Geraldo Rivera began his career in the early 1970s as an investigative journalist.
His story about patients and students with intellectual abilities at two facilities in New York caught the attention of John Lennon, and together, Lennon and Rivera produced a benefit concert called “One to One” at Madison Square Garden in 1972.
But a more memorable television event for Rivera occurred on 21 April 1986.
Live from the defunct Lexington Hotel in Chicago, Rivera hosted the highly touted TV Special The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vault.
Between 30 and 50 million viewers tuned in to see what was in the vault that was believed to be that of the famous gangster.
What stories lie hidden among the buried tunnels and passageways of Capone’s old headquarters? Were there bodies? (the show had a medical examiner on hand in case human remains were found), Stolen money? (Internal Revenue Service Agents were also on hand), Bootleg booze?
For two hours, the team worked to break open the vault, and the anticipation was enormous. Rivera even shot a submachine gun to test its accuracy.
The buildup of the “historic two-hour live event you won’t want to miss” was long in the making, and America needed to know. What was in that vault?
In the last moments of the special, after the drama of the opening of the vault, Rivera and viewers discovered . . . there was nothing there.
The term “Al Capone’s Vault” has since come to mean any over-hyped event that leads to nothing. Rivera moved on to a talk show in 1987 that lasted more than a decade.
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What stories lie hidden among the buried tunnels and passageways of Capone’s old headquarters? Were there bodies? (the show had a medical examiner on hand in case human remains were found), Stolen money? (Internal Revenue Service Agents were also on hand), Bootleg booze?
