DeSantis demolition law brings down Miami mansion where gangster Al Capone planned St. Valentine's Day murders

A law passed by Florida governor and Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis is being cited as the reason for the razing down of the waterfront mansion of American gangster Al Capone.

Al Capone, also known as the 'Scarface', took his last breathin the mansion in 1947.

The elegant century-old property on one of Miami’s most exclusive islands was quietly razed earlier this month.

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The razing occurred after the enactment of a law from the DeSantis administration in July that stripped municipalities of their power to prevent the demolition of certain properties, regardless of historic designation.

Why the property was unique?

The property, other than the way it boasted of its Mediterranean-style villa and guest house, holds distinction since this is where Capone plotted the infamous St Valentine's Day massacre.

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The massacre is referred to as the brutal murder of seven members and associates of Chicago's North Side Gang on February 14, 1929. All the victims were lined up against a wall and shot by four assailants. The massacre later became a subject to a 1967 film by the same name.

The demolition law enacted by Ron DeSantis

The law is reported to be posing poses an unprecedented threat to Miami’s historic neighborhoods and skyline, with wealthy landowners and developers "salivating" at the opportunity to wipe away unprotected older buildings of character and architectural significance for modern "McMansions".

"The ghost of Al Capone was vivid in Greater Miami all this time and with the demolition we lose a sense of place, we lose a picture and an idea of what things were like in a certain time, and we lose that idea of who lived there and how they lived," Paul George, the resident historian of the HistoryMiami museum, was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

"Now you’ve got a vacant lot, and it’s a lot harder to draw a mind picture of what went on there over the previous 100 years than it would be if the building was still standing."