Born on this day – Eliot Ness:

 

Eliot Ness

Law enforcement agent and head of The Untouchables

Writer,

April 19, 1903 – May 16, 1957

Credits:

Book:

The Untouchables (1957).

Movies and television:

American Justice: Target - Mafia (1993); Gangster Empire: Rise of the Mob (2013); Haunted History (2013); Prohibition: Thirteen Years That Changed America (1997); The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones Documentaries (2008); The Scarface Mob (1959); The Untouchables (1959–1963); The Untouchables (1987); The Untouchables (1993); Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse (1959).

Recommended book:

The Untouchables

by Eliot Ness.

With Oscar Fraley.

ASIN: B000WFDVYA

Published by Award Books.

First published 1957.

Description:

Brings to life an era of violence unique in the nation’s history. – The New York Times.

Tremendously exciting. – Cleveland News.

This is the anatomy of a Mafia boss – a scar-faced killer named Al Capone who gripped this nation in his diamond-studded hand in the legendary 1930’s. Capone’s trademarks – the one-way ride, the bullet in the head, the emasculated body in the ditch – still carry the signature of the Mafia.

Al Capone ruled an empire of evil that stole billions of dollars while destroying untold numbers of lives. His discipline murderers collected incredible profits from drugs, gambling and prostitution, making Al Capone the most powerful Mafia boss who ever lived.

On this day in movie and book history - Machine Gun McCain (1969) and Candyleg (1961):

Machine Gun McCain

Italian title: Gli intoccabili

English translation: The Untouchables

directed by Giuliano Montaldo

written by Mino Roli, Israel Horovitz and Giuliano Montaldo,

based on the novel Candyleg by Ovid Demaris,

was released in Italy on April 1, 1969.

Music by Ennio Morricone.

 

Cast:

John Cassavetes, Britt Ekland, Peter Falk, Gabriele Ferzetti, Pierluigi Aprà, Luigi Pistilli, Margherita Guzzinati, Claudio Biava, Steffen Zacharias, James Morrison, Florinda Bolkan, Tony Kendall, Salvo Randone, Gena Rowlands, Maria Mizar, Euplio Moscusu, Mirella Pamphili, Raffaele Triggia, Gaetano Imbró, Silvana Bacci, Franco Riti, Jack Ackerman, Annabella Andreoli, Val Avery, Carla Brait, Nat Bush, Ennanno Consolazione, Carol Doda, Dan Gregory, Tery Hare, Werner Hasselmann, Billy Lee, Giuseppina Quinn, Dennis Sallas, Karen Valenti, Bill Vanders.

Recommended reading:

Candyleg

by Ovid Demaris.

Filmed as Machine Gun McCain (1969), directed by Giuliano Montaldo.

Published by Gold Medal Books.

First published 1961.

ASIN: B002M39644

Mass Market Paperback.

Description:

Irene was damaged goods, passed along by the gang and used according to its whims. No one took her seriously, and her life story read like one long dirty joke. She was blonde dynamite, so they gave her the job of warming up Hank McCain, the master thief who'd just spent 20 years cooling his heels in Alcatraz.

On this day in television history - The Untouchables (1959 - 1963)

The Untouchables

based on the book by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley,

was released in the United States on October 15, 1959,

and ran for four seasons until May 21, 1963.

The pilot episode was released on January 22, 1959.

Narrated by Walter Winchell.

Music by Bill Loose, Jack Cookerly and Nelson Riddle.

Cast:

Robert Stack, Nicholas Georgiade, Paul Picerni, Abel Fernandez, Steve London, Jerry Paris, Chuck Hicks, Anthony George, Keenan Wynn, Eddie Firestone, Robert Osterloh, Frank Wilcox, Robert Bice, Jason Wingreen, Raymond Bailey, Barbara Nichols, Dane Clark, John Gabriel, Barbara Stanwyck, Ed Asner, Virginia Capers, Bruce Gordon, Oscar Beregi, Jr., Lawrence Dobkin, Robert J. Wilke, Warren J. Kemmerling, Bern Hoffman, Nehemiah Persoff, Lloyd Nolan, Robert J. Wilke, Harry Morgan, Gene Roth, Robert Carricart, Joseph Ruskin, Robert Carricart, Carl Milletaire, Grant Richards, Neville Brand, Frank de Kova, John Beradino, Henry Silva, Joe De Santis, George N. Neise, John Kellogg, H. M. Wynant, Wally Cassell, Richard Benedict, Herman Rudin, Les Lampson, Walter Winchell, Paul Picerni, Nicholas Georgiade.

On this day in movie history - The Untouchables (1987)

The Untouchables

directed by Brian De Palma,

written by David Mamet,

based on the book by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley,

was released in the United States on June 3, 1987.

Music by Ennio Morricone.

 

Cast:

Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Charles Martin Smith, Andy Garcia, Robert De Niro, Richard Bradford, Jack Kehoe, Brad Sullivan, Billy Drago, Patricia Clarkson, Vito D’Ambrosio, Steven Goldstein, Peter Aylward, Don Harvey, Robert Swan, John J. Walsh, Del Close, Colleen Bade, Greg Noonan, Sean Grennan, Larry Viverito Sr., Kevin Michael Doyle, Mike Bacarella, Michael P. Byrne, Kaitlin Montgomery, Aditra Kohl, Charles Keller Watson, Larry Brandenburg, Chelcie Ross, Tim Gamble, Sam Smiley, Pat Billingsley, John Bracci, Jennifer Anglin, Eddie Minasian, Anthony Mockus Sr., Will Zahrn, Louie Lanciloti, Vince Viverito, Valentino Cimo, Joe Greco, Clem Caserta, Bob Martana, Joseph Scianablo, George S. Spataro, Melody Rae, Robert Miranda, James Guthrie, Basil Reale.