When Capone got out of jail (he was released early for good behavior) he was surprised to learn that he and several of his underlings were now on FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover's Most Wanted list. It seemed that he was in denial about his invulnerability and the bad publicity that his criminal activities inspired. He was popular with the populace but not quite beloved.

The feds decided they needed an agent in place within the enemy camp in order to get a better handle on Capone's strengths and weaknesses. An Irishman named Malone passed himself off as a Brooklyn hoodlum eager to join the Capone organization. Malone was what is called “black Irish.” He had a Mediterranean look that could pass for Italian. He was also an accomplished actor and good with dialects. He earned the trust of Capone's henchmen, even met the Big Boy himself, and got a job in one of the many gambling joints.

Malone and another undercover agent provided valuable intelligence. Their information thwarted an attempted hit on a federal agent, and they found out the names of a couple of accountants who had cooked Capone's books.

Deal with the Devil

Capone, stone-cold killer that he was, preferred to reason with Ness rather than kill him. Bumping off Ness would make it a “federal case” and create myriad problems. Instead, Capone offered Ness $2,000 a week to look the other way. Ness turned down the bribe. Ness was making about $2,800 a year at the time. Ness, never shy of publicity and often accused of egomania, held a press conference to announce that he had turned down the bribe. It was one of the newspapermen who covered the press conference who coined the term “the Untouchables.”

Eventually there were attempts on Ness's life. He discovered a bomb under the hood of his car at one point. On another occasion gunshots were fired at him as he escorted a date back to her home, and he was almost the victim of a hit-and-run. However, none of these attempts was successful.