America has had more than her share of famous crime solvers. But, the one still most remembered and recognized in this country is one who wasn’t even a police officer. Eliot Ness will forever be famous for taking down the country’s most notorious crime boss, Al Capone.
Eliot Ness was an agent in the treasury department in Chicago for several years before being transferred to the Justice Department in 1928 to work with the Prohibition Bureau. Under Prohibition, bootlegging had become serious business. Ness was then assigned to a special task force created to bring down mobster Al Capone, who was the head of organized crime in Chicago.
As the leader of the task force, Ness and his nine agents were responsible for seizing and halting Capone’s breweries and for finding evidence that led to Capone’s tax evasion charges. Capone’s gang attempted to kill Ness and some of his agents, and also attempted to bribe them. The unwillingness of Ness and his agents to take bribes got them labeled “the untouchables”.
Capone was tried and convicted of tax evasion, and served 11 years in prison. His prison sentence effectively halted his run as a crime boss. He was first sent to the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary to serve his sentence. But, when officials realized that he was running his mob from prison, they moved him to Alcatraz, where his contact with the outside world was cut off. By the time Capone was released from prison, he suffered from dementia brought on by untreated syphilis and never worked in organized crime again.
After the special Capone task force was disassembled, Eliot Ness went on to become the chief investigator of the Prohibition Bureau. Once the Prohibition Bureau was dissolved, Ness went to work in the Justice Department in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he once again became famous for crime solving.
Ness was responsible first for finding and cleaning up illegal moonshine stills in Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky. But, he was assigned after a few months to be the investigator in charge of the Treasury Department’s Alcoholic Tax Unit in Northern Ohio. He was charged with cleaning up the city of Cleveland, and had 34 agents in his jurisdiction.
During his tenure at this job, Ness uncovered and stopped widespread corruption in the city of Cleveland. He did most of the investigating himself, and took his evidence to a grand jury in 1936. As a result of his investigation, 15 police officials were brought to trial, including a deputy inspector, two captains, two lieutenants and a sergeant. When all was said and done, two hundred police officers were forced to turn in their resignations.
Eliot Ness’ personal life suffered for his work. He was married three times, and was known for his high profile social drinking. He eventually moved to Washington, where he worked for the federal government battling prostitution. He later wrote a book with Oscar Fraley called “The Untouchables”. He died of a heart attack at age 54.
P. Zerkle writes about how to acquire a masters in criminal justice.