Throughout the 1920s Chicago was a cesspool of corruption and violence, due in large part to the obscene amounts of money being made through the illegal manufacture, transportation and sale of alcohol. Much of the business was being done by The Outfit, led by the charming and publicity hungry Al Capone, who viciously knocked off his competitors at the slightest provocation.
To combat The Outfit, the federal government chose Eliot Ness, a reserved but ambitious twenty-seven-year-old Prohibition agent to lead his “Untouchables” against Al Capone’s criminal empire. Together they gathered important evidence to cripple Capone’s lucrative booze business.
My guest is A. Brad Schwartz, who along with co-author Max Allan Collins wrote the critically acclaimed “Scarface and the Untouchable: Al Capone, Eliot Ness, and the Battle for Chicago”. He talks about how Eliot Ness and Al Capone climbed the ranks of their respective professions, their Chicago careers ultimately culminating with the trial and imprisonment of Capone. He also breaks some long-standing myths about Eliot Ness and his true role in Capone’s demise as a gangland boss.
More information about the authors can be found here:
abradschwartz.com and maxallancollins.com
