Side Street (1929)

This crime drama chronicles the exploits of three Irish brothers who have taken dramatically different life paths. Tom is an amiable policeman while Matt is a surgeon. The third brother, Owen, is the family black sheep who makes his living running illegal booze. He operates under the alias Barney Muller. His more honest brothers have no idea what Owen does for his money. Things go well for the Muller gang until they commit a murder and the newly promoted Tom is assigned to investigate the case. Meanwhile, Tom's beloved goes to a party at Muller's house in Manhattan. There she overhears some damning information about Muller. She goes back to Tom and Matt with the info and together the three learn the truth about Muller's identity. When Muller learns that a cop is dogging his gang, he orders him killed. He has no idea that it is his own brother. The killers prepare a trap for the unwitting cop, but suddenly Owen shows up and tries to stop it; as a result he is shot and dies in the arms of Tom. Later Tom lies to their parents to save them from unbearable shame. He tells them that Owen has gone away on a very long trip. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi