Capone’s Vault Argues Geraldo Rivera Was a Television Pioneer Who Changed TV Forever

A new book timed to the 40th anniversary of one of the most infamous broadcasts in television history is making a bold claim: Geraldo Rivera wasn’t just a host chasing a gangster story—he was a pioneer who helped invent modern television. In Capone’s Vault, author William Elliott Hazelgrove revisits the April 21, 1986 live broadcast in which Rivera opened a secret vault once linked to Al Capone before an audience of over 30 million viewers. The result—an empty vault—has long been remembered as a television disappointment. But Hazelgrove argues the opposite. “What looked like failure was actually a breakthrough,” says Hazelgrove. “That broadcast created a new kind of television—high-stakes, unscripted, event-driven programming that we now call reality TV.” At the time, the two-hour syndicated special The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vaults drew one of the largest audiences in television history. Viewers tuned in not for what was known—but for what might happen. That uncertainty, Hazelgrove argues, was revolutionary. “Geraldo understood something before the rest of television did,” Hazelgrove says. “People would watch not just for content, but for the possibility of discovery—live, unpredictable, and unscripted.” Today, that model dominates television—from reality competitions to live event programming. The book features new reporting, behind-the-scenes insights, and perspectives on how a single night reshaped the medium. It also reframes Rivera’s role—not as a punchline, but as a figure who pushed television into a new era. Pulitzer Prize–winning author Jonathan Eig praises the book as “more fun than the vault itself,” while Rivera himself has said the event was “a moment in time that changed television forever.” To mark the anniversary, Hazelgrove will stage a live on-location event in Chicago at the site of the former Lexington Hotel, recreating the vault opening moment 40 years later.