The Capone boys were not hoods all their lives. They went to school, worked legitimate jobs and kept their noses clean. This was probably at their parents urging to try and stay on the straight and narrow path, and not to fall into temptation, as had happened to past Italian comrades. This was especially true coming from Gabriele the patriarch who wanted his boys not to sully the Capone name in their new country. They socialized, participated in community events, joined various clubs.
"Spaghetti" was little Alphonse's nickname as a boy.
Al Capone; The Early Years
https://www.myalcaponemuseum.com/id242.htmMr Gomes and his excellent website are great resources for Al Capone history, he responds to your emails and I have been corresponding with him for a while. Wasn't Al nicknamed Spaghetti because of a sinus infection that caused to stream mucus from his nose, like spaghetti? The period between 1909 and 1919 are murky for details on the exploits of Torrio, Capone, Yale and Luciano. If Torrio moved to Chicago in 1909, that means Al Capone was only ten when Torrio left NY, how much of an early influence could he have been? I believe that Yale took Capone under his wing sometime after this and it was through Yale that Capone was introduced to Paul Kelly and then Masseria and later Luciano, this was probably between 1915 and 1919 while Capone was working at the Harvard Inn. According to Mr Gomes, Al didn't actually move to Chicago until after his father died in 1921(I believe, off the top of my head). When Kelly's Little Naples and New Brighton Athletic Club were shutdown in 1905, after the attack by former partner Biff Ellison. Paul Kelly eventually moved over to the Brooklyn waterfront and became involved in organized labor, probably after 1926. Yale didn't gain control of the Brooklyn waterfront until after Adonis Club massacre in 1926.
