Al Capone — Cheesehead?
A new Milwaukee PBS documentary makes the case that, while the legendary Chicago mobster wasn’t from Wisconsin, he used the state as a refuge more often than you might have guessed.
“Al Capone: Prohibition & Wisconsin” will premiere at 8 and 9:30 p.m. Jan. 29 on WMVS-TV (Channel 10). The 30-minute production explores some of the places and people in the Badger State that Capone embraced, from the Northwoods to Brookfield — and one place where his minions gunned down one of his foes.
“I don’t think people realize how big a part (of Capone’s life) was … in Wisconsin,” producer Traci Neuman said.
Neuman and director Brian Ewig had been researching Prohibition and its impact on Milwaukee and Wisconsin for a series of digital programs on Milwaukee PBS’ website (a half-dozen of the short programs are online at milwaukeepbs.org/prohibition). Again, and again, they’d hear stories about Capone.
“Everybody seemed to have a story about Capone and for us, it was trying to sort out the fact vs. the fiction,” Neuman said.