A blast from the past!
Workers at a Chicago distillery that allegedly once operated as a speakeasy under crime boss Al Capone have discovered a well-preserved pistol hidden inside its walls, according to multiple reports.
Andrew Howell, founder of the Dead Drops Spirit restaurant at the Thornton Distillery Company, said a 1908 Colt pistol and its holster were found inside a hidden duct in the brewery’s catacombs, Fox 32 reported.
The chrome-plated weapon was fully loaded at the time of discovery, Howell said, and the gun is a dead-ringer for Colt pistols favored by Capone and his men.
“We’re just trying to learn more about it. We know it’s a Capone-era pistol, and it’s associated with some of those folks from those days,” Howell told the local Fox station.
Ari Klafter, the head distiller at the brewery, said there were always folk tales shared around at the distillery about what went on during Capone’s days in the 1920s.
“It was taken over by Capone and the Chicago syndicate, and that’s the time it seems this firearm was from,” Klafter told WGN.
“We always heard stories and lore, ‘You know that underground catacomb is where Capone would take people’ … we always took that with a little grain of salt because there’s only so much history we can look up from that area,” he added.
“But actually seeing this, from that era, kind of breathes new life into some of those stories we’ve been hearing for years.”
The Thornton Distillery Company is home to the oldest standing former brewery in all of Illinois.
The catacomb currently serves as the distillery’s Artisan Well, a popular spot for customers to take pictures at.
After alerting police to their discovery, Howell said the weapon did not match any gun in the cops’ systems.
The weapon was cleared and given to the brewery.
Howell said he was working to get the gun fully restored to its original condition so it can be placed alongside other collectibles on display at the Thornton Distillery.
