FILE - This Jan. 19, 1931 file photo shows Chicago mobster Al Capone at a football game. An intimate letter he penned from prison suggests the ruthless racketeer had a soft side. The three-page letter,... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - This Jan. 19, 1931 file photo shows Chicago mobster Al Capone at a football game. An intimate letter he penned from prison suggests the ruthless racketeer had a soft side. The three-page letter, which is to be auctioned next week in Cambridge, Mass., is addressed to Capone's son, Albert "Sonny"... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - This Jan. 19, 1931 file photo shows Chicago mobster Al Capone at a football game. An intimate letter he penned from prison suggests the ruthless racketeer had a soft side. The three-page letter, which is to be auctioned next week in Cambridge, Mass., is addressed to Capone's son, Albert "Sonny"... (Associated Press) FILE - This Jan. 19, 1931 file photo shows Chicago mobster Al Capone at a football game. An intimate letter he penned from prison suggests the ruthless racketeer had a soft side. The three-page letter,... (Associated Press) 
 
 BOSTON (AP) — Did notorious gangster Al Capone have a soft spot? An intimate letter he penned from prison suggests the ruthless racketeer could handle tenderness almost as skillfully as his Tommy Gun. 
 
 The three-page letter — which is being auctioned off next week — is addressed to Capone's son, Albert "Sonny" Capone. The mobster signed it, "Love & Kisses, Your Dear Dad Alphonse Capone #85," which was his number at the Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay. 
 
 "Junior keep up the way you are doing, and don't let nothing get you down. When you get the blues, Sonny, put on one of the records with songs I wrote you about," Capone wrote. 
 
 Later, he added: "Well heart of mine, sure hope things come our way for next year, then I'll be there in your arms." 
 
 "It's an exceedingly rare personal letter showing the softer side of the notorious gangster," said Robert Livingston, executive vice president of Boston-based RR Auction, which is handling Monday's auction at a hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and expects it to fetch around $50,000. 
 
 "You'd think that figures like this would be despised, but instead, they're kind of deified in the consciousness of the American public," he said. 
 
 The legendary Brooklyn-born mobster, who ruled gangland Chicago during Prohibition, is best known for his 1929 "Valentine's Day Massacre" of seven members of rival bootlegger Bugs Moran's gang. 
 
 The feds finally caught up with Capone in 1931, when he was charged with income tax evasion. He was eventually convicted and sentenced to 11 years in prison, much of which he spent at Alcatraz. Capone was finally released a few years early in 1938 and returned to his Miami Beach mansion. Riddled with syphilis, he suffered a stroke and died in 1947 at age 48. 
 
 Though the letter to his then college-aged son is dated only "Jan 16th," experts say he likely wrote it in 1938, four years after the man dubbed "Public Enemy No. 1" was transferred to Alcatraz. 
 
 In a somewhat surprisingly cheerful tone, his letter describes the daily grind in prison, which Capone tried to relieve by playing banjo and mandola, a stringed instrument similar to the mandolin. While at Alcatraz, Capone put together an inmate band he dubbed The Rock Islanders. 
 
 "Sonny I got a Song like Rainbow on the River, that was sung by Bobby Breen, in the Rainbow on the River picture, I sure hope you seen it as we saw it out here," he wrote. "... When I come home, I will play not only that song, but about 500 more, and all mostly Theme Songs from the best Shows. In other words Junior, there isn't a Song written that I can't play." 
 
 Capone ended the letter encouraging his son to stay strong. 
 
 "Well Sonny keep up your chin, and don't worry about your dear Dad, and when again you allowed a vacation, I want you and your dear Mother to come here together, as I sure would love to see you," he wrote. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Follow Bill Kole on Twitter at https://twitter.com/billkole. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/william-j-kole. ||||| Notorious ​M​afia hit man-​turned-canary Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano has been released from an Arizona prison five years early, according to inmate records. 
 
 ​​ 
 
 The ​infamous ​72-year-old mob rat, who ​squealed to ​help authorities bring down “Dapper Don” John Gotti in exchange for a 1991 plea deal, was let out Sept​. 18, Arizona’s Department of Corrections records show. 
 
 He’ll​​ remain on federal parole for the rest of his life, as ordered by Brooklyn federal ​Judge Allyne Ross in 2002 when she locked him up. 
 
 “I spoke to him,” the aged wiseguy’s daughter, Karen Gravano, ecstatically told The Post. “He is happy to be out after spending the last 17½ years in prison. He’s in good health, great spirits and he’s anxious to move forward with the next phase of his life.” 
 
 “There is no doubt I’m extremely happy,” she said. “I’ve been fighting for this day the whole 17½ years that he’s been in prison, so I’m ecstatic it’s finally here.” 
 
 Defense attorney Thomas Farinella echoed Gravano’s comments almost exactly, saying his client was “in good health and great spirits” and “extremely happy to be out.” 
 
 He declined to comment on whether the elder Gravano would settle again in Arizona, or if he would continue sketching — a hobby he picked up while incarcerated. 
 
 The former Gambino underboss pleaded guilty to running a nearly 50-person, $500,000-a-week ecstasy ring in 2001, and was sentenced to 20 years behind bars. 
 
 That conviction followed a sweetheart deal in which Gravano was sentenced to just five years in prison for an admitted 19 murders — in exchange for helping the feds fell 39 mobsters, including his former boss and pal the Teflon Don. 
 
 The turncoat consigliere took the stand and spilled the Five Families’ secrets for five days during Gotti’s trial — and then testified in nine more, putting 39 wiseguys and associates in prison. 
 
 At the time, he was the highest-ranking member of La Cosa Nostra to turn fed. 
 
 After a short stint in the big house followed by an even shorter one in witness protection, he moved to Tempe, Arizona, and lived under the assumed name Jimmy Moran. 
 
 While Gravano was living in Arizona, peddling ecstasy and installing pools, he barely escaped his own killing, when the late godfather’s enraged brother, Peter Gotti, sent a team of hitmen to go find him in the Copper State. 
 
 The then-Gambino crime boss ordered the hit in retaliation for his brother’s death from cancer at age 61 behind bars. 
 
 His latest bid for early release was in 2015, when Ross declined to shave years off his sentence, citing his “longstanding reputation for extreme violence.”
– Did notorious gangster Al Capone have a soft spot? An intimate letter he penned from prison suggests so. The three-page letter, which being auctioned off next week, is addressed to Capone's son, Albert "Sonny" Capone. The mobster signed it, "Love & Kisses, Your Dear Dad Alphonse Capone #85" (his number at the Alcatraz prison), the AP reports. "Well heart of mine, sure hope things come our way for next year, then I'll be there in your arms," Capone wrote. "It's an exceedingly rare personal letter showing the softer side of the notorious gangster," says the executive VP of RR Auction, which is handling Monday's auction in Cambridge, Mass., and expects the note to fetch around $50,000. The legendary Brooklyn-born mobster, who ruled gangland Chicago during Prohibition, was charged with income tax evasion in 1931; he was convicted and sentenced to 11 years in prison, much of which he spent at Alcatraz. He was released from prison in 1939; riddled with syphilis, he suffered a stroke and died in 1947 at age 48. Though the letter to his then-college-aged son is dated only "Jan 16th," experts say he likely wrote it in 1938, four years after he transferred to Alcatraz. In a somewhat surprisingly cheerful tone, his letter describes the daily grind in prison, which Capone tried to relieve by playing banjo and mandola. Capone ended the letter encouraging his son to stay strong: "Well Sonny keep up your chin, and don't worry about your dear Dad, and when again you [are] allowed a vacation, I want you and your dear Mother to come here together, as I sure would love to see you." Read more from the letter here.