50 Photos of Real-Life Gangster Homes and Hideouts

Al Capone’s Miami mansion

Al Capone, boss of the Chicago Outfit, otherwise known as the South Side Gang, made most of his money bootlegging booze. Based in the Windy City, Capone had a habit of leaving town to avoid both his enemies and the cops, and at the height of his power in 1928, he bought a spectacular villa on Palm Island, in Miami’s South Beach.

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Al Capone’s Miami mansion

Capone paid $40,000 for the 30,000-square-foot estate, around $589,000 in today’s money. The security-conscious hoodlum reportedly spent $200,000 on added security extras, which is about $2.9 million when adjusted for inflation. These included the installation of a seven-foot-high wall complete with searchlights, as well as a gatehouse, cabana and grotto.

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Al Capone’s Miami mansion

The gangster was at his Miami retreat when the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre occurred on 14 February 1929, which took out five members of arch-rival Bugs Moran’s gang and two affiliate members. A few months later in May of the same year, Capone was imprisoned for nine months in Philadelphia for carrying a concealed weapon, then jailed again for seven years in 1931 over tax evasion charges.

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Al Capone’s Miami mansion

Capone was released from Alcatraz in 1939. Seriously ill with late-stage syphilis, he spent the last years of his life with his devoted wife Mae at the Miami mansion, where he died in 1947.

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Al Capone’s Miami mansion

Mae Capone eventually sold the four-bedroom property in 1952. It was on the market last year with an asking price of $14.9 million after undergoing extensive renovations by MB America. The mansion retains some of its original Art Deco features, including a swish powder room and tiled fireplaces.

© EWM Realty International