Original subtitles

The letter... The one you sent Capone.

Where is it?

You'd hardly expect me to tell you that.

Get it.

I'm afraid not, Pete; that wouldn't be safe.

You don't, you're dead!

And if I do?

Tonight's episode...

Starring Robert Stack as Eliot Ness.

Co-starring Simon Oakland,

Stefan Schnabel and Milton Selzer.

With special guest star Steven Hill.

And narrated by Walter Winchell.

Oh, yowzer, yowzer, yowzer!

Greetings and salutations, my friends

and a happy heavyweight Wednesday to you all.

This is Sidestep Bernie the Bold Bomber.

Mr. Ness?

That's right. Special delivery.

Thanks.

Step out of there with your hands up!

All right, come on, come on.

Get over there.

That's the fourth time since Christmas.

Kalmisky really must be hurting.

I'd sure like to know who's tipping us.

So would I.

Who and Why?

The next day, high above Chicago's loop,

a former bodyguard for Al Capone

invaded strange territory.

His name Pete, "The Persuader", Kalmisky.

With him Alan Sitkin,

business manager for the Syndicate.

Confronted by 80 years of tradition,

they awaited an appointment

with the president of December Enterprises,

the heir to a great railroad dynasty,

Joseph December, Jr.

At the age of 23,

Joey December had inherited control

of the Great Lakes Pacific.

At 42, he was still in control...

Of a rusting, debt-ridden railroad

that the experts declared to be on a one-way trip

to the junkyard.

I just talked to the bank, Joey.

They're gonna turn us down.

Yes, well, then we go somewhere else.

There is nowhere else.

In the name of humanity, Joey, let's get out!

I can file a petition for bankruptcy court today.

That's right, Henry, you get on the phone

while I jump out the window,

since it seems to be the fashionable thing

to do these days.

Joey, Joey.

I'm serious.

Yes, Henry, of course you are.

We've got stockholders, employees...

Hundreds of people to think about.

Yes?

- A - Mr. Sitkin and Mr. Kalmisky to see you.

Fine.

Now, Henry, I've got just two people to think about.

They're on their way in.

Joey... Now, later, Henry, later.

Henry Grunther, Comptroller.

Mr. December, Mr. Kalmisky.

Your servant, sir.

Sure.

Sit down, gentlemen, please.

You've come in regard to the proposition

that, uh, Mr. Sitkin and I discussed.

Yeah, that's right.

I must say, it's a tempting offer.

We've made a check on the car loadings of the Red Lake Route,

and, uh, you were right.

Cargo between Canada and Chicago simply isn't sufficient

to cover expenses.

There'll be plenty of cargo when we get rolling.

Our operation covers five states now,

all the way from the border to Cairo.

Fine.

Now, we come to the painful part.

What's on your mind?

Say, 20% off the top?

I figure that's too unreasonable, is it?

What do you say, Al?

We in business?

Mr. December?

We are indeed.

The Red Lake Route is yours...

Lock, rolling stock and barrel,

and any GLP facilities you may need.

Uh, one thing, Mr. December.

When we deal with our own kind,

we know where we stand.

They stay in line.

They've got to.

You get my point?

It's quite sharp enough, Mr. Kalmisky.

As a business man, I'd be a fool

to annoy a goose that lays such extremely large golden eggs.

Okay.

Just so we understand each other.

I think we do... partner.

When do we start?

The sooner, the better.

I like you, Joey.

You talk my language.

Money talks everybody's language.

Yeah!

You won't regret this, Mr. December.

Yes, I know.

Oh.

This what you had in mind?

I told you I'd bring him in.

Any trouble? Some.

But I can handle him.

Sure about that?

He's under control.

Will he stay that way?

He does what I tell him to do.

He'll keep on doing it.

He has to.

You have some interesting methods

of persuasion, Mr. Sitkin.

Uh, what's your secret?

Well, you might say

I've got him under lock and key.

A hundred thousand dollars.

That's right, isn't it?

It's right.

And 10,000 shares of Canada Central

at ten dollars a share.

Three weeks the market will hit 50 and no reason to hesitate.

No.

No, I guess not.

And this is only the beginning, Mr. Sitkin.

I won't be needing these anymore.

Neither will I.

The manipulations of Joey December paid off fast.

Within two weeks, the "Booze Express" was running

with the regularity of the 5:10 commuters special.

Liquor loaded in Manitoba into boxcars were shunted

onto the main row by the shore of Lake Superior,

stored in sealed boxcars scattered

through the great railroad yards of Chicago.

Whiskey.

Hey!

What are you doing here?

Dog and me are taking a walk.

Well, dog and you'd better keep on walking.

Sure.

I didn't mean to be any trouble.

Uh, dog thinks this hunk of track belongs to him.

Look, Pop...

you take this mutt and keep going!

Sure.

You don't have to tell me more than once.

'Night.

It's locked.

We'll get it, Tiger.

Ah, what'd I tell ya, Tiger?

Central?

I want to talk to the Prohibition people.

Federal Building.

Good evening.

Hello? Hello?

Federal Building.

Hello?

At 11:45 on the night of February 16,

Eliot Ness and the Untouchables were called

to a Great Lakes Pacific railroad spur

on the outskirts of Chicago.

Reason: Police authorities were convinced

that the killing of the railroad man was connected

with a badly concealed case of bootleg booze.

That look familiar?

Yeah, Kalmisky's brand.

We smashed his trucking operation.

Maybe he switched.

To the railroad?

Companies wouldn't stand for it.

If they knew about it.

Fresh oil.

Can't have been here more than a few hours.

Eliot.

Finally got the district manager.

Had to drag him out of bed. What'd he say?

What time did that last train get through here?

It didn't. According to him,

there hasn't been a train through his crossing

in about 12 years.

Faced with the task of tracing shipments of bootleg booze

through thousands of miles of track,

the Untouchables spent the next week

contacting minor officials of the GLP.

In each case, they were told

that no train had been scheduled

through the Ivor Street siding.

Each official assured them that the claim was impossible.

Finally, at the demand of Eliot Ness,

manager Dell Regan took him to the office of GLP President,

Joseph December, Jr.

Mr. Ness, Mr. Hobson.

They told me you were coming up.

Thank you, Dell.

Any help that you can give Mr. Ness will be appreciated.

I'll be in touch.

Make yourselves comfortable, gentlemen, please.

Thank you.

Now, Mr. Ness, what's on your mind?

We believe that one of your trains stopped

at the Ivor Street Siding about a week ago

and unloaded some bootleg whiskey.

One of your former employees apparently saw what was going on

and was killed.

Yes, I read about it in the papers.

I was shocked.

Mr. Ness, if any bootleggers are making use

of the facilities of this railroad, I assure you that

I will see to it that it's rooted out and stopped.

Oh, excuse me, gentlemen.

Come in, Henry.

I think you ought to hear about this.

Mr. Ness, Mr. Hobson,

my right arm, Henry Grunther.

How do you do?

These gentlemen are from the federal government, Henry.

They suspect that our road's been involved

in shipments of bootleg whiskey.

Well, gentlemen, that's... that's next to impossible.

I'll go on record.

Our employees are top caliber, entirely reputable.

Many of them have been with us since the time of Joey's...

uh, Mr. December's father.

I'm afraid you misunderstand, Mr. Grunther.

We never claimed that railroad employees were involved.

Either way, Mr. Ness, I repeat.

If any bootlegging is taking place on our road, I assure you

it will be stopped.

Then you won't object

if we spot-check a few of your sidings,

say for the next few weeks.

No objection at all.

My railroad is yours.

Better yet, since I know how busy you people must be,

what if I put some of my own men to work on it?

We've quite a staff of railroad police detectives.

Thanks, but I'd sooner use my own men.

They've been trained for this sort of work.

Of course.

I appreciate you letting me know about this, Mr. Ness.

Anything we can do to help, anything at all,

please feel free to call on us.

Thank you, Mr. December.

We don't often get such willing cooperation.

Mr. Grunther.

Mr. Ness.

The red carpet treatment, huh?

He's a nice guy.

Yeah, but he drinks strong coffee.

I wish you'd cleared it with me, Eliot.

December's top level,

not some hood you can roust around.

We didn't roust him, Beecher.

We talked to him.

For maybe five minutes with kid gloves on.

Look, Eliot, I've been friendly

with the December family for almost 20 years.

Your pressuring Joey puts me

in a kind of an embarrassing position.

I told you, Beecher, I didn't pressure him.

How'd you know I was there?

He called me. He explained... Called you?!

Yes, he called me.

He explained his road is in a precarious position.

The depression hit GLP pretty hard.

If it folds,

thousands of its employees will be on the bread lines.

He's under a terrific strain.

He'd like to avoid more.

So he asked you to call off the dogs.

Not at all.

But Joey has a responsibility to the community, and so do we.

He's fighting to keep from going under.

Now, I'm suggesting that we don't put

any further pressures on him without proof.

Not right now.

His job's tough enough.

Look, I need your help.

You're the only one I can turn to.

That bad, hmm?

That stock you sold me...

That Canada Central, 10,000 shares at ten.

You said it would hit 50 in three weeks.

Did I? It's over two months.

Well, perhaps I was being a little optimistic.

It closed at three and an eighth.

I wouldn't worry about it, Alan.

These things happen.

Just hang on. You'll be all right.

I can't hang on, not anymore!

Well, I suppose you'll have to sell.

That won't help!

It's not enough.

I've got to have the full hundred thousand.

Right away!

Man shouldn't take risks he can't afford, Sitkin,

not in business, not anywhere.

Oh, look, it wasn't my money.

It belonged to the organization.

I see.

I covered every way I could, but they're suspicious.

If...

If I don't come up with the money,

all of it, by tomorrow night...

I thought you had Kalmisky under lock and key.

Yes, I do, but it... it's just one vote!

Isn't he the boss?

Not on a thing like this.

The others would go over his head

if he tried to stop 'em.

Straight to Capone.

You are in trouble, Alan, aren't you?

Well, I suppose there's nothing for me to do

except... lend you the money.

You would?

You would do that?

I swear to you I-I'd never forget.

Oh, I'd do it all right.

Of course, one good turn deserves another.

Anything. Anything at all.

Say a lock and a key.

Huh?

You've got something on Kalmisky, Alan.

Since you're alive and in reasonably good health,

I'd assume it's something tangible and in a safe place.

You hand it to me, it'll still be safe.

He'd kill me.

If he found out I didn't have it.

And you'd tell him.

No.

Not if I don't have to.

He'd kill me.

He'd be thrilled to kill me after all these years.

Like stepping on a cockroach.

And tomorrow night, when the Syndicate meets,

what happens, then?

No, I'm afraid, Alan,

you're not a very good insurance risk, either way.

Mr. December?

Yes, Alan?

You figured this from the start,

didn't you?

Well, thanks for the ride on the Ferris wheel.

The view was great.

So long, Mr. December.

Alan?

I'm sorry.

What's the matter with your friend?

Ain't he feeling well?

He'll be all right.

Hey, mister, you forgot your book.

Let me through, please. I'm a friend.

Let me through, please.

Too late.

Nothing we can do for him now.

Nothing at all.

And now back to...

The death of Alan Sitkin, a known associate

of Pete "The Persuader" Kalmisky,

brought Eliot Ness to the El platform

on Lake Street.

Sitkin's effects produced a personal memo.

You can use this room, Mr. Sitkin.

I missed the name.

Ness.

No, the man who died, the one you called me about.

My hearing on the phone.

Alan Sitkin, a known associate of Kalmisky's.

You ever met him?

No.

We go to different clubs.

I thought you might have run into him.

He's so close to Mr. December.

Is he?

Sitkin met December just before the accident.

There are eyewitnesses.

Bookshop owner, a newsboy on the El platform.

Circumstantial nonsense.

Mr. Ness,

a man in Mr. December's position meets lots of people,

lots of places.

I wouldn't be surprised

if Joey met Al Capone once or twice,

but that doesn't mean

they're planning a new crime wave, does it now?

Is it possible you don't know everything

about the December operations?

Maybe whiskey moving over a spur line wouldn't come

to your attention.

No, that is not possible.

I see.

I thought you might want to cooperate.

If you change your mind,

you can reach me at the Federal Building.

Uh, Mr. Ness?

You're in another world now.

A world where men are familiar with police harassment.

With libel and slander laws.

With innuendo.

You're not in the jungle anymore, Mr. Ness.

You are in the clearing.

The Federal Building, Mr. Grunther.

Mr. Kalmisky,

I thought it best we arrive at different times.

No offense.

What do you want?

You look naked.

I don't think I've ever seen you before

without Alan Sitkin.

Oh, lots of bright boys around Chicago.

I'll get me another one.

But Sitkin isn't the only thing I lost.

The boys checked his books.

No, thanks.

They're short... a hundred grand.

I don't understand.

Sitkin was a rich man.

What do you mean, rich?

A fortune in a box... A safe deposit box.

Yeah.

You got into, uh, Sitkin's safe deposit box?

As I said, a fortune.

Cash?

Just an envelope

addressed to some place in Florida.

Palm Island, Florida, if I remember.

You read it?

Not much of a letter.

More like a story.

A true story.

An eyewitness account of a betrayal.

"Fingering" is the term used, I think,

for one Johnny Torrio.

As I understand it,

this Torrio was a friend of Mr. Al Capone,

his best friend.

Patron. Mentor.

Almost like a father.

True?

Yeah, sure.

It seems that this Torrio didn't care much

for some of Capone's associates.

One of his bodyguards, especially.

Apparently, the feeling was mutual.

♪ I can be happy... ♪

Mr. Capone would pay a great deal for that letter.

But I have a feeling

that it'd be worth even more to someone else.

How much?!

Say 51%.

I get the letter?

No, no, I couldn't do that.

Still, neither will Mr. Capone.

I think that's fair value.

♪ It all depends on you ♪

♪ I can save money ♪

♪ Or spend it ♪

♪ Go right on living ♪

♪ Or end it ♪

♪ You're to blame, honey ♪

♪ For what I do ♪

♪ Believe me... ♪

Lovely girl.

Perhaps you could introduce me.

♪ I can be humble ♪

♪ Any old thing... ♪

Yeah, sure.

♪ It all depends on you ♪

♪ I can save money ♪

♪ Or spend it ♪

♪ Go right on living ♪

♪ Or end it ♪

♪ You're to blame, honey ♪

♪ For what I do... ♪

Joey, you are crawling in the gutter

and taking your father's name with you!

Henry, am I getting a lecture on morality?

51% is ours.

I've saved the company.

By making a deal with a gangster?

By making a deal with fresh capital.

Henry, it's gonna be like the old days...

like I used to operate, full control.

You are not in control, Joey.

You're on a runaway.

Can't you see that?

You got to get off now,

while you still can.

Henry, we've got a ticket to the end of the line... first-class.

Here.

A little indiscretion

on the part of our minority partner, Mr. Kalmisky.

Stop a train at this speed,

somebody'll get hurt.

You wouldn't want that.

And neither should I, old friend.

Neither should I.

Mr. Grunther.

Mr. Ness.

Good of you to come.

You sounded urgent on the phone.

Mr. Ness, suppose I were to...

hand over certain information to you.

Would it be possible for you to...

give a degree of...

well, immunity in exchange?

Depends on the information.

It's not impossible.

No, no, Mr. Ness.

You-you don't quite understand.

This immunity would not be for myself.

Suppose...

Suppose a man picks up a runaway kid

out of an orphanage.

Say he sends him to school,

to-to college... gives him a job,

a position, a career.

If somehow he could help that man...

he'd do it, wouldn't he?

Depends on the kid.

Well... I'm the kid.

The other man?

Joseph December.

Joseph December, Sr.

He'd never let me pay him back.

Not a cent.

Now, maybe... I can help to save his son.

From the law?

No.

From himself.

Sorry, Mr. Grunther,

I can't make that kind of a deal.

I understand.

If you really want to help Joey December,

you'll give us what you've got without any strings.

A federal penitentiary's no picnic,

but it's better than a sack of cement

at the bottom of Lake Michigan.

Yes... maybe you're right.

I have to think it over.

Sure, I can wait.

Can Joey?!

Mr. Ness... thank you.

Elaine, would you ask Mr. Grunther to come in here, please?

He isn't here, Mr. December.

He left late this afternoon.

Did he say where he was going, when he was coming back?

He didn't tell me, Mr. December.

He said, uh, something about having to stop a train.

I guess he meant he had to catch a train.

Yes, I guess so.

Would you like some more coffee,

Mr. December?

No, thank you.

Good evening.

Federal Building.

Hello?

Sorry to be late.

That's all right, Joey.

I-I just got here.

Forgive me for bringing you down

this time of night.

It's all right, Joey.

But I wanted to make a study of the report

before the London Exchange opens.

That's all right.

Many thanks, old friend.

Did you, uh, make your train on time?

Train?

Elaine mentioned something about one.

Perhaps she misunderstood.

Come on, Henry, I'll take you to a speakeasy

where even a respectable corporation comptroller

can have a nightcap for auld lang syne.

All right, if... if you'd like me to.

Yes, I would, Henry.

I would.

For auld lang syne, my lad ♪

♪ For auld lang syne ♪

♪ We'll take a cup... ♪

You know, Henry,

not always so hot being a boy genius.

At first, everything comes easy,

perhaps too easy.

You're at the top of the tower, the world's at your feet.

Your friends call it genius...

your enemies say it's just luck.

You're not sure.

Afterward, it gets harder.

You're still a big gun, but you're out of ammunition.

No luck.

No genius. No friends.

Almost none.

But the world is still there,

looking up waiting for you to topple off the tower

and smash into a million pieces.

Well, it's not going to...

happen to me, Henry.

Not to me.

Joey, what are you afraid of?

Self-preservation.

That's the first law of nature, isn't it, old friend?

For animals, it is.

No, we're all just animals, Henry.

Poor hairless apes with overdeveloped craniums.

Nothing more. None of us.

There is something else, Joey.

Maybe, occasionally,

some of these "poor apes"...

have a soul, Joey.

Oh, good Lord, I forgot the Paris cables.

Left it on my desk.

You go on ahead, Henry. Grab a taxi.

I'll meet you in front of the building.

Maybe occasionally, some of these poor apes...

But not many, old friend...

not many.

The police report of the elevator crash

brought Eliot Ness and his superior, Beecher Asbury,

to a midtown skyscraper.

Ness had insisted on Asbury's presence,

knowing he would again confront the president

of December Enterprises.

Examination of the elevator

in which Henry Grunther plunged to his death

quickly determined the cause of the crash.

A malfunction of the electrical shunt field.

It could have been an accident.

Inside coat pocket.

Poor Henry.

I don't believe it, Beecher.

I saw it happen, heard it, but I don't believe it.

If it hadn't been for those cablegrams,

there'd be two stretchers for the morgue.

Ought to feel something.

Relief, gratitude, something.

You were lucky, Joey.

Was I?

Maybe it's the other way around.

Maybe Henry's the lucky one.

Boy geniuses don't need luck, do they, Joey?

They make their own.

That's right, Mr. Ness.

That's what people say.

What do you say?

Eliot, I don't understand what you...

I suspect, Beecher, that what Mr. Ness is trying

to say is that he thinks that I killed Henry.

Did you?

Yes, I'm afraid I did.

I think it's time that I...

What's the phrase in your business, Mr. Ness?

Come clean?

That'll do. Let's hear it.

Recently, I had some dealings with some unsavory characters.

Dealings?

I handled some stock transactions for them.

Are these unsavory characters happened to be named Kalmisky?

No names, if you don't mind.

It's not safe.

I learned that the hard way tonight.

These people wanted some additional services.

I refused.

Obviously, that elevator ride wasn't meant for Henry at all.

It was meant for me.

He died my death.

So, in a way, I killed him.

So you see, Beecher,

Mr. Ness is quite correct.

I am the real murderer

of my old friend, Henry... Grunther.

I'm tired, gentlemen.

I think I'd better go home.

That is...

if I'm still free.

You're free.

It's not such a bad story at that.

If we work at it, we can make it come true.

Come on, what does the car cost?

An entire Pierce-Arrow?

Strings and all.

Having fun, Kalmisky?

I was.

Save it for later.

I want to talk.

Beat it, Ness.

Maybe you'd rather have me write you a letter...

like Alan Sitkin.

Um, leave us alone, baby.

But, mister... Get lost!

You got anything to tell me, Ness?

Just a little friendly advice.

Oh, that's a funny thing.

I never knew you was my friend.

Sometimes it's hard to tell.

Take Joey December.

I thought he was a friend of yours.

Who says so?

Well, I guess I was wrong.

A friend wouldn't have sent that letter

to Big Al, now, would he?

What letter?

Something about...

Johnny Torrio, wasn't it?

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

Yes, you do.

Who told you?

We get around.

You're lying.

He wouldn't.

He wouldn't do that.

Joe wouldn't do a thing like that!

Wouldn't he?

Hello, Pete.

Got your call.

What seems to be...?

Funny how frightening a gun can look,

even though I know

you've no intention of using it.

Don't bet on it.

I don't think

you'd be that foolish, Pete, not even you.

What's the matter?

Wasn't 51% enough for you?

I'm afraid you're not getting through to me.

The letter... The one you sent Capone.

Why would I do a thing like that?

Yeah.

Why?

Get up!

It's not true, Pete.

I promise you, it's not true.

That's not what Ness tells me.

Very clever man, Ness.

Quite an active imagination, but it's not true.

You didn't mail that letter?

I did not.

Where is it?

In a safe place.

Here?

You'd hardly expect me to tell you that.

Get it.

I'm afraid not, Pete.

That wouldn't be safe.

You don't, you're dead!

And if I do?

Get the letter!

Now, Pete, don't be... Get it!

All right, we'll... play it your way.

Henry.

Come on, quit stalling!

Here it is, Pete.

Joey?

The service elevator.

Put the gun down, Joey!

Mr. Ness. Put it down!

Sorry, Mr. Ness, I'm going to use it.

On myself.

It's too late, Joey.

You've been dead for years.

Joseph December, Jr...

Boy genius, financial wizard, railroad czar.

Born July 7, 1888.

Executed May 30, 1930.

Date of death: some years before.

The Untouchables.