You covered Cleveland's Anthony Sowell Serial Murder Case extensively for CNN. What are your thoughts on Cleveland's infamous Torso Murders of the 1930s and 1940s?
I
think the Torso Murders make a thriller great movie, because it would
dismantle one of America’s most untouchable myths: Eliot Ness.
Producers
have spent decades depicting Ness as the flawless hero of The
Untouchables, but as Cleveland's top lawman of the 1930s, Ness was a mix of ego, systemic
failure, and a complete lack of justice for the city’s most vulnerable
people.
Most
of the victims were from the "Hoovervilles" of the city's Kingsbury
Run neighborhood, which was populated by unidentified transients and the working
poor. Investigators treated them as disposable, which is why only two or
three of the 12+ dismembered and dissected victims were ever identified.
The only person ever "caught" was Frank
Dolezal, a bricklayer who was beaten by sheriff's deputies until he
confessed to one of the murders. Dolezal later recanted, claiming he was
tortured, and died in his cell under extremely suspicious circumstances. He supposedly "hanged" himself, but an autopsy showed Dolezal had six broken ribs at the time of his death. The sheriff later died as a corruption investigation was underway.
Ness’s lead suspect was Dr. Francis E.
Sweeney, a skilled surgeon with high-level political connections (his cousin was
a Congressman who was a political rival of Ness). Because of this, Ness
allegedly interrogated him in secret at a hotel for days and then let
him walk. Even though lie detector tests conclusively pointed out Sweeney as the likely killer.
The victims were likely lured to a funeral home next to Kingsbury
Run where Sweeney had an office. There, they were likely drugged, and dismembered, with their body parts deposited around town to taunt investigators. The funeral home was completely overlooked by Ness and his detectives during the decade long killing spree.
Sweeney had widely documented mental issues, many from his wife who later divorced him. Sweeney eventually checked himself into a mental institution
and spent the rest of his life sending taunting postcards to Ness, practically confessing to the murders.
A
torso movie might show the ineptness of Ness, and the reveal the total hypocrisy of his legendary image. At the time, Ness was also employed as a union-buster by the steel industry
in Stark County Ohio where several strikers were killed by company goons. He was not a “man of the people”.
In
the 1930s, Ness (then Safety Director of Cleveland) was hired to
enforce bans on mass picketing, a tactic that heavily favored the steel
companies by preventing the union from effectively closing the mills during strikes for better pay and benefits.
Under Cleveland Mayor Harold Burton, Ness was responsible
for coordinating police response during the Republic Steel strikes.
While he avoided the outright massacres seen in Chicago, he was
instrumental in enforcing bans on "mass picketing."
By deploying police to ensure that non-striking
workers (strikebreakers) could enter the plants, Ness effectively used
his "scientific" police methods to neutralize the power of the strike,
aligning himself with corporate interests against the Steel Workers
Organizing Committee.
Also, Ness was an early master of what today is called the "perp walk", to tarnish suspects before they appeared in court, and media stage-craft, which some colleagues viewed as self-serving. Ness frequently tipped off reporters before raids to
ensure he was photographed in heroic poses. This was less about justice
and more about building a political brand.
Ness's operations in Cleveland were partially funded by
the "Secret Six," a group of wealthy, anonymous businessmen. This raised
significant questions about who Ness was truly accountable to—the
public or a private group of vigilante-minded elites.
It’s not surprising that Ness was trounced in his 1947 run for mayor of Cleveland.
In 1942, Ness was involved in a hit-and-run drunk driving crash while heading home from a party. Injured was 21 year old Robert Neff.
The
collision was a violent, head-on crash on an icy bridge. Neff suffered
significant injuries, including, a fractured kneecap and several deep
lacerations, plus shock and internal bruising due to the force of the
impact.
Despite the severity of the wreck—which totaled his car—Neff survived.
Presence of mind despite his injuries was the only reason Ness was ever
caught; as Ness sped away, Neff managed to pull himself together enough
to memorize and record the license plate of the fleeing car. Cops were startled when the plate numbers led to Ness's vehicle.
Ness’s
attempts to "hush up" and then downplay the incident were seen as the height
of hypocrisy for a man who had campaigned on cleaning up police
"protection" rackets.
For
Clevelanders, this proved Safety Director Ness wasn't the man he
claimed to be. It highlighted a reactionary double standard: the man who
burned down shantytowns for "public safety", and fought against lower
class steelworkers, was the same man who would leave a bleeding,
critically injured 21-year-old on an icy bridge to save his own
skin.
Many of the best movies are based on fact instead of fiction.
