Alexander Jamie

Alexander Jamie (October 31, 1882[1] – January 25, 1947[2]), was an American law enforcement officer who worked both as the top detective for the Secret Six and as a federal agent of the Bureau of Investigation (which became the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935), eventually becoming the head of the Bureau's Chicago field office.[3]

In 1928, Jamie began work for the Bureau of Prohibition, becoming the Chief Investigator with the Bureau's Chicago office. In October 1930, he took a leave of absence from the Bureau to serve as chief criminal investigator for the Secret Six,[4] a powerful and well-funded vigilante effort based in Chicago that fought crime across the nation until its dissolution in scandal in 1933.

Alexander was the brother-in-law to Eliot Ness, who worked under him in the Prohibition Bureau, and who formed and led the famous team of Prohibition Agents dubbed "The Untouchables" by the media. Ness's group was best known for their efforts to bring down Al Capone.[5]

Ness, in his memoir, The Untouchables, credited Jamie and Secret Six founder Col. Robert Isham Randolph for convincing federal officials to create Ness's group, and to make Ness its leader.[6]

A year after his appointment by the Secret Six, Jamie was profiled by the Rock Island (Illinois) Argus, which described him as “a quiet, shy man, who always catches the 5:15 to Beverly, his suburban home. . . . He is six feet tall, slender and quiet as a mill pond. His wife is principal of one of the Chicago schools.” Jamie was born and raised in Pullman, a suburb of Chicago, the Argus wrote. “He had been in law enforcement all his adult life and knew the ways of the wayward thereabouts."[7]

Jamie's work with the Secret Six was not without controversy. He was accused of beating a kidnapping suspect to extract details about the crime,[8] was found guilty in a false-arrest civil lawsuit,[9] and was unable to back up sweeping claims of corruption he'd made against State's Attorney John Swanson in 1932.[10]

In 1934, Jamie summed up the Secret Six's work as follows: It handled 595 cases, aided in 55 convictions, with sentences totaling 428 years. Fines of $11,525 had been paid, and they recovered $605,000 in bonds and $52,280 in merchandise. The Secret Six handled 25 kidnapping and extortion cases in which nine convictions were made.[11]

References

  1. ^ WWI draft card, accessed December 3, 2025 at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7Q79-8QPZ?lang=en
  2. ^ record accessed December 3, 2025: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VPKQ-VQ8?lang=en
  3. ^ "Eliot Ness - Cleveland Police Museum". Cleveland Police Museum. Retrieved 2017-04-11.
  4. ^ “U. S. Dry Agent Is New Investigator for ‘Secret Six’,” Belleville (IL) News-Democrat, October 31, 1930, 2.
  5. ^ Bergreen, Laurence (1996). Capone. Simon & Schuster. p. 346. ISBN 9780684824475.
  6. ^ Eliot Ness, with Oscar Fraley, The Untouchables. (New York: Pocket Books, 1987), 11.
  7. ^ Lemuel F. Parton, “Who’s News Today.” Rock Island (IL) Argus, January 8, 1932, 10.
  8. ^
    • “Police Drop Kidnap Probe,” Dailly News-Times (Neenah, WI), March 22, 1932, 1.
    • “New Clews Link Gang to Parker Kidnap Mystery,” Chicago Tribune, March 24, 1932.
    • “Exorbitant Ransom,” Austin (TX) American, March 27, 1932, 2.
    • “Chicago ‘Secret Six’ Restores Kidnaped Doctor to Society; Peoria Men Attempting to Act As Go-Betweens Arrested,” Daily Independent (Murphysboro, IL), April 4, 1932.
    • “Kidnapers Are Found Guilty,” Daily Chronicle (DeKalb, IL), June 1, 1932, 1, 7.
    • Sam Tucker, “As I View the Thing” The Decatur (IL) Daily Review, June 19, 1932, 6.
    • “Dictaphones Used To Get Kidnap Data,” Journal Gazette (Mattoon, IL), May 20, 1932, 8.
    • “Kidnapers Are Found Guilty.” Daily Chronicle (DeKalb, IL), June 1, 1932, 1, 7.
    • “Dictaphone Evidence Admitted; Jury Hears Conversation of Pursifull and Betson,” Journal Gazette (Mattoon, IL), May 26, 1932, 8.
    • “Kidnaped Man Returns Home; Secret Six Is Given the Credit for The Solving of Case,” Daily Chronicle (DeKalb, IL) April 2, 1932, 1.
    • “Kidnap Charges Filed Against 2 Held at Peoria,” Chicago Tribune, April 4, 1932, 10.
    • “Kidnap Suspect Denied Bond Cut by Peoria Judge,” Chicago Tribune, April 5, 1932, 7.
    • “Physician Held 17 Days Freed by Kidnapers,” Chicago Tribune, April 2, 1932, 1.
    • “Kidnapers of Doctor Parker Were Bluffed,” Urbana (IL) Daily Courier, April 4, 1931, 1.
    • “Twelve Held As Kidnapers; Peoria Abduction Gang Admits Part in Ransom Plot,” Decatur (IL) Daily Review, April 15, 1932, 1.
    • “Early End for State’s Case in Peoria is Seen; Many Motions Made by Defense in Kidnap Trial Denied,” Dixon (IL) Evening Telegraph, May 26, 1932, 2.
    • “Eight of Eleven in Peoria Kidnap Band Convicted,” Dispatch (Moline, IL), June 1, 1932, 1.
    • “State’s Case on Kidnaping Charge Nearing Close,” Daily Independent (Murphysboro, IL), May 19, 1932, 3.
  9. ^ Kathleen McLaughlin, “Kuhn Wins Over Secret Six: Youth is Given $30,000 by Jury in Arrest Suit: Debutante Cleared; 4 Ordered to Pay,” Chicago Tribune, December 3, 1932, 1, 2.
  10. ^
    • “Secret 6 and Swanson Go A-Spying; Sleuth on Each Other and Find Pair of Cabals,” Chicago Tribune, September 1, 1932, 1, 4.
    • “War of Words Continues,” Enquirer (Cincinnati, Ohio), September 2, 1932, 19.
    • “Spier Spying Upon Spiers; Woman Spills Secret as Chicago Authorities Watch Secret Six,” Biddeford (ME) Daily Journal, September 1, 1932, 1.
    • “Woman Sleuth Jailed,” Rock Island (IL) Argus, December 30, 1931, 1.
    • “Mrs. Kub Will Complete Story of Graft Today,” Chicago Tribune, March 23, 1931, 5.
    • “Swanson Wars on ‘Secret 6’ as Reform Racket; Calls Randolph Charges Utterly False,” Chicago Tribune, October 26, 1932, 3.
    • “‘Secret Six’ for Democrat; Swanson’s Record Failes To Satisfy Chicago Agency,” Kansas City (MO) Star, October 25, 1932, 1.
    • “Secret Six is Accused in Bribery; Prosecutor Probes Charge Investigators Bribed State’s Attorney Employee,” Scranton (PA) Times, October 27, 1932, 2.
    • “Secret 6 Heads to Face Grand Jurors Today; Randolph and Jamie Get Subpoenas,” Chicago Tribune, October 27, 1932, 1.
    • “Jury Quizzing for Secret Six Heads Ordered; Swanson Objects to Randolph’s Charges and Prepares To Conduct Investigation,” Rock Island (IL) Argus, October 26, 1932, 4.
  11. ^ "Appoint Jamie Police Chief in St. Paul; Former Leader of 'Secret Six' in Chicago Has Record as Vice Enemy." The Duluth News Tribune. July 13, 1934. p. 3.

Further reading

  • Meredith, Kevin E. (2026). The Secret Six: The Rise and Fall of Chicago's Greatest Vigilantes. Bloomington, Indiana: Red Lightning Books.
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