Ness’s manuscript has Nabers present for the identification of Basile’s body, though Nabers’s personnel file (cited above) strongly suggests he wasn’t in Chicago at the time. Ness and Fraley, on the other hand, say Ness visited the funeral home with Lahart, which seems an invention of Fraley’s; they also place Basile’s murder much later in the timeline than it actually occurred. Ness’s manuscript also suggests the special agents viewed Basile’s body in the police station, while Ness and Fraley revise it to say they went to Doty’s Funeral Home next door. In this case, the book seems more credible, as that’s the kind of detail that could have only come from Ness (and his sparsely written manuscript is ambiguous about such things). The funeral home building, like the police station, still stands on East 115th Street in Kensington. Now a church, the name “Doty” is still written above the door.
FELTRIN ARREST AND DEATH: CT, December 13, 1928; December 24, 1928; June 21, 1930. Sullivan, Chicago Surrenders, pp. 34–35. Hopkins, Our Lawless Police, pp. 15–27, 36–42, 45–60, 88–99, 167, 189–221, 264–287. Ness MS., pp. 6, 9, in ENPS, Roll 1, Folder 2. Record for Frank Basile, “Homicide in Chicago 1870–1930 Interactive Database,” Northwestern University, http://homicide.northwestern.edu/data base/9163/?page=object%20id%20#28 (accessed March 14, 2016). Record for Anthony Feltrin, Illinois, Deaths and Stillbirths Index, 1916–1947 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2011).
A 1932 article by Robert Isham Randolph includes a probable reference to Feltrin’s death (“the known murderer of a government agent hanged himself in his cell because he did not dare to tell who had hired him to do the job”). Randolph suggests the killer was more afraid of his fellow gangsters than the police, but hints police subjected him to the third degree while in custody, without getting him to crack. Robert Isham Randolph, “The ‘Third Degree,’ ” New York Herald Tribune Magazine, August 7, 1932, p. 2.
COZY CORNER RAID: Ness MS., pp. 6–7, in ENPS, Roll 1, Folder 2 (6, “In Chicago Heights”; 7, “four revolvers and,” “Look who’s here”).
Dating this incident is difficult, but it must have occurred after December 9, 1928, when Lahart was transferred back to Chicago from St. Paul. (See “Recommendation for Change in Designation Post of Duty,” December 5, 1928, Martin J. Lahart OPF/ATF.)
NESS CALM UNDER PRESSURE: Ness MS., pp. 6–7, in ENPS, Roll 1, Folder 2 (7, “We always traveled”). Murphy, Report on Eliot Ness, p. 11, in FBI-ENA. CT, March 1, 1970. Jedick, “Eliot Ness,” p. 55.
MIKE PICCHI CHASE AND ARREST: CT, December 28, 1928; January 3, 1929; January 5, 1929. Petition of Mike Picchi, U.S. v. Mike Picchi, October 15, 1929, in Box 1, “Criminal Case 19444 (Prohib.—Chicago Heights)” folder, PCF. Indictment, U.S. v. Thomas D’amico, et al., April 1929, in Box 1, “Criminal Case 19444 (Prohib.—Chicago Heights)” folder, PCF. “ ‘Untouchables’ Hazard Death in Campaign Against Capone,” The Evening Star, June 18, 1931, in ENPS, Roll 1, Scrapbook 1. NYT, June 18, 1931. Ness MS., p. 7, in ENPS, Roll 1, Folder 2 (quotes).
See also Foster, “Blackhand War,” p. 54; Ness and Fraley, The Untouchables, pp. 175–177, both of which incorrectly name Basile as the driver. Perry (Eliot Ness, p. 40) incorrectly gives Ness’s quote as: “This gun was obviously meant for me.”
Per Nabers’s personnel file, Nabers returned to the Chicago area on December 19 to give testimony before the grand jury, bearing out Ness’s recollection (and the CT article) that he helped arrest Mike Picchi. See Alexander G. Jamie to the Commissioner of Prohibition, January 8, 1929; Alexander G. Jamie to Alf Oftedal, January 31, 1929, both in Albert M. Nabers OPF/ATF.
NESS HOME AND PARENTS: City of Chicago Directory 1928–1929, p. 2260. Personal History, June 5, 1928; Personal History, April 12, 1929, both in Eliot Ness OPF. Murphy, Report on Eliot Ness, p. 9, in FBI-ENA. Ness and Fraley, The Untouchables, pp. 161, 169–170 (169, “killed by those”), 186–187. Adelman, Touring Pullman, p. 42.
The Ness house still stands, but its street name has since changed. It can now be found at 11015 South Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
NESS MEETS INFORMANT: Ness MS., pp. 7–8, in ENPS, Roll 1, Folder 2.
See also Ness and Fraley, The Untouchables, pp. 168–173, which places this call (more dramatically) before Ness arrests Picchi, rather than after (as in the Ness MS.). Here, again, is another instance where the information in the manuscript and book is corroborated by outside sources. The Nesses first show up at the 11015 South Park Avenue address in 1928 (see above), right around the time this event happened.
NESS MOVES OUT, STOPS SEEING EDNA: Alexander G. Jamie to Alf Oftedal, April 10, 1929; Alexander G. Jamie, Personnel Classification Board Form No. 4, May 5, 1929, both in Edna S. Ness OPF. Ness MS., p. 8, in ENPS, Roll 1, Folder 2. Ness and Fraley, The Untouchables, pp. 172–173, 186–187. Here, as elsewhere, the Ness-Fraley book replaces Edna’s name with that of Ness’s third wife, Betty.
JOHNSON PLANS HEIGHTS RAID: CHE, December 1, 1928; January 7–8, 1929 (January 7, “the strange distinction,” “the municipal sanctuary”). CT, January 7, 1929 (“center of lawlessness,” “May I have,” “Twenty if you”). Chicago Heights Star, January 7, 1929 (“The good name,” “the bad work”). CDN, January 7, 1929. CEP, January 7, 1929. Pittsburgh Press, January 7, 1929. Willebrandt, Inside of Prohibition, p. 155. Corsino, Neighborhood Outfit, p. 28.
HEIGHTS RAID: CHE, January 7, 1929. CT, January 7, 1929 (“Where are the,” “We’re running the,” “Their silence smacks”). CEP, January 7, 1929. CDN, January 7, 1929 (“We’ll need all,” “We are anxious”); February 24, 1936. Chicago Heights Star, January 7, 1929. Pittsburgh Press, January 7, 1929. Foster, “Blackhand War,” pp. 40–41, 54. Ness MS., pp. 8–9, in ENPS, Roll 1, Folder 2. Ness and Fraley, The Untouchables, pp. 193–194. CPD, October 17, 1959 (“There would be”).
HEIGHTS INDICTMENTS: U.S. v. Thomas D’amico, et al., indictment, April 1929, in Box 1, “Criminal Case 19444 (Prohib. Chicago Heights)” folder, PCF. CT, May 4, 1929. Dillard, “How the U.S. Gov’t,” p. 56. Foster, “Blackhand War,” p. 55. CDN, February 24, 1936. Luzi, Boys in Chicago Heights, pp. 41–44. Corsino, Neighborhood Outfit, pp. 33–41.
GIANNONI ARREST: CT, July 27, 1929. Bench Warrant for John Giannoni, November 27, 1928; Bench Warrant for John Giannoni, July 26, 1929; Brief Statement of Motion, December 3, 1929, all in Box 607, “Criminal Case 18299” folder, CCF.
The Ness MS. asserts that Giannoni “is still a fugitive,” suggesting that Ness was unaware of his arrest (Ness MS., p. 9, in ENPS, Roll 1, Folder 2). Perry (Eliot Ness, p. 38) claims that “an unidentified man” found shot to death in the Heights on December 9 was believed by police to be Giannoni. Nothing in the article he cites suggests this was the case. (CT, December 10, 1928.) In any event, a later Tribune report identified the victim as a laborer with no connection to the alcohol mob. (CT, December 11, 1929.)
JULIANO DEATH: CT, June 21, 1930. Sullivan, Chicago Surrenders, p. 35. Foster, “Blackhand War,” p. 54.
Foster claims that the special agents arrested Juliano during the Heights raid, but Juliano lived in Blue Island (not the Heights), which makes this unlikely. His name doesn’t show up in any of the articles listing prisoners arrested in those raids.
OLIVER ELLIS: CHE, January 7, 1929. CT, January 7–9, 1929 (January 8, “split five ways”). CEP, January 7–8, 1929. CDN, January 7–8, 1929; February 24, 1936. Willebrandt, Inside of Prohibition, pp. 151–152. Bergreen, Capone, pp. 302–303.
INCOME TAX EVASION: Sullivan v. United States, 15 F.2d 809 (4th Cir. 1926). Willebrandt, Inside of Prohibition, pp. 247–249. Messick, Secret File, pp. 34–35. Schoenberg, Mr. Capone, pp. 231–232, 255–256. Bergreen, Capone, p. 273. Trespacz, Trial of Gangster Al Capone, pp. 46–49 (47, “lawful”), 56–59. Folsom, Money Trail, pp. 35, 63–64. Mappen, Prohibition Gangsters, pp. 128–129.
The difficulty of proving income tax evasion would decrease somewhat in 1954, when a Supreme Court decision affirmed the use of so-called net worth prosecutions. In such cases, the prosecution merely
has to establish the defendant’s net worth at a certain “starting point” and prove that he or she has since made more money than his or her tax returns show. But this remained a questionable practice in Capone’s day. (Schoenberg, Mr. Capone, pp. 231–232; Spiering, Man Who Got Capone, pp. 67–68.)
RALPH CAPONE INVESTIGATION: Opening Argument of Counsel for Government, United States of America v. Ralph J. Capone, April 24, 1930, JIG. NYT, June 6, 1931. Social Record of Ralph Capone, December 14, 1931; Nels E. Tessem, memo to Chief, Intelligence Unit, Re: Ralph J. Capone, February 24, 1932, both in Box 13, “Capone, Ralph J. 9346-M Transferred From Leavenworth 12.10.1931 (3 of 3)” folder, NOF. IRS-2, pp. 44–45. Dillard, “How the U.S. Gov’t,” pp. 14–15. CDN, February 24–25, 1936. Irey and Slocum, Tax Dodgers, pp. 28–31. Schoenberg, Mr. Capone, pp. 230–232, 242–243. Eghigian, After Capone, pp. 152, 159–160, 163. Folsom, Money Trail, pp. 65–67.
CAPONE TAX INVESTIGATION BEGINS: Robert H. Lucas, memorandum for Assistant Secretary Hope, March 19, 1930, in Presidential Subject Series, Box 164, “Federal Bureau of Investigation—Capone Tax Case, 1930–1931” folder, HHPL. CT, October 10, 1931. “War on Chicago Gangs Not Over, Say U.S. Officials,” n.p., n.d., in ENPS, Roll 1, Scrapbook 1. IRS-2, p. 4. Wilson and Whitman, “Undercover Man,” pp. 14–15. Irey and Slocum, Tax Dodgers, pp. 27, 32–33. Folsom, Money Trail, pp. 80–82.
Biographer Bergreen (Capone, p. 302) admits the Heights “raid . . . permanently altered the face of the conflict between the racketeers and law enforcement agencies,” but—in keeping with his consistent anti-Ness bias—he rearranges the chronology of his narrative in order to make Ness seem as ineffective as possible. In Bergreen’s telling, Ness’s “spurious success in Chicago Heights” (ibid., p. 351) comes after the raid netting Ellis’s evidence. This implies they were two separate incidents, rather than the same event. Bergeen also appears unaware the name Ness used for Basile in his manuscript, “Burt Napoli,” is a pseudonym. (Bergreen, Capone, pp. 301–304, 348–351.)
Irey’s later testimony (in CT, October 10, 1931) that Internal Revenue’s Capone investigation began on October 18, 1928, has led some to conclude President Calvin Coolidge ordered the inquiry (see Hoffman, Scarface Al, pp. 24, 33). As Folsom notes (in Money Trail, p. 77), however, no evidence suggests Coolidge had any direct involvement.
Chapter Eleven
CAPONE’S INFLUENCE, LEXINGTON HOTEL: James O’Donnell Bennett, “Chicago Gangland: Golden Flood Makes Czars, Befouls City,” CT, April 7, 1929. Pasley, Al Capone, pp. 82 (“round-the-world”), 349. Vanderbilt, “How Al Capone,” pp. 20–21. Murray, Legacy of Al Capone, pp. 124–125 (124, “Does your newspaper”; 125, “The man was”). Kobler, Capone, pp. 12–14. CT, April 13, 1986. Schoenberg, Mr. Capone, p. 180. Bergreen, Capone, p. 148. Bair, Al Capone, pp. 77–78.
LABOR RACKETEERING: Landesco, “Organized Crime in Chicago,” pp. 986–990 (988, “I have no”). CT, April 20–21, 1930. Pasley, Al Capone, pp. 247–251. Vanderbilt Jr., “How Al Capone,” p. 20. Lyle, Dry and Lawless Years, pp. 187–189, 192. Murray, Legacy of Al Capone, pp. 85–88 (87, “The members will,” “You either buy”), 94–98, 155–167. Kobler, Capone, pp. 241–243 (242, “in the cleaning”). Schoenberg, Mr. Capone, pp. 199–201. Bergreen, Capone, pp. 148–151. Helmer and Bilek, St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, pp. 62–63. Okrent, Last Call, pp. 329–330.
UNIONE MURDERS: Pasley, Al Capone, pp. 229–232. Burns, One-Way Ride, pp. 229–232, 235–239. Murray, Legacy of Al Capone, pp. 125–127 (126, “Why kill a”). Schoenberg, Mr. Capone, pp. 205–206, 232–233. Helmer and Mattix, Public Enemies, pp. 114–117.
BUGS MORAN: Lyle, Dry and Lawless Years, pp. 199–203 (201, “beautiful diamond ring,” “If it’s snatched”; 202, “the Beast,” “the Behemoth,” “The Beast uses”; 203, “Any enemy of”), 226. Allsop, Bootleggers, p. 131. English, Paddy Whacked, pp. 148, 165–166. Keefe, Man Who Got Away, pp. 6, 8, 44, 55, 371 (“could go berserk”). Bair, Al Capone, p. 46.
PLANNING THE MASSACRE: James O’Donnell Bennett, “Chicago Gangland: Golden Flood Makes Czars, Befouls City,” CT, April 7, 1929. Pasley, Al Capone, p. 255. A. P. Madden to Chief, Intelligence Unit, March 11, 1932, in Box 4, “Career-Capone Case-Correspondence, 1931–1940” folder, FJW. John Edgar Hoover, “Memorandum for Mr. Joseph B. Keenan, Acting Attorney General,” August 27, 1936; Memorandum Re: “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre,” October 26, 1936, both in FBI-SVDM. Helmer and Bilek, St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, pp. 10–11, 101–102, 129, 131–133, 136, 231–232, 234–235, 245, 250. Keefe, Man Who Got Away, p. 233.
NITTO AS ENFORCER: Helmer and Bilek, St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, pp. 232–233. Eghigian, After Capone, pp. 123–124 (123, “What had [Nitto]”; 124, “gangland’s most perfect”), 162 (“the Enforcer”). Schoenberg, Mr. Capone, pp. 245–246 (“always acted kind”).
GEORGETTE SEES UNIFORMS: Helmer, Al Capone and His American Boys, pp. 80–81 (81, “Goetz enjoyed his,” “too sick with”).
THE MASSACRE: Pasley, Al Capone, pp. 254–255. Helmer and Bilek, St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, pp. 10–11, 101–104, 131–133 (132, “board of directors”), 234–235, 250. Keefe, Man Who Got Away, pp. 233–237, 256–257. Binder, Al Capone’s Beer Wars, pp. 197–198.
Intelligence Unit agent A. P. Madden identified the key participants in the massacre in a memo written three years after the event: “It is said that the now famous St. Valentine’s day murder in Chicago . . . was perpetrated at the direction of Al Capone. The plan was to assassinate George, alias ‘Bugs’ Moran. . . . The four principals in the killing are said to have been Fred Burke . . . Gus Winkler [sic] . . . Robert Conroy and a man known as ‘Crane Neck’ Neugent [sic].” (A. P. Madden to Chief, Intelligence Unit, March 11, 1932, in Box 4, “Career-Capone Case-Correspondence, 1931–1940” folder, FJW.)
CAPONE AND NUGENT IN MIAMI: NYT, August 1, 1928. CT, August 1, 1928; February 15, 1929; October 10, 1931 (“I’m a gambler,” “Besides gambling, you’re,” “No, I never,” “You didn’t receive,” “all of it”). LAT, February 19, 1929 (“Capone entertained with,” “something harried about,” “anxious only to,” “ ‘Scarface’ led the”). J. R. Burdge, Report on Alphonse Capone and Kenneth Phillips, March 23, 1929, in FBI-AC (“I am not”). CHE, October 10, 1931. A. P. Madden to Chief, Intelligence Unit, March 11, 1932, in Box 4, “Career-Capone Case-Correspondence, 1931–1940” folder, FJW. Ross, Trial of Al Capone, pp. 64–65. Kobler, Capone, pp. 230–231, 246–249. Schoenberg, Mr. Capone, p. 203. Helmer and Bilek, St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, pp. 151, 201. Helmer, Al Capone and His American Boys, pp. 279, 294–295, 345–346. Bair, Al Capone, pp. 257–258.
MORAN AND CAPONE AFTER MASSACRE: CT, February 16, 1929 (“The Moriarties of,” “The butchering of”). Miami Daily News, February 17–18, 1929 (February 17, “Capone mob”; February 18, “That fellow Moran”). Austin Statesman, February 18, 1929 (“If I were,” “I think it”). CHE, February 16, 19, 1929 (February 19, “The mass murder”). Keefe, Man Who Got Away, pp. 159 (“Everything I have”), 238.
MASSACRE INVESTIGATION: CHE, February 22–23, 1929. CT, February 22–23, 1929 (February 22, “a little bit,” “The murder car”); March 20, 1929 (“We may find”). Lyle, Dry and Lawless Years, p. 221 (“Blonde Alibi”). Helmer and Bilek, St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, pp. 84, 101–108, 127–128, 134–137, 140–144, 147–150. Shmelter, Chicago Assassin, pp. 147–148, 178–189.
CAPONE SUBPOENA AND GRAND JURY TESTIMONY: Kenneth Phillips affidavit, March 5, 1929 (“has not fully”); George E. Q. Johnson to the Attorney General, March 18, 1929; Mabel Walker Willebrandt, memorandum for Mr. Hoover, March 21, 1929 (“As a personal”); J. Edgar Hoover, memorandum for Mrs. Willebrandt, March 21, 1929; J. Edgar Hoover to G. A. Campana, March 21, 1929; J. R. Burdge, Report on Alphonse Capone and Kenneth Phillips, March 23, 1929 (“beyond a doubt,” “was wholly and”); Affidavit of J. M. Coroneas, March 23, 1929; Affidavit of W. R. Foster, March 23, 1929; Affidavit of C. E. Bebler, March 23, 1929; Affidavit of M. G. Wood, March 23, 1929; J.
Edgar Hoover to George E. Q. Johnson, March 25, 1929; George E. Q. Johnson to the Attorney General, March 25, 1929 (“It may become”); J. J. Perkins to Director, Bureau of Investigation, March 25, 1929; Affidavit of William P. Tremblay, March 25, 1929; Affidavit of John William Cooper Jr., March 25, 1929; Washington Daily News, March 27, 1929 (“all right”); Washington Herald, March 28, 1929 (“This is a,” “That’s easy,” “See you later”); George E. Q. Johnson to J. Edgar Hoover, March 27, 1929 (“Permit me to”); George E. Q. Johnson to J. Edgar Hoover, March 28, 1929; Director to George E. Q. Johnson, April 1, 1929 (“It has been”); J. J. Perkins, Report on Alphonse Capone and Kenneth Phillips, M.D., April 3, 1929; J. Edgar Hoover, memorandum, March 4, 1931, all in FBI-AC. CT, February 28, 1929; March 19–22, 1929 (March 20, “the four or,” “like the hoodlum”); March 26–28, 1929 (March 26, “friends,” “might be defined”). CHE, February 28, 1929; March 2, 1929 (“I am sick”); March 21, 1929 (“bankers and brokers,” “certain racketeering,” “It’s a bum,” “seemed entirely mended,” “I ought to,” “Down in Florida”). WP, March 28, 1929 (“something was up,” “a feminine hand”). Ross, Trial of Al Capone, pp. 13–28 (14, “willfully, corruptly, knowingly,” “untrue and false”; 16, “anybody by that,” “Here I am”; 17, “a brown camel,” “He was pleasant”; 26, “sitting with their”; 27, “not serious”). Bergreen, Capone, pp. 322–327. Eig, Get Capone, pp. 217–218. Bair, Al Capone, pp. 131, 135, 209, 353.
Chapter Twelve
HOOVER IN MIAMI: Miami Daily News, June 20, 1928 (“Summer White House”). CT, January 26, 1929; February 1, 1929; February 13, 1929. Hynd, Giant Killers, pp. 10, 24. Irey and Slocum, Tax Dodgers, pp. 25–26. George Murray, “Why Capone Served 11 Yrs.,” Chicago American, July 23, 1956, in “Newspaper Clippings (2 of 9)” folder, GEQJ (“Go to hell”). Galbraith, Great Crash 1929, pp. 9–12 (9, “inordinate desire”; 12, “the conviction that”). Kobler, Capone, p. 237. McElvaine, Great Depression, pp. 53–56 (53, “We were in,” “superman,” “If some unprecedented”), 61, 65. Eig, Get Capone, pp. 180–181, 183, 193–194. Leuchtenburg, Herbert Hoover, pp. 1–50 (17, “If a man”), 63, 66–81 (79, “superman,” “If some unprecedented”; 81, “We were in”), 139 (“sour, puckered face”). “Did Retailing Genius J.C. Penney Hoodwink Herbert Hoover into Hyping Belle Isle Real Estate?” Belle Isle Blog, April 5, 2011, https://belleisleblog.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/did-retailing-genius-j-c-penney-hoodwink-herbert-hoover-into-hyping-belle-isle-real-estate/ (accessed March 22, 2016).
Scarface and the Untouchable Page 63