car at Ness and knock him down, but Ness dived to safety between two parked cars.
However, the Outfit did manage to murder Ness’s friend and former assistant Frank Basile. Ness responded by gathering 45 shiny new trucks together. He then barged into the Lexington Hotel, called Capone on the house phone and told him to look out of his window.
As he did so, Ness’s convoy slowly rumbled by.
Even a seasoned gangster like Capone must have blinked at the sight. Then Ness closed down Capone’s new brewery, which was producing 20,000 gallons of liquor a day. Capone’s response was swift. Ness found a bundle of dynamite under the bonnet of his car – it was wired to detonate when he pressed the starter.
When government accountant Frank Wilson brought 22 charges of tax evasion against Capone, Ness added 5,000 violations of the Volstead Act. However, the income tax case took precedence over the Prohibition charges, which were never brought to court.
When Capone was taken off to Atlanta, Ness boarded the train to check that the compartment was secure. Capone took off his coat and lit a cigar.
‘I’m on my way to do eleven years,’ he said. ‘I’ve got to do it, that’s all. I’m not sore at anybody. Some people are lucky. I wasn’t. There was too much overhead in my business anyhow, paying off all the time and replacing trucks and breweries. They ought to make it legitimate.’
‘If it was legitimate, you certainly wouldn’t want anything to do with it,’ said Ness.
After the repeal of Prohibition, Ness became head of the alcohol tax unit of the Treasury. He went on to become head of public safety in Cleveland, where he took on the local Mafia in the person of ‘Big’ Angelo Lonardo, ‘Little’ Angelo Scirrca, Moe Dalitz, John and George Angersola, and Charles Polizzi. However, his time there was marred by his failure to catch the Cleveland Torso Murderer, aka the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, who killed and dismembered at least 12 victims.
Ness finally married Edna Staley, but he later divorced her. He then became a social drinker, which might have contributed to a car accident in 1942. During the Second World War, he was director of the Division of Social Protection of the Federal Security Agency which aimed to cut down on the amount of venereal disease being spread among military personnel by prostitutes. After the war, he went into private business. His memoirs, The Untouchables, were published a month after his death in 1957.
Lt. O. T. Davis, Sgt. J. D. McQuade, George Fowler of the IRS and H. G. Bauer with the largest still ever found in the US capital, 1922.
The Castellammarese War
The Mafia–Camorra War between the Sicilian Morello crime family and the Neapolitan Camorra had effectively wiped out the influence of the Neapolitans in New York.
But the Morellos were not the only significant Mafia family in town. In 1902, Nicolo ‘Cola’ Schiro arrived in America from Castellammare del Golfo – a small port 25 miles west of Palermo with a strong criminal tradition. Between 1905 and 1910 the Castellammarese in Brooklyn formed themselves into a gang.
A second Mafia family in Brooklyn was formed by Alfredo ‘Al Mineo’ Manfredi, who was from Palermo.
In 1906, another Palermitano, Salvatore ‘Toto’ D’Aquila, turned up on the police blotter. First of all, he challenged the Morellos in East Harlem, attracting defectors from the other Mafia gangs. These included Giuseppe Fontana, who had been convicted for the Notarbartolo murder, and Giuseppe Fanaro, who was arrested on the night of the Barrel Murder in 1903 – though the charges against him were dropped because of lack of evidence. With Giuseppe Morello in jail, D’Aquila declared himself ‘boss of bosses’. As such, he was able to summon the New York mafiosi to meetings and he could control who joined the four families. However, in 1913 D’Aquila relaxed his grip by taking a holiday back in Sicily. The Morellos and the Mineos quickly
However, the Outfit did manage to murder Ness’s friend and former assistant Frank Basile. Ness responded by gathering 45 shiny new trucks together. He then barged into the Lexington Hotel, called Capone on the house phone and told him to look out of his window.
As he did so, Ness’s convoy slowly rumbled by.
Even a seasoned gangster like Capone must have blinked at the sight. Then Ness closed down Capone’s new brewery, which was producing 20,000 gallons of liquor a day. Capone’s response was swift. Ness found a bundle of dynamite under the bonnet of his car – it was wired to detonate when he pressed the starter.
When government accountant Frank Wilson brought 22 charges of tax evasion against Capone, Ness added 5,000 violations of the Volstead Act. However, the income tax case took precedence over the Prohibition charges, which were never brought to court.
When Capone was taken off to Atlanta, Ness boarded the train to check that the compartment was secure. Capone took off his coat and lit a cigar.
‘I’m on my way to do eleven years,’ he said. ‘I’ve got to do it, that’s all. I’m not sore at anybody. Some people are lucky. I wasn’t. There was too much overhead in my business anyhow, paying off all the time and replacing trucks and breweries. They ought to make it legitimate.’
‘If it was legitimate, you certainly wouldn’t want anything to do with it,’ said Ness.
After the repeal of Prohibition, Ness became head of the alcohol tax unit of the Treasury. He went on to become head of public safety in Cleveland, where he took on the local Mafia in the person of ‘Big’ Angelo Lonardo, ‘Little’ Angelo Scirrca, Moe Dalitz, John and George Angersola, and Charles Polizzi. However, his time there was marred by his failure to catch the Cleveland Torso Murderer, aka the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, who killed and dismembered at least 12 victims.
Ness finally married Edna Staley, but he later divorced her. He then became a social drinker, which might have contributed to a car accident in 1942. During the Second World War, he was director of the Division of Social Protection of the Federal Security Agency which aimed to cut down on the amount of venereal disease being spread among military personnel by prostitutes. After the war, he went into private business. His memoirs, The Untouchables, were published a month after his death in 1957.
Lt. O. T. Davis, Sgt. J. D. McQuade, George Fowler of the IRS and H. G. Bauer with the largest still ever found in the US capital, 1922.
The Castellammarese War
The Mafia–Camorra War between the Sicilian Morello crime family and the Neapolitan Camorra had effectively wiped out the influence of the Neapolitans in New York.
But the Morellos were not the only significant Mafia family in town. In 1902, Nicolo ‘Cola’ Schiro arrived in America from Castellammare del Golfo – a small port 25 miles west of Palermo with a strong criminal tradition. Between 1905 and 1910 the Castellammarese in Brooklyn formed themselves into a gang.
A second Mafia family in Brooklyn was formed by Alfredo ‘Al Mineo’ Manfredi, who was from Palermo.
In 1906, another Palermitano, Salvatore ‘Toto’ D’Aquila, turned up on the police blotter. First of all, he challenged the Morellos in East Harlem, attracting defectors from the other Mafia gangs. These included Giuseppe Fontana, who had been convicted for the Notarbartolo murder, and Giuseppe Fanaro, who was arrested on the night of the Barrel Murder in 1903 – though the charges against him were dropped because of lack of evidence. With Giuseppe Morello in jail, D’Aquila declared himself ‘boss of bosses’. As such, he was able to summon the New York mafiosi to meetings and he could control who joined the four families. However, in 1913 D’Aquila relaxed his grip by taking a holiday back in Sicily. The Morellos and the Mineos quickly
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