Eliot Ness (37 page)

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 the 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.

Eliot couldn’t help but swell with pride
:
ENP/MS.

The bureau wanted to build a conspiracy case
:
Ibid.

Their chauffeur was Frank Basile
:
Homicide in Chicago 1870–1930: Interactive Database
, Frank Basile entry, case number 9507, accessed May 4, 2013, homicide.northwestern.edu/database/9163/.

Basile, who spoke fluent Italian
:
“U.S. Joins Hunt for Murderers of Dry Informer,” CT, Dec. 13, 1928.

“They would leave their cars
 . . . ”:
ENP/MS.

Even Basile joined in, pretending
:
“War Rages in Chicago Heights,” ENP, reel 1.

The men found more than a dozen
:
ENP/MS.

“Come and talk
 . . . ”:
“War Rages in Chicago Heights,” ENP, reel 1.

Eliot, “the hungry one”
:
ENP/MS.

He and Martino “had quite
 . . . ”:
ENP/MS; “Indicted Fugitive Burned to Death as Still Explodes,” CT, Dec. 1, 1928.

Finally, they grudgingly agreed on a weekly payment
:
“U.S. Shuns Concession and Spurs Gang Drive,” “‘Untouchables’ Rewarded,”
Washington Evening Star
, ENP, reel 1; “‘Untouchables’ Hazard Death in Campaign against Capone,”
Washington Evening Star
, June 18, 1931, ENP, reel 1.

“The silk-shirted Italian has just asked
 . . . ”:
ENP/MS.

“I felt young and alone
 . . . ”:
“TV Brings Father Back for Son of Eliot Ness,” CPD, Oct. 17, 1959.

Moving quickly, shouting over one another
:
Bergreen,
Capone: The Man and the Era
, 347. It’s not clear whether the truck-jacking was sanctioned by Jamie or was done on the QT by the ambitious young agents—or even whether it was something mistakenly attributed to the legendary Eliot Ness long after the fact.

They also began pocketing $100
:
“‘Untouchables’ Hazard Death in Campaign against Capone,”
Washington Evening Star
, June 18, 1931, ENP, reel 1.

“It was apparent,” Eliot wrote
:
ENP/MS.

That meant hitting the Cozy Corners
:
Narrative for raid on the Cozy Corners comes from Bergreen,
Capone: The Man and the Era
, 349, and ENP/MS.

Late that night, Eliot showed up on
:
“The Real Eliot Ness,”
Tucson Citizen
, July 17, 1987; unlabeled
Santa Fe New Mexican
clipping, July 23, 1987; letter from Dorothy Hauck (Marty Lahart’s widow) to Marie Sroka, Scott Sroka personal collection.

“He became deathly sick
 . . . ”:
ENP/MS.

Martino understood what his arrest
:
“Indicted Fugitive Burned to Death as Still Explodes,” CT, Dec. 1, 1928.

“He apparently had not been
 . . . ”:
ENP/MS.

Assistant District Attorney Dan Anderson
:
“Indicted Fugitive Burned to Death as Still Explodes,” CT, Dec. 1, 1928.

Ten days later, an unidentified man
:
“Gunmen Kill New Victim in Chgo. Heights,” CT, Dec. 10, 1928.

At 7 a.m. on Wednesday, December 12
:
Homicide in Chicago 1870–1930: Interactive Database
, Frank Basile entry, case number 9507, accessed May 4, 2013, homicide.northwestern.edu/database/9163/.

They fished a calendar
:
“U.S. Joins Hunt for Murderers of Dry Informer,” CT, Dec. 13, 1928.

“Basile was a government witness
 . . . ”:
Ibid.

When he saw Basile
:
Eliot Ness with Oscar Fraley,
The Untouchables: The Real Story
(New York: Pocket Books, 1987), 189.

They kept at it even after the police
:
Homicide in Chicago 1870–1930: Interactive Database,
Frank Basile entry, case number 9507, accessed May 4, 2013, homicide.northwestern.edu/database/9163/. Nearly thirty years later, in his notes to Oscar Fraley, Eliot would simply say, “The evidence on him was positive enough to make us feel that the person who had gotten [Basile] had been brought to justice.” See ENP/MS.

At restaurants, Eliot recalled
:
Bergreen,
Capone: The Man and the Era
, 349.

He quietly, bashfully
:
AI, Dave Deming, Sept. 7, 2011.

Three days after Christmas
:
unlabeled newspaper clipping; CT, Jan. 3, 1929; ENP, reel 1; ENP/MS.

Chapter 4: Flaunting Their Badness

The narrative for the Chicago Heights operation is derived from
:
“Prohibition Blamed for Booze Gangs’ Long Reign of Guns and Terror in Chicago Heights,” CT, Jan. 7, 1929; “Chgo. Heights Raided by U.S.,” CT, Jan. 7, 1929; “Chicago Heights Rum Quiz Brings 81 Indictments,” CT, May 4, 1929; Eig,
Get Capone
, 83, 111, 236; ENP/MS; “War Rages in Chicago Heights,” ENP, reel 1.

“George E. Q. Johnson and State’s Attorney
 . . . ”:
“Indict Suspect in Plot to Kill Two Dry Agents,” CT, Jan. 3, 1929.

He added
:
“There would be a lot of emotion . . . ”:
“TV Brings Father Back for Son of Eliot Ness,” CPD, Oct. 17, 1959.

Chapter 5: The Capone Fans

Kids and mothers loved him
:
Bergreen,
Capone: The Man and the Era
, 15–16.

“We’re big business
 . . . ”:
Eig,
Get Capone
, 81.

Another local bootlegger, Terry Druggan
:
Okrent,
Last Call
, 274.

The social worker Jane Addams
:
Eig,
Get Capone
, 81.

“Morally,” the writer Nelson Algren
:
Ibid., 147.

“They dream of the Forty Two’s
 . . . ”:
Terkel,
Talking to Myself
, 14–15.

One night at the Paramount Club
:
Terkel,
Hard Times
, 172.

He told the
Chicago Tribune
’s Genevieve
:
Eig,
Get Capone
, 272.

“‘Public service’ is my motto”
:
Ibid., 123.

The novelist Mary Borden
:
Pierce,
As Others See Chicago
, 492.

The fifty-six-year-old Iowan’s
:
Johnson; ENP, reel 1.

“You’d have to be crazy, right?”
:
Bergreen,
Capone: The Man and the Era
, 15.

The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre
:
Ibid.

New York’s Lucky Luciano
:
Geoffrey C. Ward,
Prohibition
.

He wrote a long, defensive reply
:
Eig,
Get Capone
, 294–95.

As the Internal Revenue agents working the case
:
Internal Revenue Service memo dated July 8, 1931, National Archives, record group 58, 1791–1996.

President Hoover, and so Attorney General Mitchell
:
Eig,
Get Capone
, 219–21.

Chapter 6: Good-Hearted Al

Willebrandt had once said
:
Okrent,
Last Call
, 141.

The Justice Department had been encouraging Johnson
:
Eig,
Get Capone
, 239.

“As Mr. Kooken and myself are leaving
 . . . ”:
NPRC, Alexander Jamie, letter dated Oct. 22, 1930.

He noted that the agent
:
Ness personnel file, ATF.

When Johnson told him
:
Ness and Fraley,
The Untouchables
, 23; ENP, reel 1.

“The success of the entire venture”
:
Ness and Fraley,
The Untouchables
, 27–28.

Good men were hard to come by
:
Ness personnel file, ATF.

In November and December 1930
:
NPRC: Lyle Chapman, William Gardner, Alexander Jamie, Martin Lahart, Joseph Leeson, Samuel Seager (W. E. Bennett, Department of Justice memo, various dates); Ness personnel file, ATF.

Eliot, via his cowriter Oscar Fraley
:
Ness and Fraley,
The Untouchables,
27.

Twenty-five years later, in his memoir
:
Ibid., 19.

Johnson had worked with Marty Lahart
:
Bergreen,
Capone: The Man and the Era
, 349; ENP/MS.

Jamie instead sent him on temporary assignment
:
NPRC, Samuel Seager.

He was known in the bureau
:
ENP/MS; NPRC, Joseph Leeson.