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Historic prison swaps out vintage radio in Al Capone’s cell
Original Publication Date: June 7, 2016 3:38PM
Publication Updated: April 28, 2025 6:28AM
PHILADELPHIA – A sharp-eyed boy who noticed that the vintage radio inside gangster Al Capone’s former Philadelphia prison cell wasn’t historically accurate has delivered a replacement radio.
Thirteen-year-old Joey Warchal —who collects antique radios — took a tour of Eastern State Penitentiary and noticed that the radio in Capone’s cell was wrong.
The Prohibition-era mobster spent time at Eastern State in 1929 and 1930. The radio was made in 1942.
The seventh-grader found a Philco Lowboy 64 from 1929 online for $300. KYW-AM reports (http://cbsloc.al/1UE5mg3 ) the radios have been swapped. The teen was given the 1940s radio as a token of appreciation by Eastern State.
The prison closed in 1971, and now operates as a museum and national historic landmark.
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Information from: KYW-AM, http://www.kyw1060.com
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