Al Capone's Cell

Jersey Iggy saw the cell of Eastern State Penitentiary's most infamous inmate: Al Capone.

Alphonse "Scarface" Capone got his first taste of prison life in Philadelphia.

He stopped in Philadelphia while traveling from Atlantic City back to his home in Chicago in May 1929. He was arrested outside a movie theater for carrying a concealed, unlicensed .38 caliber revolver. The Philadelphia courts were rough. They handed Capone the maximum sentence: one year in prison.

Capone served eight months of that sentence in this cell. But while the Philadelphia courts tried to make an example of Chicago's famous bootlegger, the officials at Eastern State Penitentiary were nothing if not generous.

They allowed comforts not typically granted to inmates, including fine furniture, oriental rugs, oil paintings and a fancy radio. He liked to listen to waltzes in his cell.

[Information from Eastern State Penitentiary]

Ha! Talk about being a VIP! (Very Important Prisoner!)

To catch a part of the episode of Travel Channel's "Ghost Adventures" filmed right here at Eastern State Penitentiary, click here. According to that show, Al Capone while incarcerated here, was tormented in his sleep by his victim from the massacre that he masterminded.