The Untouchables (1959–1963): Season 2, Episode 27 - Stranglehold - full transcript
Eliot Ness sets out to bring down Frank Makouris, who controls New York's Fulton Fish Market by intimidation and murder and who is responsible for the price of fish going up nearly 50%. Frank's boss, gangster Joe Kulak, tells Frank to lay low until Ness leaves, but Frank ramps up his terrorizing of the market, until Kulak is forced to throw a low-ranking hood to the feds as a sacrificial lamb in order to take the heat off himself. Unfortunately, it doesn't work out as planned.
Something's happened. Now, we
don't know that, Mrs. McGonigle.
He might've had some
trouble with the car...
Blowout, carburetor.
That's from the garage.
You'd better stay here.
It might not be anything.
Tonight's episode...
Starring Robert
Stack as Eliot Ness.
Co-starring Phillip
Pine and Kevin Hagen.
With special guest
star Ricardo Montalban.
And narrated by Walter Winchell.
The Prohibition years wrote
a dark page in our history.
Americans, who had
once defied a king,
refusing to pay a tax on tea,
now paid a tax to the underworld
on everything
they drank or ate...
From booze to bacon,
from medicine to milk.
Racketeers poked
their greedy fingers
into every corner of
the nation's business.
One little pig was
going to market...
The Fulton Fish
Market in New York,
a wholesale market
serving the entire East,
shipping as far as Mississippi.
A business of
fantastic totals...
Turning over
$200 million a year,
weighing out 700
million pounds of fish,
and one man's thumb
resting heavy on the scale.
Makouris says you don't
tie up here this morning.
This dock belongs to
the City of New York.
It's free to all.
Not to you, not no more.
And where does your
Mr. Makouris think I'll take my catch?
San Francisco.
Now, you listen to me.
I was tying up here
before the good Lord looked
away and let you be spawned.
It's past dawn already
and I've got a hold full of
fish to unload, and mister,
you'd better not get in my way.
Warp her in and secure.
I wouldn't.
But he'll drown.
I tell you, he'll drown.
Why, you blimey fools!
Don't you see what you're doing?
You're killing a man!
Let me go!
The killing, reported
as an accident,
was another challenge
to Henry Matson,
United States Attorney,
Southern District, New York.
For six months Matson
had been investigating
the stench at Fulton Market.
For six months he had
been digging out evidence
against Frank Makouris,
his probe reaching
all the way to Chicago.
No question about
it, Mr. Matson.
He's doing all right out here.
Close to ten million
pounds a month...
All freshwater fish shipped
direct to the Fulton Market
and redistributed from there.
Comes to $40 million a year,
if your grand jury
can add that high.
It certainly helps the facts
and figures department.
I wish we were as
long on witnesses.
When are you coming east?
We're taking the plane tonight.
Fine.
I've got to get Makouris
in front of that jury.
You will.
We'll sit together
and watch him sweat.
You know...
guys keep talking
about... how it used to be.
I say, "What, what?"
Scrounging around
for two-day-old bread?
You can have it
like it used to be.
I'll take it like
it is right now.
It ain't bad.
Bad?
Us two, Dutch, we got it made.
You say Frank
Makouris or Dutch Schultz
anyplace around this town
and people are
going to show respect.
P.S. 12.
That was a long time ago, huh?
Yesterday was a
long time ago, Frankie.
Yesterday the Syndicate
wasn't on your back.
And today?
We had a little talk about you.
That man in the boat
that got himself killed...
An accident.
The papers said an accident.
Look, Frankie,
you're talking to me.
Okay.
So I send Lennie down,
so he makes a mistake,
so the papers
put it on page six.
So who's going to see it?
The boys seen it
and they don't like it.
That grand jury's
coming up in a week
and Matson keeps screaming
from here to Hoboken.
Let him scream.
The way the boys figure
it... Say he starts with you.
Pretty soon he's
putting the finger on us.
They want you to take it easy,
cut out the rough stuff for now.
Anything else?
You know how I come
up from the docks.
Just my two hands,
no favors asked.
I took that market, it's mine,
and nobody tells
me how to run it.
They tell you,
Frankie... the boys.
Okay, so I slow down a little.
Tell 'em they got nothing
to worry about, eh?
I thought you'd like
to see the take, boss.
Hello, Mr. Schultz.
Nothing doing at the office?
Not a thing.
Except this card that
was left under the door.
You should've called
me on the phone!
I figured I was coming up.
Well, next time,
don't figure... call!
Chicago?
Ain't you off compass?
When you play a big fish,
you go where he takes you.
We want Makouris.
I wish you luck.
It's gonna take more than luck.
It's going to take people
with enough courage
to stand up and
talk to the grand jury.
I've got nothing to say.
You lost a deckhand
the other day.
An accident! You
go ask Makouris.
He'll bring you 20
men who saw it.
I'm asking you.
We know how Makouris operates.
A fee to tie up at a city dock.
A fee to buy ice,
a fee to unload,
a payment every
time you turn around.
The wholesalers, too.
The Protective Association.
Frankie Makouris, President,
protecting them out of
millions of dollars a month.
We got the facts.
We need someone
to swear to them.
Not me. I'm not alone.
Too many others could be hurt.
Like Carlo Feruzzi?
You know that, too.
We know he's organizing
a group of retailers
trying to break
away from Makouris.
We know that you and a few other boats
have guaranteed to supply him with fish.
We also know that's why
your deckhand was killed.
Mm... I don't know.
I'd have to talk
to Feruzzi first.
We haven't got too much time.
The grand jury's called
for next Wednesday.
I'll let you know.
I've got your card.
You understand about Feruzzi.
We're friends.
I wouldn't want to
make trouble for him.
Ain't you talking to
the wrong people?
Get out.
Some guys, you can't
hardly teach 'em nothing.
Get out.
Ain't nothing I
can learn from you.
You're wrong.
You're wrong,
McGonigle... Come here.
You watch and see
how much you can learn.
Beautiful.
The whole boat
going up like that.
Oh, that's beautiful.
That's gonna teach him, eh?
It'll teach McGonigle, but
what about the rest of 'em?
Who?
Everybody. That Ness
covered the whole East River.
He left his card
all over the market.
So somebody picks up the
telephone and calls him...
Anybody... who's gonna know?
We'll know.
Makouris... I got a job for you.
Long distance. Number, please?
You got anything yet?
Believe me, this doesn't
happen every day, Louise.
Such a gentleman,
know what I mean?
Like I was telling
Shirley last night.
That's right.
Corby Preferred, at market.
Stop price 42.
I'll take anything
up to 4,000 shares.
Not on what Ness makes.
No question
about it, he's smart.
We'll just have to be smarter
than Makouris, that's all.
That's Ness. You got him.
Don't lose him now.
Of course, losing the boat
might make the difference,
but I wouldn't count on it.
He feels too strongly
about the others.
Eh, not a thing.
You just keep your
fingers crossed and hope.
You don't push a
man like McGonigle.
Feruzzi, will you stop
and listen for a minute?
Go, go talk to the jury.
Go be a big man.
Who wants to be a big man?
I just want to get
rid of Makouris.
I want to see him crawl
before that grand jury.
Grand jury.
What's the matter, you forget?
We had the grand jury already.
And what did they do?
Just tell me one
thing they ever done?
They could never get
anybody to stand up and talk.
And why?
Because one day, we talk
and the next day, we are dead.
It's gonna be different
with this fella Ness.
Now, I'm telling you, Carlo,
he'll give us protection.
Sure, sure.
Protection.
And when the jury packs up
and he goes back to Chicago?
Listen, my friend,
you don't fight Makouris
with juries and courts.
You fight him with
your own hands.
But not alone; not one man.
You put together a lot
of hands and, in the end,
you'll crush him and
smash him down to nothing.
I've tried it your way.
My deckhand's dead, my
boat blown into kindling wood.
I've only got one way
to fight back at him,
and that's to tell what I know.
I'm sorry, Carlo.
Hey, hey, what's the matter,
you go away like this... mad?
We're friends.
You fight him your
way, I'll fight him mine.
But...
Hello?
This is Captain McGonigle.
I want to talk to Mr. Ness.
The Untouchables were
at the Federal Building,
in the office provided
by Henry Matson.
It was shortly before 9:00
when Ness received
McGonigle's call.
Where are you now, Captain?
Tremont Avenue... phone booth.
I'm parked right
outside Feruzzi's.
Good.
You sure no one's following you?
Don't look like it.
Tell anybody where you
were going... your wife?
Nobody.
All right.
No shortcuts on the way home.
Stay on the main avenues.
If you get the notion
somebody's following you,
stop the first
policeman you see.
Don't be brave.
Don't try to be a hero.
I ain't a hero,
and I ain't a child.
Good.
Wait at your house.
I'll be there in one hour.
All right. I'll be
waiting for you.
Coming straight home?
Joe told you that?
He called us from the Bronx.
He should've been here long ago.
Only takes 30 minutes to...
Something's happened.
Now, we don't know
that, Mrs. McGonigle.
He might have had
some trouble with the car...
Blowout, carburetor trouble...
You never know what's
gonna happen with a car.
I fell asleep.
I had a migraine.
I took a pill...
Your husband
couldn't have come in
while you were asleep
and gone out again?
I don't think so.
Wouldn't I have heard
the car, even with a pill?
Yes... yes, of course.
That's... That's
from the garage!
You'd better stay here.
It might not be anything.
20, 30 minutes.
Just took us too
long to get here.
It's going to be
longer going back.
It could be a
line tap, all right.
There's a definite leakage.
It'll take a little
time to check it out.
We haven't got a little time.
I guess we use another phone.
Why?
Makouris expects
us to use this one.
I keep thinking...
He went to all that trouble,
why disappoint him?
Eliot Ness. Mr. Matson there?
No, I won't be in.
Will you give him
a message please?
Tell him I've got somebody
who's willing to
testify, but he's scared.
He won't come near the office,
so I'm meeting
him on the outside.
The Staten Island Ferry at 2:00.
That's right. Thanks.
She said she'd give you
the message, Mr. Matson.
Well, we've got company.
Feds... you can smell 'em
like a ten-day-old flounder.
Where's Ness?
You know him?
Yeah, from his picture.
I never met him, though.
Got a match?
My name's Ness.
Yeah.
I left my card the other day.
You never called me back.
What can I do for
a big man like you?
Give me a statement
on McGonigle...
Who killed him and why.
Sure. I'll write it out
first thing in the morning.
You want it on the typewriter?
In English or in Spanish?
Now, honest, Mr. Ness,
what do I look like?
A leech, getting fat on
other people's blood.
But I ain't a fool.
I ain't inviting the Syndicate
to climb on my back.
Mm-mm.
I ain't knocking nobody off
with a grand jury
going to sit next week.
You have a habit
of riding the ferry?
Only to Staten Island.
Half-hour ride for a nickel...
That's the biggest
bargain in New York.
You always take your boys along?
Meet Lennie Shore
and Swede Kelso.
Sure I bring 'em.
It's hot in town.
It's going to get hotter.
Hey, Ness!
You wanted a match.
What'd he say?
Maybe more than he thought.
He's got the
Syndicate on his back.
Ness had made an accurate guess.
At that moment,
in a plush suite high in
a Manhattan skyscraper,
Dutch Schultz was
addressing himself
to the most frightening
concentration of criminal power
anywhere in the
world... The Syndicate.
A quorum headed by Joe
Kulak... "The Teacher"...
Who, directly or indirectly,
controlled the rackets
in a dozen big cities.
Louis Lepke Buchalter,
presently in control of
the garment industry,
later to help found
Murder Incorporated.
Jake Gurrah, who dominated
the Teamster's Union.
And, of course,
Arthur Flegenheimer,
better known to the
public as "Dutch Schultz."
So what could we
expect him to do?
A man can't jump two
ways the same time.
We passed the word to him.
Sure, he knows how we feel.
Like I told you, I had
a long talk with him.
So what's the matter?
He don't listen?
He couldn't.
He was in a squeeze.
McGonigle was gonna sing.
I had some dealings
with Ness before.
I don't want Ness on my back.
So thank Makouris
for taking him off.
Look, suppose that fish
captain don't get rubbed out?
Suppose he spills what
he knows to the grand jury...
So Makouris cops the
first indictment, then what?
So, pretty soon, they
gotta have some more.
And so, pretty soon, they're
writin' down our addresses.
If you stop to think about it,
maybe we should
give Frankie a medal.
He don't knock that guy
off, we're all in trouble.
Look, I known Frankie a
long time, ever since PS 12.
He's right.
I'll make book
on that. He's right.
So what do I tell him?
No more killin'.
No more. For sure.
That's the way it is.
So I asked him, I
said, "Look, Dutch,
"suppose somebody
gets out of line?
What do we do?"
You know what he said?
He said, "They're only
tellin' you what you don't do.
And don't do it."
I guess that kind of
puts you on vacation...
with pay.
That ain't too bad, huh?
Excuse me, sir.
You're wanted on telephone.
Hey, Swede...
it seem to you like
he's kind of... jumpy?
I shouldn't talk like that,
huh, about the boss?
Well, one of us gotta talk.
If I waited for you...
I mean, serious,
puttin' the gun away for awhile,
it's gonna be easier, huh?
I sleep okay.
It don't never
make no difference?
Say even a guy like McGonigle?
It was a job.
Someday, I'm gonna
know what goes on
in that big dumb head.
Where'd you get it?
At the market,
one of the dealers.
I wouldn't louse up
your supper, boss,
but you said to call.
You're sure it's Feruzzi, huh?
It's Feruzzi, all right,
cookin' up trouble.
He called a meeting for tonight.
The meeting was
supposed to be next week.
Yeah, I know. I
know it's tonight.
He moved it up on
account of McGonigle.
Gonna swing a dead
man over their heads...
he could get them
real worked up.
Okay.
Let's get out of here.
The store is closed.
Get out!
I said the store is closed.
Get out!
Now, back to The Untouchables.
Carlo Feruzzi received
the finest medical attention,
but the acid had done its work.
The examination
left no room for hope.
Feruzzi would never see again.
I'll try to make it
as short as
possible, Mr. Feruzzi.
The sooner we get
the identification, the...
We got the police report.
You said Lennie
Shore was one of them.
What about the other?
If you got any kind
of a look at him at all,
a glimpse... even an impression.
Was he tall, short, thin, heavy?
Anything would help.
Mr. Feruzzi, if you're
holding anything back...
Nothing.
You don't have to be afraid.
We'll give you protection.
Like you gave to McGonigle?
You don't give, you take.
A man's life, a man's eyes,
what more can
you want, Mr. Ness?
Go home.
Go back to Chicago.
You have brought
us only trouble.
You're wrong, Mr. Feruzzi.
The trouble was here.
But people were sweeping
it under the carpet.
We hope the grand
jury will change that.
Nothing.
The grand jury will do nothing,
Shall I tell you why, Mr. Ness?
Because people don't
expect them to do anything.
People don't care.
I think they'll care about you.
An old man... an
old pair of eyes...
By tomorrow, nobody
will even remember.
Information?
What's the number of
the morning Chronicle?
The morning papers
jumped on the story.
The first editions
played it big,
and the later
editions kept it going.
By noon, the whole
town was talking about it.
We told you.
We gave you a warning.
You tell us.
Didn't Dutch come to see you?
He said no more killing.
There wasn't no killing!
No.
You don't kill him.
Just make him scream.
So loud he wakes up
the whole lousy city.
Papers got the
town mad, Frankie.
Mad.
They're gonna make the
grand jury do somethin'.
Maybe to us.
Okay.
Okay, it was wrong.
Sometimes a man
can't help himself...
Like I was telling Dutch.
I send one of my
boys to the Bronx.
Can I help it if he
makes a mistake?
We think Lennie makes
too many mistakes.
We think he ain't
gonna make no more.
What's he talking about?
Sometimes it comes up like that.
Lennie?!
We don't want no more trouble.
Why?
A dog barks too loud,
you throw him a bone.
Same way with people.
They get Lennie, it
takes off the pressure.
From you, us, everybody.
You handle it any way you want.
I told you to come right over.
I come right over.
I got to tell you something.
It ain't too easy.
It's, um... Um...
It's Lennie.
The Syndicate's
put the finger on him.
You're lyin'.
You're lyin'!
You're lyin'!
I have been wondering
how to tell you.
It ain't like it was, uh...
just another job.
Job?
What do I pay you for, to
stand around and look pretty?
It makes real good sense
when you think about it.
Ness is looking for Lennie,
so you give him Lennie.
So... he's off your back.
Lennie?
You're saying you want me...
I ain't saying.
The Syndicate's saying!
Lepke and Dutch and
Kulak... They're saying!
And something
else they're saying...
Either Lennie or you.
To turn them sob sisters off,
to keep the papers
from bleeding too loud,
the boys say they got
to toss 'em somebody.
Either Lennie or
you, either one.
Don't make no
difference to them.
Hey, look, um...
I know you and
Lennie have been...
pretty close...
but you've got to start
thinking of number one.
I say charity starts
at home base.
No...
No.
Okay.
If you want to be
soft in the head...
okay.
I'll call the boys.
Around, uh... 9:00, hmm?
Open up. It's me.
It's about time. I got tied up.
You hungry?
Who can eat,
locked up like this?
It's like, like in a coffin!
Oh, you're hot. You
listen to the radio?
All day. All day!
I gotta get outta here.
You gotta get me
outta here, you hear?
Well, sure.
I was gonna say,
if you'd let me talk.
Yeah? When? Half past 9:00.
I'll pick you up in the car.
They got the trains
and busses staked out.
You got a hideout for
me? Yeah, near Buffalo.
I got some family up there.
All you got to do is wait.
And don't open that door
for nobody but me, you hear?
You can just make book on that.
Hey, Frank.
Yeah?
How's the Swede?
Hey, I forgot to tell you.
He said to say hello.
He's okay, huh?
Oh, he's fine.
Fine.
Where's your friend?
He's not here.
That's pretty obvious.
Where is he?
I don't know.
You know he's on the lam?
I don't know nothin'.
All his clothes still here.
He must have left in a hurry.
Can't say I blame him.
You don't stop to pick daisies
with the Syndicate on your tail.
Lennie's got a chance
if we pick him up first.
If we pick him up,
or he turns himself in.
Any other way, he's dead.
I was hoping you
might know where he is.
I don't know nothin'.
Where were you
last night about 8:00?
Playin' snooker.
Ask Makouris.
I was with some friends.
Everybody says
Lennie was your friend.
You'd never know it.
You wait. I'll bring him out.
It's got to be where they can
find him easy, understand?
Sorry I'm late, but, um,
somebody was trailing me.
Did you lose him?
Yeah. Come on.
Oh, the sandwiches are good.
I just couldn't eat 'em.
Maybe later.
Yeah, yeah. Come on.
This place I'm going...
How long does it take?
Not too long. You drivin'?
I can't... Well, then, who?
Swede!
Well, why didn't you say?
Swede?
Swede?
You sure?
That close, I don't miss.
Within a few minutes after
he had been shot down,
Lennie Shore was identified.
20 minutes later, the
Untouchables were there.
And only seconds
behind them, the press.
Mr. Matson, give
us a break, will you?
Just a couple of
questions, that's all.
We're going to the
hospital with him.
I'll give you a statement later.
That's Lennie Shore,
though, definitely? Definitely.
Did he talk? With
three bullets in him?
He's lucky if he lasts
as far as the hospital.
Yeah?
Oh, hello, Frankie.
When?
Sure. You know me... I
never pass up free eats.
Kulak?
Oh, I don't know.
He may call me later.
Sure, I'll tell him.
You bet.
Is it done?
You're invited to
a party Friday night
at the Sovereign Hotel.
He's taking the bridal suite.
The bridal suite?
I got the idea it was
some kind of a wake.
You ready?
I serve your dinner now?
Oh, no hurry if you
wait for somebody.
Nobody coming?
You all alone?
Yeah.
48 hours.
If they even suspected
you were alive,
they'd be tearing up the
streets looking for you.
When are you taking
me out of this grave?
No miracles performed
till next Wednesday.
That's when you
talk to the grand jury.
And if I don't?
Then you are dead.
I can't keep you here forever.
Once Makouris
finds out you're alive...
I'm dead anyway.
The minute I start singing
to that grand jury, I'm dead.
You sing the right tune,
we'll put him where
he can't touch you.
That's worth thinking about.
He can't find me here?
I wouldn't say there's
much of a chance.
I don't think you've
met Mrs. McGonigle.
I took you in 'cause
Mr. Ness asked me.
It ain't for you.
It's for Joe.
So what he done can
have some sense to it.
I don't want you
thinking I'm sorry for you.
She wants to hit Makouris.
How about you?
Yeah. Good.
I'll leave one of my men.
Hey, ain't you gonna be here?
I've got some
business to take care of.
Be back as soon as I can.
What kind of a lousy...?
Come on out.
We want to talk to you.
I wasn't expecting
you, Mr. Ness.
I just had a workout.
Getting in shape for the party?
Party?
Somebody giving a party?
Somebody.
Sovereign Hotel,
the bridal suite.
Catered by Henri Joubert.
Six waiters requested,
service for 40.
You do things in style
like that, the word's bound
to get around. Just
some of Lennie's friends
getting together; you know,
kind of a last remembrance,
you might say.
You must have thought
a great deal of him.
Mr. Ness, I couldn't tell you
what I thought of that boy.
Maybe you can
tell the grand jury.
Wednesday morning, 10:00.
Yeah?
Swede? Where are you?
Everybody's asking for
you. Aren't you coming over?
Maybe.
I don't know.
Listen, I don't go
throwing invites around.
When I say come
over, I mean come over.
That's an order.
Twitch Hendricks.
Swede Kelso there?
The Swede?
Nah, must be over
Makouris' shindig.
The Sovereign Hotel
in the bridal suite.
I'd be over there
myself if I didn't have to...
Who is it?
I've got some towels for you.
Just a minute.
Okay.
One word out of you,
and so help me I'll...
Let me out!
You let me out of here!
Mr. Hobson!
Mr. Hobson!
♪ ♪
Mr. Hobson!
Mr. Hobson!
Eliot, he's gone.
Darn fool, he'll
get himself killed.
How long ago?
Maybe 15 minutes.
Mrs. McGonigle came upstairs,
he grabbed her and
locked her in a closet.
Is she all right?
Well, she's shaken
up, mostly scared.
There's no question
where he's headed.
Yeah, Makouris.
Lee, the Sovereign
Hotel. Meet us there.
Hold it!
Quiet, everybody!
Please, someone look!
Listen, I got something to say!
Quiet!
Come on, give him a break.
He's picking up the tab.
Thank you, my friends,
thank you one and all.
In the midst of all this, um,
this, uh... jubilation,
let's not forget the
purpose of this meeting.
Let's save a thought
for them that
ain't here no more.
A nice little guy that,
uh, went the wrong way.
I'm making a toast.
To the little guy
we're all remembering.
Lennie... Lennie, wait. Wait...
There's things you don't know.
Give me a chance!
Just let me tell you!
I can't hear you, Frankie.
I'm dead.
It wasn't me, Lennie!
I didn't do it!
I'm dead, Frankie.
I even had to come in
this place the back way.
Yeah... a swell
joint like this...
They don't allow no
ghosts in the lobby.
Swede!
I didn't kill you...
I didn't kill you!
Lennie!
You don't... under... stand...
I got a couple of slugs left.
Makouris ain't
worth nobody dyin'.
They'd have killed
him... Makouris...
He got somebody else.
They'd have killed
him... You tried...
Just to make it look right...
If I'd wanted to kill...
that close...
He should've told me.
He never did say much.
Lennie Shore was
sentenced to life imprisonment.
Frank Makouris, convicted
on Lennie's testimony,
was executed on March 25, 1933.
It made quite a difference
at the Fulton Street Market.
Within two days after
Makouris' execution,
wholesale prices fell 52%.
don't know that, Mrs. McGonigle.
He might've had some
trouble with the car...
Blowout, carburetor.
That's from the garage.
You'd better stay here.
It might not be anything.
Tonight's episode...
Starring Robert
Stack as Eliot Ness.
Co-starring Phillip
Pine and Kevin Hagen.
With special guest
star Ricardo Montalban.
And narrated by Walter Winchell.
The Prohibition years wrote
a dark page in our history.
Americans, who had
once defied a king,
refusing to pay a tax on tea,
now paid a tax to the underworld
on everything
they drank or ate...
From booze to bacon,
from medicine to milk.
Racketeers poked
their greedy fingers
into every corner of
the nation's business.
One little pig was
going to market...
The Fulton Fish
Market in New York,
a wholesale market
serving the entire East,
shipping as far as Mississippi.
A business of
fantastic totals...
Turning over
$200 million a year,
weighing out 700
million pounds of fish,
and one man's thumb
resting heavy on the scale.
Makouris says you don't
tie up here this morning.
This dock belongs to
the City of New York.
It's free to all.
Not to you, not no more.
And where does your
Mr. Makouris think I'll take my catch?
San Francisco.
Now, you listen to me.
I was tying up here
before the good Lord looked
away and let you be spawned.
It's past dawn already
and I've got a hold full of
fish to unload, and mister,
you'd better not get in my way.
Warp her in and secure.
I wouldn't.
But he'll drown.
I tell you, he'll drown.
Why, you blimey fools!
Don't you see what you're doing?
You're killing a man!
Let me go!
The killing, reported
as an accident,
was another challenge
to Henry Matson,
United States Attorney,
Southern District, New York.
For six months Matson
had been investigating
the stench at Fulton Market.
For six months he had
been digging out evidence
against Frank Makouris,
his probe reaching
all the way to Chicago.
No question about
it, Mr. Matson.
He's doing all right out here.
Close to ten million
pounds a month...
All freshwater fish shipped
direct to the Fulton Market
and redistributed from there.
Comes to $40 million a year,
if your grand jury
can add that high.
It certainly helps the facts
and figures department.
I wish we were as
long on witnesses.
When are you coming east?
We're taking the plane tonight.
Fine.
I've got to get Makouris
in front of that jury.
You will.
We'll sit together
and watch him sweat.
You know...
guys keep talking
about... how it used to be.
I say, "What, what?"
Scrounging around
for two-day-old bread?
You can have it
like it used to be.
I'll take it like
it is right now.
It ain't bad.
Bad?
Us two, Dutch, we got it made.
You say Frank
Makouris or Dutch Schultz
anyplace around this town
and people are
going to show respect.
P.S. 12.
That was a long time ago, huh?
Yesterday was a
long time ago, Frankie.
Yesterday the Syndicate
wasn't on your back.
And today?
We had a little talk about you.
That man in the boat
that got himself killed...
An accident.
The papers said an accident.
Look, Frankie,
you're talking to me.
Okay.
So I send Lennie down,
so he makes a mistake,
so the papers
put it on page six.
So who's going to see it?
The boys seen it
and they don't like it.
That grand jury's
coming up in a week
and Matson keeps screaming
from here to Hoboken.
Let him scream.
The way the boys figure
it... Say he starts with you.
Pretty soon he's
putting the finger on us.
They want you to take it easy,
cut out the rough stuff for now.
Anything else?
You know how I come
up from the docks.
Just my two hands,
no favors asked.
I took that market, it's mine,
and nobody tells
me how to run it.
They tell you,
Frankie... the boys.
Okay, so I slow down a little.
Tell 'em they got nothing
to worry about, eh?
I thought you'd like
to see the take, boss.
Hello, Mr. Schultz.
Nothing doing at the office?
Not a thing.
Except this card that
was left under the door.
You should've called
me on the phone!
I figured I was coming up.
Well, next time,
don't figure... call!
Chicago?
Ain't you off compass?
When you play a big fish,
you go where he takes you.
We want Makouris.
I wish you luck.
It's gonna take more than luck.
It's going to take people
with enough courage
to stand up and
talk to the grand jury.
I've got nothing to say.
You lost a deckhand
the other day.
An accident! You
go ask Makouris.
He'll bring you 20
men who saw it.
I'm asking you.
We know how Makouris operates.
A fee to tie up at a city dock.
A fee to buy ice,
a fee to unload,
a payment every
time you turn around.
The wholesalers, too.
The Protective Association.
Frankie Makouris, President,
protecting them out of
millions of dollars a month.
We got the facts.
We need someone
to swear to them.
Not me. I'm not alone.
Too many others could be hurt.
Like Carlo Feruzzi?
You know that, too.
We know he's organizing
a group of retailers
trying to break
away from Makouris.
We know that you and a few other boats
have guaranteed to supply him with fish.
We also know that's why
your deckhand was killed.
Mm... I don't know.
I'd have to talk
to Feruzzi first.
We haven't got too much time.
The grand jury's called
for next Wednesday.
I'll let you know.
I've got your card.
You understand about Feruzzi.
We're friends.
I wouldn't want to
make trouble for him.
Ain't you talking to
the wrong people?
Get out.
Some guys, you can't
hardly teach 'em nothing.
Get out.
Ain't nothing I
can learn from you.
You're wrong.
You're wrong,
McGonigle... Come here.
You watch and see
how much you can learn.
Beautiful.
The whole boat
going up like that.
Oh, that's beautiful.
That's gonna teach him, eh?
It'll teach McGonigle, but
what about the rest of 'em?
Who?
Everybody. That Ness
covered the whole East River.
He left his card
all over the market.
So somebody picks up the
telephone and calls him...
Anybody... who's gonna know?
We'll know.
Makouris... I got a job for you.
Long distance. Number, please?
You got anything yet?
Believe me, this doesn't
happen every day, Louise.
Such a gentleman,
know what I mean?
Like I was telling
Shirley last night.
That's right.
Corby Preferred, at market.
Stop price 42.
I'll take anything
up to 4,000 shares.
Not on what Ness makes.
No question
about it, he's smart.
We'll just have to be smarter
than Makouris, that's all.
That's Ness. You got him.
Don't lose him now.
Of course, losing the boat
might make the difference,
but I wouldn't count on it.
He feels too strongly
about the others.
Eh, not a thing.
You just keep your
fingers crossed and hope.
You don't push a
man like McGonigle.
Feruzzi, will you stop
and listen for a minute?
Go, go talk to the jury.
Go be a big man.
Who wants to be a big man?
I just want to get
rid of Makouris.
I want to see him crawl
before that grand jury.
Grand jury.
What's the matter, you forget?
We had the grand jury already.
And what did they do?
Just tell me one
thing they ever done?
They could never get
anybody to stand up and talk.
And why?
Because one day, we talk
and the next day, we are dead.
It's gonna be different
with this fella Ness.
Now, I'm telling you, Carlo,
he'll give us protection.
Sure, sure.
Protection.
And when the jury packs up
and he goes back to Chicago?
Listen, my friend,
you don't fight Makouris
with juries and courts.
You fight him with
your own hands.
But not alone; not one man.
You put together a lot
of hands and, in the end,
you'll crush him and
smash him down to nothing.
I've tried it your way.
My deckhand's dead, my
boat blown into kindling wood.
I've only got one way
to fight back at him,
and that's to tell what I know.
I'm sorry, Carlo.
Hey, hey, what's the matter,
you go away like this... mad?
We're friends.
You fight him your
way, I'll fight him mine.
But...
Hello?
This is Captain McGonigle.
I want to talk to Mr. Ness.
The Untouchables were
at the Federal Building,
in the office provided
by Henry Matson.
It was shortly before 9:00
when Ness received
McGonigle's call.
Where are you now, Captain?
Tremont Avenue... phone booth.
I'm parked right
outside Feruzzi's.
Good.
You sure no one's following you?
Don't look like it.
Tell anybody where you
were going... your wife?
Nobody.
All right.
No shortcuts on the way home.
Stay on the main avenues.
If you get the notion
somebody's following you,
stop the first
policeman you see.
Don't be brave.
Don't try to be a hero.
I ain't a hero,
and I ain't a child.
Good.
Wait at your house.
I'll be there in one hour.
All right. I'll be
waiting for you.
Coming straight home?
Joe told you that?
He called us from the Bronx.
He should've been here long ago.
Only takes 30 minutes to...
Something's happened.
Now, we don't know
that, Mrs. McGonigle.
He might have had
some trouble with the car...
Blowout, carburetor trouble...
You never know what's
gonna happen with a car.
I fell asleep.
I had a migraine.
I took a pill...
Your husband
couldn't have come in
while you were asleep
and gone out again?
I don't think so.
Wouldn't I have heard
the car, even with a pill?
Yes... yes, of course.
That's... That's
from the garage!
You'd better stay here.
It might not be anything.
20, 30 minutes.
Just took us too
long to get here.
It's going to be
longer going back.
It could be a
line tap, all right.
There's a definite leakage.
It'll take a little
time to check it out.
We haven't got a little time.
I guess we use another phone.
Why?
Makouris expects
us to use this one.
I keep thinking...
He went to all that trouble,
why disappoint him?
Eliot Ness. Mr. Matson there?
No, I won't be in.
Will you give him
a message please?
Tell him I've got somebody
who's willing to
testify, but he's scared.
He won't come near the office,
so I'm meeting
him on the outside.
The Staten Island Ferry at 2:00.
That's right. Thanks.
She said she'd give you
the message, Mr. Matson.
Well, we've got company.
Feds... you can smell 'em
like a ten-day-old flounder.
Where's Ness?
You know him?
Yeah, from his picture.
I never met him, though.
Got a match?
My name's Ness.
Yeah.
I left my card the other day.
You never called me back.
What can I do for
a big man like you?
Give me a statement
on McGonigle...
Who killed him and why.
Sure. I'll write it out
first thing in the morning.
You want it on the typewriter?
In English or in Spanish?
Now, honest, Mr. Ness,
what do I look like?
A leech, getting fat on
other people's blood.
But I ain't a fool.
I ain't inviting the Syndicate
to climb on my back.
Mm-mm.
I ain't knocking nobody off
with a grand jury
going to sit next week.
You have a habit
of riding the ferry?
Only to Staten Island.
Half-hour ride for a nickel...
That's the biggest
bargain in New York.
You always take your boys along?
Meet Lennie Shore
and Swede Kelso.
Sure I bring 'em.
It's hot in town.
It's going to get hotter.
Hey, Ness!
You wanted a match.
What'd he say?
Maybe more than he thought.
He's got the
Syndicate on his back.
Ness had made an accurate guess.
At that moment,
in a plush suite high in
a Manhattan skyscraper,
Dutch Schultz was
addressing himself
to the most frightening
concentration of criminal power
anywhere in the
world... The Syndicate.
A quorum headed by Joe
Kulak... "The Teacher"...
Who, directly or indirectly,
controlled the rackets
in a dozen big cities.
Louis Lepke Buchalter,
presently in control of
the garment industry,
later to help found
Murder Incorporated.
Jake Gurrah, who dominated
the Teamster's Union.
And, of course,
Arthur Flegenheimer,
better known to the
public as "Dutch Schultz."
So what could we
expect him to do?
A man can't jump two
ways the same time.
We passed the word to him.
Sure, he knows how we feel.
Like I told you, I had
a long talk with him.
So what's the matter?
He don't listen?
He couldn't.
He was in a squeeze.
McGonigle was gonna sing.
I had some dealings
with Ness before.
I don't want Ness on my back.
So thank Makouris
for taking him off.
Look, suppose that fish
captain don't get rubbed out?
Suppose he spills what
he knows to the grand jury...
So Makouris cops the
first indictment, then what?
So, pretty soon, they
gotta have some more.
And so, pretty soon, they're
writin' down our addresses.
If you stop to think about it,
maybe we should
give Frankie a medal.
He don't knock that guy
off, we're all in trouble.
Look, I known Frankie a
long time, ever since PS 12.
He's right.
I'll make book
on that. He's right.
So what do I tell him?
No more killin'.
No more. For sure.
That's the way it is.
So I asked him, I
said, "Look, Dutch,
"suppose somebody
gets out of line?
What do we do?"
You know what he said?
He said, "They're only
tellin' you what you don't do.
And don't do it."
I guess that kind of
puts you on vacation...
with pay.
That ain't too bad, huh?
Excuse me, sir.
You're wanted on telephone.
Hey, Swede...
it seem to you like
he's kind of... jumpy?
I shouldn't talk like that,
huh, about the boss?
Well, one of us gotta talk.
If I waited for you...
I mean, serious,
puttin' the gun away for awhile,
it's gonna be easier, huh?
I sleep okay.
It don't never
make no difference?
Say even a guy like McGonigle?
It was a job.
Someday, I'm gonna
know what goes on
in that big dumb head.
Where'd you get it?
At the market,
one of the dealers.
I wouldn't louse up
your supper, boss,
but you said to call.
You're sure it's Feruzzi, huh?
It's Feruzzi, all right,
cookin' up trouble.
He called a meeting for tonight.
The meeting was
supposed to be next week.
Yeah, I know. I
know it's tonight.
He moved it up on
account of McGonigle.
Gonna swing a dead
man over their heads...
he could get them
real worked up.
Okay.
Let's get out of here.
The store is closed.
Get out!
I said the store is closed.
Get out!
Now, back to The Untouchables.
Carlo Feruzzi received
the finest medical attention,
but the acid had done its work.
The examination
left no room for hope.
Feruzzi would never see again.
I'll try to make it
as short as
possible, Mr. Feruzzi.
The sooner we get
the identification, the...
We got the police report.
You said Lennie
Shore was one of them.
What about the other?
If you got any kind
of a look at him at all,
a glimpse... even an impression.
Was he tall, short, thin, heavy?
Anything would help.
Mr. Feruzzi, if you're
holding anything back...
Nothing.
You don't have to be afraid.
We'll give you protection.
Like you gave to McGonigle?
You don't give, you take.
A man's life, a man's eyes,
what more can
you want, Mr. Ness?
Go home.
Go back to Chicago.
You have brought
us only trouble.
You're wrong, Mr. Feruzzi.
The trouble was here.
But people were sweeping
it under the carpet.
We hope the grand
jury will change that.
Nothing.
The grand jury will do nothing,
Shall I tell you why, Mr. Ness?
Because people don't
expect them to do anything.
People don't care.
I think they'll care about you.
An old man... an
old pair of eyes...
By tomorrow, nobody
will even remember.
Information?
What's the number of
the morning Chronicle?
The morning papers
jumped on the story.
The first editions
played it big,
and the later
editions kept it going.
By noon, the whole
town was talking about it.
We told you.
We gave you a warning.
You tell us.
Didn't Dutch come to see you?
He said no more killing.
There wasn't no killing!
No.
You don't kill him.
Just make him scream.
So loud he wakes up
the whole lousy city.
Papers got the
town mad, Frankie.
Mad.
They're gonna make the
grand jury do somethin'.
Maybe to us.
Okay.
Okay, it was wrong.
Sometimes a man
can't help himself...
Like I was telling Dutch.
I send one of my
boys to the Bronx.
Can I help it if he
makes a mistake?
We think Lennie makes
too many mistakes.
We think he ain't
gonna make no more.
What's he talking about?
Sometimes it comes up like that.
Lennie?!
We don't want no more trouble.
Why?
A dog barks too loud,
you throw him a bone.
Same way with people.
They get Lennie, it
takes off the pressure.
From you, us, everybody.
You handle it any way you want.
I told you to come right over.
I come right over.
I got to tell you something.
It ain't too easy.
It's, um... Um...
It's Lennie.
The Syndicate's
put the finger on him.
You're lyin'.
You're lyin'!
You're lyin'!
I have been wondering
how to tell you.
It ain't like it was, uh...
just another job.
Job?
What do I pay you for, to
stand around and look pretty?
It makes real good sense
when you think about it.
Ness is looking for Lennie,
so you give him Lennie.
So... he's off your back.
Lennie?
You're saying you want me...
I ain't saying.
The Syndicate's saying!
Lepke and Dutch and
Kulak... They're saying!
And something
else they're saying...
Either Lennie or you.
To turn them sob sisters off,
to keep the papers
from bleeding too loud,
the boys say they got
to toss 'em somebody.
Either Lennie or
you, either one.
Don't make no
difference to them.
Hey, look, um...
I know you and
Lennie have been...
pretty close...
but you've got to start
thinking of number one.
I say charity starts
at home base.
No...
No.
Okay.
If you want to be
soft in the head...
okay.
I'll call the boys.
Around, uh... 9:00, hmm?
Open up. It's me.
It's about time. I got tied up.
You hungry?
Who can eat,
locked up like this?
It's like, like in a coffin!
Oh, you're hot. You
listen to the radio?
All day. All day!
I gotta get outta here.
You gotta get me
outta here, you hear?
Well, sure.
I was gonna say,
if you'd let me talk.
Yeah? When? Half past 9:00.
I'll pick you up in the car.
They got the trains
and busses staked out.
You got a hideout for
me? Yeah, near Buffalo.
I got some family up there.
All you got to do is wait.
And don't open that door
for nobody but me, you hear?
You can just make book on that.
Hey, Frank.
Yeah?
How's the Swede?
Hey, I forgot to tell you.
He said to say hello.
He's okay, huh?
Oh, he's fine.
Fine.
Where's your friend?
He's not here.
That's pretty obvious.
Where is he?
I don't know.
You know he's on the lam?
I don't know nothin'.
All his clothes still here.
He must have left in a hurry.
Can't say I blame him.
You don't stop to pick daisies
with the Syndicate on your tail.
Lennie's got a chance
if we pick him up first.
If we pick him up,
or he turns himself in.
Any other way, he's dead.
I was hoping you
might know where he is.
I don't know nothin'.
Where were you
last night about 8:00?
Playin' snooker.
Ask Makouris.
I was with some friends.
Everybody says
Lennie was your friend.
You'd never know it.
You wait. I'll bring him out.
It's got to be where they can
find him easy, understand?
Sorry I'm late, but, um,
somebody was trailing me.
Did you lose him?
Yeah. Come on.
Oh, the sandwiches are good.
I just couldn't eat 'em.
Maybe later.
Yeah, yeah. Come on.
This place I'm going...
How long does it take?
Not too long. You drivin'?
I can't... Well, then, who?
Swede!
Well, why didn't you say?
Swede?
Swede?
You sure?
That close, I don't miss.
Within a few minutes after
he had been shot down,
Lennie Shore was identified.
20 minutes later, the
Untouchables were there.
And only seconds
behind them, the press.
Mr. Matson, give
us a break, will you?
Just a couple of
questions, that's all.
We're going to the
hospital with him.
I'll give you a statement later.
That's Lennie Shore,
though, definitely? Definitely.
Did he talk? With
three bullets in him?
He's lucky if he lasts
as far as the hospital.
Yeah?
Oh, hello, Frankie.
When?
Sure. You know me... I
never pass up free eats.
Kulak?
Oh, I don't know.
He may call me later.
Sure, I'll tell him.
You bet.
Is it done?
You're invited to
a party Friday night
at the Sovereign Hotel.
He's taking the bridal suite.
The bridal suite?
I got the idea it was
some kind of a wake.
You ready?
I serve your dinner now?
Oh, no hurry if you
wait for somebody.
Nobody coming?
You all alone?
Yeah.
48 hours.
If they even suspected
you were alive,
they'd be tearing up the
streets looking for you.
When are you taking
me out of this grave?
No miracles performed
till next Wednesday.
That's when you
talk to the grand jury.
And if I don't?
Then you are dead.
I can't keep you here forever.
Once Makouris
finds out you're alive...
I'm dead anyway.
The minute I start singing
to that grand jury, I'm dead.
You sing the right tune,
we'll put him where
he can't touch you.
That's worth thinking about.
He can't find me here?
I wouldn't say there's
much of a chance.
I don't think you've
met Mrs. McGonigle.
I took you in 'cause
Mr. Ness asked me.
It ain't for you.
It's for Joe.
So what he done can
have some sense to it.
I don't want you
thinking I'm sorry for you.
She wants to hit Makouris.
How about you?
Yeah. Good.
I'll leave one of my men.
Hey, ain't you gonna be here?
I've got some
business to take care of.
Be back as soon as I can.
What kind of a lousy...?
Come on out.
We want to talk to you.
I wasn't expecting
you, Mr. Ness.
I just had a workout.
Getting in shape for the party?
Party?
Somebody giving a party?
Somebody.
Sovereign Hotel,
the bridal suite.
Catered by Henri Joubert.
Six waiters requested,
service for 40.
You do things in style
like that, the word's bound
to get around. Just
some of Lennie's friends
getting together; you know,
kind of a last remembrance,
you might say.
You must have thought
a great deal of him.
Mr. Ness, I couldn't tell you
what I thought of that boy.
Maybe you can
tell the grand jury.
Wednesday morning, 10:00.
Yeah?
Swede? Where are you?
Everybody's asking for
you. Aren't you coming over?
Maybe.
I don't know.
Listen, I don't go
throwing invites around.
When I say come
over, I mean come over.
That's an order.
Twitch Hendricks.
Swede Kelso there?
The Swede?
Nah, must be over
Makouris' shindig.
The Sovereign Hotel
in the bridal suite.
I'd be over there
myself if I didn't have to...
Who is it?
I've got some towels for you.
Just a minute.
Okay.
One word out of you,
and so help me I'll...
Let me out!
You let me out of here!
Mr. Hobson!
Mr. Hobson!
♪ ♪
Mr. Hobson!
Mr. Hobson!
Eliot, he's gone.
Darn fool, he'll
get himself killed.
How long ago?
Maybe 15 minutes.
Mrs. McGonigle came upstairs,
he grabbed her and
locked her in a closet.
Is she all right?
Well, she's shaken
up, mostly scared.
There's no question
where he's headed.
Yeah, Makouris.
Lee, the Sovereign
Hotel. Meet us there.
Hold it!
Quiet, everybody!
Please, someone look!
Listen, I got something to say!
Quiet!
Come on, give him a break.
He's picking up the tab.
Thank you, my friends,
thank you one and all.
In the midst of all this, um,
this, uh... jubilation,
let's not forget the
purpose of this meeting.
Let's save a thought
for them that
ain't here no more.
A nice little guy that,
uh, went the wrong way.
I'm making a toast.
To the little guy
we're all remembering.
Lennie... Lennie, wait. Wait...
There's things you don't know.
Give me a chance!
Just let me tell you!
I can't hear you, Frankie.
I'm dead.
It wasn't me, Lennie!
I didn't do it!
I'm dead, Frankie.
I even had to come in
this place the back way.
Yeah... a swell
joint like this...
They don't allow no
ghosts in the lobby.
Swede!
I didn't kill you...
I didn't kill you!
Lennie!
You don't... under... stand...
I got a couple of slugs left.
Makouris ain't
worth nobody dyin'.
They'd have killed
him... Makouris...
He got somebody else.
They'd have killed
him... You tried...
Just to make it look right...
If I'd wanted to kill...
that close...
He should've told me.
He never did say much.
Lennie Shore was
sentenced to life imprisonment.
Frank Makouris, convicted
on Lennie's testimony,
was executed on March 25, 1933.
It made quite a difference
at the Fulton Street Market.
Within two days after
Makouris' execution,
wholesale prices fell 52%.