"Eliot Ness" by Douglas Perry (2014)

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did a whole lot more in the 1930’s when Ohio was still in the grips of the bootleggers even after Prohibition had been repealed.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.

"Boardwalk Empire" with Steve Buscemi (2012)

On the eve of Prohibition becoming the law of the land, Atlantic City County Treasurer Enoch “Nucky” Thompson, played by Steve Buscemi, is about to make a lot of money. He already controls everything else in town, from prostitution to gambling, so why not get in on Prohibition from the very start?  With his brother as a State Trooper and the rest of the Boardwalk beholden to him for all manner of “favors” he has done them in the past, you would think that “Nucky’s” life would be one free from trouble. But trouble seems to stalk him, turning some of his most cherished dreams into a living nightmare of deceit and confusion as he struggles with fellow politicians, as well as criminal rivals, such as Al Capone, Lucky Luciano and Arnold Rothstein.

Set in the hotels along the famed Boardwalk of Atlantic City, this series takes you inside the brothels and jazz joints that then flourished under Prohibition. There is also the story of “Nucky’s” past, and his childhood with a drunken firefighter for a father. That past plays a large role in who he is, and just what motivates him emotionally. Surrounded by a cast of characters which will leave your head spinning, and beautiful sets; where every detail is correct for the era; this series is textured and well written.

A relentlessly driven Federal Agent, along with a destitute young woman; who quickly becomes “Nucky’s” lover, as well as his conscience; make the story compelling. It begs the question of what drives people to do what they do, and how hey justify it. Written by Terence Winter and Produced by Martin Scorsese, this is a series which will have you looking forward to each episode.

"Young Al Capone" by William and John Balsamo

Al Capone, long portrayed as the King of Chicago, grew up in Brooklyn, New York. It was there that he made his beginning in the local crime syndicates. At the time, there were two "mobs", one Irish, known as the White Hand; and a second, up and coming "mob" of Italians, known as the "Black Hand." These two groups would battle for control of the 60 odd piers in the Borough of Brooklyn in the days before Prohibition came in. When the Volstead Act came, the piers would become less of an attraction than booze.

The authors, William and John Balsamo, have a wealth of information on the subject of both Al Capone, as well as the beginnings of Organized Crime in Brooklyn. Their father's brother was Batista Balsamo. He was born in Sicily in 1868, and although he is pictured here as a "low key gangster extraordinaire",(those are the author's words) he is considered by some to have been the first "Godfather" of Brooklyn.

Salvatore and Domenico Balsamo, Batista's sons, were the author's Grand Uncle and Father, respectively. So, these guys have some pretty good stories to relate.

August 1917 was a month so hot, that I still remember my Uncle Irving telling me about sleeping in Coney Island and sometimes on Brighton Beach. The trip was 5 cents, and the relief was priceless. 278 people and 272 horses perished that month. In my old neighborhood, people slept along Ocean Parkway, some on the benches, others on the ground. In this muggy and steamy month, and year, Al Capone would receive both the nickname, and the scars behind the ubiquitous moniker "Scarface."

It happened at the Harvard Inn on Surf Avenue in Coney Island. Al Capone walked into the club, which was owned by his boss, Frank Torrio, and noticed a group sitting near the rear doors. This caused extra work for the waitress, as well as arouse the suspicions of Capone. The only reason he could think of for their being seated so close to the entrance was that they either expected, or would be responsible for, some sort of violence. It didn't take long to happen.

Capone, always on the look out for a woman, lost no time in offending the sister of one Frank Gallucio, who jumped on Capone, trying to cut his throat. Instead, he created a legend. Scarface.

The incident caused a "sit down" to be held between the two men. "Lucky" Luciano and Frankie Yale, the first of the two "modern" mobsters, and the bosses of both parties involved, mitigated the dispute. Luciano "lent" $1,500 to Gallucio for him to pay "damages" to Capone. It was also a way of putting Gallucio in his "pocket", as the man now owed him a large sum of money. This was fortunate for Gallucio, as it guaranteed that the "bosses" would find him a lucrative position so that he could pay them back.

The author's take the reader on a very deliberate, step by step journey in the career of one of the most notorious gangsters ever known. With his bulging eye and withering stare, he was quite formidable. At least until the IRS got a hold of him.

The book follows Capone's rise from the streets of Brooklyn, to his "exile", and new home in Chicago. In Brooklyn, before Prohibition, there were three primary ways of making money in the "mob." They were gambling, loan sharking in support of the gambling, and prostitution. Al Capone was involved in each of these vices as he climbed the ladder, rung by rung, to his eventual success.

The authors follow Capone as he makes the transition from Brooklyn to Chicago. A situation occurred in which it was best than Capone leave Brooklyn for awhile, and he needed to go far. So, he "removed" himself to Chicago. And once there, the rest is, as they say, history. But this book, which chronicles Capone's early years, his roots and beginnings in Brooklyn, is a story often overlooked. You will be amazed at the mentality that drove the hoodlum of the early 20th century, and then be doubly amazed when you realize that this same mentality drives the gang wars of today!

In the words of Jean Baptiste Alphonse Karr, "The more things change, the more they remain the same." This book is proof of that assertion.

"Get Capone" by Jonathan Eig

This is, simply put, the best true life crime saga since last year's "L.A. Noir." That book dealt with the crime syndicate and it's history in Los Angeles. It was known there as "the Combination." This one deals with the rise of Al Capone from his early years in Brooklyn to his heyday and eventual downfall in Chicago.

The book is painstakingly researched and covers not only the activities of Capone and his henchmen, including the notorious "St. Valentine's Day Massacre," but goes on to connect the dots of the criminal enterprise that was Chicago during the "roaring twenties." Every cop, alderman, delegate, the mayor himself and anyone in between was on the payroll of "the mob."

Surprisingly, Capones "mob" was composed of many nationalities; from Jewish to Irish to Italian, all the ethnic groups were represented. Sometimes they had disagreements over turf, and these disagreements usually took the form of what is today known as the "drive by shooting." The Thompson machine gun made it's criminal debut in the early 1920's after having been perfected too late for inclusion in the First World War.

But the real intersting part of this book deals with the Federal Governments efforts to curtail the criminal activity that grew out of the Nineteenth Amendment. When the Volstead Act was put into place to combat the flagrant violations stemming from that Amendment, the government still had no "teeth" with which to enforce the law. With Treasury Agents making less than a good bribe could bring them, there was little incentive to enforce the law and risk your life in doing so. Some new and better way to control the gangsters was clearly needed. Enter Income Tax Violations.

The common perception holds that Capone's was the first prosecution of a mobster for tax evasion. This is not quite true. But first, as I always say, a little background on Income Taxes in general. Initially begun during the Civil War under President Lincoln as a way to finance the Union Army, the rate was set at 3% of annual income above $600. This included any income from "property, rents,interest, dividends,salaries or from any profession, trade, employment or vocation carried on in the United States or elsewhere, or from any source whatever." There was no distinction made for illegal income. As far as Uncle Sam was concerned, if it came in, you owed them 3 percent.

The law was very unpopular and was overturned in 1872, re-instated in 1894, and ruled Unconstitutional in 1895. In 1913 Wyoming ratified the 16th Amendment creating the 3/4 majority necesssary to make it law. An additional 1% was levied on those who made more than $3,000 per year and an additional 6% surtax was added to incomes higher than $500,000. Death or fraud were the only 2 ways to avoid the tax, causing Will Rogers to remark in the 1920's that "The Income Tax has made liars out of more Americans than golf."

At first, in an effort to collect these taxes, 6 Post Offices Inspectors were tasked with this responsibility. Now came the tricky part. What was income? Were criminals responsible to report income gained illegally? Would this not fall under the protections of the 5th Amendment? Wasn't it up to the government to prove that you were cheating? All valid questions at the time, when there was no settled law relating to the issue.

In 1921 the first challenge to the law by a criminal took place in the trial of a bootlegger named Manley Sullivan. He would take his case all the way to the Supreme Court, arguing that disclosure of his illegal activities for tax purposes violated his 5th Amendment Rights. The Court decided against him and he was forced to pay back taxes on all his income. This was the opening of the door that would eventually bring Capone down.

Beginning with Al Capone's brother Ralph "Bottles" Capone, the Special Intelligence Unit in Chicago began to pester "Bottles" so much that he finally filed a return listing his income of $20,000 per year as a "gambler." When played out over a 4 year period he owed $11,000 in back taxes and the government began to seize some of his assets. This was the beginning of the close watch on Al Capone's finances that would finally bring to a close his career as a criminal.

The book is quite extensive, delving into Herbert Hoover's role in starting a war on organized criminals and the establishment of Federal Agents tasked with the responsibility to catch them.

A fascinating book that looks into the formation of the FBI as a crime fighting organization, as well as the utilization and enforcement of tax law, to break the hold of one of America's most notorious gangsters over an entire city and part of a nation.