Call Northside 777 (1948) is a documentary-style film noir directed by Henry Hathaway. It is based on the true story of a Chicago reporter who proved that a man, who had been in prison for murder, was wrongly convicted 11 years before. James Stewart stars as the persistent journalist and Richard Conte plays the imprisoned Frank Wiecek. Wiecek is based on Joseph Majczek, who was wrongly convicted of the murder of a Chicago policeman in 1932, one of the worst years of organized crime during Prohibition. During the Prohibition period of 1932 in Chicago a policeman is murdered inside a speakeasy. Frank Wiecek (Richard Conte) and another man are quickly arrested and later sentenced to serve 99 years' imprisonment each for the killing. Eleven years later, Wiecek's mother puts an ad in the newspaper offering a $5000 reward for information about the true killers of the police officer. This leads the city editor of the Chicago Times Brian Kelly (Lee J. Cobb) to assign reporter PJ McNeal (James Stewart) to look more closely into the case. McNeal is skeptical at first and believes Wiecek is guilty. But he starts to change his mind, and meets increased resistance from the police and attorney's office unwilling to be proved wrong. Eventually Frank is proved innocent by, among other things, the enlarging of a photograph showing the date on a newspaper that proves a key witness's statement was false.