Scarface and the Untouchable

by Max Allan Collins

  ROBERT STERLING: Oath of Office, October 18, 1920; F. R. McReynolds to James E. Jones, February 8, 1927; Robert D. Sterling to James E. Jones, April 16, 1927; Robert D. Sterling to J. M. Doran, August 13, 1927; Personal History, September 1, 1927; W. L. Ray to James M. Doran, May 6, 1930; Robert D. Sterling to the U.S. Civil Service Commission, May 26, 1930; Dwight Avis to the Director of Prohibition, July 16, 1930; J. L. Acuff to W. L. Ray, February 13, 1931; W. L. Ray to J. L. Acuff, February 16, 1931; J. L. Acuff to Robert D. Sterling, March 31, 1931; Dwight Avis to Eliot Ness, April 18, 1931; Amos W. W. Woodcock to Prohibition Administrator, San Francisco, June 8, 1931; W. G. Walker to Amos W. W. Woodcock, June 15, 1931; J. F. J. Herbert to the Director of Prohibition, June 26, 1931; Dwight E. Avis, Memo to “Mr. Reichgut,” June 24, 1932 (“He is not”); Amos W. W. Woodcock to Robert D. Sterling, June 28, 1932; Robert D. Sterling to Amos W. W. Woodcock, July 1, 1932; Carl Jackson to A. W. W. Woodcock, July 21, 1932; D. H. Blair to Amos W. W. Woodcock, February 23, 1933, all in Robert D. Sterling OPF/ATF.

  PAUL ROBSKY: Personal History, December 1, 1928; Oath of Office, December 1, 1928; R. Q. Merrick to Dwight E. Avis, October 15, 1930; Questions Respecting Personal History, December 4, 1930; Eliot Ness to Dwight E. Avis, January 20, 1931; Dwight E. Avis to Eliot Ness, January 22, 1931; Howard T. Jones to Paul W. Robsky, March 18, 1931; J. L. Acuff to Paul W. Robsky, March 31, 1931 (“a temporary detail”); J. L. Acuff to Eliot Ness, March 31, 1931; Recommendation for Change in Designated Post of Duty, April 20, 1931; Dwight E. Avis to Paul W. Robsky, April 22, 1931; Paul W. Robsky to M. L. Harney, April 26, 1932; M. L. Harney to the Director of Prohibition, April 26, 1932; Service Record Card, n.d., all in Paul W. Robsky, OPF/ATF. Ness and Fraley, The Untouchables, p. 34. Miami News, April 20, 1959. Milwaukee Journal, January 10, 1961 (“nervous and tense”). Fraley and Robsky, Last of the Untouchables, pp. 8–16 (12, “it might be”). Miami News, March 27, 1966 (“was never right”). Leader-Post, November 6, 1973.

  MARION KING: Application for Position of Federal Prohibition Agent, September 13, 1924; Personal History, December 17, 1924; J. M. Doran to the Secretary of the Treasury, July 6, 1928; J. M. Doran to the Secretary of the Treasury, February 25, 1930 (“He is young”); J. M. Doran to the Secretary of the Treasury, March 14, 1930; Efficiency Report, January 15, 1931; Efficiency Report, June 1, 1931; Efficiency Report, December 8, 1931; Efficiency Report, June 1, 1932; Efficiency Report, December 1, 1932; Efficiency Report, September 30, 1950; Service Record Card, n.d., all in Marion A. R. King OPF/ATF.

  Ness and Fraley (The Untouchables, pp. 34, 119) give King’s first name as “Mike.” Whether he actually used this nickname is unclear, though the portrait Ness and Fraley paint of him does seem to match his federal file. Special thanks to Scott Leeson Sroka and Barbara Osteika for figuring out “Mike King” was actually Marion King.

  UNTOUCHABLES TRUCK: Personal History Statement, December 17, 1928; Questions Respecting Personal History, December 16, 1931; Personal History Statement, December 16, 1931; Personal History Statement, May 23, 1932, all in Joseph D. Leeson OPF/ATF. Ness MS., p. 13, in ENPS, Roll 1, Folder 2. Ness and Fraley, The Untouchables, p. 74. Chicago American, February 20, 1960, in “Newspaper Clippings (Photocopies) Circa. 1930–1970” folder, DMM. LAT, September 23, 1962. Nickel, Torso, p. 38. SLS, personal interview with ABS, November 17, 2017.

  Weight of truck variously given as five tons (CHE, May 2, 1931; CN, December 11, 1935, in ENPS, Roll 1, Scrapbook 2, p. 4; CDN, January 2, 1936, in ENPS, Roll 1, Scrapbook 2, p. 19; CDN, June 4, 1936, in ENPS, Roll 1, Scrapbook 2, p. 87) and ten tons (CHE, April 12, 1930; Ness and Fraley, The Untouchables, p. 74).

  Perry (Eliot Ness, p. 68) claims that the agents added “a huge, snowplow-like battering ram, shaped almost like an arrowhead,” to their truck. This is how the vehicle appears in the 1959 TV adaptation of The Untouchables and the 1987 film, but the best evidence suggests that the actual battering ram didn’t look anything like a snowplow. Many news articles refer to the Untouchables using a truck to break down brewery doors, but most don’t mention the truck being modified in any way. This suggests the alterations may not have been especially noticeable.

  Those sources mentioning modifications describe the truck as being “specially reinforced” (CDN, June 4, 1936, in ENPS, Roll 1, Scrapbook 2, p. 87) or “equipped with a piece of heavy steel like a bumper” (untitled clipping, n.p., n.d., in ENPS, Roll 1, Scrapbook 1). In his own manuscript, Ness refers to “a truck with a hugh [sic] steel bumper on the front of it” (Ness MS., p. 13, in ENPS, Roll 1, Folder 2). The Ness-Fraley book follows his lead, describing “a special steel bumper covering the whole radiator” (Ness and Fraley, The Untouchables, p. 74). No photos of the truck are known to exist, but newspaper illustrations of it show nothing resembling a snowplow (CEA, March 25, 1931; Kansas City Star, November 1, 1931, in RIR Scrapbook III [also in ENPS, Roll 1, Scrapbook 1]; Charles W. Lawrence, “Putting the Heat on Ohio’s Bootleggers,” n.p., n.d., in ENPS, Roll 1, Scrapbook 1).

  SOUTH WABASH SURVEILLANCE AND RAID: CDT, April 11, 1931. CEA, April 11, 1931. San Diego Evening Tribune, April 11, 1931. CHE, April 12, 1931. CT, April 12, 1931; June 13, 1931. “U.S. Drys Raid Big Brewery of Capone; Nab 5,” n.p., n.d.; untitled clipping, n.p., n.d., both in ENPS, Roll 1, Scrapbook 1. “U.S. Trap Nabs Brewery Chief of Capone Gang,” n.p., April 13, 1931; “5,000 Violations of Dry Law Cited in Bill,” n.p., n.d., both in ENPS, Roll 1, Folder 1. Dillard, “How the U.S. Gov’t,” p. 57. Ness MS., pp. 13–15, in ENPS, Roll 1, Folder 2 (“were on the”). Ness and Fraley, The Untouchables, pp. 81–82, 88–91. Jedick, “Eliot Ness,” p. 51. Nickel, Torso, p. 41 (“How much you,” “All right,” “You haven’t got”).

  In his manuscript, Ness describes arresting Swoboda, Conti, and the other three men during the team’s first raid. But the details he gives match the Wabash brewery, not the one on South Cicero Avenue. Ness likely conflated the Untouchables’ first two raids in his memory; these details, which he ascribed to the first, actually belonged to the second.

  Conti’s name is variously spelled “Conta” in the Ness MS. and the newspaper articles about this raid (cited above), “Conti” in newspaper articles about a later raid (“Agents Raid Capone Plant; Six Arrested,” n.p., September 22, 1931, in ENPS, Roll 1, Folder 1. CEA, September 22, 1931; CEP, September 22, 1931, both in ENPS, Roll 1, Scrapbook 1), and “Contie” in the Prohibition indictment (U.S. v. Alphonse Capone, et al., indictment, June 1931, Case No. 23256, in Box 86, “Fusco, Joseph C. (Joe)” folder, KC).

  RETURN TO CHICAGO HEIGHTS: “Agents on Way to Two Plants Sniff Another,” n.p., April 17, 1931; “Nab Five in Raid on Capone Stills; Alky Stock Seized,” n.p., April 18 [?], 1931, in ENPS, Roll 1, Scrapbook 1 (“We secured convictions,” “I can’t understand,” “I’ll be back”); CDN, April 20, 1931; Chicago Heights Star, April 21, 1931, all in ENPS, Roll 1, Scrapbook 1.

  “THE KID” / NESS REFUSES BRIBE: Service Record Card, in Eliot Ness OPF. Allen, Since Yesterday, pp. 57–65 (64, “a crowd of”). Ness MS., pp. 15–16, 19, in ENPS, Roll 1, Folder 2 (16, “I told him,” “that the Government,” “I couldn’t understand,” “the job would”; 19, “This was a,” “The offer, of”). Ness and Fraley, The Untouchables, pp. 97–102, 140–141. McElvaine, Great Depression, p. 75.

  Dating Ness’s first meeting with the Kid is conjectural, though based on later news reports (see CT, June 14, 1931) it must have occurred after the Untouchables began raiding and before the indictments in June 1931.

  UNTOUCHABLES REFUSE BRIBES: Ness MS., pp. 18–19, in ENPS, Roll 1, Folder 2. Ness and Fraley, The Untouchables, pp. 142–143. Miami News, April 20, 1959 (“two of us,” “They told us”). Milwaukee Journal, January 10, 1961. LAT, September 23, 1962 (“Oh, we’d take,” “hoods were outside”). New Orleans Times-Picayune, May 19, 1963. Drew McKillips, “Honolulu T-Man Was Ness Hero,” n.p., n.d., SLS (“barrel wash,” “We were about”). Lindberg, To Serve and Collect, pp. xi–xix. SLS, personal interview with ABS, November 17, 2017 (“They�
��re working guys”).

  Chapman’s quote from the LAT article says that the woman he and Ness went to save was “Penny (Chapman’s wife),” but Chapman was unmarried at the time. He would marry Vesta Beck on July 16, 1931 (Personal History Statement, February 3, 1931; Affidavit of Vesta Beck Chapman, April 24, 1933, p. 1; Affidavit of Lyle B. Chapman, March 31, 1933, p. 1, all in Lyle B. Chapman OPF/ATF). It seems likely that, as Ness would do in his own recollections, Chapman replaced the name of his then-current girlfriend with that of his future wife.

  OUTFIT HARASSES UNTOUCHABLES: Dillard, “How the U.S. Gov’t,” p. 56. CT, June 14, 1931 (“They have information”). “$2,000 A Year Drys Break Up Rich Beer Ring,” n.p., n.d., in ENPS, Roll 1, Scrapbook 1. W. S. Murphy, Report on Eliot Ness, November 15, 1933, p. 6, in FBI-ENA. Ness and Fraley, The Untouchables, pp. 101, 105–106, 178. Des Moines Register, October 29, 1961 (“time to time”).

  TRUCK CHASE: CT, May 12, 1931; June 13, 1931. Untitled clipping, n.p., n.d., in ENPS, Roll 1, Scrapbook 1 (“suspicious looking automobiles”).

  CAR THEFTS / BREAK-INS AND WIRETAPPING / BANK VAULT: CHE, June 4, 1931 (“thieves were stealing”). CT, June 13, 1931; August 12, 1931. “Thefts of Cars Seen As Plot to Halt Agents,” n.p., n.d., in ENPS, Roll 1, Scrapbook 1. Dillard, “How the U.S. Gov’t,” p. 56. Baltimore Sun, May 17, 1936, in ENPS, Roll 1, Scrapbook 2, p. 80. Ness MS., pp. 19–21, in ENPS, Roll 1, Folder 2 (21, “a large safety”). Ness and Fraley, The Untouchables, pp. 94–95, 141–142. “First National Bank of Chicago IV,” Chicagology, https://chicagology.com/goldenage/goldenage116/ (accessed May 11, 2016).

  BUILDING CAPONE CASE: U.S. v. Alphonse Capone, et al., indictment, June 1931, Case No. 23256, in “Fusco, Joseph C. (Joe)” folder, Box 86, KC. CHE, June 13, 1931. CT, June 13, 1931. IRS-1, p. 7. Dillard, “How the U.S. Gov’t,” p. 56.

  NESS’S TEAM BECOMES “UNTOUCHABLES”: Pratt, India and Its Faiths, pp. 125–126, 171–172. NYT, November 30, 1930; June 18, 1931. LAT, June 30, 1931. CPD, October 26, 1941. George E. Q. Johnson Jr., interviewed in “The Road to Repeal.” “Prohibition: George E. Q. Johnson—About Eliot Ness and ‘The Untouchables,’ ” Onlinefootage.tv, 1:12, 1999, http://www.onlinefootage.tv/stock-video-footage/7733/prohibition-george-e-q-johnson-about-eliot-ness-and-the-untouchables (accessed May 11, 2016). “Untouchable,” Encyclopædia Britannica Online, February 24, 2010, https://www.britannica.com/topic/untouchable (accessed January 10, 2017).

  Several different explanations exist for where the “Untouchables” name came from. The most famous is in the Ness-Fraley book, which describes a reporter coming up with the name after Ness gives a press conference announcing his men cannot be bribed (Ness and Fraley, The Untouchables, pp. 146–147). No record of any such press conference exists.

  The two most credible versions of the tale are a NYT article about Ness and a CPD story on Ness’s return to Washington, D.C., in 1941, where he visited with Charles Schwarz and Frank Wilson (both cited above). The NYT claims Ness came up with the name, while the CPD credits it to Schwarz. Both sources agree, however, the name referred to the untouchables of India and not, at least initially, to the squad’s purported incorruptibility.

  Although the CDN does not appear to have used the “Untouchables” name any earlier than other Chicago papers (which first began using it in June 1931), we have concluded that the CPD’s attribution of the name to Schwarz is likely correct. The CPD article is more detailed than the NYT piece, and at least some of the information in it came from Ness.

  Ness may have wrongly taken credit for the idea in his interview with the NYT, the reporter may have misheard him, or the NYT may have oversimplified what he said; the article doesn’t directly quote him on this point. But this kind of clever joke doesn’t seem like something Ness would have come up with on his own. Whatever his other virtues, he wasn’t much of a wordsmith. And Ness did not take credit for the name in his book, instead attributing it to an unnamed journalist.

  Perry (in Eliot Ness, p. 88) twists the NYT article, which describes Ness finding humor in the “Untouchables” name, to claim the opposite of what’s actually in the piece: “In one of his first interviews after the indictments, [Ness] showed off his fancy college education by saying he didn’t approve of the nickname the press had given the team, because ‘Untouchable’ was the name for members of India’s lowest caste.”

  Many secondary sources claim or imply the “Untouchables” name originated with newspaper articles (see Schoenberg, Mr. Capone, p. 252; Perry, Eliot Ness, pp. 87–88). This probably follows the fanciful version of the team’s naming given in Ness and Fraley, The Untouchables, p. 147. But the contemporary press coverage and recollections of George E. Q. Johnson’s son cited above make clear that Johnson used the name before it wound up in the papers. The fact that the press first printed it lowercase and in quotes, in articles drawing mainly on information given them by Johnson, further suggests he was its source.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  CAPONE AND CROOKED COPS: Sullivan, Rattling the Cup, p. 99 (“A crook is”). Murray, Legacy of Al Capone, pp. 126–127 (“I got nothing”).

  CAPONE AND THE MEDIA: CT, December 6, 1927 (“Even over there”). CDT, May 1, 1931 (“So now I’m”). Variety, June 30, 1931 (“It’s foolish to,” “the flock of”). Parsons, Gay Illiterate, pp. 107–111 (108, “It has always”).

  HOWARD VINCENT O’BRIEN / HEITLER MURDER: Alphonse Capone to Howard Vincent O’Brien, March 4, 1931, in Box 1, Folder 20a (“This will authorize”); William Chenery to Howard Vincent O’Brien, May 4, 1931, in Box 1, Folder 27; Howard Vincent O’Brien, “The Best Known American,” undated MSS., in Box 3, Folder 168 (all quotes unless otherwise noted), all HVO. CT, September 17, 1931 (“Well, you see”); October 1, 1947. O’Brien, All Things Considered, pp. 59–66 (60, “square guy”; 62, “the most significant,” “No, I couldn’t”; 64, “You know, sometimes”). John H. Lyle, “ ‘Mike De Pike’ Heitler—He Betrayed Capone and Died,” CT Magazine, March 14, 1954. Kobler, Capone, pp. 311–312. Schoenberg, Mr. Capone, pp. 308–309. “Jacob Guzik Testifies Before the Kefauver Committee Hearing HD Stock Footage,” CriticalPast, 4:41, June 9, 2014, https://youtu.be/rNNtISoBR-4 (accessed July 10, 2017).

  O’Brien was hardly the only observer who saw Capone as a figurehead. One young man who knew Capone in Lansing, Michigan, would later insist the gangster took orders from Frank LaPorte, a major figure in the Chicago Heights mob. According to this individual, LaPorte acted as a kind of clearinghouse between Chicago and various out-of-town rackets, and used his position to exert great influence over Capone. Outfit associate George Meyer recalled being shocked to see Nitto almost ordering Capone around. And Judge John Lyle later expressed the belief “that in some respects [Capone] was a straw man. I am convinced that certain men, never identified, composed a brains trust that guided Capone.” (Lyle, Dry and Lawless Years, pp. 40–41 [41, “that in some”]. Schoenberg, Mr. Capone, pp. 245–246. Bergreen, Capone, pp. 181, 406, 499, 517, 591, 615. Eghigian, After Capone, p. 146.)

  CAPONE AND THE OUTFIT POWER STRUCTURE: Sullivan, Rattling the Cup, pp. 105–106 (“We don’t want”; 106, “He looks fifteen”). CHE, May 20, 1929. Helmer, Al Capone and His American Boys, pp. 286–288 (287, “Winkeler went before,” “that the boys”), 298–299. Haller, Illegal Enterprise, pp. 63–65, 71, 76–77 (77, “Because he lived”), 230–234 (230, “a complex set,” “senior partners”; 230–231, “They shared more”; 233, “were not controlled”). Bair, Al Capone, pp. 182–183.

  NITTO PAROLE APPLICATION: Visitors’ Register, January 22, 1931 (“Business”); Frank Nitto, Application for Parole and Biographical Sketch, June 18, 1931; Fred Genaearo [?] to the United States Board of Parole, June 29, 1931; James P. Marzano to the United States Board of Parole, n.d. (“During the past”); Joseph Dire to the United States Board of Parole, June 29, 1931 (“never met a”); W. J. Ryan, Confidential Work Report to Board of Parole, June 30, 1931 (“Trustworthy,” “Friendly,” “Pleasant”); Anna Nitto to “Gentlemen,�
� n.d. (“the first time,” “were the closest,” “We both agreed”); E. L. Elsberry, Transcript of Frank Nitto’s Hearing Before Irvin B. Tucker of the Board of Parole, July 3, 1931 (parole hearing quotes); George E. Q. Johnson, Parole Report by United States Attorney, September 14, 1931 (“he would leave”), all in Box 71, “Nitto, Frank (1 of 1)” folder, NOF. See also Eghigian, After Capone, pp. 184–187, 193–199.

  FRED GIRTON: Girton, “Al Capone Tells,” pp. 20–23, 68–71 (all quotes unless otherwise noted). J. J. Perkins to Director, Bureau of Investigation, March 25, 1929, in FBI-AC. IRS-2, pp. 43–44 (43, “regarding the lavish”).

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  CAPONE TAX INDICTMENTS: CHE, June 6–7, 1931 (June 6, “Al was nattily,” “Frowning, surly, and,” “There’s nothing,” “government men,” “airtight case,” “overwhelming,” “hits at the”; June 7, “We don’t expect”). NYT, June 6, 1931 (“a dime novel”). CT, June 6, 1931. Rockford Morning Star, June 7, 1931. William D. Mitchell to George E. Q. Johnson, June 25, 1931, in Box 1, “Records Relating to Indictment and Sentencing (2 of 12)” folder, RRPAC. George E. Q. Johnson to G. A. Youngquist, Memo “in Re: Alphonse Capone,” December 31, 1931, in Box 1, “Correspondence (3 of 12)” folder, RRPAC. “Summary of Indictments in the Case of United States vs. Alphonse Capone, for Violation of the Income Tax Laws,” n.d., in Box 1, “Records Relating to Indictment and Sentencing (2 of 12)” folder, RRPAC. IRS-1, pp. 6–8. IRS-2, pp. 2–3, 6–17, 24–26, 30–31, 33–37, 42, 45–46 (45, “a knitted very”), 57. Ross, Trial of Al Capone, p. 59. Christian Science Monitor, November 7, 1934. Spiering, Man Who Got Capone, pp. 125–127. Schoenberg, Mr. Capone, pp. 317–319 (319, “bona fide offers”). Trespacz, Trial of Gangster Al Capone, pp. 57–58, 66, 73–77. See also Eig, Get Capone, p. 330.

  JOHNSON NEGOTIATES PLEA BARGAIN: Rockford Morning Star, June 7, 1931 (“a satisfactory sentence”). CHE, June 18, 1931. “Uncle Sam Taking Capone for A Ride,” The Literary Digest, June 27, 1931, p. 10 (“It is not conducive”). Untitled statement (“This is statement I had Prepared if plea of Guilty had not been withdrawn”), n.d. [c. July 1931], in Box 1, “Pre-Trial Notes and Argument (8 of 12)” folder, RRPAC. George E. Q. Johnson to G. A. Youngquist, Memo “in Re: Alphonse Capone,” December 31, 1931, in Box 1, “Correspondence (3 of 12)” folder, RRPAC. Busch, Enemies of the State, p. 229. Kobler, Capone, pp. 336–337. Powers, G-Men, p. 8. Calder, Origins and Development, p. 152 (“than the restoration”). Schoenberg, Mr. Capone, pp. 310–311. Trespacz, Trial of Gangster Al Capone, p. 71.