Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher
Hunting America's Deadliest Unidentified Serial Killer at the Dawn of Modern Criminology
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Narrated by:
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Malcolm Hillgartner
About this listen
In the spirit of Devil in the White City comes a true detective tale of the highest standard: the haunting story of Eliot Ness' forgotten final case - his years-long hunt for "The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run", a serial killer who terrorized Cleveland through the Great Depression and tormented Ness to his dying breath.
"A careening read that’s full of surprises.... Collins and Schwartz deliver a nimble, taut tale. More importantly, they offer a portrait of a complex crime fighter who believed in science and reason at a time when most officers smacked suspects around with a blackjack, a portrait set against a backdrop of ethnic and class collisions, labor unrest, and political intrigue. Catnip for true-crime buffs." (Kirkus Reviews)
In 1934, the nation’s most legendary crime fighter - fresh from taking on the greatest gangster in American history - arrived in Cleveland, a corrupt and dangerous town about to host a world's fair. It was to be his coronation, as well as the city's. Instead, terror descended, as headless bodies started turning up. The young detective, already battling the mob and crooked cops, found his drive to transform American policing subverted by a menace largely unknown to law enforcement: a serial murderer.
Eliot Ness' greatest case had begun. Now, Max Allan Collins and A. Brad Schwartz - the acclaimed writing team behind Scarface and The Untouchables - uncover this lost crime epic, delivering a gripping and unforgettable nonfiction account based on decades of groundbreaking research.
Ness had risen to fame in 1931 for leading the “Untouchables”, which helped put Chicago’s Al Capone behind bars. As Cleveland's public safety director, in charge of the police and fire departments, Ness offered a radical new vision for better law enforcement. Crime-ridden and devastated by the Depression, Cleveland was preparing for a star-turn itself: in 1936, it would host the "Great Lakes Exposition", which would be visited by seven million people. Late in the summer of 1934, however, pieces of a woman’s body began washing up on the Lake Erie shore - first her ribs, then part of her backbone, then the lower half of her torso. The body count soon grew to five, then 10, then more, all dismembered in gruesome ways.
As Ness zeroed in on a suspect - a doctor tied to a prominent political family - powerful forces thwarted his quest for justice. In this battle between a flawed hero and a twisted monster - by turns horror story, political drama, and detective thriller - Collins and Schwartz find an American tragedy, classic in structure, epic in scope.
©2020 Max Allan Collins and A. Brad Schwartz (P)2020 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
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First Half - 4 Stars - Second Half - 2 Stars
- By Lulu on 08-29-16
By: T. J. English
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The Kosher Capones
- A History of Chicago’s Jewish Gangsters
- By: Joe Kraus
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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The Kosher Capones tells the fascinating story of Chicago’s Jewish gangsters from Prohibition into the 1980s. Author Joe Kraus traces these gangsters through the lives, criminal careers, and conflicts of Benjamin “Zukie the Bookie” Zuckerman, last of the independent West Side Jewish bosses, and Lenny Patrick, eventual head of the Syndicate’s “Jewish wing.”
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Kind of scattered
- By joey carbo on 10-04-21
By: Joe Kraus
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The Queen
- The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth
- By: Josh Levin
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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In this critically acclaimed true crime tale of "welfare queen" Linda Taylor, a Slate editor reveals a "wild, only-in-America story" of political manipulation and murder (Attica Locke, Edgar Award-winning author). Part social history, part true-crime investigation, Josh Levin's mesmerizing book, the product of six years of reporting and research, is a fascinating account of American racism, and an exposé of the "welfare queen" myth, one that fueled political debates that reverberate to this day.
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Very compelling story!
- By Marilyn on 06-24-19
By: Josh Levin
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The Savage City
- By: T. J. English
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Abridged
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In the early 1960s, uncertainty and menace gripped New York, crystallizing in a poisonous divide between a deeply corrupt, cynical, and racist police force, and an African American community buffeted by economic distress, brutality, and narcotics. On August 28, 1963 - the day Martin Luther King Jr. declared "I have a dream" on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial - two young white women were murdered in their Manhattan apartment. Dubbed the Career Girls Murders case, the crime sent ripples of fear throughout the city, as police scrambled fruitlessly for months to find the killer.
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I Highly Recommend This Book!
- By R on 05-15-13
By: T. J. English
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Mafia Summit
- J. Edgar Hoover, the Kennedy Brothers, and the Meeting That Unmasked the Mob
- By: Gil Reavill
- Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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In a small village in New York, mob bosses from all over the country - Vito Genovese, Carlo Gambino, Joe Bonanno, Joe Profaci, Cuba boss Santo Trafficante, Jr., and Paul Castellano - were nabbed by Sergeant Edgar D. Croswell as they gathered to sort out a bloody war of succession. For years FBI director J. Edgar Hoover had adamantly denied the existence of the Mafia, but Robert Kennedy immediately recognized the shattering importance of the Apalachin summit....
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Something I Didn't Know
- By Kevin on 03-29-13
By: Gil Reavill
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Get Capone
- The Secret Plot That Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster
- By: Jonathan Eig
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Acclaimed journalist and bestselling author Jonathan Eig blows the lid off the Al Capone story. Based on never-before-seen government documents and newly discovered letters written by Al Capone himself, Get Capone presents America's greatest gangster as you’ve never seen him before.
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Get this book
- By Jonathan on 05-13-10
By: Jonathan Eig
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The Brothers Bulger
- How They Terrorized and Corrupted Boston for a Quarter Century
- By: Howie Carr
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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This fresh account of Massachusetts' infamous Bulger brothers unveils a stunning criminal alliance, and with its dual biography format, goes deeper than the New York Times best-selling Black Mass. For the first time, journalist Howie Carr reveals the real story behind the infamous Bulgers, two brothers from South Boston who grew up to control a state.
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ZZZZZZzzzzzzzz
- By Tory on 11-18-06
By: Howie Carr
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Satan's Circus
- Murder, Vice, Police Corruption, and New York's Trial of the Century
- By: Mike Dash
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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They called it Satan's Circus, a square mile of Midtown Manhattan where vice ruled, sin flourished, and depravity danced in every doorway. At the turn of the 20th century, murder was so common in the vice district that few people were surprised when the loudmouthed owner of a shabby casino was gunned down on the steps of its best hotel.
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New York, N.Y
- By Robert on 07-11-07
By: Mike Dash
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Gangsters of Harlem
- The Gritty Underworld of New York City's Most Famous Neighborhood
- By: Ron Chepesiuk
- Narrated by: J. D. Jackson
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Author Ron Chepesiuk chronicles the little known history of organized crime in Harlem.
African American organized crime has had as significant an impact on its constituent community as Italian, Jewish, and Irish organized crime has had on theirs. Gangsters are every bit as colorful, intriguing, and powerful as Al Capone and Lucky Luciano, and have a fascinating history in gambling, prostitution, and drug dealing. In the late 1800s, Harlem became a highly fashionable neighborhood.
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weak --reader is terrible!
- By Meyer Rosenbloom on 10-18-13
By: Ron Chepesiuk
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Undisclosed Files of the Police
- Cases from the Archives of the NYPD from 1831 to the Present
- By: Bernard Whalen, Philip Messing, Robert Mladinich
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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More than 175 years of true crimes culled from the city's police blotter, told through an insightful text by two NYPD officers and a NYC crime reporter. From atrocities that occurred before the establishment of New York's police force in 1845 through the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001 to the present day, this audio is an insider's look at more than 80 real-life crimes that shocked the nation, from arson to gangland murders, robberies, serial killers, bombings, and kidnappings.
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Good History of Crime in NYC
- By Bob Shinders on 03-10-17
By: Bernard Whalen, and others
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A Brotherhood Betrayed
- The Man Behind the Rise and Fall of Murder, Inc.
- By: Michael Cannell
- Narrated by: Gary Galone
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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In the fall of 1941, a momentous trial was set to begin that threatened to end the careers and lives of New York’s most brutal mob kingpins. The lead witness, Abe Reles, had been a trusted executioner for Murder, Inc., the enforcement arm of a coast-to-coast mob network known as the Syndicate. But the man responsible for coolly silencing hundreds of informants was about to become the most talkative snitch of all. In exchange for police protection, Reles was prepared to rat out his murderous friends, from Albert Anastasia to Bugsy Siegel....
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History from the bottom up
- By Mark on 12-12-21
By: Michael Cannell
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The Mob and the City
- The Hidden History of How the Mafia Captured New York
- By: C. Alexander Hortis
- Narrated by: LJ Ganser
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
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Forget what you think you know about the Mafia. After reading this book, even life-long mob aficionados will have a new perspective on organized crime. Informative, authoritative, and eye-opening, this is the first full-length book devoted exclusively to uncovering the hidden history of how the Mafia came to dominate organized crime in New York City during the 1930s through 1950s.
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Hard one to rate....
- By Jeffery D. Giuliani on 09-24-20
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The Bourbon King
- The Life and Crimes of George Remus, Prohibition's Evil Genius
- By: Bob Batchelor
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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October 2019 marks the 100th anniversary of the Volstead Act, which put the enforcement teeth into Prohibition. But the law didn't stop George Remus from cornering the boozy, illegal liquor marketplace and amassing a fortune that eclipsed $200 million (the equivalent of $4.75 billion today). As eminent documentarian Ken Burns proclaimed, "Remus was to bootlegging what Rockefeller was to oil." Author Bob Batchelor has unearthed a treasure trove of untapped historical archives to cover the life, times, and crimes of the man who ran the largest bootlegging operation in America.
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Disappointing
- By Amazon Customer on 06-02-20
By: Bob Batchelor
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The Fall of the FBI
- How a Once Great Agency Became a Threat to Democracy
- By: Thomas J. Baker
- Narrated by: David Marantz
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Americans have lost faith in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, an institution they once regarded as the world’s greatest law-enforcement agency. Thomas Baker spent many years with the FBI and is deeply troubled by this loss of faith. Specific lapses have come to light and each is thoroughly discussed in this book: Why did they happen? What changed? The answer begins days after the 9/11 attacks when the FBI underwent a significant change in culture.
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We have to stop them
- By E B. on 07-01-23
By: Thomas J. Baker
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The Tangled Web
- The Life and Death of Richard Cain—Chicago Cop and Mafia Hitman
- By: Michael Cain
- Narrated by: Clinton Wade
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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The Tangled Web tells the dramatic story of detective Richard Cain's criminal career as revealed by his half-brother, Michael. Cain led a double-life—one as a well-known cop who led raids that landed on the front pages, and the other as a "made man" in one of Chicago's most notorious mob families.
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Reviews
- By G. D. Hoppe on 11-19-20
By: Michael Cain
What listeners say about Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Andrea
- 11-02-22
Well Researched
If you what to know about Eliot Ness and his post “Untouchables” years, this is the book for you. I found the title a bit misleading. I thought there would be a lot more about the “Hunt” for “The Butcher”However, it was still an excellent listen. When it came to policing, Ness was an innovator.
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- Bull
- 08-11-20
Not a Max Allan Collins novel
If you're expecting something in the vein of Collins's great Heller novels, forget it. The book sounds like a bunch of notes he took researching a new Ness book.
I believe there is a 4 book series by Max collectively known as Eliot Ness in Cleveland. They're not available as audiobooks. One in the series in hardcover is priced at over a thousand dollars at Amazon! No thanks.
The "Mad Butcher" is not the central theme of this book. I guess they put that in the title to get people (like me) to try it (I did). The Butcher's story pops up from time to time, but the mentions are almost incidental.
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- Reader
- 09-01-20
A Must Read
After reading the tremendous Scarface and the Untouchable by Max Allan Collins and A. Brad Schwartz, I really looked forward to this continuation of the life and work of Elliott Ness, as well as the information regarding one of the early serial murderers in the nation's history. Both authors once again deliver painstakingly researched information that sets the record straight about the good and not so good regarding Ness, in a forthright and concise manner, while presenting it in such a way that you never feel bogged down with information and remain completely engaged. Highly recommended.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Vicky
- 12-03-22
Better than I expected.
I enjoyed most of the book. the last third was a little slow. while the epilogue tied up the loose ends it was the hardest to get through.
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- Wendy Cheatham
- 03-22-22
pretty interesting
It's well written and narrarated. It's more of a history of Ness' career than his hunt for a serial killer. Being from the area where it all took place, it was good to get the truth about the local lore. If you are looking for the history of his life in Cleveland, this is it.
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- stephen curtis
- 07-16-24
Nothing!!!!
This book was awful, it was basically an elliot ness biography, barely anything about the serial killer, this book totally sucked, i want my money back
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- Michael
- 08-09-20
Total disappointment!
1) Of the 11 hrs and 49 mins run time, less than an hour is about Ness’ hunt for the Mad Butcher.
2) It’s more of the authors blow-banging Eliot Ness and how great of a Treasury Agent he was. Contrary to popular belief, Ness was not an FBI Agent and FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover had an intense dislike of Ness.
3) The reader, Malcolm Hillgartner goes a good job with the narration.
My best advice ... save your credit.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Tgeoffy
- 08-10-21
Misnamed. Just a Ness biography
The book is well researched and constructed but the title is essentially clickbait. The content regarding the Torso Murderer is scant and presented almost with disinterest. As a Ness biography, it is enlightening and informative. As a contrasting look at the titular case, it is minimalist at best.
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1 person found this helpful