Capone's long stay in Philly

October 2010 contents
Feature article

Never before imprisoned, Chicago’s underworld boss

may have underestimated a weapons charge in 1929.

80 years later, crime historians still argue about

Al Capone’s long

stay in Philadelphia

By Thomas Hunt

"On May 16, 1929, Chicago gang leader Al Capone and his bodyguard Frankie Rio were arrested as they exited a Philadelphia movie theater. The two men pleaded guilty to possession of concealed deadly weapons the following day and were sentenced to serve a year in prison. It was Capone’s first prison term. His treatment in Philadelphia was a dramatic change from the customary question-and-release law enforcement pattern in Chicago."

"Through the more than eighty years since the event, gangland historians have speculated that Capone deliberately set up the arrest and imprisonment to escape the wrath of rival gangsters, to appease underworld
higher-ups or to plan in guarded security the complete takeover of Chicago’s rackets."

Eighteen Pages including three pages of notes, two sidebar stories, twelve images.


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