He arrived in the United States on a ship named Werra on June 18, 1895 with his older brother Vincenzo and mother Theresa, entering via Ellis Island.
Ralph Capone made large profits for the Outfit and became the dominant soft drink vendor other than Coca-Cola during the 1933 World's Fair.
In April 1930, the elder Capone was included in Frank J. Loesch's Chicago Crime Commission "Public Enemies" list.
As the manager of Chicago's Cotton Club, Capone was reportedly involved in illegal gambling and prostitution.
[3] In 1950, the United Press described Capone as "…in his own right… one of the overlords of the national syndicate which controls gambling, vice, and other rackets".
Whether still he was a real boss is a matter of dispute and some of the evidence heard by the U.S. Senate Kefauver Committee suggested otherwise.
However in 1935 notorious West Side gangster Louis Alterie was forced to testify against Ralph on a tax evasion charge and a few weeks later was shot dead.