As a crusading young prosecuting attorney in 1930s Omaha, Smith helped break the grip of the political machine that long controlled the city. After graduating from Central and then Harvard Law School, Smith returned to his hometown in 1929 as an assistant U.S. attorney. In that role, the prosecutor took on Tom Dennison, the underworld boss whose political machine and crime syndicate had gripped Omaha for over three decades. In 1932, the 27-year-old Smith risked his own life to bring criminal indictments against Dennison and 58 associates on charges of conspiracy and violation of the Prohibition Act. A fixed jury spared Dennison from conviction, but he lost in the court of public opinion. After the trial publicly exposed Dennison’s bootlegging, gambling, violence, protection payments and network of dirty cops, a reform ticket at the next year’s election swept the machine out of power. Smith soon after resigned and spent a half century in private practice, three times arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court. He died in 1988, but his legal legacy has lived on. His two daughters also followed him into law, one becoming the first woman to serve as a federal judge in Nebraska.
Edson passed away in 1988 at the age of 83.