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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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time
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050189
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05018900.028
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1990-09-17
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NATION, Page 43No Place for Scarface
As a symbol of American enterprise at its worst, Al Capone has
a place in history. But some Chicagoans would rather forget the
legendary mobster. When Mark Levell, 29, a computer technician and
amateur historian, proposed to the U.S. Interior Department that
it designate as a historic site the red brick house on Chicago's
South Side where Scarface lived during his 1920s crime wave, he
sparked a heated reaction.
Residents of the neighborhood groused that they didn't want to
put up with visiting busloads of crime buffs. Italian-American
organizations argued, somewhat illogically, that by designating the
house, the Government would be honoring Capone, thus defaming their
ethnic group. Said Robert Allegrini, executive director of the
Joint Civic Commission of Italian Americans: "We shouldn't be
haunted by Capone's ghost 50 years later." Daunted by the furor,
Levell withdrew his proposal last week, explaining, "I still feel
the house is historically significant, but not at the cost of
hurting the Italian-American community."