Original subtitles

(theme music plays)

WALTER WINCHELL: 10:20 p.m.

A sedan, specially fitted to carry liquor,

sped 80 miles an hour

through a Chicago suburb.

Eliot Ness and the Untouchables

did not know it at the time,

but they were in pursuit

of one of the largest and most devious bootleg rings

in all of Chicago history.

A ring headed by Solly Girsch.

(tires squealing)

(crash)

Eliot Ness and his Untouchables

were not to let these flames die

until another 500 explosions

shook the city of Chicago.

ANNOUNCER:

“An Eye For An Eye."

Starring Robert Stack at Eliot Ness.

Co-starring George Voskovec.

With special guest star Jack Klugman.

And narrated by Walter Winchell.

WINCHELL: Solly Girsch was the king

of the cordial shops.

The everyman's bootlegger.

In every neighborhood, he had a little store,

and a poverty-ridden merchant, pushing his hooch.

Individually, the shops were a nickel-and-dime

liquor operation,

behind the facade of respectability.

But all together, the formed the biggest single outlet

in Chicago,

for illicit whiskey.

And Solly was the king.

My luck.

Pick a lawyer who likes to look at books

in the middle of the night. Let's get it over with, huh?

-Hey! -Surprise!

(cheers, applause)

It's a party for you, Solly!

Congratulations, Solly.

What for?

Ah, come on!

Think!

The Schultz location, that's 500 locations.

(all laugh)

Look at his face.

500 outlets, I got to hand it to you, Sol.

Yeah, well, you live clean, it pays off.

(all laugh)

Listen, get the champagne out of the cooler, will you, Billy?

You bet.

(cheering indistinctly)

You're a regular Al Jolson.

Here we go, Solly.

-Look at it! -What do you think of that?

(laughing, cheering)

SOLLY: For me?

Easy, easy.

Hey, Solly, catch.

Easy, that's expensive stuff!

Come on, now, blow out the candle already.

No, I'm waiting for a blonde to jump out

and do a bubble dance.

(all cheer)

There you go. Live it up, yeah!

(all laughing)

Yeah.

Some for you, Solly.

Oh, can I propose a toast, Harry?

It's your party.

Right.

Fellas, I think it's about time, uh,

somebody gave you the short end of the deal.

So, a toast.

More money for me,

less money for you.

Where's the snapper, Solly? The funny line?

Do I ever joke about money?

(laughs) This time, yes.

No joke, Harry.

More for me, less for you.

WINCHELL: At the same moment

that Solly raised his glass

in a most unusual toast,

the father of one of his employees

entered the city morgue.

NESS: Mr. Tarasovich?

Mr. Tarasovich?

I'm Eliot Ness.

I killed my own son.

We'll drive you home, Mr. Tarasovich.

No.

(sobs indistinctly)

The kid who was driving that car was 19, Lee.

Nineteen.

You didn't drink with me.

I didn't understand your toast.

I like to know what I'm drinking to.

Pretty simple.

I want a new deal.

More money.

The market can't stand a price raise.

I figure it's got to come from somewhere,

so I figure from your end.

Not from our end, Solly.

I paid you eight bucks a gallon for your booze a year ago,

when I was buying maybe 30, 40 gallons a week.

Now I buy over a thousand gallons a day.

I truck it myself from your still.

I still pay eight bucks a gallon.

Now, that's not fair.

No more.

I make you a fair offer.

Four bucks a gallon.

You, uh, have ambition, Solly.

But you're not as smart as I thought.

I'm not ambitious, Harry.

I'm greedy.

You're starting out grabbing from the wrong people, Solly.

Who buys more booze from you than I do?

Who? Nobody, right?

I'm the biggest retail outlet you've got.

That's true.

And you can't take over my operation, right?

Harry, I got you hooked just like I got the Feds hooked.

As a bunch, it's a nice big pie.

And if you could've swallowed it up, you would've.

But it's made up into 500 separate pieces,

spread out all over town.

And Solly Girsch is the glue.

Harry, without me, nothing.

So we write the cordial shops off.

No, not today. Maybe two, three years ago.

Money's tight now.

Listen, prohibition ain't gonna be around forever,

you know that.

You guys are out to make the fast buck, so am .

But you're asking for too big a cut, Solly.

Come on, Harry.

Cost you 30 cents a gallon to make that hooch.

Look, I sell it, I color it, I truck it.

I cost you nothing in payoffs.

No graft, my operation's clean.

Harry, if you were to cut your profit to 370,

you'd still net two million dollars,

you wouldn't be doing nothing for it.

Suppose we say no?

I build my own still.

Ho, ho, ho.

Solly...

you're a very funny guy, you know that?

You're a very funny man.

You will build nothing.

You've been paying eight dollars a gallon?

Now you'll pay ten dollars a gallon.

-Easy, Pete. -Easy?!

And let this punk tell us how much he'll pay?

You see, Solly,

it won't be a decision taken without some thoughts.

You'll give us a couple of days to think about your offer?

Sure, sure.

I'm fair, right?

I think the party's over.

Ain't you gonna have some cake, fellas?

♪♪

Mr. Tarasovich?

Time.

Time for who?

What do you want?

Jim is not here.

Jim is gone.

I drove with him, Mr. Tarasovich.

With Jimmy?

How could you be alive?

Not tonight, I don't mean.

Jimmy and I...

made a couple of runs together.

I'm sorry, Mr. Tarasovich.

He should have stopped.

He must have panicked.

He knew Solly would've taken care of him.

Who?

Solly Girsch.

I got pulled over one time,

and by the time the Feds got me to the police station,

they had a lawyer waiting.

I didn't even get put in a cell.

WOMAN: Charlie?

I came to tell you I'm sorry.

I am.

Sorry for what?

Anna...

(crying) oh baby, I know.

Mr. Tarasovich?

I was a friend of your son's.

If there's anything you need...

Thank you, Mr...

Girsch.

You're Solly Girsch?

Yeah. He was a fine boy.

Smart, loyal, a loyal boy.

He tried to save my merchandise.

Merchandise?

Whiskey? Whiskey!

Ch-ch-ch-ch.

Now, I want to pay for the funeral.

No, you already did all you can for him.

Go away.

If you change your mind, you need anything,

just let me know.

TARASOVICH: Why am I free?

Why?

My son is dead. A criminal?

No.

Me, Charlie Tarasovich,

I'm the criminal.

And Solly Girsch.

We're responsible.

Why are we free?

Sit down, Mr. Tarasovich.

No, answer me, Mr. Ness.

Why? I'm the criminal.

Charlie Tarasovich...

makes the best bathtub gin on the street.

So, it's against the law.

Nobody pays attention to that law.

How could that boy know

that it was wrong to drive whiskey in that car?

He looked to me to learn right and wrong.

NESS: There's no law against setting a bad example,

Mr. Tarasovich.

And what about Solly Girsch?

He hired my son to drive that whiskey.

There's a law against that.

If we could prove a connection between Solly and that whiskey,

he'd be in jail right now.

Prove?

You know it's his whiskey, everybody does.

In court, Mr. Tarasovich. We need proof.

But he told me.

He, himself, told me.

In court, he'd deny it.

(sighs)

I sat in my Jimmy's room

and I prayed to die,

so I wouldn't have to live with the blame.

But him?

Solly Girsch,

he has no sadness in him.

He's a dangerous man.

He's ice.

We know that, Mr. Tarasovich.

For two years, we've been trying to document a case

that'll hold up in court against Girsch and his cordial shops.

He's clever and he's cautious and he's lucky.

But, we'll get him.

But when?

If I could take a gun and kill him...

We don't need a gun, Mr. Tarasovich.

We need one witness.

One witness who isn't afraid or hostile.

One witness willing to appear in court.

I will.

What evidence could you give a jury?

I'll lie. I'll say anything you want.

No, Mr. Tarasovich.

I'll leave the lies to Solly.

I can't give up, do nothing.

I can't.

There might be a way.

You own a grocery store, right?

14 years.

Mr. Tarasovich,

you're about to go bankrupt.

There's a Mr. Tarasovich to see you.

That ought to be good for a laugh.

Send him in.

But tell Frank to stand by.

If there's any trouble in here, I'll buzz for him.

Yes, sir. Come in, sir.

Come in, Mr. Tarasovich. Come on in.

I'm glad you took me at my word.

I know about your trouble, I'm sorry.

Trouble?

Well, your bankruptcy petition.

I only took the papers in this morning.

How did you know?

One of my contacts, downtown connections.

These times, if a man wants to keep his head above water,

he's got to find out things right away.

Come on, sit down. Make yourself comfortable.

I came to apologize.

For what? Are you kidding?

You were upset, you had reason.

I know that.

Listen,

my own father was a man like you.

He had a little store on Fallon Avenue.

May he rest in peace.

May he rest in...

He was like you.

A good man.

I should help you, if I could.

I only came to apologize,

not beg.

I know that.

Listen, I don't mean to interfere,

but how are you gonna live if you lose the grocery?

I don't know.

Somehow.

The memory of my father would haunt me if I didn't help you.

Look...

You and your wife have to live.

What with the expense of the funeral and everything,

you don't make enough to pay the rest of the bills.

I can help you make enough.

Please let me. Please.

As a favor to me.

Selling whiskey?

Giving the people what they want.

Come on, look,

look, if it's money, here,

-take it, any part of it. -No.

No, all or any part.

Mr. Tarasovich, you're like my father,

a man with pride.

Like my father, you're a, you're a good business man.

You know that the item that's moving the best

is the one to handle.

That's supply and demand.

I don't know.

People are gonna drink, Mr. Tarasovich.

Prohibition or no prohibition.

Now, why shouldn't they buy it from a man they trust?

A man like you.

Why shouldn't they get what they pay for at a fair price?

(chuckles)

I like a drink myself. I know what you mean.

Now all we have to do is convince a few policemen.

Look, Mr. Tarasovich,

I'm not gonna pressure you.

I'm gonna give you the facts, you make up your own mind.

Now, once a month, we supply the corks, the bottles, the labels.

Every day, a guy comes around.

He gives you a gallon, two, or three, whatever you need.

Gin, rye, whiskey. 12 bucks a gallon.

You sell it for two bucks a pint.

That's four bucks a gallon profit.

What about the police?

Nothing. No problem.

They can't arrest me?

Oh, listen, sure, they can arrest you.

But my lawyer will be waiting for you

when they bring you to the police station.

When they ask your name, you say Joe White,

and he gets you out on bail.

Joe White?

Well, Joe White, any name, you pick it.

Then when your trial comes up,

we get a guy out of the breadline.

He says he's Joe White, he pleads guilty,

and then he serves the ten days.

Sounds so simple.

It is.

And that four bucks will save your business.

Please, think it over.

I will.

Mr. Tarasovich...

I can't tell you how sorry I feel about your son.

If he was my own son, I couldn't...

I know your sadness, Mr. Tarasovich.

Listen, can I have somebody drive you home?

Oh, I'll walk.

Thank you.

Whatever you want.

For your sake, though,

think over my proposition, will you?

I will.

(laughs)

How can you guys even consider cutting the price for him?

First, it'll be Solly.

Then it'll be the speak owners, then...

-We can't just write him off. -Why not?

Because he's got 500 shop owners selling booze for him.

'Cause he's organized.

How do you know we can't move in on him?

How? Because he told you.

I say one guy can make the operation go,

another guy can make it go.

Solly's got a hand-tooled operation, personal.

The shopkeepers like him, they trust him.

We move in with guns or muscle, we blow the whole set up.

I still say we raise the price.

Now, he takes it or he goes.

We grab up the cordial shop operation,

as much as we can get.

There's 500 of them.

We use every guy in the organization,

we couldn't cover them all in a week.

If we could hit them fast, hit them and grab,

then I say go, but we can't.

I want a vote.

All those in favor of cutting the price for Solly?

All right, all those in favor of giving up the revenue

from the cordial shop operation?

I am.

If it means we give him a cutting price.

So we're all agreed.

We don't want to give him the cut.

We do want the business. Now, how?

I say this:

I saw we give him his price cut.

Then we watch the operation, we study it.

We pick out his key men, then when we know how to takeover,

then you go to work, Pete.

He won't buy it. He knows us better than that.

So when he gets here, we argue a little, we take a vote.

He wins, you lose.

(door opens)

I hope I'm not interrupting anything.

You must be a half a magician, coming in here, Solly,

before you're called.

Well, I-l didn't hear anything from you,

and I was getting anxious, you know?

-Anxious and nervous. -You're early.

Yeah, that's good.

Because I wanted to add something

to the offer I made before.

With what Pete was saying in my office,

I figured I might have an accident, you know?

So, I took on a partner.

You boys know Deuces Kobler.

Hey, Mr. Mastrogeorge. Mr. Harry Mastrogeorge.

How are you?

-It's been a long time. -Yes, it has.

It has been a long time.

Uh, the boys from Detroit send their regards.

Fact is, the boss himself wanted to be here,

but you know how things are, business.

This time, you made a surprise party, Solly,

bringing the Purple Gang into Chicago.

Well, so many salesmen been telling me

what a good investment insurance was.

I finally believed them.

Well, as long as Solly's here,

we might as well take care of his business proposition.

You've all thought about it.

What have you got to say?

What? No comments?

Pete?

Then vote.

We give him what he wants, yes?

-Yes. -Yeah.

You got your deal, Solly.

DEUCES: You want to know something, Solly?

This insurance business is getting easier all the time.

Once you get a good reputation,

-(snaps fingers) -you got it in the bag.

Well, look, we don't want to interrupt you anymore.

We'll be going.

Pete, you're looking good.

And the new price is in effect right now, huh?

That's right, Solly.

I'll send your regards back to Detroit.

(church organ playing)

-That's it. -He told me to think it over.

So far, so good, Mr. Tarasovich.

When you get home,

write down as much of this meeting as you can remember.

It could be a valuable document when we get to court.

All right, I'll write it down just as he said it.

Mr. Tarasovich,

are you sure you want to go through with this?

Yes.

I need you now, Mr. Tarasovich,

but Solly's a dangerous man.

I want you to be absolutely sure before you go any further.

What more can he do to me?

I don't know, but if there is anything he can do, he'll try.

I want him in jail, Mr. Ness.

We won't risk another meeting until this is over.

All right.

Don't contact Solly tomorrow. Wait till the day after.

He'll have investigated by then,

checked our your creditors,

anything else he can do to find out about you.

One of his men may come by your store before then,

but don't make a deal with anyone but Solly himself. Hmm?

I won't.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ness.

WINCHELL: Later that night,

Solly had bought foolproof insurance.

Deuces Kobler wrote his own actuary tables,

and he never missed.

His formula:

eliminate trouble before it ever happens.

MAN: Read all about it!

Paper, get your paper!

Read all about it!

Paper!

Hey, paper, here's your paper!

Real professional hit. Clean.

Yeah, no prints on the shotguns.

That means we must know them.

Didn't want to be caught with the guns in their car.

Well, that cuts it down.

All we have to do is pick up every hood in Chicago.

It might help if we knew why Pete was hit.

Yeah, well, it seems like a waste of the taxpayers money

to investigate the murder of a man like Pete.

We should pin a medal on his killer.

Why don't you type that up in triplicate

and send it to Washington?

Might give them something to do besides thinking up ways

of cutting our appropriation. (chuckles)

What is it with you, Solly? Are you trying to start a war?

Is that what you want?

Come on, I told you I didn't know a thing

about Pete being hit.

-It was Deuces. -What do you want from me?

Am I his keeper? Deuces is here for Purple.

Sammy Purple is a partner. Pete was trouble.

Deuces just protected his interests, right?

-Your interests, Solly. -Yeah, and my...

I'm gonna tell you something, Harry.

I don't like you losing your temper with me.

-You don't? -No, I don't!

Listen, you say war to me, I say, "Okay, war."

I got an army to fight a war with, the Purple Gang.

You lose, the war is over. You want bodies to prove it?

I'll give you plenty of bodies! Now, you let go of me.

Come on, now, is Pete worth two million bucks to you?

Is he?

Nobody's worth two million dollars to me, Solly.

All right.

Look, I'll talk to Deuces.

There won't be no more trouble. War ended here and now, okay?

You do that.

Oh, Harry, uh,

listen, you know I'm expanding.

I'm getting new locations everyday.

Right now, I could use 50 gallons more a day.

Now, the Blue Island Plant can't produce it.

Where am I gonna pick it up?

I'll call you, Solly.

He said an ice truck would deliver me

two gallons every morning starting tomorrow.

Spread the word you're selling whiskey.

Tell everybody.

That's important if this is gonna work.

You've got to be a success.

The more you sell, the more Solly will need you.

All right. I'll tell everybody.

I better go now.

Thanks, Mr. Tarasovich.

♪♪

Anna...

you, you can't help in the store anymore.

Why?

Something wrong?

No.

Then why?

Well...

the police could come.

Police?

I'm going to sell whiskey here, Anna.

Whiskey.

Isn't it enough whiskey killed our son, Charlie?

(sighs)

I do what I have to.

Better we should starve.

(chuckles) No, this is better, believe me.

For once in 30 years,

I can't believe you.

♪♪

(cash register dings)

(cash register dings)

(sirens blaring)

WINCHELL: After what seemed like an endless month of waiting,

Eliot Ness put the next step of his plan into action.

Across the city,

the Chicago police hit six key cordial shops.

Are you Mr. Tarasovich?

Yes.

We got a complaint that you're selling whiskey here.

Here it is, right down here.

Gather it up.

You'll have to come along with us.

Don't get upset, Anna.

My wife, can I talk to her about the store?

I won't be long.

An hour.

Look in the cash register.

There's a little card with a phone number and a name on it.

Call Mr. Baron and tell him I'm arrested.

They won't hurt you?

They won't hurt me.

Let's go.

WINCHELL: Solly Girsch had made good his promise.

His attorney had Tarasovich

out in a few minutes.

And now Charlie Tarasovich

made good his promise to Eliot Ness.

He flatly refused

to sell any more whiskey.

The trap was set.

The goat was staked,

and the Untouchables waited for the tiger

to strike at the bait.

BOY: Look at that car!

What kind is it?

-You like it? -Yeah.

Then look it over. Get behind the wheel if you like.

-Can I? -Sure, live.

(horn sounds)

Where to?

(bell dings)

My father had a bell in his store just like that.

How's business?

Not good.

Oh, before I forget why I came by,

I need a carton of chewing gum.

Sure.

Mr. Tarasovich, what's the use of beating around the bush?

I really came by to talk about the whiskey.

I told Mr. Baron and your other man, no more.

No more whiskey selling.

I know. But think a minute.

You've got a nice store here.

If you lose it, what have you got?

Nothing.

And if you don't sell the booze,

you'll lose it, right?

Mm-hmm.

As a friend, I say to you,

don't do it.

The trick is to survive in these bad times.

The trick is to keep your head above water and survive.

(doorbell dings)

Uh, I had him stop by just in case.

Add it up, Mr. Tarasovich.

There wasn't much of a mess with the police, right?

You don't want to lose this store.

What do you say?

(whispers) Go away.

Tell you the truth,

I don't like selling whiskey, but I don't like rain, either.

What can I do about it?

You'll see you made the right decision.

I didn't pay him.

Oh, it's on the house.

-No, Solly. -Come on.

Come on, now. It's my pleasure.

No, Solly.

-(cash register dings) -I pay my own way.

I like you, Mr. Tarasovich.

You're the right kind.

Hey, you forget your chewing gum.

I'd forget my head if it wasn't hooked on.

Out of the car, Solly.

What do you want with me, Ness?

Take your hat off and put it right here, Solly.

Two witnesses, Lee.

Um, ma'am, will you be witnesses?

Now, empty the contents of your pockets into the hat.

Some of the money this gentleman put into the hat

has a small mark on the border.

Show them, Lee.

NESS: We'd like you to verify the mark is there

and that the money came from this man's pocket.

You play the game, you got to be willing to win or lose, right?

What are you charging me with?

Conspiracy to violate the 18th amendment.

So I'll do a year and a day.

That's long enough to break up your cordial shop chain,

right, Solly?

It's that kind of world.

They've identified the money, Eliot.

All right, Lee, take his car in.

Come on, Solly.

Listen, uh,

you want to drive it around, get the feel of it?

Be my guest. You got an honest face.

Come on.

Thank you very much, ladies. You'll be notified.

WINCHELL: The arrest of Solly Girsch

was the beginning of a difficult chore

for the Untouchables.

A time of watching,

a time to protect the witness and his family.

Another party, Harry?

No party, Solly.

You worried about the witness?

No problem, forget it.

Ness is always a problem.

Not this time.

Look, he has a witness. He has evidence.

That's enough to send you away.

I'll take care of it.

Look, Solly, your business is important to us.

Important enough we took a cut in our price.

We don't want to lose it now.

Willy, you tell him.

Solly, we checked.

The Feds got Tarasovich covered like a blanket.

And his wife and his sister in Lake Bluff.

How you gonna hit a guy like that?

He can't be hit.

He can be hit.

Everybody can be hit if you know how.

I don't want him hit.

I don't want him hit. I couldn't afford it.

Solly Girsch protects the little klutzes

that run the cordial shops.

Hey, I worry about them.

I give them a little respect.

I am concerned with their welfare.

Harry, Harry, the worst thing Ness

or anybody else could say about Solly Girsch

is maybe he sells a little booze.

But that's okay with them since they sell it, too.

They're only half greedy.

They do have a half a set of morals.

But you let Ness lay one killing at my door, just one,

they'll turn into such honest shopkeepers

you wouldn't believe it.

Butter wouldn't melt in their mouths,

and we'll be out of business.

I'll take care of the witness.

There are ways and ways.

That's an old song, Solly. Ways and ways.

This isn't a precinct arrest.

This is federal.

This is Ness.

I can handle it. I promise you.

Sure we can, Mr. Mastrogeorge.

We'll handle it.

WINCHELL: With Agent Lee Hobson in charge

of protecting the witness,

Eliot Ness assumed his primary function,

that of assisting Federal District Attorney

Beecher Asbury

in securing convictions

against violators of the 18th amendment.

We'll have the jury chosen by the afternoon, Solly.

If you're going to take care of Tarasovich, it better be soon.

It will be, Billy.

Very soon.

WINCHELL: Judge Hilliet Pitler took the bench

in the case of The People of the United States

vs. Solly Girsch.

(bangs gavel)

Just a minute.

Where are you going?

To see Charlie.

What for?

Well, there's a call for him on the phone in my shop.

Oh, thanks, I'll tell him.

Yeah, okay.

Tarasovich,

telephone call for you across the street.

Thank you.

Hello?

Hello? Who?

George?

George Tarasovich?

(speaks in Russian)

What?

Somebody's there from me?

-Somebody with a gun? -(two gunshots)

George?

George.

Butchie.

Uncle George.

You ready to listen?

Yeah.

Is this Solly?

Yeah, this is Solly.

Your uncle?

How you gonna talk to your uncle?

You just killed him.

Don't holler.

Listen, just face the phone,

keep your mouth shut, and listen.

I didn't kill your Uncle George, you did.

Hey, Charlie, you've got a lot of relatives, haven't you?

Cousins and cousins and cousins everywhere you look.

Don't testify, Charlie.

Now, listen, you go back to the store

and think about what you did to your Uncle George.

And you smile, see?

'Cause if those Feds come looking for me,

all your cousins are gonna go.

Your wife's gonna go.

You're gonna go.

Hey, I didn't like doing it, believe me.

You forced me.

I mean, I got to look out for all those people I'm helping.

They depend on me.

Yeah.

Burn it down.

That's a nice touch, Mr. Girsch.

WINCHELL: Solly Girsch went to trial

on June 23, 1931.

As the evidence mounted,

it seemed to all present

that the case against Solly Girsch was impregnable.

All that remained

was for Charlie Tarasovich

to verify Ness' account

of the investigation and the arrest.

State your name, please.

Charles Tarasovich.

Your place of business?

3949 Lidia.

Describe, please,

what happened in your store

the night of April 14 of this year.

Solly Girsch came into my store

and bought some chewing gum.

And what happened after that?

I gave him his change

and he left.

Nothing else happened?

He was arrested outside, by Mr. Ness.

You didn't arrange to buy whiskey from Mr. Girsch?

No.

You didn't give Mr. Girsch

marked money provided you by Mr. Ness?

I gave him change

after he bought chewing gum.

That's all.

You deny offering

to assist Mr. Ness

in acquiring evidence

against Mr. Girsch?

Deny negotiating for the purchase of whiskey

from Mr. Girsch?

Deny receiving a supply of whiskey and

ultimately paying Mr. Girsch

for that supply of whiskey?

TARASOVICH: He bought chewing gum.

I gave him change.

Solly got to him.

If this testimony stands, Eliot, we lose.

I know.

How we looking, Billy?

You're home free.

If it please the court,

we respectfully request a short recess.

I object.

Your Honor, we have reason to believe

coercion was used upon this witness.

We'd like a few minutes to reappraise your case.

This court stands in recess for 30 minutes.

Are you a married man, Mr. Tarasovich?

I didn't hear your answer, Mr. Tarasovich.

Solly bought chewing gum.

I gave him change.

What happened to the man who came to my office

and demanded the arrest of Solly Girsch?

How'd he get to you, Mr. Tarasovich?

What'd he do to you?

What'd he do?

How'd he turn a man into a frightened liar?

How?

Solly bought chewing gum.

I gave him change.

Have you any children, Mr. Tarasovich?

Have you any children?

Solly bought chewing gum.

I gave him change.

What happened to your son?

Solly bought chewing gum.

I gave him change.

Let him alone, Ness. What are you trying to do?

Shut your mouth, you filthy animal.

Shut up!

What happened to your son, Mr. Tarasovich?

Your son?

What happened to your son?!

Solly bought chewing gum!

I gave him change!

I killed him.

I did.

I killed my son.

And him,

Solly Girsch, is guilty.

He sold me whiskey!

He did.

I tried to help you.

I looked out for you.

-Solly... -Get out of here!

You're nothing.

You lousy, little storekeeper!

You're nothing!

You lose, Solly.

When court reconvenes,

that little storekeeper's gonna nail you right to the wall.

Bailiff,

get him out of here.

Thank you, Mr. Ness.

I'm a man, now.

You helped me be a man.

Thank you.

WINCHELL: That afternoon, Solly Girsch

was convicted

and Eliot Ness had toppled

the cordial shop empire

like a house of cards.

But the cordial shops themselves

remained a fixture in Chicago

until the repeal of Prohibition.