Summary

In Chapter 1: The Cream of the Criminal Crop, it is Monday, August 5, 1935. Twelve-year-old Moose Flanagan, along with 24 other kids, lives on Alcatraz Island in “64,” a residential building at the dock. Moose’s dad works at the island prison that houses 278 of the worst criminals in America. Many of the chores of the family are tended to by inmates. Alcatraz #85, Al Capone, does Moose’s laundry. Moose also credits Al Capone, despite being a horrible person, with helping to get his older sister, Natalie, into the Esther P. Marinoff school for the mentally disabled. This occurred after Moose sent Capone a note asking for help, and Capone responded with a note in Moose’s shirt that said “Done.” Moose, even to the present, cannot understand why Capone would have helped him as Capone does not know him. Today, Natalie is set to be taken to...