Cleveland Public Library

The People's University

Cleveland Police Museum

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Recently staff members from the Cleveland Public Library toured the Cleveland Police Museum to learn how the two organizations could work together to best assist visitors of our respective institutions.  Police Museum curator Allan J. Coates told the group, "The Police Museum is not only a history of the Police Department but of Cleveland itself."

The museum displays artifacts and photos from significant events in Cleveland history, including the emergence of the Cleveland Mafia, Elliot Ness's career as Cleveland Public Safety Director, and the Torso Murders (which Ness was unable to solve).

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After the tour, we were able to find CPL resources to match the events highlighted at the museum. The following list is just a sampling of what is available to library patrons wanting to research these topics further:

Torso Killings:

In the Wake of the Butcher : Cleveland's Torso Murders

The Maniac in the Bushes and More Tales of Cleveland Woe : True Crimes and Disasters from the Streets of Cleveland

Ohio Confidential : Stories of Sex, Scandal, Murder, and Mayhem

Torso : the Story of Eliot Ness and the Hunt for the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, a True Story

Torso : a True Crime Graphic Novel

Cleveland Mafia:

To Kill the Irishman : the War that Crippled the Mafia

The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia : Corn Sugar, and Blood

Social Sciences Clipping File

Eliot Ness:

Eliot Ness [Electronic Resource] / Federal Bureau of Investigation

Eliot Ness Papers, 1928-1960, and Eliot Ness Scrapbooks, 1931-1947

Eliot Ness : the Real Story

Reorganization Police Department, Cleveland,Ohio, 1938 : Hon. Harold H. Burton, Mayor, Eliot Ness, Director of Public Safety
 

Cleveland Police Museum:

http://www.clevelandpolicemuseum.org/

Photo of Cleveland gangster Shondor Birns (pictured on the right) is from July 1928. This photo is housed in the Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection.