WILLIAM F. ROEMER  FBI
William Roemer was a graduate of the University of Notre Dame where he studied for a legal career before settling on a career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) a career which was to last some thirty years. Roemer became one of the most decorated agents in the history of the FBI. In his retirement he wrote four books about his experiences in fighting the mob along with a further two widely acclaimed crime based novels. During the early fifties he was assigned to Baltimore, New Haven and then to the Chicago office of the FBI. It wasn't until he began working for the Chicago field office that his years long battle against the mob really began in earnest. For many years the FBI had been reluctant to take on the Mafia, thanks largely to J. Edgar. Hoover the FBI director who for a long time had even denied any such  organization ever existed.
During the early fifties he was assigned to Baltimore, New Haven and then to the Chicago office of the FBI. It wasn't until he began working for the Chicago field office that his years long battle against the mob really began in earnest. For many years the FBI had been reluctant to take on the Mafia, thanks largely to J. Edgar. Hoover the FBI director who for a long time had even denied any such  organization ever existed. By 1957 although that attitude within the FBI was fast changing, agents were making serious inroads toward combating organized crime, focusing their efforts mainly on the Mafia or La Cosa Nostra (Our Thing) as it was also referred to by those within it's inner structure. In Chicago by 1957 the FBI had developed a program called the top hoodlum program, where each agent would be assigned certain suspected mobsters, the program was named C-1 in Chicago.
William Roemer was assigned to watching Gus Alex. Gussie Alex was an important figure in the Chicago Mafia, which was known to most as "The Outfit", Alex was the mob guy who cultivated the connection guys, a number of politicians on the payroll of the Outfit. During Roemer's investigations of Gus Alex, he would work closely with agents who were investigating other important members of the Outfit. Tony Accardo, Sam Giancana and other mobsters were never too far from the surveillance of William Roemer and other FBI agents.
While in Chicago Roemer was a menace to many of the Outfit guys, he wasn't afraid of confronting some of the most notorious Chicago mobsters around during 50's and 60's. Roemer would often have confrontations with Sam Giancana and Tony Spilotro, in return he was detested by many mobsters for his around-the-clock work ethic and tenacity in making their lives as miserable as possible. While most mobsters detested him many also had a grudging respect for the man.
Roemer and his colleagues had helped put together some extensive surveillance operations, some of which gathered masses of information regarding the facts and figures of many mob run or owned businesses. Roemer and his FBI friends had bugged the offices of Sam Giancana, who during the early sixties was boss of the Chicago Outfit. The bug in Giancana's office in the Armourey Lounge was named Little Al by the FBI surveillance team, this bug picked up most of the crucial information regarding mob business. Through Little Al the FBI learned just how much money the outfit were taking from the Teamsters pension fund and also the relationship the Outfit had with the Teamsters Union and how they controlled so many of the Teamster Union's presidents which included men like Jimmy Hoffa, Frank Fitsimmons, and Allen Dorfmen and for a while jackie Presser, all of these men were controlled completely by the outfit.
Using this information Roemer had a hand in the Strawman investigations and the Pendorf case. Cases that saw indictments handed out to the Teamster president and mobsters involved with the mob owned casinos in Las Vegas. Mobsters such as Tony Spilotro and Joe Lombardo were indicted along with Allen Dorfman for embezzlement. William Roemer later moved on to other assignments out with Chicago where he had great success. He applied for a transfer to the Tucson field office, a place he felt he could he work and then settle to see out his future retirement.
On his arrival in Tucson he was placed on the Joe Bonanno investigation, Bonanno was also seeing out his retirement in Tucson. William Roemer moved to Tucson in 1975 and retired in the early 1980's he had spent almost his entire working life in the FBI, chasing down and hassling the Chicago mobsters at every turn. Roemer was known to most of the high ranking members of the Outfit. He is also well remembered in the Chicago field office as being a hard working agent, someone the younger agents could look up to in trying to attain the high standard of work ethic and commitment to the job that Roemer had produced over the years when he had been in the Chicago office. Since those times Roemer has gained legend status not only among those who still work in the Chicago field office but throughout the entire Federal Bureau of Investigation.
William F. Roemer Jr. died of lung cancer on June 14th 1996, he was 69 years old. Roemer had been married to his wife Jeannie Uphaus for the best part of fifty years. He dedicated all of his books to her. In "War of the Godfathers," he wrote, "God spent the Seventh Day creating Jeanie. I dedicate this book to her."
He became a great writer of organized crime books in his retirement, his books much respected by the reading public and more knowledgeable crime historians alike. Roemer books were always among the more accurate information wise with regard to organized crime facts as well as being entertaining reads. His books are now considered standard reading material for anyone with a keen interest in organized crime history, particularly Chicago organized crime. He undoubtedly had many more books in him, more stories to tell. The man left us way too soon.