Bureau of Prohibition, U.S. Department of the Treasury

By the summer of 1930, Ness had risen through the ranks from Temporary Prohibition Agent, Junior Prohibition Agent, and Junior Special Agent. With the Bureau’s focus zeroing in on fighting violent crime, the Department of Treasury found it increasingly ill-equipped to carry out a mission so outside their original mission of tax compliance. For that reason the Bureau was transferred from the U.S. Department of the Treasury to the U.S. Department of Justice.