Eliot Ness is known as the man who got Al Capone, a reputation that followed him throughout his life and exists today in movies like The Untouchables, books like Torso and Chasing Eliot Ness, and the early Untouchables television series. from the 1960s. But was Ness really the man who put Capone behind bars?

What many people don’t know is that Al Capone’s main business was beer. He had breweries all over the city of Chicago during prohibition. Although alcohol was illegal under the Volstead Act during this time, bootleggers created what was known as bath gin, and the drink was imported illegally from Canada and other countries. The beer was brewed in breweries, many of them in the Chicago area, and was a great source of income for the man they called Scarface.

Eliot Ness was 27 years old when he began his task of trying to catch Capone. He had been in the Treasury Department as a prohibition agent for two years, by which time he had earned a reputation for being honest. While other agents used to take snippets to look the other way, Ness felt it was his duty to do the job he was hired to do. A job that paid less than three thousand dollars a year.

Going up against Chicago’s biggest gangster who, with money made through his illegal activities like beer, gambling and prostitution, was able to buy out most of the city, including Mayor Big Bill Thompson, was no easy feat for him. ness. Knowing that he could trust no one in Chicago to help him, he hired outsiders who formed the team that became known as The Untouchables in 1930. The nickname came from a reporter after Ness, who knew how to use the press to his advantage. He will speak openly. about being bribed by Capone.

Although Big Al, as he was often called, went to prison for tax evasion, for which he ultimately pleaded guilty after trying to bribe the jury, Eliot Ness was instrumental in getting the mobster behind bars. During his raids on breweries, he and his men seized records and sent them to the Treasury Department. The department’s accountants became aware of the income tax evasion.

Eliot Ness had hit Capone with five thousand Volstead Act violations. However, these were thrown out due to the guilty plea. The prohibition agent also made a substantial dent in bootlegging activities, particularly in regards to breweries, in Chicago.