Backstory With Larry Potash

Legendary G-Man Eliot Ness is remembered for taking down Al Capone in Chicago, but as pop culture grew the legend around him, it begs the question: what really happened?In a historical society in Cleveland, meticulous scrapbooks Ness kept track his career as he took on the mob, jaywalkers, and a serial killer called the Torso Murderer. Larry Potash digs into the Backstory on what parts of Ness' legend are invented by Hollywood, and what really happened.

You've probably heard of how legendary mobster Al Capone's criminal empire was disrupted by investigator Eliot Ness and his group of "Untouchables." But what really happened in Chicago, and what was invented by Hollywood?Max Allan Collins, author of the 2002 Chicago mob story "Road to Perdition," and A. Brad Schwartz, a Princeton historian, talked to relatives, re-examined evidence, and sifted through newly-released federal files to separate fact from fiction.Just when you thought there was nothing new to say about Capone and Ness, what they found surprised them.

Brothers Michael and Jeffrey Gentile say their childhood was a cross between The Wonder Years and The Sopranos. While he never got into a life of crime, their dad's friends included some of Chicago's most infamous mobsters.

Mickey Mouse may be the biggest paradox in pop culture: people love him, but know nothing about him.You may have heard Mickey was first drawn by Walt Disney 90 years ago as he rode a train, desperate to save his company and inspired by pet mice he had years ago. Well, that’s a myth. This is the true Backstory of Mickey Mouse, and how a simple, whistling cartoon grew into a global icon. 

Recruited by an eccentric millionaire to search for hidden messages in Shakespeare’s works, Elizebeth Smith Friedman became a pioneering code breaker who took on the Nazis and the mob. Her story has been buried by secrecy and sexism for nearly a century - until now. Watch this full story on the Backstory TV show.

On the morning of Oct. 30, 1928, Elfrieda Knaak was discovered in the furnace room of Lake Bluff's Village Hall, naked and with her hands and feet burned to the bone. Her death was ruled a suicide, but how could a woman stick her own legs, arms and head in a furnace?