
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


In 1986, The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vaults drew a larger audience than the Super Bowl or David Frost’s interview with Richard Nixon. The special was intended as a comeback for journalist Geraldo Rivera, built around the dramatic opening of a "vault" beneath Chicago’s Lexington Hotel, rumored to contain Al Capone’s riches. But when the vault was finally opened live the moment didn’t deliver what millions of viewers were expecting.
My guest is William Hazelgrove, author of Capone’s Vault: The Real Story of the Biggest Disaster in Television History. His book traces how the idea came together, combining Rivera’s career arc with the mythology of Capone’s hidden fortune, and reconstructs the broadcast itself along with its fallout, showing how the event became a defining example of live television gone wrong.
The author's website: https://www.williamhazelgrove.com/
The author on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@williamhazelgrove
30% off sitewide at Batch! Go here and support the show: hellobatch.com/NOTORIOUS and use the code NOTORIOUS at checkout.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
By Blue Ewe Media4.7
26902,690 ratings
In 1986, The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vaults drew a larger audience than the Super Bowl or David Frost’s interview with Richard Nixon. The special was intended as a comeback for journalist Geraldo Rivera, built around the dramatic opening of a "vault" beneath Chicago’s Lexington Hotel, rumored to contain Al Capone’s riches. But when the vault was finally opened live the moment didn’t deliver what millions of viewers were expecting.
My guest is William Hazelgrove, author of Capone’s Vault: The Real Story of the Biggest Disaster in Television History. His book traces how the idea came together, combining Rivera’s career arc with the mythology of Capone’s hidden fortune, and reconstructs the broadcast itself along with its fallout, showing how the event became a defining example of live television gone wrong.
The author's website: https://www.williamhazelgrove.com/
The author on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@williamhazelgrove
30% off sitewide at Batch! Go here and support the show: hellobatch.com/NOTORIOUS and use the code NOTORIOUS at checkout.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2,535 Listeners

17,325 Listeners

34,576 Listeners

1,685 Listeners

4,070 Listeners

1,594 Listeners

1,878 Listeners

987 Listeners

3,674 Listeners

1,016 Listeners

2,931 Listeners

788 Listeners

13,595 Listeners

3,982 Listeners

10,093 Listeners