Overview

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.

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Reviews

Thirty million people watched The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vault. 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 Vault” 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 Vault”

Author Information

William Elliott Hazelgrove is the national bestselling author of ten novels and fourteen narrative nonfiction titles. His books have received starred reviews in Publisher Weekly, Kirkus, Booklist, Book of the Month Selections, Distinguished Book Award, ALA Editor’s Choice Awards Junior Library Guild Selections, Literary Guild Selections, History Book Club Selections, and optioned for the movies. He was the Ernest Hemingway Writer in Residence where he wrote in the attic of Ernest Hemingway's birthplace. He has written articles and reviews for USA Today, The Smithsonian Magazine, Daily Mail UK, and other publications and has been featured on NPR's All Things Considered. The New York Times, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, CSPAN, Variety, and USA Today have all covered his books with features. His books Tobacco Sticks, The Pitcher, Real Santa, and Madam President have been optioned for screen and television rights. Most recently, Dead Air: The Night Orson Welles Terrified America (Rowman & Littlefield) received a Booklist starred review and reviews in Publisher’s Weekly, The Wall Street Journal, New York Review of Books, Associated Press, and more. He resides in Illinois.

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