I keep hearing conflicting stuff. I have only ever watched documentaries and film tv shows on him

Each present a different opinion. some docs said he had a great brain on him and was like a fox. Others say he was a reckless thug who got lucky being friends with torrio and others

Im'n inclined to believe he was of superior intelligence in his younger years but started to lose the plot later on.

Sharp and ruthless businessman, the untreated syphillis got him later on

ha he wasnt smart enough to wear protection when dipping into the whores for years ha

Who said he was smart? I thought you guys from the UK prided yourselves on having an accurate command of the language? BTW there is something very familiar about your posts, can you guess what it is?

I tend to have more of this view on Al Capone. Living in Chicago were there was conflict amongst warring factions was a good environment for the violent Capone. I don't think he lasts as long in NYC. It was his mentorship from Torrio that made Al Capone more than a common thug.

i think he told me back in the days that he had an IQ of 101

Two sides of Capone:
He was smart and capable enough to take The Outfit way past where Johnny Torrio took it: "business and trade associations," political power at the local, state and national level, huge income (~$100 million-plus). But he was also a degenerate gambler who blew half a mil on the turn of a roulette wheel; wasted millions on payoffs and on lawyers who were almost always incompetent, and was too dumb to accept a plea bargain in a tax charge that probably would have spared him prison. He was also afraid of needles, and never got treated for the syphilis that killed him.

Al made a good push for the Italian o.c. in Chi