Big Al's Place: Al Capone's car passes through Aurora, IL

In A Nutshell

Years after his release from Alcatraz, bedeviled by hallucinations fueled by untreated, late-stage syphilis, Al Capone wanders the overgrown grounds of his Miami Beach estate, ruminating with ghosts. Tomorrow will bring his forty-eighth birthday and one week later he will be dead. Between then and now sprawls an epic life, from the wild streets of turn-of-the-century Brooklyn, to a bloody Saint Valentine’s Day that shocked the world; here is the glamorous ascent and shocking decline of America's true king of crime.

Some History

Jim VanBebber's 2004 feature, The Manson Family, was hailed as, "Crucial," by Peter Travers in Rolling Stone's four-star review. It inspired Roger Ebert to proclaim, "...it has an undeniable power and effect...it exists in a category of one film - this film." The film's successful theatrical release brought further critical acclaim and Manson then went on to thrive on home video, including as the centerpiece of Visions of Hell: The Films of Jim VanBebber, a mid-career retrospective DVD box set released in 2008.

Capone first met VanBebber at Wright State University when both men were enrolled in the Motion Pictures Production program headed up by Academy Award nominated documentary filmmakers Jim Klein and Julia Reichert. When, in junior year, the class was divided into small groups with the purpose of producing a short film, VanBebber, with partners Marcello Games and cinematographer Mike King, decided to shoot a full length feature. That film, 1988's Deadbeat at Dawn went on to earn true cult status, playing to crowds on 42nd Street and on many waning drive-in screens before landing on cable's The Movie Channel where it debuted on Joe Bob's Drive-In Theater, hosted by Joe Bob Briggs, who had singled out Deadbeat in his nationally syndicated four-star review.

With funds derived from the sale of Deadbeat, King, Games and VanBebber began their follow up production, The Manson Family, which brings us full circle

6/24/10

Al Capone's car passes through Aurora, IL

Maria Zanis of Sugar Grove sticks her head out of a flap in the roof of a 1927 armored Cadillac, once owned by Al Capone.

A piece of Chicago's gangland history was put on display Wednesday afternoon in Aurora for passing-by members of the Lincoln Highway Association.

Sugar Grove resident Greg Zanis and his daughter Maria Zanis displayed their 1927 armored Cadillac, believed to be owned by Al Capone and driven to the St. Valentine's Day massacre, at downtown Aurora's historic Theiss Building of the Arts, 76 S. LaSalle.

"My dad paid Al Capone's son $1,300 for the car in 1973 and has never restored it, but it's just a beautiful car," Maria Zanis said. "I plan on restoring it for him so we thought we'd put it on display, in it's original condition, first."

Members of the Lincoln Highway Association just happened to be in town and swung by to take a peek.

Several of the car's custom features include a lined bulletproof armor body, and a roof hatch that opens facing the rear of the car in order to allow two gunmen to fire at chasing vehicles.

Maria Zanis of Sugar Grove shows off the 1927 armored Cadillac once owned by Al Capone. Zanis' dad Greg bought the car in 1973 and she grew up with it. Looking on are Thomas Coenen, left, of Woodbine, Iowa and Lynn Urban of Racine, Wis.

- Story courtesy of the Daily Herald