Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher audiobook

3.5 stars. From the title I expected this to focus mainly on the Torso murders, and instead I received quite in bit more biography wise about Ness and the police force as a whole. This was interesting to me as a native Clevelander, but unexpected from what I believed was more about one particular case.

After the saga with Al Capone was over, Eliot Ness went to Cleveland, where he became the youngest Safety Officer in the country. At the time, Cleveland, in the grips of the depression, was if anything, even more lawless than Chicago. He instituted many forward looking reforms, and culled many of the corrupt police off the force. He cracked down on gambling, and the union racket. He even made traffic control a priority, saving many lives.Unfortunately, a serial killer was active in the city. Even today, most serial killers are caught more through luck than anything else. Ness was able to figure out who it was, but could not find enough evidence to bring to court.A thorough biography. Probably the best biography of this part of Ness's life.

2020 could really use Eliot Ness.

Some great insight into the mystique of Elliot Ness, showing the man himself with his many warts. It makes him no less heroic, only more human. Thoroughly researched, the book is filled with some great information.

The year was 1934 and Cleveland, Ohio --- at that time the third-largest city in the United States --- welcomed in the most famous G-Man of the time, Eliot Ness. He was fresh off his huge successes in Chicago, Illinois, where he and his self-proclaimed team 'The Untouchables' had cleaned up that city by putting away the infamous gangster Al Capone and several of his criminal cronies. Now, the expectation was that he would do the same on a lesser scale in Cleveland.What was completely unexpected was the fact that Ness's move to Cleveland would be synonymous with a murder wave, unlike anything the city had ever seen before. We were still years prior to the official term 'serial killer' being used as a label, but that's what this was. A series of grotesque, grisly murders involving dismemberment and beheadings rocked Cleveland. The serial murders were supposedly all the work of a criminal tabbed as 'The Mad Butcher'. Eliot Ness, who thought he had come to Cleveland to battle police corruption and the mob was now about to face-off with the man later labeled as America's deadliest unidentified serial killer.I admit I had not been familiar with this case until 1994 when I picked up a book called TORSOS by author John Peyton Cooke which was written as a fictionalized recounting of the Torso Killer which was the very same Mad Butcher Eliot Ness hunted. That novel was fascinating and the most amazing fact for me was how underplayed these events were in popular culture --- especially in deference to the dozens of other Serial Killers that have been immortalized in this country. Now, authors Max Allan Collins and A. Brad Schwartz have put together a meticulously researched True Crime tale dealing with this topic entitled ELIOT NESS and the MAD BUTCHER. They also provide a plethora of research information that they cited to put this work together. Those who want to dig further have much to choose from and I also suggest adding TORSOS to your 'for further reading' list.The irony of Eliot Ness's arrival in Cleveland corresponding with the body parts of a woman littering Lake Erie would symbolize one of the only black marks on his otherwise legendary career. The fact that he was never able to actually arrest and try someone for the Mad Butcher crimes was a testament to both the facts that Ness was pulled into too many directions to truly focus on these crimes coupled with the fact that the killer was nearly impossible to pin down. Ness was not the only person on this case. While he was furthering his political career beginning with his role as Safety Director, the duo of Peter Merylo and Martin Zalewski were actually heading up the Torso Killer/Mad Butcher task force.The fact that only two people were ever properly identified amongst all of the body parts collected shows how difficult a task they would have ever tying anyone to these crimes. The belief was that the killer must have come from the Eastern European population that represented a good part of Cleveland's lower and lower-middle-class neighborhoods. The first person ever clearly suspected of the crimes was a gentleman named Francis Edward Sweeney, also known as Doctor X. Although nothing was ever proven, Ness was positive Sweeney was his man. In fact, he antagonized Sweeney so much that Ness began receiving odd and threatening postcards shortly after questioning him. These postcards would continue arriving sparsely until just prior to Sweeney's death in 1964.Frank Donezal, a fifty-two-year-old Bohemian immigrant working as a bricklayer suddenly became the most prominent suspect brought it. He was actually taken in following confessing to killing Flo Polillo, one of the two identified victims, an act he claimed was self-defense. Ness was not confident in Donezal being their Butcher, but it looked good in the papers and made the police finally get the chance to show a win. The statement was made that Donezal would never make it out of jail alive. Regrettably, that statement became true when he was found hanging from a rag-fashioned noose. The coroner's report showed that it was more likely Donezal was strangled than that he died at his own hand. In any event, the possibility of ever fully proving he was the Mad Butcher was now out the window.With the coming of WWII, Ness fell off the radar for a bit in Cleveland and found himself in a new role after the U.S. joined the fray following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Returning to Cleveland after the war, Ness would continue his aim for higher political office and even ran for Mayor. His bid fell far short and Ness, along with his third wife, left Cleveland for his next challenge. ELIOT NESS AND THE MAD BUTCHER is not merely a True Crime work but one that follows the full arc of a stern lawman after his most famous case being swept up by the downturn of his career arc, a slide which just happened to correspond with the most infamous American serial killer who was never caught.Reviewed by Ray Palen for Book Reporter

I quite enjoyed this biography, having grown up with the tv series, The Untouchables, which was roughly based on the Ness exploits. It was quite entertaining reading, and I found much to admire in Ness, that I did not already know. Not a great book, but an informing read.

This book on Elliot Ness is on what happened to him after the Untouchable years. It gives you a really good idea on what a truly good man that he is while being the Safety Director at Cleveland Ohio. Through the authors description you get an idea on the racketeering and graft that was all through the city at that time . The book gives an idea on what Mr Ness had to do to get the city recognized as the safe city designation. If you like history you will love this book. I thank the publisher and author for gifting this book to me.

Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher: Hunting America’s Deadliest Unidentified Serial Killer at the Dawn of Modern Criminology is a wonderful non-fiction book that I could not put down. For those readers who know Eliot Ness as a character from a television show or film called The Untouchables, or for those who have read Oscar Fraley’s reimagining around facts of the man’s life, or even one of the fiction novels by one of the co-authors of this book, “Mad Butcher” is a book that will not disappoint. The second volume by the authors on Eliot Ness, the first dealing with Al Capone, Chicago and Prohibition, this offering highlights Ness’ time as the Safety Commissioner in Connecticut where he not only brought progress to police work and public safety, but also faced down a serial killer known as The Mad Butcher. That killer dissected human bodies and dumped or buried most of the parts in a particular public area. Though unsolved on the books, the author’s collective research reveals the identity of the killer, and we see how Most importantly the book delves into the real person of Eliot Ness. Married three times, and a later in life alcoholic drinker, we see a composite of a real man, instead of a legend, and alone, for that revelation is this book worth reading. The good news for a reader is one does not have to read the previous companion volume to this, Ness’ life story first. Having not gotten to that one yet, I decided to read this latest, and even had I known nothing about Eliot Ness, I was never lacking the biographical information needed to understand the subject.Just as wonderful is the short chapter near the conclusion where the authors reveal in great detail how Ness when from human figure into legend. Unappreciated in life, the legend eventually helped boost him to more than adulation, but to appreciation by those whose communities he served. With a little over 400 pages, this book never let up as a captivating page turner. Schwartz and Collins know their subject and know how to tell a story, a true story, which made this an easy book for me to pick up and figuratively devour. I am happy to saw that I received an advanced copy of this work, with the expectation for me to place forth an honest review, which I have now done.My advice is to pick up this book, and know the real Eliot Ness, by author’s who have done their research on their subject.

I listened to this book on mp3 in my car.I also had listened to this duo's previous book on Eliot Ness and Capone. The new tome deals with Ness's time after Chicago. He went on to become Cleveland's Safety Director from the mid-30's and early 40's. The book then goes on to discuss his time with the Social Protection Division, a unit designed to reduce venereal disease among military men and women. Later Ness went into private business and had his share of ups and downs, mostly downs. He had helped co-write his autobiography when he passed away from a heart attack, caused by rheumatic disease he had as a child. The authors then relate the aftermath of the creation and the criticism of the Eliot Ness myth through the show "The Untouchables," starring Robert Stack and produced by DesiLu Studios. Then there is a side issue, not much covered in the book, about the "Mad Butcher" of Cleveland. A series of dismembered bodies, done in such a way as to suggest that someone who had medical expertise committed the crimes, were found around Cleveland from time to time. Likely suspects are discussed, including one who sent creepy postcards to Ness. But the "Mad Butcher" was officially never caught. Although the coverage of this episode is light, it does make for a catchier title than "Eliot Ness: the later years." There is a lot of factual information shared. I truly appreciate the research done by these two authors. I recommend this book for fans of true crime, Eliot Ness and residents of Cleveland.

My first introduction to Eliot Ness was television´s Untouchables both in its first run--yeah, my parents let me watch it--and syndicated reruns years later. I seem to recall, after the guardians of public morals pitched one of their regular bitches about gratuitous violence in movies and sex on tv, after smoking a particularly fine variety of marijuana, late at night, being astounded by the incidents of violence.But that was the DesiLu-Robert Stack Eliot Ness, not the real man. This book follows Ness´s career after the Chicago Untouchable days to his tenure as Cleveland (OH) Safety Director to his death of a heart attack in 1957. As Ness´s stint as Cleveland Safety Director takes up the major balance of this book, it should be noted that the reforms he instituted for the Cleveland police department are not unlike those advocated by the ¨defund the police¨ movement. Of course it did not take too long after Ness stepped down from that position than the Cleveland PD bagan sliding back into pre-Ness habits. Of course American public servants with a Ness-like sense of duty to improve their community through scientific methodology and humanity too often are hamstrung by corrupt, politicians of inherited wealth and privilege operating under a thin verner of religious piety.

I too thought it would focus more on the Kingsbury Run murders but it turned out to be more than that. As Chicagoan Eliot Ness is known but also downplayed and much of it obscured by pop history. I knew of Ness' second career as Public Safety Director and some of his accomplishments which, before reading this book seemed somewhat like a footnote only for this book to give a deeper context and appreciation; I never would have thought traffic control would be so interesting. I also knew of Ness' ending chapter and how he never lived to see his notoriety but hearing the circumstances leading up to and then following his fame adds more depth and honestly, tragedy to it then I also never knew.I appreciated the afterword comparing the historical quiet, gun averse Ness to the one in popular memory of a Dick Tracy-esque gun toter. As the authors point out, if the latter didn't exist I don't think interest in the former would be as great.