I liked the 1987 Brian De Palma movie, so when I saw this old paperback going for a few dollars at our local second-hand bookstore I couldn't resist. It is in fact terribly written, and other people say it's not very accurate either - apparently the ghostwriter has improved the story a good deal. But assuming that the basic figures reported are roughly correct, here's the thing that surprised me.We're told that Al Capone, at his most powerful, was pulling in about $1.5M a year from his various r...

I was more entertained than educated by "The Untouchables", which is hardly surprising when you consider that Ness was a publicity monger who recognized the value of a good story and enhanced the truth whenever it fell flat. There are phone threats, drive-by shootings, and murders galore, despite the fact that the son of one Untouchable, Barney Cloonan, told Ness biographer Paul Heimel that they were rarely shot at. Although Ness and the Untouchables did not take down the Capone mob as claimed i...

This book was so interesting

I may be the only person in the Western Hemisphere to not have seen the movie, 'The Untouchables'. Even I'm surprised that I haven't seen more than a minute or two here and there. This type of story is right up my alley… why? Well, because it's a true story, real history- it takes place (I'm sure you know) during the Depression and Prohibition in gangster riddled and control Chicago.It was a great story. These men were exceptionally hard working and dedicated. What they accomplished was truly an...

I gave this book 5 stars even though it had a lot of language. It was an incredible read; I would have thought it was a fiction action-thriller if I didn't know better. Absolutely amazing that this is all true.UPDATE: still just as good the second time around :)

Dated, as expected, and many liberties were apparently taken with the story. I was hoping for more of a historical account of Chicago and Capone.

Jacob Wirth This book is about Eliot Ness when he was just getting started into the Prohibition Bureau. It started out with him and his friend talking what to do about how to stop all the bootlegging and they came up with ideas. Eliot Ness came up with a great idea and his friend went to the chief and later on. “ I’m sorry, I can’t do that because the leader of this squad is going to have free hand-and not even I am going to tell you whom you should choose.”(Eliot Ness, 22) This quote show the f...

I had always wanted to know what it was really like during those times to see how the war was fought by those agents asigned to taking down Copone and his henchmen. What is also interesting to learn about those times was how much money those special agents were paid by the government compared to how much money Copone and his men were making, the difference is huge. Great cop and robber book of its time and I can see why each Eliot and his team of men went on to do bigger and better things in the...

Eliot Ness tells the story of how Justice finally caught up with Al Capone. Much better than the movie, Ness tells how he and his men really were untouchable by Capone or his gang. Though not acknowledged by Ness, it seemed clear that, for whatever reason, God's providential care was on this man.

Very interesting, first hand account of the bootlegging business in Chicago in the 20s and 30s. Easy read, read it in one day. Interesting to see how Capone, etc. were making so much cash they could offer bribes of $100,000 or more a year, a highly respectable salary even today.

I was just 6 years old when The Untouchables series began running on television, but I have vague memories of the noirish feel of the series and the expressionless, determined face of Robert Stack as Eliot Ness. Kevin Costner's Ness never really took the place of that neo-human hero of the late fifties and early sixties, in atmospheric black and white.My impression of Ness's own story, told in this book, is close to that mythological Ness. The book feels more like a novel than a modern autobiogr...

3.5 stars. This highly sanitized (and, at times, fictionalized) account of Ness’ formation of The Untouchables was ghostwritten by journalist Oscar Fraley, who informs us in the Epilogue that he published the book after Ness died while the manuscript was in proofs. It reads like a 1950s detective police procedural -- the perfect source material for the Robert Stack tv series. It was pretty clear from the opening pages that the book wasn’t meant to be an objective look at Ness or his comrades, bu...

Eliot Ness, the leader of The Untouchables, was truly an American hero! Through his efforts, the crime lord of Chicago, was finally sent to jail for eleven years!I think this newspaper editorial, is an eloquent summary, of Mr. Ness's quest to bring down Scarface Al Capone!"The head of a ring, that has cleaned up nearly a billion dollars in the past ten years, whines as he sees the net closing about him. The government has charges against him, which, if proved, make Capone liable to $90,000 in fi...

The Untouchables movie from 1987 has been one of my favorites since my first viewing. I've been interested in reading the book the film was based on for years, and picked up Elliot Ness/Oscar Fraley's 1957 The Untouchables at a used book store recently. While historical sources would indicate that some level of exaggeration or fabrication made its way into the novel, the story of young Elliot Ness' drive to address graft in the Chicago PD and Treasury Department's ranks, and subsequent targeting...

I've yet to see The Untouchables film, so I decided to be 'that guy' and read the book before watching the movie. I'm happy to have done so, although the book is older and fairly short, it brings to mind vivid pictures of the 20's and the way this rag-tag group of agents came to bring down one of history's most notorious gangsters. Great book, I now look forward to seeing how Hollywood perceived it!

Seems a little sensationalized, after all it was written by the man himself some time after all the events took place. It seems like a typical 1950s type documentary. But still interesting, especially so since I'm from nearby all the places where this took place and I grew up with stories of gangsters in Capone's mafia.

I gave up 50 pages in or so but I'm counting it as read because I feel like I know all I need to about it--this reads like a little boy writing a story about himself as a big strong detective. Fascinating story but I can.not.deal. with the writing.

I bought this book because I thought it was about the Indian caste system.However it's actually an account of the war against organised crime in prohibition era Chicago.A good read, but a somewhat fictionalised account.

The airbrushed story of federal agent Eliot Ness, whose squad brought down Al Capone's illegal alcohol empire in depression-era Chicago.

Fictional? Enjoyable lite read.

Just as good and entertaining as BDP film. Loved it!

The story is really amazing.

Very much unlike the movie. A great history lesson.

The best thing I've read in a while.

I guess I've always been a bit of a sucker for crime shows, and especially those that have the true stories behind them. I remember quite well trying to make sure I got to see every episode of "The Untouchables" way back when it was on the air.In my yard sale book finds this past weekend was this book, "The Untouchables" by Eliot Ness/Oscar Fraley and I just had to have it. Got it for a song -no dance even required, ya know. Well today, I had started reading another yard sale selection book by J...

I wanted to read up about the infamous Eliot Ness and his team of Federal Prohibition Agents known as 'The Untouchables' - so called because they were beyond the reach of the corruption and bribery spread throughout 1920s Chicago by Al Capone and his mobsters.I chose this book because it was written by the man himself. Unfortunately it wasn't quite what I hoped for. It was poorly written and, most of the time, pretty boring. It was mostly used to try and promote the upcoming movie. It is adverti...

Synopsis: "The Untouchables is the gripping true story of the team of men who broke the back of the vicious Chicago crime mob and its stranglehold on the nation, told by the man who orchestrated the effort."My Review: I have a secret soft spot for mob books, I read Donnie Brasco's book in high school and since have rather enjoyed them. The Untouchables was no different. It is written in such a way that it is more like reading a journal account than an actual story. I enjoyed the book even though...

The Untouchables is further proof that books are better than movies (unless we're talking about Jaws). The movie was a favorite of mine; I even owned it. But it sure feels weak after reading the book. Loved reading about the raids and the need for ladders, the parade the Capone's organizations impounded vehicles, the driving around trying to lose tails and the telephone pole wire tap scene. The book even lists addresses of the warehouses storing the booze or the still locations, which appeals to...

The best way to approach this book is to treat it as "based on a true story" rather than as an accurate account of the events. Eliot ness and oscar fraley bend the truth, although I suspect it was more ness than fraley. As fiction this is good. Ness arrives in Chicago and begins to close down the bootleggers, before taking on al Capone himself. It's all very exciting and filled with threating gangsters and heroic officers of the law. If you want accurate information try a more objective book. If...

1. Elliot Ness tries to give us a tatse of how the wicked mob grew to control Chicago and how Elliot Ness organized a small group of agents beyond corruption -- The Untouchables. 2. The book is short. The chapters are short. The sentences are short. Everything is to the point. 3. The book fills the bill. It has to be a first of it's genre. If you liked the TV series, you'll love the book.