Where is Geraldo Rivera when you need him?
There’s a mystery safe at a casino in Nevada that has captured the imaginations of people like no safe since the Al Capone’s vaults were busted open in one of TV’s greatest all-time stunts.
The decades-old safe — which has captivated the attention of the news media out West — was discovered buried in a wall during the renovation of Bill’s Casino in Lake Tahoe.
The casino is being coverted into a CVS drug store and the last owners of the casino had no idea the safe was there.
So far, no one has been able to open the four-foot square safe.
The intrigue over the safe stems from the history of the casino, built in the 1960s as Barney’s Casino.
Barney’s owner, Richard L. Chartrand, was murdered in August, 1968, when a bomb exploded in his car in front of his home in nearby Zephyr Cove.
The crime was never solved.
But speculation is that the safe belonged to Chartrand and the secret of the combination as well as its existence died with him.
Naturally, TV is trying to be there when the box is finally opened.
Mike Laub, a retired Reno lawyer who is owns the property, says he’s gotten over 50 inquiries, including one from the Oprah Winfrey Network.