Did Al Capone spend a week on Fort Myers Beach back in 1929 or 1930? According to Jean Matthew, Capone and some of his lawyers may have stayed at the home of Dr. Baker Whisnant in Seminole Park. The group consisted of two attorneys and their families, including their children, and of course, Mrs. and Mrs. Capone.
Matthews states that the two lawyers who were with Capone rented a beach cottage at the same time they rented the home in Fort Myers. Rumors began spreading around town that Capone and his gang had been seen hanging round in downtown Fort Myers. The cook who worked at the Seminole Park house while the gang was staying there stated that every morning a strange man would appear and eat breakfast at the house, arriving from the beach. Was this mysterious stranger really the infamous Al Capone?
The cook’s description of the man sounded like Capone who also had a deep scar on the left side of his face. The strange man never went out during the day. He would stay home and play with the children until evening when he would leave.
Other people in town also recall this stranger who may have been the famous gangster. A young gas station attendant who was working at the Standard Oil station on McGregor waited on the stranger. When he was caught staring at the gangster, Capone is reported to have told him, “You know who I am, but kept it under your hat.”
Mrs. Whisnant, the owner of the Seminole Park home, said that the group acted strange from the beginning. They didn’t register at a hotel. They immediately sought out the realtor who was in charge of the rental and were brought to the home immediately. They took only a brief time to look over the house before asking to move in in immediately. They didn’t want a phone. They asked about the mail but insisted that their business was all transacted by telegraph.
When the group left, and the owner was cleaning up her house, she found many cases of empty liquor bottles. The residents of Seminole Park told her that the renters were not very friendly and stayed to themselves
After reading this in the Sandpaper, I decided to do a bit more research to get to the truth about Al Capone’s visit to Southwest Florida.
An article by Glenn Miller gives different scenarios regarding Capone’s connection with Fort Myers. Miller recalls when the Fort Myers Police Department published a history of the department. The book, according to Miller, included a page that described a house on Van Buren Street that was said to be built by Capone. Miller visited the 10,244 square foot house that was owned by an 85 year old retired professor named Aldo Scaglione.
Miller’s article quoted from the police department’s book: “Inside the home are several secret passages and hiding places. It is reported that there were gun mounts built in the home and that there was once a bell at the home that had a bullet hole in it.”
On the website for Dean Park, there is a home located at 2716 Providence Street that was constructed for Mrs. Elizabeth Holmes who moved to Fort Myers in 1910. Local legend has it that Al Capone stayed in this house while he was waiting for his new home to be built somewhere else in the city.
The historic Shangri-la hotel in Bonita Springs was built in 1921 and also credits Al Capone as one of their distinguished guests.
So, how did these stories start? Here is what we know for sure:
An article in the News-Press on March 26, 1930 had this headline: “Was Al Capone Here Tuesday?”
Here is a quote from that article: “At least two men are willing to swear that they saw the Chicago racketeer and talked with him for several minutes while he gassed up a big sedan at the Royal Palm filling station. The attendants at the gas station said that Capone had a scar on his face. He said he was heading to Miami where he owned a home. Miller interviewed other Fort Myers residents who claim to have seen Capone on Fort Myers Beach, sitting on a bench downtown, and staying at the a house on Providence Street in Dean Park.
Is this local legend or did the famous gangster really spend time in Fort Myers? I would tend to agree with Miller’s conclusion that these stories are not based on any facts and should probably be considered urban legends. However, like the pirates and the Skunk Ape, I love researching these legends as some may be based on facts.
