The Untouchables (1959–1963): Season 1, Episode 22 - The White Slavers - full transcript
Prohibition is over but Eliot Ness and the Untouchables have a lot to keep them busy. They've been trying to shut down the mob-controlled prostitution business and raid one of the houses of ill-repute bun by Al Capone's former partner in the trade, Mig Torrance. Everyone in the house escapes - corrupt police tipped them off - except Mary Sage who is found dead in her bed, the victim of a self-inflicted overdose of heroin. Mig's kid brother was in love with the girl and is heartbroken at her death. Mig is also under pressure from his mobster-partners to increase his business and they tell him to hire Mrs. Buchanan, Mrs. B. to those in the business, the best Madam around. She has no interest in returning to the business she left 5 years before but when young Ernie Torrance asks her to recover Mary's body from the police, she meets Eliot Ness and agrees to work with him to close down the mob's operation.
(gunshots)
(glass shattering)
Let's smoke 'em out.
Right.
Get Ness... and I'll
double your money.
(groans)
(thuds)
(theme music plays)
Tonight's episode...
Starring Robert
Stack as Eliot Ness.
Costarring Dick
York, Mike Kellin,
and Nita Talbot.
With Special Guest
Star Betty Field.
WALTER WINCHELL:
Prohibition was dead,
but mobster Mr. Big, Al Capone,
operating from a federal
prison where he was doing time
for income tax
evasion, was still active.
The top moneymaker
in his new empire
was a Chicago white slave
ring run by Capone's partner,
Mig Torrance.
March 31, 1934,
Eliot Ness led a raiding party
on one of Capone's
houses of prostitution.
It was the seventh such raid
since federal man Ness had
been assigned to break up the ring.
Inside the house,
the inmates, having
been tipped off
by certain corrupt
police officials
in the city government,
were escaping through
a trapdoor in the cellar,
leading to a tunnel
on the waterfront.
In one of the rooms,
a girl lay dead.
Mourning at her side was
21-year-old Ernie Torrance,
kid brother of Mig Torrance.
(door closes)
Ernie, let's go.
We're closing up the trapdoor.
Ernie, come on.
The cops are
practically in the house.
I don't care.
Well, your brother's gonna care.
They all got away.
All except one.
She's dead.
Mary Sage was a junkie.
She died from an
overdose of morphine...
Probably self-administered.
Here's the autopsy report.
(sneezes)
Bless you. Thanks.
Any family?
Who's claiming the body?
No family, far as we know.
If nobody claims
her, the city'll bury her.
There's a good human
interest story in Mary.
My editor won't go for it.
He says the only girls
that sell papers these
days are debutantes.
If Mary Sage were
a madcap debutante,
it'd make a story.
Mary Sage was a prostitute.
The story is how
she got that way.
How the punks get kids
like her started on drugs
so that once they're hooked
they'll do anything for a fix.
(sneezes)
Bless you.
Look, fellas...
I need your help to
wake up the public.
Drugs are only one
of the techniques
that punks use
to trap young girls.
They work through
the mails, too...
Plant advertisements
in magazines.
Answer an ad and
learn how to become
a glamorous Hollywood star.
Enter a beauty contest
and learn how to become
a glamorous model.
Phony lures to meet
young kids and trap them
into the "glamorous"
profession of prostitution.
These punks know how,
and they're as organized
as any big business.
Who gets the credit for that,
Mig Torrance or Al Capone?
The "credit"
belongs to the public
who sit on their
big fat apathies
and give the Torrances and the
Capones the chance to organize.
The law usually doesn't
get too excited either.
Present company excepted.
That's where you
newspaper men come in.
You can reach the public.
Give them the raw
facts behind kids
who end up like Mary Sage.
Get them excited enough
to pressure the law.
Trouble is, Mr. Joe Average
isn't going to come out fighting
when you mention prostitution.
It's like booze was.
So it's illegal, so what?
That's the attitude.
I'm after the superpunk who's
made big business out of it,
who runs this town,
who gives the orders that
makes Joe Average jump.
But you've already got Al
Capone in jail, Mr. Ness.
That's right, we've got Capone.
And we haven't stopped him yet.
But we will.
And one of the ways is
to get his vice president
in charge of white
slavery, Mig Torrance.
Get him where?
Safe in jail...
Where he can
operate like Capone?
If you guys'd needle the public
the way you're needling me,
the picture might be different.
Mr. Ness, did Torrance
ever try to buy you off?
There's been some
secondhand romancing,
but I think he's got
my message by now.
Well, I guess we can
make a two-column story.
Just get as much as
you can to the public.
That's all I ask.
WINCHELL: Every day, Ness
hammered at Mig Torrance's enterprises.
Bogus model agencies,
dramatic schools,
all the fronts that covered
his nefarious methods.
And at night, the
raids on the houses.
But the one that Ness could
not locate was the house
that Torrance made
his headquarters.
(jazz playing)
(piano playing bluesy tune)
Hey, Ernie...
your brother
Mig's lookin' for ya.
Oh, Ernie.
Ernie?
I just wanted to say
how sorry I am about Mary Sage.
Yeah.
When's the funeral gonna be?
Hey, kiddo?
Just a minute, Mr. Kimmell.
When did you say?
That's, uh, it's up to the city.
They got her body.
You gonna let the city bury
her? You ain't gonna claim her?
Well, I'm claimin' you, poopsie.
C'mon, baby.
WINCHELL: In his office,
Mig Torrance was
playing uneasy host
to three of Al Capone's boys.
Bob Wheaton, chief liaison
between Capone and his empire
while the big boy
was in prison...
Nicky Flanagan, accountant,
the man who kept the
books for the organization...
Ned "Goldie" Gold,
the wisest and the
gentlest of the group,
who supplied whiskey
for the night clubs
and the houses
of prostitution...
and last but not least,
chief white slaver for the
organization, Mig Torrance.
Eliot Ness is only a lousy cop.
I know what to do with a cop.
I can't lay some cash on him,
I decorate him between the eyes.
More Mig Torrance rough talk.
That's right, cockroach.
Who don't like it?
Talk logical.
Nobody's gonna knock off Ness.
If the Boss couldn't, you can't.
That... don't
necessarily follow.
The Boss wants to know
how you figure to
stay in business.
He thinks now that
Ness is making it tough,
you got your chance to
prove you're worth the 50% cut
we're paying you.
Nobody's paying me no cut.
I'm my own boss.
I financed myself.
I got the girls.
The Big Boss, the great Al
Capone, he moved in on me.
All right, okay, I
agreed to cut him in,
but I don't have to
prove him nothing.
Partners got a place
between the eyes
for a bullet like
anyone else, Mig.
Are you giving me
the shaft, Wheaton?
I don't like the shaft from
no cockroach, Wheaton.
I'm warning you.
We're only delivering
the Boss's message.
You better listen to the rest.
The Boss is concerned
with staying in operation.
We can't operate without girls.
Half the girls quit since
Ness started in on us.
He's wise to the
ads in the magazines
and now, last week, he starts in
on the phony dramatic schools,
which is our big
source of supply.
How're you gonna
operate without girls?
That's what the
Boss wants to know.
I'll be gettin' all the
girls I need soon.
New ones from Mexico, young.
I been making my
arrangements for a week now.
Green girls?
MIG: So what?
Young girls don't
stay loyal, Mig.
You want to walk in
my shoes, too, Goldie?
You get the girls?
We're all talking
from the Boss' shoes.
He says to remind you
what this very house used
to be like when Mrs. B. ran it,
how her girls
would stay with her
through thick and thin.
She used to have to pension
them off to get them out.
You got to know
how to treat girls, Mig.
Even suppose Ness
croaks tomorrow,
you still got that problem.
That's why the Boss come
up with an answer for you.
What kind of answer?
Mrs. B.
What about Mrs. B.?
GOLD: The Boss thinks
you ought to take her on, Mig.
As a partner.
Partner?
He's going stir crazy.
Shall I tell him
that's your opinion?
What's the matter with him?
Don't he know that Mrs. B.
Retired out of the business
after she served
that five-year stretch?
He thinks she ain't too
retired to be talked to.
Them old dames... they...
they put ideas in
the girls' heads.
They, they work
against the house.
He ain't suggesting
any old dame.
He's talking about Mrs. B.,
who knows more about
this business than anybody,
including you.
If Mrs. B. tells
the girls to stick,
Ness or no Ness, they'll stick.
In other words, Mig,
you get Mrs. B., or you get out.
(groaning)
Red!
Red...
No, Mig. No killing.
You don't give me
no orders, cockroach.
You shoot him, Mig,
and you're shooting
the Boss' arm.
You put something
to me like an idea,
maybe I'll listen.
You... you think
it's a good idea?
Do I think what's a
good idea, cockroach?
Mrs. B.?
Oh, Mrs. B...
Well, maybe it
is, maybe it ain't.
Suppose I let you know
after I talk it over with her.
Is that all right with you?
Sure, Mig.
Is that all right with
the other cockroaches?
Fine, Mig, fine. Sure, sure.
You take it easy, Red.
It looks like Mr. Wheaton
has undergone
a sudden change of attitude.
(hammer uncocks)
(birds twittering)
(door closes)
(bird loudly squawking)
What's the matter, girls?
You think I wasn't coming back?
Just let me put
the groceries down,
and I'll be right
in to say hello.
(bird loudly squawking) Hey.
What's all that commotion about?
You shut up, Lizzie,
you're the loudest.
Oh, I'm gone half an
hour to the grocery store
and you carry on like this.
Peggy, you been
fighting with Annie?
Have you been picking on Annie?
(whistling)
(squawking continues)
What's wrong?
They all girls, Mrs. B.?
Yeah.
Birds of a feather, so to speak.
Pretty.
Don't you know why they
invented doorbells, Mig?
You was out.
My kid brother Ernie's
got a hand for picking locks.
Sit down, Mrs. B.
I have to talk fast;
my masseur is waiting.
Speaking of inventing,
that's the greatest thing
ever invented, the massage.
You ever try it?
Yeah, but I don't
like getting pinched.
There's pinching and pinching.
What do you want, Mig?
I've come to make
you an offer, Mrs. B.
I want you in with me.
Thanks, but I'm retired.
I'm offering you five
percent of the houses.
I'm still retired.
What's your price?
It's no use, Mig.
I don't need any more dough.
I made a couple of
smart investments
when things were good.
Besides, I like
being respectable.
I like waking up in the morning
and not worrying
about the law busting in.
I like getting up early
and going to bed early.
Most of all, I like being
away from all the heartaches
of the business, like
that kid the other day...
Mary Sage, the one they
found dead in that raid.
Seven and a half percent.
No.
I didn't hear you.
I said no.
I don't hear no.
I only hear yes, Mrs. B.
You'll have to excuse me now.
It's, uh, feeding
time for my girls.
(smooches, whistles)
I don't want to have to make
my point some other way.
You'd better not, cutie.
I still got a couple of friends
who'd be glad to fix you
up with a permanent stare.
You've got a price.
Yes, I have.
Five years.
Five what?
Five years.
The five years I was
locked up in prison.
Can you pay for those years?
That's my price.
I don't get turned down.
Now, don't lose the
crease in your pants, cutie.
We all have to take
the bad with the good.
You'd better go now.
My girls don't like
company with their meals.
(door opens)
(birds twittering)
(door closes)
You see, Olive?
That's the kind of guy I
used to have to put up with.
Ernie, you go back in
there and open up on her.
Don't croak her, just
waltz her around a little.
Right, Mig.
MRS. B.: Olga?
Now, don't get your indigestion
back. They're gone now.
You can relax.
Now, now, Olive.
If you get nervous,
you'll lose all the
color in your feathers.
You're just a young girl.
You don't want that to happen.
Of course not.
(smooching)
(whistles)
(gasps) (plate shatters)
I got orders to rough you up.
Now listen to me.
I'm going to let go of you.
If you scream, you'll get
my fist right in the face.
I want to talk to you.
Do you understand?
I'm listening.
It's about Mary Sage.
Mary and me, we... we
was engaged to get married.
You want to save yourself
a couple of broken bones,
you'll do what I tell you to.
Go ahead.
I'll make a deal with you.
You won't get hurt...
if you'll claim Mary's
body from the city.
I can't. I'm hot.
I can just go and claim it?
Go all the way to Eliot
Ness, if you have to.
All right.
I'll try.
Well...
You see that... she
gets a decent send-off.
I'll foot all the expense...
A preacher and all.
I won't be able to
see her get buried.
I got to go up to...
I got to go to Tijuana
tonight for a couple of weeks.
Just to know she
got treated decent...
I can get her out
of my mind, maybe.
(sneezes)
MRS. B.: Gesundheit.
Thanks.
I must have caught a cold.
You were saying that Mary
Sage used to work for you.
Yeah, when I was in business.
How long ago was
that, Mrs. Buchanan?
Over five years ago.
How old would you
say she was then?
About 21... yeah, 21.
(sneezes)
Take some hot tea with
lemon and a teaspoon of honey
and get plenty of rest.
You'll be over
that cold in no time.
Thanks.
I'll get my wife to fix me
some when I get home.
You said 21.
Well, she might have been older.
I never took 'em any younger.
Mrs. Buchanan... Call me Mrs. B.
It's easier.
Well, Mrs. B., according
to her driver's license,
Mary Sage was not
yet 21 when she died.
Five years ago,
she was not yet 16.
(laughs)
That's one on me, huh?
Okay, Mr. Ness, I'll
be honest with you.
I never laid eyes on the girl.
I'm doing this for a friend,
the kid she was engaged to.
He had to go to
Tijuana on business
and he couldn't
claim the body himself,
so I'm helping him out by
giving her a nice funeral.
Is that so wrong?
Who's the friend, Mrs. B.?
A kid.
A kid named Ernie Torrance?
You know, Mr. Ness,
you got a nice face.
Haven't I seen you
someplace before?
I don't think so.
You're acting for Ernie
Torrance, aren't you, Mrs. B.?
I learned a long time
ago not to tell names.
It got to be a habit, so
please don't ask any.
It's my business to ask names.
That's true.
Well, then, you go right
ahead and ask all you like,
but please understand it's
my business not to tell them.
So... do I make a
funeral, Mr. Ness?
I'll see the city
releases the body to you.
You've got nice eyes.
Come over to my house
some night for dinner.
I'll make you corned
beef and cabbage.
It's my spécialité.
Good-bye, Mr. Ness.
Cop or no cop,
you're a nice guy.
Here's another screen test
contest on the up and up.
Ladies' Way
magazine is behind it.
Okay, I've got
something else for you.
You and Rossman
are going on a trip.
Ernie Torrance is on his
way down to Tijuana, Mexico.
You're gonna jump down there
and find out what he's up to.
Whatever it is,
it's important enough for
him to miss his girl's funeral.
Right. I'll cue Rossman.
Hello?
City Morgue, please.
And now back to...
WINCHELL: Mary Sage
was buried in a small cemetery
on the outskirts of Chicago.
A sextet of girls was drafted
by Mrs. B. to act as mourners.
Eliot Ness was the
only man present,
other than the minister.
After the burial,
Mrs. B. invited the
funeral party home to tea.
The girls wore
their best manners,
but they seemed afraid
to make even social
conversation with Mr. Ness.
Thanks for coming
to the funeral.
You made it look
real respectable.
Thanks for including me.
Some tea, Lucille?
Then we're going to have cake.
Yes, Mrs. B.
(birds twittering)
Hello.
I'm Eliot Ness.
Save your breath, mister.
You ain't getting no
information out of me,
even if I knew
some, which I don't.
For the only man
at the gathering,
I don't seem to
be doing very well.
The girls are scared.
Of me?
Of Mig Torrance.
If he found out that
they was talking to you...
What would he do?
Oh, something like
he's done before.
Maybe a little trick with acid.
Toss it in a girl's face
and she's ruined for life.
He's an all-around
charmer, isn't he?
Yeah, he's a beaut.
He's also got a little
trick with a knife.
I'll show you.
Alice.
Alice got a little friendly
with a newspaperman once.
Mig didn't like it.
Did you want me, Mrs. B.?
Uh, Mr. Ness wants to know
why you girls aren't
so friendly with him.
You want to show him?
Go on, honey.
It's okay.
That's all, honey.
How would you like to feed Olga?
She's the sparrow.
She's got a sweet
tooth, loves cake.
Mig wouldn't have the guts
to do a thing like
that by himself.
Never even shot off a
gun, so the story goes,
but he knows who to hire.
Cake?
No, thanks.
Excuse me, Mrs. B.
(whistles)
Olga.
Olga. Olga.
You like birds, Alice?
Ever notice how
birds travel in groups?
Know why that is?
Safety.
One little sparrow is
easy prey for, say, a hawk,
but you get a group
of sparrows together
and they're a force.
A hawk'll think twice before
he'll mess with all of them.
So?
So, it's the same with people.
If you girls would get
together in a group,
you'd be a match
for Mig Torrance.
Then you wouldn't be scared,
and together we might
find a way to tame him.
You'll have to
excuse me, Mr. Ness,
but it's better if I ain't
seen talking to you.
It's not that I
don't trust the girls,
it's only that they are girls.
Think about it, Alice.
(phone rings)
I try not to think about
anything anymore, Mr. Ness.
Mr. Ness, it's for you.
Hello.
WINCHELL: The call
was from Ness' office.
They had just talked
to Rossi in Tijuana,
who had reported that Red
Foran and Ernie Torrance had led
a group of "talent
scouts" into the hinterlands
of Mexico to recruit girls for
Mig Torrance's establishments.
Ness formulated a plan of action
on the way from Mrs.
B.'s back to his office.
With the help of the
immigration department
and the Mexican government,
he was able to set his strategy
in motion within 12 hours.
The idea was to catch Ernie
Torrance and Red Foran
red-handed at the
border as they attempted
to smuggle the girls
into the United States.
Look for a gas station.
It's our last stop
before the border.
The guy's expecting us.
Okay.
(girls laughing and cheering)
(indistinct voices)
(chuckles)
They're playing
dress-up, like kids.
Some of them are just like kids.
Mary used... Huh?
I said the girls
are having laughs.
Oh.
Here's the gas station.
Bueno. Aquí están.
Muchachos, no deben
de cruzar la frontera.
Oh, speak English, will ya?
No speak. Es que los van
a arrestar en la frontera.
I'll go back and
see if I can get
one of them girls to translate.
Hace un ratito que mi hermano
me dice que no pueden pasar
la frontera porque
los van a arrestar.
(laughing)
Okay, okay, let's stop
chirping and listen.
One of you girls speak English?
Me. I speak some.
You, come with me.
(murmuring)
pueden. Acabo de
recebir la llamada, y si...
We want to know
what he's saying.
Digales que los muchachos
que los esperaban se fueron.
Hay unos señores de
Chicago, Estados Unidos
que les dicen "Not
touch hombres"
y son los que los
esperan para arrestarlos.
He say, your friends at border,
they go away, because some men
from Chicago, United States...
He calls them "not touch men"...
They wait at border with
truck to make arrest on you.
Why they make arrest?
Come on. We'd better go back.
¿Qué pasa? ¿Qué te dijo?
No sé. Dice que
los van a arrestar.
(women murmuring)
How did Ness get on to it?
Do? What can you do,
cockroach? Come back.
Only first, get rid of
the evidence, get me?
All of them.
Right.
We're going to turn around.
Go back through the
woods. (engine starts)
What for?
Just spoke to Mig.
He wants it that way.
(crickets chirping)
What else did Mig say?
(women murmuring)
We didn't talk much.
Why the woods?
(indistinct chattering)
(engine stops)
(crickets chirping)
Mig's orders.
Come on. (cocks gun)
This ain't no time
to chicken out.
Señor. Señor.
What you do? What happened?
Shut up.
(gasps)
Now's the time.
No. No, my God, no.
(rapid gunfire, women screaming)
WINCHELL: Word of the Mexican
slaughter finally broke through
the apathy of the
Chicago citizens.
Prostitution and the
men who profited by it
were no longer considered
some inconsequential dirty joke.
The people, through
the newspapermen,
were demanding
news of Ness' campaign
against Al Capone's white slave
ring headed by Mig Torrance.
There was excitement
at Mrs. B's place, too.
Torrance's girls were
taking their own action.
Alice, heeding Ness' advice,
formed a group of the girls
to combat Mig Torrance
on his home ground.
They were going to make sure
that what happened
to the girls in Mexico
wasn't going to happen
to them in Chicago.
We're scared, Mrs. B.
Real scared.
Lucille, will you please
let me do the talking?
You elected me
to do the talking.
Let Alice talk.
So, like I saying, we
figured that an organization
of all of us girls,
like Mr. Ness said,
would be protection,
you understand?
Like a union,
but we need
someplace to meet in.
And we figured your
place would be best
so you could be around
to advise us and such.
You girls know I'm not part
of the scene
anymore... I'm retired.
Yeah, from the business,
but you didn't retire from
being a friend, did you?
Lucille, you know
that don't change.
Lucille, will you let me?
I mean, you wouldn't
have to be part of the union.
It just seemed right
that we should meet here
because right here in this
very room, over by Olga's cage,
is where Mr. Ness put
the idea in my head.
Remember, right after
we did you the favor
of going to Mary's funeral?
Who we hardly even knew.
Well, I can't say it's official,
but there's no law that
says you can't visit me here.
And I'll be glad of the company.
You want to let it go at that?
All those in favor say "aye".
ALL: Aye.
Oh! We'll show
that Mig Torrance.
WINCHELL: News of the multiple
murders and the resulting publicity
brought Al Capone's emissaries
to Mig Torrance once again.
This time, Wheaton
came prepared.
Is that a way to
pay a friendly visit?
You come with a gunsel?
I figured Moe here would
cancel your gunsels out.
Moe, sit down.
It ain't friendly standing
around like that.
He's comfortable.
So the "Big Boss" sent you to
pressure me some more, huh?
No. He understands how
you can't be pressured.
Look how you didn't
get Mrs. B., like he asked.
And all those girls from Mexico.
Can I help it if Ness
cut me off in the middle?
He's got his ear to
my keyhole, I swear.
Sure, Mig.
The Boss knows
it ain't your fault.
He figures Ness is too
much for you, that's all.
He figures maybe Ness is
too much for any one man.
That's why it's going to
take three men to do your job.
Nobody's doing my job.
You won't be left
out in the cold, Mig.
Not altogether.
It's just that now you
take orders from us.
And that means me.
I speak for the three of us.
Oh... I mean the four of us.
Don't you remember Moe?
Always by Al's right arm.
Well-trained, Mig.
I'll be moving in
here next week.
See that the books are ready
for Flanagan to look over.
And Goldie'll want a list
of the alcohol inventory.
You know, it's time you
took it a little easy, Mig.
You overwork too much...
you get pains in the stomach.
(thud)
Like that.
Should I go after them, Mig?
Just get out of
here, the both of you.
Mig?
What do you want?
Mig, about me in Mexico...
Do I have to aggravate
myself over that, too?
Showing your yellow
liver, my own brother.
I ought to take
care of you good.
You're right, Mig.
That's why I gotta get out.
What? Let me out, Mig.
There is no way out,
especially for you.
Look at me.
Will you look at
me? I'm turned off.
I'm rotting in the
ground with Mary.
Shut up, you punk.
I'll leave the country.
I'll never come back.
(thud)
You'll leave in a box.
That's the only way.
Mig, I'll buy my way out.
With what? You got the money?
With what? Don't know.
I don't know. Wait a minute.
You want to buy your way out?
You can.
With what?
With Eliot Ness.
What are you
talking abo...? Shh...
What if you could
get him here to me...
so that I could have the
satisfaction, firsthand,
of seeing him get
a bullet in the head?
That'd buy you
out, wouldn't it, kid?
You're talking dreams, Mig.
Look where it'd put
me with Capone.
Right back where I started,
only stronger than ever.
And Wheaton and his
stooges'd get lost forever.
I'd be doing what the
great Capone couldn't do.
Think of that, Ernie.
How could I pull it off?
You want out, don't you?
Find a way.
(sniffling)
(sneezes)
Bless you.
You murderer... Wait.
All those girls murdered.
I didn't have no part
of it, I blacked out.
Listen to me.
Those girls were
just like Mary to me.
You didn't kill those girls?
I swear that on Mary's grave.
You gotta believe me.
Eyes don't lie.
I do believe you.
Mrs. B., you helped
me once before.
I need you again.
I'm trying to quit Mig.
Could you help me again?
How can I help?
It's Ness. Mr. Ness?
I'm going to need
his protection.
I... I want to talk to him.
If I could only talk to
him someplace where...
where it isn't official...
Like maybe at your place.
Could you get him there?
I'll telephone him.
(sneezes)
Bless you. Thanks.
Yes, but I usually try
to get home for dinner.
It's important, Mr. Ness.
Ernie Torrance wants
to quit his brother.
He'll be here, too. You may
be able to do business with him.
Ernie Torrance?
All right, what time?
8:00. Corned beef and cabbage?
Sure, corned beef and
cabbage will be fine.
Good.
Mrs. B.'s giving a little
dinner party tonight.
It seems Ernie Torrance
wants to meet me.
Wouldn't hurt for you to be
outside her place about 7:30.
No reflection on
Mrs. B.'s integrity?
No. Not on Mrs. B.'s integrity.
(horn honks in distance)
Hello, boss? He
just went upstairs.
Ernie figured good.
Kid's all right, my brother.
Okay, when he gets Ness out,
you go up and finish off Mrs. B.
I thought you and Ernie
had an understanding
about hands off her.
Yeah, we did,
but now you and me got
another understanding.
I don't like being said no to.
Get me?
I get you.
That's plenty, thank you.
(birds singing)
How do I know you're sincere
about quitting
your brother, Ernie?
Can't you tell by his eyes?
Maybe I'm not as good
a judge as you, Mrs. B.
Let him answer.
Well, I'm willing
to make a deal.
If you promise to give
me a break with the law
about my part in the
racket, I'll do you a favor.
I can't promise that,
but I can assure you
the government would be
very grateful for your help.
He means, unofficially, he's
gonna see you get a break.
Right, Mr. Ness?
If he's sincere, so am I.
He's sincere.
(birds singing)
All right, come back to
my office with me tonight.
I'll do you one
better than that.
I'll bring you to Mig tonight.
You can take him easy.
He don't even carry a gun.
All he's got to protect
him is one guy, Red Foran.
You can take him by yourself.
Well, it's Mig
you want, ain't it?
I'm telling you, you
can take him tonight.
Why?
Is he expecting
me tonight, Ernie?
No.
You mean, is Ernie
double-crossing you?
Of course not.
Is it a trap, Ernie?
No...
No! You wouldn't
be trying to buy a split
from your brother
with my life, would you?
You cops are all the same.
You don't trust nobody.
Ernie, it's not that he
doubts you personally.
It's part of a
cop's job to doubt.
You got to understand.
You want Mig
tonight or don't you?
(birds singing)
Where is he?
I'll take you to him,
so you don't get lost.
I've got to tell my men.
What for?
I don't want to see
Mig get slaughtered.
You want to come,
you come alone.
I'll take the gamble. Come on.
(engine starting)
(horn honking)
(knocking)
MRS. B: Just a minute.
Red. (screams)
Was this greetings
from Mig to me?
Almost delivered, too.
Did he follow Ernie here?
Did Mig know that
Ernie was coming here?
My God, maybe it
was a trap for Mr. Ness.
Where did Ness go?
To Mig Torrance's place.
Torrance's. Did they
say where it was?
No, they didn't say,
but I know where it is.
My old place of business.
Eight miles out of town.
Number Three Magdalane
Street, where the railroad crosses...
Where's your phone?
I'll show you.
I told you the place
is closed. Shut.
Mike, see that
he gets in his car
and off the grounds.
(door closes)
What's special about tonight?
Since when do you ask questions?
We got our rights.
Take them downstairs,
see they stay out of the way.
No one's taking us no place.
You'll do what you're told.
Maybe we better go, Alice.
We work here, you know.
Don't let him push
you around, Alice.
We got a right to
know what's going on.
(quiet gasp)
(quiet groan)
Lock 'em in the
boiler room, Hank.
Come on, get going.
Move, little birdies.
Out there's open country, Mig.
The shots are going
to be heard for miles.
You take care of the cops?
They've got their orders.
A lot of top people around
here'd like to see Ness get it.
I'm liable to turn out to be
mayor of Chicago for this.
I feel like I'm getting a cold.
I just got over one.
How much further?
We ain't passed it yet.
(sniffles)
All your little girls are
locked up nice and safe, Mig.
(glass shattering)
You ought to have a gun on you,
a nervous guy like you.
I don't dirty my hands.
(shattering)
What are you stopping here for?
Drive up to the door.
We can walk.
(crickets chirping)
(door shuts gently)
Did you hear something?
(closing door echoes)
(crickets chirping)
Something wrong, Ernie?
No.
(sniffles)
Everything's going
to turn out fine.
I don't see anything.
My brother said he'd
bring Ness to the front door,
he'll bring him.
He's sure taking his time.
(crickets chirping)
(sneezing)
(glass shatters)
(rapid gunfire)
(gunshot)
Don't shoot. Don't shoot.
It's me, Ernie.
Don't shoot. It's
Ernie out there.
Too late.
Ernie.
Sorry I'm late.
I had to stop Red Foran from
keeping a date with Mrs. B.
She knew where you were.
She's a good gal.
Let's smoke 'em out.
Right.
(rapid gunfire)
(rapid gunfire)
(gunfire)
(groans)
(gunfire continues)
(distant shout)
(rapid gunfire)
Hold your fire. (shooting stops)
You men in there...
You're completely surrounded.
(choking) Give up
now and come on out
with your hands on your heads.
(coughing)
Are you coming out?
(coughing)
(door opening)
(coughing)
(coughing continues)
(coughing)
Get Ness, and I'll
double your money.
(gunfire)
(grunts)
Tell 'em... Tell 'em that I was
down here with you all the time.
I didn't do no shooting.
Tell them that, uh...
Tell them that Al
Capone's men took over,
and they locked me
down here with you.
Understand?
You do as I say.
Do you hear me?
(shouting): Do you hear me?!
What are you doing?
I've got a gun in my hand.
Get back.
Get back!
(screaming)
(gunshot)
WINCHELL: And so the
reign of the white slaver,
Mig Torrance, was over.
The girls he had lived
by, he had died by.
The hawk was killed
by the sparrows.
And the next day, the
sparrows sang to Ness,
a song that helped bring
stiff prison sentences
to Wheaton, Gold and
Flanagan and the other key figures
in Capone's prostitution setup.
As for Mrs. B., she lived
happily retired ever after.
ANNOUNCER: The Untouchables.
(glass shattering)
Let's smoke 'em out.
Right.
Get Ness... and I'll
double your money.
(groans)
(thuds)
(theme music plays)
Tonight's episode...
Starring Robert
Stack as Eliot Ness.
Costarring Dick
York, Mike Kellin,
and Nita Talbot.
With Special Guest
Star Betty Field.
WALTER WINCHELL:
Prohibition was dead,
but mobster Mr. Big, Al Capone,
operating from a federal
prison where he was doing time
for income tax
evasion, was still active.
The top moneymaker
in his new empire
was a Chicago white slave
ring run by Capone's partner,
Mig Torrance.
March 31, 1934,
Eliot Ness led a raiding party
on one of Capone's
houses of prostitution.
It was the seventh such raid
since federal man Ness had
been assigned to break up the ring.
Inside the house,
the inmates, having
been tipped off
by certain corrupt
police officials
in the city government,
were escaping through
a trapdoor in the cellar,
leading to a tunnel
on the waterfront.
In one of the rooms,
a girl lay dead.
Mourning at her side was
21-year-old Ernie Torrance,
kid brother of Mig Torrance.
(door closes)
Ernie, let's go.
We're closing up the trapdoor.
Ernie, come on.
The cops are
practically in the house.
I don't care.
Well, your brother's gonna care.
They all got away.
All except one.
She's dead.
Mary Sage was a junkie.
She died from an
overdose of morphine...
Probably self-administered.
Here's the autopsy report.
(sneezes)
Bless you. Thanks.
Any family?
Who's claiming the body?
No family, far as we know.
If nobody claims
her, the city'll bury her.
There's a good human
interest story in Mary.
My editor won't go for it.
He says the only girls
that sell papers these
days are debutantes.
If Mary Sage were
a madcap debutante,
it'd make a story.
Mary Sage was a prostitute.
The story is how
she got that way.
How the punks get kids
like her started on drugs
so that once they're hooked
they'll do anything for a fix.
(sneezes)
Bless you.
Look, fellas...
I need your help to
wake up the public.
Drugs are only one
of the techniques
that punks use
to trap young girls.
They work through
the mails, too...
Plant advertisements
in magazines.
Answer an ad and
learn how to become
a glamorous Hollywood star.
Enter a beauty contest
and learn how to become
a glamorous model.
Phony lures to meet
young kids and trap them
into the "glamorous"
profession of prostitution.
These punks know how,
and they're as organized
as any big business.
Who gets the credit for that,
Mig Torrance or Al Capone?
The "credit"
belongs to the public
who sit on their
big fat apathies
and give the Torrances and the
Capones the chance to organize.
The law usually doesn't
get too excited either.
Present company excepted.
That's where you
newspaper men come in.
You can reach the public.
Give them the raw
facts behind kids
who end up like Mary Sage.
Get them excited enough
to pressure the law.
Trouble is, Mr. Joe Average
isn't going to come out fighting
when you mention prostitution.
It's like booze was.
So it's illegal, so what?
That's the attitude.
I'm after the superpunk who's
made big business out of it,
who runs this town,
who gives the orders that
makes Joe Average jump.
But you've already got Al
Capone in jail, Mr. Ness.
That's right, we've got Capone.
And we haven't stopped him yet.
But we will.
And one of the ways is
to get his vice president
in charge of white
slavery, Mig Torrance.
Get him where?
Safe in jail...
Where he can
operate like Capone?
If you guys'd needle the public
the way you're needling me,
the picture might be different.
Mr. Ness, did Torrance
ever try to buy you off?
There's been some
secondhand romancing,
but I think he's got
my message by now.
Well, I guess we can
make a two-column story.
Just get as much as
you can to the public.
That's all I ask.
WINCHELL: Every day, Ness
hammered at Mig Torrance's enterprises.
Bogus model agencies,
dramatic schools,
all the fronts that covered
his nefarious methods.
And at night, the
raids on the houses.
But the one that Ness could
not locate was the house
that Torrance made
his headquarters.
(jazz playing)
(piano playing bluesy tune)
Hey, Ernie...
your brother
Mig's lookin' for ya.
Oh, Ernie.
Ernie?
I just wanted to say
how sorry I am about Mary Sage.
Yeah.
When's the funeral gonna be?
Hey, kiddo?
Just a minute, Mr. Kimmell.
When did you say?
That's, uh, it's up to the city.
They got her body.
You gonna let the city bury
her? You ain't gonna claim her?
Well, I'm claimin' you, poopsie.
C'mon, baby.
WINCHELL: In his office,
Mig Torrance was
playing uneasy host
to three of Al Capone's boys.
Bob Wheaton, chief liaison
between Capone and his empire
while the big boy
was in prison...
Nicky Flanagan, accountant,
the man who kept the
books for the organization...
Ned "Goldie" Gold,
the wisest and the
gentlest of the group,
who supplied whiskey
for the night clubs
and the houses
of prostitution...
and last but not least,
chief white slaver for the
organization, Mig Torrance.
Eliot Ness is only a lousy cop.
I know what to do with a cop.
I can't lay some cash on him,
I decorate him between the eyes.
More Mig Torrance rough talk.
That's right, cockroach.
Who don't like it?
Talk logical.
Nobody's gonna knock off Ness.
If the Boss couldn't, you can't.
That... don't
necessarily follow.
The Boss wants to know
how you figure to
stay in business.
He thinks now that
Ness is making it tough,
you got your chance to
prove you're worth the 50% cut
we're paying you.
Nobody's paying me no cut.
I'm my own boss.
I financed myself.
I got the girls.
The Big Boss, the great Al
Capone, he moved in on me.
All right, okay, I
agreed to cut him in,
but I don't have to
prove him nothing.
Partners got a place
between the eyes
for a bullet like
anyone else, Mig.
Are you giving me
the shaft, Wheaton?
I don't like the shaft from
no cockroach, Wheaton.
I'm warning you.
We're only delivering
the Boss's message.
You better listen to the rest.
The Boss is concerned
with staying in operation.
We can't operate without girls.
Half the girls quit since
Ness started in on us.
He's wise to the
ads in the magazines
and now, last week, he starts in
on the phony dramatic schools,
which is our big
source of supply.
How're you gonna
operate without girls?
That's what the
Boss wants to know.
I'll be gettin' all the
girls I need soon.
New ones from Mexico, young.
I been making my
arrangements for a week now.
Green girls?
MIG: So what?
Young girls don't
stay loyal, Mig.
You want to walk in
my shoes, too, Goldie?
You get the girls?
We're all talking
from the Boss' shoes.
He says to remind you
what this very house used
to be like when Mrs. B. ran it,
how her girls
would stay with her
through thick and thin.
She used to have to pension
them off to get them out.
You got to know
how to treat girls, Mig.
Even suppose Ness
croaks tomorrow,
you still got that problem.
That's why the Boss come
up with an answer for you.
What kind of answer?
Mrs. B.
What about Mrs. B.?
GOLD: The Boss thinks
you ought to take her on, Mig.
As a partner.
Partner?
He's going stir crazy.
Shall I tell him
that's your opinion?
What's the matter with him?
Don't he know that Mrs. B.
Retired out of the business
after she served
that five-year stretch?
He thinks she ain't too
retired to be talked to.
Them old dames... they...
they put ideas in
the girls' heads.
They, they work
against the house.
He ain't suggesting
any old dame.
He's talking about Mrs. B.,
who knows more about
this business than anybody,
including you.
If Mrs. B. tells
the girls to stick,
Ness or no Ness, they'll stick.
In other words, Mig,
you get Mrs. B., or you get out.
(groaning)
Red!
Red...
No, Mig. No killing.
You don't give me
no orders, cockroach.
You shoot him, Mig,
and you're shooting
the Boss' arm.
You put something
to me like an idea,
maybe I'll listen.
You... you think
it's a good idea?
Do I think what's a
good idea, cockroach?
Mrs. B.?
Oh, Mrs. B...
Well, maybe it
is, maybe it ain't.
Suppose I let you know
after I talk it over with her.
Is that all right with you?
Sure, Mig.
Is that all right with
the other cockroaches?
Fine, Mig, fine. Sure, sure.
You take it easy, Red.
It looks like Mr. Wheaton
has undergone
a sudden change of attitude.
(hammer uncocks)
(birds twittering)
(door closes)
(bird loudly squawking)
What's the matter, girls?
You think I wasn't coming back?
Just let me put
the groceries down,
and I'll be right
in to say hello.
(bird loudly squawking) Hey.
What's all that commotion about?
You shut up, Lizzie,
you're the loudest.
Oh, I'm gone half an
hour to the grocery store
and you carry on like this.
Peggy, you been
fighting with Annie?
Have you been picking on Annie?
(whistling)
(squawking continues)
What's wrong?
They all girls, Mrs. B.?
Yeah.
Birds of a feather, so to speak.
Pretty.
Don't you know why they
invented doorbells, Mig?
You was out.
My kid brother Ernie's
got a hand for picking locks.
Sit down, Mrs. B.
I have to talk fast;
my masseur is waiting.
Speaking of inventing,
that's the greatest thing
ever invented, the massage.
You ever try it?
Yeah, but I don't
like getting pinched.
There's pinching and pinching.
What do you want, Mig?
I've come to make
you an offer, Mrs. B.
I want you in with me.
Thanks, but I'm retired.
I'm offering you five
percent of the houses.
I'm still retired.
What's your price?
It's no use, Mig.
I don't need any more dough.
I made a couple of
smart investments
when things were good.
Besides, I like
being respectable.
I like waking up in the morning
and not worrying
about the law busting in.
I like getting up early
and going to bed early.
Most of all, I like being
away from all the heartaches
of the business, like
that kid the other day...
Mary Sage, the one they
found dead in that raid.
Seven and a half percent.
No.
I didn't hear you.
I said no.
I don't hear no.
I only hear yes, Mrs. B.
You'll have to excuse me now.
It's, uh, feeding
time for my girls.
(smooches, whistles)
I don't want to have to make
my point some other way.
You'd better not, cutie.
I still got a couple of friends
who'd be glad to fix you
up with a permanent stare.
You've got a price.
Yes, I have.
Five years.
Five what?
Five years.
The five years I was
locked up in prison.
Can you pay for those years?
That's my price.
I don't get turned down.
Now, don't lose the
crease in your pants, cutie.
We all have to take
the bad with the good.
You'd better go now.
My girls don't like
company with their meals.
(door opens)
(birds twittering)
(door closes)
You see, Olive?
That's the kind of guy I
used to have to put up with.
Ernie, you go back in
there and open up on her.
Don't croak her, just
waltz her around a little.
Right, Mig.
MRS. B.: Olga?
Now, don't get your indigestion
back. They're gone now.
You can relax.
Now, now, Olive.
If you get nervous,
you'll lose all the
color in your feathers.
You're just a young girl.
You don't want that to happen.
Of course not.
(smooching)
(whistles)
(gasps) (plate shatters)
I got orders to rough you up.
Now listen to me.
I'm going to let go of you.
If you scream, you'll get
my fist right in the face.
I want to talk to you.
Do you understand?
I'm listening.
It's about Mary Sage.
Mary and me, we... we
was engaged to get married.
You want to save yourself
a couple of broken bones,
you'll do what I tell you to.
Go ahead.
I'll make a deal with you.
You won't get hurt...
if you'll claim Mary's
body from the city.
I can't. I'm hot.
I can just go and claim it?
Go all the way to Eliot
Ness, if you have to.
All right.
I'll try.
Well...
You see that... she
gets a decent send-off.
I'll foot all the expense...
A preacher and all.
I won't be able to
see her get buried.
I got to go up to...
I got to go to Tijuana
tonight for a couple of weeks.
Just to know she
got treated decent...
I can get her out
of my mind, maybe.
(sneezes)
MRS. B.: Gesundheit.
Thanks.
I must have caught a cold.
You were saying that Mary
Sage used to work for you.
Yeah, when I was in business.
How long ago was
that, Mrs. Buchanan?
Over five years ago.
How old would you
say she was then?
About 21... yeah, 21.
(sneezes)
Take some hot tea with
lemon and a teaspoon of honey
and get plenty of rest.
You'll be over
that cold in no time.
Thanks.
I'll get my wife to fix me
some when I get home.
You said 21.
Well, she might have been older.
I never took 'em any younger.
Mrs. Buchanan... Call me Mrs. B.
It's easier.
Well, Mrs. B., according
to her driver's license,
Mary Sage was not
yet 21 when she died.
Five years ago,
she was not yet 16.
(laughs)
That's one on me, huh?
Okay, Mr. Ness, I'll
be honest with you.
I never laid eyes on the girl.
I'm doing this for a friend,
the kid she was engaged to.
He had to go to
Tijuana on business
and he couldn't
claim the body himself,
so I'm helping him out by
giving her a nice funeral.
Is that so wrong?
Who's the friend, Mrs. B.?
A kid.
A kid named Ernie Torrance?
You know, Mr. Ness,
you got a nice face.
Haven't I seen you
someplace before?
I don't think so.
You're acting for Ernie
Torrance, aren't you, Mrs. B.?
I learned a long time
ago not to tell names.
It got to be a habit, so
please don't ask any.
It's my business to ask names.
That's true.
Well, then, you go right
ahead and ask all you like,
but please understand it's
my business not to tell them.
So... do I make a
funeral, Mr. Ness?
I'll see the city
releases the body to you.
You've got nice eyes.
Come over to my house
some night for dinner.
I'll make you corned
beef and cabbage.
It's my spécialité.
Good-bye, Mr. Ness.
Cop or no cop,
you're a nice guy.
Here's another screen test
contest on the up and up.
Ladies' Way
magazine is behind it.
Okay, I've got
something else for you.
You and Rossman
are going on a trip.
Ernie Torrance is on his
way down to Tijuana, Mexico.
You're gonna jump down there
and find out what he's up to.
Whatever it is,
it's important enough for
him to miss his girl's funeral.
Right. I'll cue Rossman.
Hello?
City Morgue, please.
And now back to...
WINCHELL: Mary Sage
was buried in a small cemetery
on the outskirts of Chicago.
A sextet of girls was drafted
by Mrs. B. to act as mourners.
Eliot Ness was the
only man present,
other than the minister.
After the burial,
Mrs. B. invited the
funeral party home to tea.
The girls wore
their best manners,
but they seemed afraid
to make even social
conversation with Mr. Ness.
Thanks for coming
to the funeral.
You made it look
real respectable.
Thanks for including me.
Some tea, Lucille?
Then we're going to have cake.
Yes, Mrs. B.
(birds twittering)
Hello.
I'm Eliot Ness.
Save your breath, mister.
You ain't getting no
information out of me,
even if I knew
some, which I don't.
For the only man
at the gathering,
I don't seem to
be doing very well.
The girls are scared.
Of me?
Of Mig Torrance.
If he found out that
they was talking to you...
What would he do?
Oh, something like
he's done before.
Maybe a little trick with acid.
Toss it in a girl's face
and she's ruined for life.
He's an all-around
charmer, isn't he?
Yeah, he's a beaut.
He's also got a little
trick with a knife.
I'll show you.
Alice.
Alice got a little friendly
with a newspaperman once.
Mig didn't like it.
Did you want me, Mrs. B.?
Uh, Mr. Ness wants to know
why you girls aren't
so friendly with him.
You want to show him?
Go on, honey.
It's okay.
That's all, honey.
How would you like to feed Olga?
She's the sparrow.
She's got a sweet
tooth, loves cake.
Mig wouldn't have the guts
to do a thing like
that by himself.
Never even shot off a
gun, so the story goes,
but he knows who to hire.
Cake?
No, thanks.
Excuse me, Mrs. B.
(whistles)
Olga.
Olga. Olga.
You like birds, Alice?
Ever notice how
birds travel in groups?
Know why that is?
Safety.
One little sparrow is
easy prey for, say, a hawk,
but you get a group
of sparrows together
and they're a force.
A hawk'll think twice before
he'll mess with all of them.
So?
So, it's the same with people.
If you girls would get
together in a group,
you'd be a match
for Mig Torrance.
Then you wouldn't be scared,
and together we might
find a way to tame him.
You'll have to
excuse me, Mr. Ness,
but it's better if I ain't
seen talking to you.
It's not that I
don't trust the girls,
it's only that they are girls.
Think about it, Alice.
(phone rings)
I try not to think about
anything anymore, Mr. Ness.
Mr. Ness, it's for you.
Hello.
WINCHELL: The call
was from Ness' office.
They had just talked
to Rossi in Tijuana,
who had reported that Red
Foran and Ernie Torrance had led
a group of "talent
scouts" into the hinterlands
of Mexico to recruit girls for
Mig Torrance's establishments.
Ness formulated a plan of action
on the way from Mrs.
B.'s back to his office.
With the help of the
immigration department
and the Mexican government,
he was able to set his strategy
in motion within 12 hours.
The idea was to catch Ernie
Torrance and Red Foran
red-handed at the
border as they attempted
to smuggle the girls
into the United States.
Look for a gas station.
It's our last stop
before the border.
The guy's expecting us.
Okay.
(girls laughing and cheering)
(indistinct voices)
(chuckles)
They're playing
dress-up, like kids.
Some of them are just like kids.
Mary used... Huh?
I said the girls
are having laughs.
Oh.
Here's the gas station.
Bueno. Aquí están.
Muchachos, no deben
de cruzar la frontera.
Oh, speak English, will ya?
No speak. Es que los van
a arrestar en la frontera.
I'll go back and
see if I can get
one of them girls to translate.
Hace un ratito que mi hermano
me dice que no pueden pasar
la frontera porque
los van a arrestar.
(laughing)
Okay, okay, let's stop
chirping and listen.
One of you girls speak English?
Me. I speak some.
You, come with me.
(murmuring)
pueden. Acabo de
recebir la llamada, y si...
We want to know
what he's saying.
Digales que los muchachos
que los esperaban se fueron.
Hay unos señores de
Chicago, Estados Unidos
que les dicen "Not
touch hombres"
y son los que los
esperan para arrestarlos.
He say, your friends at border,
they go away, because some men
from Chicago, United States...
He calls them "not touch men"...
They wait at border with
truck to make arrest on you.
Why they make arrest?
Come on. We'd better go back.
¿Qué pasa? ¿Qué te dijo?
No sé. Dice que
los van a arrestar.
(women murmuring)
How did Ness get on to it?
Do? What can you do,
cockroach? Come back.
Only first, get rid of
the evidence, get me?
All of them.
Right.
We're going to turn around.
Go back through the
woods. (engine starts)
What for?
Just spoke to Mig.
He wants it that way.
(crickets chirping)
What else did Mig say?
(women murmuring)
We didn't talk much.
Why the woods?
(indistinct chattering)
(engine stops)
(crickets chirping)
Mig's orders.
Come on. (cocks gun)
This ain't no time
to chicken out.
Señor. Señor.
What you do? What happened?
Shut up.
(gasps)
Now's the time.
No. No, my God, no.
(rapid gunfire, women screaming)
WINCHELL: Word of the Mexican
slaughter finally broke through
the apathy of the
Chicago citizens.
Prostitution and the
men who profited by it
were no longer considered
some inconsequential dirty joke.
The people, through
the newspapermen,
were demanding
news of Ness' campaign
against Al Capone's white slave
ring headed by Mig Torrance.
There was excitement
at Mrs. B's place, too.
Torrance's girls were
taking their own action.
Alice, heeding Ness' advice,
formed a group of the girls
to combat Mig Torrance
on his home ground.
They were going to make sure
that what happened
to the girls in Mexico
wasn't going to happen
to them in Chicago.
We're scared, Mrs. B.
Real scared.
Lucille, will you please
let me do the talking?
You elected me
to do the talking.
Let Alice talk.
So, like I saying, we
figured that an organization
of all of us girls,
like Mr. Ness said,
would be protection,
you understand?
Like a union,
but we need
someplace to meet in.
And we figured your
place would be best
so you could be around
to advise us and such.
You girls know I'm not part
of the scene
anymore... I'm retired.
Yeah, from the business,
but you didn't retire from
being a friend, did you?
Lucille, you know
that don't change.
Lucille, will you let me?
I mean, you wouldn't
have to be part of the union.
It just seemed right
that we should meet here
because right here in this
very room, over by Olga's cage,
is where Mr. Ness put
the idea in my head.
Remember, right after
we did you the favor
of going to Mary's funeral?
Who we hardly even knew.
Well, I can't say it's official,
but there's no law that
says you can't visit me here.
And I'll be glad of the company.
You want to let it go at that?
All those in favor say "aye".
ALL: Aye.
Oh! We'll show
that Mig Torrance.
WINCHELL: News of the multiple
murders and the resulting publicity
brought Al Capone's emissaries
to Mig Torrance once again.
This time, Wheaton
came prepared.
Is that a way to
pay a friendly visit?
You come with a gunsel?
I figured Moe here would
cancel your gunsels out.
Moe, sit down.
It ain't friendly standing
around like that.
He's comfortable.
So the "Big Boss" sent you to
pressure me some more, huh?
No. He understands how
you can't be pressured.
Look how you didn't
get Mrs. B., like he asked.
And all those girls from Mexico.
Can I help it if Ness
cut me off in the middle?
He's got his ear to
my keyhole, I swear.
Sure, Mig.
The Boss knows
it ain't your fault.
He figures Ness is too
much for you, that's all.
He figures maybe Ness is
too much for any one man.
That's why it's going to
take three men to do your job.
Nobody's doing my job.
You won't be left
out in the cold, Mig.
Not altogether.
It's just that now you
take orders from us.
And that means me.
I speak for the three of us.
Oh... I mean the four of us.
Don't you remember Moe?
Always by Al's right arm.
Well-trained, Mig.
I'll be moving in
here next week.
See that the books are ready
for Flanagan to look over.
And Goldie'll want a list
of the alcohol inventory.
You know, it's time you
took it a little easy, Mig.
You overwork too much...
you get pains in the stomach.
(thud)
Like that.
Should I go after them, Mig?
Just get out of
here, the both of you.
Mig?
What do you want?
Mig, about me in Mexico...
Do I have to aggravate
myself over that, too?
Showing your yellow
liver, my own brother.
I ought to take
care of you good.
You're right, Mig.
That's why I gotta get out.
What? Let me out, Mig.
There is no way out,
especially for you.
Look at me.
Will you look at
me? I'm turned off.
I'm rotting in the
ground with Mary.
Shut up, you punk.
I'll leave the country.
I'll never come back.
(thud)
You'll leave in a box.
That's the only way.
Mig, I'll buy my way out.
With what? You got the money?
With what? Don't know.
I don't know. Wait a minute.
You want to buy your way out?
You can.
With what?
With Eliot Ness.
What are you
talking abo...? Shh...
What if you could
get him here to me...
so that I could have the
satisfaction, firsthand,
of seeing him get
a bullet in the head?
That'd buy you
out, wouldn't it, kid?
You're talking dreams, Mig.
Look where it'd put
me with Capone.
Right back where I started,
only stronger than ever.
And Wheaton and his
stooges'd get lost forever.
I'd be doing what the
great Capone couldn't do.
Think of that, Ernie.
How could I pull it off?
You want out, don't you?
Find a way.
(sniffling)
(sneezes)
Bless you.
You murderer... Wait.
All those girls murdered.
I didn't have no part
of it, I blacked out.
Listen to me.
Those girls were
just like Mary to me.
You didn't kill those girls?
I swear that on Mary's grave.
You gotta believe me.
Eyes don't lie.
I do believe you.
Mrs. B., you helped
me once before.
I need you again.
I'm trying to quit Mig.
Could you help me again?
How can I help?
It's Ness. Mr. Ness?
I'm going to need
his protection.
I... I want to talk to him.
If I could only talk to
him someplace where...
where it isn't official...
Like maybe at your place.
Could you get him there?
I'll telephone him.
(sneezes)
Bless you. Thanks.
Yes, but I usually try
to get home for dinner.
It's important, Mr. Ness.
Ernie Torrance wants
to quit his brother.
He'll be here, too. You may
be able to do business with him.
Ernie Torrance?
All right, what time?
8:00. Corned beef and cabbage?
Sure, corned beef and
cabbage will be fine.
Good.
Mrs. B.'s giving a little
dinner party tonight.
It seems Ernie Torrance
wants to meet me.
Wouldn't hurt for you to be
outside her place about 7:30.
No reflection on
Mrs. B.'s integrity?
No. Not on Mrs. B.'s integrity.
(horn honks in distance)
Hello, boss? He
just went upstairs.
Ernie figured good.
Kid's all right, my brother.
Okay, when he gets Ness out,
you go up and finish off Mrs. B.
I thought you and Ernie
had an understanding
about hands off her.
Yeah, we did,
but now you and me got
another understanding.
I don't like being said no to.
Get me?
I get you.
That's plenty, thank you.
(birds singing)
How do I know you're sincere
about quitting
your brother, Ernie?
Can't you tell by his eyes?
Maybe I'm not as good
a judge as you, Mrs. B.
Let him answer.
Well, I'm willing
to make a deal.
If you promise to give
me a break with the law
about my part in the
racket, I'll do you a favor.
I can't promise that,
but I can assure you
the government would be
very grateful for your help.
He means, unofficially, he's
gonna see you get a break.
Right, Mr. Ness?
If he's sincere, so am I.
He's sincere.
(birds singing)
All right, come back to
my office with me tonight.
I'll do you one
better than that.
I'll bring you to Mig tonight.
You can take him easy.
He don't even carry a gun.
All he's got to protect
him is one guy, Red Foran.
You can take him by yourself.
Well, it's Mig
you want, ain't it?
I'm telling you, you
can take him tonight.
Why?
Is he expecting
me tonight, Ernie?
No.
You mean, is Ernie
double-crossing you?
Of course not.
Is it a trap, Ernie?
No...
No! You wouldn't
be trying to buy a split
from your brother
with my life, would you?
You cops are all the same.
You don't trust nobody.
Ernie, it's not that he
doubts you personally.
It's part of a
cop's job to doubt.
You got to understand.
You want Mig
tonight or don't you?
(birds singing)
Where is he?
I'll take you to him,
so you don't get lost.
I've got to tell my men.
What for?
I don't want to see
Mig get slaughtered.
You want to come,
you come alone.
I'll take the gamble. Come on.
(engine starting)
(horn honking)
(knocking)
MRS. B: Just a minute.
Red. (screams)
Was this greetings
from Mig to me?
Almost delivered, too.
Did he follow Ernie here?
Did Mig know that
Ernie was coming here?
My God, maybe it
was a trap for Mr. Ness.
Where did Ness go?
To Mig Torrance's place.
Torrance's. Did they
say where it was?
No, they didn't say,
but I know where it is.
My old place of business.
Eight miles out of town.
Number Three Magdalane
Street, where the railroad crosses...
Where's your phone?
I'll show you.
I told you the place
is closed. Shut.
Mike, see that
he gets in his car
and off the grounds.
(door closes)
What's special about tonight?
Since when do you ask questions?
We got our rights.
Take them downstairs,
see they stay out of the way.
No one's taking us no place.
You'll do what you're told.
Maybe we better go, Alice.
We work here, you know.
Don't let him push
you around, Alice.
We got a right to
know what's going on.
(quiet gasp)
(quiet groan)
Lock 'em in the
boiler room, Hank.
Come on, get going.
Move, little birdies.
Out there's open country, Mig.
The shots are going
to be heard for miles.
You take care of the cops?
They've got their orders.
A lot of top people around
here'd like to see Ness get it.
I'm liable to turn out to be
mayor of Chicago for this.
I feel like I'm getting a cold.
I just got over one.
How much further?
We ain't passed it yet.
(sniffles)
All your little girls are
locked up nice and safe, Mig.
(glass shattering)
You ought to have a gun on you,
a nervous guy like you.
I don't dirty my hands.
(shattering)
What are you stopping here for?
Drive up to the door.
We can walk.
(crickets chirping)
(door shuts gently)
Did you hear something?
(closing door echoes)
(crickets chirping)
Something wrong, Ernie?
No.
(sniffles)
Everything's going
to turn out fine.
I don't see anything.
My brother said he'd
bring Ness to the front door,
he'll bring him.
He's sure taking his time.
(crickets chirping)
(sneezing)
(glass shatters)
(rapid gunfire)
(gunshot)
Don't shoot. Don't shoot.
It's me, Ernie.
Don't shoot. It's
Ernie out there.
Too late.
Ernie.
Sorry I'm late.
I had to stop Red Foran from
keeping a date with Mrs. B.
She knew where you were.
She's a good gal.
Let's smoke 'em out.
Right.
(rapid gunfire)
(rapid gunfire)
(gunfire)
(groans)
(gunfire continues)
(distant shout)
(rapid gunfire)
Hold your fire. (shooting stops)
You men in there...
You're completely surrounded.
(choking) Give up
now and come on out
with your hands on your heads.
(coughing)
Are you coming out?
(coughing)
(door opening)
(coughing)
(coughing continues)
(coughing)
Get Ness, and I'll
double your money.
(gunfire)
(grunts)
Tell 'em... Tell 'em that I was
down here with you all the time.
I didn't do no shooting.
Tell them that, uh...
Tell them that Al
Capone's men took over,
and they locked me
down here with you.
Understand?
You do as I say.
Do you hear me?
(shouting): Do you hear me?!
What are you doing?
I've got a gun in my hand.
Get back.
Get back!
(screaming)
(gunshot)
WINCHELL: And so the
reign of the white slaver,
Mig Torrance, was over.
The girls he had lived
by, he had died by.
The hawk was killed
by the sparrows.
And the next day, the
sparrows sang to Ness,
a song that helped bring
stiff prison sentences
to Wheaton, Gold and
Flanagan and the other key figures
in Capone's prostitution setup.
As for Mrs. B., she lived
happily retired ever after.
ANNOUNCER: The Untouchables.