Blanket warning that some content may be disturbing. Everything I talk about here is public knowledge and can be read about on Wikipedia or in a book.
Not that long ago I made a post about some fascinating people on Wikitree: Who is your most interesting incidental find while doing genealogy? - WikiTree G2G
Dr. Francis Edward Sweeney (1894-1964) is the prime suspect in Cleveland's grotesque Torso Murders. In fact legendary lawman Eliot Paul Ness (1903-1957) was convinced that he was the killer, even kidnapping (!!!) Dr. Sweeney and locking him in a hotel to interrogate him.
The Cleveland Torso Killer, like Jack the Ripper, enjoyed taunting the police. He even left two severed heads in full view of Ness' office.
Dr. Sweeney's cousin happened to be Ohio Democratic Rep. Martin Leonard Sweeney (1885-1960), who leveraged his considerable political power to force Ness to drop his investigation of his cousin. In desperation, Ness attempted to burn down the shanty town where the murders had taken place. Ultimately, he was never able to flush out the killer and the case remains officially unsolved.
Dr. Sweeney was committed to the VA hospital system for acute alcoholism. He enjoyed sending mocking postcards to Ness, including one with a picture of a tree with the words "Dig here" written under it.
This story of political corruption, murder, and obsession reminds me of Frank Miller's Sin City. If anyone saw the movie and doubted that a senator would protect his murderous relative from the law... well, Eliot Ness might have something to say about that.
(Dr. Sweeney also makes a brief appearance in the movie Seven Psychopaths, where he [as the "Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run"] is killed in gory fashion by two fictional vigilantes).
