Geraldo Rivera uncovered ‘The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vaults’ on live television 40 years ago
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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Alleged former Philadelphia Mafia boss Joey Merlino rebrands himself as restaurant owner
Joey Merlino, a 63-year-old convicted felon and reputed former Philadelphia Mafia boss, has become a social media personality while also…
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Grounded in history, ‘Mafia: The Old Country’ is a game you can’t refuse
The Mob movie may be experiencing a lull, evident by the lukewarm receptions to this year’s The Alto Knights and Mob Cops,…
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Owen Hanson goes from cartel kingpin to selling frozen protein bars
At one time Owen Hanson, a former University of Southern California national championship football player, was making millions as a…
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‘Dr. Death,’ notorious Detroit contract killer, committed first murder 70 years ago
The shooting death of 43-year-old Luther Mixon on July 1, 1955, landed Chester Wheeler Campbell, 24, and two accomplices in…
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Chicago Outfit boss Sam Giancana killed 50 years ago
Late in the evening of June 19, 1975, Sam “Momo” Giancana was cooking in his basement apartment, presumably for a…
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Lefty Rosenthal’s alleged sports-fixing past recalled in national sports story
In the 1970s, Mickey Bruce, a former University of Oregon football player, was called to Nevada to testify against Mob…
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Las Vegas casino pioneer a footnote in Southern California slaying
A high-profile murder in 1950s Southern California at the former home of a Las Vegas casino operator led to the…
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