Original subtitles

Mr. Monk here?

Who wants to know?

Oh, federal men.

Right over there in the corner.

Thanks.

Tonight's episode...

starring Robert Stack as Eliot Ness.

Co-starring Robert Middleton,

Michael Constantine and Barry Morse.

And narrated by Walter Winchell.

During the third week in November 1932,

Eliot Ness and his Untouchables,

acting on the information imparted by an anonymous tip,

raided a warehouse on Laurie Street

on Chicago's South Side.

Federal agents!

Hold it right there!

What's this all about?

Hey, we thought those were books.

Books?

Lee, you and Rico make a spot-check.

See how much more literature you can find here.

Who do you work for?

I don't know. Who hired you?

An employment agency.

They told us to come down to this empty warehouse,

wait for a shipment of books, and stack the cases.

What employment agency?

The Marshall Employment Agency.

We answered an ad in the paper.

Who's supposed to pay you?

We were paid in advance by the employment agency.

Didn't that seem strange to you?

Mister, when you haven't worked in over five months

and somebody gives you cash,

believe me, it don't seem strange.

When did these cases get here?

Last night.

Can you remember the name of the trucker?

No, sir.

We'll have to hold you for a while

till we can verify your stories.

That's okay with us.

We're telling you the truth, mister.

Let's go.

It's all champagne.

It must be part of the big shipment

that's coming for the New Year's.

Rico, pick up the landlord of this warehouse, will you?

Right. That was quite a tip we got.

There's only one trouble with a tip as good as this one.

It's usually from a guy

who is waiting in the wings to take over.

The following morning, the Untouchables discovered

that the Marshall Employment Agency had suddenly shut down.

But office records substantiated

the warehouse workers' story, and they were released.

After intensive investigation failed to link the landlord,

Michel Viton, to the bootlegged champagne,

Ness called the 57th Chicago police district

to set him free.

Qu'est que c'est?

What is it?

All right.

Empêchez! Laissez-moi tranquille!

Let me alone!

Very well.

Après vous.

Good to see you, Viton.

My name is Wald.

W-A-L-D. Ed Wald.

I am very particular with whom I shake hands.

Also for what reason I shake?

Sure. I understand.

Birdie tells me you didn't want to come here.

The last person who told me

to follow him brought me into a jail.

This ain't no jail. I make bottles.

What has that to do with me?

Your note said to follow this man,

and a matter of great concern to me would be discussed.

I have no concern with bottles.

Not even this kind of bottle?

Oh, a good bottle

of Chateau Blanc always concerns a Frenchman.

Taste it.

Poorly corked.

Well?

A little flat due to the poor corking.

Oh.

Birdie corked it.

He pushed it in with his hands.

That ain't easy.

The cork starts out three times as big as the bottle opening.

This bottle was corked here?

Corked here, labeled here, bottled here.

Where did you get the wine?

From a man in Indiana.

He's been trying to make champagne for years.

He's finally come up with that combination of spiced cider

and sugarcane you're drinking.

Pretty good?

Incroyable.

Why are you telling me all this?

Let me put my cards on the table, Viton.

I make bottles for some,

shall we say, whiskey interests.

I heard about the raid last night.

I'm offering you a proposition.

You've got the contacts, I can supply the champagne.

What do you say?

Before I say, I would like to ask.

Who told you about this raid?

Oh, word gets out about all the raids.

What are you worrying about that for?

I'm not worried.

I'm just uncomfortable that anyone should know

so much about me and my affairs.

Uncomfortable or not, are you in or out?

How much does this fellow in Indiana charge?

I figured out, it'll come to two dollars a quart.

That includes the champagne,

shipping from Indiana, bottling and labeling.

Two dollars?

We can sell it for ten dollars a quart.

How much can he supply?

All we can sell.

Equal partners?

Equal partners.

I am, as you say, in.

I'll need $200,000 to get rolling.

What for?

$100,000 for the first batch of champagne,

and $100,000 to smuggle in a proper

corking machine from France.

I don't have that kind of money.

But I tell you what I can do.

I know where you can get a corking machine for nothing.

Can you supply the money?

I got an uncle.

It'll be like pulling teeth,

but I think I know how to handle him.

Good.

There is one more thing.

Have you ever heard of Seth Otis?

Sure. He's in champagne, too.

I was going to go to him if you turned me down.

The big orders are coming in now for New Year's.

It will be difficult for us as it is

to deliver the champagne on time.

So?

So, Otis can make deliveries right away.

We will have to stop him.

You understand me.

Tell him where Otis lives.

He reads lips.

Seth Otis.

231 Gallagher Avenue.

Apartment C.

Now, where do we get the corking machine?

There is one in the Industrial Museum

on Clinton Street.

You're kidding?

It is sitting in the museum

waiting for you.

The next morning, the murder of Seth Otis,

known bootlegger, was reported to Captain Dorset

of the Chicago police department

who immediately notified Ness and the Untouchables.

Look at this.

Looks like his neck was crushed in a vise.

What do you think, Eliot?

Otis had gotten into champagne recently.

If I'm not mistaken, this murder is part of a plan

that began with a tip on a warehouse

full of champagne two nights ago.

A plan leading to what?

The coronation of a king.

The king of champagne.

Thanksgiving Eve, 1932,

while most of America was preparing

for the long holiday weekend,

Louie Monk and two accomplices went to work for Ed Wald

at the Industrial Museum.

Psst.

Lift your feet!

Who is it?

Who's there?

Who is it?

Let's go.

At 8:47, November 24, 1932,

the body of the night watchman was discovered by John Wellin,

curator of the Industrial Museum,

and reported to the authorities.

Well, there's nothing inside, Eliot.

You say the machines that were stolen were specifically

for corking sparkling wines and champagne, Mr. Wellin?

Yes, they were high pressure machines.

They were made in France.

It adds up, Lee.

Whoever tipped us and killed Otis

is going to make his own champagne.

This is not just another power play.

This is somebody who is smart enough

to accomplish what no other bootlegger has been able to do.

But I had thought

there have been palatable substitutes

ever since the beginning of Prohibition.

For whiskey, Mr. Wellin,

but never for champagne.

Oh.

Not till now.

We've got the impression.

It'll take weeks to check them out.

How long has that black smudge

been on the wall, Mr. Wellin?

Why, I-I don't know.

I never saw it before.

Looks like diesel fuel.

Diesel fuel?!

Why, I didn't know there were any diesel trucks

operating in Chicago as yet.

Apparently there are.

Lee, check the Automobile Department, will you?

Well, they're closed, Eliot; Thanksgiving.

Call the police. See if someone can get us the records

of any diesel trucks registered.

This is a terrible thing, terrible.

W-Why did they have to kill him?

Why couldn't they just have tied him up and let him live?

Been dealing with criminals for many years, Mr. Wellin.

I still can't answer that one.

I don't know.

I'm hungry.

Music is good for your digestion.

You have to eat before anything

makes a difference to your digestion.

Shut up.

Did you pay for the record?

No.

Did you pay for the phonograph?

No.

Did you pay for this food you're going to eat?

No.

Did you pay for this house?

You know I didn't pay for this house.

Just answer your father "yes" or "no."

No.

Did you pay for the clothes you're wearing?

No.

Everything is my money.

Yes or no? Yes.

As long as it's my money

I'll have all the opinions around here.

♪ ♪

Anybody have any different views on this matter?

It's a shame your Cousin Ed has to see all this disrespect.

You liked the music, didn't you, Ed?

Sure.

It's good for you, calms you down.

A man has to be calmed down when he's got a family of spenders!

That's all they do, Ed, spend my money!

Now, Barney, please don't.

This is the only group in America

that never heard of the Depression!

Shall I turn the record over?

Don't strain yourself.

Hello?

How many dinners did you serve?

Is that all?

What kind of a turnover is that?

Well, get them out!

Tell the waiters to clear the tables

and put down the checks, and stand there until they pay!

Never mind, I'll come down and do it myself.

Biggest restaurant day of the year

and that rotten crew of mine lets the customers

sit around over their coffee!

190 dinners!

Do you want us to wait for you?

No, I'll eat at the restaurant.

I'm sure you can all stuff yourselves without me.

Barney, I got to talk to you.

Some other time, Ed.

Barney, it's important.

All right, come on in the library.

Make it snappy.

I got a good deal for you, Barney.

I've had enough of your "good deals."

Your good deals are like the kitchen door

to my restaurant marked "out."

Nothing ever comes "in."

This is different. Oh, they're all different.

Honest, Barney, I mean it.

There's a fortune to be made.

What have you got?

Champagne.

You're going into bootlegging?

I'm just going to bottle it.

Somebody else is going to sell it.

You dumb ox!

Do you think I've worked and slaved my whole life

just to end up in jail?

Barney, how are you going to wind up in jail?

You're giving your nephew a loan.

Nobody has to know what for.

Even if I was caught,

do you think I'd involve you?

How much money can I make?

Double your money, quick! How quick?

Give me $10,000. I'll give you back $20,000 in a week.

In one week?

One week.

All right.

Sign a note.

Your bottling business must be worth $10,000.

I've got the IOU all ready, Barney.

You forgot to put down that the money's

got to be returned in one week.

And initial it.

You won't be sorry, Barney.

I'd rather you give me the $20,000 next week.

I don't feel like going into the bottling business.

Don't worry, Barney.

But I'm ready to go into the bottling business if necessary.

You know what I mean, Ed?

I-I know what you mean, Barney.

All right, you can go back inside now

and stuff yourself with the rest of the vultures.

The records of the Motor Vehicle Bureau

disclosed that there were three diesel trucks

registered in the city of Chicago.

The first belonged to an established

interstate trucking firm.

And the second was registered in the name

of Louis Monk.

Is Mr. Monk here?

Who wants to know?

Oh, federal men, huh?

When will he be back?

Uh, I don't know, sir, when he'll be back.

Is his diesel truck here?

Yeah, it's, uh, right over there in the corner.

Thanks.

Wait!

The other one ran out, Eliot.

Our only lead.

We'll have to get a new one, the hard way.

If they're making their own champagne,

they'll have to have bottles.

Make a list of every bottle manufacturer

in Chicago and check them out.

That's a long shot.

Who do you think will get the champagne first?

Whoever can pay the most.

The Parkshore Club.

We'll keep an eye on it, too.

Call Captain Dorset, then get the coroner over here.

Right.

On the day after Thanksgiving in 1932,

the first bulk shipment of bogus champagne

sped north from Indiana.

Upon its arrival in Chicago, $10,000 was paid

to the driver, and the precious cargo

was immediately processed in a special workroom

that Ed Wald had assembled in the cellar

of his bottle factory.

Meanwhile, Michel Viton

met with Harry Brooks, the wealthy owner

of the Parkshore Club on Lake Michigan.

I never pay more than ten dollars a bottle, Michel.

What do you want me to do, Harry?

Sell you champagne at a loss?

Things are tighter now than they've ever been.

Believe me, at $12 a quart I am just scraping through.

When did you say you could make the first delivery?

Tomorrow night, 4,500 quarts.

That comes to, uh... $54,000.

Yeah.

Well, there's $40,000 here,

and $14,000 more makes $54,000.

Right?

On delivery.

Now.

54 grand.

Merci, Harry.

I wish you had a little mercy.

Oh, honestly, Harry...

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I know.

At $12 a bottle you're just scraping through.

Hello?

This is Viton.

I just closed the deal with Brooks.

Great!

But I could get only eight dollars a bottle.

Eight dollars?!

Why?

Unfortunately, Otis got to Brooks

before we got to Otis.

The Parkshore Club is overstocked.

It's the best I could do.

Okay.

I need $20,000 for my uncle.

Well, 4,500 quarts at eight dollars a quart

comes to $36,000.

Your share is only $18,000.

But I will lend you the other two.

Okay.

Okay, just bring it right over.

Coming!

Coming!

Police after you?

No, police ain't after me.

Do you know what time it is?

Time to give you 20,000 bucks.

You got it on you?

In cash.

Well, come on, come on. Let's get out of the doorway.

Come in.

Barney, who is it?

It's Ed!

Is something the matter?

Nothing's the matter.

Now go to sleep!

And turn off the light!

We get an electric bill here that would knock your eye out.

$20,000.

I'll get you back your note.

Forget about the note, Barney.

What's a lousy $10,000 note?

That's nickels and dimes.

I told you I was talking about a fortune.

Well, how much are you talking about?

New Year's is coming, Barney.

That's the killing of the year in champagne.

I need a hundred thousand to get me started.

$100,000?

You get it back double in a month.

What do you say?

I say you're out of your mind!

You think I'm going to let you have that kind of money?!

But I told you I'd double it for you.

Well, telling's one thing, but doing it's another!

Didn't I come through with the $20,000?

So what?

You think that gives you a right

to most of my life's savings?

You fool, you're throwing away $100,000 profit!

Ed, if you had some security, I'd think about it.

But without security, nothing doing.

If I had any security, you think I'd be here?

Wait a minute.

You do have security.

What are you talking about?

Your life.

You take out an insurance policy

tomorrow morning for $100,000

naming me as beneficiary, and I'll lend you the money.

You mean to say...?

I got only one more thing to say.

You pay the premium.

Okay... Uncle.

Well, here are the names

of all the bottle manufacturers in Chicago.

There are 30 of them.

We'll each take ten tomorrow.

Hello. Ness.

A delivery's being made at the Parkshore Club, Eliot.

Shall I try and stop it?

No, let them unload.

I want to get a good look at that champagne.

We're leaving now.

Right.

Let's go.

They took the cases up there.

The truck had Indiana plates.

I've got the number.

We'll check it, but they're probably phonies.

Let's go see the delivery.

Phew!

Wow.

It's hard to believe this stuff's synthetic.

Maybe it isn't.

Looks like expensive imported stuff.

Well, if it were imported,

it wouldn't be packed this badly.

This batch didn't travel very far.

It was bottled right here in Chicago.

What do you want to do about these cases?

Smash them.

Let the king know we're after his throne.

And now back to The Untouchables.

The news of the Untouchables' raid of the Parkshore Club

brought Michel Viton to Wald.

Wald? Wald!

Wald, hâte!

What's the matter?

The Parkshore Club was hit last night.

I know. The federal agents are getting closer.

You don't know how close.

I had a call from a friend of mine this morning,

fellow who makes bottles, too.

He had a visit from a fed.

A fed? Relax.

Relax?!

What is your brain made of, glass like your bottles?

Come on, let's go downstairs.

Soon as I got the call,

I moved the whole operation to the outskirts of town.

Good.

Why the sour face?

The Parkshore Club would have been our best account.

More than half our business.

How are we going to replace it?

Well, isn't the owner going to open up someplace else?

Of course, but it takes time.

It won't be open for New Year's.

Do you know the Parkshore customers?

Most of them.

I got an idea.

My uncle's got a big restaurant

on the North Side.

We could make some renovations, make it ritzy.

We could have it open for New Year's.

We can supply it ourselves.

Get the money coming and going.

Would your uncle agree?

Not till he found out how much money he could make.

Didn't I tell you to get rid of all your bottles?

Didn't I tell you no more drinking around here

until the feds stop snooping?

Is there more?

Where is it?

Now, are you sure that's all there is?

Okay. I'll be back in an hour.

Anybody here?

Anybody here?

Hello? Anybody here?

Get up.

Get up!

Hello, Barney.

What are you doing here?

Keep away from my restaurant.

What happens if the law is watching?

You think I want to lose this place?

You're my uncle, remember?

What's so terrible that I visit my uncle?

We're a close family, remember?

We're so close, I make out my insurance policy

with you as my beneficiary.

I don't like you hanging around my restaurant!

And I don't like you yelling at me just like my father!

You're his brother all right!

What are you trying to do, stir up the poor dead?

Is that what you want?

Nah.

Well, whatever it is, spit it out,

then follow the spit out.

Ah, Barney.

Barney, you ever hear of the Parkshore Club?

Who hasn't?

The best people in Chicago go there.

You can get them here, Barney.

The best people in Chicago.

No more serving jerks fish stew.

You'll be serving the cream of the crop, Barney,

at cream-of-the-crop prices.

You could get them to come here?

Guaranteed.

Of course, you have to renovate a little.

Parkshore serves whiskey, doesn't it?

Barney, you got to take some risks

to make that kind of money.

I told you before.

I'm not going to end up in jail!

Okay.

Never mind.

I'll find somebody else.

Hold on.

What do you get out of it?

I sell you the champagne,

and I'm a third partner in the restaurant.

A third?

That only leaves me two thirds!

Correction. It leaves you one third.

Michel Viton gets a third.

Who's he?

Michel?

Michel, this is my Uncle Barney,

that fine fellow I've been telling you about.

Enchanté, Monsieur.

What does he do?

He gets the Parkshore people to come here.

And for that he gets a third?

Oh, nothing doing.

You will make more in one weekend

from your third than you can make

in a whole year in this place.

I take the cost

of the renovations out of your shares.

It's okay with me if it's okay with Michel.

Oh, but of course.

Mr. Wald?

My name is Ness.

I'm a federal agent.

You ever seen this bottle before?

Uh... no.

Any idea as to how it got into your building?

Probably belongs to Birdie.

He works for me, cleans up the place.

He's a handyman.

He's a wino.

Uh, I think he's downstairs.

He's not there anymore.

He tried to strangle me, then he ran out.

Fool.

I'm sorry, Mr. Ness.

You know winos.

They go wild every once in a while.

I only kept him on because I felt sorry for him.

What do you pay him?

Ten dollars a week.

Do you have any idea how much champagne is a bottle?

No. Between $12 and $14.

How does he manage that on ten dollars a week?

I don't know.

Maybe he stole it

or maybe he was celebrating something special.

I really don't know.

What kind of bottles you make here?

What you see...

Pharmaceutical bottles and fancy glass.

I suppose you never made any bottles for whiskey

or champagne. You suppose right.

How come there's nobody working today?

I laid them off.

Things get slow around Christmas.

But you didn't lay the wino off?

Well, the shop gets dirty whether we're working or not.

That's all, Mr. Wald.

Thanks for your cooperation.

Anytime, Mr. Ness.

Anytime.

Somewhere in Chicago,

there are hundreds of bottles just like this one.

I've got a feeling Wald's going to help us find them.

Break it into four six-hour shifts.

Rico, you take it from midnight to 6:00.

Bill, 6:00 till noon.

Lee, noon till six,

and I'll take it from 6:00 till midnight.

Captain Dorset, please. Eliot Ness speaking.

Hello, Eliot.

Hello, Dorset?

I'd like you to put out an all-points

for a man called Birdie.

He's a mute.

Powerfully built, early 30s, six foot four, long brown hair.

Last seen in the vicinity of 768 Bates Avenue.

He's probably unarmed, but dangerous.

What's the charge, Eliot?

Suspicion of murder.

Remember Otis's neck?

Sure.

I think Birdie's hands were the vise that broke it.

Got you. We'll get on it right away.

Thanks.

My name is Wald.

I think Mr. Ness would like to question this man.

Just as soon as he came back I brought him right over.

Tell him to sit down.

He can read lips.

Where did you get the champagne?

He says he got it from the pier

where the passenger ships leaves.

Who from?

When?

He doesn't know.

He made a deal a couple of months ago with a guy he met.

Birdie leaves money in a rope locker under the pier

on the first of the month.

Sometime during the month

three bottles of champagne are left for him.

What's the name of the man you made the deal with?

Where does he live?

When are you supposed to make the next payment?

Tomorrow.

That's why he came back... To get his salary.

Why did you try to strangle me, Birdie?

Says he was frightened.

All right, you can go.

Is that all?

One more thing, Mr. Wald.

I want Birdie to put the payment in the rope locker as usual.

Sure thing.

Thanks for bringing him in.

Why did he bring him here?

My guess is Wald's hoping we'll stake out the pier.

Sit around all month waiting for someone to show up

with three bottles of champagne.

That's just what we're going to do... play his game.

Lee, phone Dorset, call off the all-points on Birdie.

Right.

I should never have let myself get mixed up in this.

I closed my restaurant and... Hello?

They're watching the rope locker, Ed,

just like the crown jewels of England was in it.

And you keep watching them, you hear?

Don't worry.

Ness bit hook, line and sinker.

Start the renovations, Barney.

I don't know.

Sooner or later Ness will stop watching the pier.

Then what?

He'll watch it this whole month.

That's all that counts.

By that time this place will be open

and we'll make enough money New Year's Eve

to open up five more just like it.

He won't be able to find them all.

What's there to think about?!

My skin, that's what!

This is more of a risk than I bargained for.

You want to back out?

You want to blow a fortune?

No.

I just want more of a share for my risk.

Nothing doing.

I'm not giving you a penny more.

I don't want it from you.

If you think that Frenchman is going to give you anything,

you got another thing coming.

I don't want him to give me anything.

I want to take it.

All he has to do is to get the people here the first time.

Once they come, they'll know how to get here

by themselves, won't they?

Go on.

Now, if you'll make a New Year's resolution to kill Viton,

and that his share comes to me,

I'll start the renovations.

Otherwise, you'll just have to get yourself

another location.

You drive a hard bargain, don't you, Barney?

It's not hard on you, is it?

No.

But it's gonna be hard on Viton.

New Year's Eve... Will I have to wear a tuxedo?

Of course.

Do you know where I can get one wholesale?

I followed Wald to a restaurant on the North Side.

He was in there a couple of hours.

A Speak?

No, it's a family type restaurant,

but it's been closed for the past two days.

Who owns it?

A guy by the name of Barney Loomis.

You switch to Loomis, I'll keep an eye on Wald.

Right.

During the last weeks of December 1932,

Eliot Ness continued his vigil on Ed Wald

and Barney Loomis was now included

in the Untouchables' surveillance.

Hobson and Youngfellow split 12-hour shifts

watching the rope locker under the pier,

and this activity was reported to Ed Wald

whose sense of security remained unimpaired.

At 7:00 p.m. on New Year's Eve,

Barney Loomis entered his restaurant

on the North Side of Chicago.

15 minutes later,

Michel Viton walked into Loomis' restaurant.

And five minutes following Viton,

Ed Wald arrived with Birdie.

Loomis inside?

Not only Loomis.

Do you remember the owner of that warehouse on Laurie Street?

Viton?

He went in about five minutes ago.

Wald, Loomis and Viton.

Three kings.

In this case three kings make a full house, Rico.

Get Hobson and Youngfellow.

I'll try to get a look inside while I wait.

How do you like it?

It only cost me $35.

It looks like a million, Barney.

The guest list, Viton.

Eh, certainement.

The finest people in the city.

They will be coming in about an hour.

Everything's all set.

Not quite.

What's the matter? Did you forget something?

You forgot to make your New Year's resolution.

No, I forgot to pay you the $200,000 I owe you.

Well, you don't have it yet, do you?

Birdie has it, Barney.

Birdie is going to pay you.

What do you mean, Birdie?

No.

You don't mean it. You don't mean it.

I'm doing you a favor, Barney.

You won't have to worry about so much money.

No! No...!

Have a good laugh, Viton... You're next.

What are you talking about?

Ten dollar champagne sold for $12

with your partner getting four.

Drop it, Wald.

Four hours later, the new year of 1933 was ushered in,

but for a large portion

of Chicago's champagne drinking population,

it was ushered in dry.