The Untouchables (book)

For books of a similar title, see Untouchable (disambiguation) § Books.

The Untouchables
First edition cover
Author
LanguageEnglish
PublisherJulian Messner
Publication date
1957
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardback and paperback)
Pages336
OCLC1278969
364.9773
LC ClassHV6795.C4 N4

The Untouchables is an autobiographical memoir by Eliot Ness co-written with Oscar Fraley, published in 1957.[1] The book deals with the experiences of Ness, who was a federal agent in the Bureau of Prohibition, as he fought crime in Chicago in the late 1920s and early 1930s with the help of a special team of agents handpicked for their incorruptibility, nicknamed The Untouchables.[2]

The main part of the book is written in first-person anecdotal style, as if directly from Ness's reminiscences; a foreword and afterword by Fraley provide historical context. In fact, Fraley, who was a prominent sportswriter for United Press when he worked on the book, did most of the writing, although Ness wrote a lengthy synopsis that Fraley used as a starting point, made himself available for interviews, made his scrapbooks and other memorabilia available for research purposes, and approved the final version of the text shortly before his death.[2]: xii, 531–532 [3][4][5]

The book inspired The Untouchables, a popular television series which ran from 1959 to 1963 (including the theatrically released film The Scarface Mob), and the 1987 film The Untouchables.[2]: xi–xii, 531–532 [6][7]

  1. ^ Pearl, Matthew (December 27, 2017). "Behind The Untouchables: The Making of the Memoir That Reclaimed a Prohibition-Era Legend". Vanity Fair. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c Collins, Max Allan; Schwartz, A. Brad (2018). Scarface and the Untouchable: Al Capone, Eliot Ness, and the Battle for Chicago (1st ed.). New York: William Morrow. ISBN 978-0-06-244194-2.
  3. ^ "Oscar Fraley; Wrote 'The Untouchables'". LA Times. January 9, 1994.
  4. ^ "Eliot Ness: The Real Story". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  5. ^ "Oscar Fraley, 79, 'Untouchables' Author". The New York Times. January 9, 1994. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  6. ^ "'Untouchables' fueled by scotch; Ness felled by proofs". UPI.
  7. ^ "Heirs of famed Prohibition agent find lost stock certificate that could net $1m". The Guardian. Associated Press. July 3, 2015.