Al Capone: America's fascination endures

When fugitive alleged Boston mob boss "Whitey" Bulger was picked up last month, it was big news nationwide - because many people are fascinated with organized crime.

But, reports CBS News Correspondent Dean Reynolds, one of the best-known gangsters from the Jazz Age is still a big deal in Chicago and the rest of the country, namely, Al Capone.

He's been dead 64 years, but his memory still burns bright in Chicago, Reynolds observes.

Capone endures, says author Rich Kahan, due to "his audacity.

Kahan, author of "A court that shaped America: Chicago's Federal District Court," told CBS News, "It was really Al Capone who was the first to come into town and to really do big things."

Capone was, says Reynolds, a larger-than-life character - an ostentatiously wealthy and outspoken celebrity during the Roaring '20s.

Americans have always marveled at cold-blooded gangsters. The arrest of Bulger, the man at the top of the FBI's Most wanted List, was a huge story for the better part of a week.

But through the decades, Reynolds points out, Capone has always been the chief hood.

Chicago History Museum Curator John Russick says Capone "was independent. He was not to be stopped."

Capone made a mockery of prohibition, and got rich from prostitution and the protection rackets.

"If you had a butcher shop and you weren't paying your contribution to the local protection association," says Jonathan Eig, author of "Get Capone," "the first thing is you'd get a broken window. The next thing is you might get a 'pineapple' - a homemade hand grenade equivalent. Maybe a baseball bat to the head, to the knee. And then, finally, if you still didn't get the message, somebody might get killed."

The man who ran the Chicago mob with a bloody iron fist to some had a heart of gold to others.

Says Kahan, "He always had this connection to people. Even during his trial in 1931, there was always a little wink from him to the other people. And there was always this bravado that people really loved."

Capone went to prison in the 1930s on tax evasion charges.

And his power weakened after that.

But his legend lives on.

And while Chicago does nothing officially to enshrine his memory - it doesn't have to.

Unofficial tours these days will take you to historic Capone sites.

Tourists see the address of the garage-turned-empty lot where seven people were executed in 1929 -- the so-called St. Valentine's Day Massacre for which many blamed Capone.

There's also his family home on the South Side. And his favorite watering hole on the North Side.

"Even until the end," says Kahan, "he was there, kind of telling people, 'It's gonna be alright. The strong survive."'

And in many ways, says Reynolds - he was right.