For $110K, Own a 'Unique Piece of Chicago History'

That would be the former home of gangster Al Capone
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 14, 2019 8:40 AM CST
Al Capone's Old Home for Sale, Complete With Hint of a Secret
This Jan. 19, 1931, file photo shows Chicago mobster Al Capone at a football game.   (AP File Photo)

A "unique piece of Chicago history" is for sale, and as long as the buyer is handy (or knows someone who is), it could be a steal. Before he lived in luxury in Miami, Al Capone hunkered down with his mother, sister, and wife in a two-apartment brownstone in the Windy City, and Curbed Chicago now reports that building is for sale after its owner lost it in foreclosure last year, per Crain's. The previous occupant of the gangster's former abode, who said she'd owned the home in the Park Manor neighborhood on the city's South Side since the early '60s, had apparently been trying to get it off her hands for around a decade, with an initial listing in 2009 of $450,000. Capone's family bought the house in 1923 for just over $5,000. The current asking price: $109,900.

Per its Re/Max listing, the six-bedroom, two-bath 2,820-square-foot home, said to be a fixer-upper, boasts hardwood floors, a spacious living room in each unit, and a "rare" all-brick garage. Plus it's within walking distance of the city's Red Line and may even boast a remnant of Capone's gangster lifestyle. Per legend, "there was a tunnel that went to the house from the garage," Ryan Smith, the listing agent, tells USA Today, a passageway that could've been used for bootlegging. Smith says a door in the basement may be confirmation of that tunnel, which apparently has been filled in. Check out Re/Max to see more of the interior. (Capone's diamond pocket watch sold for just over $84,000 in 2017.)

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