Once the leading contender to run Ford Motor company, Bennett lost the power struggle for control and by 1945 he was living full-time in his new desert digs.

Hired by Henry Ford after a New York street fight, Harry Bennett rose to prominence as perhaps America's most famous corporate thug.

Says Bennett: “I got peanuts for a salary for 28 of the 30 years.” Ford often rewarded Bennett and others with unexpected gifts (new homes, new cars, refrigerators), but often took the gifts away.

Bennett was a former boxer who headed up Ford’s “Service Department,” which was Ford’s internal security, called by some at the time the largest private police force in the world.

Former Desert Hot Springs compound of Henry Ford henchman asks $3.5M Harry Bennett's 60-acre 'S-Star Ranch' includes an indoor pool ...

The confrontation took place Sunday morning on a quiet stretch of Woodland Drive NW, outside the home of Douglas P. Bennett, Ford's personnel director. Spadaro, according to police, showed up in a ...