The public will soon be able to see Al Capone’s beloved Colt .45 pistol.
The Mob Museum in Las Vegas announced Tuesday that it had acquired the pistol that the notorious mobster called “Sweetheart.” Capone credited the gun with saving his life.
The museum said it received the gun “through the considerable generosity of a private contributor” who wanted the gun to be seen by the public.
It’s unclear if the contributor was the same anonymous buyer who paid $1 million at auction in 2021.
It’s also unclear what, if anything, the museum paid for it.
A museum spokesperson declined to say.
The pistol was first sold by the Capone family in 2021. It drew the highest price among several pieces of memorabilia auctioned in an estate sale then. The starting bid for the pistol was $50,000, and it sold for $1 million.
At the time, it was one of the most expensive 20th century guns sold at auction. The rest of Capone’s personal effects sold the same day for $3.1 million, including another of his Colt handguns, which went for $242,000.
Capone’s “Sweetheart” pistol was put up for auction again this year and was expected to fetch up to $3 million. But the seller pulled the item after bids topped out at $885,000.
It was a disappointing showing for the pistol. Since the 2021 auction, other historically significant guns have garnered higher prices.
A pair of Ulysses S. Grant’s pistols were sold at auction in Rock Island for nearly $5.2 million in 2022. The gun used to kill outlaw Billy the Kid was auctioned for $6 million in 2021.
According to the museum, upon Capone’s death in 1947 the Colt .45 passed to his wife, Mae. It then went to their son, Albert “Sonny” Capone. After his death in 2004, the pistol was passed to his daughters Diane and Barbara. The daughters sold the pistol in the 2021 auction, the first time a weapon of Capone’s was sold outside the family, the museum said.
The museum, which already has a wall dedicated to the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, did not say when it plans to begin displaying the firearm.
Contributing: Violet Miller