Mafia wives like Mae Capone and Victoria Gotti stood behind their mobster husbands for decades — and sometimes even indulged in the criminal lifestyle themselves.
It’s said that behind every great man is an even greater woman, but it seems the same can apply to men in less pleasant fields of business. Before mob wives were trending on TikTok, the term was more than just an “aesthetic.” These were the women who romantically entangled themselves with some of history’s most infamous gangsters — and they’re not all innocent.
Modern historians have focused a great deal on the Mafia. After all, while the men involved in the organization were criminals, they were also some of the most influential figures in 20th-century America. Their lives continue to fascinate people to this very day, but the stories of their wives are just as interesting.
Read on to see our list of nine mob wives who were married to some of America’s most notorious gangsters.
Mae Capone, The Wife Of Al ‘Scarface’ Capone
Bettmann/Getty ImagesMae Capone visiting her husband in prison in 1937.
Al Capone doesn’t need an introduction. Capone ruled early 20th-century Chicago, and he was known as Public Enemy Number One to federal agents. He made a name for himself thanks in large part to Prohibition and his ability to get booze to the American people.
And right beside him through it all was his wife, Mae.
Mae Capone was considered by many to be more than just Al Capone’s wife. They called her his “protector.” By the time they met, Al was already becoming involved with some shadier dealings. He was 18 at the time, and she was a few years older, but the two quickly hit it off, and Al even managed to impress Mae’s parents.
Others were less impressed, though. Mae Coughlin, as she was known back then, was an educated Irish Catholic woman. Marrying a less educated, younger man was seen by many as “marrying down,” but she clearly didn’t agree. The two had their first and only child together before they were even married, eventually tying the knot in 1918.
But despite Mae’s commitment to her husband, he was far less committed to her. Eventually, Al Capone contracted syphilis, likely while working as a bouncer at a brothel. Mae Capone knew what her husband did for work, but it was his infidelity that caused her the most pain. She reportedly told her son once, “Don’t do as your father did. He broke my heart.”
Always the picture-perfect mob wife, however, Mae Capone never left her husband’s side. Even as syphilis caused his mental faculties to revert to those of a 12-year-old, she stood by him. In his later years, taking care of him became a full-time job for Mae that ended only when Al died in 1947.
Mae Capone lived to be 89, but according to her granddaughters, she was never the same after her husband died: “It’s as if the house died when he did. Even though she lived to be 89… something in her died when he did.”
