tenement neighbourhoods of Brooklyn, found himself drawn into the criminal underworld at an early age. When Al Capone rose to prominence under the tutelage of Johnny Torrio in Chicago during the 1920s, Ralph was right there alongside him, though always in a supporting capacity. Rather than commanding street crews or ordering hits, Ralph carved out a more administrative role within the organisation, overseeing the Outfit's vast bootlegging operations during Prohibition. It was this work that earned him his memorable nickname — "Bottles" — a nod to his hands-on involvement in the syndicate's liquor supply chain.

Despite never reaching the heights of power that Al commanded, Ralph was far from a peripheral figure. He managed several of the Outfit's legitimate front businesses, including dog racing tracks and taverns, which served as useful covers for laundering the enormous profits flowing through the organisation. Federal authorities took enough notice of Ralph to prosecute him for tax evasion in 1931 — the same charge that ultimately felled Al — and he served three years in prison as a result.

Unlike many of his contemporaries who met violent ends or died behind bars, Ralph Capone demonstrated a remarkable talent for survival. After his release, he largely stepped away from active criminal enterprise, eventually settling in Mercer, Wisconsin, where he lived a relatively quiet life under the name "Richard Hart" — not to be confused with his eldest brother James, who had famously reinvented himself under that same name years earlier. Ralph lived to see the mob world that had shaped his life transformed beyond recognition, passing away peacefully on November 22, 1974, at the age of 80.

Ralph Capone's story is a reminder that behind every headline gangster stood a network of lesser-known figures who kept the machinery of organised crime running. His longevity alone — outliving Al by over a quarter of a century — speaks to a shrewdness that history has rarely given him credit for.