The great-nephew of an IRS agent has discovered thousands of documents on famous criminal cases like the Lindbergh baby kidnapping and Al Capone in his New Jersey crawlspace.
Physician Mary Dolan, who will be telling his family’s story on the latest Strange Inheritance with Jamie Colby airing February 12 at 9pm ET on the FOX Business Network.
The boxes of files were compiled by Dolan’s great uncle Mike Malone, a career Internal Revenue Service agent who died in 1960.
They collected dust for 25 years until they piqued Dolan’s curiosity.
Marty Dolan (pictured), the e great-nephew of an IRS agent, has discovered thousands of documents on famous criminal cases like the Lindbergh baby kidnapping and Al Capone in his New Jersey crawlspace
The boxes of files were compiled by Dolan’s great uncle Mike Malone, a career Internal Revenue Service agent who died in 1960 and Dolan just assumed they were boring audit reports
That was until he found one ‘Regarding Alphonse Capone,’ and another, ‘Kidnapping and Murder of Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr’ (pictured)
He was able to discover that his uncle, Mike Malone (pictured), worked in the 1920s and 1930s for a secret division of the US Treasury Department known as the ‘T-Men’
‘I didn’t know what they were about, because I was young when he passed away,’ says Dolan, who recalls his uncle as a mysterious figure.
The physician assumed the files just contained mundane audit reports until he found one ‘Regarding Alphonse Capone,’ and another, ‘Kidnapping and Murder of Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr.’
However searches prior to the internet led to dead so he shelved the documents for nearly 26 years.
Then in 2011, after he retired from medicine, Dolan resumed his research project.
He was able to discover that his uncle, Mike Malone, worked in the 1920s and 1930s for a secret division of the US Treasury Department known as the ‘T-Men.’
The unit gained a powerful crime-fighting tool after the Supreme Court held in 1927 that income from illicit activity was taxable. The IRS now had legal means to bust up criminal organizations that didn’t declare profits from bootlegging, gambling, prostitution and extortion.
The documents reveal Malone infiltrated Capone’s organization by posing as a Philadelphia gangster on the run named Mike Lepito.
‘He had the whole setup done, from the fedora to the double-breasted suits to the silk underwear, even with the initials ML on it,’ Dolan said,
The unit gained a powerful crime-fighting tool after the Supreme Court held in 1927 that income from illicit activity was taxable. The IRS now had legal means to bust criminal organizations that didn’t declare profits from bootlegging, gambling and extortion
Malone also helped take down other famous crime bosses, too, such as Waxey Gordon (right) and Nucky Johnson (left)
Malone (second from right) lived in Capone’s Chicago headquarters, the Lexington Hotel, secretly collecting evidence that the gangster (center) was making a lot more money than he declared on his taxes (Pictured, Capone is led from Chicago Federal Court)
Malone ended up living in Capone’s Chicago headquarters, the Lexington Hotel, secretly collecting evidence that the gangster was making a lot more money than he declared on his taxes.
He also helped take down other famous crime bosses, too, such as Waxey Gordon and Nucky Johnson.
Another famous case, Malone played a role in was the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the 20-month-old son of hero pilot Charles Lindbergh.
The 80 pages of daily investigative memos show details about Lindbergh’s diet, how he stopped shining his shoes after the kidnapping and how he took a machine gun to meet a hoaxer claiming to know the kidnappers.
The 80 pages of daily investigative memos on the Lindbergh baby (pictured) kidnapping reveal detials Lindbergh’s diet, how he stopped shining his shoes after the kidnapping and how he took a machine gun to meet a hoaxer claiming to know the kidnappers
Malone and the T-men convinced Lindbergh to pay the $50,000 ransom in rare gold certificates and documented bills, allowing investigators to painstakingly track every dollar that was spent (Pictured, the ransom note for the Lindbergh baby kidnapping)
This helped authorities capture Bruno Richard Hauptmann (pictured), who was found guilty of kidnapping and murder and executed 1936
Malone and the T-men convinced Lindbergh to pay the $50,000 ransom in rare gold certificates and documented bills, allowing investigators to painstakingly track every dollar that was spent.
This helped authorities capture Bruno Richard Hauptmann, who was found guilty of kidnapping and murder and executed 1936.
Dolan hopes this rare find will help honor his uncle.
‘He put in 47 years of service to his country at great risk to his life with great honor to his country,’ said Dolan, who is lobbying to get Malone a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom.