10 Historical Facts They Don't Teach You At School

3. Al Capone's Brain Rotted Away Due To An STD

800px Al Capone In 1930
By Chicago Bureau (Federal Bureau of Investigation) - Wide World Photos [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Double helpings of history class in school every Monday morning might have been more tolerable had those teachers traded topics like the dreaded English Poor Law for Al Capone. The notorious American mobster was arrested for tax evasion, contracted syphilis (this article's favourite STD, it seems) and later died at home surrounded by his family in 1947.

One of the earliest federal prisoners sent to Alcatraz, Capone had previously been diagnosed with the disease in Atlanta but his fear of needles forced doctors to come up with alternative treatments. After 11 years of trying, they failed, and Al started to show signs of dementia.

Not content to lose his mind in private, one of the 20th century's most infamous crime lords could often be seen casting his fishing rod into swimming pools and probably wondering why he hell he could never get a bite.

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