Paul Davis On Crime: Look back at Philly bootleggers kidnappers mobsters and murders

Saturday, September 20, 2025

True Crime Philadelphia: A Look Back At Philly Bootleggers, Kidnappers, Mobsters And Murderers

A reader wrote and asked me about Chicago gangster Al Capone and his year in a Philadelphia prison. I responded to the reader, offering the basic information about Capone’s eight-month incarceration in 1929-1930 at Eastern State Penitentiary.

I've visited the prison, now a museum, and noted that the wealthy criminal lived in relative luxury while incarcerated. His cell had oriental rugs, fine furniture and a cabinet radio (see bottom photo).

I also suggested that the reader check out Kathryn Canavan’s True Crime Philadelphia: From America’s First Bank Robbery To the Real-Life Killers Who Inspired Boardwalk Empire.

I interviewed Kathryn Canavan about her outstanding book in two of my Philadelphia Weekly Crime Beat columns.

You can read the columns below:

Paul Davis

Paul Davis is a writer who covers crime. He has written extensively about organized crime, cybercrime, street crime, white collar crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, the military, espionage and terrorism. He is a contributor to the Washington Examiner and Counterterrorism magazine, and he writes the magazine's online 'Threatcon' column. His 'Crime Beat' column, which covers crime news, crime issues and crime prevention in South Philadelphia, appears weekly in the South Philly Review, and his 'On Crime' column, which covers crime in the Greater Philadelphia region, appears weekly at Philly Daily and Broad and Liberty. His crime fiction appears in American Crime Magazine. His work has also appeared in the Washington Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Weekly and other publications. As a writer, he has attended police academy training, gone out on patrol with police officers, accompanied detectives as they worked cases, accompanied narcotics officers on drug raids, observed criminal court proceedings, visited jails and prisons, and covered street riots, mob wars and murder investigations. He has interviewed police commissioners and chiefs, FBI, DEA, HSI and other federal special agents, prosecutors, judges, public officials, WWII UDT frogmen, Navy SEALs, Army Delta operators, Israeli commandos, military intelligence officers, Scotland Yard detectives, CIA officers, former KGB officers, film and TV actors, film writers, directors and producers, journalists, novelists and true crime authors, gamblers, outlaw bikers, and Cosa Nostra organized crime bosses. Paul Davis has been a student of crime since he was a 12-year-old aspiring writer growing up in South Philadelphia. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy when he was 17 in 1970. He served aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Kitty Hawk during the Vietnam War and he later served two years aboard the Navy harbor tugboat U.S.S. Saugus at the U.S. floating nuclear submarine base at Holy Loch, Scotland. He went on to become the civilian administrative officer of a Defense Department command in Philadelphia, where he oversaw security, safety and other programs for the command's military and civilian employees, and served as an investigating officer, while working part-time as a newspaper crime reporter and columnist. He retired in 2007 after more than 37 Navy/DOD years of service and became a full-time writer. From 1991 to 2005 he was a producer and on-air host of "Inside Government," a public affairs interview radio program that aired on Sunday mornings on WPEN AM and WMGK FM in the Philadelphia area. You can read Paul Davis' crime columns, crime fiction, book reviews and news and feature articles on this website. You can read his full bio by clicking on the above photo (by Brittany Davis-Pearson). And you can contact Paul Davis at pauldavisoncrime@aol.com.

Paul Davis On Crime

Saturday, September 20, 2025

True Crime Philadelphia: A Look Back At Philly Bootleggers, Kidnappers, Mobsters And Murderers

Paul Davis

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