Original subtitles

um um

Get in the car.

Well, this I don't believe all together. Hey, watch it, will you?

Hey, Jack, I know that guy.

What's the matter with you? Watch where you're driving. I know him.

Who, who you know?

Him, him, the messenger.

Hi, Paulie.

Leo.

How about that?

My old buddy walking with a uniform.

We got the same alma mater.

Deacon Heights Reform School.

Isn't that right, Paulie?

All right. Yeah, great.

I couldn't be happier for the two of you.

Give me the key.

The guard's got it.

It's a fact they don't give us the key until we get where we're going.

Leo, did you bring your knife?

What do you think about the guard, Jack?

I think he's dead.

I think he was dead when he hit the sidewalk.

And I guess that makes our boy here witness to a murder.

Hey, he won't say anything.

Leo, I can't take the chance.

Friend or no friend.

Hey, now, you better think twice, Jack.

Here's Uncle Frank's demand.

Isn't that true, buddy?

Yeah.

All right.

All right.

You got a relative and a brother that I'll give you a pass.

your mouth shut, understand me?

Or I'll put you someplace where nobody can help you.

Friends, uncles, nobody.

Huh? Okay.

Say hello to your mom, boy.

Yeah.

Thanks, Leo.

Don't thank me.

Thank you, Runkle.

The FBI.

A Quinn Martin production.

Starring Ephraim Zimbalist Jr.

Also starring Philip Abbott, William Reynolds, with guest stars

Robert Walker, Patricia Hardy,

Robert Doyle.

Tonight's episode, The Messenger.

On January 8th, Paul Donald Thorpe, a messenger for the Wall Street brokerage

firm of Van Noy, Morton & Gardner, was robbed of over $400 ,000 in negotiable

securities.

The following morning, two of the stolen bonds were cashed in a small

Pennsylvania bank.

When it was discovered that the certificate numbers appeared on a

received, bank authorities immediately contacted the FBI.

Thank you for dropping by. No trouble at all, Mr. Randolph.

I'd like you to meet Inspector Erskine. He'll be in charge of the case.

Inspector? Yes, Mr. Owen. Mr. Owen is personnel director at Vannoy Morton.

Sit down, please.

Thank you.

Terrible.

Terrible business, eh?

I don't know when anything has shaken me up so much.

Were you well acquainted with the guard, Mr. Owen?

Very.

Hollister was the... First man I hired.

Well, what an odd coincidence.

What's that, sir?

Paul Thorpe was the last.

I suppose that's what you want to talk to me about, Paul.

Well, I noticed from the application you sent over that he had a number of jobs

before he came to you.

Yes.

Construction worker, fry cook, roustabout.

All temporary.

He has a limited education, but...

He seemed to be ambitious to me.

In my work, you not only judge the application, Mr. Erskine, but you judge

man. And you obviously judge this man to be trustworthy.

I did.

I do.

Do messengers always know what they're carrying, Mr. Owen?

They never know exactly.

But if a guard is along, they know the consignment is valuable.

How far in advance are they told of the delivery?

The day before?

No, no, no. It's usually a matter of minutes.

Yes.

Hang on.

It's the Bureau for you.

I'll take it in there. Excuse me.

Certainly.

Will you transfer this to 702, please?

There's Ken.

Lewis, this is Arthur.

Yes, Art.

The criminal intelligence division came up with a couple of interesting

background items on Paul Thorpe. Thought I'd better get them to you as soon as

possible. Yes.

First, one of his uncles on his mother's side of the family is Frank Poland.

Poland? Well, secondly, the boy has an arrest record, car theft.

But he was bonded.

Well, it wouldn't have appeared on a routine inquiry.

It was a juvenile offense. The boy was 15.

He drew a six -month reformatory sentence.

There's no record since then.

All right, Art. Thank you very much.

Lewis, I just wonder how far in advance this particular messenger knew there'd

be $400 ,000 handcuffed to his wrist.

We're just discussing that now.

I'll talk to you later, Art. Right.

Well, look.

Look, I just can't keep calling and calling.

Listen, you know the problem. We're sitting on half a million bucks here.

All right, all right, all right. So I got a little nervous. What are they

supposed to carry, blanks in their guns?

What? No, no.

Yeah, well, just listen to me for a minute.

Will you just shut up and listen to me for a minute?

All right, all right. You tell me one time he ever fenced an item that wasn't

hot.

Tell him we'll lose an interest, too.

Hey, so they're running out, huh?

Yeah, they're running.

Like rabbits.

Yeah, well, uh, I was afraid of that.

I figured they'd get a little nervous as soon as they found out it had something

to do with Frank Poland's nephew.

Yeah, you know them people, one hand worse than the other, huh?

Yeah, well, there's a little more to it than that, Dumbbell.

There's you and Jack shooting when you didn't have to.

And then you had to go out and cash a couple of bonds, you know, for booze and

dames and those crummy shirts.

Leo, Leo, you got cologne all over my shirt and my hat.

Send me the cleaning bill.

Well, I ain't sure it'll come out.

Oh, for crying out loud.

Hey, I'll say one thing for these Philadelphia chicks.

You show them you're willing to spend a buck and everything is first class from

there on in.

Well, you hear anything from Danny yet?

Just a breeze from his hand when he waved goodbye.

What do you mean?

He won't even come to the phone.

A couple of stooges stole me while I hung up on him.

Hey, maybe we can dump that stuff in Vegas, huh?

No.

If the syndicate's giving us a cold house in Philly, they're going to give

cold house everywhere else.

Yeah, well, uh, so what do we do then?

Well, we gotta find a fence who can handle this much paper and don't belong

the Brotherhood.

You got any candidates?

Hmm.

One.

Operator, give me long -distance information on New Haven, Connecticut.

I know you got such a nice voice, I'd wait forever.

Now listen, if anything comes of this, me and Joe are going to Connecticut.

I think you ought to be back in Manhattan.

What for?

Your bosom buddy Paul Thorpe's got the FBI to worry about now.

He might keep his mouth shut anyway, but what's it hurt to remind him?

Operator.

I'd like the telephone number of an entrepreneur by the name of William

He's an entrepreneur in the pawn shop business, honey.

Sorry, Inspector.

Like I told the other agents, they threw me in the back of the car with a gun at

my head.

And they blindfolded me.

Do you remember their voices?

I probably would.

There were three of them.

When was the last time you saw Frank Poland?

Who?

Isn't Frank Poland your uncle?

About a month ago, I guess.

Where?

At his house. It was his birthday.

When was the last time you saw any of the boys from Deacon Heights?

Deacon Heights?

Deacon Heights.

You spent some time there once, didn't you?

Yeah, I'd forgotten about that.

Yeah, and you also forgot about that when you filled out your employment

application for the place you now work.

I made a mistake.

This was a job I thought I could handle.

I wanted it.

I still want it.

I suppose now that you know about Frank, you'll... What?

Tell Owen?

Why, it isn't a crime to be Frank Poland's nephew.

Did he ever ask you for any information about this firm?

No.

Paul, I guess that'll do for now.

Thanks for dropping by.

And if I think of anything that might help, I'll give you a ring.

Good.

The boy's covering up.

Well, he's Frank Poland's nephew. I've been covering up for four generations.

The question is, how much is he holding back and how important is it?

Cash the bonds in Pennsylvania.

Does La Cosa Nostra have any central fencing operation in Philadelphia?

I talked to the agent in charge. He feels the only one who can handle

this big is Danny Marlowe.

Let's establish 24 -hour photographic surveillance on him.

Yes, sir.

Of course, the trip into Pennsylvania could have been diversionary.

Surveillance on a fence in Brooklyn named George Darwin, too.

They're telling the truth.

And there is no Cosa Nostra connection.

In which case, who else could handle a half a million?

Ferris in Denver, or is that too far away?

There's Bill Needles in New Haven.

Let's cover him, too.

Yes, I'll tell him.

How did it go with Thorpe?

Slow.

I think our main problem is going to be getting him to trust us.

Well, I'm afraid we'll have to find another way to reach him now.

Why?

Owen just called.

The insurance investigators came up with Thorpe's juvenile record and the family

ties to La Cosa Nostra.

Owen says he's sorry, but he has orders to fire Thorpe tomorrow morning.

I don't even look anymore. I just reach up.

What's going to happen to me someday if I reach up and you're not there?

Probably drown.

Yeah.

So you be there, okay?

Okay.

What's the matter?

How do you know something's the matter?

Or how do I know anything's the matter when you're with me?

It's funny or sad or sexy.

It's just a gift I have.

Don't lose it.

Well, what happened?

The FBI had me fired today.

Why?

You said you were willing to talk to them.

I did talk to them.

You mean you tried to help and still... I guess I didn't help enough.

Honey, you were blindfolded.

Did you tell them how they held a gun to your head?

Darling, they don't care about that.

They found out Frank's my uncle and I stole the car and that was it.

Oh, honey, you see your uncle two or three times a year and you stole the car

when you were a kid.

They ought to be able to realize you can't tell them something you don't

I ought to be down there myself.

Darling, we don't count.

What do you mean we don't count?

I count. I work for a living. I pay taxes, don't I?

If you told them the truth and lost your job on account of it, then somebody

ought to be able to stand up and say something about it. Now, why not us?

Will you drop it, please?

Why?

Because I said so. Isn't that good enough?

Oh, you did tell the truth.

You would know the truth if I heard it.

Let's forget it, huh?

I'll get another job

What makes you think that?

Well, you ain't precinct detectives.

I know all them guys.

I figure other investigators, probably a little fatter and older.

You're looking pretty good shape to me.

So FBI, am I right?

You know, you ought to be in the FBI.

This is where they dumped the messenger right here.

We've been looking for clues, you know, which way they went, did they smoke a

pipe, any threads, hairs, well, you know the bit.

What did you find?

Well, you can relax.

The place is clean. They didn't leave a thing.

Well, you certainly saved us a lot of trouble.

Sure.

Did any of you gentlemen see the actual release?

Nah. If we was here, we'd have caught him for you and split the reward.

Right?

Right. Well, gentlemen, thanks for your help.

Anytime. Always glad to assist the federal government there.

Yes, sir. Help you?

Yeah, is the owner around?

Me, Howard Burgle.

FBI, Mr. Burgle. My name's Erskine. This is Mr. Colby.

Yeah?

Was the gym open last Monday, Mr. Burgle?

Monday?

Oh, you mean the day they turned the kid loose down in the alley?

Yeah.

Anybody out there happen to see that?

I don't think so. Not that I heard. How many fighters were in the gym that day,

Mr. Bergdahl?

Fighters? Maybe two.

Only two?

Well, he said fighters. There were 20 or more bums working out.

Any of them happen to be using that bag?

Almost all of them work out on it every day.

We'd like to know who might have been over here around 11 o 'clock that

All right, I'll try to get a list for you by this afternoon.

Fine. You can reach me at this number.

Thanks very much. Sure.

Paulie, how are you?

Fine, Uncle Frank.

Come in.

Where's your mama?

She's next door. I'll get her. Never mind.

You're the one I wanted to see.

Here. Ah, yes.

Thank you, Paul.

So, how's your papa feeling?

Better. Much better. He's back at work today.

Yeah?

Maybe I ought to drop by and get him to give me a trim.

Throw a little business to the family.

I mean, this would be a pretty poor world if you couldn't trust your

to stick by, help you out.

Wouldn't it?

I guess that's right.

Paul, I'm a little bit confused about this trouble you're in.

I mean, this wouldn't be some bright idea you come up with on your own.

Oh, no.

Do you know who's behind it?

Yeah, I... I recognize one of them.

Ah.

Okay, punks like that, I don't care what happens to them one way or another.

I hope they run off a cliff someplace.

But by the same token, we don't want them sitting around an FBI office

all they know.

Uncle Frank, they picked me up by mistake.

When they saw who I was, they let me go.

I'm not about to say. Listen, don't you think I know that?

Paul, I'm half ashamed to even be up here.

But some friends of mine asked me personally to check.

I said I would.

Turns out these punks made some kind of a half deal with Danny Marlowe down in

Philly.

You met Danny when you were a little boy. Remember the bald -headed man give

that blue scooter?

Oh, yeah. Was that Danny Marlowe?

That. It was Danny Marlowe.

Prince of a man give you the shirt right off his back if you needed it.

Anyhow, if these punks should wind up spelling out names, phone numbers, well,

that would embarrass Danny, you know?

Sure.

Okay.

Lecture's over.

Paul, you know, you look more like your grandpa Poland every day.

And there was another fine man.

Paul.

Have you thought any more about coming to work for me?

Well, uh... It's not that I don't appreciate your interest, Uncle Frank.

But... Maybe I'm kind of a square.

I mean... I like the nine -to -five jobs, you know?

I don't think I'd feel right in the brotherhood.

Okay.

Okay, you want to make it on your own, that's fine. I admire you for that.

But there's four or five hundred a week I could be giving to my sister's son.

Very tempting, yeah.

Say hello to your old man for me, Paulie.

Give your mom a big kiss, tell her I'll call her Sunday. Right.

So long, Paul.

So long.

I'm sorry, he isn't. Could I have him call you?

Mr. Virgil, hang on. He just came in.

Erskine?

Inspector, I don't know what this is worth, but on that question you asked

Yes?

Well, a couple of the boys I was talking to said they thought a young

middleweight named Chico Jordan was working on the speed bag about that time

mentioned. Do you know where I can find him?

Not now.

His manager told me he left for the airport about an hour ago.

Just told him he was quitting the fight game.

Going to head for Canada.

What does this Jordan look like, Mr. Bergdahl?

Oh, 5 '10", 11", 160, dark -haired.

Has a scar over his left eye.

All right, thank you, Mr. Bergdahl.

Airport.

I could talk to you if you have a minute.

Yeah, well, uh, what did I do?

You went to Bert Dahl's gym Tuesday, Mr. Jordan?

Tuesday? Yeah, Tuesday.

Yeah, I believe I was.

Did you happen to use the speed bag?

Yeah.

Then I imagine you had a pretty good view of the alley down below.

Yeah, I guess so.

Did the getaway car come back at any time during that day while you were at

window, of course?

No.

Now think about it.

No, not while I was there.

You know, you're facing right down there. You can't miss it.

You can't, huh?

No.

I understand you were there on Monday, too.

What?

I understand you were in the gym on Monday, too, working out in the same

Uh, yeah.

Listen, Inspector, I, uh... I don't like to get mixed up in things that ain't

none of my business.

What did you see, Mr. Jordan?

Okay.

Okay.

Uh, this car pulls in the alley and, uh...

Four guys get out, and one's this messenger fellow.

Was the messenger blindfolded?

Blindfolded? What for?

No, they just took his briefcase, and then one of them shook his hand.

Shook his hand?

Yeah. You know, two of the guys, they got in the second car, and this one guy,

he stayed behind, and just said goodbye to the messenger, and shook his hand.

Seemed like they was buddies or something, you know?

Would you recognize the others if you saw them again?

No.

Well, maybe.

Thank you, Mr. Jordan.

We'll have some pictures to show you before long.

In the meantime, we'd appreciate it if you'd keep yourself available.

Flight 47 to Montreal is now ready for boarding at gate 5.

Nice place, Canada.

on visiting there?

Who, me?

No.

No, you, uh... You can always reach me at the gym.

So what do you want to do?

A milkshake or something?

I don't think so. It's pretty late.

Well, we sat up too far front tonight.

Your eyes hurt?

You know, a little.

Lousy movie anyway.

Paul. Yeah?

I heard your uncle came to see you this afternoon.

What have we got in this neighborhood? Some kind of a jungle telegraph?

How do you pick these things up so fast?

Well, he's a celebrity. People notice him.

Well, what did he want?

He offered me a job.

Cutting throat, something glamorous like that? Come on.

Well, what did he want?

I don't know.

Numbers collector, probably.

Oh, boy.

It's four or five hundred a week.

What does that mean? Are you going to take it?

What's left?

Paul, if you're serious, we're really in trouble, you know.

Honey. What have we been planning for?

What have we been going to school for and talking about children for?

So you could end up playing cops and robbers on 2nd Avenue until I end up a

widow? I know, darling, but it would only be for... No.

I love you, but I can't stand for that.

Can I come in for a while?

Wait a minute.

Are you okay?

He's got to be nuts.

I'm all right.

Are you sure?

Wait a minute.

Hi, Paulie.

Hey, what do you think of these New York drivers, huh?

Well, I really had my heart in my mouth there for a minute.

And just how did that happen, Leo?

You heard me.

Paulie, somebody said you had a talk with the FBI.

Yeah.

I didn't try to keep it a secret.

And they asked me to come in again tomorrow.

And I'll go and I'll tell him the same thing I told him before.

Nothing.

That's my boy.

And the next time you send one of your apes out to keep me straight, Leo, you

tell him if he so much as breathes too hard on that girl, I'll kill him. You

follow?

What am I, what?

Oh, you don't think I had anything to do with that car?

Still, it does go to show you that it's very dangerous for a girl alone

on the streets.

You probably ought to remember that when you talk to the FBI tomorrow.

Good morning, Paul.

You can sit there if you like.

Now then, anything come to mind since the last time we talked?

No.

But I'll be able to give it a little more thought now that I don't have a job

bother about.

You blame us for that, Paul?

Yeah.

Your relationship to Poland wasn't that hard to uncover.

Don't you think it's possible somebody else might have come across it?

Maybe.

It's done. What's the difference who did it?

Paul, had you ever worked before with a guard who was killed?

Would you mind giving a verbal answer for the record?

Yes. We made 15 or 20 trips together.

Did you know anything about his family?

All right. He had a wife named Carol. He had four sons. I'm sorry he was killed.

If there's anything I could do, I... There is.

To begin with, why don't you stop lying?

You were seen shaking hands with one of the men who murdered John Hollister.

You told us you didn't know them.

You also said you were blindfolded.

You're not lying?

Paul, you've already been told of your rights. You signed a paper stating that

you understand what they are.

I'm telling you again, if you want to consult a lawyer, now is the time to do

it. Right now.

All right, I shook hands with him because...

Because he saved my life.

His friend was going to stick a knife in me.

He saved your life because he knew you were Poland's nephew?

Yes. What's the man's name?

Paul, there were two victims on Monday.

What do you mean?

It was just the guard.

What about you?

I didn't think about it that way.

Then think of it now.

Two men were assaulted in broad daylight.

One of them was killed.

You would have been too if you hadn't been recognized in time.

And do you honestly believe that the men who did that ought to be rewarded?

You got a piece of paper to show me?

Hmm.

Payable to bear on demand.

Thousand dollars, coin of the realm.

We got 427 more just like it.

There's a friend of mine, Joey Schaffler.

Bill Needles.

Hiya.

Well?

$175 ,000.

Cash on delivery.

Hey, wait a minute. What are you talking about? Didn't you hear the man? We got

over 400 grand there.

Sure you have.

There's a bank down the street.

Take him to the nice teller.

I thought maybe, uh...

Figure somewhere in between.

There is no figure in between.

There's just what I'm willing to pay.

All right.

Where and when?

Here.

Five o 'clock in the morning.

We'll see you then.

Just the two of you?

Of course. Who else would that be?

Who knows?

Listen, Bill, this was a very clean job.

There's only one man on this earth who could turn us in, and he knows he

wouldn't live 20 minutes after he tried it.

There won't be any tales, so don't worry about it.

No.

No.

Where was this taken?

Philadelphia. Recognize him?

No, he's too old.

I ain't sure.

Yeah, that's two of them.

You're positive?

Yeah.

Both subjects are in the car. Right.

The missing bonds were recovered in the raid, which came shortly before dawn.

There are still no details on exactly what led the FBI to the New Haven pawn

shop or how the two robbers were identified.

Meanwhile, here in New York...

Hi. Hi.

You're still there, huh?

Oh, wait.

I was afraid you wouldn't be here.

I wasn't going to come over.

But I kept remembering every Wednesday and Fridays.

We're on our way back, but I have a name I'd like you to start checking on.

Yes.

The third member of the gang is Leo Kenneth Adamson, 111 Sampson, Brooklyn.

Sampson.

According to Schaffler, he may try to kill Thorpe with a girl.

He could be looking for them now, so you better move on this as fast as you can.

I didn't lie to him.

I didn't tell him what I knew, either.

And this boy that you recognize, was he one of Colton's men?

No, just a guy I met up in Deacon Heights.

I had to turn him in today.

Good.

Oh, no, don't say good until you hear the whole story.

They threatened me.

And the only way they could make it stick was to say that they'd go after

I talked.

That was that crazy business with the car the other night, wasn't it?

if you're afraid.

If you'd rather, I won't say... This is the first time I haven't been afraid for

the last week.

What have I got to be afraid of when you tell me you're finally mad enough to

turn around and fight me?

Okay.

That's it, then.

That's it.

NY40. NY40, go ahead.

I just talked to Thorpe's father.

He said that Leo Adams had asked for his son a while ago and that he had

directed him to the athletic club on Davis Street.

Both Thorpe and Miss Miller are there now.

Davis, that's less than five minutes away.

NY40 out.

Roll the pass as you can.

What's the matter?

Do you think I was kidding?

Put it down.

It's all over.

They're going to get me.

But first I'm going to get you.

Then her.

Just like I promised.

Drop it Now!

Yeah, that just about says it all.

Would you sign the statement at the bottom, please, and then we'll witness

Thank you.

Incidentally, because of your cooperation, the U .S. attorney is

prosecution in your case.

Oh, he was planning to see you anyway, Mr. Erskine.

Would you believe that?

It's important to us.

Is that true, Paul?

Yeah, I wanted to tell you about Leo the last time I was in the office, but I

kept worrying about Charlene.

No need.

Well, when's the wedding?

Two weeks.

We'll send you an invitation.

I'll be there.

Oh, Paul, one more thing.

I had a talk with Mitchell Owen. I know him, Morton.

Do you think you can see him at nine tomorrow morning?

Yes, sir.

Leo Adamson and Joseph Schaffler were convicted of the murder of security

officer John Hollister. They are serving life sentences.

William Needles was convicted of conspiracy to violate the interstate

transportation of stolen property statute and is now in a federal

Thank you.