William F. Roemer Jr. (June 16, 1926 – June 14, 1996) was an

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

agent for 30 years. He is known for his battle against

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

and being the most highly decorated agent in FBI history. After retirement he became a private attorney for businesses being muscled by the

mob Mob or MOB may refer to: Behavioral phenomena * Crowd * Smart mob, a temporary self-structuring social organization, coordinated through telecommunication Crime and law enforcement * American Mafia, also known as the Mob * Irish Mob, a US crimin ...

. He was the author of several books, including biographies on mobsters Tony "The Ant" Spilotro and Tony "Joe Batters" Accardo. Throughout his career, he encountered and dealt with Felix "Milwaukee Phil" Alderisio,

Gus Alex Gus Alex (April 1, 1916 – July 24, 1998) was a Greek-American mobster affiliated with the Chicago Outfit, who succeeded Jake Guzik and Murray Humphreys as the Outfit's main political briber and " fixer". Early life Alex's family came from the ...

, Jackie "The Lackey" Cerone, Sam "Mooney" Giancana, Murray "The Camel" Humphreys, "Mad" Sam DeStefano,

Joseph Bonanno Joseph Charles Bonanno (born Giuseppe Carlo Bonanno; ; January 18, 1905 – May 11, 2002), sometimes referred to as Joe Bananas, was an Italian-American crime boss of the Bonanno crime family, which he ran from 1931 to 1968. Bonanno was born ...

, and Ralph Pierce, among others. Roemer died in 1996 of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

, just two days before his 70th birthday.

Early life

William F. Roemer Jr. was born in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

to William F. Roemer (March 4, 1894 – September 25, 1971), a former

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

seminarian, and Carmel Luther Roemer (May 7, 1904 – April 23, 1980). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he served as a Private (1st Class) in the U.S. Marine Corps. He attended

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

for a legal career. While there, he became an amateur

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

, and was nicknamed "Zip" for his skills.

Career highlights

William F. Roemer Jr then joined the FBI in 1950 and served there for 30 years before retiring in 1980. When

J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation � ...

created the Bureau's

Top Hoodlum Program A spinning top, or simply a top, is a toy with a squat body and a sharp point at the bottom, designed to be spun on its vertical axis, balancing on the tip due to the gyroscopic effect. Once set in motion, a top will usually wobble for a few se ...

in 1957, Roemer was personally selected for the task. The program consisted of surveillance of organized crime figures. Roemer also developed (or tried to develop, "flip") several mob

informants An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informant ...

Richard Cain Richard Cain (October 4, 1931 – December 20, 1973), also known as Richard Scalzitti, was a notoriously corrupt Chicago police officer and a close associate of Mafia boss Sam Giancana. Early life Richard Cain was born to John and Lydia (n� ...

, a disgraced former cop turned mafioso, was one of those. With his efforts, he helped the Feds put away Outfit bosses like Sam "Teets" Bataglia and Felix "Milwaukee Phil" Alderisio within a year of their rise to leadership. Roemer also tried over a period of time to "flip"

Outfit Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural ...

hitman Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...

" Charles "Chuckie" Nicoletti, to no avail. Roemer was indirectly related to the death of

William "Action" Jackson William Jackson, also known as Action Jackson (December 13, 1920 – August 11, 1961) was an enforcer and loan collector for the Chicago Outfit. He earned his nickname of "Action" because it was slang for "Juice Man", which meant debt-collector. ...

who was the victim of a grisly gangland murder after Roemer was observed trying to make Jackson an informant and the Chicago Outfit suspected him of snitching. Roemer relocated to Arizona and was assigned to

Joe Bonanno Joseph Charles Bonanno (born Giuseppe Carlo Bonanno; ; January 18, 1905 – May 11, 2002), sometimes referred to as Joe Bananas, was an Italian-American crime boss of the Bonanno crime family, which he ran from 1931 to 1968. Bonanno was born i ...

, and helped the FBI convict him. Roemer mentions how he had to go through Bonanno's trash to obtain torn pieces of paper written by Bonanno outlining his daily agenda and having to

wiretap Telephone tapping (also wire tapping or wiretapping in American English) is the monitoring of telephone and Internet-based conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitorin ...

the different phone booths Bonanno used to relay his messages.

Retirement and later life

During retirement Roemer was an Arizona neighbor with

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

mobster Joe Bonanno. In the 1996

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

movie ''Sugartime'' Roemer appears as a

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

agent who recruits Sam Giancana to assist the US in killing

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...

. That is

artistic license Artistic license (alongside more contextually-specific derivative terms such as poetic license, historical license, dramatic license, and narrative license) refers to deviation from fact or form for artistic purposes. It can include the alterat ...

because Roemer worked for the FBI, not the CIA, and that is not how the CIA recruited the Mafia. The movie ''Sugartime'' is based on Roemer's 1989 book, ''Man Against the Mob''. On June 14, 1996, two days before his 70th birthday, Bill Roemer Jr died of natural causes at his home in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

. He was cremated in Arizona. A plaque in his honor is located at the Cedar Grove Cemetery,

St. Joseph County, Indiana St. Joseph County, commonly called St. Joe County by residents, is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 272,912, making it the fifth-most populous county in Indiana. Formed in 1830, it was n ...

(see his two entries at findagrave.com).

Family

Roemer was uncle to

Tim Roemer Timothy John Roemer (born October 30, 1956) is an American diplomat and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1991 to 2003 as a Democratic Party (United States), Democrat from Indiana's 3rd congressional district ...

, an American diplomat and politician.

Bibliography

*Roemer, William F. Jr. (1989) ''Roemer: Man Against the Mob'', New York : D.I. Fine, *Roemer, William F. Jr. (1990) ''War of the Godfathers: The Bloody Confrontation Between the Chicago and New York Families for the Control of Las Vegas'', New York : D.I. Fine, *Roemer, William F. Jr. (1994) ''The Enforcer: Spilotro, The Chicago Mob’s Man Over Las Vegas'', New York : D.I. Fine, *Roemer, William F. Jr. (1995) ''Accardo: The Genuine Godfather'', New York : D.I. Fine, *Roemer, William F. Jr. (1994) ''Mob Power Plays: The Mob Attempts Control of Congress, Casinos, and Baseball

References

External links

* *http://www.ipsn.org/roemer.php * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roemer, William F. Jr. 1926 births 1996 deaths Federal Bureau of Investigation agents Organized crime memoirists Military personnel from Indiana Non-fiction writers about organized crime in the United States University of Notre Dame alumni Writers from Indiana United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II United States Marines