Owners of Al Capone’s former speakeasy embrace pot infusion; no plans to reopen

A co-owner of the former location of the now closed Al Capone’s Hideaway & Steakhouse said the property at 35W337 Riverside Drive, Saint Charles Township, is not a priority right now — but a cannabis infusion business is.

“We’ve been in production for a year right now,” Jeremy Casiello said. “We supply all the dispensaries in Illinois with product.”

Their infusion business, High 5ive Brands, is in a Batavia industrial park.

“When we put in the original application, it took almost six years to get the doors open,” Casiello said.

High 5ive creates vapes and sublingual strips, he said.

“The sublingual strips are really good for medical patients who can’t swallow or smoke,” Casiello said. “And there’s less chance of overdoing it like with gummies.”

The steakhouse closed in 2012 after 38 years in business.

The Casiello family, who also own Alley 64 in St. Charles and The Dam Bar and Grill in Geneva, bought the property in 2014.

They were going to call it Hideaway 64. They applied for a new liquor license from Kane County, but it was denied, and the building has been vacant ever since.

Kane County cited the building in 2017 as unsafe, but Casiello said they addressed the issues and everything is safe.

“Right now, we are sitting on the property,” Casiello said. “We’re not going to go for a liquor license right now. We are going to sell it. It’s sad we were not able to do something with it. I hate to just have it torn down.”

One possibility would be if someone wanted to buy it, reapply for a liquor license and then possibly have it as a private club, Casiello said.

“Then it would be a real speakeasy,” Casiello said.