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| Eliot Ness |
He
was America’s Number One Prohibition Agent, famous for nabbing gangster Al
Capone on tax evasion and enforcing the anti-alcohol laws of Prohibition. But
was he really responsible for Capone’s arrest? And how true was his
autobiography, “The Untouchables”?
Eliot
Ness was born in Chicago in 1903. He graduated from the University of Chicago
in 1925 with a degree in economics, but returned to pursue a degree in
criminology. His brother-in-law, a Bureau of Investigation (forerunner of the
FBI) agent, helped get Ness hired, and by 1927, Ness was working with the Bureau
of Prohibition in Chicago.
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| Busting Stills |
These
"Prohibition agents" were to stop people from selling or drinking alcohol and that was usually done by breaking up illegal bootlegging rings and raiding stills, breweries, and
popular nightclubs around Chicago.
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| Al Capone |
This
put Ness head-to-head with gangster Al Capone who ran most of the speakeasies
and breweries in the “Crime Capital of the World.” After refusing bribes from
Capone, Ness and his 8-man team, dubbed “The Untouchables” (for refusing
bribes) were prepared to bring Capone in on over 5,000 provable charges of
bootlegging.
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| Capone in Court |
But
prosecutors knew the charges wouldn’t stick; the public loved drinking but not
tax cheats, so Capone was prosecuted on charges of tax evasion, an area Ness
had not been involved in.
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| Eliot Ness |
Capone
was tried and sentenced to 11 years in prison
while Ness was promoted to Chief
Investigator of the Prohibition Bureau for Chicago. When Prohibition ended in
1933, Ness worked as an alcohol tax agent in the “Moonshine Mountains” of
Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio. By 1935, Ness was working as the safety director
in Cleveland, vowing to end police corruption in the city.
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| Ness and the Cleveland Police Force |
Ness
spent seven years in Cleveland, cleaning up the 2,000-man police force by ferreting
out corrupt police officials and battling against local Mafia and crime
lords. It was during this time that he began to develop his
style of policing with science: what today we consider a part of forensic science. He also created a professional police force that served under rigorous moral codes. Ness
also helped improve conditions for the Cleveland Fire Department, and promoted
traffic safety.
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| Torso Killer Victim Found |
But
then Ness began to falter: a serial killer known as the Cleveland Torso Murderer was loose in the city; at least a dozen people had died. Ness indicated in his journal that he knew who the murderer was but could never get him convicted. Personal problems also took a toll and he began to
drink and carouse. His first marriage ended in divorce.
In
1942, he resigned his position as Public Safety Director, remarried and moved
to Washington D.C. to work for the federal government in the battle against prostitution
and vice. By 1947, he was remarried and was living back in Cleveland where he ran
for the office of Mayor. He lost the election, sank into debt, and started
drinking heavily. In
1953, he took a job with North Ridge Industrial Corporation, a paper company
from Cleveland, and moved his family to the new headquarters in rural
Pennsylvania.
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| Oscar Fraley |
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| It Never Happened |
Ness
decided to write his autobiography but soon realized he needed a ghostwriter.
He hired Oscar Fraley, a reporter, to collaborate with him. Fraley ended up writing
the book, creating events and characters that were totally fictitious. Fraley
painted Ness and his men as fearless agents who were mysteriously
‘untouchable,’ when in fact it was the careful, methodical planning on Ness’s part,
the integrity of his team, and sheer gut instinct that kept most of the men from
being gunned down.
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| Eliot Ness's Grave |
The
book, “The Untouchables” was published in June 1957. Ness never knew that his
myth and legend had been secured: Eliot Ness died of a massive heart attack on
May 16, 1957, one month before the book came out. He was 54 years old. Eliot
Ness was buried at Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.
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| 1960's TV Show |
But
the Capone/Ness crime-fighting legacy continued. Several television programs,
movies, novels, and comic books (Dick Tracy was said to have been modeled after
Eliot Ness.) have been made about Elliot Ness’s life as an American hero.
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| The Untouchables Movie |
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| Eliot Ness |
But
what is the true story? Fifty-seven years after Ness’s death, it’s hard to
decipher between what he really said and did, and the Hollywood version: a highly
fictionalized story of a super-hero lawman.
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| ATF Building |
In
January, it was proposed that the headquarters of the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Washington D.C. be named after Ness. But several
authors and a Chicago Alderman opposed the resolution, inferring that Ness's
legacy was not representative of who the man really was.
Now, almost 60 years later, it appears that Eliot Ness has indeed become “untouchable”
but not in the way he had hoped …
~
Joy
