(ANSA) – NEW YORK – Miami has lost a piece of its history, even if it has something to do with its criminal past, after the villas in Palm Isles, a luxury community in Key Biscayne, Florida, that belonged to Al Capone, where The robber was born and died.
Efforts by those who wanted to preserve the Spanish-style estate built by beer magnate Clarence Busch in 1922 were unsuccessful. Finally, bulldozers leveled it.
Before demolition, the Miami Beach Historic Preservation Commission is considering granting the house a “historic residence” designation, US media reported citing a city spokesman.
However, the coming into force of the new law means the council has no power to consider the practice without the consent of the villa owners.
The developer purchased the seven-bedroom home, swimming pool, private beach and dock in 2021 for $10.75 million with the intention of creating a modern two-story villa with eight bedrooms, eight bathrooms, There is a sauna and a spa.
One of the owners, real estate developer Todd Glaser, previously told the Miami Herald that the home had suffered extensive damage, with parts of the structure submerged due to flooding.
“It’s bad,” he commented, “and it’s a disgrace for Miami Beach.” The villa belonged to Clarence Busch of the Anhueser-Busch dynasty, which once controlled the world’s largest brewing company.
In 1928, Bush sold his home at 93 Palms Avenue to Italian mobster Alphonse Gabriel Capone for $40,000, and he was soon captured by U.S. authorities. The authorities can only charge him with tax evasion.
Capone lived there for several years and is believed to have orchestrated the Valentine’s Day massacre, in which seven members of a rival gang were murdered in a Chicago parking lot by men disguised as police officers. Al Capone died in his Miami Beach villa in 1947.
His official cause of death was pneumonia, according to media reports, but everything was complicated by his syphilis condition and a stroke four days before his death. (ANSA).
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