A Minibus Through Gangland Chicago, Then Down Into Nitti's Vault
An evening minibus loop past Loop and River North crime scenes, with a stop in the basement where Frank Nitti hid.
This is the bus version of Empire Tours' gangster and ghost walk. Two hours, a guide on board, and a route that links the Loop's Prohibition-era stories to the River North building where Frank Nitti kept a hidden room.
The listing times its seven stops at 60 minutes combined, half of the two hours. The rest is spent on the road, with Grant Park and the LaSalle Street Bridge going by outside the window. The listing spells out three times you leave the bus: inside Harry Caray's, at Holy Name Cathedral, and beside the Chicago River.
Booking runs through Viator, with a mobile or paper ticket, one per booking. Cancel at least 24 hours before departure for a full refund; inside 24 hours nothing is refunded. Gratuities are not included.
Chicago Gangsters and Ghosts Minibus TourA 2-hour guided minibus tour from the Palmer House at 124 S Wabash Ave, with a stop inside Harry Caray's. Gratuities extra.www.viator.comPalmer House, the Congress Hotel, Death Alley
The tour starts on the curb outside the Palmer House, where the listing says Al Capone treated the Empire Ballroom as his own speakeasy. The bus then heads south to the Congress Plaza Hotel on Michigan Avenue, which the listing calls one of America's most haunted hotels. Grant Park slides past while the guide tells the story of H.H. Holmes and the 1893 World's Fair.
Back in the Loop, the bus pauses at the spot where the listing places the daylight killing of mob figure Tony Lombardo. He was shot at the corner of Madison and Dearborn streets on the afternoon of September 7, 1928; TIME's report the following week called it a crowd-jammed corner two blocks from City Hall. The next pause is outside the site of the Iroquois Theatre. The theatre fire of December 30, 1903 killed 602 people. The listing notes that the alley behind it has been called Death Alley ever since.
Down to Nitti's Vault at Harry Caray's
The longest stop is fifteen minutes inside Harry Caray's Italian Steakhouse at 33 W Kinzie St. The restaurant's own history says Frank Nitti, Capone's enforcer, lived in a fourth-floor apartment there with his wife Annette, whose family owned the building. The booking listing says Nitti owned it himself.
In 1998 an electrician drilled through a basement wall and opened a hidden room that ran the width of the upstairs bar. The restaurant says it served as a Prohibition-era hideout and as a passage into the city's underground tunnels. The room, now called Nitti's Vault, is on show in the basement with a safe found in its walls and Nitti's address book. The restaurant describes the book as listing the home addresses and phone numbers of government officials and mobsters.
Bullet Marks at Holy Name, Then the River
In River North the bus also stops at Holy Name Cathedral. In October 1926 North Side gang leader Hymie Weiss was shot dead across the street, and some of the bullets hit the cathedral. The listing has you off the bus for five minutes to look at the marks it says remain on the cornerstone. Chicago magazine's 2017 tour of North Side gang sites says the real marks are four plugged, faded spots around the dedication year on the cornerstone. The drilled hole at the cathedral's southwest corner held a placard with the service schedule, so it is not a bullet hole. CBS Chicago reported in 2022 that steps now stand in front of the part of the inscription the gunfire broke.
Crossing the river on the LaSalle Street Bridge, the guide tells the story of the Eastland. On July 24, 1915 the passenger ship capsized while tied to its dock on the Chicago River, and 844 people died. Another ten minutes are spent beside the river for photos and what the listing calls active ghost hunting.
Two Evening Departures, Halloween Included
This listing sells two departures a day, at 6:00 PM and 8:00 PM. As of October 20, 2026, both departures on October 31 were still open on the booking calendar. Some later evenings already show as unavailable, more often at 8:00 PM than at 6:00 PM.
Tickets come in three age bands: children 4 to 12, adults 13 to 64, and seniors 65 and up. Children under 4 ride free on an adult's lap and do not get a seat. One booking takes up to 14 travelers. The listing marks the tour suitable for all fitness levels and allows service animals. Neither the listing nor the operator's own pages say whether a wheelchair user can board the minibus.
📍 Meet outside the Palmer House at 124 S Wabash Ave, which the operator places between a UPS Store and the Sugar Bliss cake shop, 15 minutes early. The map pin marks the hotel. The bus leaves on time and drops you back at the same curb.