G-man

Sad to say, Ness peaked in his 20s, and Prohibition’s star G-man never recovered from the intoxicating effects of fame.

“It’s something that stands still, stands strong, stands for a long time. And that’s exactly what G-man embodies.”

“I don’t think you’re a big master spy,” the G-man confides to Winner at one point.

A G-man joins the district attorney’s office and busts a racketeer.

It was the death of the deus ex machina — the hope that a G-man of mythic abilities would decisively intervene on the side of good and save the honor of the country.