Original subtitles

Sit down, John Chek. I'll let you know when you may go.

Senator Cord, the subcommittee is recessed for lunch. We are not now in

So is Mr. John Chek's counsel. May I point out... You may not.

I subpoenaed you out of a federal penitentiary because it occurred to me

after having served almost all of a 20 -year sentence, you might have undergone

at least the rudiments of reformation.

It was my hope that you would cooperate with this committee in its efforts to

expose the organized criminality existing in this country today.

Fat chance, Buster.

Instead of cooperating, you have blocked us at every turn.

In the course of this first day's hearing, you have evaded, you have lied,

have seen fit to plead the Fifth Amendment no less than 27 times.

I didn't ask to come here. Your attitude may be different when you face a

federal grand jury on charges of perjury and contempt of a United States Senate

committee. But...

Marshal.

Yes, Senator.

Have this man return to the penitentiary. I don't want to see him

Now, wait a minute.

What's this about a grand jury? What's going on here?

You've been parroting your counsel's advice. Ask him.

All right, let's have it. What was he talking about in there?

Well, stay here for lunch. Never mind him. I asked you a question.

They had you cold, Steve. Every time you lied to that committee, they were

looking down your throat with documented proof.

I didn't say anything but what you told me to say. Oh,

you knew about that proof before you... Big Steve John Jack.

I'm elected.

Public patsy number one. That's it, huh?

Well, the boys upstairs, the ones who pay me, Steve, they get the odds, that's

all. Sure, sure.

Let's not open any new canopies.

Let Big Steve take the rap, huh?

Let him rot a couple of more years in jail. Why not?

Well, I'll tell you why not.

I got dough waiting for me, big dough. I'm not the lamb out of this country. I

live like a king. That's why not.

Now, be smart, Steve. If you get a bankroll set aside, it'll wait. It'll

be there. That's where you're wrong. It won't. I can't wait.

Steve, the answer is no.

It's got to be this way. I won't sit still with this. I won't. I won't.

Don't do it, Steve.

Steve, they'll throw the buck at you! Steve!

Yeah.

John Gregory.

G -R -E -G -O -R -Y.

1416 North La Brea Boulevard.

Los Angeles, California.

Night letter, that's right.

Relax, Nick. I never saw you so jumpy.

Relax, he says.

You the captain of one little tuna boat? Look at me. I've got 25 just like her

and 10 more on lease purchase. You don't see me sweating it?

No, I'm sweating for you.

I should have my head examined suggesting this deal in the first place.

You know what happens if just one single step goes haywire, don't you, John?

You lose your shirt.

I'll make the tonnage and that means my merge with Bickle's Cannery will go

through. Then I'll pay for my books.

If you deliver as much fish as you signed up for.

If you don't, you're dead.

We'll see.

Daddy? Hello, baby.

Oh, you didn't shave.

Just like when you were a little kid.

Go in a couple of weeks and you complain about your old daddy's wish.

Well, they scratch.

I missed you, you big hunyack.

What you got rigged for me today?

Some shopping? Stuff for a trousseau, maybe?

Nothing so extravagant. We're going to hear Van speak at a women's club rally.

It isn't bad enough I'm losing my daughter to a rising young politician.

got to listen to his campaign speeches and the bargain.

I stopped by your office.

Nothing urgent.

Except, uh, maybe this telegram.

Anything the matter, Fisherman?

No, no, it's just that I'm... Well, I can't go to the rally with you, Helen.

Tell Van I'm sorry I couldn't make it, but I just remembered I've got to see

somebody on business. Go on.

I'll use the company car here on the dock.

The story on Janczek's escape is almost a week old. It's buried way in the back

of the paper.

What? Don't be alarmed. Mr. Gregory, I only wish to speak to you. My name is

Moray. I'm not looking for work. I am retired.

What do you want?

From the Boston office of the Swiss Federated Bank of Zurich.

Look, Mr. Moray, I'm a busy man.

Did you say Swiss?

Federated Bank of Zurich. For the past 20 years, I personally handled your

daughter's trust fund.

Yes, I remember your name now. I've seen your name on correspondence.

$200 ,000.

Half of the trust fund paid when your daughter was 10. The other half is due

when she's 21 in less than a year.

Not an unusual trust fund at all, sir.

Except for the difference in the names.

See, a trust fund set up by another man for his daughter being paid to your

daughter.

The girl you call Helen Greger. You don't know what you're talking about.

A trustee of the trust fund, you've already accepted $100 ,000.

And I assume you plan to accept the remaining $100 ,000 for your own

despite the fact that the money was left to someone else.

Get out of here.

The young man who's about to marry your daughter is running for Congress.

What would happen to him and your daughter if I lodged a criminal

against you?

For what?

Felony fraud.

$100 ,000.

And you'll never see or hear from me again.

There is a way, papers I can sign, put me in your control to make sure that you

make only this one pension payment if you go along with me now.

Every cent I own is tied up.

Where am I going to come up with that much cash?

That's your problem.

I'll call you later.

Good days.

As Mr. Gregory's attorney, I appreciate your coming here on such short notice,

Mr. Bickle. You trying to renege on the merger?

No, certainly not. In fact, as Mr.

Bickle, we'd like to ask for a postponement.

As you know, Mr. Gregory has $300 ,000 of his own company stock in escrow.

I have an equal amount tied up in case you've forgotten.

We realize that.

But Mr. Gregory finds himself in urgent need of ready funds for another purpose.

For what other purpose? It's something I can't talk about. I haven't discussed

it with Mr. Mason.

I don't know what you're trying to pull, but I don't like the smell of it.

Either this merger goes through and on the date specified, or it doesn't go

through at all.

And if that happens, you forfeit your escrow.

You ought to know the penalty clause. You helped write the contract.

Look, Bickle, you won't lose anything by letting me off the hook for a couple of

days. If I could only explain... You wouldn't do one bit of good.

The answer would still be no.

Nick, how much money is in that special account you've been keeping for me?

Well, as near as I can remember, a little over 100 ,000. I want you to draw

out.

All of it? In cash.

Now, today.

I thought you told me you could swing the new fleet and the cannery merger

without touching that money. What's wrong?

Don't push me. Don't push. I'll tell you if I could.

Okay, John, anything you say.

I'll call and tell you what to do with it.

Just get the money for me.

Don't ask why.

Stefan. You get my telegram?

Make all the arrangements?

Don't be scared.

Nobody knows about us or I'm here.

They're looking for me in Boston.

It won't work, Stefan.

Why not?

You got the boats?

You put the two of us on one, take us down to Mexico. I got contacts there.

I'll need some dough, porch passports, plane fare to Switzerland.

The two of you.

Sure, me and my daughter. Who else? She knows she's going with me.

20 years.

Not a word. Not a letter.

How is she? What is she?

Now you want her to pack up and run off to Switzerland with you. Why?

You want me to draw pictures for you? Why do you think?

The trust fund, 100 ,000 bucks. She don't sign for it, I don't get it.

why. You set up that trust fund for her.

Oh, sure.

For some brat I never even saw.

What I even didn't care two cents for, I set it up for her, yeah.

She's already got a hundred thousand bucks. Or you have, what's the

The rest of that dough I always figured is my own private nest egg. For me, Big

Steve, alone.

I wasn't sure.

But I'd have bet my life that was exactly how you felt. What you would

No, Stefan.

Even if she were alive, I wouldn't let her go with you.

You wouldn't, you...

Even if she were alive, what are you talking about?

Your daughter's dead.

You lie to me, I'll cut your heart out. There was a nix up in the hospital

records. I didn't know about it until years later.

Your daughter's dead, Stephon, dead.

You cheap, chiseling thief.

What about the money, the money from the trust fund? What did you do with it?

Held it for you.

Ten years ago, the first $100 ,000, I put it in a special account for you for

when you were released as untouched.

And what about the other $100 ,000? With the kid dead, how do I get it?

I've got everything you need. Notarized statements, records, everything.

You'll give me a hundred grand in cash?

Get me out of the country in one of your boats? Fix me up with papers so I can

collect the other hundred grand myself?

Yes, yes.

When?

I'll need a couple of days.

Nah, nah. It's too risky. Tonight. I want it tonight.

That's the cops.

Hello.

This is Prince Murray, Mr. Gregory.

Hold on a minute, please.

Somebody's coming over now. You'd better get out of here.

Tonight. I want that money tonight.

All right.

San Pedro Harbor.

The tuna clipper, Helen G.

Near the oil dock.

It'll be empty.

Meet me on board in the galley.

9 .30.

Don't fool with me, I warn you.

9 .30.

All right.

Listen.

The money?

You can have it.

Tonight, sir.

Tonight. One hundred thousand dollars.

Cash.

Tonight.

You know where we talked?

The dock?

My boat? The LNG?

There won't be anyone on board.

Meet me there.

Ten o 'clock.

The money, the papers?

You'll get them, I promise. Promise?

What are you pulling off here? Nothing, believe me. I told you it'd take time.

You've got to help me.

Now, listen.

Here's what I figured.

You stay here, out of sight a couple of days, then I'll be able to... I said

tonight. Listen to reason. Listen to reason.

What's going on here, Gregory?

Mr. Bickle, I've got to talk to you.

Mr.

Bickle, wait.

Listen.

It's nothing. Nothing at all. Just one of my sailors.

Drunk, that's all. Drunk. I had to hit him.

You hit him all right.

He's dead.

Well, Lieutenant, homicide, Perry. All we have to find out now is why he was

killed. Plus who he is, what he was doing here, and why Mr.

Bickle just happened along at so opportune a time.

Don't start hinting that I've got anything to sweep under the rug.

I wanted to talk to Gregory, but he wasn't home when I phoned him.

I knew that he had a habit of coming to whichever of his boats happened to be in

port whenever he was upset.

Why should I be upset, Mr. Bickle?

Why not?

That man was trying to extort money from you. You know what you're saying?

Very much so, Mr. Mason.

I was curious when he wanted me to extend that escrow.

And tonight I received a telephone call from someone who calls himself Moray.

He said he had information on Gregory that could be disastrous.

He suggested that I ask him about it.

Well, Lieutenant, if that doesn't suggest extortion, then I don't know

Look here, Bickle. Sorry, Mr. Gregory, I'm afraid I'll have to take you in.

What's the charge, Lieutenant?

Suspicion of murder, Counselor.

I'll see you downtown, John.

We're into his effect. His name was Franz Moray, formerly of the Boston

of the Swiss Federated Bank of Zurich.

Paul, I'd like you to... I know, be on the next plane to Boston.

No, I don't know why my father went down to the harbor tonight.

I don't know anything, except my father isn't a murderer.

I'll go along with that, Mr. Mason.

In all my life, I've never met a man less capable of killing.

And neither have you ever heard of this Franz Morey?

No, not until I got that crazy phone call at my campaign headquarters.

Mr. Gregory shrugged it off as a practical joke.

I'd say it was anything but a joke.

Helen, do you know of any business dealings your father had with the

Swiss Bank of Zurich?

If he had, he never spoke of it.

I must know the truth about his relationship to Maury.

If the man was an extortionist, I want to find out what hold he had over your

father. Can you recall anything at all?

Any possible occurrence in your father's life that might furnish us with a lead?

No, nothing.

My father never harmed anyone in his life except... No, that couldn't be.

couldn't be, Helen? The automobile accident.

Back east in Boston 20 years ago.

I don't remember it. I was only a few months old.

My mother and baby sister were both killed.

Helen's told me all about it.

You see, Mr. Gregory was driving, but the accident wasn't his fault. The other

car ran into him.

So there couldn't possibly be any basis for extortion there.

Besides, Mr. Gregory is the one who suffered losing his wife and child.

I think the tragedy still weighs on his mind.

The fact that they both died and we came out without a scratch.

We? Dad and myself.

And the nurse who was staying with us, taking care of us. Can you remember the

nurse?

No, I don't remember her.

There's a picture of me in an album.

As a baby in her lap.

The name underneath the picture.

Stone.

That was it.

Mrs. Margaret Stone.

Operator, this is Paul Drake from 806.

I'd like to place a long -distance call to Los Angeles, please.

Come on in. It's open.

Yes, I'd like to speak person to person to Perry Mason.

What about, Paul?

Perry, I want to... Never mind, operator. Thank you.

What are you doing here? Hi, beautiful.

How'd you make out at the Swiss bank office?

Oh, just fine.

Talk to a stuffed shirt named Corby who wouldn't give me the time of day except

that Franz Murray, the dead man, worked there but retired over a month ago.

Well, we'll have to see Mr. Corby again.

But before we do that, I want you to do some ambulance chasing, Paul.

We're checking all the hospitals near the waterfront. The man's name was

Gregory. And when did this accident happen?

About 20 years ago.

If you don't mind waiting.

They were transferred to a private ambulance and taken to the hospital.

This can't be the only clipping, Perry. It doesn't say what hospital.

I know, Donald, but we can follow it up in some other newspaper office.

Well, Paul. Hi. Pay dirt. I found the hospital where the car crash victims

taken. And it turns out to be the same hospital where Gregory's daughter was

born. Here.

Look at this maternity record.

Notice it lists the birth of a pre -opera female infant, Susan Gregory.

Susan?

Susan, but I thought... Yeah, well, this is the auto accident admittance record,

dated exactly two months later.

It lists the...

Mother and baby Susan is dead on arrival.

The survivors, Gregory, the father, a nurse named Mrs. Stone, and a baby

daughter, Helen, three months old.

How could that be?

I mean, if Susan was... Exactly, Della.

If Susan was a firstborn infant, then how could the Gregories have another

only a month older?

You think that might be necessary?

Yes, Mr. Corby.

I'll have to examine your records.

The man's life is at stake. To defend him, I must know the facts.

The head office in Switzerland would, I'm sure, be most disturbed that the

Boston records and personnel should be introduced as evidence into a Los

court.

That wouldn't be necessary if I were to be given the information I needed. I

suppose you're right.

I haven't the file here, but I can probably answer your questions.

Susan was the name of the Gregory's real daughter, but of course you know that

already. Yes, she was the only child that Gregory's had.

According to the records, Helen was adopted as an infant about the time

was born. At least the adoption papers were prepared and being processed.

And as you said before, that trust fund, that $200 ,000 trust fund, was set up

for the adopted child by her real father.

The adoption was started before Helen was born.

You see, the mother didn't want the child.

Would you please give me the name of the real father?

Well, it's been in the headlines often enough since he escaped from the Senate

committee.

John Check.

Stefan Big Steve John Check.

If I'd wanted you to know, Perry, I'd have told you.

What actually happened the night of your automobile accident, John?

There was a mix -up in the hospital admittance records.

Somebody made a mistake.

The death certificate was made out in my daughter's name, Susan.

But it was really Stefan's child, Helen, who was killed.

You knew all this?

Yet you didn't make any attempt to correct it.

I didn't know.

Not right away.

But when I learned about the truth of the mix -up two years later, I corrected

it.

Except for the name. I didn't think that was important.

But you didn't correct that mix -up with the Swiss bank that handled Helen's

trust fund.

Now, as trustee...

Knowing your own daughter, Susan, had no legal right to that trust fund, you

still accepted the first installment of $100 ,000.

Perry, that money hasn't been touched. Not a cent of it.

Whom did you fight aboard the Clipper?

Nobody. Nobody. I just had too much to drink, fell down, and got messed up.

You told Bickle you fought with a sailor.

No, I just made that up about the sailor. I didn't know what I was saying.

Why? Because you just left Maury dead on the galley floor?

No, I never saw Moray. He wasn't here on board to... You did have an appointment

with him.

To pay extortion money.

I didn't kill Moray.

You started adoption proceedings before Helen was born.

And that was a month before your own daughter was born.

Now, why would a gangster like John Check ask you to adopt his baby?

Because he and I... Look, Perry.

25 years ago in Boston...

Stefan was a waterfront hoodlum.

He smeared dirt on the name of John Check.

Such dirt that it made me ashamed.

I changed my name from Gregor John Check to John Gregory.

Stefan is my brother.

I only wish I could help you, Mr. Mason, but I don't know anything.

Not about the murder, perhaps, but there are other areas where you might be of

assistance.

Matter of... Mr. Gregory's real name, for example.

Okay, Mr. Mason, for whatever good it does.

I knew John Gregory when he was Gregor John Chick.

He's been my closest friend.

There's nothing he wouldn't do for me, and there's nothing I wouldn't do for

him. Does that include hiding his brother from the police?

You think Big Steve's aboard this tub? You're dreaming, you must be.

Better place for a wanted man to take cover.

Scene of a murder when the police have come and gone.

You're wrong, Mr. Mason.

Absolutely wrong.

John Check is not on this boat.

You'll have no objection to my going aboard and looking around.

You're just like my brother, a double -crosser.

That's a lie, and you'll know that, Steve. He's never double -crossed you in

life. He's been doing it for 20 years.

I gave him my kid to adopt. I set up a trust fund for her. And when she gets

killed in an accident, he puts his kid in her place so he can collect the

You make it sound like he was crooked.

I'll give you something else to worry about, that Murray guy.

He must have known about the automobile accident and the switching of the kids.

He must have used it to put the squeeze on my dear brother.

John Check, you say those things in court, you'll send your brother to the

chamber. You are so right.

I'll send him straight to the gas chamber.

Lieutenant Anderson, I show you this wrench, People's Exhibit 1.

I ask if you've ever seen it before.

Yes, sir. It has my mark on it.

We found it on the galley floor near the body.

And did you have this wrench subjected to laboratory analysis, Lieutenant

Anderson? It was looked over carefully by the lab.

There were many sets of smudged and obliterated fingerprints, and over them,

the handle, one clear set.

And whose fingerprints were these?

The defendant's.

John Gregory's. Thank you, Lieutenant Anderson. That'll be all, sir. Yours,

Mason.

Lieutenant Anderson, where on board the Clipper Helen G where the wrench is

kept? In a rack in the machine shop adjacent to the galley. Was there a

missing from this rack?

Yes, sir, there was.

Just one, Lieutenant?

No, sir, there were two wrenches missing.

Did you look for the other one?

We looked.

Did you find it?

No, sir.

No further questions.

Oh, by the way, Captain Paolo, you are aware, are you not, that charges are

being brought against you for harboring a fugitive?

Okay, okay, so I admit it, okay?

Sure, I knew Steve Johnshack.

I knew he was my boss's brother, and I let him hide out on the boat, okay?

As your boss's close and accommodating friend.

Were you aware of the meeting between the decedent and John Gregory the night

the murder on board your boat?

The first I knew of that was when the police got me out of bed at home and

brought me down to the boat in the middle of the night. Your landlady is

to testify that you received a phone call late that afternoon from John

Do you deny that?

No.

And you immediately thereafter went down to the docks and ordered the shore

watch of the Helen Gee off the boat, explaining that the owner...

had insisted that he wanted no one on board the boat that night. Do you deny

that?

No.

I wish I could.

Well, Moray, on the phone, intimated rather than stated that he could make

trouble for Gregory because of certain information he had.

And Moray suggested that if I wanted to protect our business deal, that I should

urge Gregory to be... I think the word he used was cooperative.

Yes, I think that explains it, Mr. Bickle.

You were worried about your merger deal with the defendant, and you became more

worried as a result of this strange phone call from Maura. Isn't that

I tried to get Gregory at home a few times.

As I told the lieutenant, I knew that whenever Gregory was worried, he always

went to one of his ships. And I went looking for him down at the docks. It's

perfectly legitimate. Well, of course it is, Mr. Bickle. You don't have to

worry, sir. You're not on trial here. Well, I should hope not.

Now, after you discovered the body of the decedent, did John Gregory make a

statement to you? Oh, he rambled on with some nonsense about a drunken sailor.

And then he said, and I remember his words exactly.

Then he said, I hid it.

Any luck?

Nope. And I had a small army looking for her. Mrs. Stone is either dead or out

of the country.

Is she that important, Barry?

I have a feeling she's very important.

An elderly nurse who was involved in an accident almost 20 years ago.

What can she tell you?

What my stubborn client has refused to tell me.

Speaking of clients, Bickle's story certainly didn't do John Gregory any

He sounded almost as if he hated him.

Or stood to gain financially.

Can he?

Aside from the escrow, Gregory sank most of his capital into those fishing boats

on lease purchase to meet the merger terms.

I think we ought to look into that lease purchase transaction, Paul.

Find out if Pickle's involved.

We'll get a man right on it.

Gertie, this is Paul.

Will you ring my office, please?

Seal, is Jack Farnham there? I want... He has.

All right, let's have him.

Okay, Seal, thanks.

Well, no wonder we couldn't find the missing nurse, Mrs. Stone.

Berger's had her on ice for days.

He plans to spring her in court tomorrow as a prosecution surprise witness.

Mrs. Stone, approximately 20 years ago, you were involved in an automobile

accident in Boston.

Do you remember that?

Well, it started out a pretty happy day, as I remember.

You see, Mr. Gregory was coming home after three months at sea, and they were

going to meet him at the dock.

They, Mrs. Stone?

Mrs. Gregory, of course, their infant daughter, Susan, and the infant child

they had adopted, Helen.

Now, Helen was a month older than Susan, I believe.

I say believe, Mr. Berger, because I didn't know. You see, I was hired by

Gregory that very morning.

Mrs. Stone, let's get this very clear.

When he stepped off his ship 20 years ago, John Gregory had never seen his own

daughter? Or his adopted daughter?

No, sir, he hadn't. Now, what happened, Mrs. Stone, after you picked John

Gregory up at the dock?

Mr. Gregory was driving home when we had the accident.

Mrs. Gregory and one of the children were killed.

The other child and I were not injured.

But you all went to the hospital?

Yes. With Mr.

Gregory unconscious, I had to make the identifications.

I'm afraid, Mr. Berger, it was then I made my mistake. I improperly identified

the dead infant and the live one.

Helen, not Susan, had been killed.

Well, I really wasn't sure of it myself until two years later.

And what happened two years later?

Mr. Gregory was moving from Boston out here to California.

I couldn't leave with them, but before they left, I told Mr.

Gregory of my doubts, of the remote possibility that the surviving child was

really his own daughter.

Then, of course, he took some sort of steps to check out the true identities

the girls.

And what did he find out?

Susan, his daughter, was alive.

Helen, his adopted child, had been killed.

Before Mr.

Gregory went to California, he had me swear out some notarized statements and

things corroborating her identity.

And did you keep in touch with the Gregories after that?

No, I didn't.

It wasn't until five years ago, when I came out here myself on a sort of

semi -retired basis, that I looked Mr.

Gregory up.

My appearing seemed to bother him a great deal.

So much so, he paid me $5 ,000 if I promised never to see him

or his daughter again.

Acting as trustee for Helen Gregory, the defendant accepted $100 ,000 on the

occasion of her 10th birthday.

When he had you sign those statements 18 years ago, did John Gregory say to you

that among the records he had to set straight, was the matter of a $200 ,000

trust fund which his daughter Susan was not entitled to receive?

Why, no.

I never knew anything about a trust fund.

Thank you very much, Mrs. Still.

Counselor?

Your Honor, I would like to request that you adjourn these proceedings and grant

a brief conference in chambers.

You can't go on with it, John.

Every step you've made gives you away.

You call the girl who lives with you Helen because that's really her name.

There was no baby mix -up after your automobile accident.

But it really was your child that was killed.

That Helen is your adopted daughter.

No, Perry.

No, you mustn't say that.

Why mustn't be if it's true?

Oh, the bereaved father.

Your heart bleeds, doesn't it, Brother Stefan?

You never wanted her.

You never cared for her.

All she ever meant to you was a gimmick, a clever way to bury money you could

get your hands on when they let you out of jail.

I'm gonna see you fried. All right, John, check. That's enough.

Mr. Mason, I permitted this highly unorthodox hearing in chambers on your

assurances that it would help solve the case.

But if the record's gonna show nothing more than a vituperative exchange of

insults... I shall deem none of it in evidence, strike it off from the record,

and reconvene back in the courtroom.

If your honor will just be patient for a moment, I believe we can get at the

truth.

John, why this deception over identities?

Was it because you wanted to get the money and still claim Helen as your

daughter? I love that girl more than anything in the world. Too much to let

be hurt knowing her real father is a gangster, a criminal.

And the $100 ,000 from the trust fund.

You put it aside for her in a special account.

I also know that you borrowed against it.

As against all your assets.

In order to close that cannery merger.

You were lying when you told me you'd give me that money. You were lying!

No, no, you don't understand. There were two accounts.

I couldn't rob Helen of the money you set up for her. The special account in

name is my money.

Money I've saved over the years to match what you left her.

Well, what happened to my money?

That was the second account.

The one Paolo kept for me.

Your money, Stefan.

Untouched. He was to leave it for me on the boat. There was Moray. He wanted the

money. You wanted the money.

I didn't know what to do.

I thought you would help, would wait. Your Honor, I... I fail to see the

of all this.

It really doesn't have anything to do with the murder.

Even if this man did rig himself into this impossible situation for the sake

the girl.

We're still faced with the fact that the situation led to an extortion and the

extortion led to a murder.

Judge, I'm willing to plead guilty.

Well, I find your offer quite paradoxical, Mr. Gregory.

In order to keep your adopted daughter from learning that her true father is a

convicted felon, you're willing to expose yourself to a possible murder

conviction. Now, wouldn't that have the same effect upon her future?

Maybe. I don't know.

You see, my fine brother is quite a guy.

His wife didn't die when Helen was born for the simple reason she wasn't his

wife. He hadn't even bothered to marry her. Neither of them wanted the child.

The least I could do was to give her a home where she was wanted and a name

was not only clean but legally hers.

Will everybody please rise?

Mr. Mason, I believe we recessed before you had an opportunity to cross -examine

Mrs. Stone.

I have no questions of Mrs. Stone, Your Honor.

All right, well, Mr. Berger, you may call your next witness.

If it please the court, to anticipate, Mr. Mason, and to make it abundantly

clear for the record exactly how the district attorney's office feels on this

matter, let me state now that it is with extreme distaste and reluctance.

that the state finds it necessary to call his final witness a notorious

convicted felon.

Now serving time in a federal penitentiary, I call Stefan Janczyk to

Yeah, that's the statement I gave to the cops.

So what?

It's not true.

Not true?

Don't you try to play games with me, Janczyk. It's not true that you thought

your brother lied to you and double -crossed you?

It's not true that you wanted $100 ,000 that you thought he stole from you?

Those things are not true?

No.

I asked him for enough cash to get out of the country, that's all.

You expect me to believe a story like that, a fantastic story like that?

Well, just a few minutes ago in the judge's chambers, you said that...

enough.

I told you the truth.

Mr. Janczyk, do you know what the penalty for perjury is?

Yeah.

They send you to jail, don't they?

No further questions.

What time on the night of the murder did you go aboard the tuna clipper?

No time on the night of the murder. I went down there the next morning after

cops had left.

A little after ten that night, the man was seen in a Gregory Company power

launch drifting from the oiling dock to another dock some distance away.

Now, he tied the launch there and went ashore.

I can produce a witness to swear to that fact.

Shall we call that witness now and ask him if you were the man in that launch?

All right.

So I went down to the waterfront.

When I no sooner got aboard the clipper than I heard someone coming along the

dock. I was scared, so I scrammed. You were scared because someone was coming.

Yet you had gone there for the express purpose of collecting $100 ,000 from

brother. All right. All right, all right. So I was there at a quarter to

satisfied.

John Gregory was marked up from a fight. It wasn't a fight with Moray. It was a

fight with you, was it not?

Yeah. I tried to hit him with a wrench.

But he knocked it out of my hand and we wrestled. Then he got hold of it and he

hit me with it. But I wasn't out, see?

Just stunned when he went up on the deck.

Then you heard Bickle shouting to your brother?

Well, how did I know some cop hadn't come along?

I couldn't go back in the dock, so I went the other side.

And I saw this motorboat tied up to the clipper and... Just a minute.

Are you saying that that motor launch just happened to be tied up alongside

clipper?

Sure. How else would it be there?

Because it was left there by the man who planned to use it to get to the boat

and to leave the boat without being seen.

Nah.

I saw the launch. I took it.

But I didn't bring it there. I don't know where it come from.

Your Honor, if I'm allowed to recall a witness...

I think we might determine the truth about this motor launch.

Your Honor, this motor launch has nothing to do with the issue. I must

I believe the use of the motor launch by Stefan Johnczek is the key to the

entire murder, Your Honor.

Well, you may recall your witness.

Captain Powell, when not in use, the motor launch is kept at the marina?

Yes, always.

Mr. Johncheck stated that he called you for permission to hide aboard the

Clipper. Now, may I take this to mean that you gave him permission?

Yes. Did you tell him he could take the power launch from the marina and bring

it to the Clipper?

Absolutely not. You have heard testimony that the decedent, Franz Morey, made

phone calls to many of Mr. Gregory's friends and associates in an effort to

exert greater pressure for his planned extortion.

Now, did Morey ever phone you?

Did he, Captain?

I guess.

Then you knew about Maury.

And you knew that Mr. Gregory was meeting someone at 10 o 'clock that

the tuna boat, and you correctly guessed that it was Maury.

Did you not then phone Maury and tell him to be there earlier than 10 at 9,

or 9 .15?

No.

Why should I?

Did you bring the motor launch alongside the clipper so you could get away

without being seen?

Me?

What is this, Mr. Mason?

You're talking about a killer.

I'm Gregory's best friend.

Would I commit a murder and then let him take the blame?

You may not have meant to.

But when John Check and Gregory unexpectedly arrived and had the fight,

already killed Maury with that wrench that is still missing.

And you were hiding with the body of the man you had killed in the machine shop

right next to the galley.

You're crazy.

John Check panicked and took away the launch, so you had no alternative but

to... Leave your victim's body in the galley, slip off the stern of the boat

the shadows, and hurry home.

How wrong can you get?

I worked like a slave to keep that outfit going for John.

For yourself, Captain.

Not for John Gregory.

My investigator has discovered that it was you acting through a dummy

corporation who furnished the defendant with ten tuna boats on a lease purchase

agreement.

Okay.

Okay, so Gregory pays for those boats and I make a profit.

Is that illegal?

This trust fund, which you kept in a special account under your own name,

that why you had to get Maury out of the way?

Because Gregory had asked you for that money to pay off Maury, asked you to

bring it to the boat that night, but you couldn't, could you?

You'd already used that money to get control of the ten tuna boats.

Captain? Why not?

Why not?

Why should I be the skipper of one lousy tunable while he gets rich?

Sure.

Sure, I used the money to tie up the boat.

If that cannery deal went through, John would pay plenty to get those boats.

I could put the money back and still make a fortune.

And then came the extortionist and Gregory wanted the money.

And the money wasn't there.

I... I only meant to knock Maury out and

ferry him to a freighter.

I was going to have him kept on one of the salt -bound tuna boats.

I... I never... never figured to kill him.

I never meant to kill him. You must believe that.

I... I hit him too hard.

I hit him too hard.

I hit him too hard.

Congratulations. I'll see you later. Right.

Well, was it worth it, John?

What do you think, Perry?

Step on.

In the judge's chambers, you said you'd see me executed.

But on the witness stand, you deliberately lied.

Why?

Wise up.

I gotta be nice.

You're still holding my 200 ,000 bucks, brother.