The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults

*The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults*
The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults
	Buddy Rogers; Robert St. John
Production
Producers	John Joslyn; Doug Llewelyn
Running time	120 minutes
Original release
Release	April 21, 1986

The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults is a two-hour

crime lord Al Capone, which turned out to be empty except for debris. Thirty million viewers watched, making it the "highest rated syndicated special" in history.^[1] Rivera had inadvertently launched a "no-news" form of news, where instead of reporting on news, entire programs were about possible and hypothetical news.^[1] Included in this were news channels counting down and hyping an upcoming news event, like a presidential briefing.^[1]

Background

Al Capone was born to Italian

Palm Island, Florida, from cardiac arrest after suffering a stroke a week after his 48th birthday.^[2]

Program

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]

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

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

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 autobiography

Exposing 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]

Notes

^
PBS News. Archived
from the original on October 18, 2019. Retrieved October 15, 2019.

^ "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.
^ ^a ^b ^c "When Geraldo Rivera opened Al Capone's vault, he turned nothing into ratings". The A.V. Club. 25 October 2016. Archived from the original on 21 August 2017. Retrieved 2 November 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, ...
^ "Capone Vault-Cracking An Unrewarding Blast". Toledo Blade. Archived from the original on 2020-09-02. Retrieved 2016-09-26.
^ Bailey, Moira (January 18, 1986). "Andrea Dorea: Salvaging Profit Recovered Currency Means A Nice Payoff For Filmmakers' Work". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on November 19, 2018. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
^ Ringle, Ken (October 29, 1987). "'Titanic ... Live' A Night to Forget". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 19, 2018.

External links

The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults at
IMDb

Al Capone's Vault on TV Acres. Retrieved July 8, 2006.
Geraldo Rivera Archived 2013-10-05 at the Wayback Machine on the Museum of Broadcast Communications by Susan Murray. Retrieved July 8, 2006.
The Lexington Hotel Archived 2010-12-31 at the Wayback Machine on Prairie Ghosts in 2003 by Troy Taylor. Retrieved July 8, 2006.
Official Website (archived)

[:0-1] 
PBS News. Archived
from the original on October 18, 2019. Retrieved October 15, 2019.

[cstdivill-2] "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.

[avclub-3] "When Geraldo Rivera opened Al Capone's vault, he turned nothing into ratings". The A.V. Club. 25 October 2016. Archived from the original on 21 August 2017. Retrieved 2 November 2017.

[4] 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, ...

[5] "Capone Vault-Cracking An Unrewarding Blast". Toledo Blade. Archived from the original on 2020-09-02. Retrieved 2016-09-26.

[6] Bailey, Moira (January 18, 1986). "Andrea Dorea: Salvaging Profit Recovered Currency Means A Nice Payoff For Filmmakers' Work". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on November 19, 2018. Retrieved November 19, 2018.

[TWP-7] Ringle, Ken (October 29, 1987). "'Titanic ... Live' A Night to Forget". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 19, 2018.

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