Page:Summary Report of Al Capone for the Bureau of Internal Revenue.djvu/53

SI-7085-F reported to me by a very confidential source and also that he had decided upon a sensational method to prevent further molestation of him and his gang by the government. We were reliably informed that in order to put an end to our further activities in the tax investigation, he was planning to kill United States Attorney George E. Q. Johnson, Special Agent in Charge A. P. Madden, Investigator P. F. Roche from the office of the Cook County States Attorney and me. We also were advised that he had arranged to import five gunmen from New York City to murder the officials whom he was convinced intended to secure evidence to cause his prosecution. We were later informed that the imported New York gunmen had arrived in Chicago and were cruising around in a blue sedan bearing a New York license tag. This information was partly corroborated through information furnished voluntarily to the Chicago Tribune from a source considered dependable by them which was entirely unrelated to the original source which furnished us the above report regarding the plot to murder us. An active search for Capone and the imported gunmen was immediately started by our agents and investigators from the States Attorney's Office. We learned that Capone and some of his gang were hiding in the house of a friend in Cicero. Arrangements were made to secure the cooperation of a detail of detectives from the office of the States Attorney of Cook County in order to raid the house but upon the arrival of the raiding detail it was found that Capone and his gang had just departed. I was later informed that one of the Cook County detectives tipped off Capone in advance of the raid and was paid for the warning. Further efforts at that time to locate Capone and his associates were unsuccessful. We were informed that he had learned that the government was aware of his plot to stop his prosecution, that he then abandoned the plan at the demand of other members of his organization and that he had departed for his home at Miami, Florida. Our activities in interviewing witnesses with reference to Capone and in gathering evidence to establish his income tax evasion were not diverted because of his threat or plot against our lives. We did, at your suggestion, take certain precautions in order that persons not connected with our office would be unable to learn about our movements. In view of the progress which we were making in establishing evidence relating to his tax evasion, and as he had abandoned his plot, it was not considered advisable to take further action regarding his efforts to prevent the continuance of our investigations but we did redouble our efforts to secure tax evidence against him. The facts regarding this plot of Capone to put an end to the investigation were carefully guarded and reported only to our superiors and to P. F. Roche, Chief Investigator for the States Attorney of Cook County as we felt that any publicity regarding Capone's plan to cause the murder of four officials would - 52 -