Al Had a Heart

Next time you have a glass of milk think about Al Capone. What does Al have to do with milk? Well the story is a bit complicated and it helps to have a little background on Al. Sure he was a ruthless gangster who had the St. Valentine's Day massacre attributed to him but Al had a soft side. During prohibition he distributed alcohol to a thirsty population and made lots of money. He eventually went to prison for tax evasion for not paying his federal taxes on that money. Al opened soup kitchens in Chicago when unemployment during the depression reach 25%. Those kitchens served three meals a day to ensure the unemployed had a meal. Al would often go to the kitchens and help serve meals. Those kitchens cost him thousands of dollars a week. He cared about folks who were struggling. What does all that have to do with milk?

One of Al's family members in Chicago got ill from drinking spoiled milk. At that time there were no controls on milk production. No expiration dates, no regulations to prevent adulteration, no rules to prevent dilution or skimming off cream. Milk distribution was a shady business and it got Al's attention. He didn't want to see children sickened by unwholesome milk and he saw a high potential for profit in milk distribution. Prohibition was about to end and he had men and trucks that could distribute milk. Al acquired a milk processor, Meadowmoor Dairy and convinced the Chicago City Council to pass a law requiring an expiration date be stamped on milk containers. In Chicago milk was delivered by the milkman who was a member of the Teamsters Union. The Union would only deliver local milk and Meadowmoor Dairy wanted to import cheaper Wisconsin milk. Al wanted it delivered by his nonunion drivers. When negotiations with the union came to a standstill Al's people kidnapped the union president and used the $50,000 ransom to purchase the dairy. It opened three months before Al went to prison.

So there you have it. The expiration date on your milk carton is there because a family member of Al Capone got sick from spoiled milk. He didn't sit on the sideline and wait for someone else to fix the problem. He fixed it, like so many other problems, in Al's unique way.