PUBLIC NEED FOR CATHARSIS/VENGEANCE: NYT, January 10, 1931 (“a figure out”). Scarface (“THE WORLD IS”). Gabriel over the White House (1933), directed by Gregory La Cava (Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 2009, DVD (“I’ve paid my,” “Federal Police to”). Busch, Enemies of the State, p. 229. Barlett and Steele, Howard Hughes, p. 74. Powers, G-Men, pp. 4–9 (8, “The public wanted”), 12–25, 29, 31. McGilligan, Backstory, p. 57 (“a gutter Macbeth”). MacAdams, Ben Hecht, p. 131. Black, Hollywood Censored, p. 121 (“the here and”), 129–130, 137–144. Potter, War on Crime, p. 138. Pizzitola, Hearst over Hollywood, pp. 294–300. Mappen, Prohibition Gangsters, pp. 122–124. Maltby, “The Public Enemy.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
NESS’S DISILLUSIONMENT: Personal History Statement, April 18, 1931; Recommendation for Change in Designated Post of Duty, December 19, 1931, both in Albert H. Wolff OPF/ATF. Ness and Fraley, The Untouchables, p. 86. Akron Beacon-Journal, June 1, 1987. Lexington Herald-Leader, June 1, 1987. Tiede, American Tapestry, p. 133 (“I don’t say”). Heimel, Eliot Ness, pp. 81, 97–98 (“The niceties of”).
Wolff must be quoted with caution, as many of the claims he made in later years seem embellished at best and outright fabrications at worst. But he did serve under Ness in the Chicago Prohibition office, and his assessment of Ness’s character here rings true, especially given Ness’s extralegal activities later on in Cleveland.
CLOONAN: Oath of Office, January 5, 1931; Recommendation for Change in Designated Post of Duty, October 26, 1932; A. V. Dalrymple to Bernard V. Cloonan, June 27, 1933; Oath of Office, February 24, 1934; Sam H. Scott to the Assistant Director, Alcoholic Beverage Unit, May 3, 1934 (“Hymie,” “Barney,” “long-time,” “had helped them,” “the guy who,” “It seems that”); Hugo Keller to E. C. Yellowley, September 19, 1935; E. C. Yellowley to the Deputy Commissioner of the Alcohol Tax Unit, February 18, 1938; V. V. Sugg to E. C. Yellowley, October 21, 1939; E. C. Yellowley to the Deputy Commissioner of the Alcohol Tax Unit, April 2, 1940; Performance Review, November 27, 1940; V. V. Sugg to E. C. Yellowley, June 3, 1941; Report of Efficiency Rating, March 31, 1942; Report of Efficiency Rating, March 31, 1943; Report of Efficiency Rating, March 31, 1944; Report of Efficiency Rating, March 31, 1945; Report of Efficiency Rating, March 31, 1946; Report of Efficiency Rating, March 31, 1947; Report of Efficiency Rating, September 30, 1948; Report of Efficiency Rating, September 30, 1949; Report of Efficiency Rating, September 30, 1950; Efficiency Report, September 30, 1952; W. A. Collawn to Bernard V. Cloonan, July 31, 1960, all in Bernard V. Cloonan OPF/ATF. CT, July 17, 1960. Milwaukee Journal, January 10, 1961. Fraley and Robsky, Last of the Untouchables, pp. 35–39, 67–72. Jedick, “Eliot Ness,” pp. 54, 91.
Robsky and Fraley’s heavily fictionalized book describes two corrupt Untouchables, “George Steelman” and “Arnold Grant,” who are both exposed after demanding bribes over tapped phone lines. Although the details seem largely fanciful, the use of wiretaps to expose the agents echoes the Cloonan case, and strongly suggests that was where Robsky and Fraley found their inspiration.
CAPONE’S APPEAL / WILL ROGERS: CT, February 28, 1932. White, Will Rogers, pp. 149 (“five counts of”), 219 (“What’s the matter,” “and not make”).
LINDBERGH KIDNAPPING: Vanderbilt, “How Al Capone,” p. 18. CT, March 6, 1932; March 11, 1932; November 17, 1946. Miami Herald, March 11, 1932 (“You don’t suppose,” “come back here,” “How do they know”). A. P. Madden to Chief, Intelligence Unit, March 11, 1932, in Box 4, “Career-Capone Case-Correspondence, 1931–1940” folder, FJW (“quite disturbed,” “to procure information,” “It is my,” “would now pay”). NYT, March 12, 1932. St. Louis Post Dispatch, February 17, 1935; New York American, April 15, 1937; Charles E. Fisher, “$14,600 in Ransom Cash Carried About in Court: Wilentz Tosses It to Witness for Identification,” The Bulletin, n.d., all in Box 3, “Career—Lindbergh Case—Subject File, 1932–1935” folder, FJW. Irey and Slocum, Tax Dodgers, pp. 66–69 (68, “wouldn’t ask for”), 71, 75–76. Waller, Kidnap, pp. 18 (“It’s the most”), 22–23. Wilson and Day, Special Agent, pp. 60–61. Messick, Secret File, pp. 73–77, 81. Fischer, Lindbergh Case, pp. 36–37 (36, “I’m pretty positive”). Kobler, Capone, p. 353. Spiering, Man Who Got Capone, pp. 215–219. Powers, G-Men, pp. 9–12 (11, “the baby’s blood”; 12, “God knows why”). Maeder, Dick Tracy, pp. 22, 24–25. Bergreen, Capone, pp. 503–505. Berg, Lindbergh, p. 253. Keefe, Man Who Got Away, pp. 257–258. Gould, Complete Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy, vol. 1, April 12, 1932–May 21, 1932. Helmer, Al Capone and His American Boys, pp. 55, 104–105 (105, “to get out,” “pull a job,” “often wondered if”), 151–152 (151, “under no circumstances”), 283 (“to ‘shoot’ every,” “Capone believed that”), 307–308 (307, “snatch racket”; 308, “taken care of”). Bair, Al Capone, pp. 251–252. Binder, Al Capone’s Beer Wars, pp. 233–234.
NITTO’S RELEASE: George E. Q. Johnson, Parole Report by United States Attorney, September 14, 1931; N. R. Timmons to H. C. Heckman, September 15, 1931; Frank R. Nitto to H. C. Heckman, September 19, 1931 (“I have maintained”); Frank Nitto to Arthur Wood, September 20, 1931; Frank Nitto to Arthur D. Wood, October 15, 1931 (“four or five”); N. R. Timmons to George E. Q. Johnson, October 15, 1931; George E. Q. Johnson to the United States Board of Parole, October 21, 1931 (“I have a”); untitled note, October 29, 1931; Arthur D. Wood to Frank Nitto, October 30, 1931 (“should be paid”); Anna Nitto to Arthur Wood, n.d. (“I am sure”); Charles M. Bates and Fred W. Scherer, receipt, November 20, 1931; Arthur B. Wood, Irvin B. Tucker, and Amy N. Standard, “Parole Having Been Denied, Reopened and Denied,” November 30, 1931; George E. Q. Johnson to H. C. Heckman, November 30, 1931; H. C. Heckman to the Warden, U.S. Penitentiary, Leavenworth, December 2, 1931; Untitled note, January 20, 1932; “Memorandum for the File of Frank Nitti” [sic], January 20, 1932; “Capone Gang Revolt for Leadership Seen,” undated AP clipping (“open warfare,” “from taking charge”), all in Box 71, “Nitto, Frank (1 of 1)” folder, NOF. Murray, Legacy of Al Capone, p. 154. Eghigian, After Capone, pp. 201–203, 205–208.
END OF UNTOUCHABLES: CT, March 8, 1932; April 3, 1932 (“going to try”); April 24, 1932; June 11, 1932; September 26, 1932. NYT, April 25, 1932. Calumet Index, April 29, 1932; “U.S. Plans to Wipe Out Entire Capone Syndicate with One New True Bill,” n.p. [CDN?], June 11, 1932 (“When the bombshell”); “Capone and 79 Followers in New U.S. Net,” CEA, n.d.; “New Rum Indictments for Capones, 67 Others, to Be Sought by U.S.,” n.p., June 11, 1932, all in ENPS, Roll 1, Scrapbook 1. Bergreen, Capone, p. 411 (“the Capone organization,” “The attitude of”).
CHAPMAN AND CAPONE CASE FILE: Lyle B. Chapman to Dwight E. Avis, December 16, 1931; W. E. Bennett, memo to Lyle B. Chapman, August 25, 1932 (“It is now,” “conform to the,” “perform your work”); L. B. Chapman, “Memorandum for Mr. Bennett,” September 7, 1932 (“awful mass of,” “I think the”); E. P. Guinane to Director, United States Bureau of Investigation, October 6, 1932 (“her daughter was”); Everett H. Kuebler to David A. Sloan, October 27, 1932; W. H. Huss to D. E. Avis, December 7, 1932; W. E. Bennett to Lyle B. Chapman, December 14, 1932; W. E. Bennett to Lyle B. Chapman, December 15, 1932; Dwight E. Avis to Special Agent in Charge, December 23, 1932; Unsigned [Lyle B. Chapman] to W. H. Huss and Company, January 3, 1933; Affidavit of Viola Bourke, February 23, 1933; Affidavit of Lyle B. Chapman, March 31, 1933; Affidavit of Vesta Beck Chapman, April 24, 1933; D. A. Sloan, Report on Special Agent Lyle B. Chapman, April 24, 1933 (“notorious,” “probably a questionable,” “was drinking something,” “big shot”); Everett H. Kuebler, Memo to A. V. Dalrymple, April 27, 1933; Everett H. Kuebler, memo to D. H. Reichgut, May 26, 1933; A. V. Dalrymple to Lyle B. Chapman, June 27, 1933; John S. Hurley to Lyle B. Chapman, August 9, 1933, all in Lyle B. Chapman OPF/ATF. United States of America vs. Alphonse Capone, Ralph Capone, Bert Delaney, August Dold, Joseph Fusco, Jack Guzik, George A. Howlett, Albert Johnson, Frank Juffra, Nicholas Juffra, Hyman Levine, Michael Lopristi, Charles Fu
ehrmeyer, John H. Nolan, and Steve Swoboda, Civil Complaint No. 3375, n.d.; Memo, “SUBJECT: Testimony of Joseph C. Fusco,” October 4, 1950, both in Box 86, “Fusco, Joseph C. (Joe)” folder, KC. CT, October 22, 1938. CDN, March 24, 1948. Hearings Before the Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, pt. 5, pp. 565–567. Ness MS., p. 21, in ENPS, Roll 1, Folder 2. LAT, September 23, 1962 (“I often find”).
SUPREME COURT APPEAL / AHERN AND FINK: CHE, May 3, 1932 (“I’m still ready”). Ross, Trial of Al Capone, pp. 118–123 (122, “everything done thereafter was”). Christian Science Monitor, November 7, 1934 (“Capone could not,” “If the Capone”). Schoenberg, Mr. Capone, pp. 317 (“really inept,” “terrible”), 330–331. Bergreen, Capone, p. 516. Capone, Uncle Al Capone, p. 60.
TAKING CAPONE TO PRISON TRAIN: G. A. Youngquist to George E. Q. Johnson, Memo “In Re: United States v. Alphonse Capone,” April 28, 1932, in Box 1, “Correspondence (4 of 12)” folder, RRPAC. CHE, May 4, 1932 (“Here, kid,” “I don’t know,” “toughest,” “For a while”). CT, May 3–5, 1932 (May 4, “the bodies of,” “You’d think Mussolini,” “You got a,” “Damn it, come”). NYT, May 4, 1932 (“toughest,” “You’d think Mussolini,” “You got a,” “After that it,” “Police officials described,” “a picture of”). CPD, September 19, 1934 (“We did our”). Ness and Fraley, The Untouchables, pp. 249–254. “Eliot Ness: Untouchable.” Cahan, Court That Shaped America, p. 46 (“granite octopus”). “Prohibition: Tony Berardi—About Al Capone’s Lifestyle,” Onlinefootage.tv, video, 02:04, http://www.onlinefootage.tv/stock-video-footage/7660/prohibition-tony-berardi-about-al-capone-s-lifestyle (accessed June 30, 2016). “Al Capone Passes to His Long Rest,” British Movietone, YouTube, video, 01:02, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsPWP79w82g (accessed July 1, 2016). “Capone to Atlanta Prison—221529–01,” Footage Farm, YouTube, video, 00:45, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HjF1q7IrO0 (accessed September 8, 2016).
Lew Wilkinson, a friend of Ness’s in his later years, confirmed in an interview that Ness said this was the only time he ever got close to Capone. Some of Wilkinson’s other comments in the interview are unreliable (such as his claim Ness said he never went on raids, when there is ample evidence to the contrary), but Ness’s presence at Dearborn Station that day is certain. See Lew Wilkinson, interviewed in “Eliot Ness,” The Real Untouchables.
Eig (Get Capone, p. 373) contends Ness and Capone “never met” that day, even as he admits newspapers place Ness among the guards taking Capone to the station. Photographs and film footage also clearly show Ness taking Capone through the train shed at Dearborn Station.
The Ness-Fraley book (cited above) presents a short scene in which Ness and Capone exchange words in the Pullman car before Ness gets out and the train takes off. Capone’s dialogue is adapted from his quotes in the CT story about his departure, while Ness’s is likely invented. Fraley obviously based his account of the trip to Dearborn Station largely on the CT article and twisted Capone’s quotes into an exchange with Ness, in keeping with Fraley’s method throughout the book. No independent evidence suggests the other Untouchables joined Ness on the trip to Dearborn Station, as Fraley paints it in the book. News articles refer to unnamed Prohibition agents taking the journey with Ness, and some were likely members of the squad. But they didn’t take the lead in guarding Capone in the way the book describes; that duty fell to the U.S. marshals.
Chapter Thirty
INSULL AND WILKERSON: CT, February 12, 1932; February 23, 1932; March 13, 1932; March 18–19, 1932; May 8, 1932; October 1, 1948. CHE, May 7, 1932. “Big Bankers’ Gambling Mania,” The Literary Digest, March 11, 1933, pp. 11–12. Paul Y. Anderson, “The Darrow Report,” The Nation, May 30, 1934, pp. 611–612 (612, “a pure and”). Kenneth C. Cole, “Judicial Affairs: The Role of the Senate in the Confirmation of Judicial Nominations,” The American Political Science Review, vol. 28, no. 5 (October 1934), pp. 882–883, 885–886. Allen, Since Yesterday, pp. 75–76, 100–101. Casey and Douglas, Midwesterner, pp. 96–99, 110, 161–191. Busch, Guilty or Not Guilty?, pp. 128–194 (138, “little people”). Galbraith, Great Crash 1929, pp. 153–156. Allsop, Bootleggers, pp. 244–245. Public Papers 1932–1933, pp. 20, 840–841, 1049 (“If only part,” “banksters who rob”). Hoffman, Scarface Al, pp. 166–167, 169–170. Cahan, Court That Shaped America, pp. 101, 104–106. Merriner, Grafters and Goo-Goos, p. 126. McElvaine, Great Depression, pp. 136–137 (136, “What have I”). Eig, Get Capone, p. 326. Bradley, Edison to Enron, pp. 182–213, 216. Vickers, Panic in the Loop, pp. ix, 47–79 (59, “nothing but a”), 154–155, 240–243. “Biographical Directory of Federal Judges: Wilkerson, James Herbert,” Federal Judiciary Center, http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/ngetinfo?jid=2580 (accessed June 7, 2016).
SECRET SIX COLLAPSING: CT, April 27, 1930; June 7, 1930; December 1, 1930; December 10, 1930; December 26–28, 1930; January 6, 1931; January 22–23, 1931; March 13, 1931; April 11, 1931; September 14, 1931; September 17, 1931; November 7–10, 1931; November 14–15, 1931; November 18, 1931; December 25, 1931; January 6–7, 1932 (January 7, “one of the”); January 29, 1932; February 26, 1932 (“ready to shoot”); April 16–17, 1932; May 4, 1932; May 8, 1932; May 10, 1932; June 6, 1932; August 24, 1932; November 17, 1932; November 23–24, 1932; December 2–3, 1932; December 5, 1932; January 5, 1933; January 11, 1933; January 14, 1933; January 18, 1933; January 16, 1934. CHE, June 6, 1930, in RIR Scrapbook II, p. 65. LAT, March 13, 1931; April 13, 1931; November 11, 1931. CDN, September 14, 1931, in ENPS, Roll 1, Folder 1 (also in RIR Scrapbook III, p. 37). Atlanta Constitution, September 14, 1931. WP, September 14, 1931. NYT, September 20, 1931 (“political matters such”); November 12, 1931; January 30, 1932. The Secret 6 (1931), directed by George Hill (Burbank, CA: Warner Archive Collection, 2012), DVD (“the greatest force”). “Nebraska Governor Praises ‘Secret Six,’ ” n.d., in ENPS, Roll 1, Folder 1. CDN, January 20, 1932; LAT, January 21, 1932; NYT, January 21, 1932; Pittsburgh Post Gazette, January 21, 1932; Washington Herald, February 26, 1932, all in RIR Scrapbook III. W. A. McSwain to J. Edgar Hoover, August 6, 1932; W. A. McSwain to J. Edgar Hoover, September 1, 1932 (“I am inclined”); W. A. McSwain to J. Edgar Hoover, September 12, 1932, all in FBI-RIR. Robert Isham Randolph, “The ‘Third Degree,’ ” New York Herald Tribune Magazine, August 7, 1932, pp. 1–2. Melvin Purvis to J. Edgar Hoover, September 20, 1933; H. Nathan to J. Edgar Hoover, October 25, 1933; John J. Fox to J. Edgar Hoover, November 2, 1933, all in FBI-AJ. Robert Isham Randolph to Robert E. Wood, July 7, 1938; Alexander Jamie to Henry Morgenthau, September 1, 1938 (“thereby saving five”), in Alexander G. Jamie OPF. George Wilson, “Gangland Crime Arrives in Lincoln: The Lincoln National Bank and Trust Company Robbery of 1930,” Nebraska History, no. 73 (Spring 1992), pp. 25–31. Hoffman, Scarface Al, p. 170. Potter, War on Crime, pp. 110–118. Pizzitola, Hearst over Hollywood, pp. 285–286. Merriner, Grafters and Goo-Goos, p. 127. Helmer and Bilek, St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, pp. 275–276. Helmer, Al Capone and His American Boys, pp. 140–148.
JAMIE AND KUB: CDN, August 31, 1932; CEP, September 1, 1932 (“When digging in”), both in RIR Scrapbook III, p. 124. CEA, September 1, 1932, in RIR Scrapbook III, p. 125. WP, September 1, 1932. CT, September 1–2, 1932; October 27–29, 1932; November 9, 1932; December 5, 1932; February 21, 1933; March 17, 1933. CDN, October 25, 1932, in RIR Scrapbook III, p. 131. CEP, October 25, 1932, in RIR Scrapbook III, p. 130. CHE, October 26, 1932, in RIR Scrapbook III, p. 132. “ ‘Secret 6’ Calls Swanson Unfit, Backs Courtney,” n.p., October 25, 1932, in RIR Scrapbook III, p. 130. CHE, November 4, 1932, in RIR Scrapbook IV, p. 8. M. H. Purvis to J. E. Hoover, February 3, 1932; W. A. Smith, Memo for Melvin Purvis “Re: Shirley Kub,” August 11, 1933 (“a dangerous person”); W. A. McSwain to J. Edgar Hoover, October 28, 1932; John B. Little, memorandum for the Director, September 7, 1933; L. D. Nichols, memo to J. B. Little, n.d., all in FBI-RIR. P. T. Sowell, interview with William J. Froelich, November 21, 1933, in FBI-ENA (“that misunderstandings exist”). Melvin Purvis to J.
Edgar Hoover, March 20, 1934; Name Redacted to J. Edgar Hoover, April 7, 1937; D. M. Ladd, memo to J. Edgar Hoover, April 28, 1937 (“I had the utmost”); Name Redacted, Sworn Statement, May 25, 1937; W. S. Hardy, Report Re: Shirley Kub, June 4, 1937 (“Crime Syndicate,” “the System,” “absolutely clean and,” “crusade”); D. M. Ladd to J. Edgar Hoover, June 10, 1937; R. N. Pranke, Report Re: Shirley Kub, September 14, 1938; J. Waldman, Report Re: Shirley Kub, October 24, 1938; R. N. Pranke, Report Re: Shirley Kub, December 10, 1938; R. N. Pranke, Report Re: Shirley Kub, March 22, 1939; R. N. Pranke, Report Re: Shirley Kub, May 24, 1939, all in FBI-AJ. Alexander Jamie to Henry Morgenthau, January 4, 193[7]; R. E. Wood to Henry Morgenthau, June 3, 1938; Henry Morgenthau to R. E. Wood, June 22, 1938; C. L. Rice to R. E. Wood, July 5, 1938; Robert Isham Randolph to Robert E. Wood, July 7, 1938; R. E. Wood to Henry Morgenthau, July 9, 1938; William H. McReynolds to R. E. Wood, July 15, 1938; “Memorandum for Mr. Thompson,” September 12, 1938; Alexander Jamie to Henry Morgenthau, September 1, 1938; W. N. Thompson to Alexander Jamie, n.d.; Henry Morgenthau to R. E. Wood, September 27, 1938, all in Alexander G. Jamie OPF. Grant, Fight for a City, pp. 234–236 (235, “Co-ordinating Committee for”). Barnhart and Schlickman, Kerner, pp. 247–249. Hoffman, Scarface Al, pp. 170–171. Merriner, Grafters and Goo-Goos, p. 127.
The FBI memos refer to the fired stenographer as “Jamie’s sister-in-law,” and this can only be Edna Ness. Her resignation from the Prohibition Bureau states that she left “to accept a position with the Chicago Association of Commerce,” the organization behind the Secret Six. (Resignation Form for Use of Field Service, November 6, 1930, in Edna S. Ness OPF.)
Decades later, the elderly Kub would win over another federal man, IRS special agent Jack Walsh, with essentially the same story, which she then referred to as Chicago’s “true syndicate.” Fascinated by what he learned, Walsh founded a special unit in the Chicago IRS office known as CRIMP (for “Conspiracy, Racketeer, Immunity, Money, Politicians”) to explore connections between politics and organized crime. Walsh and CRIMP eventually discovered evidence linking then-Illinois governor Otto Kerner to corruption in the horse-racing industry, which began the investigation leading to Kerner’s incarceration. Meanwhile, the IRS charged Kub with income tax evasion on payoffs she’d received from politicians, apparently to force her cooperation on other investigations. Despite being too ill to attend trial, she fought the case for six years until she lost her final appeal in 1977, when she was in her nineties. (Barnhart and Schlickman, Kerner, pp. 256–274.)
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