This crazy Illinois story involves a baseball announcer legend, a famous mobster, and a building with hundreds of secrets and underground tunnels.

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Chicago is an amazing city and in the 20s and 30s, I would've loved to see that city in its prime. It's also been home to some of the most famous gangsters of all time like Al Capone and Frank Nitti. You may not recognize Nitti as much as Capone, but he took over for the crime boss after he was sent to prison for tax evasion. When he died he was worth millions, but none of that money was ever found.

The Legend & the Crime Boss

Many, many, many years later a famous Chicago Cubs baseball announcer bought the building Nitti lived and did business in, Harry Caray. So when renovations started to happen for Caray's new restaurant at 33 W. Kinzie St. in Chicago, that's when all of the secrets of the mobster's past were revealed.

Frank Nitti's Vault from Harry Caray's on Vimeo.

A renovation found tunnels in which Nitti and his members used to avid police and a massive heavy-duty safe was found. Although it was empty it still is a staple in the restaurant today, and there are several items still in its place from the 30s & 40s that are waiting to be opened. Could they have the missing million-dollar fortune from Nitti? We may never know. You have to think how many buildings in Chicago still have items hidden away in walls and panels from those days of mobsters, prohibition, and Al Capone.

Harry Caray's restaurants offer guests a look back into the history of Capone and Niiti's crime days with historical documents and photographs on the walls. They even offer an interactive show about Nitti's life. I am going to have to put this on my to-do list!