Al Capone’s boat propeller goes missing from West Vancouver yard – again

He was the most notorious gangster in history, so it's not surprising that anything connected with Al Capone, however remotely, makes news.

That's why the Vancouver Province is reporting the theft of a 300-pound boat propeller that was being used as a yard ornament in upscale West Vancouver for the second time in three years.

The big brass prop, displayed in the gated courtyard of lawyer Joe Spears' office in Horseshoe Bay comes from a boat that reputedly was part of Scarface Capone's fleet of Prohibition-era rum-runners.

“I’m disappointed,” Spears told the Province. “I can’t believe it.”

The propeller disappeared overnight Nov. 21-22. Spears is scratching his head on how the heist happened this time.

[ Related: Documentary tries to find Capone connection to Sask. ]

“You need two or three guys to lift this,” said Spears, who specializes in maritime law.

“Maybe I’m too trusting . . . This is a busy street. In a perfect world, you would have security cameras."

The propeller came off a 112-foot motorboat named the Texada, which ran aground and sank in 2000 near Prince Rupert on the northern B.C. coast while transporting diesel fuel, according to the North Shore Outlook. Spears received the prop as a gift after helping co-ordinate a pollution cleanup and salvage of the vessel.

The boat was originally from the East Coast. According to Metro News, Federal Court documents show it was built in Nova Scotia in 1930 as a fishing boat but her six-cylinder engines were secretly replaced with two high-powered 12-cylinder diesels so she could evade U.S. Coast Guard ships trying to stop illegal liquor smuggling on the eastern seaboard.

The boat was seized in 1936 and transferred to the West Coast where it was used as a police boat, the Province said. It was being used to service coastal lumber camps when it ran aground near Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, according to Metro News.

[ Related: Vancouver metal thieves pick new and dangerous target — street storm drains ]

Scrap-metal thieves are again the likely culprits in this latest theft. The prop was recovered at a metal recycling yard in 2011 and a 55-year-old man of no fixed address was convicted of possessing stolen property.

Spears had hoped the prop would be displayed at a museum but initial plans fell through. Another proposal to return it to Haida Gwaii was in the works when it disappeared again.

The prop has been valued at between $4,000 and $5,000, a far cry from Capone's bullet-proof 1928 Cadillac, which last year sold at auction for US$341,000.