According to widespread belief, it was the legendary American gangster who coined the phrase, “You can achieve much more with a kind word and a gun than with a kind word alone.” We checked to see if Al Capone said anything like that.

The fact that Al Capone is the author of the above phrase and its variations is reported “RIA Novosti", "Gazeta.ru", "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" and many other resources. You can find out about this from the magazine "Science and Life", as well as from books such as "Russian language in aphorisms", “Swear correctly: a modern dictionary of Russian swearing”, “We speak Russian with Olga Severskaya” and a novel by Yulia Latynina "Debriefing". In 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin, without specifying the author of the quote (and mentioning a specific weapon - Smith & Wesson), statedthat she was born in the USA in the 1920s and 1930s. In the crime drama The Untouchables (1987), Al Capone played by Robert De Niro speaks: “I grew up in a dangerous area. They said you can achieve more with a kind word and a gun than with just a kind word.”

American gangster of Italian origin Alfonso Gabriel Capone lived a relatively short life - 48 years, eight of which he spent behind bars and another eight at home, suffering from numerous illnesses, the fight against which ended in 1947 with his defeat. However, it is useless to look for something similar to our quote in sources before 1947. There are no such statements - either with or without attribution to Capone - in available publications.

This phrase first appears in 1953, when in the magazine Variety A transcript of an NBC radio broadcast was released that contained "an overview of humor through the ages." One of the characters, played by the brilliant comedian Irwin Corey, says: “My philosophy is simple and poignant. Shoot point blank, point blank, no frills, simple, piercing. My philosophy is that a kind word and a gun can accomplish more than a kind word alone.” Moreover, the character's name is Hamlet, although Shakespeare's hero is known more for his use of a sword rather than a firearm.

For several years, this joke was quite logically attributed to Irwin Corey (for example, in the newspaper Evening Star dated October 24, 1958), but sometimes they left no attribution. And only in sources of the late 1960s do we find the first mentions of Al Capone in connection with the statement. In particular, in the minutes of meetings of the US Congress, published on February 5, 1969, reported, that the chairman of the Federal Energy Commission, Lee White, in his speech attributed this phrase to the legendary gangster. In July of the same year, a selection was published in the Parade Magazine supplement on behalf of Irwin Corey "My favorite jokes". And it already says about the famous phrase: “I think Al Capone once said this.” After this, the quote began to be attributed to the gangster in all seriousness in publications of all sorts. level, and as such she took on a life of her own. Of course, the film “The Untouchables”, mentioned above, played an important role in its dissemination, which was a great success all over the world. However, the main laurels in the incorrect association seem to belong to the author of the pseudo-quote himself, comedian Irwin Corey. But Al Capone, as far as it is possible to verify, did not say anything like that.