"Madonna mia
You're the bloom of the roses
You're the charm that reposes
In the heart of a song
Madonna mia
With your true love to guide me
Let whatever betide me
I will never go wrong"
"Madonna Mia" by Alphonse Capone

 "Scarface" Al Capone: Cunning bootlegger, merciless mobster, ruthless killer ... old softie?

Fans of the world's most notorious gangster might be surprised to learn that the man who ordered the St. Valentine's Day Massacre also had a sentimental side, at least when it came to music. And his wife.

That's the way Rich Larsen of Prospect Heights sees it, anyway.

"Everybody knows about Capone the gangster. But few people know about Capone the music man," said Larsen, local entrepreneur and owner of www.caponefanclub.com, a tribute site to America's most notorious gangster. "He was deeply involved with music on  a cultural, business and personal level. He absolutely loved Verdi operas, but he was also a big fan of jazz and became one of its most influential contributors."

Turns out he not only liked to listen to music, he also enjoyed composing it. For proof one need only listen to the newly-released rendition of Capone's "Madonna Mia," a love song Capone penned while in stir at Alcatraz for his tax evasion conviction.

Prisoners on the "Rock" were allowed a couple of hours on Saturdays and Sundays to exercise or pursue hobbies. Capone usually spent his playing the banjo with a five-man combo he had organzied.

Larsen was so enchanted by "Madonna Mia" and the story behind it that he decided to produce a compact disc recording of it with Chicago  producer Ron Karpman earlier this year. The 14-minute CD features a male-female duo  backed by a mandolin, accordion, violin, piano and standup bass. The CD includes an English, Italian and instrumental version of the song.

"It’s a gorgeous song, nearly brings me to tears everytime," Larsen said.

According to the cover liner on the "Madonna Mia" compact disc, Capone wrote the song "for his loving wife Mae, his true Madonna." The CD cover features a photo of Mrs. Capone covering her face as she attempts to avoid news photographers while visiting her husband in prison in 1936. She's quoted as saying: "The public has one idea of my husband. I have another. I will treasure my memory and I will always love him."

 "Madonna Mia" is only the lastest Scarface souvenir  Larsen has marketed. A few years back he was pushing purple and green bathroom tiles from Suite 530, Capone's gangland headquarters at the Lexington Hotel at the corner of South Michigan and West Cermak avenues

"The tiles are really what got me started," he said.

Larsen, a big fan of "The Untouchables" television series, was documenting the demolition of the Lexington in 1995 and couldn't resist sneaking inside.

"I had read about the tiles in Kobler's book ("The Life and World of Al Capone" by John Kobler, a noted authority on the gangster) and wanted to see if they were still there," he explained.

Kobler gave a detailed description of Capone's headquarters, including the bathroom: "...At the left a bathroom contained an immense sunken tub with gold plated faucets and ceramic tile of Nile green and royal purple. An ancient oriental rug covered the floor of the salon and the high ceiling was embossed with an elaborate foliage design..."  Capone imported the tiles from Italy and installed them in the bathroom in 1928.

"I went in surreptiously just before they tore it down. Everything else — door knobs, fixtures, decorations — already had been stripped out. Except for the tile. Nobody knew  how to remove that," Larsen recalled. "I thought 'Holy cow, that's something valuable.'"

Larsen then contracted with the demolition company to have about 1,000 individual tiles and a couple large hundred pound pieces removed.

"It cost me into the thousands just to have this done, but otherwise they would have ended up in the trash heap," Larsen said.

Instead they ended up in the hands of Capone collectors, who snapped them up for prices as high as $750 off of Larsen's web site.

The tiles are all gone now, but Larsen is still active in Capone-related commerce.

In addition to "Madonna Mia" ($1.95 on Amazon.com), Larsen also has plans to market Al Capone Vino ("Keeping Big Al’s memory alive through a product that is inherently connected to him"),  Capone Choice Cigars and Capone matches ("Capone and Chicago: A perfect match.")

He's also finishing up a 45-minute  documentary film, "Capone the Music Man," which will focus on Capone's love of jazz and Italian opera. It is scheduled to be released later this year.

Larsen, 58,  said he is frustrated  Chicago doesn't do more to promote the memory of its most notorious citizen.

"The city of Chicago is not going out of its way to embellish its gangster image. Mayor Daly Sr. would not even allow  gangster films to be shot in Chicago," Larsen said. "But people really like it; it's good for the city."