Al Capone

12 Stories

Developers Find Resistance to Tearing Down Capone House

One opponent doesn't see how a McMansion is an improvement

(Newser) - Some of the arguments about whether to tear down the old Capone place in Palm Island, Florida, sound like they could have been part of a debate about a hit a century ago in Chicago. "It's not worthy of being saved because it's lived its life,"...

Capone's Granddaughters Are Selling His Favorite Gun

They're worried that wildfires could destroy mobster's mementos

(Newser) - Would you want Al Capone’s favorite gun? Or the dapper gangster’s diamond and pearl stick pin? It’s not just a thought experiment—his granddaughters are selling off some family heirlooms. The items are pretty nice things, with dollar values inflated by the mobster cooties all over them....

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

That would be the former home of gangster Al Capone

(Newser) - 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...

Someone Paid a Pretty Penny for a Gangster's Watch

Al Capone's pocket watch went for $84K

(Newser) - Artifacts connected to some of the nation's most notorious gangsters sold for more than $100,000 at auction Saturday. A diamond pocket watch that belonged to Al Capone and was produced in Chicago in the 1920s, along with a handwritten musical composition he wrote in Alcatraz in the 1930s,...

Seeking Good PR, IRS Busted With Wrong Capone Gun

After input from readers, the IRS has gotten its story straight

(Newser) - It was a story the Internal Revenue Service needed to get right, a we-done-good look back at the 1931 conviction of legendary gangster Al Capone for tax evasion—a feat they pulled off when no one else could get him on any other charges. Hoping for some good press, the...

1930s Letter Shows Al Capone Was a Big Softie

At least when it came to his son, 'Sonny' Capone

(Newser) - 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...

Kid Spots an Error in Al Capone's Jail Cell

Radio was the wrong vintage

(Newser) - A sharp-eyed boy who collects antique radios is taking umbrage with the vintage radio on display inside gangster Al Capone's cell at a historic Philadelphia prison, reports the AP . Eastern State Penitentiary closed in 1971 and now operates as a museum and national historic landmark. Thirteen-year-old Joey Warchal took...

For Sale: Al Capone's Miami Beach Mansion

Gangster died at $8.45M Palm Island estate

(Newser) - Got $8.45 million kicking around? You could buy the Miami Beach mansion where Al Capone died—and from which he supposedly plotted the infamous 1929 Valentine's Day Massacre. Capone bought the 10,000-square-foot Palm Island mansion in 1928 for $40,000 after he was chased out of Chicago...

Chicago Gets First 'Public Enemy No. 1' Since Capone Era

Cartel boss Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman gets dubious honor

(Newser) - Authorities in Chicago are naming a drug kingpin in Mexico as the city's Public Enemy No. 1—a label first given to gangster Al Capone and one that hasn't been used since Prohibition. Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is being singled out for his role as leader of...

Old Capone Hideout for Sale
 Old Capone Hideout for Sale 
Sep 9, 2009 2:14 PM CDT

Old Capone Hideout for Sale

$2.6M gets you 407 acres and nostalgia in Wisconsin

(Newser) - For a minimum bid of $2.6 million, a remote 407-acre Wisconsin lodge where Al Capone stayed while on the lam can be yours, the Chicago Tribune reports. “Al Capone's hideout retreat,” proclaims an ad run in that paper by a small Wisconsin bank that had the luck...

8 Infamous Hotel Rooms
 8 Infamous Hotel Rooms 
TRAVEL
Jun 20, 2009 5:05 AM CDT

8 Infamous Hotel Rooms

(Newser) - Eliot Spitzer put Washington’s Renaissance Mayflower Hotel on the map with his Ashley Dupre tryst—and before Spitzer, televangelist Jim Bakker did a similar service for Florida’s Sheraton Sand Key Resort with Jessica Hahn. Travel + Leisure takes a look at a few other famous—or infamous—hotels:...

Capone's Home to Hit the Market

Owner may ask $450K for 6-bedroom split-level on Chicago's South Side

(Newser) - Al Capone’s Chicago home is expected to hit the market this spring, asking price $450,000, reports the Tribune. This piece of gangster history comes with a pretty clean record: Capone used the red-brick house, registered in his mother’s and wife’s names, as a safe haven. “...

12 Stories