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978-0-89587-246-3
0-89587-246-3
$14.95 paperback
6" x 9"
232 pages
black-and-white photographs
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In the 1920s, Eliot Ness
gained fame as the leader of the Untouchables, a small band of
law-enforcement agents who disrupted the activities of Al Capone and his
organization. By 1934, Ness had moved to Cleveland to become director of
public safety. But it was there that he met his nemesis in the form of a
serial killer.
When Ness arrived in
Cleveland, he quickly made his presence felt with a major overhaul of
the police force and zealous raids to stop illegal gambling. Despite
these early successes and some 2,400 officers at his disposal, Ness
failed in his efforts to find the lone psychopathic killer whose
trademark decapitations terrorized the entire city. Many of the 12 known
victims were residents of hobo jungles and were so anonymous that only
three of them were even positively identified.
In 1942, the killings stopped
as mysteriously as they had begun in 1935. But the damage to Ness’s
reputation as a guardian of law and order was already done, and the
stage was set for the downhill slide in his life. Set against the
vividly drawn background of Cleveland during the Depression, the missing
chapter in Ness’s career and the story of the grisly serial killer
make compelling reading.
about the author
Steven Nickel is a freelance writer living in Janesville, Wisconsin.
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