Al Capone's old Chicago home for sale, with hints of a secret tunnel

Before Al Capone became the most famed American gangster in history, he moved into a two-unit brownstone with his wife and mother in Chicago's Park Manor neighborhood. And now that home could be yours. 

The 2,820-square-foot space on South Prairie Avenue is on the market for $109,900. 

Built in 1905, the six-bedroom building has hardwood floors and hints of a secret tunnel that could have proved handy for the bootlegger.

"There was a tunnel that went to the house from the garage," said Ryan Smith, the Re/Max Properties agent representing the building. It likely led from a door still in the basement, he told Crain's Chicago Business, but has been filled in if so.

Capone moved into the home with his family on Aug. 8, 1923, according to a listing by Re/Max, a few years after Capone arrived in Chicago from New York to aid crime boss Johnny Torrio. 

Owned by his wife, Mae, and his mother, Theresa, the home later hosted the funeral of Frank Capone, Al Capone's brother, in 1924, the listing claims, before Theresa Capone died in the house nearly 30 years later.

"The kitchen on the first floor is probably from the '50s," Smith said. "That could have still been there when his mother lived there. That doesn't appear to have been updated at any time."

Crain's dug up old newspaper references to Capone and the house, citing a 1927 report in the Chicago Tribune claiming "Capone was virtually a prisoner in his mother's home at 7244 Prairie Avenue." A 1929 Tribune report reportedly noted the home's "soft lights and velvet rugs." 

"On November 26,1947, the ownership was transferred to Mafalda Maritote," Al Capone's sister, the building's listing states. "After Theresa's death, she sold the house on January 15,1953, to a William B. Petty."

The building's most recent owner lost it in foreclosure, according to Crain's.  

Follow Josh Hafner on Twitter: @joshhafner

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