Original subtitles

(theme music plays)

WALTER WINCHELL: Chicago, 1931.

This junkyard, beyond a South Side dead-end street,

was the front organization

for one of the largest rackets empires of the Prohibition era.

The man who ruled this empire

was a man who had risen in two short, but violent, years

from a Glen Street pool room to and underworld throne.

His formula for success: brutality and murder.

His name: Victor Salazar.

Looks like Salazar is turning the trucks back.

I wonder why.

It's not like him.

Every time we move in, he backs up a little further.

Since when did Salazar start backing up?

Well, he must have a reason.

Maybe I didn't do the right thing, Barney,

turning all them booze trucks around.

You got it Ness was tipped-- it was the only move.

Oh, he stops maybe two, three trucks,

the rest get through okay.

I like the percentages.

You keep busting through, Ness keeps chopping away.

Percentages get smaller and smaller.

Pretty soon, there's nothing left.

So maybe I chop away at Ness!

That's not the answer, Victor.

I keep telling you it ain't smart

to be spread out the way you are.

So maybe it ain't smart,

but a piece of this, a piece of that, it adds up.

Does it add up to $2 million?

Does it add up to the North Side?

Does it put Chicago right in your pocket?

Victor, one hit,

one narcotics shipment,

you got Chicago right in the palm of your hand.

(phone rings)

That's him.

Yeah?

This is Keirson. I just got in.

We'll pick you up.

Mohawk and 23rd, in ten minutes.

Right.

WINCHELL: Keirson had, in his briefcase,

the information Salazar waited for.

The time and the route

of a $2 million commercial narcotics shipment

en route to a medical research center in Chicago.

ANNOUNCER:

"Junk Man."

Starring Robert Stack as Eliot Ness.

Co-starring Joe De Santis,

Edward Binns,

and Michael Constantine.

With special guest star Pat Hingle.

And narrated by Walter Winchell.

(sighs) I don't get it, Lee.

There was nothing, Eliot.

Not a sign of him.

Salazar's got to make his move or he's out of business.

He hasn't brought in a truckload of booze in three weeks.

So, we start looking some place else.

What about Barney Howe?

He's been moving up fast the past few months.

He handles narcotics for Salazar.

And closer to Salazar than a Siamese twin.

That might be his angle.

Laying off the booze and concentrating on narcotics.

Rico, from now on, you stick with Barney Howe.

If he goes through one wrong door, I want to know about it.

WINCHELL: When Keirson, the underworld emissary,

didn't arrive at the designated place,

Salazar called in his enforcers.

Keirson didn't show.

I waited an hour.

He didn't show.

Two hours ago, he gets off the El at Glen Street.

It's ten blocks from here to there.

Now, find him.

Maybe somebody else met him.

Maybe somebody else is thinking of hitting that shipment.

I didn't mean nothing, Vic.

What are you getting sore for?

You don't talk.

Be like Steve, here.

He don't talk, he listens.

He does like he's told.

Am I right, Steve?

He learned if you don't do like he's told, he gets into trouble.

Bad trouble.

You don't find Keirson out there,

I want you to turn every rat hole in this city inside out.

But find him.

WINCHELL: Throughout the night, the South Side district

was combed by Salazar's strong-arm squad.

When they failed to produce

any trace of the missing rackets' emissary,

Salazar had no alternative

but to wait for the next move of his unknown rival.

(bell jingles)

I'd just like to look around.

Fine.

(bell jingles)

Can I help you?

Perhaps if I browse, I'll find something I like.

Take your time.

1060 Buffalo Street, ground floor, rear.

Is the stuff there?

It'll be there tonight.

Powder or crystal?

Crystal.

It won't be easy to convert.

I'll need money to buy equipment.

How much stuff will there be?

150 kilos.

Where you finding that much raw material?

What difference does that make?

(paper rustling)

It makes no difference to me, Ballard.

Not as long as I get paid.

(piano playing jaunty tune)

(low chattering)

Barney.

Sit down. What can I do for you?

My, my, my.

This year's been good to you, Max.

$2 million good.

I had a good, uh, fiscal period.

What do you want, Barney?

This district's been good to you.

You don't want to forget who set you up here.

I don't forget.

Then if somebody else contacted you

about a new shipment of junk coming on the market,

you'd want Victor to know about it, wouldn't you, Max?

You'd tell him, wouldn't you, Max?

Listen, Barney, I don't follow so good.

Why don't you say what's on your mind?

-(piano playing) -Some place else, huh, Rosie?

Hi, Barney.

Rosie.

I said, someplace else, huh, Rosie?

(piano music continues)

That girl's been around here too long.

She's been around this operation too long.

Maybe one of these days

I'm going to put her out in the street.

Victor...

had this town turned upside down last night

trying to find that guy that came up from the coast.

He disappeared, Max.

The one guy that knows when that shipment's coming through,

and he-- zap-- disappeared.

You think, uh...

maybe somebody's sitting on him?

You think somebody's got ideas, Barney?

What do you think, Max?

Listen, you tell Victor something for me.

Mm-hmm.

I don't buy unless it's from him.

He'll like that, Max.

But...

then you got no choice, do you?

WINCHELL: The heavily guarded narcotics shipment,

en route to Chicago, was on schedule.

It was transferred from a train

to the Rockdale, Illinois station

where an armed truck would pick it up for delivery

to the medical research center.

There were 20 minutes between

-the delivery and the pickup. - (train whistle blows)

That was Steve Ballard's timetable.

(explosion)

(men coughing)

(phone rings)

Yeah?

What?

When did it happen?

Yeah, Barney's here.

No, nobody does nothing until I tell them.

We wait.

Barney, that shipment was tonight.

Somebody knocked it over.

What do you think?

Who do you think done it?

I don't know.

(footsteps approaching)

What do you want, Ness?

I have a search warrant, Salazar.

We'll take this place apart if we have to.

(Salazar chuckles)

Take a look out this window.

It's the only kind of junk you'll find around here.

-How did you know about that? -I got a call.

You want to check the records?

I got a call, a couple of minutes ago.

You better answer some questions.

Don't ask me no questions, Ness.

I got no answers.

You better answer this one.

One of your hoods was found dead at the scene.

What are you talking about?

I'm talking about Fred Santos.

I don't know no Fred Santos.

What about you, Howe?

Maybe you know him.

I asked you a question.

Don't lean on me, Ness.

Book him.

Wait a minute, on what charge?

Assault, till I can think of a better one.

Come on, let's search it.

You think if I knocked over that shipment,

I'd be stupid enough to bring it here?

I don't know, Salazar.

I don't know how stupid you are.

You guys want to sit down?

There's chairs.

Come on, it don't cost nothing.

Sit down.

All right, all right, Max, get on with it.

All right.

I figure we owe Victor something

because we made it big, us four guys, right?

But Victor owes us something, too.

Without us, he's got no distribution, right?

All right, so he provides the stuff,

we provide the outlets, the pushers.

Everybody makes money, everybody's happy.

Max...

why don't we just keep it that way?

How? Ness got the squeeze on Victor.

He's got half his operation shut down.

What happens to us?

What happens if, uh,

somebody else comes along with a better deal?

Pure stuff, the best.

And we, uh,

we only pay half of what we pay Victor.

Tonight somebody hit a shipment.

A big shipment.

Max,

you wouldn't know who?

I know nothing; I got a contact, that's all.

The guy wants an answer.

This stuff was morphine crystals.

Every Fed in the country will be looking for it.

And besides, like that, it's clumsy to handle.

Uh-huh, but this guy is smart.

He's got the whole thing figured out.

He brought a guy in special.

He tells me the way we're gonna get this stuff,

we can move it right under the nose

of Mr. Eliot Ness.

We'll let you know.

What do you think, Max.

They'll go along.

Set it up.

Sit down.

Thank you.

Before you didn't want to talk; suddenly you do.

Why?

What I have to say,

I couldn't very well say in front of Victor.

I thought if I took a swing at you,

it might make you mad enough to bring me in.

I'm with the Bureau of Narcotics.

Nobody was let in on it

because that's the way I wanted it.

There have been too many leaks.

With Salazar, I can't afford even one.

Rico, check him.

Get his code two identification.

Right.

Oh, uh, what's the name, the real name?

Barney Retsick.

All right, Retsick, go ahead.

In a sense, we're both working for the same thing.

We're after the same man, Salazar,

and I think we can help each other bury him.

How?

Take the screws off for a few days.

Give him a little breathing space.

By that time, Salazar will have that morphine

spread out to every distributor

and street corner pusher in this district.

He doesn't have it, Ness.

Oh, he tried to hit that shipment, all right,

but somebody beat him to it.

And that somebody is gonna find out

that pure morphine crystals are not practical.

They're gonna have to be converted

to a more conventional form, pills, caps,

before the pushers can handle it.

How do you explain Fred Santos?

Fred knew about the guy coming in from the coast.

Fred wasn't hard to buy.

Somebody bought him.

I've been with Salazar long enough to know

that one way or the other, he's gonna find out

who beat him to that railroad station,

and when he finds out, I'll find out.

And maybe we can put a fuse to his whole operation.

Let me get this straight,

you want me to sit on the sidelines

so Salazar can get to those narcotics before we do?

Only long enough for him to get his hands on that stuff.

Now, we can't nail him or his distributors without possession.

That's the law.

And when that happens, when that happens,

I'll blow the whistle and you move in.

That's what I meant when I said that we could help each other.

Sorry, Retsick, it's taken me six months

to build a fire under Salazar; he's finally squirming.

I'm not gonna pull back now.

It took me a long time, Ness.

I'd convinced Salazar that you had him pretty well boxed in.

It wasn't smart for him to risk his whole operation

for a few trucks of booze.

I convinced him to put it all on the line

for that one morphine shipment.

And I was ready to jump when he made his move.

His story checks out.

Direct from Washington.

-Thanks, Rico. -(phone rings)

Hello, Ness.

All right.

Salazar's lawyer is downstairs.

He has a writ for your release.

What about it, Ness?

You realize if this thing blows up,

there'll be enough narcotics cut loose in this city

to addict everybody in it.

It is a calculated risk.

But I think it's worth it.

All right, Retsick.

I'll take the pressure off for a few days.

Thank you.

I'll keep in touch.

♪♪

How soon before you're done, Pegler?

Another 24 hours, perhaps.

Would you like to see the finished product?

Yeah.

You'd never think of looking in candy boxes.

In appearance, even a child couldn't tell the difference.

Tomorrow night.

Just be sure they're ready.

(Jazz music plays)

(music stops)

Oh, oh.

Oh, did ... did I fall asleep?

Yeah.

(sighs)

Oh, for how long?

Couple of minutes, maybe a half hour.

Oh, gee, I'm sorry.

Is something... is something wrong, Steve?

Rosie...

You don't look so good.

I feel good, Steve.

I feel real good.

Yeah, yeah, you feel good.

Ah, Steve, you promised you wouldn't.

Okay, okay.

You know, baby, when we leave here,

I'm gonna get you cured.

Oh, Steve,

I-I heard what they do to you.

I-I don't think I could go through that.

Would you rather keep going the way you are?

Couple of years, they'll peel you out of the gutter.

You rather have it that way?

I don't know, ...

I-I just know that...

the thought of it just-just drives me crazy.

Rosie.

Rosie,

we got nobody.

We got nothing.

Victor...

Victor, he's got everything.

He sits there on top of that pile of junk.

Hey says, "Hey, Steve, go kill me somebody.”

A little guy, maybe runs a delicatessen.

Very big, Victor.

You know something, Rosie?

He's scared of little people.

I don't know why.

Like he was scared of me once.

He thought I- didn't do something he asked me to,

so he, uh,

he set me up with the cops.

I got hit.

I got hit good.

See where I got hit?

Yeah, Steve.

Now things are gonna be different.

Now Victor is gonna have nothing.

Oh, Steve, don't talk about it.

Not to me.

I don't want to hear about it.

Rosie, Rosie, baby,

you're the only one I can talk to.

When are we gonna leave?

Right after the payoff.

A couple of days if things go okay.

Rosie, baby,

we're gonna go so far away,

nobody is ever gonna find us.

It'll be just you and me.

And all the money we can ever spend.

Rosie.

ANNOUNCER: And now, back to The Untouchables.

(lively music playing)

(phone ringing)

Yeah?

All right, I'll be right over.

♪♪

(door closes)

(knocking)

Just talked to Pegler-- the stuff is ready.

That's good news, Steve.

Money'll be ready tomorrow night.

I set it up for 11:00, all right?

I don't like it.

Leaving the stuff laying around that long.

Well, it takes time to put together that much money.

What are you gonna do when you get it, Steve?

Live it up?

Me and Rosie are leaving here.

I'm taking her with me when I pick it up.

Oh, you think that's smart? That woman is...

She goes with me!

Okay, Steve.

Okay.

Got to take Pegler to the train.

Listen, Steve, you know, that guy...

that guy can get us in an awful lot of trouble

if he should happen to get picked up.

An awful lot of trouble.

I said I'm taking him.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-Chestnuts, sir? -Please.

What'd the lab have to say about them?

Ten percent heroin, nine percent simple milk sugar.

As far as they know, they're not a commercial brand.

Homemade.

Yeah, I've seen work like this before.

Try to check on a Pegler.

A Martin... Martin Pegler.

See if you can locate him.

You get his M.O. from Captain Burgess, Detroit Police.

Want us to pick him up?

No, but if you find him,

you might also find what they're looking for.

And if you do...

ask Ness if he'll hold off till he hears from me.

You tell him I'm just about ready

to light that fuse we've been talking about.

I'll pass it along.

Thank you, sir.

Hey, Stevie.

It was a good job. Professional.

Ah, don't go for the gun, Steve, you ain't gonna use it.

And don't look so worried.

If I was gonna tell Victor,

I figure I would've told him by now,

and you'd be dead.

Why didn't you tell him?

'Cause if I go on, it ain't gonna be with a loser.

Maybe I'm looking for a winner, Steve.

How much?

Twenty-five percent.

You think I'm crazy?

Ha! I think you're smart!

Else, you wouldn't have made it this far.

You know, I can kill you, Barney.

Uh-uh.

I called Victor on that telephone.

He's picking me up out front.

He ought to be here any minute.

I wouldn't want to keep Victor waiting.

Would you, Steve?

Okay.

I want to be there for the payoff.

Just to make sure.

Pick you up 10:00 tonight outside of Max's place.

Good.

I'll be waiting.

(chuckles)

WINCHELL: A telephone call from a South Precinct patrolman

took the federal agents to a back alley

on the South Side.

Identification on the body revealed the victim

to be chemist Martin Pegler.

When all of his other efforts

failed to locate the hijacked narcotics,

Victor Salazar returned to the strategy

that won him his throne.

His campaign was directed for the little people

in the narcotics underworld--

the street corner pusher.

After only three hours, these tactics bore fruit.

Hello, Henny.

Cigarette?

Who you pushing for, Henny?

S-Same as always, Mr. Salazar-- Max.

Mm.

Things have been a... little tight lately.

I mean, good stuff is hard to come by.

(chuckles): I mean, you ought to know, huh, Mr. Salazar?

No, I don't know. You tell me.

Guess I shouldn't ought to have said that.

Guess things are kind of rough on you, too, huh?

I mean, every time you turn around there's a Fed.

Yeah.

What I meant about the stuff, Mr. Salazar,

my customers, they know the difference.

Things are gonna get better, huh, Mr. Salazar?

Max, he told me.

Everybody sit tight a couple of days.

Things are gonna get better.

Max... told you that?

Yeah.

Maybe I ought to have a talk with Max, huh?

WINCHELL: The stamp inside the book cover

took federal agents to the secondhand bookstore

on Glen Street.

From the proprietor, they learned

that Martin Pegler had arrived at the shop

the previous evening on foot.

He had come from an area

recently condemned by city engineers.

Thank you very much.

Mr. Rossman?

How did Mr. Pegler die?

He was shot in the back.

Things are gonna get better.

How, Max?

We got no stuff coming in.

Maybe you know something I don't know, huh?

Maybe you'll tell me what it is, huh, Max?

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

I never said nothing like that.

Offer him a chair, boys.

I ain't gonna ask you again, Max.

I... don't know what you want from me, Vic.

(snaps fingers)

Go on, Henny, tell him what you told me.

Max... all-all I said was what you told me.

"Everybody sit tight, things are gonna get better.”

Get him out of here.

You see, Max?

Now, why you tell me you didn't say nothing like that?

Well, uh... what I said,

that didn't... that didn't mean nothing.

Th-That's what I meant, Victor, nothing.

Who got the shipment, Max?

Who hit the stuff?

I'm gonna find out.

You know I'm gonna find out.

Now, you tell me,

maybe you walk out of here.

You don't tell me, you go out on a board.

Steve Ballard!

Steve Ballard, that punk?

Him and... Fred, they set it up.

Yeah. Yeah, Fred wasn't that smart, but...

Steve could've done it.

What else, Max?

Tonight, 11:00, they meet Steve and pick up the stuff.

"They"?

Monette...

Leopold...

Meyerhoff.

(Salazar chuckles)

How do you like that, Barney?

All the guys I trusted.

All the guys I give a district to

and say, "Here, take it."

Victor's gonna make you fat.

(grunts)

Where's it gonna be?

Buffalo Street.

1060.

You go sit in the shade for a couple of hours.

I'll take care of it from here.

Go on.

Go home.

You mean it, Vic?

Sure.

Go on.

Get out of here.

Hey.

Here you go, Max.

Hit him.

(three gunshots)

(exhales)

Get me Steve Ballard.

No. Now, wait a minute.

Victor...

Steve's got to be at Buffalo Street tonight.

Meyerhoff, Leopold, Monette.

They're all gonna be there tonight.

Yeah. All the guys that double-crossed me.

You know something, Barney?

I'm gonna be there, too.

WINCHELL: Canvassing of the condemned area

led the federal agents to a janitor.

He reported having seen a man

answering Martin Pegler's description

entering and leaving the building

at 1060 Buffalo Street.

(wind whistling)

♪♪

(quietly): Bill?

That's it, all right.

Sit on it. I’ll call Eliot.

(wind whistling)

♪♪

(car approaches)

You stay right here.

I'll be back as soon as I can.

(car approaches)

I, uh, guess Victor forgot to look in his own backyard.

What do you care, Monett?

I don't care, as long as I get the stuff.

♪♪

(wind gusts)

Hello, Rosie. Waiting for someone?

(muffled screams)

All right, boys, take the stuff.

You're a rich man, Ballard.

Very rich man.

You crumbs don't buy from me, you don't buy.

(gun shots)

Salazar, you're covered.

NESS: Come on out.

(gun shot)

Barney...

(rapid gunfire outside)

Barney, I...

I knew I should've killed you.

Oh, Steve. Steve.

Oh, Steve. No.

(crying): No. No.

(crying)

(gunfire)

Pin him down.

(gunfire continues)

Rico, cover us.

(gunfire)

(wind whistling)

Drop that gun.

Drop it.

(wind whistling)

Come on, move!

All right, come on, move, move!

There he is, Retsick.

Doesn't make any difference now

whether he's with possession or not.

No, it doesn't.

WINCHELL: The death of Victor Salazar

marked the end of a major narcotics push in Chicago.

Narcotics expert Retsick arranged

for Steve Ballard's girlfriend Rosie

to be committed to a clinic for treatment.

Retsick left Chicago with distinction.

He conned the underworld successfully,

and he got away with it.