ELIOT NESS
Eliot Ness
Born April 19, 1903
Died May 16, 1957 (aged 54)
Place of birth Chicago, USA
Place of death Coudersport, Pennsylvania, USA
Rank Chief Investigator of the Prohibition Bureau for Chicago in 1934
Director for Public Safety for Cleveland Ohio
Eliot Ness (April 19, 1903 - May 16, 1957) was an American Prohibition agent,
famous for his efforts to enforce Prohibition in Chicago, Illinois, as the
leader of a legendary team nicknamed The Untouchables.
Ness was born in Chicago, the youngest of five, to Norwegian bakers Peter and
Emma Ness. As a boy, Ness was interested in reading, especially Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. He was educated at the University of Chicago,
graduating in 1925 with a degree in business and law. Ness was a member of Sigma
Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He began his career as an investigator for the Retail
Credit Co. of Atlanta. He was assigned to the Chicago territory, where he
conducted background investigations for the purpose of credit information. He
returned to the University to take a course in criminology, eventually earning a
masters degree in the field.
In 1926, his sister's husband, Alexander Jamie, a Bureau of Investigation agent
(this became the FBI in 1935), influenced him to enter law enforcement. He
joined the Treasury Department in 1927, working with the 300-strong Bureau of
Prohibition in Chicago.
Following the election of President Herbert Hoover, Andrew Mellon was
specifically charged with bringing down Al Capone. The federal government
approached the problem from two directions: income tax evasion and the Volstead
Act. Ness was chosen to head the operations under the Volstead Act, targeting
the illegal breweries and supply routes of Capone.
Seeing the endemic corruption in Chicago law-enforcement, Ness went through the
records of all the treasury agents to create a reliable team, initially of fifty,
later reduced to fifteen and finally to just eleven men. Raids against stills
and breweries began immediately; within six months Ness claimed to have seized
breweries collectively worth over one million dollars. The main source of
information for the raids was an extensive wire-tapping operation.
An attempt by Capone to bribe Ness's agents was seized on by Ness for publicity,
leading to the media nickname "The Untouchables." There were a number of
assassination attempts on Ness, and one close friend, Frank Basile, was killed.
The efforts of Ness and his team had a serious impact on Capone's operations,
but it was the income tax evasion which was the key weapon. In a number of
federal grand jury cases in 1931, Capone was charged with 22 counts of tax
evasion and also 5,000 violations of the Volstead Act. On October 17, 1931,
Capone was sentenced to eleven years, and following a failed appeal, he began
his sentence in 1932.
Eliot Ness
Born April 19, 1903
Died May 16, 1957 (aged 54)
Place of birth Chicago, USA
Place of death Coudersport, Pennsylvania, USA
Rank Chief Investigator of the Prohibition Bureau for Chicago in 1934
Director for Public Safety for Cleveland Ohio
Eliot Ness (April 19, 1903 - May 16, 1957) was an American Prohibition agent,
famous for his efforts to enforce Prohibition in Chicago, Illinois, as the
leader of a legendary team nicknamed The Untouchables.
Ness was born in Chicago, the youngest of five, to Norwegian bakers Peter and
Emma Ness. As a boy, Ness was interested in reading, especially Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. He was educated at the University of Chicago,
graduating in 1925 with a degree in business and law. Ness was a member of Sigma
Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He began his career as an investigator for the Retail
Credit Co. of Atlanta. He was assigned to the Chicago territory, where he
conducted background investigations for the purpose of credit information. He
returned to the University to take a course in criminology, eventually earning a
masters degree in the field.
In 1926, his sister's husband, Alexander Jamie, a Bureau of Investigation agent
(this became the FBI in 1935), influenced him to enter law enforcement. He
joined the Treasury Department in 1927, working with the 300-strong Bureau of
Prohibition in Chicago.
Following the election of President Herbert Hoover, Andrew Mellon was
specifically charged with bringing down Al Capone. The federal government
approached the problem from two directions: income tax evasion and the Volstead
Act. Ness was chosen to head the operations under the Volstead Act, targeting
the illegal breweries and supply routes of Capone.
Seeing the endemic corruption in Chicago law-enforcement, Ness went through the
records of all the treasury agents to create a reliable team, initially of fifty,
later reduced to fifteen and finally to just eleven men. Raids against stills
and breweries began immediately; within six months Ness claimed to have seized
breweries collectively worth over one million dollars. The main source of
information for the raids was an extensive wire-tapping operation.
An attempt by Capone to bribe Ness's agents was seized on by Ness for publicity,
leading to the media nickname "The Untouchables." There were a number of
assassination attempts on Ness, and one close friend, Frank Basile, was killed.
The efforts of Ness and his team had a serious impact on Capone's operations,
but it was the income tax evasion which was the key weapon. In a number of
federal grand jury cases in 1931, Capone was charged with 22 counts of tax
evasion and also 5,000 violations of the Volstead Act. On October 17, 1931,
Capone was sentenced to eleven years, and following a failed appeal, he began
his sentence in 1932.