Following his release from Alcatraz in 1939 at age 40, Al Capone was no longer the man he once was. Most believe it was the effects of untreated syphilis (contracted in his teens), but Capone family members insist it was mistreatment at Alcatraz that caused his mental undoing.
The "retired" Capone divided his time between the family home in Chicago (where his mother, Teresa, continued to reside) and his estate on Palm Island in Miami, FL. Over his remaining years, Capone's health and sanity continued to wane. He was often convinced that long-dead gangsters and the locked-up Bugs Moran were out to get him.
Capone suffered a stroke on January 21, 1947. Three days later, he contracted pneumonia. Finally, on January 25, at age 48, Capone suffered a fatal heart attack, surrounded by his grieving family. His devoted wife, Mae, collapsed at the scene.
Mae and their one child, Albert Francis (called "Sonny"), continued to live in Florida. Mae died at age 89 in 1986. Sonny, who was married three times and had four daughters with his first wife, eventually changed his last name to "Brown" ("Al Brown" was a frequent alias of his father). He died in 2004 at the age of 85, having lived a life the complete opposite of his infamous father.
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