Jimmy Malone (1873-1930) was a veteran CPD officer who helped Treasury agent Eliot Ness form a task force to take down Al Capone in 1930, a squad famously known as "The Untouchables". Malone was murdered by Capone hitman Frank Nitti in 1930.
Biography[]
Jimmy Malone was born in Scotland to a family of Irish Catholic immigrants; he was a devout Catholic, and he would later become devoted to Saint Jude the Apostle, the patron saint of lost causes and policemen. Malone later emigrated to the United States and settled in Chicago, Illinois, where he became a CPD officer. He was known as one of the few clean cops in the city during Prohibition, so chief William F. Russell, who had corrupt dealings, assigned Malone to walk the beat rather than take on organized crime. In 1930, he met Treasury agent Eliot Ness after Ness' failed first liquor raid against the Chicago Outfit, and Ness later convinced a reluctant Malone to help him form a task force of clean officers who would be seconded to the Treasury Department and assigned to take down Al Capone. Malone warned Ness that doing so meant that he had to be willing to go beyond his comfort zone, including killing people. The team succeeded in raiding Vincent Candella's liquor stash at the US Post Office before ambushing a shipment of Canadian whiskey on the border in Montana, and Malone received tips from a reluctant Russell, who grew more and more afraid of retaliation against himself and his family. After Ness' accountant Oscar Wallace and his witness George Moretti were murdered in a service elevator by Capone's hitman Frank Nitti, the squad was forced to search for a new witness, and they set their sights on accountant Walter Payne. Malone approached Russell for help, and they got into a fistfight in an alleyway after Malone threatened to expose Russell's past corruption if he did not help him. Russell ultimately gave Malone the train schedule which Payne would be using, but he may have contacted Capone to have Malone killed, as he had told Malone that he would be a dead man as a result of the fight.
Death[]
Malone's body
Malone headed back to his apartment at 1634 Racine Avenue, and he called fellow squad member George Stone and told him to bring Ness to his apartment as soon as possible. While Malone waited, a Chicago Outfit hitman snuck into his apartment with a knife, but Malone was ready and waiting, turning his gun on him and insulting him as a "typical" Italian who "brings a knife to a gunfight". He then chased him out of his apartment via the fire escape, but, after standing outside, he looked up and noticed Nitti on a higher balcony with a Thompson submachine gun. Nitti then sprayed Malone with bullets before running off, and a mortally wounded Malone crawled back into his kitchen. Ness and Stone arrived shortly after and found a dying Malone, who gave Ness his St. Jude pendant and Payne's train schedule. His last words were asking Ness what he was prepared to do, urging him to finish off Capone by any means necessary.