He wouldn’t live to see it, but he was about to become an American icon.
“As a federal investigator for 9 years he crashed into gang hide-outs with steel-nosed trucks, shot it out with gunmen, and tapped the wires of wire tappers. His tamer sports are handball, badminton, and tennis.” American magazine embraces the Ness myth in 1937.
Wallace Jamie and Eliot Ness, future lawmen
Eliot Ness, University of Chicago, class of ’25
Ness and his fraternity brothers, grim-faced in the midst of Jazz Age prosperity
Left to right: “Untouchables” Joe Leeson, Sam Seager, Lyle Chapman, Paul Robsky
Al Capone, aka the Big Fella
Eliot Ness, leader of the Capone squad
Chicago’s Prohibition administrator, E. C. Yellowley (left), and Assistant Administrator Alexander Jamie (right) pose with Frank White and Eliot Ness after the young agents break up an illegal liquor-importing operation carried out by Pullman passenger-train porters.
A scrapbook photo captures Edna and Eliot in transition.
Edna enjoys—sort of—a rare evening out with her dashing husband.
Elisabeth Andersen, new art school graduate, poses for Cleveland’s top art photographer.
“We have no place for traitors in the police department.” Cleveland’s “Boy Wonder” turns over evidence to Cuyahoga County prosecutor Frank T. Cullitan.
With tear gas wafting through the air, strikers at the Fisher Body plant hurl stones at police.
The most popular man in Cleveland
“Suppose you were a bandit and told Safety Director Eliot Ness to ‘stick ’em up.’ He might surprise you in any one of 30 different ways.” Ness shows police recruits how to fight for their lives.
Two of the many faces of the sexy, troubled Evaline McAndrew Ness
The torso of a young woman, victim number seven of Kingsbury Run’s “Mad Butcher.” Her head and limbs are never found, making identification impossible.
“He certainly doesn’t leave many, if any, clues,” Ness says in frustration as public pressure builds to stop the torso murders. Over five years, Cleveland police collect hundreds of items from the crime scenes in hope of piecing together the killer’s identity.
Mrs. Hugh Seaver, stylish and headed for divorce
Eliot Ness for mayor. Not even his dutiful new wife believes he has a chance at winning.
The lion in winter
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My agent, Jim Donovan, helped get me started on this project and provided invaluable insight all along the way. My editor, Brittney Ross, improved this book in many ways both large and small.
Barbara Osteika, the staff historian at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, tirelessly aided my research. She patiently answered questions about the ATF’s history and work; helped me track down key documents, such as government personnel files; and led me through the agency’s archives.
I also must express my thanks to the following for research and other assistance:
James Badal; Mark Bassett; Peter Bhatia; Maria Brandt; Jerry Casey; James Ciesla; the Cleveland Police Historical Society staff; the Cleveland Public Library staff; the Cleveland State University Special Collections staff; Anne Collier; Jonathan Eig; Susan Gage; Abby Gilbert; Marni Greenberg; Daniel M. Huff; Carol Jacobs; Méira King; Joe Kisvardai; the Library of Congress staff; Alessandra Lusardi; the Multnomah County Library interlibrary loan staff; Adrienne Pruitt; Michelle Regan; Steve Resnick; Arnold Sagalyn; Rena Schergen; Ellen Seibert; Cindy Shifflett; and especially Scott Sroka.
And, of course, this book would simply not have been possible without the love and support of my beautiful and talented wife, Deborah King.
NOTES
AI —Author interview
ATF—Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives historic archives
Berardi—“Prohibition: Tony Berardi: About Eliot Ness and ‘the Untouchables.’” Video interview with Tony Berardi. Produced in 1999: onlinefootage.tv/video/show/id/7684. Accessed February 28, 2011.
CN—Cleveland News
CP—Cleveland Press
CPD—Cleveland Plain Dealer
CPHS—Archives at the Cleveland Police Historical Society
CT—Chicago Tribune
ENP—Eliot Ness Papers, 1928–1960, MSS 3699; and Eliot Ness Scrapbooks, 1931–1947: Microfilm Collections, Western Reserve Historical Society
ENP/MS—Ness’s original draft summary for his memoir, The Untouchables: Eliot Ness Papers, Microfilm Collections, Western Reserve Historical Society
HHB—The Papers of Harold H. Burton, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
Johnson—“Prohibition: George E. Q. Johnson: About Eliot Ness and ‘the Untouchables.’” Video interview with George E. Q. Johnson Jr. Produced in 1999. www.onlinefootage.tv/video/show/id/7733. Accessed February 28, 2011.
Lonardo—Statement of Angelo Lonardo before the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, 100th Congress, Second Session, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington: 1988
NPRC—U.S. government civilian personnel records (by name of employee): Official Personnel Folders, The National Personnel Records Center, National Archives at St. Louis
Vollmer—August Vollmer Historical Project, 1983, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
Introduction: The Real Eliot Ness
The death scene in the Ness kitchen was recreated using the following sources: “End Comes Quickly: Eliot Ness, Resident Here Only Eight Months, Passes Away,” Potter Leader-Enterprise, May 23, 1957; “Walter Taylor Reminisces on Eliot Ness’s Last Years,” Potter Leader-Enterprise, Mar. 22, 1961; “Film Crews Tracking Eliot Ness: Famous Crime Fighter Died Unheralded—But of Natural Causes—in Potter County,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Dec. 1, 1996; Elisabeth Seaver file, unlabeled news clippings, Cleveland Museum of Art archives; ENP, unlabeled obituary clippings, reel 3.
He walked out of the kitchen: Cleveland Public Library photo collection, Eliot and Elisabeth Ness living room.
It got his age wrong: “Eliot Ness, 53, Dies; Helped Jail Capone,” CT, May 17, 1957.
Ness had taught Sagalyn how to: AI, Arnold Sagalyn, May 22, 2011.
Sagalyn sent her some money: Ibid.
But unlike Sagalyn, he didn’t owe: Something About the Author: Autobiography Series, vol. 1, (Independence, KY: Gale, 1985), 227.
“The last time I saw Eliot . . . ”: David Cowles oral history, 1983, CPHS.
The young, irrepressible top cop: “What They Are Saying,” CPD, Feb. 7, 1937.
As one of the resident experts: Peter Jedick, “Eliot Ness,” Cleveland, April 1976.
“He really captured the imagination . . . ”: George E. Condon, Cleveland: The Best Kept Secret (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1967), 243.
During a lull in the conversation: Oscar Fraley, “The Real Eliot Ness,” Coronet, July 1961.
“It was dangerous”: Ibid.
“I can hardly believe it”: Ibid.
Worried about what he considered: Roger Borroel, The Story of the Untouchables, as Told by Eliot Ness (East Chicago, IN: La Villita Publications, 2010), 1; Fraley, “The Real Eliot Ness.”
George E. Q. Johnson Jr., son of: Johnson.
“Eliot changed . . . ”: Paul W. Heimel, Eliot Ness: The Real Story (Nashville, TN: Knox Books, 1997), 81.
Thirty years after Ness’s death: “The Death of Eliot Ness Was Exaggerated,” Los Angeles Times, June 14, 1987.
Ken Burns, promoting his: “‘Prohibition’ Gives Lie to Era’s Chicago Myths,” Chicago Sun-Times, Sept. 26, 2011.
“I am going to be out . . . ”: “Ness to Fight in Front Lines,” CP, Dec. 13, 1935, ENP, reel 2.
Marion Kelly, a longtime Cle
veland: Laurence Bergreen, Capone: The Man and the Era (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994), 598.
Louise Jamie, who was related: Ibid., 345.
“There is nothing about Ness’ appearance . . .”: “Crime Buster Ness Shares Trial Spotlight,” CN, Oct. 2, 1940, ENP, reel 2.
“Tell me, what kind of guy . . .”: Fraley, “The Real Eliot Ness.”
Chapter 1: Hardboiled
Edna Stahle opened her eyes: AI, Maxine Huntington, a longtime friend of Edna’s, Sept. 5, 2011.
The gangsters had figured out that: Studs Terkel, Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression (Pantheon Books, 1970), 169–70.
“So [gangsters] took these yachts and decorated them . . . ”: Ibid.
One saloon regular put it succinctly: Ibid., 187.
He’d come because he was: “Eliot Ness Colleague Marguerite Downes, 90,” CT, Dec. 23, 1986.
On the weekend, she clattered around town: AI, Maxine Huntington, Sept. 5, 2011.
“We used to double-date”: “The Real Eliot Ness,” Tucson Citizen, July 17, 1987, Scott Sroka personal collection.
“Women threw themselves at Eliot”: Condon, “The Last American Hero,” Cleveland, Aug. 1987.
This dichotomy—between the “very modest man . . .”: “The Real Eliot Ness,” Tucson Citizen, July 17, 1987, Scott Sroka personal collection.
The division oversaw: “Federal Prohibition Enforcement: A Report to the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement,” Justice Department, 1930, 168.
The Chicago Prohibition office had recently: Laurence F. Schmeckebier, “The Bureau of Prohibition: Its History, Activities and Organization” (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1929), 50.
In 1922, two years after the arrival: Ibid., 45.
He and Chicago’s Prohibition administrator: “Bailiff Shot By Dry Squad,” CT, Mar. 30, 1928.
The newspapers dubbed him “Hardboiled Golding”: unlabeled Chicago Tribune clipping, Oct. 12, 1927, ENP, reel 1.
“The agents swooped down on unsuspecting Chicago . . . ”: Elmer L. Irey, as told to William J. Slocum. The Tax Dodgers: The Inside of the T-Men’s War with America’s Political and Underworld Hoodlums (New York: Greenberg, 1948), 20.
In March 1928, one of Golding’s men shot: “Indict Bailiff After Drys Shoot Him,” CT, Mar. 31, 1928; “Get Warrant for Dry Agent,” CT, April 1, 1928; “Seized as Deneen Bomber,” CT, April 3, 1928.
He said the wounded man, under guard: “Bailiff Shot by Dry Squad,” CT, Mar. 30, 1928.
When the police showed up: “Bailiff Shot by Dry Squad,” CT, Mar. 30, 1928; “‘Ace’ Golding’s Police Clash Not His First,” CT, Mar. 31, 1928; and “Get Warrant for Dry Agent,” CT, April 1, 1928.
Irey recalled that the special agent: Irey, Tax Dodgers, 20.
On April 5, Caffey surrendered: “U.S. May Yield Dry Agent Who Shot Bailiff,” CT, April 5, 1928; “‘Hardboiled’ Facing Pressure,” Chicago Daily News, April 5, 1928.
“The situation here is so tense . . .”: “Seized as Deneen Bomber,” CT, April 3, 1928.
In his meeting with Willebrandt: Irey, Tax Dodgers, 20.
He believed in Golding and his hard-boiled tactics: ENP/MS.
From their initial interview, Golding pegged: NPRC, George Golding.
He was a college boy: University of Chicago Office of the Registrar, Eliot Ness student transcript.
He’d started his career at the consumer-reporting: Eliot Ness personnel file, ATF.
And he was among the few agents in the office: “Drys Bob Up at Illinois U. and Stop Speakeasies,” CT, May 26, 1927; Ness personnel file, ATF.
Golding put down that Eliot had landed: NPRC, George Golding.
He carried the Prohibition Bureau’s rule book: ATF. The historic archive at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is not like the Library of Congress. It is a large, long storage room inside a much larger warehouse in industrial Washington, DC. Inside this room are rows and rows of rickety metal shelves, on which sit unmarked or often incorrectly marked cardboard boxes. Inside the boxes are hundreds of pieces of the agency’s history. Nothing is in any discernible order. A box might have Prohibition Bureau ledgers documenting confiscated beer in Pittsburgh in 1928 along with ATU public-information pamphlets from the 1950s and the diaries of an agent from World War II. ATF staff historian Barbara Osteika allowed me to spend hours in the room going through box after box, taking notes as I went. An ATF intern, Daniel M. Huff, assisted in the search and made photocopies of whatever I wanted. Once we were done with a document, the original would go back in the cardboard box and disappear back onto the nondescript shelf, like a reenactment of the last scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
A memo from Washington the week before: Ness personnel file, ATF.
On June 5, Golding personally gave: Ibid.
Chapter 2: Mama’s Boy
“The way of the transgressor is hard . . . ”: “$4,000 Offered to Bribe Dry Agents Seized,” CT, May 3, 1928.
The narrative for the City Hall Square operation and its aftermath comes from: “Shot by U.S. Drys in Loop,” CT, Aug. 22, 1928; “Panic as Federal Agents Raid Loop Tower,” Chicago Daily News, Aug. 22, 1928; “Dry Raiders Held for Loop Shooting,” CT, Aug. 25, 1928; “Disband U.S. Dry Gunmen,” CT, Aug. 29, 1928; “Golding’s Squad ‘Dry Cleaned’ in Shakeup Order,” CT, Sept. 12, 1928; George Golding’s federal personnel folder, NPRC.
“All previous records for brutality, depravity . . .’”: “3 Killed, Dozens Hurt in 60 Day Drive by Drys,” CT, Oct. 1, 1928.
The Prohibition Bureau dismissed a handful: “Dry Advocate of Terrorism Evades Rebuke,” CT, Sept. 8, 1928.
Two weeks later, Yellowley named Jamie: NPRC, Alexander Jamie.
At one stop in 1922 a reporter asked: “The First Woman Federal Prohibition Agent,” A.I.U., December 1922, ATF.
She loved to quote “the highest authority . . .”: Ibid.
In the second half of the nineteenth century: Longview Daily News, Nov. 11, 2012.
Yet even decades later, after years of: Daniel Okrent, Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition (New York: Scribner, 2010), 36.
“The whole world is skew-jee . . . ”: Ibid., 3.
The notoriously corrupt William “Big Bill”: Jonathan Eig, Get Capone: The Secret Plot That Captured America’s Most Wanted Gangster (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010), 24–25.
A visit the following year showed: Okrent, Last Call, 141.
Trying to enforce the law, she said: Geoffrey C. Ward, Prohibition, Florentine Films, directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick.
She freely admitted that she’d “had liquor . . . ”: Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, Papers of Herbert Hoover, Clippings File, 1928 Subjects. File: Prohibition, Articles by M. Willebrandt
“The skies were black with smoke . . . ”: Irey, Tax Dodgers, 19.
“Chicago, the world’s Fourth City . . . ”: Edward Dean Sullivan, Chicago Surrenders (New York: Vanguard, 1930), xii–xiii.
When Torrio’s forces, led by young Capone: Bergreen, Capone: The Man and the Era, 106-109.
The election, wrote another paper: Edward Dean Sullivan, Rattling the Cup on Chicago Crime (New York: Vanguard, 1929), 24.
Jamie “is lazy and takes three hours . . . ”: NPRC, Alexander Jamie.
When Eliot was in college, Jamie helped: NPRC, Alexander Jamie; “Where the Trails Cross,” 1985–90, vol. 16–20, 19:3, 99, Michelle Regan personal collection.
The dry law, the Tribune declared: “Prohibition Blamed for Booze Gangs’ Long Reign of Guns and Terror in Chicago Heights,” CT, Jan. 7, 1929.
The Outfit’s influence stretched across: Bergreen, Capone: The Man and the Era, 347.
The police believed him to be responsible: “Seized as Deneen Bomber,” CT, April 3, 1928.
Earlier in t
he year, gangsters had shot to death: “War Rages in Chicago Heights,” unlabeled magazine article, ENP, reel 1.
Instead of classical skyscrapers: Bessie Louise Pierce, ed., As Others See Chicago: Impressions of Visitors, 1673–1933 (University of Chicago Press, 2004), 430.
“I would not want to live there . . . ”: Ibid., 276–77.
He was a mama’s boy, the youngest: AI, Arnold Sagalyn; Heimel, Eliot Ness: The Real Story, 16–20; Ness personnel file, ATF; various pages from unknown edition of the Fenger Courier and the privately published local history “Where the Trails Cross,” Michelle Regan personal collection.
Chapter 3: The Special Agents
So he wasn’t surprised in the fall: ENP/MS.
Years later he would describe Albert: ENP/MS.
Emma disapproved of her youngest son’s: Heimel, Eliot Ness: The Real Story, 20.
“If there’s anything you taught me . . . ”: Heimel, Eliot Ness: The Real Story, 20; Kenneth Tucker, Eliot Ness and the Untouchables: The Historical Reality and the Film and Television Depictions, second edition (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2011), 13.
Peter had more than twenty bakers: NPRC, Alexander Jamie. Jamie worked at his father-in-law’s bakery before joining the FBI and detailed his work experience on his application for federal employment.
“He never had a lot to say . . . ”: Heimel, Eliot Ness: The Real Story, 16.
Kooken took charge of the conversation: ENP/MS; “War Rages in Chicago Heights,” ENP, reel 1.
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