The Streets of San Francisco (1972–1977): Season 2, Episode 9 - The Twenty-Four Karat Plague - full transcript

( funky jazz theme playing )

ANNOUNCER:

( upbeat theme playing )

( mysterious theme playing )

Hey, what's with the guard?

Why not?

You seen what the price
of gold is these days?

( whistles )

Not this gold, uh-uh.

So it's radioactive.

It's still valuable.



Oh, yeah.

I'm gonna tell you
one thing, Fisher.

I wouldn't touch that gold

if I had a lead wallet.

( both laugh )

Thanks.

Makes you nervous, I'll drive.

You got yourself a deal.
Just do me one favor, okay?

You gotta drive real slow.

Just going back
to Transportation.

I know, that's two
and a half miles.

I'll take it real slow.

( chuckles )

( tires squealing )



( siren wailing )

What's the problem, officer?

I sure wasn't speeding.

No, but you're dragging sparks.

Maybe you got a
busted exhaust pipe.

You better take a look.

( dramatic theme playing )

Come on.

Get out.

( whistles )

You guys gotta be crazy.

Inside.

Vic, you hit him too hard.

Sure, Charlie,
sure. Get his legs.

Come on. Go!

Come on, Charlie, get a move on.

What, something wrong?

We're behind schedule?

No, nothing's wrong.

I'm just hungry.

( honking )

Oh, hallelujah.

About time.

You all right?

Oh, my head.

We're near a
highway. I can hear it.

We'll catch a ride.

Okay? Okay.

( grunts )

( panting )

You all right, Fisher?

You all right?

Fisher, you all right?

Fisher? Fisher?

( gasping )

You all right? You
all right, Fisher?

( groans )

Fisher?

( mellow theme playing )

Could you give... Give us
a hand over here, please?

You know, Penny, I'm sorry
to say you're holding out on us.

I am not.

Look, if there was
word one on the street

about who roughed him
up I would lay it on you, man.

Honest.

Nope, I had you pegged wrong.

Mike, I swear, I
just don't know.

Besides, the papers said
that Reeves was in charge

of assault investigations.

Well, I'm just trying
to help out a friend.

Thought you might do the same.

Well, it was a good try.

Yeah. Nothing ventured.

( tires squealing )

( horn blaring )

Hey, what are you doing, we
had the right of way, buddy boy.

He was going too fast.

Radioactive material.

Maybe it's a hot truck.

( chuckles ) Oh, you're bad.

You are bad this
morning. Really bad.

Is the ambulance
on the way, sergeant?

Okay.

Okay.

Right. There were three of them

involved in the hijacking.

MAN ( on radio ): The truck
carries radioactive material,

belongs to California
Northern University

and is so labeled.

Its direction is unknown.

Subject vehicle was hijacked
from the Cal Northern campus

at 0710 hours.

Inspectors 81 to headquarters.

Possible hijacked vehicle
observed going east

on Marina at Buchanan.

We're in pursuit.

( dramatic theme playing )

Oh, a half a
million dollars, man.

Hey, Lew?

There's your
hamburger franchise.

Cheeseburger.

Not until Eddie lays
his hands on them.

And I'm ready as
soon as it's safe.

Hey?

Muscles?

Give me a hand
will you? Come on.

Oh, man.

Hey, Lew? You bring your truss?

( both laugh )

Would you... Come on.

Hey, wait a minute.

All right, all right,
bring it in here.

All right, Eddie, all yours.

Well, any of you guys
ever been in a foundry?

MAN 1: Uh-uh. MAN 2: No.

Well, we own one
now, I'm telling you.

Yeah, but wait a second,

what's all this
stuff costing us?

Oh, don't worry about it. It's
all coming out of your share.

Vic, you got the planchet?

Oh, yeah, yeah. A what?

It's a planchet.

It's a slug.

They stamp a coin on it.

You know what kind of coin?

Twenty-four karat gold, baby.

( chuckling )

You know how many of
these he's gonna make?

Uh. Huh?

Five thousand.

Five thousand, everyone.
Twenty-four karats.

I don't understand.

You guys are... You're
with city homicide.

What does that have to
do with hijacking a truck?

Well, a felony occurred
in Marin County.

And your partner died
here as a direct result.

So that makes the
hijackers murderers.

That puts them
right in our laps.

Does this look like him?

( sighs )

I don't know, you know.

Wearing these glasses
and the hats and all...

I can't say for sure.

Joe, concentrate
on the third guy.

The guy that drove
off with the truck.

Oh, lieutenant,
that guy's just a blur.

I mean, it all happened so fast.

Tall or short?

I remember he was tall.

He is over 6 feet anyway.

Color of his hair,
light or dark?

He's, uh, he's wearing
a hat just like mine.

How old was he?

Well, he's old, somewhere,
you know, around 40.

Listen, I'd really like to
help you tag these guys.

But the first two looked like
just ordinary campus cops.

And the other guy, he could
have been working for us.

Vic, what do you say,
when do I start, huh?

How about 11:00
tomorrow morning.

The gold'll be safe then.

Tomorrow morning?

That's pretty quick, isn't it?

What's going on here? We
went through this, didn't we?

Yeah, but, uh...

I don't know much
about this stuff.

Hey, n-now, wait a minute,
look, we all heard this.

I heard it.

Charlie heard it, Lew heard it.

We were playing cards,
Les Slauson said it.

He said that this gold is safe.

After 2.7 days you can
handle it for half a day.

And it's already been
in the car for two days,

and it's cooled off,
so there's no risk.

I just hope you guys
are right about the time.

I mean, this radioactive
jazz, we, uh...

We never had nothing like
this out in the foundry at Quentin.

You know what's involved here?

It's $500,000.

Five hundred thousand.

( all laughing )

Uh, thanks a lot.
We'll keep in touch.

John, thanks. Okay.

Here comes Olsen.

KELLER: Along with the guys
from the Nuclear Science Lab.

Been keeping up on your physics?

Are you kidding?
I barely got past

that guy who dropped the apple.

Lieutenant Stone
and Inspector Keller.

This is Professor William Mason

of California
Northern University.

And this is his
aide, Les Slauson.

You fellas got here pretty fast.

Well, we can move pretty fast
when there's an emergency.

Emergency?

Mike, can we use your office?

Sure. Come in.

Take my chair.

Oh, thank you.

Professor Mason, why don't
you spell it all out for them

the way you and Slauson
did for me just now.

Well, our university operates
a research and training reactor

in collaboration
with the government.

And recently, we've been
experimenting with gold

as part of the reactor shield.

After a while, the gold
becomes radioactive.

So we steam-clean the
reactor, replace the filters,

and then ship that hot
gold to a federal installation.

That's where you dump it.

Oh, not at all. We, uh...

After a cooling period of two
months, we can use it again.

Does that mean the gold is
dangerous for two months?

SLAUSON: Only to
prolonged exposure.

Its peak toxicity period
makes a rapid drop in 2.7 days.

After that, limited
exposure, say as much as...

Oh, four or five
hours is relatively safe.

Gentlemen, I'm afraid it's
much more serious than that.

That was not a routine shipment.

The gold that was stolen
was mixed with uranium.

Now, this requires a highly
sophisticated centrifuge

to separate it so that
it can be recycled.

And that's where it was headed.

Wait a minute now.

Uranium.

That stays active
for years, doesn't it?

Try centuries.

MASON: That's right.

In its present stage it
could be thousands of years.

By chance, do the hijackers
know what they've got?

Well, I'm sure they realize
that they're dealing with

radioactive material.

I'm also sure they
don't know how lethal.

Then we better keep it quiet.

Rudy, can we put clamps
on the press because, uh...

If they know what
they've got and can't use,

they're gonna dump it.

And they're not
gonna tell us where.

Will the government cooperate?

Oh, yes. I'll give them a call.

Of course, they've
already been on it.

They asked me to come over
and explain the situation to you.

Well, you know our PIO has
already released the story.

Only as far as that
the gold is radioactive.

He didn't indicate how deadly.

Right, but we've got to
believe that they think

the worst of the
radioactivity is over within...

What did you say?

Two point seven days.

And if they're aware of
the normal cooling period

at our school, which is
approximately 48 hours,

that would be tomorrow morning.

Well, that doesn't give
us much time, does it?

( mysterious theme playing )

Charlie.

Charlie, come on.

It's just another Wednesday
night poker game.

Vic, it's not another
poker game.

It's the Wednesday
night we stole over

half a million dollars
in government gold.

Now listen, nothing's
different, nothing's changed.

Tomorrow, I go to work.

You sell a tract house.

Lew sells some hamburgers.

Nobody suspects.
Nothing's different.

Come on, you get a couple
of beers, you'll feel better.

Come on.

Come on.

♪ When the saints
Come marching... ♪

Hey, Gordy, you
never have mustard.

I don't like that.

Hey, hi, Vic,
Charlie. Hey, Gordy.

My horoscope says I'm gonna
win tonight so watch out, boys.

You eating again?

You weren't to be here
until I marked the cards.

Hey, where's Eddie?

Uh, he can't make it.

He called in, wants to be
on a swing shift tomorrow.

Why's that? He went
on some big shot's boat.

He's gonna go fishing.

Boy, I wish I had a boss
like you. Hey, this looks great.

I'm so hungry, I
could eat a horse.

With the price of
beef, maybe you will.

Not tonight. I brought
the hamburger

from my own place. No beef.

Well, maybe a little soybean.

Lew, you make a good hamburger.

Yeah, what do you know?

You only been to my place once.

Expect him to bring real estate
clients to hamburger stands?

Not even yours, Lew.

So who's gonna be
the fifth? You got Les?

Yeah, he brings a
little class to this game.

That's right.

Meanwhile everybody, eat up.

I got some lemon pie,
my mother's recipe.

I got some pickles. I got...

Lemon pie and pickles.

Must think we're
pregnant or something.

Hi, Les, Come
right in. Hey, Les.

Don't be shy, eat.

Hey, Les, what do you say?

Cheer up, man. There's a...

There's a mushroom cloud
behind every silver lining.

Sorry, fellas. I had
a rough day today.

What's the matter, Les?
Somebody press the wrong button?

( chuckling )

I tried to warn 'em.
I... I bet I wrote...

20 memos about
our lack of security.

What happened?
Somebody steal the atoms

for a bomb or something?

Vic.

You remember a month or so ago

I was telling you about all
the gold we shipped out?

The gold? Yeah. Sounds familiar.

Hey, wait a minute. Didn't I
hear something on the 6:00 news?

Something about a truck being
hijacked right on the campus?

Well, that was only part of it.

I'll bet those hijackers think
they've got gold they can sell.

You mean they don't?

No, this, uh...

This was a different shipment.

SLAUSON: This shipment
was mixed with, uh,

uranium.

It's sure death for
thousands of years.

Yeah, but, um...

You have to touch
it first, right, Les?

Well, it was safe enough
the way we shipped it,

but if it ever gets out
of those lead containers.

You mean, just like that or
do you get sick or something?

No, you hang on
for a week or so.

Gordy, I could really
do with a stiff drink.

Can I have, uh, some bourbon?

Your choice of labels, sire.

Come with me to the
wine cellar. Come on.

Dealer takes one.

I'll be back.

Okay.

( dramatic theme playing )

You blew it, Vic. We
gotta dump that stuff, man.

And warn Eddie
about those containers.

There goes Annie.

Will you shut up about
you and your child bride?

You just take it easy.
Take it easy now.

We'll move that stuff.

In a couple of
months, we'll move it.

Are you kidding?
That stuff is hot.

Now, look, I'm telling
you to take it easy now.

Remember this is just another
Wednesday night poker game, huh?

You gotta warn Eddie.

I'll get him first
thing in the morning

before he even
gets near this stuff.

Now just take it easy.

Okay, who opens?

Hey, muscles, you opening?

How many cards?

( suspenseful theme playing )

( bell dinging )

Something wrong?

Yeah.

I lost 80 bucks in the
card game last night.

Eighty bucks, come on, man.

A couple of weeks, that'll
just be the ante, right?

Huh?

Yeah, right.

Ready to start
working on the project

when you're...
When you're finished?

Yeah, of course.

Eleven o'clock sharp.

Yeah, yeah.

( ominous theme playing )

( dramatic theme playing )

( mysterious theme playing )

Mike?

Yeah, pretty sloppy.

Up close, yeah.

But who'd ever expect
a university police car

to be a phony, huh?

Okay, check everything out.

The kind of paint they used.

The kind of wiring they used.

What about the cast?

Looks like, uh, maybe, a
light car, like a sports car.

What have you got on
the uniforms they used?

Checking every costume
house on the West Coast.

They could have rented
them from anywhere.

Could have stolen them too.

Could have made
them. I'll keep on it.

You don't read the
papers? That guy you hit.

He died. Heart attack.

Heart attack? That's
not where I hit him.

The charge is
murder, Vic. Murder.

Oh, come on, that's crazy.

He died as the...

"He died as the direct
result of a felony."

The law calls that murder.

Annie, if she thinks I had
anything to do with a murder.

CHARLIE: I've got
a wife and a sick kid.

LEW: The whole thing
is blowing up in our faces.

Hijackers and murderers

that's what the
police are looking for.

He jumped the gun this morning.

He what?

Before I could get to him,

he started casting
the planchets.

Holy cow.

God, he's as good as dead then.

He'll cast every
slug before he dies.

You didn't stop him?

What do you mean stop him?

What did you just say,
he's dead already isn't he?

What do you wanna do, just...?

You wanna blow this thing,
is that what you wanna do?

Yeah, but what about Eddie?

There must be something
we can do for him.

What? I'll do it. Tell
me. What is it? What?

That stuff is worse than poison.

We can't handle it either.

Yeah, but Eddie can, you know.

He's g... He's gonna put
'em in the lead canisters.

Then he'll put them in the
wooden crates that we made.

They'll be harmless in there.

They're completely harmless.

Are you... Are you saying
we're gonna go ahead

and ship that gold? Is
that what you're saying?

Charlie, we're talking
about half a million dollars,

only now, it's split three ways.

Forget it!

Easy, Charlie, easy.

You're talking
about killing people.

What kind of people
are you talking about?

You're talking about the
kind of people that buy slugs,

make 'em into
counterfeit coins, right?

And then sell them
to foreign collectors

that put 'em under glass. You're
talking about counterfeiters.

No, whoever touches that
stuff, whoever spends any time,

can end up as dead as Eddie.

And that can end up meaning
hundreds of thousands of people.

Hey, Vic, Charlie has a point.

Charlie has a point, huh?

Okay.

I got a point too and
you better be aware of it.

Right now

all three of us, we're
guilty of murder.

You can't compare an
accident to mass murder.

Now, look, we
started to pull off a job

and we pulled it off,
we pulled it off big.

And no mass
murder tag is gonna...

Is gonna make me cop
out on this, you got that?

I'm not gonna change anything.

( tense theme playing )

Hey, uh, Vic, uh,
I'm sorry, man.

Annie, you know how
much I dig that chick

but not caring about
killing all those people.

Oh, Lew, don't give me
all that hearts and flowers.

They're gonna die
whether you're in or out.

No, man, Charlie's gonna
blow the whistle on you

and that is the end
of it. Are you kidding?

Charlie's gonna
blow the whistle?

You know what he owes in
hospital bills? Over $20,000.

If he talks, he's gonna
be up on trial for murder.

He's not gonna
make any waves. Vic.

Hey, Lew, I'm talking
about $500,000.

And just for you and me,
it's a quarter a million apiece.

How many hamburger stands
you think you could have with that?

How many franchises? Hey,
Lew, I'm gonna tell you something.

I mean I'm gonna
level with you, really.

You're gonna need that kind
of money to hold onto Annie.

You know that, don't you?

These are your
blood tests, Eddie.

Yeah.

And there's something
very wrong here.

Eddie.

Have you ever been
exposed to radiation?

They lied to me.

Well, who? Who?

Am I gonna die? Am I gonna die?

I think we better go talk to
somebody at the hospital.

Right away.

Eddie?

( clattering ) Eddie!

( dramatic theme playing )

( tires squealing )

Thanks.

So like I said, we traced
the owner of the car.

He said it was
taken from this lot.

Yeah, well, like,
I wouldn't know.

I mean, like, I'm not stuck
here all day, you know?

Son.

This picture mean
anything to you?

Looks like a dude who
gave me a ticket once.

Yeah, looks just like him.

Cost me 16 bucks.

And I'm a real careful driver.

Real careful. Always have been.

( tires squealing )

MAN ( on radio ):
Inspectors 81. Inspectors 81.

Will you respond please?

Inspectors 81. Inspectors 81.

Will you respond please?

Inspectors 81 to headquarters.

This is Stone.

Lieutenant, a
Dr. Halpert just phoned in

a severe case of
radiation poisoning.

Give me what you've got.

Edward Whitney, male
Caucasian, 46, widower.

Lives at 816 Junipero Lane.

That's my 10-20.

( dramatic theme playing )

( tires squealing )

You lousy rotten scum.

Hey, what's the matter with
you? What are you doing?

You knew. You knew
and you let me do it.

Why, Vic? Why?

What are you talking about?

I'm dying!

Oh, don't tell me
you didn't know.

You had this thing
wired from the beginning.

You knew the stuff
was dangerous.

You let me work it anyway.

Why? You did... Why?

Eddie, I swear.

I swear, I didn't know.

Shut up!

Eddie.

Eddie, listen to me.

Listen to me.

You gotta believe
me. I didn't know.

I mean... Maybe...
Eddie, maybe...

Maybe the doctor's wrong, Eddie.

Huh? Maybe the doctor is wrong.

You killed me, Vic.

In fact, you know what?

I'm dead already.

Did you know that?

I'm standing here talking
to you and I'm dead already.

Eddie!

Okay, Vic. Okay.

You're king of the hill.

The whole lousy mountain.

Eddie, you only
talked to one doctor.

Right? And there
are others, right?

There are others. You didn't
talk to anybody else, did you?

No.

Did you?

It's no good.

I'm dying.

And you can bet I'm gonna talk.

Because I'm not gonna
let anybody else go through

what I'm going through.

Unless you wanna use that.

It's your choice, Vic.

Old buddy.

Come on.

What do you want from me, Eddie?

Huh?

What do you want from me?

( dramatic theme playing )

( ominous theme playing )

( mellow theme playing )

What did you say, a
scintillation counter?

That's a new one on me.

Basically, it's a
Geiger counter.

We've got both in there.

And that truck's
working like a beacon.

They wouldn't have left it here

unless they already
moved the gold.

Say, do we know who
manages this property?

Not yet, no.

Professor Mason, the
locks on the rear doors

of the truck were jimmied.

This is Lieutenant Stone.

Anything you can avoid
touching in there, we'd appreciate.

What's your reading?

MAN: Barely 20. If the
gold's here, it's under shield.

What about the lead containers?

Did you find the containers?

Not yet.

There is some
smelting equipment.

It's hotter over here.

Not lethal right now,

but it was not too long ago.

Did you find any molds?

Not any.

But you don't smelt
without a mold.

Means they've already
changed the gold. But into what?

It could be jewelry,
sculpting, anything.

Doesn't matter. Whatever shape
they dump on the foreign market,

buddy boy, that's
where the big money is.

Well, what if it's jewelry?

They got enough gold there
to make thousands of items.

This is Lieutenant Stone again.

I wanna bring my crew
in there. Any danger?

Just a few minutes, lieutenant.

Just to be sure.

Mike? Yeah.

These nails. They're
not galvanized.

With all this salty air, they
should be rusty, unless new.

Yeah, fresh sawdust too.

Yep.

Packing cases?

Camouflage or both. Yeah.

Curly.

Check the sawdust, find
out the kind of wood, will you?

Have Sikulis make a full
rundown of those nails,

and, uh, this hammer too.

Well, buddy boy,

this whole package is
slipping away from us.

We don't know how it's wrapped.

We don't know what
shape it's in. What size.

We know nothing. Yeah.
Mike? I just got a call.

A body was fished out of
the bay with the skull caved in.

Well, does it tie?

The medical examiner
said it was so full of radiation

he would have been dead
in a couple of days anyway.

Of acute anemia. Thanks.

( mellow theme playing )

Well?

I don't know, lieutenant, I...

I couldn't, uh,
definitely identify this as

one of the three men I saw.

The, uh, the medical examiner's
report indicates there was

a severe arthritic deformity
in the man's right foot.

Enough for a limp?

A bad limp, yeah.

Well, I'll say that
definitely rules out this man.

The three I saw

were moving real
good. ( phone rings )

No limp. Yeah, Stone.

Yeah. San Quentin?

The foundry?

That tells us how he fits.

Yeah, go ahead, shoot.
Take this down, Steve.

Real estate office.

Ellsworth and Hogan.

Did you say downtown?

Downtown. Thanks.

( dramatic theme playing )

He knew how to melt the gold.

But he never would have
touched it if he knew it was hot.

Well, how do you figure it
then? He found out later?

Started screaming
someone nailed him?

Something like that.

Hey, Lew.

How's it going?

I must have been out of my mind

to let you hide that
stuff in here, man.

Now, wait a minute.

Not just me.

It's you, Annie, right?

Vic. Straight, all right?

I've been thinking.

Maybe you better
go it alone, huh?

There's no deal tonight. Fence
got nervous. He read the papers.

Gee, then let it
be at that, okay?

Vic, let's chalk it
up to experience.

What kind of service is this?
Can I get a cup of coffee?

Black.

I made a backup arrangement.

The only thing is he's...

He's only gonna give us 300,000.

I'm supposed to
meet him in an hour.

Three hundred thousand.

I know it was 200,000 less.

But it's still 150,000 apiece.

It's almost like setting loose
the bubonic plague, man.

One hundred and fifty
thousand tax-free, Lew.

Tax-free.

I'll be back at 5.

You take it easy, Lew.

Why don't we use
Mr. Hogan's office?

Please, have a seat.

Yes, I was handling the
sale of that building, inspector.

But you know how it is
with all those old barns

down at the waterfront. The, uh,

city engineers
have condemned it.

It was due for demolition.

When was that? Hm?
It was to be Monday,

but I imagine you finding
that stolen truck there that,

uh, you would be
keeping it for evidence.

Who else had the keys?

Oh, everyone who worked there.

I could imagine somebody
keeping a spare key for himself.

( mysterious theme playing )

Uh, before the building
was condemned,

did you show it to any
other prospective buyers?

Yes, I did. Quite a few.

Oh, thank you.

Did any of the men happen
to look like this man here?

( ominous theme playing )

Uh, no. No.

Everyone there was
a good deal older.

KELLER: You ever
seen him before?

No. No.

You're sure?

Positive.

KELLER: Okay,
thank you very much.

( tense theme playing )

Eddie, dead? It just
doesn't seem possible.

He worked for me for 11 years.

He was a friend.

He was a good friend.

Do you know about
his prison record?

Of course I knew. But he
stayed out of trouble since then.

Well, we have reason to believe

that Mr. Eddie Whitney was
involved in a major crime.

It's unthinkable.

So is dying of
radiation poisoning.

That's right.

That's what he
would have died of

unless somebody had
bashed in his head for him first.

What?

We believe he
was in on a robbery

involving half a million
dollars in radioactive gold.

I heard about that. But Eddie?

Well, he had at least
three associates.

One of them looked like that.

I'm afraid I can't help you.

Well, do you happen to
know if he has a friend,

around 40 years
old, dark complexion,

I'd say his height was
about oh... 6'4 " or 6'5".

Look, Mr. Sondheim, we're
working against the clock,

there's a lot of lives at stake.

So, if, uh, you have
any information at all,

you should give
us a call. All right?

( ominous theme playing )

( siren wailing )

Lew, come on. Lay it easy.

Easy.

Did it... Is it broken?

You're crazy. Get that
away from me, man.

You'll kill us both.

( laughs )

Just a prototype, huh?

Why don't you just
stick to hamburgers?

Tell Annie not to
worry. It's in the bank.

Her account.

( funky theme playing )

( mysterious theme playing )

( doorbell buzzes )

Now, what's all this hysterical
garbage on the phone?

Don't you jump on me, man.

Jump on you?

I don't even know
what it's about.

I figured you guys were friends.

I mean, how am I
gonna tell the cops.

That my best friends
are a gang hijacking gold.

The whole crazy thing
cooked right up here

in my own apartment.

Gordy, get a hold of yourself.

It was Vic. Who was Vic?

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

The picture... They
had a picture of him.

The hijacking of
that radioactive gold

on the truck, Les, that's
what I'm talking about.

You, I'm talking
about. The mastermind.

That's what you are, isn't it?

They described Lew to me too.

Who did?

The police.

Oh, no. It had
to start with you.

You and your fancy
job at the university.

All the time I thought
you were making

small talk about your job.

But right under my nose, you
were planning the hijacking.

Was Charlie in on it too?

Charlie? Good old Charlie, the
family man? Is he a crook too?

And a killer?

And Eddie.

Poor Eddie.

You got to him.

After all these years
of going straight.

You got to him. Operator.

This is an emergency,
get me the police.

He talked me into it. Who?

Uh... So help me,
he talked me into it.

I tried to get out
of it, I really tried.

My wife, she's only 23
years old, it's crazy I know.

But the... But the gold,
that was not my idea.

Vic Tolliman's not at
home. Now, where is he?

Yeah. Vic, that's him.

He planned the whole thing.
My buddy, the hotshot creep.

Take it easy now.

Take it easy.

Does he have the gold?

Yeah, he got it all.

Where? Uh...

He's on his way, uh, a
fence. I-I don't know his name.

V-Vic didn't tell me his name.

Easy does it now.

What's he driving?

A panel truck, '71 Ford.

Color, license?

Green.

What license? It's my truck.

On the side, it says
"Lew's Clown Alley."

Lew's Clown Alley.

( suspenseful theme playing )

( police siren wailing )

( tires squealing )

He's not crying for himself.

I don't want you to
think that about Charlie.

Do you have a son, officer?

Lloyd, read him his rights.

One hundred forty-eight.

One hundred forty-nine.

One hundred fifty
thousand dollars.

This deal was $300,000.

When I'm certain the gold
is safe, you'll get the rest.

( sirens wailing )
Just wait a minute.

No, we wait two
months. Both of us.

Until the gold is
completely cooled.

( police siren wailing )

( grunts )

( bells tinkling )

Bob, take the other
side. Arch, watch the front.

( dramatic theme playing )

Get an ambulance.

Get these people back.

( mellow theme playing )

( mellow theme playing )

Kind of gives your
spine a ripple, doesn't it?

Sure does.

Kind of makes you think.

Say...

You know that case we
were helping Reeves with

before all this exploded? Yeah.

We probably will never
nail that clown now, will we?

I don't think so, no. No.

Maybe it doesn't matter if
you lose some of the little ones.

As long as you win
some of the big ones?

That's right. Can I
quote you on that?

Oh, sure.

( chuckles )

( upbeat theme playing )

( funky jazz theme playing )