PHILADELPHIA • 1929 • THE REAL STORY
The Night Philadelphia
Brought Down Al Capone
The Night Philadelphia
FEBRUARY 14, 1929
The Massacre That Started It All
On Valentine's Day, 1929, seven of Al Capone's rivals were executed in a Chicago warehouse. The St. Valentine's Day Massacre made Capone the most wanted man in America, and forced the underworld to act.
Three months later, the nation's top crime bosses gathered in Atlantic City to negotiate a truce and figure out how to cool things off. Capone left that meeting with a plan, one that required him to disappear from Chicago for a while.
MAY 16–17, 1929 · 19TH & MARKET ST.
One Night at Stanley Theatre
On his way home from Atlantic City, Capone stopped in Philadelphia, "just passing through". He and his bodyguard Frank Cline went to the movies at the Stanley Theatre. Philadelphia detectives James "Shooey" Malone, John Creedon, and Richard Doyle were waiting outside.
As the men left the theater, they were stopped, searched, and found carrying concealed .38 caliber revolvers. In less than sixteen hours, Capone was arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to one year in prison, at Eastern State Penitentiary.
"I'm tired of gang murders and gang shootings. I spent the week in Atlantic City making peace, and I have the word of every man there that there shall be no more shootings."
- AL CAPONE, TO PHILADELPHIA DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SAFETY, MAY 1929
THE DETECTIVE
Shooey Malone
and The Gun
James "Shooey" Malone had joined the Philadelphia force in 1911 and built a reputation as one of the most fearless detectives in the city. The revolver he took from Capone's person that night became a piece of Philadelphia legend.
The gun is engraved: "J.H. Malone took this gun from Al Capone at the Stanley Theatre, May 17, 1929."
THE RECORD
By the Numbers
Feb 1929: St. Valentine's Day Massacre
7 rivals executed in Chicago. Capone becomes America's most wanted man.
May 13–16: Atlantic City Gangster Conference
The underworld meets to negotiate a truce. Capone agrees to lay low.
May 17: Arrested at Stanley Theatre, Philadelphia
Detectives Malone, Creedon & Doyle make the pinch. Capone is convicted within 16 hours.
1929–30: Eastern State Penitentiary
Capone serves 7 months in a furnished cell with rugs, paintings, and a radio. His cell is still open to visitors today.
Today: Detective Doyle's Whiskey
Crafted in Philadelphia. Named for the detectives who made history.
Raise a Glass to Philadelphia
The city that never flinched. Every pour is a toast to the night the law won.