80 years ago the doors of alcatraz doors closed behind al capone. during the prohibition he tried to come in on the boot leg. >> we took care of our own.

we didn't want people to come in here. >> and long after that, his vault was opened. good evening and welcome to a second look. i'm julie haener. a look back at the life of al capone. born alfonse gabriel capone he grew up to become public enemy number one. at his height cap one had policemen, mayors and judges in his pocket. his annual revenue was reported at over $100 million. his empire of crime included bootlegging, protection rackets and boxing. he owned a pala to the best --

palatial estate in florida. he's credited with saying, killing a man is like the law of self-defense. copone reportedly used a baseball bat to kill two associates that were said who were out to kill him. in prohibition era chicago the killings of gangsters were followed by large public funerals. those suspected of ordering the hits or pulling the trigger took part in the spectacle. yet following the crash of the stock market in 1929 it was the publicity savvy capone who opened one of the first free soup kitchens in chicago in an effort to brand himself as a robin hood. he was said to shake hands and visit with those who lined up to get a meal. at one point during his reign.

capone traveled to san francisco to see if he could sit upshot here with a quick result. >> reporter: in 1920, prohibition became the law of the land. the sale and manufacturer of alcohol was forbidden in every state. that same year the democrats came to san francisco to nominate cox and roosevelt and the city provided every amenity for the visitors including a truck full of booze. it was the first clue that san francisco was not going to take prohibition seriously. the federal government on the other hand was taking it seriously indeed. throughout the land, revenue agents caught the state of illegal liquor and to the horror of drinkers everywhere, wasted the stuff. >> now being destroyed under court order, go to it boys. >> in san francisco and other

cities, officials tore into beer and gin sometimes provided a booze bing for those on the sidewalk. speak easies, bars that provided liquor to those who knew the right password or the right number of knocks grew. from vallejo to san leandro all had a under ground

distributor. >> the favorite weapon for gang land shootings was the thompson sub machine gun other wise known as the tommy gun. it wasn't very accurate at long range but gang land shootings tended to be close up and personal. when this began to be perceived as a gangsters weapon, it led to the first gun control legislation in the united states. today you and i can't own one of these which is probably a good thing. >> reporter: oddly mobsters never got ahold of the liquor trade in san francisco. at la roca's the former owner vince la roca told me why. it seems that al capone came to san francisco to look over the possibilities of doing business

here. la roca's grandfather and other liquor makers explained to capone that he would not be happy here. he took the next plane out. >> we took care of our own. we didn't want people to come in here and interrupt the nice people we had going here. >> reporter: the attitude toward prohibition was one of benign neglect. >> i don't think they saw it that way. they were breaking the law. nobody was really you know, it was doing a little service. you weren't hurting anything. >> reporter: but the federal government was not amused by such flagrant flabbing of the law. a came call went out for 3,000 new agents. applicants had to supply a photo. on their applications they presented themselves as right thinking and religious and when the foreman asked them about

the new law the smart lands wrote the prohibition law should be enforced. >> looks like hard times for smugglers. >> reporter: the coast guard got in the act. as rum runners began smuggling in booze from canada where it was still legal. as long as the whisky running ships stayed just outside the territorial limits the coast guard couldn't touch them. the bootleggers would run out to the ships in speedboats, equipped with huge twin engines taken from world war i fighter planes. the coast guard couldn't catch them. one such outlaw captain was hail. a san franciscan who's boat could not outrun them. >> obvious think -- obviously

there was no radar. as he reduced the throttle the lights would dim. when the lights finally went out the coast guard thought he would outrun them. he would be sitting there and they would go backed in. >> reporter: like other rum runners, jake hale thought of himself as more adventurer than crook and ladies of his acquaintance seemed to agree. >> it was the excitement. always having somebody over your shoulder and it was profitable. you had cash. my father-in-law always had $10,000 in his pocket. that was a lot of money in the 20s. >> reporter: one way a lot of illegal booze found it way into the rivers is through the under ground tunnels that still remain under streets. a restaurant worker would take

an order. run through the tunnels. knock on the door and get this jar filled with gin. the present owner charlie kendow took me down to the basement where his great uncle used to make the gin. >> you can see the outline of the still right against the wall here. this is the door with the original people. so that when the customers came from the palace hotel they actually knocked on the door and that allows the customer into this room. >> reporter: charlie gave me a look at the under ground tunnel system. >> it is a solid piece of metal here that not a bullet could go through. so this is all solid brick. nobody could penetrate it and there's a series of these doors that went all the way down to second street. >> reporter: of course there was always the risk of a raid by federal agents.

but if the hooch makers had a good relationship with officers, they got a good warning. the law was repealed and drinking was legal again. san francisco hardly noticed the difference. >> san francisco never really seemed to take prohibition seriously. >> this is a great town. >> reporter: isn't it though. behind bars on alcatraz where al capone spent much of his sentence. and what could be in al capone's secret vault. capone's secret vault. >> money and look at all these children. they all lost their lives because of

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al capone was not arrested for a serious or violent felony. it was income tax. on october of 1939 capone went on trial for tax evasion. his lawyers tried to paint a picture of a good guy falsely arrested. a new york reporter wrote at the time when capone was sentenced his face went dull and his ugly scar went white. they furnished his room with a typewriter and a britanicca. as bob mackenzie reported back in 2000. the mob boss was one of many notorious criminals sent to the

rock. >> there are times when the island appears almost beautiful. times when the blue shade of evening soften the brutal outlines of its concrete walls and cold clammy buildings and make it look like someone's fantasy get away. but on a typical damp day the place is stripped down to its constitutional bluntness, hammered by wind. surrounded by bone chilling water. built without a hint of softness. al alcatraz from its beginnings was rightly called the rock. a place meant to isolation and punish, to grind men down. to provide what people in the system called hard time. and the men who did the time were hard cases. armed robbers, gangsters, killers. men such as machine gun kelly, alvin karvis. al capone. >> this is d block the notorious isolation wing of

alcatraz. just imagine being in one of these cells 24 hours a day, fed three times a day through a slot in the door. no books, no magazines, no radio. all your mail heavily censored. no contact with the outside world and if you were here between 1934 and 1937 you weren't even allowed to talk. what made the time harder was that san francisco was tentalizingly clear. prisoners could smell the chocolate being made. they could smell the coffee. >> leon whitey thompson got out

of alcatraz in 1962 after 25 years in prison for numerous armed robberies. >> i deserved to be sent to alcatraz. i deserved to be sent here for the type of person i was. i wasn't a nice person. >> reporter: before it was a prison the island was a fortress. a military base opened in 1959 to command the entrance to the bay. its giant cannons aimed toward the bay ready to fire on confederate ships. when prohibition brought over a wave of criminallism, the federal government chose the spot, a place designed for punishment not rehabilitation: >> let's say you were a prisoner, let's say you stepped on my toes. i'm going to put you away. i'm going to waste you. i'm not going to give you a chance.

it's not going to end in a civil fight. it's going to end in a death. >> reporter: in 1946 floyd and pritchard teamed up with hubbart into a prison escape that turned into a bloody escape. hubbart was on mess hall. now the prisoners had guns. >> prison guards, u.s. marines and coast guard personnel were called into action. by the time it was over 15 guards were wounded, two dead. the three ring leaders of the rebellion were found dead in the utility corridor of cell block c. two other inmates were later executed for their part in the uprising. when we come back on a second look a look behind the stone walls of al capone's hide

away conveniently located near a rum makers bay. and stories of ghosts that now roam another prison where al capone did time.

- ( helicopter whirring ) - ( roars ) ( siren wails ) ( pop music playing ) ♪ when you're ready ♪ ready, ready, ready ♪ come and get it ♪ get it, get it ♪ when you're ready, come and get it ♪ ♪ na na na na ♪ na na na na na na na ♪ ♪ when you're ready, come and get it ♪ ♪ na na na na... female announcer: it's a great big world and it can all be yours. here and only here. ♪ come and get it. welcome back to second look. al capone kept a home and car. money troubles led to its

closures. >> reporter: when al capone built the luxurious hide out, mobsters were astonished. >> john dillinger, dead or dead. >> reporter: and rumors of al "scar face" capone's hide out keep people talking. >> i have stories of people's fathers who used to deliver milk and other materials and people seeing al capone. >> there's even stories that

during prohibition, planes would land at capone's private lake. recently chipowa valley ranch foreclosed. despite reports of 100 interested potential buyers only one bid was made. >> it went pretty rapidly. i called the property three times. the sale was concluded. last roughly a minute and a half. >> reporter: chipowa should gain full ownership. some believe today's outcome is a result of access denied. >> previous owner wasn't allowing anyone on the property. so you would be virtually buying a property at 2 million plus and not knowing what you were getting. >> reporter: a lawyer for chipowa valley bank, the bank does not want to keep the hide oeut and -- hide out and wants

to sell it. >> i hope they can sell it to somebody. it's a piece of history. piece of nostalgia. a piece of hayward. >> as of today, the hide away is still closed. the week after the valentine massacre, al capone turned himself into the philadelphia police. capone did time for a weapons charge. it's a prison that now claims ghosts at their own. >> reporter: philadelphia's eastern state penitentiary housed 1,000 inmates. on the inside it's a modern ruin. paint peeled, roofs are caved

in. sean kelley has worked since the building reopened. >> and it's a disarray of papers on the floor, you can't help but feel somebody in there. >> reporter: and among those prisoners al capone. this is what his cell is thought to have looked like. johnson volunteers as a lock smith in the penitentiary t. -- the first time he saw a ghost, johnson says the hairs on his back stood straight up. >> he said we exist, we're always going to be here. he winked at me and faded back into the wall. >> reporter: everyone kelley a self-professed skeptic says if there are any ghosts it would be here that they will be

found. gerardo rivera opens al capone's vault live on tv. as hundreds of people await to sigh what lies behind the bricks.

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before his arrest, al capone ran much of his empire out of the lexington ington hotel in chicago. during a clean up, they found tunnels. gerardo rivera held a show on tv. >> reporter: under flood lights amidst a flurry of activity with thousands of viewers watching from all over the world. the much heralded al capone vault was blasted open. unfortunately the bomb blast was just a big bust. there was no treasure and no

bones and no secrets just a wall. some viewers thought it was a scam. they believed it was known all along that the vaults would be empty. but the show's producers find it regrettable that anybody could entertain such thoughts. >> there was really no way we knew what was in it. i think we did it with integrity. >> reporter: even so there were the critic. >> i was disappointed. >> i was very disappointed in it. i thought they could have done a lot more to explain parts chicago played in prohibition. i was disappointed that they didn't go into more of what some of the historical aspects were. >> reporter: the show producers and tribune company figured there would be some criticism. it goes with the territory. but they say the show's popularity far exceeded their expectation. >> not only did it far exceed our expectations it became the highest rated nonsports program ever in the city of chicago.

it beat out the last episode of mash, it beat out the shooting of j. r. it beat out roots, the only program that will beat this, the vault opening was the bears in the super bowl last year. >> reporter: when the bill for the 90 minute extravaganza are totals the production company predicts they'll add up to $1 million that's far above the budgeted account, but nobody is crying. >> i am sure we will break even or above. we will make something i am sure. >> al capone served seven years, six months and 15 days. released early for good behavior. a newspaper photograph shows a smiling capone. immediately after his release he was hospitalized with symptoms of late stage syphilis. he was recognizably insane when he left alcatraz say doctors. until his death capone suffered

from dementia and was prone to violent outbursts. he died of a heart attack in 1947. al capone was 48 years old. that's it for this week's second look. i'm julie haener, thank you for watching. californians are discovering the real risks behind prop 46. it was written and paid for by the trial lawyers to make them millions... while, for the rest of us, health care costs go up. no wonder every major newspaper in the state opposes prop 46. they say 46 "overreached in a decidedly cynical way." it's a ploy "for trial lawyers to enrich themselves." and prop 46 has

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