Eliot Ness (38 page)

On December 15, William Jennings Gardner
:
NPRC, William Gardner.

“I am exceedingly interested in the case
 . . . ”:
Ibid.

Johnson also tapped another Detroit agent
:
NPRC, Joseph Leeson.

A week before receiving Nye’s letter
:
Time
, Sept. 19, 1927.

Prohibition Bureau commissioner J. M. Doran
:
NPRC, William Gardner.

“Frankly, I pondered how to get out of it”
:
“Member of ‘Untouchables’ Who ‘Broke’ Capone Recalls Exploits,”
Los Angeles Times
, Oct. 4, 1962.

Six months before Johnson requested Chapman
:
NPRC, Lyle Chapman.

Eliot would describe him as “a barrel-chested giant
 . . . ”:
Ness and Fraley,
The Untouchables
, 32.

Rounding out what would become the core group
:
Bureau Bulletin, June 20, 1931, ATF; Ness and Fraley,
The Untouchables
, 33–34; Tucker,
Eliot Ness and the Untouchables
, 16.

pharmacist and World War I–era baseball
:
“Lawrence S. Ritter,”
New York Times
, Feb. 17, 2004; the obituary quoted from Ritter’s
The
Glory of Their Times
.

Gang violence had spiked again
:
Eig,
Get Capone
, 106.

Homicide detectives and a morgue truck
:
Frank Deford,
The
Best American Sports Writing: 1993
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1993), 241.

A friend remembered him frequently
:
“The Real Eliot Ness,”
Tucson Citizen
, July 17, 1987.

“The Depression was
so
real
 . . . ”:
Terkel,
Hard Times
, 164.

“Suddenly, all the copybook maxims
 . . . ”:
Terkel,
Hard Times
, 169–71.

“The bread line outside of Al Capone’s
 . . . ”:
Pierce,
As Others See Chicago
, 490–93.

As she headed upstairs
:
Ibid.

Chapter 7: The First Step

The brewery business made for a prime target
:
“‘Untouchables’ Hazard Death in Campaign Against Capone,”
Washington Evening Star
, June 18, 1931, ENP, reel 1.

He’d even had time for a real personal life
:
Heimel,
Eliot Ness: The Real Story
, 57; AI, Michelle Regan personal collection, Aug. 6, 2012; ENP, reel 2.

they had married on August 9, 1929
:
Cook County (Ill.) Clerk, certificate 12466, Michelle Regan personal collection.

“We knew that regularity was necessary
 . . . ”:
“‘Untouchables’ Hazard Death in Campaign Against Capone,”
Washington Evening Star
, June 18, 1931, ENP, reel 1.

“The first observation we made
 . . . ”:
ENP/MS.

Sometimes they would follow by
:
“Puts Raids Up to Chief,” CPD, July 14, 1935.

“The garage was on Cicero Avenue
 . . . ”:
ENP/MS.

On January 18, a Sunday, Gardner called
:
NPRC, William Gardner.

One high school friend remembered him
:
Heimel,
Eliot Ness: The Real Story
, 17.

On January 20, just six weeks after being assigned
:
NPRC, William Gardner.

The long, detailed memo impressed Avis
:
Ness personnel file, ATF.

Chapter 8: Kid Stuff

The narrative of the raid on the South Cicero Avenue brewery is constructed from
:
AI, Pam Sroka, June 28, 2011; Bergreen,
Capone: The Man and the Era
, 409–10; “Capone Brewery, Huge Beer Supply Raided in Cicero,” CT, Mar. 26, 1931; unlabeled news clippings, ENP, reel 1; ENP/MS; Fraley, “The Real Eliot Ness.”

Years later, Eliot would call his mission
:
Ness and Fraley,
The Untouchables
, 85.

The team’s agents continued tailing trucks
:
ENP/MS; Bergreen,
Capone: The Man and the Era
, 412; ENP/MS; unlabeled news clippings, ENP, reel 1.

The seizure of the two breweries
:
ENP, reel 1.

“We were to arrest him again
 . . . ”:
ENP/MS.

“At 11 o clock four sedans swept
 . . . ”:
ENP, reel 1.

He was directing the two men
:
Bureau Bulletin, June 20, 1931; “Hold 4 Capone Aids Seized at Raided Brewery,” CT, April 14, 1931.

Two days later, jacked up on success
:
“Nab Five in Raid on Capone Stills; Alky Stock Seized,”
Chicago Heights Star
, April 15, 1931, ENP, reel 1.

That meant Eliot would get to make
:
NPRC, Paul Robsky.

Almost every day in Greenville
:
“Last of the Untouchables,”
National Star
, April 20, 1974.

The squad rented a basement apartment
:
Sources used to reconstruct the phone-tap operation include: unlabeled news clippings, ENP, reel 1; Ness and Fraley,
The Untouchables
, 112–14; Ness personnel file, ATF; NPRC, Paul Robsky; Tucker,
Eliot Ness and the Untouchables
, 18–19. Robsky’s recollections of the event come from his 1962 memoir,
Last of the Untouchables
(New York: Pocket Books, 1962), 77–82. The book, cowritten with Oscar Fraley, generally is not a reliable document, though Eliot’s own memories and official Prohibition Bureau records support some of Robsky’s version of the Montmartre operation.

At last he hit one—Chapman
:
ENP/MS; NPRC, Paul Robsky. In Robsky’s telling in
Last of the Untouchables
, Lahart gets inside the Montmartre and makes a call out to “Edna” while Robsky is raking the line. Eliot’s memory, which appears to be supported by official memoranda, has the call coming into the Montmartre.

“The federal men found 140 barrels
 . . . ”:
unlabeled
Chicago Daily News
clipping, ENP, reel 1.

Calloway was already under indictment
:
Bureau Bulletin, June, 20, 1931.

The agents ran a car off
:
“Dry Raiders Cost Capone Half Million in Six Weeks,”
Chicago Herald and Examiner
, Sept. 26, 1931, ENP, reel 1.

On his own Eliot chased
:
“Seize Beer Truck after Chase in Streets of Loop,” CT, May 12, 1931.

A few weeks later, the team took down
:
“Dry Raiders Cost Capone Half Million in Six Weeks,”
Chicago Herald and Examiner
, Sept. 26, 1931, ENP, reel 1.

Chemist John R. Matchett remembered
:
Unpublished internal ATF history, 87, ATF.

“I have never met such a hostile group
 . . . ”:
Vollmer, “Fred E. Inbau: Scientific Crime Detection: Early Efforts in Chicago,” in “August Vollmer: Pioneer in Police Professionalism,” vol. 2, 10–11.

Years later, in another life
:
AI, Scott Sroka personal collection, June 25, 2011.

Agents and support staff noticed how
:
“Eliot Ness Tipped Off His Big Raids,” CT, Mar. 1, 1970.

Stanley Slesick, one of the Prohibition agents
:
Ibid.

“He and the six or seven other people
 . . . ”:
Berardi.

“They have information that you got your job
 . . . ”:
“U.S. Uncovers True Story of Capone’s Rise,” CT, June 14, 1931.

He knew the Mob must be approaching
:
NPRC, Alexander Jamie; Ness personnel file, ATF.

Leeson would later tell his second wife
:
AI, Pam Sroka, June 28, 2011.

“Capone’s men would pop up
 . . . ”:
“Member of ‘Untouchables’ Who ‘Broke’ Capone Recalls Exploits,”
Los Angeles Times
, Oct. 4, 1962.

Chapter 9: How Close It Had Been

Gardner’s college football career
:
Lars Anderson,
Carlisle vs. Army: Jim Thorpe, Dwight Eisenhower, Pop Warner, and the Forgotten Story of Football’s Greatest Battle
(New York: Random House, 2007), 19; 158–59; Crawford, 83.

He would later describe Gardner admiringly
:
ENP/MS.

“You appear in the newspapers
 . . . ”:
NPRC, William Gardner.

“His boss in Indianapolis had
 . . . ”:
NPRC, Lyle Chapman.

“Her greatest wish was not to be known”
:
“Eliot Ness’ First Wife Quietly Dies,”
St. Petersburg Times
, Nov. 19, 1994.

He’d sometimes shudder at “how close
 . . . ”:
Fraley, “The Real Eliot Ness.”

By late spring, saloon owners had noticed
:
Eig,
Get Capone
, 318; unlabeled newspaper clipping, CT, May 12, 1931; ENP, reel 1.

The Mob stole their cars
:
“U.S. Uncovers True Story of Capone’s Rise,” CT, June 14, 1931; “Member of ‘Untouchables’ Who ‘Broke’ Capone Recalls Exploits,”
Los Angeles Times
, Oct. 4, 1962.

“I remember twice Ness and I
 . . . ”:
“Member of ‘Untouchables’ Who ‘Broke’ Capone Recalls Exploits,”
Los Angeles Times
, Oct. 4, 1962.

One night Eliot caught a junior gangster
:
“U.S. Uncovers True Story of Capone’s Rise,” CT, June 14, 1931; Robert J. Schoenberg,
Mr. Capone
(New York: Perennial, 1993), 297–98.

Chapter 10: The Untouchables

Sources for the tax and Volstead cases against Capone include
:
Bergreen,
Capone: The Man and the Era
, 430; “U.S. Uncovers True Story of Capone’s Rise,” CT, June 14, 1931; Eig,
Get Capone
, 318–19, 330; “U.S. Brings ‘Chief Foe’ to Bar Upon Two Charges,” unlabeled newspaper clipping, ENP, reel 1; other unlabeled news clippings and memos, ENP reel 1; ENP/MS; Frank Wilson memo dated Dec. 21, 1933, Internal Revenue Service archives.

Sources for Ness and Untouchables celebrity include:
:
Berardi; Bergreen,
Capone: The Man and the Era
, 343–44; Bureau Bulletin, June 20, 1931; “8 New U.S. Heroes! They Resisted Capone’s Gold,” CPD, June 15, 1931; “Capone Allies See His Finish and Dispute for Gang Throne,” CT, June 15, 1931; Condon,
Cleveland
, 236; “Capone’s Power Is Destroyed by Fearless Eight,” unknown date and publication, ENP, reel 1; letters to Eliot Ness and unlabeled news clippings, ENP, reel 1; “Al’s Nemesis Boasts Ph.B.; Finds Humor in Dry
Work,”
Chicago Herald and Examiner
, June 15, 1931; Heimel,
Eliot Ness: The Real Story
, 16; “Capone Dynasty Falls Under Incessant Hammering of United States Officials,”
Lowell Sun
, June 17, 1931; Schoenberg,
Mr. Capone
, 297; “‘Untouchables’ Rewarded,”
Washington Evening Star
, Washington, June 15, 1931.

They stormed the Lexington
:
ENP, reel 1.

Eliot would spot dashing Mob associate
:
“Capone Allies See His Finish and Dispute for Gang Throne,” CT, Nov. 15, 1931; unlabeled newspaper clipping, “Gang Playboy Meets Fate at Football Game,” ENP, reel 1.

Wrote the
Tribune
:
“Capone Allies See His Finish and Dispute for Gang Throne,” CT, June 15, 1931.

“Out: Is Johnny there?
 . . . ”:
ENP, reel 1.

“Well, boys, it looks like
 . . . ”:
newspaper clippings: “Dry Raiders ‘All Wet,’”
Chicago Evening American
, July 17, 1931; “Dry Flips a Half Dollar; Uncovers $15,000 Rum,”
Chicago Evening Post
, undated; “Missing ‘Clink’ of Coin Bares Liquor Cache,” unknown publication, ENP, reel 1.

On the night of September 21, 1931
:
Berardi; ENP, reel 1.

In the weeks that followed, the phone company
:
“Al Capone’s Gang Taps Phone Wires, Federal Agents Say,” CT, Aug. 12, 1931.