Eliot Neess Biography

Eliot Ness is a man that has inspired many people over the years and will continue to stand as a true example of justice. His exploits, both on and off duty, have given him a very split crowd of supporters and objectors. To many, he will always be a man who revolutionized the police force and stamped out some of the most rampant crime in both Chicago and Cleveland. To others, he was a womanizer and a drunk who couldn’t hold down a marriage. While Eliot Ness was able to accomplish some very powerful deeds, deeds that are felt even today, he was also a man with many troubles in his life.

Eliot Ness was born in Chicago on April 19th, 1903 (Gale, 2002). His parents, Emma King and Peter Ness were of Norwegian descent, which could have accounted for his tall and good looking appearance that many women accredited him with (Cox, 2014). Ness gained a love of investigation after 1925 when he graduated from the University of Chicago. This love drew him to a job as a credit investigator for Retail Credit Company, which did not pay much but gave him an outlet for his detective skills. Later, he decided he wanted to pursue a higher career along those lines and he went to work for the U.S. Treasury Department. Before long Ness had become a special agent in the Prohibition Bureau in Chicago. Chicago at that time was plagued by a criminal named Al Capone, who ran most of the illegal activities and ran them in plain sight. Eliot Ness was chosen to lead a task force to take down Capone and his whole operation. Ness’ group would soon accomplish this mission and come to be known as “The Untouchables” (Gale, 2002).

Ness and his Untouchables achieved much in the way of fame but more in the way of justice. Their many successes and ultimat...

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... pressure off him. The book would go on to spawn a few television series and a movie, all but immortalizing Eliot Ness and his past to the world. Sadly, he never lived to see his legacy endure as he died on May 16th, 1957 of a heart attack (Jones, 2005).

Whether he is seen as a paragon of justice or a cautionary tale of self-destruction, Eliot Ness managed to do some lasting good in his time. Despite his haphazard social life and questionable choices, none can deny that he was crucial to a large scale reformation of the police forces not only in Cleveland, but all over America. His actions while on duty proved that the law could be enforced in a proper and honest way, inspiring many to join the police force even to this day. There is no question that his story will remain, well into the future, for everyone to see; the story of Eliot Ness, the Untouchable.