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Geraldo Rivera uncovered ‘The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vaults’ on live television 40 years ago

Geraldo Rivera poses on the stairs heading down to the Lexington Hotel’s basement, where Al Capone supposedly kept a hidden vault. Forty years ago, millions of Americans tuned in to watch Rivera’s two-hour live television special revealing the contents of the “vault.” Steve Kagan / Getty Images
April 24, 2026

On April 21, 1986, television reporter Geraldo Rivera completed his final on-air shot in a live broadcast from the Chicago hotel where Prohibition-era Mob boss Al Capone supposedly had an underground vault. With 30 million viewers watching, the vault contained not much more than a couple of decades-old bottles and a cloud of dust. Afterward, sensing that critics would pounce, Rivera went on a bender, convinced his career was over. “He said he got tequila drunk across the street,” William Elliott Hazelgrove told The Mob Museum. Hazelgrove is the author of the newly released book, Capone’s Vault: The Real Story of the Biggest ...

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The 1863 draft riots and the birth of the New York City Police

On July 13, 1863, during the Civil War, New York City burst into flames when the federal government started a…

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Artifact Spotlight: Frank Calabrese Sr.’s handmade dictionary

“PRISON: IS WARE I AM AT,” reads an entry in the handmade dictionary of Frank Calabrese Sr., former boss of…

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Classic Mob drama ‘The Sopranos’ first aired 25 years ago

When the groundbreaking HBO series The Sopranos debuted in 1999, it was an instant hit and a critical success. It…

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They don’t just kill each other

Innocent victims of Mob violence are one of the most underreported aspects of organized crime. This is due in part…

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The Buffalo Mafia’s ill-advised art thefts

“Art Collection Is Looted; Loss Put at $1.3 million,” read a headline in the August 22, 1968, edition of the…

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Artifact Spotlight: Alternative liquor products from Prohibition

When Prohibition started on January 17, 1920, beer brewers, liquor distillers and winemakers were in a predicament. The 18th Amendment…

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‘The Green Felt Jungle,’ published 60 years ago, rattled Las Vegas

When The Green Felt Jungle was published 60 years ago, the book created a stir by detailing Mob influence and…

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