The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults is a two-hour live American television special that was broadcast in syndication on April 21, 1986, and hosted by Geraldo Rivera. It centered on the live opening of a walled-off underground room in the Lexington Hotel in Chicago once owned by crime lordAl Capone, which turned out to be empty except for debris. Thirty million viewers watched, making it the highest rated syndicated special in history.[1]
Capone had previously housed his headquarters at the Metropole Hotel in Chicago, but in July 1928, moved to a suite at the nearby Lexington Hotel. Capone ran his various enterprises from this hotel until his arrest in 1931. A construction company in the 1980s planned a renovation of the Lexington Hotel, and while surveying the building had discovered a number of walled-off subterranean chambers on the property.[3]
Geraldo Rivera had been fired from ABC in 1985 after criticizing the network for canceling a report on the relationship between John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe.[4] He then hosted the specialThe Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults which was broadcast live on April 21, 1986. The two-hour special (including commercials) was greatly hyped as potentially revealing great riches or dead bodies on live television. This included the presence of a medical examiner should bodies be found, and agents from the Internal Revenue Service to collect any of Capone's money that might be discovered.[3]
When the vault was finally opened, the only things found inside were dirt and several empty bottles, including one Rivera claimed was for moonshinebathtub gin. After several attempts to dig further into the vault, Rivera admitted defeat and voiced his disappointment to the viewers, apologizing as he thanked the excavation team for their efforts. Although it gathered criticism and became infamous for its disappointing ending, the program was the most-watched syndicated television special that year with an estimated audience of 30 million.[3] After the show, Rivera was quoted as saying "Seems like we struck out".[5]
Geraldo said on the April 20, 2016, edition of the Fox News Channel program The Five that he went right across the street and got "tequila drunk" after the special aired, then went back to his hotel room and put the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door. However, in his 1991 autobiographyExposing Myself, he wrote, regarding the event, "My career was not over, I knew, but had just begun. And all because of a silly, high-concept stunt that failed to deliver on its titillating promise."
Similar events
This was not the first time a vault was opened on live TV: in 1984, a safe recovered from the shipwreck SS Andrea Doria was opened. During the broadcast, all that was revealed were a few silver certificates floating at the top of the waterlogged safe. Peter Gimbel, who recovered the safe and arranged the TV event, said the media "felt ripped off because there wasn't a treasure".[6]
On October 28, 1987, actor Telly Savalas hosted Return to the Titanic Live, a two-hour television special broadcast from Paris. The special was also produced by John Joslyn, who also produced The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults. [7]
Reception
In 2023, Rolling Stone listed the special as one of the worst decisions in television history.[8]
^"Al Capone dies in Florida villa". Chicago Sunday Tribune. Associated Press. January 26, 1947. p. 1. Archived from the original on October 29, 2017. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
^Grove, Lloyd (December 12, 1997). "Geraldo's Makeover". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 29, 2018. Retrieved July 29, 2018. In 1985, though, he clashed publicly with Arledge over the latter's decision to kill Sylvia Chase's report on (Arledge's friends) the Kennedys and Marilyn Monroe. Arledge demanded Rivera's resignation, ...