Alcatraz Beat Him, Capone Confessed (Or So Said The Warden)
Outfit boss Al Capone was among the first contingents of prisoners to enter Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary—essentially a 22-acre rock rising out of San Francisco Bay nearly 1.5 miles from shore—which opened for business on August 11, 1934. Al Capone's cell at Alcatraz. The Federal government acquired Alcatraz Island in 1849. It served as a lighthouse, a military fortification, a military prison, and then a Federal prison--until 1963. It's best known as a national recreation area, which it became in 1972. The Rock received landmark designation in both 1976 and 1986. Today, the island is a historic site operated by the National Park Service as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and is open to tours. Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary was touted as the first high-security, escape-proof prison of the 20th century -- it was designed to be inhabited by prisoners deemed to be unusually violent, infamous, irredeemable, or who represented the greatest flight risks....