Original subtitles

(theme music plays)

WALTER WINCHELL: 7933, the once big-bellied traffic

of bootleg liquor had been reduced to almost nothing.

Eliot Ness and the Untouchables

were hitting hard at a new

and even more terrible racket: dope.

By early September, they had found and destroyed

every major source of contraband drug

in the city of Chicago.

Within a matter of days, the price

of a single thimble of heroin

jumped from $20 to $50.

While the city agonized, an inconspicuous business man

arrived in Chicago from the port of Shanghai.

Club Montmartre.

The Bureau of Immigration in San Francisco

had sent an urgent dispatch to Eliot Ness

when the Chinese boarded a plane for Chicago.

But the Untouchables were not the only ones

with a sharp interest in the visitor.

(knocking)

Frank.

Come in, boys. Sit down.

Glad to see everybody's on time.

Everybody, except Yang.

Yeah, I thought he was supposed to be here.

Keep your shirts on.

He'll be here.

Besides, we got a little accounting to do first.

Tony, 350 Gs.

350.

Mike, 275.

Weidman, 600.

It's all in here.

Well, put it out on the table, where you can see it.

That goes for the rest of you, too.

Koenig, 350.

And Bass, 425.

Two million bucks.

There ain't been that much dough on this table

since we bought the South Side.

Two million.

What are you gonna do with that?

Hold it out.

Why?

Well, it's been almost a month

since we put in our order.

I'd says that's at least $100,000 worth of inconvenience.

Why take chances, Frank?

We need that stuff.

-You'll get it. -But when, Frank?

My customers are climbing the walls.

So let them climb the walls.

The exercise'll do them good.

How do we know Yang can deliver?

"How do we know Yang can deliver?”

What do you think we're dealing with, some two-bit punk?

Why, he's got outlets all over the world.

China, Africa, Turkey, India.

He's got poppy fields in places that ain't even on this thing.

Besides, you think I'd cough up all that dough

if I didn't have my hands on the merchandise?

It's here.

It's been here since yesterday.

Where?

(laughs)

Is it all there?

100 pounds of pure heroin.

And by the time we get through cutting it up,

it ought to be worth about ten million bucks.

ANNOUNCER:

"Globe of Death."

Starring Robert Stack as Eliot Ness.

Co-starring Bruce Gordon

and Phillip Pine.

With special guest star Barry Morse.

And narrated by Walter Winchell.

He don't show up soon,

it's gonna cost him another hundred grand.

-(knocking) -Yeah?

He's here, Frank.

About time. Bring him in.

You're Yang?

That is correct.

Sit down.

Thank you, but I would deeply appreciate it

if the matter of payment could be concluded

as quickly as possible.

Suit yourself.

There it is.

Get him something to put that in.

It is most gratifying to do business

with such forthright people.

May I?

Go ahead.

Ain't you gonna count it?

There's no need to count it, Mr. Nitti.

We have ways of dealing with misunderstandings about money.

No kidding.

Yes, as a matter of fact,

I remember one person in particular.

He insisted that he had not received

a one million dollar shipment of drugs

and therefore refused to pay us anything.

What'd you do?

Nothing; we took his word for the fact

that he hadn't received the shipment

and we sent him another one,

but a strange thing happened.

Yeah, what?

All of his customers died.

It has been a pleasure to do business with you, Mr. Nitti.

I trust the merchandise

will be satisfactory.

(door closes)

You know something?

That guy gives me the creeps.

Yeah.

Hey, Augie,

break out some champagne.

This calls for a toast.

Mr. Yang?

We'll take that, if you don't mind.

I don't understand.

Federal officers.

Like to ask you a few questions.

Anything to assist the police, Mr...

Ness.

Ness?

Oh, I am impressed.

Even in Shanghai, that name is not unknown.

Your name is not unknown here either, Mr. Yang.

Come on.

Like they say, cheers.

Okay, let's get down to business, huh?

Business?

Well, let's cut up the junk.

That's what we come here for, ain't it?

We ain't gonna cut it up, not yet.

We're gonna sit on it.

But why?

That don't make sense.

The market's never been any higher.

It's gonna go higher still.

It better.

Ness hurt us plenty when he hit the Marseille Gas Company.

You bums don't know when you're well off.

Instead of bellyaching,

we ought to be giving Ness a medal.

What do you mean?

Well, figure it out for yourself.

He cost us a few lousy Gs when he closed the sources,

but by keeping them closed,

he's gonna be giving us a fortune.

Look,

last month this stuff was worth what?

Four, five million?

Right now, thanks to Ness, it's worth ten.

And by next week...

Next week?

(chuckles) Frank, next week, every junkie in this town

will be growing his own poppies.

Well, let them try.

I like it.

Anybody who don't?

Tony, you with us?

Oh, sure,

it's okay for them.

They got the silk stocking trade.

When their customers go short, they cry a little.

When mine go short, they come looking for me with a razor.

I got one word of advice for you, Koenig.

What's that?

-Duck. -(laughter)

One thing bothers me, Frank.

Where you figure on keeping the stuff?

Don't worry, I got the perfect place for it.

Where?

We control a bank, don't we?

MIKE: Yeah, that's smart, Frank.

Yes, we'll check it out.

Any luck, Rico?

No.

If any of this money was stolen,

the serial numbers aren't on record.

Put it back in the valise; make out a receipt for it.

Right.

Yes?

Yes, I've got it.

Thank you very much.

Passport's okay?

And the visa.

Your passport, Mr. Yang, and your visa.

Thank you, Mr. Ness.

-I trust they were in order. -They were in order.

I'm sorry to have been an inconvenience to you, Mr. Ness.

You have been very thorough.

So have you.

Am I free to go

or is there anything more that you would like to check?

I think we can both assume it'd be a waste of time, Mr. Yang.

We won't detain you any further.

Thank you.

Mr. Yang?

Would you sign this receipt, please?

Thank you.

I wonder, Mr. Ness.

Since your men brought this up here,

if one of them would be kind enough to take it back down?

I'd be glad to ask for volunteers, Mr. Yang.

Gentlemen?

I'm sorry.

(sighs)

He covered himself pretty well.

At least we know what he peddled,

where he peddled it, and how much he peddled it for.

It's a big egg Nitti's sitting on.

You can bet your life we're not the only ones

who want to get our hands on it.

Why have you come to me, Mr. Bass?

'Cause you're the best in the business.

Once, maybe.

No one needs a man like me anymore.

Once upon a time, skill was important.

Nowadays, the big money is in booze, dames, and dope.

Everything is muscle and payoffs.

Not everything, Mr. Harman.

There's still room for first-class artists,

a man who really knows his business.

What do you want, Mr. Bass?

I want to break into a bank.

WINCHELL: Less than 14 hours after Yang had been released

from custody for lack of evidence,

Eliot Ness and Lee Hobson were en route to San Francisco.

They went directly to the offices

of the United States Customs Service.

Gentlemen, I hate to admit that that much heroin

passed through our hands without our having detected it.

It got by us, too, and we were more than half expecting it.

But if, as you say, the heroin is already in Chicago,

what are you doing in San Francisco?

It's a pretty safe guess the heroin came

from Yang's headquarters in Shanghai.

What we'd like to know is how was it brought into the country

and in particular, how was it packaged.

Mm, I see.

We know it arrived in Chicago

before we arrested Yang or Nitti wouldn't have paid him.

We can assume it probably wasn't ordered

until after we cut off Nitti's main source of supply.

That narrows the shipment dates

to the interval between September 6 and October 4,

a little less than a month.

Can you tell us how many freighters made

the Shanghai to San Francisco run within those dates?

None.

I beg your pardon?

Well, that's only a gap of 23, 24 days.

There isn't a cargo ship in the Pacific

that can do it in under 30.

However, a passenger ship could've made it.

What?

Yes, they can make the crossing

in anywhere from 16 to 21 days.

Um, they're not permitted to carry anything

that might endanger or inconvenience passengers,

but they are licensed to carry limited amounts

of freight, which...

Well, now, here.

S.S. Saipan.

Port of origin, Hong Kong.

Destination, San Francisco.

Ports of call, Shanghai, Yokohama,

Honolulu.

When did the Saipan hit Shanghai?

September 10.

Docked here in San Francisco on the morning of September 30.

The 30th.

Well, doesn't that fit your schedule?

It does as a tight squeeze.

When did the cargo clear customs?

Mm, October 2.

Oh, I see what you mean.

Didn't leave time for the shipment to reach Chicago.

Unless it went by air.

Shall I call the airlines?

No, thank, Inspector; if you don't mind,

we'll see them in person.

All we'll need from you is a copy

of the Saipan's cargo manifest.

You've got it.

All right, come on, get out of the way.

Get out of the way, I said.

Come on!

Come on, hurry up, Maxy!

What are you deaf, Brower?

Out of the way!

Come on, come on, hurry up.

Well, you ain't gonna leave it like that, are you?

Why not?

It might fall off, that's why not.

Do I tell you how to be a gangster?

Don't tell me how to do my business.

Tie it down.

(mocking) "Tie it down.”

30 years in the moving business,

never lost nothing yet.

For him, I got to tie it down.

Satisfied?

Yeah, satisfied.

Now, you know where you're taking it?

With men like you, my nephew makes a living?

(engine sputters)

(bell jingles)

This is Duke Barker.

Wish I had a C note for every bank he's opened

and a nickel for every lock he's picked.

Barker, glad to have you aboard.

Not so fast.

I got a couple of questions I want to ask you first.

All right.

Harman here says that they're only a half a dozen guys

that know the junk's in the vault.

That's right.

When it turns up missing,

Nitti's gonna point the finger at you,

along with only five other guys.

That ain't very much company.

You heard of a man named Koenig?

Runs the waterfront.

We heard of him.

Well, he needs the stuff a lot worse than the rest of us.

He's been fighting Frank Nitti all along.

So, when it disappears, the finger points at Koenig?

That's the picture.

What do you say, Duke?

I say no.

By playing against the syndicate,

we more than double the risk.

Well, Mr. Bass?

Well, this is the last big risk I'm gonna take,

so to me, it's worth it.

To me, it's not.

25 Gs.

This is for expenses.

It's all the dough I've got,

but if I lose, I won't have any use for it.

This plus the cash in the vault?

All I want is the heroin.

Mr. Bass, you got yourself a team.

Good.

Only we're one player short.

A wheel man.

I know a guy.

He's a loner, but he's good.

I think he'll play if the price is right.

Excellent.

Well, then, I don't know why we shouldn't begin.

I have here, Mr. Bass,

a map of the bank's electrical warning system.

Where'd you get that?

On the way down here,

I broke into the offices of Cooper Security Systems,

stole the instillation diagrams.

Won't they be a little suspicious

when they find them gone?

I'll put them back before morning.

I'm beginning to feel my money was well spent.

WINCHELL: At an airline freight office,

Eliot Ness finally got a lead.

Three globes, gross weight 460 pounds,

had been shipped October 2 to the Fortune Map Company

of 512 Charleston Street, Chicago.

On October 10, Whitey Grosse,

the former bodyguard for Jack "Legs" Diamond,

had just completed the second

of two consecutive five-year terms for manslaughter.

With time off for good behavior,

Whitey had been behind bars seven and a half years.

Whitey?

Larry, what are you doing here?

I heard you were coming out today; I thought maybe

for old time's sake, I ought to come up and wish you luck.

You came all the way from Chicago?

Come on, get in.

(chuckles)

What are you laughing at?

Well, look at all the people that came to see me.

Whitey, you got to learn something.

In your whole life, if you're real lucky,

you find maybe three people you can really count on.

Your mother, your father, and maybe,

just maybe, the guy you grew up with.

That's true.

We never conned each other, did we?

Uh-uh.

Hey, I hear you're a big wheel in Chicago now.

Nitti don't make a move without asking your permission.

I am about to make one without asking his.

Yeah?

I need help.

Oh, that's it, huh?

Like you said, we never conned each other.

It's been eight years.

How do you know you can still trust me?

People don't change, Whitey.

Things change.

People stay the same.

How big is the pie?

How much can you get for a hundred pounds of heroin?

A hundred pounds?

Geez, that's a big bite.

When do we start?

Now.

(engine starting)

ANNOUNCER: And now, back to The Untouchables.

(motor humming)

(drilling)

Whitey?

You're late.

I got held up.

How's everything going?

Fine, right on schedule.

They say we'll be inside by tomorrow night.

Good.

Did you get the new bits like they asked for?

Yeah, they're in here.

Anybody been poking around?

Nobody.

What do you do if it rains while you're working down here?

I guess we get out of here fast.

Brought you the new drills.

Thanks.

Welcome to Rolling Acres.

We're taking orders for one-acre lots.

I'm interested.

I've heard the land around here

is real rich in mineral deposits.

This, the wall to the bank basement.

The trick is to drill far enough through

so we finish tomorrow night.

Not so far that some dim-witted teller spots cracks in the wall.

Where do we come up?

Well,

if we figured it correctly,

we should break through right here.

Well, it looks great,

but why don't we cut straight through into the vault?

I wish we could,

but that wall is three inches of solid steel.

We might have gotten through with the settling torches,

but that would take forever.

And besides, the way you describe the vault,

Harman thinks it'll be a cinch to open up with nitro.

He's been right up till now.

Well, don't let me keep you from your prospecting.

(chuckles)

WINCHELL: While Larry Bass and his men

were creating a new means of entry

into the Great Lakes Bank and Trust Company,

Eliot Ness arrived at the Fortune Map store.

Here at last, he saw the instrument that Yang had used

so successfully to bring the huge consignment

of heroin into the United States.

What about the other two?

Uh, one's in the back room.

We haven't taken it out of the crate yet.

-Lee. -As for the third one,

it was sold seconds after it was brought in.

To whom?

I don't really know.

It was all so very surprising.

Uh, we hadn't any calls for them.

Cash, I suppose?

Yes, as a matter of fact.

Um, we delivered it to, uh, the...

Cloak room at the Dearborn Station.

No, sir.

Uh, to an empty office in Cicero.

Now if you'll wait just one second,

I'll get you the address.

One back there's the same as this one, hollow.

The whole thing, frame and all,

can't be more than 50, 60 pounds.

Which means the one we're looking for

went to the empty office in Cicero.

That's Nitti's district.

Uh, Mr. Ness, here's the address.

Uh, 5691 22nd Avenue.

Not only Nitti's district,

right next door to his club.

Satisfied, Ness?

Satisfied when I find that globe.

What makes you think it was here?

Because it was delivered to an empty office

in the building next door.

Oh, you mean it ain't there anymore?

That's right.

Well, maybe somebody broke in and stole it.

Oh, but they'll be sorry.

That's a felony, right, Augie?

Uh, right, Frank.

What about the importation of narcotics, Augie?

Is that a felony, too?

I guess so, yeah.

Wrong, Augie.

It's a federal offense,

with the penalty of up to 20 years in a federal prison.

Well, what are you looking at me for?

Look, Ness.

What you do with your time is your business,

but I got a lot of hungry people to satisfy.

So, you take your warrant and your nosy friend

and get out of here

before one of my chefs quits.

How'd he find out about that lousy globe so fast?

Search me, Frank.

That guy, Max, who delivered it to the bank.

He could lead Ness right to it.

You don't worry about Max.

He's safe.

With ten million bucks on the line, nobody's safe.

You take care of him.

But he's Weidman's uncle.

So, we send flowers.

(drilling)

♪♪

(gasps)

Let me go, please.

Where you going, Brower?

Going?

Nowhere.

You're on your way to get a fix, aren't you?

Fix?

What are you talking about?

Don't play games with me, Brower.

I've seen it in lineup a dozen times.

You're a junkie.

No, you're wrong.

I've kicked, honest.

Where do you live?

Bixby Hotel.

Why?

-Come on, let's search the room. -Oh, no.

No, wait a minute.

What do you want with me?

Some information.

There was a crate, two or three days ago.

They brought it down through the kitchen and put it in a truck.

I don't know anything about it.

Whose truck?

I don't remember.

All right, we'll take you downtown,

give you time to think about it.

No.

No, wait.

It was Max Weidman.

He does jobs for the organization.

That's all I know.

That's enough.

Take him in.

Oh, now, wait a minute.

We made a deal.

Didn't we make a deal, Ness?

No.

(banging)

♪♪

Well, gentlemen,

it appears the time has come for the grand opening.

I'll get the suitcases.

Eh, don't hurry, Mr. Bass.

This'll take a little time.

Just a little.

Okay.

I'll bring the tool kit.

Whitey, bring the soup.

(Jazz music plays loudly)

(music continues)

MAN: Hey, turn that radio down!

(music stops)

How close are they now?

Ten or 12 minutes.

This waiting is killing me.

It's killing everybody.

Hope he knows his business with that nitro.

He knows.

Listen, you sure you don't want me in there with you?

No.

Just hang on to your nerve.

Good luck.

(sirens wailing)

Get some more men in here.

Come on, men, this way.

Where's Chief Dawson?

Crank the ladders.

Get that hose up there.

All right, men, pull that hose out.

Come on now.

That's it.

Bring the ladders.

Hey, you two, keep back there.

Federal officers.

Oh, sorry.

This is a hot one.

You two can get burned like the rest of us,

if you get any closer without protection.

What's the address of that building?

Uh, it's 584.

Any casualties?

Only one that we know of.

An old man by the name of, uh, Weidman.

Fire started in his room.

He's dead?

Yes, but not from the fire.

He was murdered.

Thanks.

All right.

All right, watch that wall now.

All right, bring the truck in.

Excuse me, ma'am,

you live in that apartment building?

What?

Did you live there?

Did you, by any chance, know a man called Max Weidman?

The man who was killed?

That's where it all started.

His place.

Mr. Weidman drove a truck.

Do you know where he kept it?

There's an alley down there.

I think he's got...

I think he had a garage.

(mumbles) Thank you.

All right, stand back, stand back!

Watch that wall!

(crashing)

5629 22nd Avenue

to the Great Lakes Bank and Trust Company,

49th and Vista.

A bank?

Can you think of a safer place?

You better wake up the manager.

I'll meet you at the office.

-Where you going? -To get our warrant.

We'll have to open that vault.

It's raining money!

♪♪

(gunshots)

♪♪

Mr. Bass?

(gunshots)

♪♪

(gunshot)

Larry!

Come on!

Larry.

This is highly irregular.

The integrity of the management...

Lee, call the police.

Tell them to bring an ambulance.

All right, come on.

Thanks.

Let me talk to Frank Nitti.

Here, Mr. Javits.

What's this for?

Tell Mr. Nitti somebody just broke into this bank.

But...

NITTI: Hello?

Hello?!

Hello, Mr. Nitti.

This is Arnold Javits.

Oh, Javits?

What do you want?

Someone's just broken into the bank.

What?

What'd you say?

WINCHELL: Less than 25 minutes

after the bank manager's phone call,

Frank "The Enforcer" Nitti arrived

at the scene of the robbery.

Mr. Nitti.

Mr. Nitti, I'm very sorry, Mr. Nitti.

Look, I...

Hey, you can't go in there.

-I'm dusting for... -Get out of my way.

Looking for something, Frank?

What are you doing here, Ness?

I asked you what you are looking for.

I got a bank account here.

I got a right to find out what's missing.

The money's insured, Frank; what else is on your mind?

Look, Ness, you got no right to be here.

Bank robbery ain't no federal offense.

Narcotics is.

What are you talking about?

A sizable shipment of heroin

was traced to this bank a few hours ago.

I don't know anything about no heroin.

But if you say it was traced here, where is it?

Lee.

In case you're wondering, Frank, this is heroin.

What is this, Ness, some kind of frame?

How's it feel, Frank?

You not only have to kiss

two million dollars of heroin good-bye,

you have to pretend it never belonged to you

in the first place.

Eliot, the boys found enough fingerprints

to keep them busy for a month.

-What about the tunnel? -They're still checking.

Let's have a look.

(coughing)

Come on, drink it.

Larry, I need a doctor.

I know, but Frank'll be calling a meeting at the Montmartre.

If I'm not there, we're both dead.

Come back just as soon as you can.

I'll bring a doctor we can trust.

Okay, Larry.

Just hang on, you hear?

(faint buzzing)

Somebody's calling.

Eh, let them wait.

What do they think this is, the Raleigh Plaza?

Come on, it's your move.

Well, we found out where they got out.

There's a dead end about two blocks from here.

We think one of them was wounded.

Rico, get out a general alarm to all hospitals and doctors.

-Better make a public announcement, too. -Right.

Make sure they say he's armed and probably dangerous.

The heist, I can understand.

It happens every day.

But no safecracker's gonna sit around

playing with a globe of the world after he's blown a vault.

Whoever robbed that bank

knew that globe was full of heroin.

You telling us somebody here pulled that heist?

Outside of me, only five people in the whole world

knew where that globe was and what was in it,

and all five of them are right here in this room.

Suppose you're right, suppose it was somebody here.

How do we find out which one?

Yeah, how?

We all got clubs.

We can all produce a hundred witnesses to prove

we was anywhere we wanted to be when the bank was hit.

Ah, it ain't important where you was last night.

You could've planned the heist and still been home in bed.

The point is it had to be somebody sitting at this table.

But which one?

Sam?

Or Mike?

Or Tony?

Or Kurt?

Or Larry?

You're all smart enough to have pulled this off.

And you all knew enough to organize it.

And you all got guts enough to have tried it.

Otherwise, you wouldn't be on this council in the first place.

MIKE: Why don't we quit fooling around?

We all know who did it.

When we decided to sit on the stuff,

there was only one man objected.

Koenig.

Why, you lousy...

Shut up.

When I want you to talk,

any of you, I tell you when.

But when I talk,

I like for you to listen.

Now, it ain't as hard as some of you guys think

to figure out just who we're gonna measure

for a cement overcoat.

All you got to do is look at the angles.

Whoever pulled this heist,

he knows he can't sell this junk with me sitting in this chair.

That means he's got a long-range plan.

So, that eliminates Sammy Weidman.

Why?

He's a sick man.

The doctors say he's got a year to go.

Two, at the most.

How come nobody knew about this before?

Well, we ain't advertised it

because it might cause trouble in his district,

but you take it from me,

Sammy's got no long-range plans.

How about it, Sammy?

That still leaves four, Frank.

Tony could've had this chair years ago, if he wanted it.

He's too old to start reaching for it now,

and too smart, so it wasn't Tony.

That leaves three.

Three little Indians.

It's a little tougher now, but we can still whittle.

What kind of a man would pull a job like this?

A big risk, but a big payoff.

You tell me, Tony,

which of these three it couldn't be.

That's easy.

It couldn't be Mike.

He's too cautious.

Sam?

I agree.

So do I.

Mike is no gambler.

He's conservative, like Guzik.

He turns my stomach,

but he still didn't steal my junk.

And that leaves us with just you two.

Well, I admit I could've done it.

But so could he.

Like Mike says, he's the one who needs it most.

He's the one who didn't want to keep it in cool storage.

I can't prove I didn't take the stuff, Frank,

but if it comes to a toss-up,

I'd have to figure it was Koenig.

Yeah, I would, too.

He was bleating so loud at the last meeting,

it got me kind of worried.

I figured a guy as desperate as Koenig,

-he might try something. -Now, wait a minute, Frank.

Of course, I never figured he might try something

as wild as this, but just to make sure,

I've had him watched ever since.

And he ain't done nothing,

and he ain't talked to nobody since that meeting.

In other words,

Koenig is clean.

And that, Mr. Bass,

brings us to you.

Where is it?

I don't know.

Please don't hit me again.

You better open up,

or you're gonna be in worse shape than him.

Now did he rent this room, or didn't he?

Then where's his buddy?

The one who left these bloodstains.

They took him away in an ambulance.

And what about the stuff in those suitcases?

Where is it?

I---

Where is it?

I-I...

NESS: Nitti.

Would these be what you're looking for?

Two more suitcases, exactly like these.

One filled with money.

One filled with heroin.

I came here looking for the money

that was stolen from my bank.

I don't know anything about no heroin.

Let him go.

Well, his testimony, Frank,

may put you away for a nice, long time.

Don't count on it, Ness.

He's one of us.

Come on, move.

WINCHELL: Strange as it may seem,

Nitti's boast that Bass would refuse to testify

against the syndicate proved correct.

He went to the electric chair, protesting his innocence

and insisting that Frank Nitti was in no way implicated.

Whitey Grosse, his partner in crime,

died of wounds before he could be brought to trial.