Original subtitles

Federal officers! Stay where you are!

All right, come on, move...

Come on, move. Get 'em up.

Let's go!

Come on, move.

Come on. Let's go, hands up.

Come on, come on.

Let's go, hands up. Come on.

Behind the neck.

Tonight's episode...

Starring Robert Stack as Eliot Ness.

Co-Starring Larry Gates and John Beradino.

With Special Guest Star Harry Guardino.

Chicago, February 1932.

Crime was a big business that was spreading

from the dark alleys of Cicero across town

to the gentler social atmosphere of the Gold Coast.

Times were changing and crime was changing with them.

Like any big business, it had to change,

but it still required the services of hoodlums and gunmen

like Al Barberry and George Colleoni;

the courtroom techniques

of unscrupulous attorneys such as Paul Curtiz;

and the guiding hands of the man at the top,

the man who had come up from the ranks

and had made the transition from gangster

to big businessman: Augie Vialle.

Come in.

Augie Vialle had never made

the inner circle of the Capone syndicate.

He had never tried,

not even after Capone was sent to Atlanta for tax evasion.

With the help of men in public office

willing to look the other way,

Vialle was too busy making a place for himself

with narcotics and hot cars and a new enterprise.

Hey, Nick!

Pretty good, huh?

Watch this now.

Huh? Empty!

What do you think of that, huh?

Pretty good machine.

I make the best.

What do you think, huh?

Vialle's operations had been under secret surveillance

for some time by a special group of government agents

known as the Untouchables.

Working under the leadership of Eliot Ness were

Enrico Rossi, key witness against Frank Nitti;

Cam Allison, brought in from St. Louis

to replace Martin Flaherty, recently promoted

to direct the Cleveland office of the Bureau of Prohibition;

Jack Rossman, a former telephone lineman

and now a wiretap expert; and...

William Youngfellow, full-blooded Cherokee

and former all-American from Carlyle University.

He was planted by Ness

as a waiter in Vialle's apartment hotel.

So you can see, it was quite a gathering.

A pair of police commissioners,

judges, lawyers, businessmen,

and all of them ready to give Vialle

the city of Chicago on a platter.

They've been trying to do that for some time.

What are they figuring on now?

Slot machines.

Slot machines?!

Could be real big business.

Grossed ten to 15 million a year in St. Louis.

They'll double that here, if we let 'em.

They think they're going to get a man to run it

who we can't stop.

Who?

Frank O'Dean.

Who's O'Dean?

At one time, he was a captain in the Irish Republican Army.

You're kidding.

No, he was running Irish whiskey into New York,

raising money for the cause.

When his wife died, it did something to him.

He forgot the cause and just raised money for himself.

Did very well at it, too.

His army training made him a great organizer.

Strange, I never heard of him.

He's been in the pen at Joliet for almost eight years.

I got a report on him a few days ago.

He's being released tomorrow.

I think I'll have a talk with him.

You know him?

I should; I sent him up.

And he didn't have to go.

I was in a bad spot during a raid.

He could have killed me, only he didn't.

That's why I think I'd better go talk to him now.

Illinois State Penitentiary.

Joliet.

A Wednesday.

Release day.

Having served seven years and six months

of a ten-year sentence,

Frank O'Dean was released... A civilian again.

The state provided him with clothes, a ten dollar bill,

and a ticket for transportation back home.

Frank O'Dean waited at the Joliet station

for the train back to Chicago.

Coffee.

Hello, Frank.

Well, Eliot Ness, isn't it?

That's right.

You still a Fed?

Still.

I'll have one.

I, uh, I thought you got out of that business.

Well, some people are still in business

As long as they are, I am.

You haven't changed much, Fed.

How about you?

What do you think?

I'm asking you.

Why?

Them.

Know them?

Uh-uh.

I do.

They work for an old friend of yours... Augie Vialle.

I hear Vialle's doing very well these days.

Ugh, this stuff is almost as bad

as the stuff they make in the joint.

I hear that you're going to work for Vialle.

And you want me to ask you where you heard that.

Ask me.

Where?

Vialle.

That why you're here?

You did me a good turn once, Frank.

I'm going to get Vialle.

I'd hate to have to get you again, too.

Let me tell you a little story, Fed.

Once upon a time, there was a guy who had everything.

Then, a bunch of old women made a law.

This guy I'm telling you about,

he, he bottled up a million violations

and one day he landed in jail.

Well, now he's out... and he's going to stay out,

forget the past, and live happily ever after.

I like that story, Frank.

I hope it comes true.

Do you want a ride into town?

You're the only copper I'd ride with,

that is, if I were going to ride with a copper.

No thanks, I'll use this.

That way the state won't owe me anything

and I won't owe you anything.

Suit yourself.

That's all right.

Hey, you.

You know, there's one thing

I've always liked about you, Ness.

What?

You're the only copper

that never told me to keep my nose clean.

So long, Fed.

O'Dean... I'm Al Barberry.

This is George Colleoni.

Vialle said to give you his regards.

Why didn't he come himself?

Well, he's kind of busy.

We'll drive you back.

No, thank you.

Vialle wants to talk to you.

I said Vialle wants to talk to you.

Things have changed since you were around.

Listen... I've heard!

They just locked me up...

They didn't cut off my ears!

In the late afternoon of February l6,

Julian Glass awaited Frank O'Dean's arrival into Chicago;

Glass was a disbarred lawyer.

He had been big when O'Dean had been big.

He had fallen when O'Dean had fallen.

Frank!

Julie.

I didn't think you'd be here.

What do you think old friends are for

if not to be where they're needed.

Thanks, Julie.

Here, give me that.

Come on.

I got something to show you.

This is what?

Home, Frank.

And look... get a load of this.

It comes right down... and bingo...

you got a place to sleep.

Closet space over there, too.

Lots of it.

Everything you need, Frank...

Radio, telephone.

Hey, and here's something you'll really like.

I got all your stuff out of storage.

And just in case

you want a cup of hot coffee

in the morning... something to eat...

something to drink.

Hey, maybe you want a drink now?

Cockroach.

Yeah, they get in sometimes.

Oh, Frank, I know this chicken coop

isn't exactly what you're...

well, it's better than a cell block.

Anything's better than a cell block.

Thanks, Julie.

Now, you didn't have to say that.

This calls for a drink.

I'm...

I'm a little thirsty today, I guess, it's...

all the excitement.

How is she, Julie?

She's fine, Frank.

Fine.

She's all grown up now.

She's gonna get married.

Married?

Yeah.

To a nice boy named Plummer.

Goes to school in Evanston.

How does she look?

Like her mother used to look many years ago.

The image of her,

Frank, you got a fine daughter.

No, I don't, Julie.

All right, all right.

You don't have a daughter.

As far as she knows, her name's Larkins

and her father was killed in the war.

But, someday, I'd like to tell her about you.

You do that, and I'll kill you.

Drink up.

For two weeks after the return of Frank O'Dean,

Eliot Ness waited for some sign, some word,

that Augie Vialle's intended slot machine operation

was going into action.

But there was no sign, no word...

until the night of March 4.

William Youngfellow called in with a tip

that Vialle was interested in a moving van

entering the state that night.

What it contained,

exactly when it was due to arrive, he didn't know...

Only that Vialle was very interested.

Eliot Ness was interested, too.

We'll wait till they get here.

Get 'em after they cross the state line.

Let's get set.

I wonder if Vialle is starting

to move slot machines into the state.

If Youngfellow's tip is right, we'll soon find out.

I understand Floyd Gibbons had something to say

about Vialle in his broadcast earlier tonight.

About him trying to take over all of Chicago.

Yeah, I heard.

Someday, they're going to put radios in cars,

and when they do, I'm going to be the first to buy one.

That's it, Eliot.

Yeah.

Hey, what's going on?

Federal Officers! Come out with your hands up!

You know them?

Yeah, this one's Pete Florio.

That's his brother Joe.

They're both Augie Vialle's men.

Eliot, better take a look back here.

A good tip.

Let's go.

With the confiscation

of the truckload of slot machines,

Eliot Ness declared open war on Augie Vialle's enterprise.

There's no Federal law against slot machines!

But Ness will invoke every Federal statute he can

to authorize search and seizure.

He'll haze you until he gets you, Augie.

Ness isn't going to get anybody.

We're going ahead with the operation.

Can you guarantee that?

What do you want me to do, sue him?

No.

But you promised to get Frank O'Dean

to run it for you.

We want you to get him.

Frank O'Dean is a two-bit punk!

He had his chance to come in with me... now, he's through.

I don't need anybody to operate this set-up for me.

You need us, Augie.

What?!

The big boys... downtown.

Your protection.

I like you, Augie.

Everybody likes you.

But we think it takes a little more

than you've got right here

to run this kind of operation.

Frank O'Dean was the best organizer,

the best operator in the rackets.

I suggest you get him to work with you.

I'm right about this, Augie.

I know it, you know it...

the boys downtown know it.

Well, Mr. Glass,

I haven't seen you around for a good long time.

Hey, you look like

you could use a drink, Mr. Glass.

No, thank you.

What do you want with me?

How is the legal business these days, Mr. Glass?

I'm not in that business anymore.

Oh? And why not, Mr. Glass?

I was disbarred.

Oh, yes, I did read something about that.

Now, tell me, Mr. Glass, what is your new business?

He asked you a question.

I have no business.

Not even with Frank O'Dean?

I have no business with him, or with you,

or with anyone else.

I should like to go now.

Mr. Glass, you were quite a lawyer

when you were a lawyer.

I always wondered why you advised Frank

to waive a jury trial and plead guilty.

In front of a jury, he might have been acquitted.

I thought you were his friend.

I was.

But then, if there had been a jury,

they would have investigated very carefully...

His interests, his family, huh?

There is a family, isn't there, Mr. Glass?

No, no.

His wife has been dead for many years.

I mean, besides his wife.

Well, you should know, Mr. Glass,

since you handled all of his affairs.

Go on, Mr. Glass.

Have your drink.

Aah! Aah!

Yeah.

Julie, where are you?

Oh, what's Vialle got to do...?

Okay.

Okay, tell him I'll be right there.

And now back to The Untouchables.

Well, you finally came to talk.

Excuse me, honey.

Excuse me, please.

Frank! Frank, it's good to see you.

Julie called. I got your message.

Oh, I sent you one a couple of weeks ago.

He got that one, too.

Yeah, I got that one, too.

Uh, go ahead, George.

The kind of people a man has to hire these days.

Not like the old days, huh, Frank?

Where's Julie? Uh, he'll keep.

They tell me you got religion.

You look the same to me.

Where is he?

Come on, come on, okay.

Nice people, eh, Frank?

Some of the best in Chicago.

Julie?

Hey! Hey!

Julie, what did they do to you?

What did they do to you?!

We had to know, Frank.

You had to know what?

The way to get you to come in with us.

And, uh, your mouthpiece talked.

I'm sorry, Frank.

I'm sorry.

What did you talk about, Julie? What?

I couldn't help it, Frank.

I couldn't take it.

They know.

They know all... all about her.

Oh, Julie...

Come here, Frank.

I want to show you something.

Lots of nice people here, Frank.

Lots of lovely girls.

Judges' daughters, senators' daughters,

and there, Frank... that one...

That's your kid, Frank.

Yeah.

Eleanor Larkins, 918 Jefferson Road, Wilmette.

That boy with her is her fiancé.

A friend of the judge.

I asked him to bring them along.

The kid's got a great future, Frank.

Happy marriage, plenty of money,

high society.

Only, what happens to it if the papers come out

with a story about her father?

A jailbird, a gangster?

Wouldn't be much left of that future, would there?

How do I know she's mine?

Ask him.

Okay. What's the deal?

You know, Frank. The slot machines.

We're going to go back in business.

Just like the good old days.

Okay!

Get your coats. You're leaving here.

What?! Get 'em, and get out.

But why?

Listen, miss,

this is not your kind of party, nor your kind of people.

Now, look, who do you think you are?

Never mind who I am!

Believe me, miss, I know what I'm saying.

I think he's right, Stuart.

Thank you.

With Youngfellow's information about O'Dean,

Eliot Ness knew

that Augie's slot machine racket was really going

into high gear with powerful political protection

and financial backing.

He also knew

that the potential operation could extend, octopus-like,

far beyond Chicago and Illinois,

and create an even greater empire of crime

than Capone and all the others.

But importing and distributing slot machines

did not violate the federal code.

Ness could only keep Vialle under constant surveillance,

hoping for a break...

A break that would give him the wedge he needed.

Those closest to Vialle became very familiar figures.

Paul Curtiz, the lawyer; George Colleoni, hoodlum and killer;

and now, Frank O'Dean.

Guess he didn't learn his lesson.

Do any of them?

Come on.

Come on, how long does it take to load a truck?!

Under Frank O'Dean's supervision

and organizing ability, the slot machine racket

started to grow with unbelievable speed.

Truck after truck roared out

with the insatiable mechanical monsters.

All of Chicago, and then Cook County,

became flooded with them.

No spot was too large or too small for Frank O'Dean to hit.

I'll do the dishes, Mama, after I'm through sweeping.

I did them already, Jake.

You did? I didn't notice.

You the boss? I am.

What's your name? Jake Brodowski.

All right, Jake, I'll show you just how this thing works.

Hey, what is this?

Leave it right here on the counter.

No, you can't put that in my store.

Jake, will you pay attention?

Now, on the first of every month,

I'll send a man around to empty the machine.

You get 30 percent.

And this is to make sure

that your customers get plenty of nickels for change.

Oh, no! That's against the law!

Jake, will you let me worry about the law, huh?

Hey, take that thing out of here!

I don't want it here!

Jake. Oh, Jake.

Please, please, just let it stay.

Just let it stay, Jake.

You'll be all right.

Check the block.

Where do I find Jake Brodowski?

He's in back.

I'm his wife.

What do you want?

You Mr. Ness?

That's right.

I'm Jake Brodowski.

Mr. Ness, from the government.

Please, go in the back, Mama.

Go away. We have nothing to say.

I have something to say.

I called Mr. Ness. No, no.

We have nothing to say.

Please, Mama.

She's scared.

Everybody's scared.

But not me, not Jake Brodowski.

I told the police.

They do nothing, so I'll tell you.

They put it there... those gangsters.

Yeah, I know.

What you gonna do about it, Mr. Ness?

He can do nothing.

Please, Mama.

I don't want it, but I got it.

So I call you.

I don't like to see the kids put their nickels in it.

I want you to stop it.

Mr. Brodowski, there's no federal law

against slot machines.

There is a law against racketeers, ain't there?

Yes, but the law is spelled out specifically.

You represent the United States government of America,

you ain't going to do nothing?

Jake... I thought you come here

to get the racketeers and criminals out of business.

Ain't that what you want to do?

Ain't that what you come here to do?

I'm doing everything I can, Mr. Brodowski.

But until such a time as there's concrete evidence

or reasonable suspicion that a federal law

has been violated, I can't...

Eliot, ten in this block.

Ten?!

I know of a hundred, a thousand of them.

What?

Slot machines, like that thing here.

Please, Jake, don't. Don't.

I saw the place where their trucks come from,

where they keep them stored.

Over on Trenton Street.

When'd you see this, Mr. Brodowski?

Yesterday.

It's near where I buy my coal.

They store their liquor there.

The coal salesman told me.

Liquor? Liquor.

Bootleg stuff.

Thanks, Mr. Brodowski.

Thank you very much.

On the information provided by Jake Brodowski,

Eliot Ness obtained a federal warrant

to search the Trenton Street warehouse

for liquor on the premises.

But, remembering the days of raiding the Capone breweries,

he took every precaution to make sure

that it would be a successful raid.

Let's go!

Federal officers! Stay where you are!

Move it! Let's go!

All right, come on, let's get a move on.

Come on, move.

All right, let's have those guns.

Come on.

Let's go, hands up. Come on.

Behind the necks.

50 cases of illegal liquor were found

in the Trenton Street warehouse.

In comparison to the hundreds of slot machines,

it was a minor discovery, but an important one.

Ness couldn't get Vialle directly for slot machines.

But he could get him

for violation of the Prohibition Act,

if he could prove that Vialle

was directly connected with the warehouse.

You're coming with us anyway, you might as well talk.

It's Vialle, isn't it?

However, questioning of the mobsters picked up in the raid

failed to link Vialle with the operation.

So he tried another way.

Ask the people of this city what they're going to do

about men like Vialle, and the crooks who take his money

and look the other way while he spreads

slot machines all over this city.

If he's allowed to continue, in one more year,

he'll have as much or more revenue than

the Capone organization had in the same amount of time.

I'm sure that this city, this state and this nation

have had their bellies full of men like Capone.

It had worked on Capone, and it could work again.

Ness's statement to the Chicago papers was deliberate,

made to antagonize Vialle into some rash act

of retaliation that would expose him.

The same night the stories broke in the papers,

Vialle made his move.

You heard what happened?

I heard.

I want you to rub out Ness.

I hear you're on good speaking terms with him.

You can get to him easy.

You're talking to the wrong man, Vialle.

I don't think so.

Rubbing out wasn't our part of the deal.

This one is.

Or Miss Eleanor Larkins reads in the papers

that her dead war hero daddy is really

Frank O'Dean, a live gangster.

I'll need a little time.

Uh-uh.

Tonight.

Now.

I can handle this by myself... sonny.

You.

Hello, Fed.

You alone?

All alone.

You're working kind of late these days.

These are busy days.

Yeah, I, uh, I read about it in all the papers.

You didn't have to read the papers, Frank.

You've been described a dozen different times.

A man with a soft touch... Or the hard touch,

whichever the case may be...

When you're passing out slot machines.

You get around, don't you, Fed?

Everyplace.

Candy stores, restaurants,

hotels, grocery stores...

The same places you go, Frank.

Little story you told me a few weeks ago

never did come true, did it?

Well, where is it?

Where is what?

Vialle sent you up here

with a couple of thousand to buy me off.

That's why you're here, isn't it?

Not exactly.

Why are you here and what do you want?

You're in up to your neck with Augie Vialle.

Why don't you get out?!

Why don't you?

Because it isn't so easy to do sometimes.

You know, for some reason... I don't know why...

I thought there was something more to you.

There isn't.

You're just like every other hoodlum

in those files over there.

All they want out of life is a hundred dollar suit

and a roll of bills in their pocket.

You give any one of them

something longer than a menu to read, and they'd be lost.

Talk to them about God or country,

friendship, love, family and...

they don't know what you're talking about.

Turn around.

All they got are their guns.

No hearts, no guts, just guns.

If they had anything else... anything...

They'd know that whatever you get from that roll of bills

in your pocket, you give 20 times as much back,

right down to your soul.

Turn around!

Did you ever have a family, Frank?

A wife? Child?

Maybe that's what it takes to have a soul.

Or maybe you haven't got a soul.

Maybe you never had one.

What was O'Dean doing here?

Vialle sent him to put me out of business.

What stopped him?

I don't know.

We better keep him in sight.

He's in trouble now.

Keep it.

Pretty quiet neighborhood.

Too quiet.

What are you doing here, Julie?

I'm drinking.

I can see that.

I... I'm waiting for you, Frank.

How long you been here?

An hour... an hour, two, I, I don't know.

Anyone been by?

No...

No, thank you.

Yeah, then I'll have another drink.

I have a reason to drink.

Two reasons.

Lottsa reasons.

Hello?

Well, what about it, O'Dean?

Did you take care of him?

It's done.

I said it's all done!

Nothing to worry about now.

Are you sure Ness is still alive?

I saw him leave the building after O'Dean took off.

Then he lied to me.

Maybe he sold out to Ness.

Get him.

What's all done?

Some nice dirty piece of work for our friend uptown?

Forget it.

Yeah.

That's a simple thing for you to say...

I got you into this... The thought of that

and the tidings I bear aren't really compatible.

What tidings?

Your daughter's wedding's tomorrow morning

at 9:00, at St. Victor's in Wilmette.

It's a small place;

there'll be a lot of people there.

No one would notice if you wanna... - 00?

And then most of your troubles will be over...

unless something interferes.

Nothing will.

Julie, how would you like to get out of this town?

Leave with me right after the wedding.

Well, will Vialle let you?

I'm gonna talk it over with him, tonight.

Get an ambulance.

How is he?

Still unconscious.

They had to take a lot of slugs out of him.

Will he make it?

They don't know yet.

How about Colleoni?

Dead.

All right, Mr. Ness, you can come in now.

Just one minute, Mr. Ness.

Thanks.

You stopped a lot of lead.

It was Colleoni, Frank.

Vialle sent him.

You're all through with Vialle, Frank.

I want to get him.

You've been around long enough

to know how I can tie him up

with that Trenton Street Warehouse.

Help me. I'll do everything I can for you.

Anything else on your mind?

Yeah... thanks for saving my life.

Get out of here, Fed.

He must have gone down the fire escape.

I don't see how he had strength enough

to get out of bed, let alone out

of the hospital. Police.

He's a walking dead man.

Hello, this is Eliot Ness.

I want an all-points sent out on Frank O'Dean.

O'Dean... you've got a record on him.

In the vicinity of Union Hospital.

He's badly wounded, shouldn't be hard to find.

Right... Get on it.

Let's go.

All right, all right.

Well, keep after him; find him!

Right.

Not a sign of him anywhere.

They're combing the whole neighborhood.

He has to be somewhere.

With all the blood he's lost,

it's a cinch he can't get far.

He got this far.

The Chicago police started an immediate search

for Frank O'Dean.

Streets were blocked off, cars searched,

every possible hiding place looked into.

It was though the night and the city had swallowed him up.

Eliot Ness arrived home at ten minutes to 7:00 that morning.

He was tired... dog tired.

Don't worry, Fed.

I... I couldn't harm them.

I had a wife and kid of my own once.

I came to make a deal.

Why should I make a deal with you?

Because I got this.

It's kind of hard getting across town

with all those coppers out there.

I want you to help me.

Is it a deal?

What do I get out of it?

All of Vialle's mob.

It's a deal.

We'll talk about it on the way.

All right, Frank.

Can you make it?

Yeah.

Now, give me that thing.

Don't let me fall down now, Fed.

Not yet, huh?

Good luck.

Thank you.

Say, aren't you the gentleman that...

No, no, you don't know me,

but, good luck anyway.

Thank you.

Come on, Ellie.

There goes my daughter, Fed.

But no one has to know, huh?

No one does, Frank.

Thanks... Thanks...