Original subtitles

The Streets of San Francisco.

A Quinn Martin production.

Starring Karl Malden.

Also starring Michael Douglas.

With guest stars Tim O'Connor,

Cal Bellini,

Brad David.

Tonight's episode:

"Trail of the Serpent."

Let's do it.

Whoo!

All right, let's go.

Two forty-two.

Okay.

Got the change... We're just closing, guys.

Thank you. Good night.

Thank you, ma'am.

The register's closed, fellas.

You want a couple of oranges, apples?

It's Saturday.

Mrs. Barberio's just been down

to the night depository.

Can't help you.

George,

50 will tide us.

Well, if I had it, uh...

Like I said, it's already in the bank.

It's in the box.

Yeah, it's in that, um, tin box

you got stashed under the counter somewhere.

Will.

Hey, look, guys, I can't keep giving you money.

There's just not that kind of profit

in a small market like this.

All right.

Rich.

Okay.

Now, 50.

Find it.

Hey, guys, please.

Try to see it from my side. I see nothing!

Boys!

Come on. You guys come here every week, I give you 50, $60...

Hot stuff!

Hey, guys, what're you...?

No.

No, no, no.

No!

No!

No, no, no!

Please! No, stop it. I'll give you the money.

No. Stop it!

No. No, Angela. No!

There's almost $90. Take it all.

Buddy, it's heat.

All right, split.

Come on.

Leave them. Let's go!

That way, Chick. Come on.

Open the door, George.

Open the door, George. Open...

God... Get off me.

Stop or I'll fire.

Angela, get an ambulance, quick!

You have the right to remain silent.

You know what you can do with your rights?!

This guy cut down Trikonis?

Yeah, this is the punk.

That's your word, man. Just your word!

And your gun.

The people who own the store,

they saw the whole thing, lieutenant.

Those people over there?

Keep an eye on him.

Right.

I'm Inspector Keller. This is Lieutenant Stone.

George Barberio.

Angela.

And that's the guy who killed your policeman.

He was their leader.

They call themselves the Cobras.

I've heard about them, Mrs...?

Barberio. Barberio.

Could we do this inside, please?

Sure.

Hoh!

Is that you, Rich?

Oh, man, why don't you say something?

Man, we didn't know you were here.

Where's Buddy?

I don't know.

Buddy and Chick doubled out the back way.

What were the shots?

Man, I don't know what the shots were.

Phew.

Buddy cashed a cop.

Buddy cashed a cop?

Hey, man, what's the matter with you?

I ain't lying.

This big fuzz...

grabbed a hold of my arm.

And Buddy chopped him.

Yeah, then they...

Then they got Buddy.

They, uh...

They zapped him in the knee or something.

He's okay. I seen him from a roof later on.

There must've been...

There must have been 50 fuzz around him.

Hey w... Wait a minute,

Chick, you gotta know what they're gonna do to him, right?

I mean, Buddy didn't dump me, so I don't dump him.

I got away, that's all. Heh-heh.

You guys wanna piece of it?

Whoa!

Whoo.

You don't?

Okay. Okay.

What do you got working, Chick?

A little job for your kid brother Richie.

They're like a lot of the boys.

The traditions are breaking down.

They live on the... The streets.

I tried to help them at first.

Maybe I was wrong.

I gave them groceries every now and then.

Or a couple of bucks.

They took advantage. It just got out of hand.

It happens, Mrs. Barberio.

And I'm sorry about your store.

Oh, the market we can put back together,

but the dead policeman... I'm s-sorry.

Descriptions will help, though.

We'll get the four. Really.

Would you excuse us, please?

Sure.

Fred,

I wanna make a sweep through

a four-square block area around this market.

And we better do it quick, before those kids disappear.

Good enough, lieutenant. What's our manpower?

We still have eight, ten men on the scene.

Good. That'll make four two-man teams, huh?

We'll divvy up the blocks and house-to-house it.

Steve, I think if we're gonna shake doorknobs,

it would be wise if we split up.

Each of us take a uniform.

Right. What?

Right. You take Fred.

I'll take Rojak. I'll call it in.

Come on, Rojak.

You've got the short straw this time.

There's an old pigeon coop on that roof, Mike.

We tagged some juveniles up there a couple of months ago.

All right, let's try it. I'll take the back.

Check. Take the front.

Hi. Hi. How are you?

You a policeman?

Yeah, that's right. After somebody?

Uh-huh. That's right.

Guys in black jackets, maybe?

You see them?

Black jackets with cobras on the back.

Cobras. I don't know.

They were running.

Black jackets, yeah.

How many? Where?

Four. They went into a place way down there.

You show me.

Nobody lives there.

There's a back door, but they still might be in there.

I just saw them from our house.

We live right down the street.

Good.

Good. Will you do me a favor? Sure.

You know that building I was standing in front of?

A policeman will be coming out of it soon.

You tell him where I am.

And then tell him to call in.

Call in? That's right.

Sure. Come on.

Where's Rojak?

Did you see the policeman?

Did you...? Give the piece to the kid.

Spread eagle.

Hey, you've just been busted.

You can stay with us for a while.

It ain't too much, but it's home for you

for about as long as it takes.

Yeah, we'll be rotating units all weekend.

Between us and the... And the Secret Service,

those boys'll be safer than they were in their cradles.

All right, Stan. Later.

Boy, these governor's conventions. Eh, if...

I don't know why they don't pick on Miami for a change.

Yeah. You got anything?

Mike? No.

What do you think?

Wait. Just a second, Steve.

I'm gonna get this little diddly.

I really envy you guys out in the streets.

If I thought this promotion

was gonna mean this much more paperwork...

Roy, it's been an hour and a half since Mike and I split up.

Now I... You're talking about maybe

the most experienced guy in the department.

I'm just talking about my partner,

a guy I know better than anybody.

A guy who would not wander around

without checking in and leaving a 10-7.

Well, it's only been an hour and a half.

You said so yourself.

I want some men, Roy. Oh, Steve...

A cop got gunned down right where we were tonight.

You got a report to write up, okay? Just get outta here.

The only report I'm working on is Mike's. Until then...

Until then, you're not gonna do your job, huh?

You're gonna let your nerves take over,

when your head could be used the most.

Look, Steve, baby, I know that a brother died tonight.

And I know what it can do to every man on the force.

But I can't let it panic us

into actions that can set off a real powder keg.

Wait a minute. I don't understand.

I mean, the kids that run in those gangs.

They don't have all that much of a life to start with.

Right. I'm not going to give them

that kind of an incentive to build this thing

into something bigger than it is,

by sending an army out onto their turf.

Well, that's all fine, but Mike's still out there.

Mike can handle himself.

Yeah.

Devitt.

All right, put him on.

Hello? This is Lieutenant Devitt speaking. Can I help you?

Get a tracer on this thing, and climb on it yourself.

How'd that go again?

I said we got a cop.

And you can forget about any tricks with the phone,

'cause we ain't gonna rap that long.

Okay.

Well, what are you talking about? Who's we?

We is us.

You don't got to know who we are,

you just got to know who we got.

Let me get this straight:

you're telling me that you got a police officer

with you somewhere?

Badge number 897.

That ring any bells?

Okay, all right. Just get them going

as soon as they find the location.

Now cut me back into Devitt's line.

I said anyone can call in and give us a number

outta the air like that.

It doesn't prove much.

Yeah, and I said forget about trying to check out this call,

remember?

You wanna check out something, you check out

where Lieutenant Michael Stone is right now.

Let me talk to him.

Forget it.

The only way you talk to him again is to let Buddy go.

Buddy?

Buddy Simms.

You booked him tonight.

He's the one who killed the police officer?

Yeah, you don't let him go

and, uh, you can order up two funerals.

Now, you get this, and you get it good:

threats like that cut nothing here.

You got till 9 a.m.

I'm telling you, department policy.

And I'm telling you, 9:00.

Buddy walks by then, or, uh...

Or this guy's head comes off.

Come on, come on.

What do you got?

What do you mean, nothing?

You got an area, a section, anything?

Okay, all right.

Where is this guy, Buddy...? General. Emergency.

Light's better over here.

I just thought we could trade spots. Better for his eyes.

What're you reading?

A fellow can learn a lot from books.

Places he's never been, things he's never seen.

Do you read a lot?

Have you ever read Robin Hood?

I think I read that when I was

about your age.

There's another one, uh, Three Musketeers.

Both those books loaded with adventure.

Have you read either one of them?

You ought to.

Ask your teachers about them.

What grade are you in?

He doesn't go to school.

He doesn't go to... Why not?

I guess it doesn't matter to you.

It certainly does. It matters to all of us.

A kid like that, who likes books,

doesn't get a chance to read them?

I know how to read books.

Of course you can.

But what kind of books? Can you pick the right books?

That's what school is for,

teaches you to pick the right books. I don't need school.

You don't need school? Who told you?

Did you tell him that?

Hey, maybe you better shut up.

You two are brothers, aren't you?

Yeah, you're brothers, all right.

David, come here.

Split.

We did it.

You called.

Go on, tell him.

Well, he told 'em.

He called 'em and he told 'em.

My man, uh, Chick laid it on 'em very heavy.

He gave them till 9 tomorrow.

What'd they say?

They said forget it.

Well, like, what they say and what they do

are two different things.

No way.

There's going to be no trade for me tomorrow,

or for anybody, ever.

It just doesn't work that way.

That's cold.

Well...

then you'd better get ready to kiss it off, Jack.

Who are they, and where'd they take him?

By me, baby.

Look, Buddy. There's no way you can climb outta this one.

You mean, all of a sudden,

I'm worth more than one of your own kind?

Nobody wearing one of those jackets is worth anything,

man, unless they turn him loose.

Well, I'm sorry, man, what can I do about it?

Like, I'm in here and they're out there, you know?

You can tell us where they are.

Keep them from making the same mistake.

Like the man says, man, it's a free world.

Stop this. Stop this.

You know where he is, and you're gonna talk. Steve.

He killed Trikonis. His friends are the same: they don't care.

Wait a minute, man. Who doesn't care?

Look, you want me to tell you how much I care, baby?

Come here, man.

You punk!

I guess the dude they got must mean something

to somebody after all, huh?

Well, lieutenant, still no deals?

That's right, punk.

Still no deals.

Will you give me those men now?

Boy, if we ever had a prayer of cracking that kid,

you sure blew it.

He thinks now we care so much, that...

That we're gonna crack.

You know that. All I care about is Mike,

what's facing him,

and what he would do for me in the same spot.

He'd have used his head. All right.

He'd use his head.

But you have got to give me those men.

You got to let me comb those alleys,

building by building, door by door.

I don't have to let you do anything,

the way you're wound up.

If there's gonna be a sweep, then I'll lead it.

What are you talking about, "if"?

I got 50 governors arriving in this city tomorrow.

Every one of them, every available man is...

You name me one man who wouldn't pull double duty for Mike.

That's not the point. Then what is?

Look. Look, Steve, forgetting that we all know

this can happen to any one of us walking in,

and forgetting we're more than a family,

we got a whole city to look after.

Roy, I'm asking for one section.

Ten lousy blocks. That's all, Roy.

All right, you got it.

You can pull Lessing and Harris,

Kincade and Carpenter to start with.

I'll call juvenile and see if they got anything for us.

Then I got to juggle that security setup

on the convention with C.P.U., get us some more men.

You give me a 10-20 every 15 minutes...

Where'd he go?

Yeah. This is Devitt here.

Hm.

It stopped.

What time you got?

I don't.

Must be about 2, wouldn't you say?

Yeah, I guess.

Yeah. Must be.

Where's, uh,

Davie?

Is that what you call him?

Say, could you spare another cup of that?

Bright kid, Davie, you know.

The way he suckered me into this little setup.

If he hadn't done it just right, he never would've had me.

You know,

you're wrong in telling him he doesn't have to go to school.

How old is he, 14 or 15?

Pretty important years in a kid's life.

Hey, you know something? What?

You talk too much.

Why do you do this for a guy who murdered somebody?

Look, we don't stick together, what've we got?

What's Davie gonna have if you keep telling him

that this is the way?

Hey, uh, we gotta talk.

Man, they have got black and whites all over the place.

I figure we better move this guy till Buddy gets out, you know?

This might not be the best spot.

You got a cigarette? Yeah.

War's over, fellas.

They're putting out a dragnet, and a decision has to be made.

Who usually made them for you? Buddy?

Shut up.

Wasn't thinking too good, was he?

Getting you into all this.

Pretty messy.

You always got to be looking down your noses, don't you?

You got to be making the cracks.

Got to be the big man.

You don't look all that big to me now.

You look like nothing.

You look like an old man.

And you're ready to die.

Watch him, Jerry.

Uh, me and Richie's gonna scout out another place.

Skulls, Warlords.

Nothing there.

How goes it?

What do you got, Stan?

It's got to be a new club.

None of the guys in juvie ever heard of 'em.

Invaders, I got. Grim Reapers, no match. No Cobras.

We're just going back to the packet on this Buddy Simms,

finding out who he was busted with and who he ran...

Where's Lucas, huh?

Home. His wife has a 103 fever.

Well, Lucas is the man, isn't he?

He's the guy that's into

the whole thing with the gangs.

Well, so is Stan here.

We're into it. It's okay.

Two guys were... Simms was collared three months ago,

suspicion of G.T. auto, with a Chick Kramer.

We had a warrant on Simms, Kramer and a Richard Sung.

For suspicion, ABW. Sung. That checks out with...

Yeah, let's run that one, Stan.

Rings a bell. Sung. Richard Sung.

The Choppers. Sung, Kramer, Willard Lu. The Choppers.

Cobras must be a spinoff of the same gang.

What about a phone drop, headquarters,

anything we can make a move on? Right. Right here.

Right here. Pool hall. Over on Clay.

What about a name?

Davis. Ed Davis. Good work, Stan.

I appreciate it. Okay. See ya.

What're you doing, huh?

I'm getting the coffee that Richie poured for me.

Your coffee has got to be...

Oh.

What time you got?

Five-thirty.

That the place, there? Yeah. Should be.

Nobody's up.

Let's get 'em up.

Look, I just run a business.

They want to shoot pool here, that's their business.

Juvenile records just told us

that this is the home for the whole club.

I wouldn't know. You know names?

I know names, faces.

Faces, huh? Good. Let's go.

Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Where are we going?

Downtown.

What for? Looking at some faces.

Who's gonna open up here? How long's this gonna take?

That's not our business. Come on, let's go.

Okay, okay. Just wait a minute.

Okay, I know some names. Maybe.

A few.

Uh, first names, that is.

Billy,

Buddy...

How's your head?

You cracked it on the floor when you went down.

Bullet took a chunk out of your side.

You lost some blood, but I plugged it with a towel.

Don't worry.

You won't die from it.

We won't let you.

Word's out.

These jackets are underground.

Yeah. Just go up here a little further,

then we'll go to the alleys on foot.

You know, that guy could've told us more.

He gave us all he had.

Should've leaned on him. Ah, it's not your style.

I worked for 13 years,

shoulder to shoulder with the same guy.

I think I know what you're going through.

You can't change your m.o., Steve.

You're liable to get caught looking the wrong way yourself.

Yeah.

How do you think they got him?

He's gonna have to tell us that himself when we find him.

Inspectors 8-1, code 10-25, 411 Fremont.

Officers report possible location of kidnap involving

Lieutenant Mike Stone.

Will you respond?

Eighty-one, 10-4. We'll respond.

Fremont, huh?

That gang hangs out at the pool hall...

Yeah, they just might be smart enough

to stay as far away from it as possible.

Hit it, baby.

Freeze!

Feet apart. Spread eagle over there. Move!

What's going on?

Sorry, lieutenant, false alarm.

What do you mean, false alarm?

Eh, we scared these two up down the block.

They ran. We thought we had something.

Turned out to be six sticks of grass.

What are you doing this far off the sweep?

We just got word they'd be holed up down here someplace.

Word was wrong.

It came from a very good source, inspector.

The name's Johnny Dolan.

Dolan?

The little guy has that newspaper stand down on Geary?

Yeah. Distributor now.

On the streets with a truck early every day.

He says he saw Mike?

Yeah. With three Cobras.

That possible Cobras get down here?

No way, man. Why not?

Cobras never drift past 22nd.

What time this guy Dolan say he saw Mike?

Uh, it was about, 4:30, wasn't it, Ben?

Maybe a quarter of five.

Okay, book these two.

All right, you guys, let's go. Move.

I don't know. I don't buy it.

You got a hostage, you don't walk him around the streets.

You keep him holed up.

I'll bet he's not more than ten blocks

away from where we started.

It's all these back alleys

and the way these buildings are stacked up,

we could look in there all day and never find him.

We've got less than two hours.

Take these two downtown,

then get your tails back on the sweep.

Yes, sir. Where can we find this Dolan?

Oh, he's probably still out making drops.

He was heading north toward Telegraph Hill

when he stopped us.

Oh, he's driving an old pickup.

You Johnny Dolan? Yeah.

I'm Lieutenant Devitt, with Homicide.

Yeah, sure.

Used to be Robbery. I remember. How's it going?

You gave some information to one of our radio units an hour ago?

Yeah, I thought maybe it was something you should know about.

A big guy I seen around, I think his name is Stone.

He was being hustled off by some of those gang kids,

didn't look right to me.

What kind of jackets they wearing? Huh?

The gang. What kind of jackets were they wearing?

Oh, uh, those club jackets, you know.

What club, Johnny?

Well, I don't know.

I mean, I just seen 'em walking down the street.

And you saw their faces? No.

You mean you came up from behind them then?

That it? Yeah, that's right.

You saw the back of their jackets? Yeah.

Well, what was on them?

What design? What picture?

Well, I don't know. I didn't notice.

But you noticed they were wearing jackets?

Yeah. Why? What was so special

about the jackets?

Look, I give you guys a lot of inside stuff. Now...

What're you giving us now, Johnny?

What? I'm giving it to you straight.

No, you're not. Straight's a gang called the Cobras.

They like to be seen.

They wear a snake on their back in bright orange.

You couldn't have miss it.

Why, Johnny?

Why what?

Why the lie? Now, look, guys...

We have looked!

And we know you're having trouble on your corners.

Trouble with gangs.

You know they're trouble everywhere. You know that.

We know you filed charges against the Cobras.

Two guys in particular:

Chick Kramer and a Buddy Simms. Robbery and assault.

Then you dropped the charges. Why?

I figured it was best.

They just got out of line once. Nothing's happened since.

How much you pay them to make sure?

- Nothing, I... - Come off it.

Names, Johnny. Names.

Names, names.

Oh, all right. One of them was Kramer.

The other ones I don't know.

Kid with dark hair and another, Chinese. Stocky, not too tall.

Where? Where was this?

Stopped me up on Connecticut.

They told me to call in. Told me if I didn't...

Connecticut and what?

18th. Right on the corner.

That's two blocks from where Mike split with Rojak.

And a block from the pool hall. That could be the phone drop.

Hey, hey, you guys. You gotta protect me.

Hey, fellas, you... I... I...

He didn't do it.

Chick?

Here. How about you?

I'm okay.

What do you say we split it 50-50?

Okay.

Thanks.

Hey, say, that's a pretty fancy ring.

Dragon, huh?

Symbol for the Tao.

You know the Tao?

I know about it.

The way, right?

David.

It's the mystery of life,

and the dragon represents it.

Something that man thought up to stand for an idea he...

Well, he really couldn't explain, or he couldn't see.

How do you know all that?

Oh, books.

Books, really. I told you.

You can learn an awful lot from good books.

Where did you get that?

From my brother.

And my father.

Family ring.

I thought the oldest son always kept it?

You read that in a book too?

Uh, no, no. Heh-heh.

A friend told me.

Good friend.

You two weren't born here, were you?

Hong Kong.

You been here how long? A couple or three years?

Five.

Five years.

And your father, he come here with you too?

Yeah.

And died here.

In the land of opportunity.

Twenty of 9.

I'm going in.

They've got to call it back, Steve...

I'm gonna get some information outta that dude.

MAN: Inspectors 8-1,

we have your caller on the line.

Inspectors 8-1.

8-1, 10-4. Keep him talking.

Is that the only phone you got in here?

Yeah, that's it.

It's gotta be near here. Yeah.

I'll work up the hill.

Hold it!

Ten minutes.

Ten minutes.

What about Davie, huh?

What's gonna happen to him when this is all over?

They gonna put him in a foster home?

Or he's gonna live in a dump like this,

and scrounge a living outta garbage cans?

He stays with me. Same as always.

Sure.

You're gonna be dead, and so am I.

Maybe you'll be in Quentin with a life jolt.

That's a fact, Richard.

You could look a fact in the eye and not even recognize it.

What's the matter with you, Richard?

You a slow learner?

Facts.

That's what you been laying on me?

That's right. Facts.

Fact:

you helped kill a cop.

Fact:

you're gonna serve time for it.

That right?

That is right.

Even if you gave me that gun right now,

you're gonna serve time.

So? What have I got to lose?

David, you bonehead.

With you in the slammer, who's gonna keep his nose clean?

Davie will have had it.

Fact: you've had it.

The minute Buddy pulled that trigger on Trikonis, you had it.

Your brother still has a chance.

A small chance, but a chance.

You see,

I could make sure that he got in with a good family,

took care of him,

made sure that he got to school regularly,

bought him books, talked to him,

took him out to ball games,

and made sure he got a kick in the slats

if he hooked up with a guy like Buddy.

It's a small chance, Richard.

What's the handle?

What do you want?

Well, first, I don't expect you to help me.

Just don't stop me.

Don't stop me.

I'm gonna get up,

I'm gonna go to that door

and I'm gonna walk out.

I wouldn't.

I have to.

I have to, Richard.

In just...

I don't know, eight, seven minutes.

That psycho that you're letting call the shots,

he's gonna walk in here and blow my head off.

And I'm not going to sit here and wait for that to happen.

I c...

Why...?

Why don't you give us a break, Richard? Davie and me.

He's wearing that ring

because you and your father believed in him.

You felt he was the one that had a chance, didn't you?

He was the one in the family that was gonna make it.

Well, don't you be the one that blows it for him, Richard.

Okay, here goes.

That it?

Yeah.

You know,

Chick's not the one who's gonna do it, you know.

It's gonna have to be you who's gonna pull that trigger.

You're the one that's gonna have to live with it.

It's time.

Let's do it.

Listen, man, uh,

I'll meet you, okay?

I'll just be a second.

You don't!

You were just as big on grabbing that guy as I was.

Not a word.

Where you got him?

It's your move, Richard.

Hold it! No! Steve, no!

Was he gonna let you...?

I don't know.

I just don't know.

My God.

What little I know about Oriental heritage,

I learned from a Chinese scout on Iwo.

Once he said:

"The trail of the serpent leads to death."

Steve.

Steve,

that kid bought that bullet a long time ago.

There was no way to buy it back.

David. Hey, good to see you again.

Listen, Ben showed me that report you finished.

Biography of Dumas.

Whew. How'd you happen to pick him?

Oh, I heard of him.

He wrote The Three Musketeers. Yeah.

I heard of him. Hey.

You're doing all right, Davie.

I'm glad. I'll see you soon, huh?

Sure. Yeah.

I don't know if he's going to go for it or not.

Time, that's all. Just takes time.

And a lot of what that family's giving him.

I hope you're right.

Oh, he's a bright kid.

Listen, maybe he won't grow up to be a cop,

but at least he'll know why we're around.