Bonnie Parker’s Colt Detective Special .38 revolver is expected to fetch up to 0,000 at auction. (RR Auction)
Mobster Al Capone
(AP)
Being bad is good – for value’s sake, anyway.
RR Auction, a New Hampshire-based auction house, is auctioning items related to American gangsters, outlaws and lawmen Sunday.
Some of the items, including guns belonging to the 1930s “Bonnie and Clyde” crime duo and a deposition from Chicago mobster Al Capone, are expected to fetch more than 100,000 each.
Investigations were different in the early 1900s, leaving criminals’ possessions out of investigation files and into personal collections, Executive Vice President Bobby Livingston said.
“In those days, these items were allowed to be kept by the posse members as part of their service in tracking down these outlaws,” Livingston said.
That was the case with Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, who committed a series of robberies and murders across the Midwest in the early 1930s before they were ambushed and killed in 1934.
The Colt Detective Special .38 revolver Bonnie Parker was carrying at the time of her death is included in the auction. Parker purportedly taped the gun to the inside of her leg with white medical tape – in a place where a male officer wouldn’t search for it.
That gun is expected to go for $150,000 to $200,000.
Barrow’s possessions up for auction include his pocket watch, revolver, and 1921 Morgan silver dollar – which was removed from his blazer after he was gunned down.
Gangster “Lucky” Luciano’s humidor is also being offered, still containing his poker chips and Cuban cigars.
The Capone deposition focuses on the 1925 shooting of his mentor, Johnny Torrio. Scarface’s wit and brushes with the law emerge within the deposition.
“How many times were you arrested in Chicago?” the investigators asked.
“Every time something happens I get arrested,” Capone responded.
The auction contains over 100 pieces. Some of the proceeds from the charity will benefit the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, a chance to commemorate the lives lost in the pursuit of the gangsters and outlaws.