On the Trail of Al Capone in Baja California Maya Kroth - The Washington Post
go to original January 15, 2015

Two mug shots of American gangster Al Capone taken by Miami police in 1931. (Library of Congress)

Many argue that the Golden Age of Tijuana was during Prohibition, when the city was mythologized as the premiere playground for the rich and thirsty. Hollywood stars with a taste for betting and boozing made it a favourite getaway, and the city came to represent the shadowy side of the American appetite — a place to do anything and everything that we wouldn’t allow ourselves to do at home.

With its then-porous land border and kilometres of wild coastline, Tijuana and neighbouring northern Baja California towns proved too tempting to resist for many opportunistic rumrunners during those dry years. Ask any local who ran things back then and you’ll hear one name repeated: Al Capone.

The Chicago gangster seems to have left his mark on everything, from an illegal card game at a secluded coastal hideaway to any number of local cantinas. It’s a compelling story. But is it true? I went to find out, heading for a place that’s synonymous with Prohibition-era Tijuana: the Agua Caliente casino.

Read the rest at Canada.com

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