al capone

Al Capone's Gun Up For Sale

Recently we featured a drug kingpin's diamond-covered guns on this site but if you'd like something with a little more history for your own collection the silver-plated Colt .38 Special Al Capone bought in 1939 is up for grabs. The gun is for sale for $95,000 on MomentsInTime.com.

The listing says that Capone's personal Colt Police Positive .38 Special revolver has the Colt logo stamped on the left side, with factory-original wood grips with Colt logos in relief. The gun was manufactured in 1939, the year Capone was released from federal prison. It comes from estate of Ralph "Bottles" Capone (1893-1974). Ralph was never a big-time Chicago mobster like his brother but he did serve time for the same crime his brother went to prison for, income tax evasion. His nickname "Bottles" came from a business he ran distributing bottled water in Chicago. The brothers were close and Ralph was entrusted with some of Al's possessions, including his rosary, baptismal medal, and this pistol. After Ralph's death per the terms of his will, the gun was given to longtime friend Edmund Koeski in 1976.

Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone is one of the most notorious gangsters this country has ever seen. He led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate that was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor as well as gambling and other illegal activities in Chicago during the1920s. As was dramatized in movies including "The Untouchables," Bureau of Prohibition agent Eliot Ness went after Capone, closing down many of the breweries and speakeasies Capone owned. In 1931 Capone was indicted for income tax evasion and various violations of the Volstead Act and served time at Alcatraz among other places. He was paroled in 1939, which is when he picked up this gun and moved to his home in Palm Island, Florida. He died in 1947.

[via NY Post]

Tags: al capone, colt gun, colt pistol, gun, guns, mobster, moments in time

Al Capone's Wisconsin Hideout Up For Auction

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions

Al Capone's "hideout retreat" in Wisconsin, which has most recently been a restaurant and bar, will be put up for sale with a minimum bid of $2.5 million. The retreat located in the Northwoods of Wisconsin near Couderay spans 407 acres and has its own private lake.

The fieldstone lodge was owned Capone in the 1920s and 1930s during Prohibition and the property is said to have been used as a place where liquor was flown in on planes that landed on the lake. The bootlegged booze was then trucked to Chicago. Chippewa Valley Bank acquired the property after foreclosing on the owner last year. On October 8th the bank will auction off the property which also includes a bunkhouse, caretaker's residences, guard tower and other outbuildings.

[Thanks, Gregg]

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Tags: al capone, AlCapone, the hideout, TheHideout, wisconsin

Templeton Small Batch Rye Whiskey

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Spirits

Templeton Rye, a small batch rye whiskey from Iowa, has quite an interesting history; it was first introduced in the 1920s and was made illegally throughout the Prohibition Era. During that time Templeton was at the center of Al Capone's bootlegging empire, and was even shipped to him during his imprisonment at Alcatraz.

The end of the Prohibition came in 1933, but the production of Templeton Rye continued, and the whiskey has only been made privately and in small quantities for loyal patrons since. Templeton Rye launched its first legal product in 2006, and is currently only available in Illinois and Iowa, though that will hopefully change soon.

Following the Prohibition Era recipe, Templeton is aged for more than four years in charred new white oak barrels. While a rye whiskey must by definition be made from a mash containing at least 51% rye, Templeton is made from a mash of more than 90% rye. As the bottle says, it makes for "a smooth finish and a clean getaway."

The unique whiskey presents a rye spiciness and almost bittersweet taste that is found in the rye grain, along with notes of dried fruit, toffee, caramel and allspice. Texturally, the deep amber-colored whiskey is thick and almost chewy. The mellow, yet complex rye has a clean, spicy finish. The rye taste mixed with spiciness and sweet undertones are well balanced, a sign of careful aging.

Tags: Al Capone, AlCapone, Iowa, Prohibition, rye, Templeton Rye, TempletonRye, whiskey, whisky

Al Capone's Florida House For Sale

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

I love a house with a dark past, so news that Al Capone's Florida house is for sale caught my attention. Capone's winter home is selling for $6.8 million and it's a fixer-upper in need of love. The current owner has lived there for 35 years (he bought it for $56,000) and the walls are cracking, the plumbing is vintage and there is no air conditioning. The Miami Herald reports that the home was originally built for Clarence Busch of the Anheuser-Busch brewing dynasty and sold to Capone in 1928 for $40,000. The home has all sorts of Art Deco details and is a decent deal considering the real estate prices in Miami Beach which is why it looks like it has already been sold. A quick jaunt over to Majestic Properties reveals that the home is listed as pending. You can get an interior peek at the home (oh yes, it's dated all right) through this story done by the Local 10 news station.

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Tags: al capone, celebrity real estate, florida real estate, luxury real estate, real estate, RealEstate