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Plot

Prohibition in the United States leads to an organized crime wave involving bootleg alcohol in the 1920s and early 1930s. The problem is most serious in Chicago, where gang leader Al Capone (Robert De Niro) has almost the whole city (even the Mayor of Chicago) under his control, and supplies low-quality liquor at high prices. Treasury Department agent Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) is put in charge of leading the crusade against Capone and his empire. Ness's initial strategy is to conduct raids using a large squad of uniformed officers, but these fail due to corrupt cops who secretly tip Capone's men off.

Seeking a change of tactics, Ness solicits help from incorruptible Irish officer Jimmy Malone (Sean Connery), following a chance encounter one evening. Malone advises Ness to pick men who have never come under Capone's influence by recruiting directly from the police academy. Italian American trainee George Stone, formerly Giuseppe Petri (Andy García), is enlisted due to his superior marksmanship and intelligence under pressure. Joined by accountant Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith), assigned to Ness from Washington, he has built an incorruptible team, capable of combating Capone.

Their first raid takes place in a post office where illegal liquor is stored. Malone and most of the police know where the alcohol is and leave it alone because no one wants to provoke Capone and his gang. As the four pick up steam and become noted by the press, Wallace informs Ness that Capone has not filed an income tax return in four years; therefore, they can try Capone for tax evasion, if nothing else. Ness is visited by an alderman who tries to bribe him into dropping the investigation. Ness angrily rejects the bribe and throws him out, but not before the alderman mockingly refers to the team as “untouchable” and says that Capone can have anyone killed who gets in his way.

Capone henchman Frank Nitti (Billy Drago) shows up outside Ness' house and threatens his family. Realizing that his wife and daughter are now targets, Ness has them moved to a safer place, then takes the team to the Canada – United States border for a raid on an incoming liquor shipment. Malone captures one of Capone’s bookkeepers, George (Brad Sullivan), and shoots an already-dead thug through the mouth to scare him into cooperating.

At the Chicago police station, Nitti, disguised as a policeman, kills both Wallace and George. Furious at the death of his friend, and frustrated at losing his key witness, Ness confronts Capone and his men; only the intervention of Malone keeps him from being killed on the spot. Malone persuades Ness to stall the district attorney from dropping the case, then corners corrupt police chief Mike Dorsett, who sold out Wallace and George to Capone. From Dorsett, he learns about another Capone accountant, Walter Payne, and calls Ness with the news. Just before Ness arrives, a knife-wielding thug breaks into Malone’s home; Malone forces him out the front door, only to fall victim to Nitti’s tommy gun ambush. He lives long enough for Ness and Stone to find him, and shows them which train Payne will take out of town before dying in Ness’ arms.

Ness and Stone arrive at Union Station and find Payne guarded by many gangsters. After a fierce shootout (an homage to the famous Odessa Steps scene from the 1926 Russian film The Battleship Potemkin), the two succeed in killing all of the gangsters and taking Payne alive.

Payne testifies in court about the enormous cash flows throughout the Capone organization. Ness, however, notices that Capone seems rather unperturbed despite the probability of serving a long prison sentence, and also sees Nitti carrying a gun inside his jacket. He escorts Nitti out of the courtroom with the bailiff and discovers that Nitti has the mayor’s permission to carry the weapon. Ness identifies Nitti as Malone’s murderer after seeing Malone's address in Nitti's matchbook.

Panicking, Nitti shoots the bailiff and flees to the roof of the building, exchanging gunfire with Ness along the way. Eventually, Ness has Nitti in his sights, but cannot bring himself to shoot him in cold blood. Nitti gives himself up to Ness, insulting Malone and bragging that he will never go to prison. Enraged at this idea and provoked to revenge, Ness throws Nitti off the roof to his death.

Back inside the courthouse, Stone shows Ness a document from Nitti’s jacket that reveals that the jury was bribed, explaining Capone's relaxed mood. The judge, who is also on Capone's payroll, has no intention of using it as evidence and is fully prepared to let Capone go free, until Ness bluffs that the judge's name is in Payne’s ledger of official payoffs. To avoid his corruption being revealed, the judge decides to switch juries with a neighboring courtroom and restart the trial. Before the trial can restart, however, Capone's lawyer withdraws the plea of "not guilty" for a plea of "guilty" without Capone's consent. Capone is subsequently sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Packing up his Chicago office, Ness ponders the Saint Jude pendant that Malone had carried with him for many years, and which Malone had given to him before dying. He gives the pendant to Stone, reasoning that Malone would have wanted a cop to have it. Out on the street, a reporter wishes to have a word from the man who put Capone away, but Ness demurs. When the reporter mentions that Prohibition is due to be repealed and asks what Ness might do then, Ness responds, "I think I’ll have a drink."