Two Missouri men were arrested during St. Patrick’s Day weekend after reportedly trying to make off with the statue of a mob boss sitting outside a Hot Springs bar.
Mike Pettey, the owner of the Ohio Club, 336 Central Ave., said he was inside the bar shortly after midnight on Saturday when a patron came in and told him, “I just saw Al [Capone] going down the sidewalk.”
Pettey, 57, bought a life-size statue of Al Capone when he first took over the Ohio Club nine years ago, and the gangster had been sitting outside during its operating hours ever since. The bar, which opened in 1905 and claims to be Arkansas’ oldest, was host to a number of celebrity gangsters, including Bugsy Siegel, Bugs Moran, Lucky Luciano and Al Capone during the 1920s, according to the business’s website.
Pettey said he bought the statue to attract attention to the bar and its history, and that this was the first time anybody attempted to steal it. St. Patrick’s Day weekend was an especially easy time to make off with the gangster because of the crowd in Hot Springs, he said. Between the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn and the World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade, both of which took place in the city, Pettey said the Ohio Club saw record business.
“It was just a sea of people out there,” he said.
Nevertheless, when Pettey was alerted to the theft in progress, the owner left the bar, spotted two men carrying the Capone statue, still in its chair, and hurried down the sidewalk after them. Pettey managed to catch up with the duo and recover Capone.
“I proved one of the laws of physics, I think,” he said. “One old guy is faster than two young guys carrying a statue.”
Mason Potter Jr., 24, and Andrew Vaughn, 25, both of Missouri, were arrested, Cpl. Joey Williams, Hot Springs Police Department spokesman, said. The pair face charges of public intoxication and criminal mischief, he said. Neither were listed in a Garland County jail roster on Monday.
During its adventure, the Capone statue suffered an estimated $1,000 in damage, authorities said.
According to Pettey, the statue suffered cracks in its head, shoulder, arms and legs after it was dropped several times and will take some time to repair.
“It’ll probably be about three months’ rehab, but he’s expected to make a full recovery,” he said.
In the meantime, Al Capone’s chair sits outside the Ohio Club, sans gangster. In the mobster's place is a wreath, with a sash that reads, “Get well soon, Al.”
Elsewhere in Hot Springs, Williams said the St. Patrick’s Day crowd was well-behaved and that little else out of the ordinary took place over the weekend in the city.
“If that’s the worst we’ve had all weekend, then we’re doing good.”