Frank J. Wilson (1887-June 22, 1970) was the Chief of the United States Secret Service and a former agent of the Internal Revenue Service, most notably in the 1931 prosecution of Chicago mobster Al Capone and federal representative in the Lindbergh kidnapping case. 1887 (MDCCCLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. ... June 22 is the 173rd day of the year (174th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 192 days remaining. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... Because of both the secrecy of secret services and the controversial nature of the issues involved, there is some difficulty in separating the definitions of secret service, secret police, intelligence agency etc. ... Seal of the Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the United States government agency that collects taxes and enforces the tax laws. ... FBI mugshot of Capone, 1931 Alphonse Gabriel Capone (January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), popularly known as Al Scarface Capone, was an infamous Italian-American gangster in the 1920s and 1930s, although his business card reportedly described him as a used furniture dealer. ... Lindbergh baby kidnapping poster. ...

Capone investigation

Upon joining the Treasury Department's Intelligence Unit in 1920, Wilson would earn a reputation throughout Prohibition as a thorough, if not obsessive, investigator. The United States Department of the Treasury is a Cabinet department, a treasury, of the United States government established by an Act of U.S. Congress in 1789 to manage the revenue of the United States government. ... This article is about the prohibition of alcoholic beverages; separate articles on the prohibition of drugs in general and writs of prohibition are also available. ...

In 1928, Wilson was assigned by the chief of the Internal Revenue Service Enforcement Branch, Elmer L. Irey, to investigate mobster Al Capone in a later federal prosecution for tax evasion. Although earlier investigations regarding racketeering charges had successfully defended by Capone, Irey believed Capone could be prosecuted against under a 1927 ruling by the Supreme Court which declared income from criminal activities were subjected to income taxes. FBI mugshot of Capone, 1931 Alphonse Gabriel Capone (January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), popularly known as Al Scarface Capone, was an infamous Italian-American gangster in the 1920s and 1930s, although his business card reportedly described him as a used furniture dealer. ... This article contrasts tax evasion, tax avoidance, tax resistance and tax mitigation. ... The supreme court in some countries, provinces, and states, functions as a court of last resort whose rulings cannot be challenged. ...

However, as Capone did not file tax returns, own property, endorse checks, maintain bank accounts or give receipts, his income could not be accounted for. As calculating Capone's net worth and expenditures were crucial to federal prosecutors, Wilson arranged to have Capone's organization, known as the "Chicago Outfit", to be infiltrated by federal agents to gather information on Capone's dealings in bootlegging, vice and illegal gambling. Outfit leadership in 1978. ...

Wilson himself moved into Chicago's Sheridan Plaza Hotel with his wife under the guise of a tourist. Although his wife was unaware of the details regarding his assignment, she had been told that Wilson was investigating the finances of one "Curly Brown". Wilson would spend the next three years gathering information on Capone's financial dealings including tracking down mob accountants and bookkeepers.

Becoming aware of Wilson's investigation, a nervous Capone ordered five gunmen to murder Wilson. Federal authorities were informed of the contract and, after urgings from former mentor Johnny Torrio, Capone reluctantly cancelled the contract. As a result of Wilson's investigation, revealing millions in unreported income, Capone was eventually sentenced to 11 years imprisonment. Johnny The Fox Torrio (February 1882 - April 16, 1957) was an Italian-American mobster famous for building a criminal empire in Chicago during the 1920s that would later be inherited by his protege, Al Capone. ...

Later career

During the Lindbergh Baby kidnapping in 1932, Wilson's insistence that the serial numbers on the gold certificates in ransom money be recorded would lead to the 1934 arrest of Bruno Richard Hauptmann who was later convicted and executed for the kidnapping. The method of recording serial numbers, and later "marked bills", would later be commonly used to prosecute criminals. Bruno Richard Hauptmann (November 26, 1899 _ April 3, 1936) was a German carpenter and criminal, sentenced to death and executed for the Lindbergh kidnapping, the abduction and murder of Charles Augustus Lindbergh III, the 20-month old son of famous pilot Charles Lindbergh. ...

In 1936, Wilson was named chief of the Secret Service and, by the end of his retirement in 1947, had nearly eliminated the production and distribution of counterfeit money though a nationwide education program. During his administration, he also initiated practices in presidential security which has since become standard procedure.

Further reading

• Spiering, Frank. The Man Who Got Capone. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1976.

References

• Nash, Jay Robert. Encyclopedia of World Crime (S-Z) Vol. IV, CrimeBooks Inc., Wilmette, 1990. ISBN 0-923582-00-2
• Nash, Jay Robert. World Encyclopedia of Organized Crime, Da Capo Press: New York, 1992. ISBN 0-306-80535-9
• Kelly, Robert J. Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. ISBN 0-313-30653-2
• Phillips, Charles and Alan Axelrod. Cops, Crooks, and Criminologists: An International Biographical Dictionary of Law Enforcement Updated Edition. New York: Checkmark Books, 2000. ISBN 0-8160-3016-2