Original subtitles

Open the door! We are closed.

Go away.

Mama.

Mama... Mama.

Mama. Mr. Bartok.

She's wrong.

We are open... for business.

Tonight's episode...

Starring Robert Stack as Eliot Ness.

Costarring Barbara Luna

and Theodore Marcuse.

With special guest star Charles Bronson.

And narrated by Walter Winchell.

Chicago, West Madison Street, 1931...

A special neighborhood with a special population.

It held Rumanians, Hungarians and Czechs, among others...

Imports from a dozen different countries

but all speaking one language... The Gypsy tongue.

In the month of November,

the area was flooded with rotgut whiskey

that could not be peddled anywhere else, and suddenly

a people used to drinking wine was drinking hard liquor.

Booze, bad booze.

Get out!

Chestnuts... Chestnuts... Nickel a bag...

Get your red-hot chestnuts...

It's a cold... night.

The killing underscored

what was already a serious problem for Ness.

Later that night, he headed across town

hoping to talk to the leaders of the gypsy people,

who met in solemn conclave behind Karig's Cafe.

They were known as The Senate.

♪ ♪

Well, gentlemen?

Yes?

Victor Bartok?

I am Victor Bartok.

We spoke on the phone.

Gentlemen, my name is Ness.

I'm a Federal Agent.

You make the laws for your people.

I represent another set of laws.

They're both pretty much alike.

I've come because I want your cooperation.

Because one of our people was killed tonight?

Yes and because the man who killed him was drunk.

Because the rotgut he was soaking up

is putting a fortune in Capone's pocket.

We do not know this Capone.

You know the man who's distributing for him.

And your people out there know that whiskey.

Then find him. That's your job.

It's your job, too.

You owe it to your people.

You ask a great deal, Mr. Ness.

We are not like other people.

For 800 years, we have walked the earth

and every man's hand has been against us.

We have learned a lesson.

We have no friends.

We have only each other.

In this country, you have friends.

We can help you.

We cannot help you.

If the man you are seeking is one of us, we can say nothing.

If he is not one of us, we can do nothing.

And you all feel the same?

My brother sits at the head of the table.

He speaks for all.

What I'm trying to say, Mr. Ness,

is that we take care of our own.

You've made your point.

It is not wrong what he asks.

I have not said it is wrong.

Then let us be men and do something about it!

You know who's bringing the whiskey in?

I know him.

Janos Colescou.

You know what to do.

Where is Colescou?

He never gets here before 11:00.

This is a warning from the Senate.

We don't want Colescou here.

Tell him.

They don't want me.

The Senate don't want me, huh?

I'll tell you something,

the Senate don't say this.

Bartok says it. Victor Bartok.

He had a lot of men with him.

I got a lot of men, too.

Nine years, going on 10 it takes me to get this far.

Sweeping out for O'Bannion.

Carrying garbage cans.

A lousy dog nobody looks at.

A gypsy, a nothing.

Everybody spits on me.

Ain't nobody gonna spit on you now, Janos.

You got it made, Janos.

The dough's rolling in.

The dough?

Some things the dough don't pay for.

All those years I sweat for one thing.

The Bartoks.

They sit like kings at the head of the table.

The Bartoks.

Some things the dough don't pay for.

We're gonna get them, all of them.

Victor Bartok first. When?

Tomorrow night. How?

We make him sweat.

We use the tree.

The tree stood on Madison Street.

A sickly, under-nourished poplar.

Relic of an old world custom,

symbol of the mobsters' contempt for the law.

Where they brazenly posted in advance

the names of those they had marked for death.

But the cynical joke had been played too often.

The gangsters had lost their taste for it.

The tree had gone unused for six years.

Until November 12th, 1931.

That night it promised death to Victor Bartok.

Chestnuts... It's a cold... night.

Please, please, it's very important!

Watch!

Hello, Ness.

Mr. Ness, this is Victor Bartok.

I must talk to you, I must see you.

Bartok?

What is it, Mr. Bartok?

Mr. Ness, my name is on the tree.

You'll need some help.

That's why I called.

Mr. Ness, maybe, maybe we can help each other.

Where are you now?

On Carter Street.

In a drugstore, number 925.

925, we'll be right down.

Mr. Ness?

Yes?

If something should happen to me...

Stay where you are.

We'll be down in 15 minutes or less.

Mr. Bartok?

Mr. Bartok!

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Mr. Bartok.

No!

Hmm, getting kind of chilly now.

Winchell: Victor Bartok's body was taken to the morgue.

The next morning, his brother, Fedor,

made the formal identification.

Mr. Bartok... I'm sorry.

This may not be a very good time to talk,

but, in our job, we can't always wait.

We have nothing to talk about.

We have your brother.

I thought you could tell me who killed him.

Maybe I don't know.

Then I'll have to ask someone else.

There is nothing to ask!

You talked to my brother!

He didn't talk to me and he's dead.

It is true.

There has been some trouble with us.

A man.

One of your people?

One of us and yet not one of us.

He has no feeling for his people.

He makes them into animals with his cheap whiskey.

What's his name? Where can I find him?

He brings the whiskey in once a week.

Where?

The burned warehouse on Lake Street.

When?

Wednesday night, 11:00.

Thanks.

Take it back out of sight.

No use advertising.

He said 11:00.

We got 10 minutes.

Well, it looks like we're the first ones to the party.

Stop the car!

Cut the lights.

Look.

Get down!

What goes?

I don't know.

Split up, don't use your guns unless you have to.

Whoever he is, he's got some answers.

Who are you?

What are you doing here?

Get the car, Rico.

Pretty close to 11:00, Eliot.

I know.

I'll talk to her later.

Maybe you talk easier in the light.

Jack, you'd better go along.

See if you can check this out.

Right.

Do you think they'll be here?

She thought so.

Ness.

What was all the fireworks about?

A dame.

Ness was shooting at a dame?

I didn't say that.

The dame shooting at Ness?

Not Ness, me.

Would you like some coffee?

I just thought it's kind of late.

Nobody showed.

You wanted to kill someone tonight. Who?

Not me.

You didn't know I was going to be there.

Who?

That's about all she's told me.

Get anything?

It was registered to Victor Bartok.

What was Victor Bartok to you?

Why can't you tell me? What are you scared of?

Look, by noon tomorrow, I'll know more about you

than your own mother.

Talk and we can both get some sleep.

What was Victor Bartok to you?

He was my father.

What's your name?

Magda.

Look, Magda, we're both on the same side.

We want the same thing.

We want to pay off the man who killed your father.

All you have to do is to tell me his name.

Stubborn. I guess it runs in the family.

You're just like your father.

You knew my father?

He wanted help.

He called me just before he was killed.

And you didn't go to him?

We tried.

We couldn't get there in time.

You could have saved him.

You could have saved his life.

Rico, take her home.

We'll keep her under surveillance around the clock.

I say no!

Well, I will tell you something.

This bullet that killed Victor was meant for us, too.

And I say it is enough.

We must finish Colescou.

I am new to the head of the table.

This place still has my brother's warmth on it.

I do not speak for myself.

I speak for him and I say no.

He is right.

He brings his own wisdom to the head of the table.

Death is a useless answer to death.

Is there an answer Colescou will understand better?

One, perhaps, that will hurt him more.

We will order our people not to drink his whiskey.

Benosch, as always, finds the best way.

The word will go out.

Colescou's strength is in his whiskey.

We will destroy his strength.

The word went out and was obeyed.

Suddenly, the gypsies seemed to be without thirst.

The cheap nightspots were as empty as if the plague had hit.

For one man, it had.

For Janos Colescou.

Nothing!

It don't even pay to add it up.

If the spots don't buy, Janos, they don't buy.

I tell Capone we move 300 cases a week,

we're gonna move 300 cases a week!

What if the Senate says no?

The Senate!

I told you before, it ain't what the Senate says.

It's what Bartok says!

Well, suppose this Bartok ain't around no more.

We got a good thing going, boss.

You don't wanna kill it, do you?

That's right.

We already got Ness nosing around.

You're letting the Bartoks run you off the track.

Forget it for a while.

Forget?

You gonna tell a 10-year-old kid to forget?

Ten years!

That's how old I was when I had to watch

what they did to my father.

10 years old...

Too young to help, too old to cry.

That was me.

I had to stand there,

watch him and listen to him scream.

You think I'm gonna forget, huh?

Tonight.

Look, it might be tough.

Maybe the girl talks.

Suppose Ness has the tree staked out, huh?

Tonight.

It isn't likely they'd have posted his name

with anyone watching.

It's worth checking out.

There it is.

The wind is cold.

Get your hot chestnuts.

Good evening.

Oh, good evening.

It's cold tonight.

Cold every night.

Seems like the winters get colder all the time.

This your regular stand?

Yes, sirree.

Ain't missed a night in 14 years.

Maybe you can help me out.

Help you out?

Red-hot chestnuts.

Seen anyone around that tree?

See them them put anything on it?

A paper or anything?

Can't say as I have.

But I been quittin' early the last week or so

on account of the cold.

Fact is, I was just about to close up now.

Paper, sir?

Why not?

Thank you, sir.

Good night.

Good night.

Chestnuts...

The wind is cold...

Get your hot chestnuts...

Get your red-hot chestnuts...

Chestnuts...

Chestnuts... Get your red-hot chestnuts!

Chestnuts...

And now, back to The Untouchables.

Still hoping to trace the cheap whiskey

that had been flooding the area

to the man responsible for Bartok's death,

Ness assigned Hobson and Rossi

to check the warehouse for fingerprints.

They came up with nothing.

Nothing, Eliot, not a thing.

We just checked ourselves into another blind alley.

Then we need someone to lead us out.

Just wave a wand. Who?

The girl.

Maybe I'll go another round with her.

Hello, Ness.

When?

You see it yourself?

No, but ask around.

Dig out anything you can.

Right.

Rossman, he's on Loomis Street.

There's another name on the tree.

Whose?

Fedor Bartok.

Runs a market over on Carson Street.

Pick him up, I'll be over at the girl's.

Right.

He took the tough one.

Let's go find Bartok.

It is not right.

He should be on time.

When a man sits at the head of the Senate...

When a man's name is on the tree,

sometimes he walks a crooked way.

You should have listened to me!

You should have done what I said!

Listen to me now. I will tell you something.

We must kill Colescou before he kills us.

He won't stop with Fedor.

We will be next.

The Tribe will be frightened.

They will do nothing.

They will be like sheep after Fedor is dead!

He is not dead yet.

Open up!

Open the door!

We are closed.

Go away.

Mama, it's me!

It's Fedor!

Let me in!

Go away!

I have told you!

Go away before... Mama?

Mama?

Mama?!

Mama? Mr. Bartok?

She's wrong.

We are open.

For business.

Get back! Get back!

Open up!

Open up! Federal Officers!

Check the back!

The back room is on the alley.

He was gone.

Did she see it?

I don't know.

Did you see anything?

Were you here?

Do you understand?

You can help us.

If you saw anything... Rico.

I'd better call Eliot.

You're playing with some big boys now.

It's a pretty rough game for a girl.

You don't know us.

We take care of ourselves.

So I've been told.

Your father's dead, your uncle's name's on the tree.

Who did it Magda? Why?

You're a gago.

An outsider.

You couldn't understand.

Try me.

It goes back a long way.

To the old country.

To your father?

To my father's father.

He was head of the Senate then.

Our people were camped near a little village.

An icon was stolen from one of the homes.

An icon.

A holy statue

that should make you clean and good.

The next morning, they came marching into camp.

All the men from the village.

They wanted a gypsy.

And my grandfather gave them a gypsy.

To save the others?

They dragged him off to the square.

They tore off his shirt and they beat him

and they hurt him.

Two days later, he died.

They killed him for stealing a statue?

My grandfather had a wooden chest

that he always kept locked.

His whole life, nobody ever opened it.

They killed the wrong man.

And our people looked to my grandfather with respect.

Hello?

For you.

Hello?

Yes, Rico.

Get her to a hospital.

Don't let anybody near her.

I'll be down as soon as I can.

Right.

Your grandmother, they've taken her to a hospital.

She's had a bad shock.

Uncle Fedor?

My men just found him.

Who did it?

You want the price of this to keep going up?

Who did it?

The son.

The man they killed had a son.

He has never forgiven us.

I want his name.

Colescou.

His name is... Janos Colescou.

He knows his name is up and he's scared.

I mean, really scared.

I can feel him shaking right through the door.

"Let me in," he says.

"Mama, Mama, let me in."

So, I let him in.

Now we hit the next one.

The next?

The girl.

I don't forget the girl.

You figuring on her, too?

I told you before... All the Bartoks,

every one of them.

But not the girl.

The Feds are watching her like she was pure gold.

The Feds have gotta quit sometime.

I can wait.

All right, it's pretty close to 1:00.

We'd better move.

November 16th, 1931, with the death of Fedor Bartok,

Eliot Ness returned to Karig's Cafe.

His purpose: to see Magda Bartok take her rightful place

at the head of the table and accordingly gain action

from the gypsy Senate.

You think the Senate will go along?

I can't give them any real proof.

They've got their own ways to make a man talk.

They wouldn't work with me before.

They'll work with you now.

They'll do what I say.

Because your name's Bartok?

Because I'll sit at the head of the table.

They'll expect me to.

A woman?

We've got no schools, Mr. Ness.

We never learned any different.

We think that some women are as smart as some men.

Some?

My name is Colescou.

Something you want?

With Colescou in control of the Senate,

and with the Tribe too terrified to talk,

Ness was forced to move in another direction.

That night he picked up Alex and Benno.

Convinced that Colescou had not done the killing himself,

and suspecting that he had delegated the job

to his torpedoes, Ness decided to play a long shot.

We're ready now.

All right, you'll all say one thing.

The same thing for everybody.

"She's wrong. We're open for business."

You got that?

"She's wrong. We're open for business."

One at a time.

You. She's wrong.

We're open for business.

Next.

She's wrong. We're open for business.

Go on.

All right.

She's wrong. We're open for business.

That one. Again.

The last one, repeat.

Repeat.

She's wrong. We're open for business.

That is the voice.

That is the man.

Thank you very much.

All right, you can go.

You're going downtown.

What are you gonna do?

You won't like it.

Who is it?

Benno! Come on, open up!

What's the idea of barging in?

I need a drink.

So, go to a speak!

You'll need a drink, too.

They just picked up Alex. Who?

Ness and his boys.

They dragged me along, but they let me go.

Why you? They had nothing on me.

They got nothing on Alex.

They got his voice.

She fingered him... Bartok's old lady.

We tried to tell you, Janos, them Feds are tough.

Alex is tough.

They're probably sweating him right now.

Alex won't talk.

Won't talk?!

He's facing a murder rap, Janos.

He'll sing so loud, he'll sound like a whole chorus.

Be glad it was me knocking on the door.

Could just as well have been Ness, you know.

You think he'll talk?

I think he'll talk.

Nothing.

I don't know nothing.

Then I'll tell you something.

An old woman can see with her ears.

Better than most people can see with their eyes.

We'll take her into court, put her on the stand,

she'll pick you out every time.

You're in the chair, Alex. You're roasting right now.

Unless you talk.

I got nothing to talk about.

Use your head.

Why take the rap for somebody else?

What'd you have against the Bartoks?

You think Colescou would sweat for you?

Or burn?

You can't prove anything.

Don't think we can't. We got the old woman.

We got her and we got these.

Your whole record:

Kansas City, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, everything.

From the time you held up your first gas station.

All the D.A.'s got to do is to read these records

in court and the jury will burn you four times over.

Now, who paid you to knock over the Bartoks?!

Colescou.

It was Colescou.

I'll swear to it.

Take him to Homicide, book him and hold him.

Tell Captain Dorset no bail.

Eliot?

You can't read a man's record into a trial.

It's illegal, you know that.

Yeah.

Looks like he left in a hurry.

The search for Colescou turned the town inside out.

It reached all known hideouts in the underworld.

It probed in dark, forgotten corners.

It was without result.

Colescou had disappeared.

For every hole we've checked, there are a hundred more.

Colescou's hiding in one of them, laughing.

He won't be laughing when he comes out.

If he comes out.

He'll come out.

Who is it?

Want some chestnuts?

I told you only if it's important.

It is important.

There's a name on the tree.

"There's a name on the tree," and you got to tell me?

You got to come here and maybe bring

the whole United States Government?

Whose name?

It's hard.

It's a hard thing to say.

You take a chance and come here,

so you say it. Whose name?

Yours!

Your name is on the tree, Janos.

My name?

You didn't make a mistake?

Read it wrong maybe?

No.

I didn't make no mistake.

I didn't read it wrong.

You hear that?

You hear?

So your name's on the lousy tree.

So what? So who do you think put it there?

Who? Who wants to sit at the head of the table?

Who wants my place? Who wants to see me dead?

That's who.

Get your coat.

We ain't going out.

Get your coat.

Are you kidding, Janos?

You're asking for it. Ness' got the town on a string.

We go out, he picks us up for sure.

There's only one Bartok left, that's the girl.

Then there ain't nobody gonna stop me now.

Nobody... not Ness, not nobody.

Listen Janos, we don't know where to look.

We don't even know where she is.

We're going to find out.

I am listening.

No, she is not here.

She's gone away.

Ah, these young ones are always running.

To the Senate.

There is a meeting tonight.

Who is this?

Who is call...?

You did very well.

Did you know the voice?

I know that voice, even when he was a boy.

Who? Janos Colescou.

I'm sure of it.

It could be dangerous.

You don't have to go through with it.

We don't have much time.

We'll have to hurry.

Thanks.

It is not right.

We should not let you do this.

It's got to be settled between him and us.

She's right.

She sits at the head of the Senate.

Nothing yet, Eliot. No sign of him.

That girl's hanging by her thumbs.

I would be, too.

Think he'll show?

Well, I'll have to go along with Eliot.

It's a pattern.

The guy has lived with hate so long that...

Well, we should know pretty soon.

I ain't going no further.

You don't want to go any further.

All right.

So stay.

The alley!

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

With Colescou's death,

the shipments of cheap whiskey stopped.

Capone had to take his profits from somewhere else.

And the tree was never used again.

The Senate continued to meet and govern its people.

Although Eliot Ness never returned

to the back room of Karig's Cafe,

he was no longer a gago to the gypsy people.

He was no longer an outsider.

The Untouchables.