At 1 p.m. this coming Tuesday, January 14, Stephen Green, the founder, president and chief executive officer of the Eliot Ness Museum at 201 North Main Street in Coudersport, will present a free Golden Afternoons program about Ness in the lobby at the Deane Center for the Performing Arts at 104 Main Street in Wellsboro.
 
This free one-hour program is for anyone 55 years of age or older.  Light refreshments will be provided free.

The program will open with a 10-minute showing of two, short, high-impact videos about Ness followed by Green sharing stories about the lawman and photo opportunities for those attending with Ed Szymanik dressed as Mike Malone who helped Ness take down Al Capone. Szymanik, carrying a shoulder-holstered Colt .45 and a real deal “Tommy Gun” on his hip, both unloaded and disabled, will be ready to handcuff any ne’er do well.
 
The Eliot Ness Museum is dedicated to preserving the legacy of this famed lawman known for his role in bringing down Al Capone during Prohibition with information about the Roaring Twenties and  Ness’s connection to the Coudersport area.
 
Ness joined the U.S. Treasury Department in 1926, working with the Bureau of Prohibition in Chicago. 

In 1929, the 26-year-old Ness was assigned to lead a squad of Prohibition agents, working under a special United States attorney who was directly in charge of both the Prohibition and income tax investigations of Capone. Ness then created a reliable team of nine, which became known as “The Untouchables.” 

In 1930, the Bureau of Prohibition was moved to the Justice Department.

“The Untouchables” targeted Capone’s illegal breweries and supply routes, inflicting major financial damage on his operations and leading to Capone’s indictment on violations of the National Prohibition Act in June 1931. That indictment was prevented from going to trial.

 
On October 17, 1931, Capone was convicted on multiple counts of tax evasion, sentenced to eleven years in prison, and, following a failed appeal, began his sentence in 1932. 
 
In 1932, Ness was promoted to chief investigator of the Prohibition Bureau for Chicago.
 
Following the end of Prohibition in 1933, he was assigned as an alcohol tax agent in the “Moonshine Mountains” of southern Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and in 1934 he was transferred to Cleveland, Ohio. In December 1935, the mayor of Cleveland hired Ness as the city’s Safety Director, putting him in charge of both the police and fire departments.
 
In 1956, Ness moved from Cleveland, Ohio, to Coudersport, Pennsylvania to take a job.
 
WhiIe living in Coudersport Ness collaborated with Oscar Fraley in writing the book “The Untouchables,” which was about Ness’s life and the legend surrounding his work in Chicago. It was published in 1957 after Ness’s death. He died in May of that year at the age of 54 due to a heart attack.
 
The best-known adaptation of the book was the television series “The Untouchables” starring Robert Stack as Ness. It aired from 1959 to 1963.
 
In his later years, Ness struggled financially; he was in debt at the time of his death, with his role in bringing down Al Capone having been largely forgotten. 
 
For more information about this Golden Afternoons program, call the Deane Center at 570-724-6220.