Art Doc
SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
Pretty showy. Figured he'd have a snub but no.
Al Capone's 38 S&W
- Thread starter Art Doc
- Start date
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I think we can make a sure bet on the fact that that was not the only gun that Al Capone owned (it does say that he asked his friend to buy him "some guns") and that snubbies were included, maybe shotguns and Tommy guns, too. Although he didn't have a problem using a baseball bat to get the job done, either.
But a showy gun like, NO SURPRISE at all!
But where did you see this? You left out that detail!
But a showy gun like, NO SURPRISE at all!
But where did you see this? You left out that detail!
Well, Capone was a "flashy" guy.
What I find strange:
.38 S&W? I would expect at least .38 Spl or bigger.
Seized in 2004???? What's their proof of provenance? Not disputing. Just would like to know. Was it lettered directly to him?
What I find strange:
.38 S&W? I would expect at least .38 Spl or bigger.
Seized in 2004???? What's their proof of provenance? Not disputing. Just would like to know. Was it lettered directly to him?
Looks like a pimp gun. He started out working for Johnnie Torrio as a pimp. There is a certain logic to it. Maybe Geraldo found it in the vault and has been hiding it all this time.
details,details...details,
The .38 revolver was manufactured by Smith & Wesson in 1925. It was shipped from the factory and sold by Wolf & Klar Company, a gun dealer in Fort Worth, Texas. Wolf & Klar was known for installing pearl grips on the revolvers it sold.
Capone, the boss of the Chicago Outfit, obtained the gun in 1928 while he was living part time in a palatial estate in Miami Beach. While there, Capone decided he needed some extra firepower for protection. He had a friend, hotel manager Parker Henderson Jr., purchase six revolvers and six shotguns from a Miami pawn shop, which had procured them from Wolf & Klar.
Later that year, one of the shotguns and two of the revolvers were recovered from an abandoned car believed to have been used by the gunmen responsible for the murder of Brooklyn crime kingpin Frankie Yale, Capone’s former employer. Historians have long suspected that Capone orchestrated Yale’s murder.
Capone was arrested in Miami that year on a minor charge. While searching his house, police confiscated the pearl-handled .38 revolver that was among those Henderson had purchased for him.
The revolver would change hands several times over the ensuing decades. A police captain involved in Capone’s arrest sometime later gave the pistol to a tour bus operator named James Campbell. Campbell had been paying the captain in order to park his tour bus in prime locations, and the captain gave him the gun as a gift.
Campbell later moved to Grosse Point Park, Michigan, where he rented out apartments, including one to a man named Warren Hogancamp starting in 1954. Hogancamp did odd jobs for Campbell and became like a son to him. Around 1959 Campbell gave the gun to Hogancamp as a gift and told him the story of how he had received it.
Hogancamp moved to Kentucky in 1965. He sold the gun in 2003 to a man named Billy Clayton, who operated an illegal gambling business in Mayfield, Kentucky. IRS Criminal Investigation agents raided Clayton’s operation in 2004 and seized the gun.
IRS CI – the same federal law enforcement agency responsible for busting Capone for tax evasion – has had the revolver ever since.
Jeff Burbank is a content development specialist for The Mob Museum. Contact him at [email protected]
The .38 revolver was manufactured by Smith & Wesson in 1925. It was shipped from the factory and sold by Wolf & Klar Company, a gun dealer in Fort Worth, Texas. Wolf & Klar was known for installing pearl grips on the revolvers it sold.
Capone, the boss of the Chicago Outfit, obtained the gun in 1928 while he was living part time in a palatial estate in Miami Beach. While there, Capone decided he needed some extra firepower for protection. He had a friend, hotel manager Parker Henderson Jr., purchase six revolvers and six shotguns from a Miami pawn shop, which had procured them from Wolf & Klar.
Later that year, one of the shotguns and two of the revolvers were recovered from an abandoned car believed to have been used by the gunmen responsible for the murder of Brooklyn crime kingpin Frankie Yale, Capone’s former employer. Historians have long suspected that Capone orchestrated Yale’s murder.
Capone was arrested in Miami that year on a minor charge. While searching his house, police confiscated the pearl-handled .38 revolver that was among those Henderson had purchased for him.
The revolver would change hands several times over the ensuing decades. A police captain involved in Capone’s arrest sometime later gave the pistol to a tour bus operator named James Campbell. Campbell had been paying the captain in order to park his tour bus in prime locations, and the captain gave him the gun as a gift.
Campbell later moved to Grosse Point Park, Michigan, where he rented out apartments, including one to a man named Warren Hogancamp starting in 1954. Hogancamp did odd jobs for Campbell and became like a son to him. Around 1959 Campbell gave the gun to Hogancamp as a gift and told him the story of how he had received it.
Hogancamp moved to Kentucky in 1965. He sold the gun in 2003 to a man named Billy Clayton, who operated an illegal gambling business in Mayfield, Kentucky. IRS Criminal Investigation agents raided Clayton’s operation in 2004 and seized the gun.
IRS CI – the same federal law enforcement agency responsible for busting Capone for tax evasion – has had the revolver ever since.
Jeff Burbank is a content development specialist for The Mob Museum. Contact him at [email protected]
Absalom
SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
...
What I find strange:
.38 S&W? I would expect at least .38 Spl or bigger.
....
It is not a .38 S&W calibered revolver. Other pictures quite clearly show the Special on the barrel.
The sources simply reference a .38 Smith & Wesson revolver the way we reference a .38 M&P, with no statement implied which .38 caliber is meant.
DWalt
Member
I seem to remember a previous thread about this gun.
Oh, but it gets better still:
Al Capone gun mix-up embarrasses the IRS | Las Vegas Review-Journal
Al Capone gun mix-up embarrasses the IRS | Las Vegas Review-Journal
