A Colt .38 'Police Positive' revolver formerly owned by notorious American gangster Al Capone sold for £67,250/$109,080/EUR 75,656, against a pre-sale estimate of £50,000-70,000 during a sale held on June 22, 2011 by Christie's in South Kensington, London.
The Colt .38 revolver was sold by a private collector, who provided an original personal letter from Madeleine Capone Morichetti, the widow of Al's brother Ralph Capone, confirming that the gun "previously belonged to and was only used by Al Capone while he was alive."
According to Colt records the pistol was produced in May, 1929, just a few months after the famous Valentine's Day massacre in Chicago when seven people were killed in a prohibition-era gunfight between gangs including that of Capone.
Capone ruled the Chicago underworld in the 1920s through racketeering and profiting from a ban on alcohol during the Prohibition period during which he amassed a fortune.
At that time, the Colt .38 was known as one of the most reliable and most easily concealed handguns available.
The handgun was offered for sale accompanied by a letter dated 1976 from his sister-in-law, categorically stating that this gun was owned and used solely by Al Capone while he was alive and on his death passed to his brother Ralph.
Capone dominated the Chicago underworld until his arrest in 1931. Jailed after his trial for tax evasion he died in 1947 but did not fail to become a legend immortalized in numerous books and films as the stereotypical mobster, wearing pinstripe suits and a tilted fedora with a cigar hanging out of his mouth.
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