Everyone is familiar with the story of the St. Valentine Day
Massacre of 1929 in Chicago, as well as Eliot Ness; the iconic leader of the
“Untouchables.” And even if you are too young to have watched the TV show “The
Untouchables” with Robert Stack you are probably familiar with the movie of the
same name, starring Kevin Costner and Sean Connery. But that story is just a
small slice of who Eliot Ness was.
Though he is chiefly
remembered for bringing Al Capone to justice in Chicago, his story didn’t end
there. He did a whole lot more in the 1930’s when Ohio was still in the grips
of the bootleggers even after Prohibition had been repealed. In addition there
was a huge illegal gambling syndicate run by the organized crime gangs, which
bought violence and degradation to the city on a scale with the 1920’s in
Chicago.
The author has done a superb job in bringing the story of
the Eliot Ness; as well as the story of
Prohibition and the gangs who ran the bootlegging and the speakeasies; to life.
But since we all know most of the Chicago story I will be concentrating more on
the Cleveland part of the story. But first there are some misconceptions to
clear up.
Eliot Ness’ time in Chicago was at the tail end of the
roaring twenties; he actually took command of the Untouchables about a year
after the St. Valentine Day Massacre in 1929. He was not a teetotaler by any
means; and even delivered confiscated cases of booze to his old fraternity
house. He was a good dancer and a constant flirt who enjoyed the attention of
women. He was married twice. In short; he was an average sort of guy.
In Chicago he became the legend we know him as; he battled
the biggest gangster and bought him down through a series of daring raids and
economic cunning. But the troubles he would face in Cleveland were far more
entrenched with the Police Department and the Mayor’s office both on the take.
It’s hard to dislodge corruption when the very leaders you report to are part
of the problem.
In Cleveland Ness honed his social skills; battling crime
with psychology rather than battering rams. Working with Boy’s Town he was able
to turn over several unused police barracks which were made into homes and
schools for the boys. He also pressured the older gangs to saty away from the
kids or risk the consequences.
Forming a squad of obscure police officers from the suburbs,
and recruiting new police cadets, Ness formed a squad known not as the Untouchables;
as was the case in Chicago; but rather the “Unknowable’s”; as they were
virtually unknown to the criminals or their fellow officers who were on the
take. This put them in a unique position for gathering information on the gangs
operating the bootlegging and numbers rackets.
Most people think that illegal whiskey went out with
Prohibition; but it didn’t. Not just a backwoods, mountain type of thing; the
mob made millions off of moonshine whiskey in the decades after Repeal. Some
moon shining still goes on today, but not to the extent that it did then.
This is a book which
will fill you in on the real Eliot Ness and what he was really like. The author
obviously spent considerable time unearthing just about every article written
about Ness and culled the memoirs of the people who were involved with him on
both sides of the law. A new look into
an old subject can be very enlightening. And so it goes with this book.
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