Elliott Ness Led Untouchables in Chicago

Elliott Ness was a Chicago crime fighter, famed in The Untouchables as an FBI special agent during the Prohibition era. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation website, Ness never actually served as a FBI agent. Ness did work for Director J. Edgar Hoover for nearly six weeks.

In 1920 Prohibition was the law of the land. Enforcement of the ban on manufacture and sales of alcohol was given over to the Treasury Department at the bureau of Internal Revenue, the Coast Guard and other agencies.

As Prohibitionists were avidly trying to prevent the manufacture of alcohol and the sale of alcohol to the public, the public demand for alcoholic beverages did not cease. Prohibition was very unpopular with Americans, who were more than willing to break the law for a drink of alcohol. Prohibition spawned an entire criminal industry as bootleggers rose up to meet the nation's desire for alcoholic beverages.

Mobsters, like Al Capone, became rich and powerful on bootlegging. Mobsters brought off many public officials along the way, making corruption nearly synonymous with prohibition agents. Bootleggers sold alcohol in speakeasies, which were underground establishments that rose up to replace saloons that had been closed by Prohibition.

In 1926 Elliott Ness was appointed a Orohibition agent in the Treasury Department. Ness hand picked a band of agents known for their integrity. The small band of agents became known as 'Untouchables.'

Ness is popularity credited with the downfall of Al Capone, the infamous crime czar whose name is synonymous with Chicago gangster.

Ness and Capone collided in 1929 when Ness headed a special investigative united that was charged with destroying Capone's breweries and gathering evidence of violations. It was this unit that was the basis for the television series, 'Elliott Ness and the Untouchables"

It was the integrity of the investigations that was said to inspire the name untouchables. Capone's lieutenants tried to bribe the investigators but Ness and two of his agents refused the money that was offered as bribes to turn their back on illicit activities.

Ness had an overwhelming case of Prohibition law violations against Capone, but it was tax evasion that sent Capone to prison in 1931.

According to the FBI website, Ness applied to become an FBI agent in 1933 but was turned down due to salary differences and his strong ties to the press

According to the book, Elliot Ness: The Real Story, written by Paul W. Heimel, Ness died in 1957 at the age of 54. Ness had descended into alcoholism and drifted into one failed enterprise after another. Elliott Ness died deeply in debt, depressed and disillusioned.

Ness never knew that a book manuscript that he and Oscar Fraley had produced would create a legend that would be made into two television series, TV movies and a movie starring Kevin Costner.

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