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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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When the Mob owned a minor-league hockey team

Standing up to a reputed Mob associate was a part of Richard Brosal’s job 15 years ago. As commissioner of…

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Capone tax evasion trial: Jury finds Chicago mobster guilty on 5 of 23 counts

Last of two parts. On October 10, 1931, a Saturday, the prosecution read into the record Al Capone’s admissions to…

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Capone tax evasion trial: 90 years ago, the T-Men had the goods on Mob chief

First of two parts. Spectators gathered outside each doorway to the U.S. District Court building in Chicago in the fall…

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The world’s top five organized crime rackets

Online display ads on your computer and apps on your smart phone might include malware linked to a truly modern…

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‘The Many Saints of Newark’ brings ‘Sopranos’ saga to the big screen

From his work infiltrating real-life Soprano-type mobsters in New Jersey, former FBI task force undercover officer Giovanni Rocco knows “the…

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The fall of Murder Inc.

It was the most brutal collection of bloodthirsty characters ever produced by organized crime in America. Murder Inc.’s inception, activities…

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New John Gotti movie in the works

When Paul Castellano and a top aide were ambushed outside a New York City restaurant on December 16, 1985, a…

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