New Information on Richard Hart, Brother of Al Capone

As you may remember, dear reader, I posted on Veteran's Day the amazing story of Richard James Hart, the brother of Al Capone, who became a famous lawman after World War I. Yesterday I received an e-mail from a great grandson of Richard Hart, who provided additional and interesting information about the famous man. I had written that Vincenzo James Capone had enlisted in the army and risen quickly to the rank of first lieutenant. My sources told me that his service was relatively uneventful, but Mr. Hart tells me his great grandmother Kathleen had a picture of her husband receiving a medal from General Pershing, the overall commander of American forces in France as well as several other pictures of him during the war. Unfortunately, further research has been stymied. First there were two Vincenzo Capones who served in the American army in World War I and both were born in 1892, the year of our Vincenzo’s birth. However, neither description in their military records matches our man very well. As noted in my blog, Vincenzo had adopted an alias (to avoid anti-Italian prejudice) when he had left home in 1908. The problem is he didn’t adopt the name of Richard Hart until after the war, and the family doesn’t know what name he might have enlisted under! 
Ironically, there is a slight connection with the Veteran’s Day Speech I delivered the day I wrote the blog. There I told the story of Louis Frothingham, one of the founders of the American Legion. According to Mr. Hart when his great grandfather wanted to join his local chapter of the Legion in Nebraska, he was asked to provide proof of his service which he claimed to be unable to do  (despite the pictures). Mr. Hart supposes that the proof would have revealed his great-grandfather’s family connection.
Hart provides another interesting point. His grandfather Harry met Al Capone and his other gangster uncles and their mother Theresa in 1944 not 1946 as I said. Thus, no near deathbed meeting with a completely debilitated Uncle Al. Harry was 18 and had just graduated from High School.