Capone's Vault
The Real Story of the Biggest Disaster in Television History
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Capone's Vault
Narrated by:
John Moraitis
Buy for $19.10
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Narrated by:
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John Moraitis
Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the broadcast, an inside look at the historic televised reveal of Al Capone’s vaults that would define Geraldo Rivera’s career and change television forever.
In 1986, more people watched The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vaults than either the Super Bowl or David Frost’s interview with Richard Nixon. It was a high-wire, high-reward, high-disaster broadcast that was meant to be a comeback for journalist Geraldo Rivera, who had been fired from ABC after fifteen years. On April 21,1986, at 9:15pm Eastern, Geraldo gave the signal at the midpoint of the broadcast to blow open with dynamite the subterranean vaults of the Lexington Hotel, ready to reveal to thirty million viewers at home the great secrets and treasures of legendary gangster Al Capone—but the live broadcast didn’t go to plan.
In Capone’s Vault: The Real Story of the Biggest Disaster in Television History, William Elliott Hazelgrove weaves together the stories of Geraldo Rivera’s career and the history of Al Capone, leading to the development of the infamous The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vaults broadcast. These stories merge on the night of the show with a play-by-play recalling of the disastrous two-hour program and its aftermath. The broadcast was a simple bet that Geraldo Rivera would open a vault in the basement of a nineteenth-century hotel and show the world something from Al Capone, but it would instead reveal basic truths about television that persist today. This is a wild and captivating true story for readers both new to the mystery and for those ready to relive what would be a crazy night that has defined live television for forty years.©2026 William Elliott Hazelgrove (P)2026 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
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Critic reviews
Thirty million people watched The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vaults. It is still the highest rated syndicated television show in history . . . and a moment in time that changed television forever as this book shows. (Geraldo Rivera, host, “The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vaults”)
Hazelgrove writes in a compellingly breezy style. But make no mistake, he backs that up with deep research.
We did not know what we would find in Capones' vault . . . but this book clearly shows that we found something very different than what we expected. A riveting read that I could not put down . . . and I was there! (Allan Grafman, executive producer, “The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vaults”)
Capone’s Vault (the book) turns out to be way more fun than Capone’s Vault (the vault). Crack it open and you won’t be disappointed. (Jonathan Eig, New York Times-bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner)
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