Mob FilesPublic-domain archive of American organized crime
Viewer page 25 of the FBI Vault's Frank Nitti file: page two of a September 1930 letter from the Chicago office of the Bureau of Investigation to the Director, stating that Treasury officials had failed to locate the subject and that 'A non est return has been made on the warrant'
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Bureau of Investigation correspondence, September 1930: the U.S. Attorney asks the Bureau to locate Frank Nitto (Vault Nitti Part 01)

The Chicago office reports that U.S. Attorney George E. Q. Johnson asked the Bureau to locate Frank Nitto, under income-tax indictment, that Treasury officials had failed to find him, and that 'A non est return has been made on the warrant.' The Director told Chicago to take the case as an exception.

Date
1930-09-18/1930-09-19
Kind
case-file
Source
FBI Records: The Vault, Frank Nitti Part 01 (Final), pp. 24-28
Retrieved
2026-10-12
Rights
A record of the Federal Bureau of Investigation released under FOIA through the FBI Vault. A work of the United States government, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105.

Letters between the Chicago office of the Bureau of Investigation and the Director, September 18 and 19, 1930. The Chicago agent in charge reports that U.S. Attorney George E. Q. Johnson asked the Bureau to locate Frank Nitto, alias Nitti, who was under indictment at Chicago for an important income-tax violation, and that he had told Johnson it was not a matter within the Bureau’s investigative jurisdiction.

The letter (p. 25), signed by Special Agent in Charge H. H. Clegg, describes the subject as “one of the important forces connected with the Capone gang in Chicago,” says that Special Agent Dewey learned from Treasury officials that they had tried and failed to locate him, then believed to be in Florida, and states: “A non est return has been made on the warrant.” The Director’s reply of September 19 tells the Chicago office to accept the case and handle it in the regular manner, as an exception and not a precedent.

The description of Nitto is the Chicago office’s, not a finding. Pages 2-30 also cover an unrelated assignment of two agents to guard an unnamed witness in an Internal Revenue case; that witness is not identified here. This archive read the page through the Vault viewer’s OCR text layer. The scans are poor; names, dates and figures can be garbled, and many names are redacted under FOIA exemptions (b6, b7C, b7D).

itemFBI Vault file on Frank NittiThe FBI Vault's release of the Bureau file on Frank Nitti, one part of 121 scanned pages, including a Bureau of Investigation Chicago letter that lists him as Frank R. Nitto and reports his March 14, 1930 tax indictment.itemBureau of Investigation, October 1930: identification data and the indictment of Frank R. Nitto (Vault Nitti Part 01)The Chicago office's letter of October 3, 1930 lists two Chicago arrests that ended in discharge, a $1,000 reward, and the March 14, 1930 indictment on five counts for 1925-1927. A memorandum of October 17 says the 1927 police fingerprints had been destroyed, so an identification order was held in abeyance.itemBureau of Investigation report, November 18, 1930: Frank Ralph Nitto taken into custody at Berwyn on October 31, 1930 (Vault Nitti Part 01)Special Agent C. C. Dewey reports that the subject was taken into custody early on October 31, 1930 at an apartment building in Berwyn, Illinois, arraigned before Judge Lindley and released on a surety bond. Questioned, he gave his name as Frank Ralph Nitto and said he was born in Angri, Italy, in 1888.