There’s nothing more exciting and exhilarating than finally owning your own home. You get to settle down, start to plant some roots and call a place your own. Whether your home is old or new, big or small, two stories or one story — it doesn’t matter, it’s yours.

Personally, I would love to one day own an old home. Knowing that a home has been around for decades and housed multiple different types of people always makes me wonder, “man, if these walls could talk what would they say?”

For one particular homeowner in Denver, Colorado, the walls of his 1891 Victorian era home didn’t exactly talk, but they certainly got close.

Matt Feeney bought this picturesque old home in the northern part of Denver.

Since the house was built in 1891 it was in dire need of some TLC. So, Matt started to do some remodeling. Once he began knocking walls down, he soon discovered there was more to this historic home than he thought.

As they were knocking down one wall in the kitchen Feeney said they started to smell matches, as if they were constantly being lit, according to ABC7 News. Buried in the plaster of the wall he found a row of matches that led up to these canvas packets, which were taped to the wall.

These packets contained canvas, newspapers matches – all of which led Feeney to believe his house was booby-trapped. Come to find out, this home originally belonged to the Smaldone family, Denver’s most notorious connection to the mob, said ABC7 News.

The Smaldone family ran Denver’s underground gambling ring from the 1930s through the 1970s.

“They were sort of B-level gangsters,” Dick Kreck, the author of the book Smaldone: The Untold Story of An American Crime Family, told ABC7 News. “But I always tell people, we still love them today because they were our gangsters.”

Although considered ‘B-level gangsters’ the Smaldone family was a group of gangsters nonetheless, and they needed a hideout. When Feeney was doing some work on the foundation in the back of the house he discovered a secret hidden room, most likely where the Smaldone family hid things they didn’t want anyone to find.

Throughout the years there have been rumors of foul play and a series of murders occurred during the reign of the Smaldone family that have raised suspicions. But so far, all Feeney has found are old photographs, letters and a bottle of poison.

To see the full story on this fascinating home and the Smaldone family, check out the clip from ABC7 News below!

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