Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-18
'UNTOUCE1ABLES' HAZARD DEATH
IN CAMPAIGN AGAINST CAPONE
Group of Seven Young Agents Conduct
Fearless Drive Among Beer Barons
III Own Confederates.

alcohol had been produced within
year.
Somewhere behind these disclosures,
reasoned District Attorney johnson. was
the influence and maneuvering of Al
Capone. The threads we're extremely
thin, but there were sensitive men on
the trail. ready to entwine those threads
into strands that some DAY would be
strong enough to support an indictment.
And 1t was the links with the larger
breweries OF the city that proved Ca
PONIES undoing.
What of the offers Of brides and the
threats Of death that came the way
Of Eliot Ness and his youthful assist
ants? Ness is reluctant to talk about
them. He calls them side incidents In
the larger task Of doing job and do
ing 1t well.
Narrow Escape Told.
There was the time, his fellow agents
say, when Ness and Agent A. M. Majors
were calling on witnesses In the Chi
cago Heights conspiracy case. One
hoodlum lieutenant of Capone man
aged to be at the home of the witnesses
and with him was the usual gorilla. -
After some conversation the gorilla"
glowered at Ness and then looked in
Shall let him have it?" the gang
'executioner" almost pleaded.
But Majors had been busy, too. He
was cycling the gorilla closely. In his
pocket his right hand gripped a re-
volver. The hoodlum apparently was
aware Of it.
mo, joe" he said, ct guess you'd
better not"
A few days later, on q similar visit,
Mike Picchi, one Of the Chicago Heights
gunner, got in Ness way. He had
followed the agents car to q lonely spot
in the suburb. Covered in time, Picchi's
car was searched and in 1t was found
a revolver loaded with dunn dunn bull
lets. The gunman was arrested and
taken back to Chicago.
During the Chicago Heights investi-
cation it was necessary for the special
agents to pose as crooked prohibition
men. Often when they went into con-
ference with the hoodlum chieftains,
they had no assurance that they would
come out alive.
For number of weeks, the "un-
touchableS" were on the pay roll Of the
Chicago Heights syndicate at $1,000 q
month. Later, in Calumet City, q
nearby suburb, they were paid 500 in
cash for each still they reported to the
'alky cookers" That bride money
AoVCA PAOVC0 w VIC CulbdA oooAA6 w ANo
givers.
Two CapOne Raids.
Now the "untouchables" were getting
into the home stretch" of their job
and they moved back closer to the city.
There followed two successive raids on
Capone' breweries, one in Cicero and
the other on the near South Side. The
Federal men crashed in the doors with
heavy motor trucks. Instantaneously
they spread before the brewers could
make for secret getaways.
For refreshing change, q raid that
had not been tipped OF in advance
Melted some prisoners. It also Melted
some valuable memoranda that was
added to the vast material being
marshaled against Capone and his gang
Sters.
And the time had come to turn the
material over to the legal experts, the
men who draw up holeproof indict-
mentS. It was done. Ness and his men
had completed the task assigned to
them.
The "untouchables" are waiting for
further orders.
Copyright, 1881, by North American News
paper Alliance, Inc.)