The Untouchables Essay, Research Paper

The Untouchables

The author of this book was Eliot Ness. He was a prohibition agent

given the special assignment of cracking down on the Chicago mob and

illegal liquor sales. He was six feet tall, 180 pounds. Graduated in the top

third of his class in both highschool and at the University of Chicago. Both

his parents were from Norway, and he was raised in the traditional way. His

reasoning behind writing this book was to tell the inside story of what really

happened with the Capone mob. He worked on this book for many years so

that people could know his story and what he went through in life.

This book is an account of the special prohibition agent group that

came to be known as The Untouchables . It tells in detail what Eliot Ness,

the leader of The Untouchables went through and how they went about

busting up the liquor sales in the Chicago area. It gives good information of

who was responsible for what, and how all their investigations took place.

Eliot Ness is the author and main character in this book. It was written in first person, so we get all the information he was thinking. Through his actions as a prohibition agent he affected history by enforcing the 19th amendment like no one else ever did. He set a new standard for young law

enforcing agents to live up to. He helped in remolding our police forces from

the corruptment it had been in. Eliot Ness helped to establish police training

programs, and was a said hero in Chicago for his fight against the mob there.

Al Copone made a big impact on history. He set up what came to be

the most notorious Mafia ever in our history. He helped in making Italian

traditions popular and profitable in the States. He played a large role in

breaking the 19th amendment and supplying Chicago with all kinds of

alcohol. He corrupted out law enforcement officers and court systems. He

became one of the most famous bad guys in our history.

Lyle Chapman was a member in Eliot Ness s squad, and was largely

responsible for gathering information to bring up a liquor conspiracy charge

on Capone. He s the one who listened in on the tapped phones and gathered

valuable data on what was going on in the underworld. He helped gain

information on where breweries were, and where alcohol sales were taking

place. His affect on our history was gathering the information responsible for

shutting down the biggest Mafia we ve ever had. Without Lyle s in depth

reports on alcohol sales and production, Capone would have never been put

away.

I chose this book because it was the best account of the 1920 s booze

wars. It gave the best inside information available on what was actually going

on. Also, it told an interesting and exciting story which made it fun to read. I learned alot about how the Mafia conducted it s operation, and what their operation involved. It was interesting to learn how and where they would set up their breweries and how they would transport the alcohol.

I enjoyed this book immensely. It was written in good story format

and for it accurately accounting history, it wasn t boring to read. It gave

historical information in a form other than a textbook or encyclopedia. It had

a good plot, which kept me reading to see what was going to happen.