12th June

Today in 1931, Alfonso Capone, the son of a Neapolitan barber, was charged with 5000 offences under America's Prohibition Laws. This man had orchestrated the St Valentine's Day Massacre, made an estimated $100 million from bootlegging, racketeering and prostitution and once beat a man to death with a baseball bat. How mad has the world become when all they could actually get him on was tax evasion (the 1930s equivalent of parking on a double yellow line). I can't help thinking a bullet in the head would have been more appropriate, cheaper and final.

In other news ...
Vic Damone, the American singer who had a smash hit with On the Street Where You Live from My Fair Lady was born today in 1928. I only mention him because until I was sixteen I was convinced his name was Victor Moan and I couldn't help thinking that that was a rather risky handle for a vocalist. Mr Damone is happily still with us, I believe, and so a very happy 84th birthday to him, for today.