Find out how the prohibition movement helped Al Capone become an infamous crime boss. Prohibition was originally intended to purify America but it had the opposite effect, and made it fashionable for people to break the law. When Al Capone arrived in Chicago at the age of 22, he worked as the bouncer for a speakeasy. Capone's work attracted the attention of gang leader Johnny Torrio, who helped catapult him into the world of organized crime.