UNTOUCHABLE

In 1931 the toughest gangster in America went down hard. Felled not by a blaze of bullets, Al Capone was sent to prison on three counts of tax evasion. The man behind his arrest was a 32-year-old Prohibition agent. Eliot Ness was tough, loyal, and incorruptible. He fought for the law. This once untouchable G-Man became an alcoholic whose law protecting days were long gone. Although Eliot Ness' tale ended sadly, his story should be told as a lesson that some law men do fight for what is right.

Eliot Ness was born in 1903 in Chicago. His parents ran a bakery and had three children by the time Eliott came along, ten years after the birth of their third child. A shy bookish kid who excelled in school, Eliot loved the tales of Sherlock Holmes. Eliot Ness attended college, graduating in 1925 with degrees in political science and business administration. He took a job administering background checks for a credit card company. Ness' brother-in-law worked for the Bureau of Investigation (the Federal would be added in 1930.) Inspired to take up law enforcement, Ness took a graduate criminology course.

Ness went to work for the U. S. Treasury Department. He was then assigned to the Prohibition Bureau. Chicago was a corrupt city - both police and gangsters reveled in crime. But one gangster dominated the city - Al Capone. President Hoover set up a crime squad in Chicago specifically to take out Capone. Ness was asked to lead the task force. He had to search a long time before he found enough honest agents ; he found 10 and on March 31,1930 they began to raid illegal stills and breweries. Within six months the bootlegging operation was destroyed and Capone lost $2 million dollars in revenue. One of Capone's men enticed Ness with a $2,000 per week bribe to look the other way. When Ness refused the press dubbed Ness and his team "The Untouchables."

In 1932 upon Capone's arrest Ness was named the chief investigator of the Prohibition Bureau ; the job did not last long as prohibition was repealed in 1933. In 1934 Ness relocated to Cleveland, Ohio. At that time Cleveland was considered the most dangerous city in America. Ness was named Cleveland's Safety Director. Ness modernized the fire department, started an EMS unit, and improved traffic safety. Then Ness cleaned up the police, ousting corrupt officers. He started a police training academy and made the entrance exam tougher to pass. He did background checks and fingerprinted recruits. He created a motorcycle unit so that police could respond to serious crimes more quickly. Juvenile delinquency lowered. The city became safer. 

But, in 1933, the Kingsbury Run section of Cleveland became the playground for a murderer. That area of town had become a haven for those left indigent by the depression. A killer stalked and murdered sex workers, alcoholics, and addicts - those who would not be missed and could not fight back. Ness assigned a task force to the case, but worked on the investigation as well. Ness interrogated the most likely suspect, Dr Francis E. Sweeney, even administering a polygraph test. But, with insufficient evidence, Sweeney could not be proven as the killer. Ness grew frustrated at his inability to prove Sweeney's guilt. His marriage suffered. He drove drunk and asked police officers to cover up the incident. Ness evacuated and burnt down the Hoovervilles, leaving many indigent people homeless, and an angry city ready for Ness to step down. Known as the Cleveland Torso Murders, the case remains unsolved to this day.

In 1939 Ness left Cleveland. He married for a second time. He went back to work for the federal government. In 1944 he moved back to Ohio to be president of a private security company. He divorced and married again. After an unsuccessful run for mayor, his drinking increased. Ness worked odd jobs, even working as a book store clerk at one point. By the 1950s Ness become a heavy drinker. He was forgotten as the man who brought down Capone, until he wrote his memoir, The Untouchables. The book became an extremely popular television series. Eliot Ness died of a heart attack in 1957, nearly penniless. The man who busted Capone's alcohol empire was taken down by drinking, perhaps corrupted by his own incorruptibility.

SOURCES :

Eliot Ness and His Role in Cleveland History. Cleveland Police Museuem.

Eliot Ness. Wikipedia.

FURTHER MEDIA :

Vogelbaum, Lauren, host. "Cold Case." American Shadows. Grim & Mild, 9 March 2023.