Inside of Al Capone's Florida Estate

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Deirdre Marie Capone walking the estate grounds.

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Blog Created: 4-22-2026

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The Restoration of Al Capone's Miami Beach Mansion ~

By: David Weible, April 28, 2015. National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Prohibition is dead, gone, and if this blog is any indication, ain't coming back (thank God). But the former home of Al Capone, the Prohibition era’s most notorious bootlegger, was recently resurrected.

Al Capone’s 1922 Miami Beach mansion was bought by architecture firm MB America back in April 2014 for a cool $8 million -- actually not that bad of a price! -- and has largely been restored to its former glory.

The Colonial/Neoclassical hybrid property on Miami Beach’s Palm Island waterfront was built in 1922 and bought by Capone in ’28 for $40,000. The 6,000-foot main villa is accompanied by a two-story cabana on the property’s waterfront and a gatehouse on the street, as Capone wanted protection from both directions. The notorious gangster passed away in the gatehouse’s second-floor master bedroom in 1947.

The property also includes a pond with a lighthouse and a bridge made of red coral –- because why not, right?

Restoration work started in December 2014 and will finish early this summer, in time for Miami Beach’s centennial celebration. The total price tag will be somewhere in the $2 million range.

Work on the main house started from the bottom -- it took 10 days to pump water out from around the structure’s support pylons. Efforts then moved to the first floor where the layout and spaces were kept intact. Of special importance was refurbishing the house’s original light fixtures and its first-floor bathroom, complete with tiles, toilet, and sink from the Capone era.

Another critical point of the restoration, according to MB America, was to find a balance between bringing the structures up to modern building codes and respecting the site’s history, flavor, and look -- inside and out.

MB America went to great lengths to preserve the property’s historic landscaping. To avoid the impact of heavy machinery on the grounds, much of the restoration work was done by hand.

The site’s original pool -- once one of the largest in South Florida -- also remains, though its water level no longer rises and falls with the tide.

The two-story pool cabana is on the edge of Biscayne Bay. A spiral staircase leads to the top floor which comprises two, mirror-image large rooms -- one bedroom and one full bathroom.

A few items still remain on the to-do list, including the reconstruction of what was once a large dock servicing the property. Once the finishing touches are complete, the house and grounds, now known as 93 Palm, will be leased out for photo shoots and film productions.

Given its new use, my only question is ... Where was this restoration back in 1998?!

David Weible was the content specialist at the National Trust, previously with Preservation and Outside magazines. His interest in historic preservation was inspired by the ‘20s-era architecture, streetcar neighborhoods, and bars of his hometown of Cleveland.

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Look Inside the Restored Mansion Where Al Capone Lived and Died ~

A property firm just renovated the infamous gangster’s Florida estate after it had fallen into disrepair. Here’s what the lavish home looks like now.

By Michele Lent Hirsch, smithsonian.com, May 29, 2015.

While the most spectacular gangland slaying in mob history was going down in Chicago,” Ron Chepesiuk writes in Gangsters of Miami, Al Capone was 1,300 miles away, throwing a party at his mansion in Florida. It was a perfect alibi, Chepesiuk writes, as Capone’s buddies in 1929 Chicago machine-gunned their rivals. Now, 86 years following the so-called St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, the party-filled Capone mansion is sparkling once more after a property investment firm has restored it.

The mob boss bought his home on Miami Beach’s Palm Island waterfront the year before the massacre, in 1928. He laid down $40,000 for a 6,000-foot main villa, then spent another $200,000 to build a gatehouse facing the street, a seven-foot-high wall, search lights, a coral rock grotto and a cabana facing the water. According to Preservation Nation, Capone wanted protection on both sides of the estate.

Last year, a firm called MB America shelled out $8 million to buy the property, which had fallen into disrepair. After 10 days of pumping water out from around the supporting pylons, the firm’s team began to fix up the buildings and rooms, and to protect the historic property, did most of the restoration work by hand. The firm recently announced that the estate will be available for video and photo shoots—and it’ll make quite the backdrop.

In Capone’s day, the gigantic pool rose and fell with the tide. Today, the water level is no longer tied to the ocean, but the swimming area is otherwise dazzling again. There’s also a pond with a lighthouse, bridge and small cave made of red coral—something most people probably don’t have in their backyard.

The property's small bridge, lighthouse, and grotto are all made from red coral.

But despite its sumptuously appointed grounds, the resplendent home didn’t always see good times for its owner. For the better part of the decade between 1929 and 1939, Capone bounced between several prisons, including Alcatraz. Meanwhile, the syphilis he’d contracted years before started to get worse—bad enough that when he was released from Alcatraz, he immediately entered a hospital for brain treatment. When he finally returned to Florida, the man who is synonymous with Prohibition-era violence was far from the vigorous gangster we picture. The flashy, vicious Scarface who enjoyed the spotlight was losing his faculties. By 1938, PBS writes, he was exhibiting dementia.

Al Capone.

The city of Miami Beach had so feared the violence and corruption that swirled around the gangster that they sued Capone after he arrived in Florida, calling his new home “a menace to the safety and well-being of residents.” But in his last few years, Capone’s mental state was in serious decline. He died on the property in 1947, no longer the head of a crime empire.

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A gangster's paradise: Al Capone's Florida mansion undergoes $1.75m renovation to restore estate ~

By ASSOCIATED PRESS, PUBLISHED: 16:07 EST, 18 March 2015 | UPDATED: 21:22 EST, 18 March 2015.

The waterfront South Florida mansion gangster Al Capone bought as a family retreat in 1928 is being restored to its Prohibition-era opulence and beginning what the property's new managers said Wednesday is a new chapter as a sun-splashed site for video and photo shoots.

The site is actually a collection of three houses: a gate house, a main villa and a cabana overlooking a large pool on one side and Biscayne Bay on the other. Marco Bruzzi, co-founder and chief executive officer of the MB America property investment company, said the purchase price was more than $8 million, with an additional $1.75 million in renovations ongoing.

As many 1920s touches as possible are being kept, including some original light fixtures and a red coral bridge over an outdoor pond. It will have a new name: 93 Palm.

'It's important to keep the same look for the property,' Bruzzi said.

FAMILY THING

Deirdre Marie Capone, grandniece of Al, rode her first bike at the mansion and learned to swim in the Miami Beach property's 30-by-60-foot swimming pool — at the time the largest private pool in the area.

Deirdre Marie Capone with her book.

She remembers Uncle Al as a family man who wore aprons when he cooked, far from his popular image as a violent bootlegger and vicious mobster that she says was partly a creation of Hollywood filmmakers.

Her grandfather, Al's older brother and business partner, was Ralph 'Bottles' Capone. At the mansion unveiling, Deirdre Capone displayed copies of her book about the family and said a movie version is in the works.

CAPONE'S MIAMI

Al Capone paid $40,000 for the mansion in 1928, and often spent the colder Chicago months there. It's protected by a 7-foot wall and heavy gate, and still retains Art Deco features such as a gold-and-black powder room, fireplaces and ceiling lights dated to 1921.

Powder room.

Paul George, history professor at Miami-Dade College, said Capone loved to shop and hit the nightclubs, as well as the local horse and greyhound tracks.

The local authorities were not happy to have him around. They arrested Capone several times on charges ranging from vagrancy — for not disclosing the sources of his income — to perjury for his complaints about police treatment. He always beat the rap, George said.

ST. VALENTINE'S DAY MASSACRE

Capone is widely believed to have ordered the infamous February 14, 1929 killings of seven associates of a Chicago gang headed by Capone rival, Bugs Moran.

Capone, however, had an alibi: he was in Miami at the time. George, the historian, said Capone made sure to be seen in public that day during an appointment with a lawyer and the next day at a horse track.

PRISON AND RETURN

The feds finally caught up with Capone in 1931, when he was charged with tax evasion. He was eventually convicted and sentenced to 11 years in prison, much of which he spent at Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay. Capone was finally released a few years early in 1938 and returned to the mansion in Miami Beach, where he would live out the rest of his days.

CAPONE'S END

Capone had contracted syphilis as a young man at a Chicago brothel and never had it treated. As the years wore on, George said he began to suffer from dementia related to the disease and became progressively weaker. He suffered a stroke and died on January 25, 1947 at the age of 48. Deirdre Capone, now 75, was there.

MANSION RESTORATION

MB America architect Monica Melotti said the mansion was falling apart when it was purchased, including rotting stucco outside and wood flooring beginning to cave in. Mud and water were piled up under the foundations.

After everything was cleaned out, the company installed a new drainage system, replaced many beams and the roof, and put in a ventilation system.

Melotti said the entire structure was brought up to code, including required hurricane protections. But it still has 1920s touches such as original window glass.

The new owner hopes to cash in on the Capone mystique by renting out the renovated mansion for commercial, video, photo and movie sets.

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In order to protect the property's historic landscaping, most of the restoration work was done by hand instead of with machines.

Architects worked to balance the historic character of the property with modern building codes.

Master bedroom under renovation.

Capone's estate at the time that he lived there.

Deirdre Marie Capone walking the estate grounds.

Miami-Dade College, Professor of History Paul S. George, right, gives a brief history of the historic waterfront mansion.

Stairway entrance to one of the bedrooms at the mansion.

The two-story pool cabana is on the edge of Biscayne Bay. A spiral staircase leads to the top floor which comprises two, mirror-image large rooms -- one bedroom and one full bathroom.

The bathroom in the pool cabana.

Spiral staircase of the pool cabana.

A television reporter poses for a selfie by the pool of Al Capone's former home.

The property's small bridge, lighthouse, and grotto are all made from red coral.

A view of the home from the lush palm-lined grounds.

A walkway leads down to the pool and a small beach area.

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Al Capone's mug shots.

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