Developers plan to demolish Al Capone’s Florida mansion

The mansion, on an island off Miami Beach, befitted the Prohibition-era crime leader: pearl white walls, a cabana for pool parties and a guest house for armed guards on the payroll to keep a look out for their boss, Al Capone.

In 1928, a 29-year-old Capone paid $40,000 for the house, which served, for a time, as a sunny refuge from the bitter Chicago winters. The gangster was convicted of tax evasion three years later and served 6½ years in federal prison.

After being released from Alcatraz in ill health because of paresis, a partial paralysis resulting from syphilis, he lived in the island house until his death in 1947. The onetime feared boss of the Chicago mob died of cardiac arrest in a guest room.

Now, the home in the exclusive neighborhood on Palm Island, in Biscayne Bay just west of Miami Beach, is being ticketed for the wrecking ball.

That possibility is pitting preservationists against two real estate developers who purchased the house and say the house has structural problems and, because of Capone’s violent legacy, is not worthy of saving.

The potential demolition of the house, reported by The Miami Herald, comes weeks after Capone’s granddaughters announced an auction of his belongings to be held in October, generating buzz among collectors.

A developer who owns the house said it could be sold in its current state for $16.9 million. Otherwise, he and his business partner will ask about $45 million once they build a modern twostory home with eight bedrooms and bathrooms, a Jacuzzi, a sauna and a spa.