American Notes CHICAGO

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."