Statement from Chris Knight-Capone

On September 15 I filed paperwork in Chicago to exhume the body of Al Capone, my grandfather. I did so reluctantly, the last means available to conclusively confirm my lineage through DNA testing. 

I have long sought other means to confirm my father’s, and thus my own, family’s true identity. Since his death 25 years ago I have searched for the truth behind my father's true identity encountering many roadblocks, mostly a result of my grandfather’s notorious history.

As a young boy my father told my sister and I his identity was not real, and that his family was rich and powerful, but he did not tell us who he was or who our family was. After my father died in my arms at the age of 13 I learned from an associate of his that my father was a son of Al Capone. Others, including family members and additional friends of my father, later confirmed that my father was indeed a hidden son of Al Capone and his wife Mary Capone, my grandmother. I could not, however, prove or disprove this on paper. So I have continued my search for my father’s and thus my own ancestry and true identity.

I have, at great expense, hired professional genealogists and private investigators to assist me with my research. Through this research I have found that my father’s paperwork, beginning with his birth certificate, were all falsified and that my father was clearly living under an assumed identity. Assumed identities were, I have learned, common for Capone family members.

My research and father's life is memorialized in a book I published last year, Son of Scarface: A Memoir by the Grandson of Al Capone. I wrote the book hoping that doing so might bring more information to light and help me discover more information about my family lineage. (As an aside I should note that any and all profits from my book will go to children’s charities – I will not be making any money from book sales.)

While the results of these many years and tens of thousands of dollars have led to the conclusion that I am indeed the hidden grandson of Al Capone I have not been able to acquire any definitive proof, thus the filing made to exhume the body and gain a DNA sample.

Since publishing of the book in January of 2008, more detailed information has been revealed about how my father was hidden; such as that my father was whisked away from his home as a child by my grandmother, Mary Capone, before my grandfather was released from Alcatraz.  He was brought to a farming community outside Chicago where, it is believed, he would be safely hidden and able to begin a normal life away from my grandfather's notorious name.

Since publishing the book discussions with living descendents of the Capone lineage have also taken place. While these discussions have not helped definitively confirm my family lineage, and some have been attempts to discourage me from seeking the truth, others have acknowledged that I am indeed part of the family.

The few living male descendents have, to date, refused to provide DNA samples to help definitely confirm what I have discovered about my father.

Without family DNA my grandfather is the only one that can solve this mystery which is why I am petitioning the court to exhume his remains.

I did not and still today do not want to exhume my grandfather's body to retrieve DNA. I have and continue to request that anybody with conclusive information that can help me learn more about my father or to confirm what I have been told about my father’s identity please come forward, your identity will kept confidential. I am also still hopeful that other descendents of the Capone lineage may understand my need to know the truth and assist me by providing DNA, making exhumation of my grandfather’s body unnecessary.

If I had been told that the evidence pointed to my father being the son of anybody else I would still try to find and prove the relationship. Like anybody else I want to know who my father was. The only reason this search has gained any notoriety is that Al Capone’s name is involved. My father was an amazing dad, I lost him at a young age, and want to put to rest this search that I began shortly after he passed away in my arms.

I hope to find my family history and end this decades-long search soon and to do so without the need to exhume Al Capone’s body.

Contact: Jeremy@marinstrategies.com