The safety director kept the pressure: “Charge Harwood Aided in Bootleg Competition,” CP, Oct. 7, 1936; “‘DP’ in Gambler’ Books Is Mystery,” CPD, July 24, 1936; “Police Get 56 in 2 Gambling Raids,” CPD, July 25, 1936; “Raid Like Rookies, Police Are Told,” CPD, Jan. 10, 1937.
Late in the summer, Eliot disappeared: Condon, “The Last American Hero;” “Jurors Hear Evidence of Police Graft,”CP, Oct. 8, 1936.
In August and September, Eliot quietly left: Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, no. 46553; “G-Men Capture Key Witnesses,” CP, Oct. 14–15, 1936; “Ness Air Trip Nets Witness in Burns Case,” CPD, Mar. 4, 1937.
When Eliot heard that patrolmen: “Ness Hits at Undercover Foes in 15th,” CPD, Sept. 2, 1936.
“My investigation shows that . . . ”: Ibid.
With the press cheering him on: “Bravo, Eliot Ness!” CPD, Sept. 2, 1936; Porter, Cleveland, 98.
At city hall functions, suburban: Condon, Cleveland, 237.
Chapter 21: The Sadistic Type
On the morning of September 10: Badal, In the Wake of the Butcher, 75–85; “Sixth Hacked Body Found in Kingsbury Run,” CP, Sept. 10, 1936; “Fear Hangs over Kingsbury Run Where Butcher Leaves His Dead,” CP, Sept. 11, 1936; “Clean Out Haunts of Mad Killer,” CP, Sept. 12, 1936; Martin, Butcher’s Dozen and Other Murders, 60–62.
“The killer is apparently a sex maniac . . . ”: Badal, In the Wake of the Butcher, 79.
The better reason for his reluctance: AI, James Jessen Badal, June 12, 2011.
The Plain Dealer called the killer: “Calls Torso Killer New Insane Type,” CPD, Sept. 16, 1936.
The News wrote, “Of all horrible . . . ”: Badal, In the Wake of the Butcher, 92.
The safety director was known for his soft touch: AI, James Jessen Badal, June 12, 2011; Badal, In the Wake of the Butcher, 156; unlabeled news clippings, CPHS.
He felt he was being called to account: AI, James Jessen Badal, June 12, 2011.
“You can’t bring up Eliot Ness . . . ”: Badal, In the Wake of the Butcher, 89.
In one report, he wrote: “I am of the opinion . . . ”: Cleveland Police Department report on torso murder investigation, dated Mar. 15, 1943, CPHS.
Merylo’s theories about the killer: Badal, In the Wake of the Butcher, ix.
A bartender at a grimy dive told of: “Butcher’s Dozen: The Cleveland Torso Murders,” Harper’s, Nov. 1949.
Perhaps it was someone who reached “sexual . . . ”: Cleveland Police Department report on torso murder investigation, dated Mar. 15, 1943, CPHS.
Merylo would write in an unpublished: Badal, In the Wake of the Butcher, 96.
“All is infinite Mind: . . . ”: Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures (Boston: First Church of Christ, Scientist, 1994), 468.
The indictments charged that during Prohibition: “Harwood, Burns, 6 Others Indicted for Police Graft,” CP, Oct. 29, 1936; “Seven Police Deny Guilt in Graft Charge,” CP, Oct. 30, 1936.
Reporters rushed to Harwood’s home: “7 Policemen Deny Ness Had Cause to Take Them Off Duty,” “20 Policemen Hit by Ness Graft Report,” CPD, Oct. 6, 1936.
Just as with the Cadek trial, the bootleggers: Sources for the Harwood trial and its press coverage include: “Tell of Price Harwood Set on Protection,” CP, Dec. 9, 1936; “Relates Midnight Raid by Harwood,” “Testimony Heard in Harwood Case,” CPD, Dec. 10, 1936; “No Payoff, Cites Raid by Captain,” CPD, Dec. 11, 1936; “Captain Ends Defense with Bribe Denial,” CPD, Dec. 15, 1936; “Harwood Jury Deliberates Again Today,” CPD, Dec. 16, 1936; “Guilty Pleas Offer Hinted in Bribery,” “Victorious Safety Director; Aid Who Is Out,” CPD, Dec. 17, 1936; “The Inside of the News in Cleveland,” CPD, Dec. 20, 1936; “Says Harwood Pocketed $50,” CP, Dec. 10, 1936; “Says Harwood Encouraged Bootlegging after Repeal,” CP, Dec. 11, 1936; “Harwood Sobs as Prosecutor Denounces Him,” CP, Dec. 15, 1936; “Police Captain Convicted on Six Counts Charging He Took Graft from Bootleggers in Collinwood,” CP, Dec. 16, 1936; “Crime Buster Ness Shares Trial Spotlight,” CN, Oct. 2, 1940; Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, State of Ohio v. Michael J. Harwood, no. 46553; Heimel, Eliot Ness: The Real Story, 142.
Without informing his lawyer, the newly: “Women Used in Trap to Lure Witnesses,” CP, Oct. 12, 1937; ENP, reel 2, unlabeled news clippings.
As the jury filed out of the room: “Jury Finds Burns Guilty of Bribery,” “No Hard Feelings, Burns Tells Ness at Trial End,” CPD, Mar. 11, 1937.
Neil McGill prided himself: McGill and Perry, Court Cases of Eliot Ness, 27–28.
The second time around, Eliot brought: news clipping, CPD, May 26, 1937, ENP, reel 2.
Flynn admitted privately to a friend: news clipping, CPD, Dec. 17, 1936, ENP, reel 2.
When Eliot returned to the office: “Flynn Overruled On Police Choice,” CPD, Aug. 4, 1936.
In just a few short months in the job: “Three Out,” CPD, July 31, 1936; “Victorious Safety Director; Aid Who Is Out,” CPD, Dec. 17, 1936.
Reporters surrounded him: magazine clipping, Investigator, May 1988, ATF.
When he began to gear up: Container 383, Notes folder, HHB.
Eliot, though he had never been involved: “Slogan,” CPD, Oct. 14, 1937.
With Burton safely ensconced in office: “The Inside of the News in Cleveland,” CPD, Nov. 28, 1937.
“By now the entire department knew . . . ”: Porter, Cleveland, 99.
Even the Ohio Supreme Court, after rejecting: Condon, “The Last American Hero;” “Ness’ Cases Win Weygandt Praise,” CPD, Feb. 19, 1938.
When the judge read the verdict: “Stotts Wins Acquittal in Bribe Trial,” CPD, May 6, 1938.
Chapter 22: Social Workers
“Please remember,” he told: “Calls Sum Portion of Week’s Cut,” CPD, Mar. 1, 1936; “Talk Up and Oust Gangs, Says Ness,” CPD, Feb. 5, 1937.
Eliot would rent a fleet: “Stotts Wins Acquittal in Bribe Trial,” CPD, May 6, 1938.
Each patrol car would be equipped: Unlabeled radio contract, CPHS.
Thirty-two new cars, Eliot announced: Ness, Eliot, “Radio-Directed Mobile Police,” American City, Nov. 1939.
He thought policemen should be intimately: Alder, Lie Detectors, 21.
As an experiment, he sent: “Cleveland Woos Its Young Gangs into Clubhouses,” CT, July 21, 1939.
“The leader is 24 years old . . . ”: Container 372, folder 1937–1942, subfolder Youth, Statement for Rotary International Convention, June 22, 1938, HHB.
“They meet in a pool room . . . ”: Ibid.
He cornered gang members: “Cleveland Woos Its Young Gangs into Clubhouses,” CT, July 21, 1939; container 372, folder 1937–1942, subfolder Youth, Statement for Rotary International Convention, June 22, 1938, HHB.
A tough kid from the Flats: “Nab Filkowski, 5 Others in Break,” CPD, Dec. 8, 1936.
Eliot, the scientific policeman: unlabeled news clipping, CPD, Mar. 3, 1932, ENP, reel 2; container 372, folder 1937–1942, subfolder Youth, Statement for Rotary International Convention, June 22, 1938, HHB.
“He had an instinct about children . . . ”: “My Husband, Eliot Ness,” TV Guide, May 11, 1961.
Vollmer had kept a city map: Alder, Lie Detectors, 21.
He established an accident-prevention: “Traffic Death Toll Slashed over America,” Cumberland Evening Times, Dec. 30, 1938; unlabeled news clippings and memos, ENP, reel 2.
“At the end of the month or at a designated . . . ”: “Contemplated Division of Territory for Policing the City of Cleveland/Reorganization Police Department,” by Eliot Ness, 1938, CPHS; “Supplementary Order Relating to the General Duties of Patrol Car Crews/Reorganization Police Department,” 1938, CPHS.
Philip Porter wrote that: Porter, Cleveland, 95.
“He was not too opinionated . . . ”: “Ness Recalled as Quiet Enforc
er,” CPD, April 30, 1960.
An internal history of the: Untitled department history, CPHS.
Just eighteen months after: “Crime in Cleveland: The Law Finally Catches Up With Labor Racketeers,” Newsweek, Mar. 21, 1938.
Chapter 23: The Virtues of Courage
On a piercing June day in 1937: Something About the Author: Autobiography Series, vol. 1, 226.
“She wasn’t beautiful . . . ”: AI, Ann Durell, June 2, 2011.
Evaline had bought a train ticket: Something About the Author: Autobiography Series, vol. 1, 226–27; AI, Ann Durell, June 2, 2011.
She had long suspected: AI, Maxine Huntington, Sept. 5, 2011.
The job communicated something: AI, Arnold Sagalyn, June 9, 2011.
Eliot’s dedication to his work: unlabeled news clipping, CP, Dec. 12, 1935, ENP, reel 2.
On good nights, he would stretch out: Tucker, Eliot Ness and the Untouchables, 13.
When Matowitz assigned Eliot a bodyguard: Jedick, “Eliot Ness.”
Eliot’s obsessive commitment: “Ness Goes to Chicago,” CPD, Nov. 8, 1937; unlabeled news clippings, ENP, reel 2, news clippings.
“WHEREAS, it is at a mother’s knee . . . ”: ENP, reel 2.
Chapter 24: Gun, Blackjack, and Brass Knuckles
“In the old days, it was nothing . . . ”: “The Inside of the News in Cleveland,” CPD, Jan. 31, 1937.
he had turned his staff’s attention: David Cowles oral history, Sept. 6, 1983, CPHS; “Obtain Extortion Confession,” CPD, Jan. 19, 1938; McGill and Perry, Court Cases of Eliot Ness, 49–51; AI, Arnold Sagalyn, May 22, 2011.
“We had never heard of . . . ”: “Herman Pirchner,” CPD, Dec. 4, 1983.
George Mulvanity, still over at: AI, Francis Mulvanity, July 7, 2011.
The gangster Angelo Lonardo: Lonardo.
The most basic policy game: McGill and Perry, Court Cases of Eliot Ness, 30.
Policy and clearing house had started: “Grand Jury Acts Today on ‘Policy,’” “Hill Mob Bullets Won Policy War,” CPD, April 26, 1939; “Indict 23 of Mayfield Mob in Policy Extortion Racket,” “Policy Conquered with Guns, Force,” “Records of Mayfield Mob Indicted in Policy Probe,” CP, April 26, 1939.
Jacob Collins, a thirty-one-year-old: “Testimony Links Sciria to Policy,” CPD, Nov. 3, 1938.
The Press labeled them: “Indict 23 of Mayfield Mob in Policy Extortion Racket,” “Angelo Sciria Beat Killing ‘Rap,’” CP, April 26, 1939.
“Killings were followed by retaliatory . . . ”: McGill and Perry, Court Cases of Eliot Ness, 20.
The “thick-necked, thick-fingered . . . ”: “Policy Conquered with Guns, Force,” “Angelo Sciria Beat Killing ‘Rap,’” CP, April 26, 1939.
The men conducting the initiation: Lonardo.
By the early 1930s, in fact: Ibid.
“It is debatable whether gambling . . . ”: Condon, Cleveland, 236; “Choke Crime by Its Purse, Ness Urges,” CPD, Jan. 23, 1936.
“Two hundred thousand dollars . . . ”: “Calls Sum Portion of Week’s Cut,” CPD, Mar. 1, 1936.
“The mild, unorganized and personal . . . ”: “Dice at Clubs Are Loaded, Ness Says,” CPD, Oct. 4, 1940.
“He got information from informers”: “Ness Recalled as Quiet Enforcer,” CPD, April 30, 1960.
In one interview session: “Admits Mistaking Lawyer for Birns,” CPD, Aug. 6, 1942; “State Ready to Bring Gang History Up to Recent Days,” CPD, Dec. 8, 1949.
Birns cultivated a pleasant, roguish: news clipping, CN, Feb. 12, 1937, ENP, reel 2.
Eliot decided to harass Birns: “Shondor Birns, in Jail, Sings Blues,” CPD, Feb. 11, 1937.
On January 6, 1938, police took over: “Policy Raid Stops 5 Big-time Games,” CPD, Jan. 7, 1938.
“Cleveland situation very critical”: Ibid.
“To the Editor of the Press . . . ”: “To the Editor of the Press,” CP, May 23, 1937, ENP, reel 2.
He snipped Pony Boy’s letter: Ibid.
Chapter 25: Against Racketeers
Back in September 1936: “Cullitan Pledges Study of ‘Racket,’” CPD, Sept. 3, 1936.
Eliot had met Campbell: “Testifies of Added ‘Gift’ to Campbell,” CPD, Feb. 19, 1938.
“Being union officials gives . . . ”: McGill and Perry, Court Cases of Eliot Ness, 32–33.
He believed Campbell, McDonnell: “Convict Labor Racketeers of Extortion Plot,” CT, Mar. 9, 1938.
Over several months, the safety director and: “Jury Will Sift Labor Rackets in Cleveland, O.,” CT, Nov. 18, 1937.
“These people had us just where . . . ”: “Fight to Stop Labor Rackets in Cleveland,” CT, Nov. 24, 1937.
A critic once described Arthur: Grann, 15.
Campbell snarled, “Go to hell . . . ”: “Four Union Chiefs Indicted in Racket,” New York Times, Dec. 21, 1937.
“When I approached them . . . ”: “Jury Will Sift Labor Rackets in Cleveland, O.,” CT, Nov. 18, 1937.
On December 1, 1937, McGee stood: “Ness Bluffs, M’Gee Tells Federation,” CPD, Dec. 2, 1937.
Workers had violently struck: “Ness Sets Steel ‘Peace Areas,’” CP, July 27, 1937; “40 Hurt in New Strike Riot,” CT, July 27, 1937; “One Dead, 40 Hurt in Strike Battles at Cleveland Mill,” New York Times, July 27, 1937; “Police Bring Peace to Steel Area,” CPD, July 28, 1937; see also “The Little Steel Strike of 1937,” by Donald Gene Sofchalk, PhD dissertation, 1961, Ohio State University.
When asked about the charge: Condon, “The Last American Hero.”
Campbell and McGee came to trial: “Convict Labor Racketeers of Extortion Plot,” CT, Mar. 9, 1938; “Four Union Chiefs Indicted in Racket,” New York Times, Dec. 21, 1937.
Vernon Stouffer dominated: “Fail to Keep Ness Out of Racket Trial,” CPD, Feb. 18, 1938.
Cutting off requests for bail: “M’Gee-Campbell Parade Ends in Pen,” CPD, Mar. 9, 1938; “Claims Chicago Money Donated to Bribe Juror,” CT, Mar. 10, 1938.
“I was one of the spectators . . . ”: ENP, reel 2.
“Campbell and McGee asked for it”: “M’Gee-Campbell Parade Ends in Pen,” CPD, Mar. 9, 1938.
Newsweek wrote that Eliot had: “Crime in Cleveland: The Law Finally Catches Up With Labor Racketeers,” Newsweek, Mar. 21, 1938.
Cosmopolitan, then a literary: “Eliot Ness: The Cosmopolite of the Month,” Cosmopolitan, Aug. 1940; ENP, reel 2.
Reader’s Digest noted that Eliot: “Cleveland Versus the Crooks,” Reader’s Digest, Feb. 1939, 51.
Chapter 26: The Doctor
The story of Ness and his team zeroing in on Dr. Sweeney as a suspect and interrogating him is derived from: AI, James Jessen Badal, June 12, 2011; Alder, Lie Detectors, 82, 109; In the Wake of the Butcher, Badal, 128; 214, 218–20; David Cowles oral history, Sept. 6, 1983, CPHS; AI, Arnold Sagalyn, May 22, 2011; Sagalyn, A Promise Fulfilled, 50.
Even though the campaign season: Badal, In the Wake of the Butcher, 93.
Eliot figured that he and his Unknowns: AI, James Jessen Badal, June 12, 2011.
One example: in September 1935: Badal, In the Wake of the Butcher, 36.
“We played on him for a long time”: Cowles refused to use Sweeney’s name when discussing the interrogation, but there was no mistaking who he was talking about. AI, James Jessen Badal, June 12, 2011; David Cowles oral history, Sept. 6, 1983, CPHS.
After releasing Dr. Sweeney back: AI, Maxine Huntington, Sept. 5, 2011; Pinellas County, Fl., Divorce Index, vol. 139, no. 5771, 1939; “Eliot Ness’ First Wife Quietly Dies,” St. Petersburg Times, Nov. 19, 1994.
He even considered stepping down: Jedick, “Eliot Ness.”
“The director says he’ll do this . . . ”: “Ness Fires Word Barrage at Young,” “Ness to Reassign All Police in City,” CPD, Sept. 20, 1938.
He’d been seen at a nightclub: “
Remembering Eliot Ness,” CPD, Feb. 21, 2000; AI, Arnold Sagalyn, June 9, 2011.
“Don’t let ’em get your goat”: Caption for photo of Ness and Chamberlin, CPD, Sept. 26, 1938.
He hadn’t been removed: “Ness and Young Hurl Charges,” CP, Sept. 19, 1938.
“We have sort of agreed . . . ”: “Nesses Separated, Divorce Is Planned,” CP, Sept. 20, 1938; Condon, “The Last American Hero.”
word began to leak out: “Capone Reported as Mentally Ill,” CPD, Feb. 9, 1938.
“I was looking for a big fellow”: “A Bad End for a Good Guy,” CPD, Sept. 7, 1997.
Eliot began showing up: “Behind-the-Scenes Campaigner,” CN, Sept. 18, 1947; CIA Scrapbook, vol. 14, p. 98, Cleveland Institute of Art; AI, Joe Kisvardai, June 24, 2011.
One night he took Betty Seaver: Undated fundraising pamphlet, Cleveland Museum of Art, Elisabeth Seaver file.
“Women were attracted to him”: Porter, Cleveland, 102.
He would tell a secretary or: Bergreen, Capone: The Man and the Era, 598.
“Few people really knew him”: “An Image Retouched,” CPD, June 16, 1966.
“He was handsome and charming . . . ”: “A Bad End for a Good Guy,” CPD, Sept. 7, 1997.
One woman confided to a friend: Porter, Cleveland, 102.
He never called for a date: AI, Rebecca McFarland, May 19, 2011.
Chapter 27: An Unwelcome Surprise
When Eliot Ness left her: Something About the Author: Autobiography Series, vol. 1, 226; AI, Steve Resnick, June 5, 2011.
Her father, Albert Michelow: Something About the Author: Autobiography Series, vol. 1, 223–31.
Newsweek magazine had accidentally: “Benes for Ness,” Newsweek, Mar. 28, 1938.
Day after day an investigator fell in behind: AI, Arnold Sagalyn, May 22, 2011; Sagalyn, A Promise Fulfilled, 50–51.
One rookie investigator: AI, Arnold Sagalyn, May 22, 2011.
Police soon found more remains: Badal, In the Wake of the Butcher, 135–36, 142.
The corpse may have been stolen: AI, James Jessen Badal, June 12, 2011.
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