Original subtitles

Papa, I don't know how you get such ideas.

I got the whole story.

The story about Ciamino and the whiskey

and the whole operation.

Papa, listen.

I'm going to give it to Mr. Ness.

You tell him to stay there.

Tell him you're coming right over to see him.

You can come with me, my son.

Papa?

Will you wait, Papa? I'll be right over.

I'll wait, Paolo...

Tonight's episode:

Starring Robert Stack as Eliot Ness.

Costarring Will Kuluva, Lee Philips

and Sam Jaffee,

with special guest star Keenan Wynn.

And narrated by Walter Winchell.

More than anything else,

the war between Eliot Ness and the gang lords

was a war over the Prohibition Era's most prized

liquid asset: alcohol.

By 1931, with a series of slashing raids

on secret distilleries,

it looked as though the Untouchables

were actually managing to dry up the arrogant,

illegal, multimillion-dollar whiskey racket.

But the nimble minds of the underworld kingpins

were to regroup their angry forces.

With shocking speed, the underworld bosses

found another way to get their whiskey made.

Taking advantage of the poverty and the desperation

of many immigrant families during those Depression days,

the racketeers had devised a home still

that could be put together for less than three dollars.

The man picked to run this new illicit empire

was Augie Ciamino, absolute boss of Chicago's Little Italy.

In a short time, his home-cooker operation

was canceling out the Untouchables' gains.

Whiskey flowed from 1,000 tenement kitchens.

Ciamino spent most of his time counting profits,

until the night of August 16,

the night of a street festival on Haver Street.

Raineri was having a little private party,

and somebody picked up a bottle of bad whiskey.

Gio started drinking ahead of all the others.

Giovanni, don't you worry about anything.

I called the hospital.

The best doctors, the best room.

Go, go. Go in the ambulance.

Everything will be all right, I promise you.

Ciamino takes care of his friends.

Now we have a little talk, huh?

Where did Giovanni get the bad stuff?

Come on. It's for you.

I want to help you.

I don't want that this should happen again.

Raineri, he was in your place. Your party.

Come on, baker.

You know all the answers.

You go to night school.

You know everything.

I scratch you, you scratch me.

You tell me where Giovanni got the bad stuff,

I'll buy all your sfogliatelle.

I don't make sfogliatelle.

Who was that?

Stevano, huh?

Twice I had to warn him

about the way he cooked the stuff!

Stevano.

Well, we know where Giovanni got that bad whiskey.

Stevano.

Too bad you don't make sfogliatelle.

Maybe you learn the wrong things at that night school.

Same old story. Nobody saw nothing.

The landlady found him tied to a chair.

They poisoned him with his own bad whiskey.

What's his name?

Stevano. Tony Stevano.

1,000 of these,

each one turning out a gallon a day...

30,000 gallons a month.

An ocean of bootleg right under our noses.

There's got to be a bottling plant somewhere.

The question is, how do they get the stuff there?

Rico, you've been working the district all day.

Nobody's talking, Eliot.

Nickels and dimes.

Most of them haven't been here too long.

Things are tough. They're glad to pick up a buck.

And the rest... they're scared.

Ciamino has a knife at their throat.

They don't like it, but they're scared.

All of them?

No. Not all of them. There's a few.

The ones who go to night school aren't.

They've got deep feelings about this country. They love it.

They want to be a part of it.

Maybe we can give them that chance.

The composition you did as homework.

Let's see. Uh...

Mr. Raineri, will you read yours, please?

Now, you listen.

Yes. Listen.

"In America, a boy goes to school,

"he studies, he gets a piece of paper.

"He is a bookkeeper.

"It says on the paper he is a bookkeeper,

"and he wears a white shirt, and that is a fine thing.

"And, if you ask me how I know,

"it is because of my son Paolo, who I now call Paul

"because he is an American boy.

"My son Paul, he has American job.

"The End.

Composition by R. Raineri, Class I-A."

Thank you very much.

Mr. Ness.

Mr. Lee.

This is Mr. Eliot Ness, of the United States government.

He asked to talk to you,

and I personally take that as a great compliment.

I hope you will listen carefully.

I'm sure what he has to say

will be very important.

Mr. Ness.

Mr. Lee says I work for the United States government.

That means I'm working for you.

I think you know why I'm here.

It's about Ciamino.

I can take him off your backs, but I need some help.

Tell me how he gets the whiskey out of the kitchens.

Tell me where his bottling plant is.

Don't be afraid.

Don't let him scare you.

We'll give you protection. That's our job.

You don't have to tell me now.

You don't even have to tell me your names.

Just call me, and tell me what you know.

That's my office number.

Anytime, day or night.

Write it down. Pass it along.

And remember, I'm working for you.

You're paying me.

You ought to get your money's worth.

Thanks for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Ness.

That number will stay there for a while,

in case you forget it.

"so that is how Luigi Valcone become a grocer.

Composition written by Luigi Valcone, grocer."

Thank you very much...

What is it?

What's the trouble?

What do you want?

No!

No! No! Leave him alone!

No! Leave him alone!

Ritchie, no!

That's Paul Raineri's old man!

What did you say? What did...?

Come on!

Renzo Raineri finally got hold of himself

and called for help.

Mr. Lee was rushed to County Hospital.

You know, they never spoke a word to me.

Just silence, Mr. Ness.

Just silence.

Mis... Mr. Raineri tried to help.

Who?

Renzo Raineri... the baker.

He... he jumped up.

He tried to stop them.

We'll give you this, Mr. Lee.

Then we'll take you up to your room.

Huh? Oh.

Those men... They, uh...

Something about Raineri.

Then they stopped beating me.

And then... I-I can't remember.

Why?

Why did they stop?

What did Raineri do?

I'm sorry, Mr. Ness, we'll have to take him now.

Papa, please, keep your voice down.

Papa, I got nothing to do with Ciamino.

Then why did those animals grab me and not hit me?

Papa, how do I know?

I got to put the books away.

What kind of books?

Paul, what-what kind of dirty books?

What do you mean, dirty?

They're books, account books.

I work for the Central Bottling Company,

and I keep their books.

What kind of company is it

when they gotta lock up the books?

Papa, leave me alone, please!

You come to Renzo Raineri's bakery.

You do my books.

My books don't have to be locked up with no key.

Oh, your books... For crying out loud.

Three napoleons, a half-dozen loaves of bread.

Nickels and dimes!

What's so wrong all of a sudden

with nickels and dimes, huh?

That sounds so familiar.

Around here, we're real big authorities

on nickels and dimes.

You know how long I looked for a regular job?

What are you doing with Ciamino?

A girl like Rose, a beautiful girl.

She knows she could have done better than me.

What are you doing with Ciamino?!

Only the books!

You lie!

Papa, look, I go to the office,

I pick up the books...

I come home and I do 'em, and that's all.

You quit.

You go there.

You'll tell them you quit!

Papa, it's not so easy to quit.

You quit, you dumb boy! You quit!

All, all right, all right, Papa.

I'll quit.

I'll quit.

But it takes a little time, you know.

I've gotta put the books in order.

All right, Paul.

Put 'em in order.

Put their stinking books in order.

And your life, my son, put that in order, too.

Mr. Ness, I, I don't know why

those men acted like they did.

Why did they suddenly stop beating Mr. Lee

when they saw you?

I don't know.

Mr. Raineri, what's their connection with you?

There is no connection.

You're the only one who even tried to help Lee.

Then something happened.

What changed everything?

Nothing changed. Nothing changed.

Mr. Raineri, we're trying to find out

who gave a brutal beating to your friend.

We need your help.

I got nothing to say.

Ness and the Untouchables knew

where most of the bootleg whiskey was being made.

They also knew that raiding the individual stills

would do no good;

others would just take their place.

For what Ness had in mind,

it was better to keep those home stills boiling.

Tomorrow, we'll each take a family that's operating a still,

we'll write down everything,

everything that goes into one of those flats,

everything that comes out.

They're getting that whiskey to Ciamino.

We got to find out how.

Agent Rossi watched a family named Falco.

Early that morning he had seen the man

of the house, Romeo Falco, go to his job.

Agent Rossi wrote everything down...

even Mrs. Falco's two trips to the market.

This man wasn't married.

Agent Hobson saw that he did

the little things a housewife would...

Like a Depression housewife, spending as little as possible,

even bringing back those brown root beer bottles

for the two-cent deposit.

Youngfellow, too, writing it all down.

Root beer empties...

Root beer empties going back to the grocer.

Again, our constant in all the reports.

Right there, right under our noses.

Who would ever think of looking for whiskey

in an empty root beer bottle?

A grocer.

According to the reports, usually the same man.

No, it's a crazy idea.

This place is a drop, Valcone,

for thousands of gallons of whiskey.

What happens to the bottles, Valcone?

Somebody picks them up, somebody takes them someplace.

Where?

I don't know.

I'm a grocer.

How I would know?

I go to night school. I try to live right.

Do you call being a stooge for Ciamino living right?

No, no!

I'm no stooge for nobody!

Look, what do you expect me to do?

You can start by telling the truth.

They came to me.

And they say if I don't do business with them...

And so, the people who bring their whiskey

and that they put their bottles in there.

The root beer bottles.

But they look like empties.

They didn't have any caps on.

Paraffin.

They put a wax plug down low in the neck,

the bottle looks empty.

And then Ciamino's men come in the night

in a truck.

What kind of truck?

Mr. Ness, I never look.

I don't want to see.

I don't want to see their dirty work.

Mr. Ness, you, you know what I mean?

I know what you mean, Mr. Valcone.

What time do you close up?

About now.

What time do they pick up the bottles?

Not for a couple of hours.

We'll take it from here. I'll be back later.

I'll go out this way.

Mr. Valcone, don't talk about this,

not to anybody.

Renzo, I'm not supposed to tell nobody,

but I had to tell you, no?

Renzo, I told you a proud thing like this,

I think you be happy.

I'm happy that you're working with Mr. Ness now, Luigi.

But that you took in their rotten bottles

and their rotten whiskey...

about that, I'm not happy

and I'm not proud.

Renzo, please, try to understand.

I'll come after supper on my way to school.

Paul!

Who'd you think it was?

I was just surprised, that's all.

It's a good thing you don't bake

the way you keep your books, you know?

Paul... Yeah?

Paul, did... did you...?

What, Papa?

Nothing, my son.

And now back to...

Renzo?

You come early.

Hey, Valcone, what's the matter?

What are you standing there like that for?

Were you expecting something?

Like a knife maybe?

Or an ice pick?

Take it easy, Valcone.

I didn't say anything mean, did I?

What?

I didn't yell.

I'll say it real nice.

Relax, Valcone.

What?

We're gonna have a little party,

and Stevano donated the whiskey.

You remember Stevano.

He used to be a little careless the way he made his whiskey.

But he was a real nice fella.

No.

Please, no.

Hey, a little drink?

Sure.

Just a drink among friends, huh?

No, no!

Don't!

Say, you took a lot for your first swig, grocer.

Please...

But then, you should be able to take a big swig.

You got a big mouth!

At 7:10 p.m. on the night of August 23,

a nondescript truck turned into the alley

behind Luigi Valcone's darkened store,

and made its last scheduled stop of the evening.

Hidden beneath its tarpaulin cover

was the precious cargo of rotgut whiskey...

Illicitly produced by over

one hundred homemade tenement stills.

The vigilance of Ness and his men

was at last beginning to pay off as they followed the truck

at a safe distance through the streets of Chicago

waiting patiently for it to lead them

to its base of operation.

As far as the Untouchables knew,

things were meshing perfectly.

Just a few blocks away, however,

Renzo Raineri on his way to night school

was about to discover

the heartbreaking, chilling opposite.

Luigi, what happened?

What's the trouble?

What happened to him?

Rotgut whiskey, he's been poisoned.

Renzo... Yes, Luigi?

Come on, move out of the way, man!

But he's my friend, let me go with him.

All right. All right. Get in. Get in.

Come on.

Luigi... rest.

Renzo... they held me.

They tortured me.

Was bad... so bad...

You must not talk, not now.

They make me drink their rotten whiskey.

They know everything.

Somebody told them... I talk with Ness.

Who could have done this?

Who, Renzo?

Who?

Renzo, don't go away, don't leave me.

I'm here, Luigi.

Renzo, I can't see.

I am blind.

I'm blind.

Try the office.

See if you can dig out the books.

What's the matter, Mr. Ness,

you don't like root beer?

You sure took a long ride for a drink of root beer.

Could've gotten a bottle anyplace in town.

Legitimate, all legitimate.

A nice legitimate root beer business.

Yeah, and Mr. Ciamino pays his taxes, too.

You won't find no root beer in there, Mr. Ness.

Them are all empties.

They knew we were tailing them.

They poured the whiskey out.

What's the matter, Mr. Big Shot Ness?

You wanna wash your hands?

Wash 'em in root beer.

Hey, watch it.

That vat cost a lot of money.

All right, you can quit now, Mr. Ness.

I bottle root beer here.

Tonight.

Tomorrow, you'll be bottling whiskey again.

Mr. Smart Guy Ness, you got any proof?

Eliot... Any books?

No books, nothing.

Everything's nice and clean.

Only this.

You want proof, Ciamino?

Proof? What are you gonna tell the judge?

"Hey, Mr. Judge, smell the whiskey on my hand"?

Paraffin.

How much paraffin you use bottling root beer?

We use caps.

We don't use no paraffin.

Here's an order for 800 pounds.

All right, so my wife likes to put up raspberry jam.

Well, we don't have much to show.

All we have is this order for paraffin.

That's not all.

What's the address on that bill?

430 Dexter Street.

Let's check it out for size.

Go on, clean up the office.

Augie... Listen, everybody's talking.

They took Valcone to the hospital.

That's the best place in the world for him.

You said you weren't gonna hurt him.

You said a little scare for a little grocer, that's all.

Look, kid, can I help it if a man can't hold his whiskey?

Now go on and help Ritchie clean up the office, huh?

Go ahead.

The door's open.

Grandpa.

Where's Paul?

He's out.

What's wrong, Papa?

Please, sweetheart, inside.

It's not time yet.

Come on, Teresa, into your room.

What's the matter, Papa?

Your husband is a fool.

Your husband, my son, he works for Ciamino.

He just keeps books, Papa.

He works for the Central Bottling Company

on East Taylor Street, and he keeps books.

He keeps these books, books for Ciamino.

That's his job, Papa.

He's a bookkeeper.

Pages, pages... the whiskey, the payoffs...

the whole dirty story... That's what he keeps.

Well, what do you expect him to do?

Things are bad.

He's got to have a job.

He's just a little person, Papa.

Nobody's got to be that little, Rose.

Not my son.

Not anybody's son born under the eye of God.

What are you going to do, Papa?

What I must do.

Basta.

Salute. Salute.

Central Bottling Company.

Let me talk to Paul Raineri.

Paul, it's for you.

Hello.

Luigi Valcone is blind.

You hear me?

Luigi Valcone, who went with me to your First Communion...

Listen, Papa, you don't think...

I think it, you dumb boy.

You heard him at the bakery.

You heard it!

Papa, I don't know how you get such ideas.

You wanna know where?

From your account books.

I've got the whole story...

The story about Ciamino

and the whiskey and the whole operation.

Papa, listen...

And now, Paul, I'll tell you what I'm going to do,

I'm going to give it to Mr. Ness.

You can come with me, my son...

and try and stand up straight.

And try to help.

You can do that or you cannot...

But either way... either way...

I tell it to you on the memory of your mother,

it will be done.

You tell him to stay there.

Tell him you're comin' right over to see him.

Tell him you're gonna be alone.

Papa, who do you think you're talking to?

This is Paolo, nobody else.

Your Paolo.

I know who it is.

Listen, Papa, you remember the way we used to do,

you know, we'd talk and you'd get sore at me

and then I'd come around and we'd talk.

Believe me, I know.

I'm coming right over now, Papa.

Just me, me alone,

and I'll explain all about those books.

You hear me, Papa?

Will you wait?

I hear you.

I hear tears, my son.

Will you wait, Papa? I'll be right over.

I'll wait, Paolo.

Papa, run! They're coming to kill you!

I love you, Papa! I didn't mean...

Paul!

Papa... forgive me.

Do what you must do.

Paul!

Paraffin.

Yeah, but how can we make it stick to Ciamino?

Maybe he can help us.

Ordered by Paul Raineri.

That's right... Paul Raineri, the bookkeeper,

Renzo Raineri's son.

The old man... Where's the old man?

He left.

Where's my husband?

And the books... What about the books?

Where's my husband?

The books.

Where are the books?

He took 'em when he left.

You did something to my husband, didn't you?

Where'd Renzo go?

I don't know, I don't know.

Where's Paul? Where's my husband?

He's in trouble, isn't he? Isn't he?!

Not anymore, honey.

Paul... Paul... Paul... Mommy?

Mommy, what's the matter?

Ness and his men had arrived at Paul Raineri's apartment

expecting to find Ciamino's elusive bookkeeper.

Instead, they found his weeping widow.

Ness didn't have to spell it out to his men.

They knew that somewhere near here,

somewhere in an alley or a cellar,

afraid to make much of a run for it,

afraid he would be spotted by one of Ciamino's stooges,

Renzo Raineri, clutching those telltale account books,

was hiding.

And don't try to hide him, see?

And Ciamino and his killers were somewhere out there, too,

hunting, closing in.

Please, Esposito...

Rennie, go away, go away.

They been here. I don't want to get mixed up.

Just for a minute, let me use the phone.

I-I just want to call Ness.

Let me call Ness!

Don't worry, don't worry.

Yes, what can I... Shut up!

It's taking too long.

An old man like that, he can't run and hide much longer.

Where would he think he had a chance?

The school... he might go to the school.

Or maybe the police.

You go there; I'll try the school.

Oh, you left the phone off the hook, huh?

Hey, paisan! Salute!

No...

Please, paisan...

do you-you got change for 50 cents?

Uh, change? Yeah. You got change for 50 cents?

Please? Oh, not since I was a little fella.

You got a nickel? Just a nickel?

Take the 50 cents, give me the nickel.

How ya... how ya think I got this?

I spent all my money.

Now, come on, buddy boy,

just one little drink.

I'm sorry that everyone isn't here tonight,

because verb conjugations are very hard.

But... we have to go on.

Uh, you-you must understand, of course,

that you do the same thing in your native language.

Perhaps you never thought of it in terms of...

What is it?

I was looking for Mr. Raineri.

He isn't here.

I was wondering where he is myself.

Is there anything we can do?

Just... go on.

Well, uh...

as I was saying, grammar is essentially the same...

in Italian, in Greek,

in Latin, in Hebrew...

or in any other language.

I am, you are... he is.

It's the same the world over.

You better say your prayers, old man.

You're gonna die.

But first hand over those books.

No sense getting them all messed up.

All right, Ciamino,

turn around and put your hands against the wall.

Look out!

Picolo!

Picolo!

Ritchie!

Ritchie...!

Ritchie!

Ritchie!

Stay where you are, Ness.

You come any closer... I'll kill ya, Ness!

You won't kill anybody, Ciamino.

They only hold six.

Hold it!

You asked me once what they teach us in night school.

They teach us that in this country

a man doesn't have to be afraid of people like you.

Paul...

was a good boy, Mr. Ness.

He would've been a good man.

Here, this is for you.

Thanks.

We'll use 'em well, I promise you that.

Eliot Ness used the books very well indeed.

The information they contained sent Augie Ciamino

to the Federal penitentiary for life,

and smashed one of the most profitable bootleg operations

in all history.

But it could never have happened

without the help of Renzo Raineri, citizen.