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Al Capone’s “sweetheart” gun is up for auction again — and it could sell for over $2 million
A pistol that the notorious Prohibition-era gangster Al Capone nicknamed “sweetheart” is once again up for auction. This time, prospective buyers can place bids in South Carolina on the weapon that Capone’s family members credit with routinely protecting his life, after a Greenville-based auction house acquired what is now considered by some to be an iconic collectible.
The winning bid for Capone’s pistol is expected to come at an exorbitant cost. Richmond Auctions will host a round of bidding on the gun next month, estimated that the final price will land somewhere between $2 and $3 million. Their auction on May 18 will take place less than three years after it sold for just over $1 million at another auction in California. Bidding starts at $500,000.
The .45 Colt semi-automatic pistol was manufactured in 1911 and became one of Capone’s most prized possessions when he rose to infamy as a seemingly untouchable Chicago crime boss during the 1920s. According to the FBI, Capone’s legacy includes a litany of criminal accusations involving gambling, prostitution, bootlegging, bribery, drug trafficking, robbery, racketeering and murder. It is believed that Capone, who was sometimes known as “Scarface,” was behind the brutal St. Valentine’s Day massacre in 1929.
AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File
He evaded law enforcement for years before eventually being convicted of multiple charges related to tax evasion and prohibition violations in 1931. He ultimately servied roughly seven and a half years in federal prison in Atlanta and at the notorious Alcatraz penitentiary off the coast of San Francisco. Capone’s health deteriorated during the incarceration, and he died in 1947 at 48 years old.
The mobster’s .45 pistol, supposedly his “favorite” gun, was turned over to his wife, Mae Capone, historians say. She handed it down to their son, Sonny Capone, who in turn left it to his daughters Diane and Barbara Capone following his own death in 2004.
Al Capone’s granddaughters initially put the pistol up for auction in 2021, alongside about 200 of their grandfather’s personal belongings. Witherell’s auction house, based in Sacramento, facilitated the bidding on a broad range of items Capone had owned during his life that by then were part of his estate, including jewelry, watches and numerous weapons of varying types. The .45, which sold in the end for hundreds of thousands of dollars more than anticipated, went to a private collector.
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
“This gun was kind of his protection and I think it saved his life on a number of occasions and so he called it his sweetheart,” said Diane Capone during an interview with CBS News ahead of that auction. She said that as far as she knew, her grandfather carried the pistol with him everywhere he went.
Critics have denounced the family’s decision to auction off items from Capone’s estate, and for turning a profit considering the gangster had a hand in many violent and deadly crimes during his reign in Chicago. But others point to the historical significance of Capone’s belongings in the present day, and especially that of his treasured “sweetheart” pistol.
“This particular Colt 1911 is more than just a firearm. It’s a relic of an era marked by lawlessness and larger-than-life personalities,” said Kimmie Williams, a firearms specialist at Richmond Auctions, in a statement. “Its profound connection to Al Capone adds an extra layer of allure, making it a must-have and trump-card for any world-class collector.”
A tornado touched down in the Northern California town of Scotts Valley near Santa Cruz Saturday afternoon, flipping cars and knocking down power lines, according to authorities.
Scotts Valley is a small town about six miles north of Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz County a short distance off of State Highway 17.
The incident happened at around 1:40 p.m. around the 200 block Mount Hermon Drive. Scotts Valley police initially posted an alert on social media advising residents to avoid the area following a multi-vehicle accident that had multiple power lines down and completely blocked the road in all directions.
Police later posted an update saying that witnesses reported it was not an accident “but rather a possible tornado” that touched down near the Target store at 270 Mount Hermon Drive “and threw multiple cars off the road.”
Police did not provide any specific details on injuries.
The National Weather Service had issued an severe thunderstorm warning in the area a short time before the tornado.
Severe Thunderstorm Warning continues for Scotts Valley CA, Capitola CA and Soquel CA until 2:00 PM PST pic.twitter.com/guLKEZRLeJ
— NWS Bay Area 🌉 (@NWSBayArea) December 14, 2024
A later post on X by the Bay Area office of the National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado had occurred based on “video, photos, firsthand accounts, and radar signatures”
The post noted that a NWS Survey team will further investigate the incident to provide a ranking.
The tornado was just the latest extreme wind event connected to the powerful storm that passed through Northern California overnight. The first-ever tornado warning in San Francisco was issued by the National Weather Service early Saturday morning shortly before 6 a.m., alarming residents with a cell phone alert that woke many people up, according to reports on social media.
While that tornado did not materialize, high winds were causing impacts across the region, including a city-wide power outage in the North Bay city of Novato and a full closure of Interstate 580 in both directions at the San Joaquin and Alameda county line after a multiple-vehicle collision involving a big rig due to high winds.
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San Francisco residents were woken up by a tornado warning early Saturday morning during a powerful storm system that battered the region with heavy rain and wind.
It was the first-ever tornado warning for San Francisco, but not the first tornado, cited CBS News Bay Area meteorologist Paul Heggen.
The National Weather Service issued the warning for northern San Mateo County and parts of downtown San Francisco, just before 6 a.m. until 6:15 a.m.
According to the NWS, there was a cyclonic signature on the radar that had produced enough rotation signature to prompt the warning.
“The radar scan at 5:52am clearly shows a “hook echo” offshore — that’s the signature we look for to identify a developing tornado. This feature was embedded within a broad area of very heavy rain, but it still stands out,” Heggen explained.
Notice the cloud-to-ground (well, cloud-to-ocean) lightning strike near the hook echo. That confirms the instability present in the atmosphere — such strikes are only possible with enough vertical motion to separate charged particles (“hydrometeors”) within the storm. 4/15 pic.twitter.com/NY3RSewd6j
— Paul Heggen @paulkpix.bsky.social (@PaulKPIX) December 14, 2024
The NWS Bay Area said the warning was over for San Francisco at 6:07 a.m. And let the tornado warning expire at 6:15 a.m.
The warning led to a flurry of social media posts from residents who were woken up by the alert on their cell phones. It was being reported as the first-ever tornado warning issued for San Francisco.
There was also a special alert issued for a possible water spout on San Francisco Bay in the area of the Bay Bridge that expired ten minutes after the tornado warning.
While the strongest part of the system has passed, isolated severe thunderstorms remain possible for parts of the Bay Area through the morning, the National Weather Service said.
The risk of a severe storm is marginal, and the NWS said it will only last through Saturday morning. According to PG&E, the storm conditions caused power outages for thousands of people in the Bay Area.
