Overview
The Mob Museum’s newest exhibit, The First Public Enemy, features two unique artifacts from the life and criminal empire of Al Capone.
Coinciding with America’s Prohibition Era, Capone’s nefarious activities included bootlegging, gambling and a host of other illicit rackets, all of which were marked by profound violence, exemplified by the 1929 St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Inside the new exhibit, positioned between the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre wall and ballistics evidence and the Tax Evaders display on Capone’s prosecution, visitors will learn about Capone’s 1930 designation as Public Enemy Number One.
The exhibit’s focal point is a Colt Model 1911 .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol that, according to family lore, was Capone’s favorite firearm. He is believed to have acquired the gun in the 1920s, and it remained in the Capone family until they sold it at a 2021 auction. Family members say Capone called the gun his “Sweetheart,” because it had “saved his life on multiple occasions.”
The other featured artifact is a home movie made by Capone in the spring of 1929, capturing life at his Miami Beach mansion. The movie shows two infamous guests from New York: mobsters Charles “Lucky” Luciano and Frank Costello. Capone does not appear in the movie, which was shot on 16mm film. His granddaughters believe he was running the handheld camera the whole time.
Gallery
