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Eliot Ness, chief investigator of the Prohibition Bureau for Chicago in 1934. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Items from crime fighter Eliot Ness to be auctioned

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf
Eliot Ness, chief investigator of the Prohibition Bureau for Chicago in 1934. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
Eliot Ness, chief investigator of the Prohibition Bureau for Chicago in 1934. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

CLEVELAND (AP) – A Massachusetts auction house plans to auction memorabilia from crime fighter Eliot Ness, the onetime Cleveland safety director and federal Prohibition Bureau agent whose unit brought down Chicago mobster Al Capone.

The Plain Dealer in Cleveland reports the collection up for auction Sept. 27 includes his signed credentials, his business card and photos of his unsuccessful bid for Cleveland mayor.

Worcester-based Central Mass Auctions says the items were appraised at $30,000 to $50,000 and came from the estate of the lawman’s personal secretary. It’s not clear how she obtained them.

Ness made his name during the Prohibition era and headed a special unit dubbed “The Untouchables,” which had a reputation that members couldn’t be bribed. He worked as Cleveland’s safety director in the 1930s.

Ness died in 1957.

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Information from: The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-WF-07-09-12 1243GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Eliot Ness, chief investigator of the Prohibition Bureau for Chicago in 1934. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
Eliot Ness, chief investigator of the Prohibition Bureau for Chicago in 1934. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.