Eliot Ness (43 page)

The Mob had to be especially
:
“
Demand 3 on Force Resign in Police Probe of Rackets,” CPD, Mar. 24, 1948.

One of Blackwell’s raids
:
McGill and Perry,
Court Cases of Eliot Ness
, 31.

He made several copies
:
“Grand Jury Acts Today on ‘Policy,’” CPD, April 26, 1939.

“There’ll be killings, if those
 . . . ”:
“Seek Torso Slayer’s Workshop,” CN, Aug. 18, 1938; ENP, reel 2.

On Wednesday, April, 26
:
“Indict 23 of Mayfield Mob in Policy Extortion Racket,” “Policy Conquered with Guns, Force,” CP, April 26, 1939; “Grand Jury Acts Today on ‘Policy,’” “Hill Mob Bullets Won Policy War,” CPD, April 26, 1939.

The police arrested six of the
:
“Indict 23 Ohioans in Numbers Game,” “Hoge Expected to Surrender Today,” CPD, April 29, 1939.

He hadn’t gone far when Patrolman
:
“Prucha, Nemesis of Car Thieves, End 39-Year Career,” CPD, Feb. 4, 1962.

“No member of the Bureau
 . . . ”:
“The Participation of Boys,”
Phi Delta Kappan
, 339, ENP, reel 2.

Eliot and a professor at Cuyahoga
:
CPHS.

More significant still, the crime-prevention
:
“The Participation of Boys,”
Phi Delta Kappan
, 338–39, ENP, reel 2.

Next Eliot helped start up
:
Container 372, folder 1937–1942, subfolder Youth, Statement for Rotary International Convention, June 22, 1938, HHB.

A bar owner, Anthony Zappone
:
: “Demand 3 on Force Resign in Police Probe of Rackets,” CPD, Mar. 24, 1948.

When detectives brought Lonardo
:
“Nine Still Evade Racket Roundup,” CPD, June 10, 1939.

“Why doesn’t the
Press
go
 . . . ”:
ENP, reel 2.

Late in 1940, Michael Harwood
:
“Harwood to Leave Prison Farm Today,” CPD, Nov. 1, 1940.

He arrested Howell Wright
:
Supreme Court of Ohio: State of Ohio v. Howell Wright, no. 28,227.

“She’s real sharp
 . . . ”:
AI, Marni Greenberg, June 7, 2011; “Ness Asks Jury Marijuana Probe,” CN, May 18, 1939; “12 in Marijuana Ring Sentenced,” CPD, July 6, 1939; McGill and Perry,
Court Cases of Eliot Ness
, 49, 51.

“During our questioning
 . . . ”:
AI, James Jessen Badal, June 12, 2011; Badal,
In the Wake of the Butcher
, 231.

Eliot told his investigators
:
AI, Arnold Sagalyn, June 9, 2011.

“Eliot would tell Frank
 . . . ”:
Jedick, “Eliot Ness.”

Jack Kennon, a
longtime Cleveland
reporter
:
news clipping, CPD, Feb. 4, 1941, ENP, reel 2.

Chapter 30: L’Affaire Ness

The car accident and its aftermath are constructed from
:
Condon, “The Last American Hero;” “Ness Incident Is Now Closed, Lausche Says,” CN, Mar. 9, 1942; “Asks ‘Why’ in Ness Cover-Up,” CP, Mar. 6, 1942; “‘I Had a Few Drinks’—Ness,” CP, Mar. 7, 1942; “Report on Ness Crash Written 60 Hours Late,” CPD, Mar. 6, 1942; “Mayor Gets Story of Ness’ Accident,” CPD, Mar. 8, 1942; unlabeled news clippings, ENP, reel 2, Jedick, “Eliot Ness.”

Six days later, Eliot attempted to
:
“Ness Asks Triple in Fire Program,” CPD, Mar. 12, 1942.

Prostitution was “just as deep
 . . . ”:
“Probe Police Link in ‘Jitterbug’ Vice,” CPD, April 9, 1942.

With Evaline working long
:
“Behind-the-Scenes Campaigner,” CN, Sept. 18, 1947.

He had always liked to drive
:
Fenger Courier
, 1920.

When, after a few weeks
:
undated letter, ENP, reel 2; Jedick, “Eliot Ness.”

Chapter 31: This Is War

He’d been issued a national draft order
:
“2850 and 441 Top Draft List Here,” CPD, Mar. 18, 1942.

Federal spending for military
:
William H. Chafe,
The
Unfinished Journey: America Since World War II, Second Edition
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), 7.

Still, the government sought out
:
Ness personnel file, ATF.

The service branches would reject
:
Eliot Ness, “The National Program of Social Protection,”
Public Welfare: The Journal of the American Public Welfare Association
, April 1943.

Congress underlined the seriousness
:
Allan M. Brandt,
No Magic Bullet: A Social History of Venereal Disease in the United States Since 1880
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1987), 166.

He listed Lausche and Burton
:
Ness personnel file, ATF.

Public Administration Service’s executive director
:
Ibid.

In her nationally syndicated
:
unlabeled news clipping, ENP, reel 3, news clippings.

Nearly two weeks later, on April 23
:
“Celebrezze Leading in Open Safety Job Race,” CPD, April 24, 1942.

“Taking Mr. Ness’s record as whole
 . . . ”:
Condon, “The Last American Hero.”

Under the header “Six Eventful Years”
:
“Six Eventful Years,” CPD, April 25, 1942.

“Cleveland is a different place than
 . . . ”:
Heimel,
Eliot Ness: The Real Story
, 169–70.

“Dear Eliot
:
Now that you are leaving
 . . . ”
:
ENP, reel 3.

“Eliot was a great man to work
 . . . ”:
“Veteran Mediator Here Found a Smile the Best Persuasion,” CPD, July 19, 1970.

“Eliot was a wonderful guy
 . . . ”:
AI, Arnold Sagalyn, May 22, 2011.

On July 3, kicking off a series of trials
:
“10 in Policy Ring, Guilty, to Appeal,” CPD, July 4, 1942; Cuyhoga County Common Pleas Court, State of Ohio v. Angelo Scerria et al., no. 49836.

Williams, who hadn’t seen Birns
:
“Admits Mistaking Lawyer For Birns,” CPD, Aug. 6, 1942; “Birns Acquitted on Policy Charge,” CPD, Aug. 7, 1942; “State Ready to Bring Gang History Up to Recent Days,” CPD, Dec. 8, 1949; McGill and Perry,
Court Cases of Eliot Ness
, 42–43.

Birns continued to ply
:
“Shondor Birns Is Bomb Victim,” CPD, Mar. 30, 1975.

Chapter 32: Girls, Girls, Girls

Evaline was miserable
:
Something About the Author: Autobiography Series
, vol. 1, 229.

“I don’t think he could stand criticism
 . . . ”:
Jedick, “Eliot Ness.”

She needed to scream
:
AI, Marni Greenberg, June 7, 2011; AI, Steve Resnick, June 5, 2011.

He hired Arnold Sagalyn
:
Sagalyn,
A
Promise Fulfilled
, 70–71.

“As he had done in Cleveland
 . . . ”:
Ibid.

He was determined that the effort
:
Ness, “Venereal Disease Control in Defense,”
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences
, March 1942.

“Many of them have come from broken
 . . . ”:
Ness personnel file, ATF; Ness, “National Program of Social Protection.”

“Eliot liked that job”
:
Jedick, “Eliot Ness.”

Washington had become a modern-day
:
David Brinkley,
Washington Goes to War
(New York: Ballantine Books, 1996), 107–9, 119.

“I would have said ‘War
 . . . ’”:
Something About the Author: Autobiography Series
, vol. 1, 227.

“The uniform,” wrote
Vogue
:
“Civilian Defense: The Ladies!”
Time
, Jan. 26, 1942.

She couldn’t help herself
:
AI, Steve Resnick, June 5, 2011.

“Go to art school”
:
Evaline’s return to art school and artistic awakening are derived from AI, Marni Greenberg, June 7, 2011; “Evaline Ness: the Caldecott Medalist for 1967,”
American Artist
, June 1967; Evaline Ness official records, Corcoran College of Art and Design, Office of the Registrar; “Evaline Ness’s Centenary,” April 21, 2011, Free Library
of Philadelphia blog, libwww.freelibrary.org/blog/index.cfm?postid=1311;
Something About the Author: Autobiography Series
, vol. 1, 227–28.

Evaline was “extremely attracted
 . . . ”:
AI with longtime friend of Evaline Ness who asked not to be named.

A friend from Cleveland
:
ENP, reel 3, undated letter, signed “Bruce,” ENP, reel 3.

Evaline got up one morning
:
AI, Marni Greenberg, June 7, 2011; AI, Steve Resnick, June 5, 2011.

In October 1945, nearly
:
Condon,
Cleveland
, 242; “Ness Papers in Divorce Invisible,” CPD, Oct. 19, 1945.

Worse, he was forced to testify
:
undated news clipping, Eliot Ness file, Cleveland State University Special Collections.

Reporters rushed to the county clerk’s
:
Condon,
Cleveland
, 242.

“The mystery of Eliot Ness’s missing
 . . . ”:
“Ness Papers in Divorce Invisible,” CPD, Oct. 19, 1945.

They recalled that Eliot always
:
Heimel,
Eliot Ness: The Real Story
, 165; AI, Arnold Sagalyn, June 9, 2011.

Of course, there had been hints
:
AI, Steve Resnick, June 5, 2011.

Marjorie Mutersbaugh remembered
:
AI, Rebecca McFarland, May 19, 2011.

And then there was the leggy
:
Bergreen,
Capone: The Man and the Era
, 600.

One night, Eliot invited
:
“A Bad End for a Good Guy,” CPD, Sept. 7, 1997.

“His social habits, which included
 . . . ”:
Condon,
Cleveland
, 239.

In 1973, Neil McGill, at ninety
:
Letter from McGill to Edward Winter dated May 8, 1973, Personal Correspondence folder, Edward and Thelma Frazier Winter Papers, manuscript collection no. 4503, WRHS.

“Where could he go
 . . . ”:
AI, Arnold Sagalyn, June 9, 2011.

He would later boast
:
1947 mayoral campaign flyer, ENP, reel 3.

His friend Marion Kelly recalled
:
Condon, “The Last American Hero.”

“The entire female population
 . . . ”:
Betsy Israel,
Bachelor Girl: 100 Years of Breaking the Rules: A Social History of Living Single
(Perennial, 2003), 165.

“Reich shared the moralist’s
 . . . ”:
Kathleen Tynan,
The
Life of Kenneth Tynan
(New York: William Morrow & Co., 1987), 414.

A snapshot from this period
:
ENP, reel 3.

Chapter 33: Starting Over

She found herself drawn to
:
“TV Brings Father Back for Son of Eliot Ness,” CPD, Oct. 17, 1959; “My Husband, Eliot Ness,”
TV Guide
, May 11, 1961.

Marjorie Mutersbaugh called them
:
AI, Rebecca McFarland, May 19, 2011.

Hugh and Betty’s divorce became
:
AI, Rebecca McFarland, May 19, 2011; AI, Franny Taft, July 1, 2011; Cuyhoga County Common Pleas Court, Hugh D. Seaver v. Betty A. Seaver: no. 557135; undated letter to Edris Eckhardt, Joe Kisvardai personal collection.

In 1924, he prevailed upon J. A. Derome
:
Elisabeth Andersen’s official student file, Cleveland Institute of Art.

Her winning piece for the 1932
:
library.clevelandart.org/search/search_mayshow.php.