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 Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

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

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

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 crimi ...

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

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 of New York City, which he ran from 1931 to 1968. ...

Anthony Spilotro Anthony John Spilotro (May 19, 1938 – June 14, 1986), nicknamed "Tony the Ant", was an American mobster and high-ranking member of the Chicago Outfit who operated in Las Vegas during the 1970s and '80s. Spilotro managed the Outfit's illegal cas ...

, among others. Roemer died in 1996 of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

, two days before his 70th birthday.

Early life

William F. Roemer Jr. was born in

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

to William F. Roemer, a former

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

seminarian, and Carmel (Luther) Roemer. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he served as a Private (1st Class) in the

U.S. Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionary ...

. He attended

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

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 attorney and law enforcement administrator who served as the fifth and final director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) and the first director of the Federal Bureau o ...

created the Bureau's "Top Hoodlum Program" in 1957, Roemer was personally selected for the task. The program consisted of surveillance of organized crime figures. Roemer developed (or tried to develop, "flip") several mob

informants An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a "snitch", "rat", "canary", "stool pigeon", "stoolie", "tout" or "grass", among other terms) is a person who provides privileged information, or (usually damaging) information inten ...

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 Italian-American Mafia, Mafia boss Sam Giancana. Early life Richard Cain was b ...

, 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, garments, dress, apparel, or attire) is any item worn on a human 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 ma ...

hitman Contract killing (also known as murder-for-hire) is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of compensation, moneta ...

" 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 of New York City, which he ran from 1931 to 1968. B ...

, 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 Wiretapping, also known as wire tapping or telephone tapping, 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 monitoring connecti ...

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 (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

mobster Joe Bonanno. In the 1996

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, 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 based a ...

movie ''Sugartime'' Roemer appears as a

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

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 politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

. That is

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

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, William F. Roemer Jr. died of natural causes at his home in

Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

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

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

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roemer, William F. Jr. 1926 births 1996 deaths Federal Bureau of Investigation agents Law enforcement officials from Arizona 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