[On
February
14th, 1929, County Solicitor Taylor called Capone in questioning. Ruth
Gaskin, stenographer during Capone's contempt trial, identified her
transcript of the conversation. Dwight Green reads Solicitor
Taylor's questions and Capone's answers:]
Taylor: Do
you
remember what time it was you first met Parker Henderson?
Capone:
About two years ago.
Taylor: That was
when he was running the Ponce de Leon Hotel?
Capone: Yes.
Taylor:Under what
name did you register?
Capone: My own
name.
Taylor: You didn't
use the name of A. Costa?
Capone: No.
Taylor: You
were
getting money sent to you under the name of A Costa; didn't you ever
send
Parker Henderson to the Western Union
office
to get it for you?
Capone: No.
Taylor: Then Henderson never
got any
money for you?
Capone: Well, he
did when I bought my home.
Taylor: You left
money with Henderson,
$1000 to $5000 at a time, didn't you?
Capone: I don't
remember.
Taylor: You didn't
receive any money by Western Union from Chicago?
Capone:- I don't
remember. I'll try and find out.
Taylor: Then you
keep a record of your money transactions?
Capone: Absolutely.
Taylor: How much
money did you give Henderson
to buy your home?
Capone: Fifty
thousand dollars.
Taylor: Was that
in
cash?
Capone: Yes.
Taylor: What is
your business?
Capone: I’m a
gambler. I play
the race-horses.
Taylor: Besides
gambling, you’re a bootlegger, aren’t you?
Capone:
No, I never was a bootlegger.
Taylor: And you
don’t know of anybody who sent you money under the name of A. Costa?
Capone: No.
Taylor: But you did
receive it from Chicago?
Capone: That is
correct, all of
it comes from Chicago
form my gambling business.
Direct
examination of Parker Henderson by Dwight Green:
Green: Did
you
have any business transactions with the defendant at any time?
Henderson: Yes, it was
along about the middle of January, 1928, that I handled some money
transfers
for him.
Green: How did
that come about?
Henderson: Why, Mr. Capone called me to his room one after noon and
told
me that he had some money at the Western Union under the name of Costa,
and
asked me to take Sorrello to the Western Union and get this money
for him.
[Green
shows Henderson a $1500 Western Union money transfer payable to Albert
Costa at Miami,
dated January
14th, 1928.]
Green:
State if
you know who signed the name Albert Costa on the back of that check?
Henderson: I signed
the name Albert Costa on the back of that check, but I tried to
disguise my
handwriting....
[Green
asks Henderson his role in the purchase of Capone's Palm Island
estate.]
Henderson:
Some real
estate agents called me at the Ponce de Leon Hotel and wanted me to get
in
touch with Mr. Capone in regard to selling him some property. This was
in March
or April, 1928. I was closely connected with Mr. Newton Lummis, then
mayor of Miami Beach,
and I told
him that these real estate men were figuring on selling Mr. Capone some
property and asked him what he thought about it. Lummis said that if
anybody
sold Capone any property he and I should try. So I asked AI if he was
interested in buying any property and he said he was, in buying a
winter home.
So we made an appointment with him and carried him out and showed him
several
places. This place on Palm
Island
he seemed to like
very much. Later he told me he had decided to take it. He gave me all money to put up the binder.
[Henderson
admits transferring the property to Capones wife. Green shows Henderson
a warranty deed for the property, which he identifies, and it is
admitted in evidence.]
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