Original subtitles

Well, they're sure boisterous, aren't they?

Yeah, and maybe dangerous if a man has enemies.

Any one of those masks might hide a killer.

Mr. Ness,

you happen to be ridin' in a bulletproof car.

Tempered and laminated glass all around.

Have you any idea, Mr. Ness,

just what it would take to smash through this glass?

Tonight's episode...

Starring Robert Stack as Eliot Ness.

Co-starring Bruce Gordon, Carl Milletaire

and Dennis Patrick.

With special guest star Luther Adler.

And narrated by Walter Winchell.

The presidential campaign of 1932

was loaded with dynamite for the underworld.

Roosevelt had pledged himself to end Prohibition.

The Capone mob, however, was unconcerned.

For over a year,

it had been shifting its operations away from booze.

By November 1932,

its empire rested on a new foundation...

Narcotics.

But suddenly, the new foundation was shaken.

Suddenly, in mid-December, narcotics were in short supply.

And one month later, the problem had become acute.

Mr. Nitti?

Beat it, bum.

It's okay, Pete.

I ain't had a jolt in three days.

I'm dry.

You got the stuff.

You've got plenty of it.

You're just holding it back to kick up the price.

So hand some over, Mr. Nitti, fast,

or I'm gonna burn you like

you been burnin' me!

That's enough.

You don't want to kill him.

He's a customer.

Bouchard still ain't shipped that stuff.

Maybe we go down there and ask him why.

Determined to end the narcotics famine,

Frank Nitti and his lieutenant, Pete Konitz,

flew south the next morning.

They reached New Orleans at 4:40 p.m.

on the afternoon of February 20.

Their arrival did not go unnoticed.

At 5:00 that afternoon,

Nitti and Konitz moved into the plush Governor's Suite

at the Hotel Trianon.

The rate... $150 per night.

Check the bedrooms.

Good. I'll let you know. Thanks.

That was Lieutenant Willard, New Orleans Police.

Nitti and Konitz just blew in.

New Orleans? What for?

Maybe they're taking over the Mardi Gras.

Narcotics, you think?

I could make an educated guess.

They're short. They've been in a squeezer for weeks.

They've got to make some kind of move.

I wonder what made 'em pick New Orleans.

Let's try to figure it out on the way down.

Lee, will you pick up three tickets

on the next flight?

Call me. I'll be home packing.

Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.

If there's anything you need, sir, don't...

Get out.

Yes, sir.

That ain't too bad, Frank.

Stinks!

Just so we arrange for the stuff and pull out fast.

Maybe we should have called Bouchard,

tell him we were comin' down.

No, it's better to give him a little surprise.

We got to find out if Bouchard is levelin',

so, we drop in on him sudden-like.

Don't give him a chance to set himself.

Hmm.

"Welcome to Mardi Gras.

Emile Bouchard."

Go ahead, Mr. Bouchard!

Go ahead, shoot!

Go on. You'll see.

Won't nothin' happen!

Why, Sully... That's wonderful!

That's-That's just wonderful!

Like I told you,

it'd take a cannon to smash that glass.

Well, thank you, Sully.

Mr. Bouchard?

Here, you take this.

Somehow it suits you better.

Why, Mr. Nitti.

Welcome to our city.

Pete Konitz.

My pleasure.

I trust Mr. Capone is feelin' well?

He'll feel better

if we get somethi" set down here.

Oh, we'll see to that, all right.

I have the deepest regard for Mr. Capone.

You knew that we were comin' in.

Mr. Nitti,

you know a man of your prominence can't travel

without bein' observed.

So, I don't travel unless I have to.

All right, I'll lay it out for you plain,

on the line, no trimmings.

We need the stuff, and we need it bad.

I understand perfectly.

Nothing. You don't understand nothin'.

Now, just one moment there, Mr. Nitti...

The punks... they operate hit and run, not us.

We got a business, Bouchard.

We make promises, we got to keep 'em.

We can't keep 'em when you run out on us!

Now, look here, Mr. Nitti...

and just hold on, everybody,

and let us be reasonable.

Now gentlemen, we're all aware of the fact

that the shipment was stolen, aren't we?

Last December.

You had eight weeks to find out who.

Somebody's been peddlin' it.

No one! Not an ounce!

Whoever grabbed that shipment is holdin' on to it.

When's the new stuff comin' in?

Maybe today, tomorrow.

I never know exactly.

We have to wait for some word.

You make sure you get it.

Now, I got to get back.

I got work to do.

But you hear me good.

He'll be around and them.

I'd kind of... keep that in mind, huh?

Nitti left for Chicago the following day,

unaware that just an hour before,

the rooms directly across from the Governor's Suite

had been occupied by new guests.

Konitz was unaware of it, too.

Hello, Konitz.

You take a wrong turn?

This is New Orleans.

You looking for something, Mr. Ness?

Same thing you're looking for.

Maybe I ain't lookin' for nothin'.

Maybe I just come for the Mardi Gras.

Forget it.

You're not the type.

Lobby, gentlemen.

Just one lousy minute!

I got some advice for you.

Go home.

You hang around down here too long,

and Nitti'll have Chicago in his back pocket.

Out, please.

406, please.

Lee?

They're gone.

You can tear their suite apart now. Right.

Gentlemen!

I thought you'd like a little taste of Bourbon Street.

Have you met the owner yet?

He's a close, a personal friend of mine.

You're late.

On Bourbon Street, we don't count time.

Except when Eliot Ness is nosing around.

Ness? Here?

Well, that's too bad.

I was hoping to save it for dinner.

To go with the dessert.

You got the word?

15 minutes ago, a radiogram.

"Grandma arriving tonight."

This time, no mistakes.

Nothing to worry about. I'm sending my best two men.

To our mutual success.

To you, to me, to Mr. Capone.

To Grandma!

Over here.

"317-BL-5."

That's the one.

Be careful.

They said it'd be right on top.

Oh...

Watch it.

I think I nicked it a little.

Well, that's it.

Almost three pounds of pure, uncut heroin had disappeared.

A critical loss.

A loss that could disrupt the entire Capone operation.

Liar!

You're a dirty liar!

Honest, it was just like I said.

There must have been five or six of them!

You didn't hear nothin'?

Nothin'! They come up so fast!

It was dark. There was a fog.

They come right out of the dark!

My best two men.

We tried to fight 'em off!

Honest, we tried!

And then they started blazin',

and Hugger got it, and I run.

Maybe you ain't gonna stop.

Hello?

Get me long distance.

Yes, sir?

Operator, I want Chicago.

Mr. Frank Nitti.

Wabash, 1-0-9-8 Mr. Bouchard... Get out.

Go on, get out of here.

Okay, make it fast, huh?

Hello, Frank?

Yeah?

Pete.

Well, what's the matter, Pete?

You don't sound so good.

Frank, I got some bad news.

Something happened.

The stuff ain't comin' in.

No, it come in... We got hijacked, Frank.

You're right, Pete.

That's real bad news.

That's gonna hit the boys real hard when I tell 'em.

Listen, Frank...

So, maybe I tell 'em you're lookin', huh?

I tell 'em you promised you're gonna find it.

And I tell you something, too, Pete.

Like an old friend, huh?

Yeah, Frank?

Find it.

Well?

What'd he say?

Nothin'!

Early the next morning, Eliot Ness was called

to the parish morgue to meet Lieutenant Willard.

Someone else, however, was there before him.

Emile Bouchard.

He's Bouchard and Company, one of our oldest firms.

Made the legal identification.

No family?

The wife was too upset.

She asked Bouchard to do it for her.

Davis used to work for him.

Hugger Davis.

The watchman found him down on the wharf last night

in one of the sheds.

I thought you might like to see the lab report.

"Trace of white powder on coat.

"Heroin.

Pure crystal form. Uncut."

You think Davis was running it in?

I'd say.

Know what happened to the stuff?

Some of it.

Been practically none around till last night.

Davis was killed around 11:30.

He was picked up about 3:00.

High as 11 eagles, twice as mean.

You able to talk?

My name is Benny Kroll.

I work on the docks.

I live around, anyplace I can.

We want to help you, Benny.

You can help us.

My name is Benny Kroll.

I work on the docks.

I live around, anyplace I can.

You don't have to tell us much,

just where you got the stuff.

My name is Benny Kroll.

I work on the docks... Your name is junkie!

You work to support a bunch of rats!

You live anyplace you can... They live at the Trianon!

Governor's Suite! 150 bucks a day!

You live with a monkey on your back!

Every time his claws dig in, you pay their room rent!

Smarten up, Mr. Benny Kroll.

A man was killed last night.

A man named Davis.

Hugger Davis?

He was running in dope when he was killed.

And a few hours later you're all hopped up.

I never seen Hugger!

Not last night!

Try to sell that to a jury.

Unless you can prove you got the stuff someplace else.

This town's pretty touchy about the Mardi Gras.

It hates to have anybody spoil the fun.

And a killer...

Benny, you could be the goat.

What do you want?

Konitz had been conducting his own inquiry.

Since early morning he had been digging

into dark and secret corners of the New Orleans underworld.

And finally, he was close to some answers.

Who?

Uh, stop.

Please. Stop.

Mendez!

The foot of Dumaine Street!

He's got a boat.

The Jolly Fox.

Mendez?

Mendez!

Come on up here, Mendez!

Pete?

Konitz looks like he lost his mother.

Mother?!

They found him under a rock.

Stay with 'em, Rico.

♪ ♪

Pardon me, gentlemen,

I didn't hear you knock.

We didn't knock.

We found out who had some of the stuff.

Who?

We tailed it to a fishing boat.

To a fishing captain.

Name of Mendez.

Did you face him with it?

What did he say?

He didn't say nothing.

He's dead.

Like his fish.

Dead.

We found something else on the boat.

It's got your name on it.

Well, sure it has.

You'll find tags like this on a hundred boats in the harbor.

Supplying boats, that's my business.

Aren't you being a little suspicious?

That's my business.

Our business.

You know what I think?

You need a little something to steady your nerves.

How about some brandy?

I know it's a little early in the day,

but we'll make an exception.

'Cause this is Napoleon brandy.

It's been in our cellar for a hundred years now.

I don't like brandy.

Now, look here, Mr. Konitz,

am I getting the impression

you think I had a hand in stealin' that shipment?

Maybe.

But why?

Why in the world would I do a thing like that?

The stuff's mine, isn't it?

Until I deliver it.

Why should I steal what already belongs to me?

That's plain nonsense,

just downright nonsense.

Maybe.

Mr. Konitz, you better start trustin' me,

because I got just as much to lose here as you have.

Maybe.

Here's your key.

Locker 1024.

What did Konitz want?

He's got some kind of wild idea that I stole that shipment.

That would involve you, of course.

You know, I say a man has to be a fool to steal from himself.

A plain fool.

Or else, very, very, smart.

No, honestly, Gil,

do you think we're a couple of fools?

I think we're very, very smart.

Oh, Gil, get rid of your shoes.

They smell of fish.

And now back to...

On the second day after their arrival in New Orleans,

the Untouchables still were facing a high, blank wall,

until a telephone message took them to Rossi.

Konitz sure knows his way around.

He just went in that back entrance

to the warehouse.

Bouchard.

You know him?

He was at the morgue this morning.

He identified Hugger Davis' body.

I'll tell you something else,

I walked by that shed.

You know what he's building in there?

A bulletproof car!

You better stay with him.

Let's get an address on Mrs. Davis.

Hugger?

He was a louse.

Platinum on top of 14-karat.

A louse!

Mrs. Davis, I don't understand.

You didn't like your husband much alive,

but you were too upset to look at him dead.

You had to ask Mr. Bouchard to identify him.

Mr. who?

Bouchard.

Didn't you send him to the morgue?

Send him?

I don't even know him!

Thanks a lot.

I'm Eliot Ness.

We almost met this morning.

That's right, Mr. Ness, at the morgue.

We just talked to Mrs. Davis.

She says she didn't ask you to identify her husband.

She says she doesn't even know you.

She knows me, Mr. Ness.

She knows me.

She has a woman's pride.

She's just too proud to admit

I've been helping her out

with a few dollars now and then.

You saw the kind of woman she is.

Would you be willing to take her word against mine?

Who are you?

Mr. Ness, do I have to remind you

that you're a guest in this office?

This is Mr. Haller, and he's in my employ.

Yeah.

Mr. Ness...

what precisely are you looking for?

Narcotics.

A smuggled shipment that was hijacked last night

worth maybe several million dollars.

You don't rate me very intelligent, do you, sir?

If I were involved in such a fantastic enterprise,

do you imagine I'd be fool enough

to leave the stuff here?

Now, do you?

Of course, you're welcome to look,

but it's taken about 150 years to build up this stock.

It could take you almost that long to go through it.

He's lying.

Either he or Mrs. Davis, one of 'em.

Not Mrs. Davis.

Why?

She hasn't got any pride.

Look, they got my prints in Michigan and Oklahoma.

I don't want no Fed on my back.

I want out.

I'm afraid that's impossible at the moment.

We don't dare go near that locker now.

Besides, we have nothing really to fear.

You got nothing to fear.

They pick you up, it's a narcotics rap.

They pick me up, it's murder.

I just killed a man.

Two.

You killed two.

If you're sure, why don't we bring him in and sweat him?

He won't sweat. He's a gentleman.

He's had six generations of practice.

It's not enough to take him, we want that shipment, too.

We want to take them both out of circulation.

Here it is, the Jolly Fox,

commercial fishing boat, number 201776.

The registered owner, Mr. Emile Bouchard.

Is he trying to sell? Why?

Well, you're the second one that's checked

in the last 30 minutes.

Put 'em on.

Put 'em on!

Please!

Don't! It better not fit.

You were on that fish boat, huh?

You took the stuff.

Where is it?

I don't know.

I think maybe you don't hear.

I'm gonna ask again.

Where is it?

I don't know!

You got me wrong, honest, you got me all wrong!

It don't make no difference to a shoe.

Now, for the last time, where's the stuff?

I don't know.

Honest, I don't know!

He's telling the truth.

I'm the one who knows, the only one.

I had it figured, but I let you talk me out.

I couldn't see you grabbing from yourself.

Then you couldn't see me creating a shortage, either.

One that would make my price seem more realistic.

So that's the play, a squeeze.

I haven't heard no price.

Ten percent of the operation.

The whole operation?

Whiskey, drugs, the houses... Everything.

Ten percent?

You're a piker.

Why don't you grab the whole works?

I'm giving it my most serious consideration.

I just hope your friends got dark suits for a funeral.

And yours?

By the way, sir,

when you call Chicago... Who says I'm

calling anywhere? You won't forget

to give my warmest regards to Mr. Nitti.

I'm pulling out.

Let's settle up.

You mean now?

Right this minute?

You know I don't have that kind of cash in hand.

Well, I'll take it in goods out of the shipment.

And bust the market wide open?

Is that what you want?

Look, I want my cut!

I'm not asking, I'm taking!

Well, you're more than welcome,

if you can find the locker.

I'll find it, I...

You moved it.

That's where you've been.

You moved the stuff.

You had it figured all along.

You never meant to cut me in.

You figured me dumb!

Smart man.

Gil... Smartest man in the world.

Riding around in a bulletproof car.

You, riding, me, walking.

You lousy, stinki"

double-crossing... Now, now, Gil...

Give me the key!

You're just imagining things...

Give me that key before I slice you to bits!

Think, boy, think. We-we were so close to winning.

The key!

Now, Gil, stop that.

You and I are friends.

We can talk like real friends over a glass of Napoleon.

You fool.

An 18th-century weapon and a sixth-century mind.

Why shouldn't you crawl...

when you've just come down out of the trees?

I could destroy you.

One little word to Ness, and I can do it.

Now, if you'd just like to apologize,

I just might accept it.

Louder, boy, I didn't hear you.

I'm sorry.

Pick it up!

Now will you please put that back where you found it?

Get out of here!

Mr. Haller, I was getting rid of these...

I was getting rid of these in the alley when this man...

Oh, don't wave those shoes in my face!

They smell.

Bury them.

Yes, sir.

"When you call Chicago," he says.

"When you talk to Nitti."

And we can't touch him till we find the stuff!

He could sit there laughing for a whole year.

And we ain't got a year!

Ten percent.

You know what Frank'll do.

He'll ship a dozen guns down here.

And not for Bouchard.

I want a deal.

Ness and Hobson had spent

several hours in the police files.

Finding no local records for either Bouchard or Haller,

they had called Chicago and instructed their office

to check federal files.

Returning to the hotel, they found Rossi waiting.

He had just come from Bouchard's.

There's no doubt about it.

There's something funny going on.

Konitz came out real mad.

And a few minutes later, this other guy came out.

I never saw him before.

About 35, 5'11", 165, dark hair.

That's Haller.

He works for Bouchard.

He was mad, too.

So I stayed with him.

He went into four different bars on Bourbon Street

and then here. Here?

He just came in.

Asked for Konitz's room and went upstairs.

Mr. Ness?

Operator, would you hold that call just a minute?

The Governor's Suite just put through a call to Chicago.

Person to person to Mr. Frank Nitti.

Haller must've lit a fire under them.

Give us time to get upstairs, will you?

Go ahead. I'm on it.

Hello, sir?

Ready on your call to Chicago.

Go ahead, please.

Hello, operator?

Hello, operator?

Stopped on one flank, Ness attacked on the other.

He obtained a search warrant

and moved on Bouchard and Company,

where he found something more than he had expected.

Less than 15 feet

from the bulletproof car he had just finished building

lay the nearly lifeless body of Sully McIver.

Eliot Ness and Lee Hobson

accompanied the old man to the parish hospital.

They kept an all-night vigil,

in the hope that he would eventually be able to throw

some light upon the identity of his attackers.

Here he comes.

Gentlemen, I'm sorry we have to meet here,

but I couldn't very well invite you to my office.

You see, Mr. Ness made a thorough search

of my office last night.

Mr. Nitti, how was your flight?

I told you I don't like to travel.

All right.

I'll lay it out again.

You got it, we need it.

We're ready to buy.

As simple as that?

And no hard feelings?

We run a business.

We got no time for "feelings."

We figure anybody can make a mistake.

One mistake.

You can wipe yours off the books.

Just deliver that shipment like you promised.

I'm sorry, I thought you understood.

Didn't Konitz here tell you?

He told me.

You go for broke, you can come out bare.

I know where the stuff is, Bouchard.

That's right.

I told him.

I'll put 20 guns around that station.

We'll go through them lockers one at a time.

Thorough.

And a thorough waste of time.

It ain't there?

Mr. Nitti, did you really think

I'd leave myself wide open like that?

No, it "ain't" there.

I'm the only one who knows where it is.

And if you want it, you can't touch me.

Can you?

All right.

You hold the ace.

But I'm running the game.

No percentage, that's out!

But we'll double the price.

You take that, or you take a bullet.

The Celeste Street Wharf.

I'll send them over.

We'll take delivery tonight.

I'm supposed to ride in the parade tonight.

What time?

It starts at 7:00.

Meet them at 6:30, then.

6:30?

Bouchard?

Be there!

Suppose he don't deliver?

Well, like I promised,

you can knock him off.

And if he does?

Same thing.

At 5:45 p.m.,

Sully had recovered consciousness and was able

to give the Untouchables sufficient information

to lead them back to Bouchard and Company.

Well, the car is gone.

He's left for the parade.

Where do they start?

Calliope Street.

Close to 7:00.

He ain't gonna show.

7:00, Mr. Bouchard.

Be in front of the auditorium at the finish.

Wait there.

♪ ♪

Wait a minute, and follow along on foot.

Buy a favor for the lady!

Buy a favor for the lady!

Get a mask! Get a mask!

And for your friends.

They're fun at the party!

Buy a lady favor for the lady!

Keep going.

You're holding up the parade.

♪ ♪

They always take the same route, Lieutenant?

It's traditional.

Along Canal, down Royal to the French Quarter,

turn left on Orleans to the auditorium.

Mr. Ness asked me that, too.

Why didn't you tell me you liked parades?

I could have arranged a place for you

on one of the balconies.

I'd rather see it from here.

Well, they're sure boisterous, aren't they?

Yeah, and maybe dangerous if a man has enemies.

Any one of those masks might hide a killer.

Is that why you dropped in?

'Cause somebody wants to kill me?

Who wants to kill me, Mr. Ness?

Gil Haller.

He's a fool.

The Capone mob.

Mr. Ness, you insist on underrating me.

You happen to be ridin' in a bulletproof car.

Just like Big Al, huh?

Why not?

I have a large regard for Mr. Capone.

I had this car built just like his.

12-gauge steel on the body.

Tempered and laminated glass all around.

Have you any idea, Mr. Ness,

just what it would take to smash through this glass?

The old man.

That's why I couldn't find him today.

He's in the hospital.

He went back to check last night,

and saw somebody tampering with the car,

tried to stop him, got his head laid open.

He saw who it was, and what he was doing.

Who?

Haller.

He was putting back the original glass.

He was setting you up.

He knew you'd ride in the parade tonight.

They could be anywhere out there.

You're a sitting duck, Bouchard.

A bird under glass.

You're lucky, Bouchard,

you're carrying insurance.

They won't hit you while I'm in the car.

It's bad luck killing a federal officer.

Trouble is...

that I'm getting off at the next corner.

You can't... You can't get out!

They'll kill me! They'll kill me!

Keep me here. Start talking.

He wasn't there.

He must be in the parade, then.

Get Haller!

I want that shipment, Bouchard, the whole bundle!

But-But what if I don't have it?

You've got it.

Or they wouldn't have let you live this long.

You're wrong.

You're entirely wrong!

They tried to force me, but I refused!

They wanted to use my name, my position!

A friend of yours, I think.

♪ ♪

Nitti won't do it himself.

He's too big.

But he'll watch.

The others must be pretty close.

300 feet to the corner, Bouchard.

That's where I get out.

Yippee!

I'm a citizen.

I've a right to be protected!

Ask the police in the morning.

Don't bother to stop.

No, wait, wait!

Wait.

The back of the car.

Underneath the seat.

It doesn't make sense.

You're smart.

You couldn't live in a bulletproof car.

They'd be after you tomorrow.

Uh, I wouldn't have been here tomorrow!

Got my own private yacht.

South America, I could have built an empire!

I've got the name, the contacts, the organization!

Could have reached all the way to Chicago and made them crawl!

I could have made them forget their Mr. Capone!

I could tell the boys.

I want to do it myself.

With company. Forget it.

Spillin' the news to Ness like he said.

Fixing me to burn.

Cut it!

You don't take a chance with a fed!

Haller!

♪ ♪

Six generations to make a gentleman.

What a waste.

The stuff's in back.

All right, men, let's get the parade moving.

Line up here!

Bouchard had hijacked two shipments of heroin.

The Untouchables recovered both.

Total value... Close to $6 million.

It would be months

before the Capone mob recovered from the blow.

But this was Mardi Gras.

The parade recovered in a minute and a half.