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b prem ep eT - d : . ® Sof T+ Mr. Nease oa abas . mom :; Aue a - : “sunset: ‘4 sor @) MH - Office Me: . _. _ gaum - | ‘UNITED sth __DVERNMENT | that Desilu contemplates dramatizing the DATE:J anuary 2, 1959 tee woe oa aa FOR INFORMATION | - By telegrari dated 142-3186 eof Arman ses Mr. Tolson ~ yuchableg;' by the © . . late Eliot Ness, and he would like to either locate or obtain clearances ona S a -., sumber of individuals whom he lists. He also asks permission to use, in ~ - dramatic reference, the name of the FBI in the story but not in the title. - -.. The book by Ness entitled " The Untouchables" was published by essner, Inc., New York Ci d copyrighted by Ness in 1957. (Ness . 1957. He had served as ‘Safety Director in Cleveland[after leaving the Prohibition Unifjfrom 1935 to 1942 and later served with the War and Navy ?. | Departments in World War II). "The Untouchables" relates how Ness gathered under him a group of top Prohibition Agents late in 1929 and spent approximately — ‘21/2 years with these men tracking down notorious prohibition violators inthe ~~ Chicago area. This group apparently included men on whom Mr. Arnaz wants clearances. The. book apparently gives Ness a great deal of credit for the activities of the Government in bringing prohibition violators to justice, even to giving the impression that he was instrumental in sending Al Capone to prison. The epilogue to the book even says that ' The following year, 1938, the FBI moved. him (Ness) to Cincinnati mh instrugtions | to clean n up” ‘moonabinera:in Kentucky, - Tennessee and Ohio. beh . . Ness 3 ‘was “émployed asa ‘Prohibition a Aoi under the inter ‘Revenue Service‘trom 8-26-28 to 6-5-29, at which time be was tranéferred to the Bureau of Prohibition in the Department ‘of Justice. He was employéed in the ©: : ; Department as a Special Agent from 7-1-30 until 8-10-33. At that time, he was - reappointed as a Senior Prohibition Investigator in the Internal Revenue Service - located in Cincinnati. From inquiries which we have received in the past, Ness. has apparently given the impression that he was an employee of the°F BI/B Bome time. The Bureau of Prohibition, of course, was in the Department of Justice for ~ “approximately three years subsequent to June of 1930. During a part of that ‘the Prohibition Unit was under the immediate jurisdiction of the Bureau, and is obviously how Ness created the impression that he worked for the FBI.’ Th Prohibition Unit was never, of course, merged with the FBI... Ness was never -.. actually 8 an a eee of the FBI. In fact, he ©. applied for the of Special