Original subtitles

Can I help you?

We're looking for Frank Nitti.

In the last chair.

Thanks.

Mr. Nitti?

We got something for you from Nick Acropolis.

Tonight's episode...

Starring Robert Stack as Eliot Ness.

Co-starring Bruce Gordon,

Constance Ford, and Johnny Seven.

With special guest star Lee Marvin.

And narrated by Walter Winchell.

In the late summer of 1931,

while the Capone organization reaped a golden harvest

through the sale of illegal beer and booze

in a hundred Chicago speakeasies,

an obscure bookmaker,

whose headquarters was a small flower shop

on the west side of the city,

was quietly developing into a new underworld titan.

In 18 months he had organized the bookmakers of Illinois,

and half a dozen surrounding states, into a mammoth combine,

which brought him a gross business

of over $2 million a month.

It also brought his interstate organization

into the jurisdiction of Eliot Ness and the Untouchables.

By the end of August,

in an attempt to discover the identity

of this new underworld power,

Eliot Ness had two of the largest bookmaking parlors

under surveillance

and Ness succeeded in tapping the phone lines of a third.

How's business?

Listen to this.

Now you tell Charlie I'll take 50,000 of his action,

but that's all I can handle

'cause I'm already carrying 200 Gs out of Wisconsin.

And, listen, if you want to lay off any more,

I think you'd better call the boss.

Not exactly penny ante, is it?

And it's like this all the time.

They must be covering five or six states.

And it's not just horses.

It's fights, ball games, dogs.

They're even taking money on the cockfights

out of Tennessee.

Anything on who the big man is?

No, nothing yet.

Stick with it.

- How's business? - Great.

47 people have gone in there since 2:00.

Just 29 have came out.

Well, they can't all be winners.

Well, what have we here?

They've got a wealthy clientele.

Recognize anybody?

Not yet.

Stay put.

I'll see how Hobson's doing.

Louis!

Mr. Acropolis.

Where's my brother-in-law?

Wh-Why, he's in the office, Mister...

Nick.

Nick, I, uh... I don't understand, Nick.

N... Nick?

F-Frankie?

Frankie...?

Frankie... Please, please, Frankie.

Nick! Nick! Nick

Frankie.

Frankie, please.

Please, Frankie.

Fr... Fr... Frankie!

What-What'd you have to hit me for?

Nick, what have I done?

I'll tell you what you done.

You lost 200 Gs of my money.

Wha... huh... no...!

Where are your books?

Stella checked the books, last month.

It's this month I'm interested in.

Where are the books?

They're right here, Mr. Acropolis.

Put them on the desk.

You lost it on the fights, didn't you?

Well-Well, Nick,

who-who'd have thought that Lox would lose a decision to Max Baer.

I'm gonna tell you something, Louis.

Smart bartenders don't drink

and smart pushers don't carry no monkeys.

And smart bookies don't make no side bets with my money.

All right, it was... it was all a mistake.

Mr. Acropolis? Yeah?

You were right, these books have been tampered with.

For how much?

I'm not sure yet, but it runs to big figures.

When did it start?

Right after your wife's last audit.

You stole that money, Louis,

now you're gonna pay it back.

Sure, Nick, sure.

I-I never meant to keep it.

I... I was just playing for time.

You got time. One month from today... 200 Gs.

One month.

And 48 hours for the other 50,000.

What 50?

The interest rates, Louis, you know the interest rates.

$200,000... one month. 50,000 buck... 48 hours.

Nick...

I... I'm you own brother-in-law, Nick.

Hello?

Stella.

Oh, hello, Louis.

Stella, I'm in trouble.

What is it this time?

N-Nick was just here.

He had Harry Krafton go over my books.

How much, Lou?

I gotta get 50 grand in 48 hours.

Stella, if I don't get it, Nick's gonna kill me.

I can't raise that kind of money in 48 hours, you know that.

Stella, you-you can talk to Nick.

You can get around him.

It's too late for that now.

Look, maybe I can raise some of the money,

like 20, 25,000, but you gotta find the rest.

When?

Well, I can't get it to you before tomorrow night...

if I can get it.

I'll meet you at my apartment.

All right.

All I did is rough him up a little, Stella.

That is all. That's all?

What do you mean that's all?

I'll tell you what I should've done...

I should've killed him and I may yet.

Now you listen to me, Nick.

Maybe you had a right to scare him...

Stella, 200,000 bucks he stole!

200,000?

That's right.

And that don't add up to no "maybe" in my book.

All right, Nick,

you had a right to work him over

but he's still my brother,

and if you kill him, you and I are through for good.

Okay, so I don't kill him.

But if he don't come up with that 50 Gs in 48 hours,

he ain't going to be very pretty to look at,

and you better get used to livin' with that, baby.

Or else you can get your hat right now.

All right, Nick.

You still my girl?

I'm still your girl.

That's the way it's gotta be, Stella.

It's open.

What is it, Louis?

I, uh... come to ask you a favor, Sully.

Anything within reason, Louis.

Just so long as it ain't money.

What do you mean, so long as it ain't money?

Louis, you don't seem to understand me.

I'm a gambler, I'm not a money lender.

Where there's no risk, there's no fun.

P-Please, Sully... I need 25 grand.

I need it!

Bad, Sully, please.

Well, Louis... why don't you go to Nick?

He's your brother-in-law.

I want that money, Sully.

Louis... there's $42,000 on this desk.

That's more than you asked for.

Don't touch it!

You lousy little worm.

Did you really think I was gonna let you

walk in here and hold me up?

I'll kill you, Sully!

You?

Louis, you couldn't kill a fly.

He's gonna kill me.

What are you doing?

What do you think I'm doing, pretty boy.

I'm calling Nick.

Hang up.

Hang up, I tell ya!

I... I told you.

I told you!

Hello. Ness.

Hello, Eliot?

You better get down here right away.

Yeah, my pigeon has just been pumped full of holes.

Less than 15 minutes after Rossi's phone call

from the office of Sully Hinds,

Eliot Ness and the Chicago police

were on the scene of the murder.

The motive's clear enough: robbery.

Looks that way.

Anything? No.

They're too smudged to be useful.

Mind if I borrow this for a few days?

Help yourself.

You might as well pull the phone tap, Rico.

It's no good now. Right.

Well, I'm finished, Captain.

Okay, Casey, let 'em in.

Sully Hinds.

Ain't he one of Nick Acropolis' boys?

Yeah, he run a parlor on 14th Street...

One of the big ones.

That's what I thought.

I want to see Acropolis.

I think it's time we had a little talk.

Okay, Frank.

What was his take?

$11,000 a day.

That's too bad; that was a nice handle.

We got an alternate location?

There's a print shop three blocks away.

Okay, set it up.

Tell Smitty to take over till I can find a manager.

What's the matter with me?

When we want you for a manager, we'll tell you.

Ah, it was just an idea.

You got a lot of ideas, Frankie.

Big ideas.

What are you jumping on me for? What did I do now?

Save it.

Yeah?

Mr. Acropolis?

Yeah.

Mr. Nitti sent us.

He wants to see you.

Well, what do you know?

Well, you can tell Mr. Nitti

I'll be glad to see him any time.

He wants to see you now, Mr. Acropolis.

Now!

What's your name, punk?

Pete Konitz.

I'm going to tell you something, Pete Konitz.

I don't like your manners.

All right now, get up.

Get up!

Frank knows me a long time.

He knows better than to send anybody

to pick up Nick Acropolis.

Now you tell him that, huh? You ain't coming?

I come in when I get good and ready, not before.

Now, get out!

Maybe you shouldn't have done that, Nick.

Why not? Nitti wants something.

It's better he knows I don't scare, huh?

I'll drop in on him tonight.

In the meantime, I got things to do.

You want me to go with you, Nick?

No, but I want to talk to you a minute outside, huh?

Frankie, I don't trust Louis.

If he can't come up with the dough,

he's liable to take off, so I want you to stick around

and see which way the wind's blowing.

It'll be a pleasure.

Now, don't get anxious.

Don't touch him till the 48 hours is up.

Nick, would I do anything like that

without consulting you first?

I'll tell you something, Frankie.

I'm not quite sure what you'd do

without checking with me first.

You been listening to Stella again?

That's right, Frankie.

She don't trust you, and she ain't often wrong.

One of these days, Nick, I'm going to prove

I'm with you, 100%.

By 6:00 p.m., Eliot Ness had discovered

that the cane left at the scene of the murder

had been purchased at a small, exclusive men's shop

just off the Chicago Loop.

That cane was purchased

by one of our regular customers:

Mrs. Acropolis.

Are you sure?

Why, of course I'm sure.

There's the entry.

They're all custom-made, sir.

No two are alike.

You get the address?

Yes. We delivered it to her place of business:

92 Chestnut Avenue.

Thank you.

Yeah?

Okay.

He's here.

Nick, how are you?

How've you been, huh?

You're looking good, Nick.

Ah, you're looking pretty good yourself, you know?

Hey, you was kind of rough on my boys, wasn't you?

No rougher than you would've been on my boys, right?

Still the same old Nick, huh?

I want you to meet my associates.

Yeager, Urcel, Carlson.

How do you do, boys?

Me and Nick went to the same school together in Brooklyn.

Him and me, we could lick

any ten kids in the joint, right, Nick?

That's right, Frank, only we never could lick each other.

So after a couple of years we quit trying, right?

Sit down, sit down.

Here.

The real stuff.

I drink it myself.

Nick, you're getting to be pretty important around town.

The word is you're pulling down a couple million of month, huh?

It's a living.

Well, it's a good living, real good.

So good the Feds are starting to snoop around.

Eliot Ness. I read it, Frank.

One of your best boys.

Yeah, it happens.

Now, Nick, maybe with somebody else

I play footsy, but not with you, huh?

Because we're old friends, I persuaded Al and the boys

to let you alone, you know what I mean?

You was always very generous, Frank.

But there's an end to everything.

You're big business now.

We can't afford to look the other way no more.

How much?

50 percent.

What are you shaking your head, Nick?

50% is standard.

But not for me, Frank.

Remember, we're old friends.

Friendship's got nothing to do with this.

This is business.

And business says we take 50%.

My business says you take 15 percent.

Fifteen?!

What's the matter with you, Nick?

You gone soft in the head or something?

You don't bargain with the organization.

We tell you 50%, it's 50% and that's it!

Not this time, Frank. Then we wipe you out.

You think you can fight us?

I been fighting all my life, Frank.

I don't quit just 'cause you got the odds on your side.

But you can't win. Maybe not!

But you'll lose a lot of men trying... 30, 40 at the least.

This town will have a war like it's never seen before.

St. Valentine's Day will look like a Sunday School picnic

compared to what'll happen when I tangle with you!

He's a madman.

Only you, only Nick Acropolis could

think of a squeeze like this.

Sit down. Sit down.

Hey... what if we kill you right now, huh?

What if I told a couple of guys where I was going

and who to call if I didn't come back?

Did you?

No.

I don't believe you.

You weren't supposed to.

35 percent.

Twenty. Impossible.

Maybe we come down to 30, but that's the last stop.

You come down to 25%,

I'll have another drink with you.

To our partnership.

To friendly discussion.

Looks like someone's still inside.

Yeah.

What is it?

Federal officers.

Are you Mrs. Acropolis?

Why, yes, but, uh, I can't imagine what

I could've done to upset the Federal government.

We just want to ask a few questions.

Of course.

You bought a cane at Armand's Men's Shop?

Yes, I did... About six weeks ago.

You mind telling us who you bought it for?

Why, no.

I bought it for my husband.

Where's your husband now?

He's downtown.

But if you're looking for the cane, he hasn't got it.

Why not?

It was stolen from our car two days after I bought it.

"Stolen"?

Yes, you see, uh, we were out for dinner

and, well, my husband wasn't used to carrying a cane,

and he left it in the car.

When we got back to the car, it was gone.

Thank you, Mrs. Acropolis.

Please, can't you tell me

what the trouble is?

Your cane gets around, Mrs. Acropolis.

Last night it was found at the scene of a murder.

Good night.

♪ ♪

Who is it?

Stella.

Wha... what's the matter, Stella?

This. This is the matter!

Well, I... I-I don't understand.

Don't lie to me!

The Feds just left the flower shop.

The Feds?!

What's that got to do with me?

You shot Sully, and you left the cane

I gave you behind, and the Feds traced it to me!

Stella, it was self-defense.

Shut up!

I ought to wash my hands of you.

I ought to let them crucify you.

But Stell, you...

Stell, you, you've been looking after me

ever since we were kids

You can't stop now. You just can't!

No, I can't.

God help me, I can't.

L-Listen, Stell, I... I gotta get away.

We could go together, Stell.

Huh? You and me?

It could be like it was...

before Nick come around.

What'll we use for money?

You got the keys to Nick's safety deposit boxes.

He must have a million in cold cash.

You could get it tomorrow morning.

Stell...

you never hit me like that before.

Never.

Not in your whole life, Stell.

You take this money,

and you pay Nick back tomorrow,

and then you get out, Lou.

You get out of my life, and out of Nick's.

Hello, Louis.

Come here.

Come on!

Relax, Louis.

All I want from you is a little cooperation.

What kind of cooperation?

You know, I would have come to you before,

only I never figured you had the nerve to kill anybody.

But now... now things have changed.

What do you want, Frankie?

I want you to kill Nick.

Oh, no!

Yes. But I can't!

But you can!

And I'm gonna tell you how.

We're gonna do it together.

Why?!

He don't trust me.

Now, if he don't trust me,

how am I gonna get anywhere in this business, huh?

Oh, no.

No, no, uh-uh, I won't do it.

You want me to call Nick, tell him you're the guy

that knocked off one of his top bookies,

led the cops to Stella?

He's very fond of her.

I don't think he'd be very happy with you.

We'll never get away with it!

We can't miss.

All I gotta do is tell him you got the 50 Gs,

but you want to give it to him personally, just like he asked.

Only when you give him the money,

you also give him something else.

Understand?

When?

Tomorrow night, 8:00.

We'll look for you at the south entrance

to Grovner Park.

You will be there... won't you?

Through the park, Frankie.

Frankie says

you got something for me, Louis.

Look out, Nick!

I been watching him in the mirror.

I had a feeling he might try something.

Where to, Nick?

The office.

What for?

If you want to be a big man, Frankie,

you got to start by knowing how the business works.

Now back to The Untouchables.

The body of Louis Manzak was discovered two hours later

and taken to the Cook County morgue.

In response to a phone call from Captain Hale Johnson

of the homicide squad,

Eliot Ness and Lee Hobson were on hand

less than an hour later.

Sorry to bring you out at this hour, Eliot,

but we found a body in the park tonight.

A guy by the name of Louis Manzak.

Had a minor record, but what's more interesting,

his last two arrests were for bookmaking.

How was he killed?

Same as Sully Hinds, shot at close range.

You can take a look at the body

as soon as the coroner's through with it.

They doing the autopsy? Not yet.

We found a relative.

She's making a formal identification of the body now.

Thank you.

Stella Manzak.

Well, that's a coincidence.

Why?

Stella Manzak is Mrs. Nick Acropolis.

Only the amount's 100 times greater

than what I got down here, you got it?

Sure, sure. Pretty smooth.

Then even if somebody figured out the code,

they'd have a tough time proving it.

Yeah, that's the point, Frankie.

Now let me show you how Stella enters the daily take.

Yeah?

Just happened to be in the neighborhood, Nick.

Go on, sit down.

What's on your mind?

I hate to be coming down here with complaints, Nick,

especially since we only been

in business together since yesterday...

Go on, complain.

The word's around... There's been another killing.

Keep talking.

Who's he?

He's okay.

Frankie Fershman... He's one of my partners.

All right, I'll lay it out, Nick.

We went for that 25% instead of the 50

because we didn't want any more killings, right?

So we got the killings anyway.

It's like a shooting gallery down here.

Two stiffs in 48 hours!

And with Ness snooping around,

that could be bad for our business.

Very bad.

I had a problem.

We ain't interested in your problems, Nick.

We're only interested in results.

Now there's been a meeting, and this is the word.

No more murders.

No more trouble, huh?

We want our cut off a nice, smooth operation.

Suppose it don't work out that way?

Well, then, you're gonna have that war you was talking about,

and you're gonna be the first casualty.

That was a good pitch you made yesterday, Nick.

Don't let it go to your head.

That's Nitti.

Yeah.

What would he be doing in this part of town?

He's dead.

Louis's dead.

Sit down.

Here.

He looked so small.

He was a big man, and he looked small.

Honey, drink this.

They found him in the park.

I know.

Stella, I made you a promise about Louis.

I tried to keep it.

You killed him?!

No! I... I mean...

I don't know what I mean.

What he means is, he had no choice.

You killed him? Shut up!

Stella! No, Stella. You gave me your promise.

Stella, listen to me!

And you killed him!

Listen to me, Stella!

Stop it! Listen to me!

You murdered my brother! Stop it!

You murdered my brother!

I was hoping I wouldn't have to tell you,

but now I got no choice.

I didn't kill Louis. He tried to kill me.

I'll make a deal with you.

You stay out of my life,

and I'll stay out of yours.

Who needs you?!

Shall I stay with her?

We can pick her up any time.

Right now, I'm much more interested in the flower shop.

Yeah?

What is this, Grand Central Station?

Eliot Ness?

What do you want?

First of all, we'd like to know who you are.

The name's Acropolis.

Nick Acropolis.

Oh, you're the man whose cane was stolen.

Cane?

From your apartment, wasn't it, about a year ago?

Oh, I don't know.

I don't have a good memory.

Well, maybe we can refresh your memory.

Your wife gave you the cane.

It was black with a silver handle.

It was found at the scene of the Sully Hinds' murder.

Oh, yeah, I remember now.

Yeah, that's right, it was stolen.

About a year ago?

I don't remember the exact day.

You been in the flower business

a long time, Mr. Acropolis?

Eight years.

Those your books?

Yeah.

Would you object to having them audited?

Not at all.

What was Frank Nitti doing in your office tonight?

Frank Nitti?

Your memory failing you again, Mr. Acropolis?

Nitti and two of his boys left here

just before your wife got back from the morgue.

Do you have a search warrant, Mr. Ness?

No.

And I've had a bad day. I'm tired.

I'll be glad to talk to you boys tomorrow.

There's my books. If you want 'em, help yourself.

Thank you.

Don't leave town, Mr. Acropolis.

We'll look forward to talking to you again.

I'm very interested to hear

about your relationship with Frank Nitti.

Convinced by Frank Nitti's visit to the flower shop

that Nick Acropolis was the power

behind the bookmaking combine, Ness had moved swiftly

to gather all available evidence against him.

For seven hours, he had had top code experts and accountants

examining the books he had taken

from Acropolis' office.

In the meantime, Frankie Fershman,

armed with the authority of his new partnership,

was about to take the final steps

in a carefully conceived plan.

At 8:15 p.m.,

two of Nick's top enforcers appeared at the flower shop

in response to Fershman's summons.

You were looking for us, Frank?

Yeah, I want you to take this to Frank Nitti.

Nitti? You heard me.

You'll find him in the barbershop

around the corner from the Montmartre

about an hour before the club opens.

When's that? 9:00. You got 45 minutes.

All right.

Wait a minute.

Wear these, just so there won't be any mistake, huh?

Yeah?

Hello. I want to give a message to Frank Nitti.

It's urgent.

Sure.

Tell him Frankie Fershman called.

Fershman... we met at Nick's office last night.

And?

Tell him Nick didn't like his attitude.

He didn't like it so much,

he sent two of his boys to get Frank.

Where?

They figure to nail him in the barbershop tonight.

They should be there in about 40 minutes.

How do we know you're leveling?

If I'm wrong, you know where to find me.

If I'm right, I'd like to be remembered.

We haven't checked it yet, Eliot,

but there's a definite pattern emerging.

Anything we can nail 'em on?

I'd feel a lot more sure of a conviction

if we could get our hands on some hard cash

that these books don't show.

That's what we're doing right now.

We sent photos of Nick to all the banks this morning.

We got tentative makes on five men who resemble Acropolis

and who own safety deposit boxes.

But you can't even get a court order to open them

unless you've got positive identification.

That's what's holding us up.

We're lifting prints from all the boxes.

If Acropolis does own one of them,

we ought to know within the hour.

Can I help you?

We're looking for Frank Nitti.

In the last chair.

Thanks.

Mr. Nitti?

We got something for you from Nick Acropolis.

They're Nick's boys, all right.

Never figured that Greek to be so dumb.

Hello?

Stella, Nick.

Where you been?

I been trying to get you all day.

At my brother's funeral.

Stella, I didn't mean what I said last night.

I know, Nick.

I got to see you, Stella.

Not now, Nick, not now.

It's important, honey.

Ness got the books. I...

He told me about the cane.

I couldn't cover.

Stella, honey, we gotta get out before it's too late.

Come and talk to me, Nick.

I'll be right there.

Hello. Ness.

I got it, Eliot.

$1,222,000 in cash and negotiable securities

registered to a Daniel Alden.

Are you sure it belongs to Acropolis?

Positive.

His fingerprints are all over the box.

Nice going, Rico.

Rico found it. Let's move.

Nick!

He's not here.

Where is he?

I don't know.

Ow! Oh!

All right, all right, all right!

He's downtown.

We've been to the flower shop.

He ain't there.

He's at the fights.

Stella, you better be leveling.

Welcome home, Nick.

What's this all about?

I'll tell you what this is all about.

You're dead.

Get her outta here.

Like I was saying, Nick, you're dead.

But before we finish you off, I got to know

why you pulled such a bonehead play.

I'm gonna tell you something, loudmouth.

I don't know what you're talking about.

Oh, you don't know?

You don't know your boys come looking for me.

Frank, you known me all my life! I ain't no liar!

I didn't send my boys after you.

They were your boys.

If you didn't send 'em, who did?

Fershman.

Fershman?

Oh, don't lay it on him, Nick.

He's the one who tipped us off.

Frank, I ain't gonna crawl,

but I'm asking you for two hours.

Just a couple of hours.

I got a little unfinished business in the flower shop.

It ain't too much to ask from an old friend, Frank.

Oh, so you can set up a army and start that war?

Ah, sorry, Nick.

You're going for a little ride.

Who is it?

Federal officers. Open up!

Oh, I always said you was born

with a horseshoe in your mouth.

They just bought you your two hours.

Thanks, Frank.

Open up, or we break it in!

Well, what are you doing here?

I might ask you the same question.

We're waiting for Nick.

What for?

Social visit.

Me and him are old friends.

I'll remember that

when Nick comes up for trial.

Who is it?

Who's there?

That you, Harry?

No.

Nick.

What's the matter, Frank?

You sound like a ghost.

I don't know what you mean, Nick.

Stella was right.

Stella's always right.

Nick, what are you talking?

You're finished, smart boy.

You're all washed up.

Nick, talk sense.

I'm through talking, Frankie.

Now I'm gonna kill you.

You make a good target with that light

behind you, Frankie.

That's six, Frankie.

That's all she wrote.

I'm gonna cut your heart out, Frankie.

No... No, Nick, you stay away.

Where'd you get to, Frankie?

You're awful quiet.

Nick Acropolis, big-time racketeer,

had a unique distinction among men of his kind.

He was deeply and truly loved,

which was attested to by the fact

that his marriage survived a conviction

for income tax evasion,

and the 12 years he spent in a Federal penitentiary.

He was released on March 4, 1942,

and he outlived both Frank Nitti

and the Capone empire which had tried to destroy him.