Today in History - April 21: Vault belonging to the most notorious gangster ever was raided. The footage stunned the world
Al Capone will go down in history as one of the world's most notorious gangsters.
Pictured here at a football game in 1931, he was the founder of the "Chicago Outfit" that he operated during the Prohibition Era in the US, running bootleg liquor across the country.
Capone rose to infamy and became a household name that generations of mafia figures and gangsters would try to emulate.
But about four decades after his death, a television network thought it had uncovered the news exclusive of the century.
This is a photo of the old Lexington Hotel in Chicago, where Capone lived during the late 1920s.
He used numerous secret tunnels below the building to sneak out of the hotel during police raids, and he kept it as the headquarters of his operations until his arrest in 1932.
Decades later, before preparing to knock the building down, construction workers discovered a previously untouched vault that belonged to Capone.
And on April 21, 1986, a television crew decided to create a prime time event that would broadcast the moment the vault was opened.
The made-for-television event was meant to become reporter Geraldo Rivera's starring moment.
This is a screenshot from the WGNTV broadcast in Chicago, where Rivera is seen standing outside the building.
There was incredible hype around the special, with television producers hoping to find either dead bodies or stacks of cash that the IRS had been pursuing for decades.
But what they found was... nothing.
Pictured are excavators Tom Kasper, left, and Dan Constantino, who are digging out the sand after the vault was blasted open.
The only thing inside was some dirt and a few glass bottles.
Despite his attempts to dig inside the vault, Rivera's desperate search was fruitless, and the event became an unmitigated disaster after the incredible hype.
Despite the abject failure of his attempt to create the greatest live television moment in history, it was not all bad news for Rivera.
More than 30 million people tuned in to watch, which was the most watched television moment until that point.
Rivera admitted in later years that after his starring moment crashed and burned, he locked himself in his hotel room and got "tequila drunk".
April 21 is also significant as it marks the day that legendary musician Prince died in 2016.
The announcement came just a week after the Grammy and Oscar winner was taken to hospital with what was initially reported as a bad bout of influenza while on tour in Atlanta.
Prince is pictured here performing live on stage at Rosemont Horizon in Chicago on December 10, 1984 during his Purple Rain tour.
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