The Untouchables (1959–1963): Season 3, Episode 16 - The Death Tree - full transcript
In the Gypsy quarter of Chicago, drunkenness is taking its toll in fights and killings. The local community elders, known as the Senate, want to bring it to an end but come into conflict with Janos Colescou, owner of much of the illicit liquor distribution in the area. He kills the head of the Senate, Victor Bartok and when the opposition continues, kills his brother Fedor. Throughout, Colescou has revived an old custom of posting his victims name on an old tree in the neighborhood. For Ness and his men, the goal is to try to bring Colescou out into the open and for that they get help from Victor Bartok's daughter Magda. She tells him that Colescou has personal reasons for wanting to get rid of the Bartoks.
Open the door! We are closed.
Go away.
Mama.
Mama... Mama.
Mama. Mr. Bartok.
She's wrong.
We are open... for business.
Tonight's episode...
Starring Robert
Stack as Eliot Ness.
Costarring Barbara Luna
and Theodore Marcuse.
With special guest
star Charles Bronson.
And narrated by Walter Winchell.
Chicago, West
Madison Street, 1931...
A special neighborhood
with a special population.
It held Rumanians, Hungarians
and Czechs, among others...
Imports from a dozen
different countries
but all speaking one
language... The Gypsy tongue.
In the month of November,
the area was flooded
with rotgut whiskey
that could not be peddled
anywhere else, and suddenly
a people used to drinking
wine was drinking hard liquor.
Booze, bad booze.
Get out!
Chestnuts... Chestnuts...
Nickel a bag...
Get your red-hot chestnuts...
It's a cold... night.
The killing underscored
what was already a
serious problem for Ness.
Later that night, he
headed across town
hoping to talk to the
leaders of the gypsy people,
who met in solemn
conclave behind Karig's Cafe.
They were known as The Senate.
♪ ♪
Well, gentlemen?
Yes?
Victor Bartok?
I am Victor Bartok.
We spoke on the phone.
Gentlemen, my name is Ness.
I'm a Federal Agent.
You make the laws
for your people.
I represent another set of laws.
They're both pretty much alike.
I've come because I
want your cooperation.
Because one of our
people was killed tonight?
Yes and because the man
who killed him was drunk.
Because the rotgut
he was soaking up
is putting a fortune
in Capone's pocket.
We do not know this Capone.
You know the man
who's distributing for him.
And your people out
there know that whiskey.
Then find him. That's your job.
It's your job, too.
You owe it to your people.
You ask a great deal, Mr. Ness.
We are not like other people.
For 800 years, we
have walked the earth
and every man's hand
has been against us.
We have learned a lesson.
We have no friends.
We have only each other.
In this country,
you have friends.
We can help you.
We cannot help you.
If the man you are seeking is
one of us, we can say nothing.
If he is not one of
us, we can do nothing.
And you all feel the same?
My brother sits at
the head of the table.
He speaks for all.
What I'm trying
to say, Mr. Ness,
is that we take care of our own.
You've made your point.
It is not wrong what he asks.
I have not said it is wrong.
Then let us be men and
do something about it!
You know who's
bringing the whiskey in?
I know him.
Janos Colescou.
You know what to do.
Where is Colescou?
He never gets here before 11:00.
This is a warning
from the Senate.
We don't want Colescou here.
Tell him.
They don't want me.
The Senate don't want me, huh?
I'll tell you something,
the Senate don't say this.
Bartok says it. Victor Bartok.
He had a lot of men with him.
I got a lot of men, too.
Nine years, going on 10
it takes me to get this far.
Sweeping out for O'Bannion.
Carrying garbage cans.
A lousy dog nobody looks at.
A gypsy, a nothing.
Everybody spits on me.
Ain't nobody gonna
spit on you now, Janos.
You got it made, Janos.
The dough's rolling in.
The dough?
Some things the
dough don't pay for.
All those years I
sweat for one thing.
The Bartoks.
They sit like kings at
the head of the table.
The Bartoks.
Some things the
dough don't pay for.
We're gonna get
them, all of them.
Victor Bartok first. When?
Tomorrow night. How?
We make him sweat.
We use the tree.
The tree stood
on Madison Street.
A sickly,
under-nourished poplar.
Relic of an old world custom,
symbol of the mobsters'
contempt for the law.
Where they brazenly
posted in advance
the names of those they
had marked for death.
But the cynical joke had
been played too often.
The gangsters had
lost their taste for it.
The tree had gone
unused for six years.
Until November 12th, 1931.
That night it promised
death to Victor Bartok.
Chestnuts... It's
a cold... night.
Please, please,
it's very important!
Watch!
Hello, Ness.
Mr. Ness, this is Victor Bartok.
I must talk to you,
I must see you.
Bartok?
What is it, Mr. Bartok?
Mr. Ness, my
name is on the tree.
You'll need some help.
That's why I called.
Mr. Ness, maybe, maybe
we can help each other.
Where are you now?
On Carter Street.
In a drugstore, number 925.
925, we'll be right down.
Mr. Ness?
Yes?
If something should
happen to me...
Stay where you are.
We'll be down in
15 minutes or less.
Mr. Bartok?
Mr. Bartok!
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
Mr. Bartok.
No!
Hmm, getting kind of chilly now.
Winchell: Victor Bartok's
body was taken to the morgue.
The next morning,
his brother, Fedor,
made the formal identification.
Mr. Bartok... I'm sorry.
This may not be a
very good time to talk,
but, in our job, we
can't always wait.
We have nothing to talk about.
We have your brother.
I thought you could
tell me who killed him.
Maybe I don't know.
Then I'll have to
ask someone else.
There is nothing to ask!
You talked to my brother!
He didn't talk to
me and he's dead.
It is true.
There has been
some trouble with us.
A man.
One of your people?
One of us and yet not one of us.
He has no feeling
for his people.
He makes them into animals
with his cheap whiskey.
What's his name?
Where can I find him?
He brings the whiskey
in once a week.
Where?
The burned warehouse
on Lake Street.
When?
Wednesday night, 11:00.
Thanks.
Take it back out of sight.
No use advertising.
He said 11:00.
We got 10 minutes.
Well, it looks like we're
the first ones to the party.
Stop the car!
Cut the lights.
Look.
Get down!
What goes?
I don't know.
Split up, don't use your
guns unless you have to.
Whoever he is, he's
got some answers.
Who are you?
What are you doing here?
Get the car, Rico.
Pretty close to 11:00, Eliot.
I know.
I'll talk to her later.
Maybe you talk
easier in the light.
Jack, you'd better go along.
See if you can check this out.
Right.
Do you think they'll be here?
She thought so.
Ness.
What was all the
fireworks about?
A dame.
Ness was shooting at a dame?
I didn't say that.
The dame shooting at Ness?
Not Ness, me.
Would you like some coffee?
I just thought
it's kind of late.
Nobody showed.
You wanted to kill
someone tonight. Who?
Not me.
You didn't know I
was going to be there.
Who?
That's about all she's told me.
Get anything?
It was registered
to Victor Bartok.
What was Victor Bartok to you?
Why can't you tell me?
What are you scared of?
Look, by noon tomorrow,
I'll know more about you
than your own mother.
Talk and we can
both get some sleep.
What was Victor Bartok to you?
He was my father.
What's your name?
Magda.
Look, Magda, we're
both on the same side.
We want the same thing.
We want to pay off the
man who killed your father.
All you have to do
is to tell me his name.
Stubborn. I guess
it runs in the family.
You're just like your father.
You knew my father?
He wanted help.
He called me just
before he was killed.
And you didn't go to him?
We tried.
We couldn't get there in time.
You could have saved him.
You could have saved his life.
Rico, take her home.
We'll keep her under
surveillance around the clock.
I say no!
Well, I will tell you something.
This bullet that killed
Victor was meant for us, too.
And I say it is enough.
We must finish Colescou.
I am new to the
head of the table.
This place still has my
brother's warmth on it.
I do not speak for myself.
I speak for him and I say no.
He is right.
He brings his own wisdom
to the head of the table.
Death is a useless
answer to death.
Is there an answer Colescou
will understand better?
One, perhaps, that
will hurt him more.
We will order our people
not to drink his whiskey.
Benosch, as always,
finds the best way.
The word will go out.
Colescou's strength
is in his whiskey.
We will destroy his strength.
The word went out
and was obeyed.
Suddenly, the gypsies
seemed to be without thirst.
The cheap nightspots were as
empty as if the plague had hit.
For one man, it had.
For Janos Colescou.
Nothing!
It don't even pay to add it up.
If the spots don't buy,
Janos, they don't buy.
I tell Capone we move
300 cases a week,
we're gonna move
300 cases a week!
What if the Senate says no?
The Senate!
I told you before, it ain't
what the Senate says.
It's what Bartok says!
Well, suppose this Bartok
ain't around no more.
We got a good thing going, boss.
You don't wanna kill it, do you?
That's right.
We already got
Ness nosing around.
You're letting the Bartoks
run you off the track.
Forget it for a while.
Forget?
You gonna tell a
10-year-old kid to forget?
Ten years!
That's how old I was
when I had to watch
what they did to my father.
10 years old...
Too young to
help, too old to cry.
That was me.
I had to stand there,
watch him and
listen to him scream.
You think I'm gonna forget, huh?
Tonight.
Look, it might be tough.
Maybe the girl talks.
Suppose Ness has the
tree staked out, huh?
Tonight.
It isn't likely they'd
have posted his name
with anyone watching.
It's worth checking out.
There it is.
The wind is cold.
Get your hot chestnuts.
Good evening.
Oh, good evening.
It's cold tonight.
Cold every night.
Seems like the winters
get colder all the time.
This your regular stand?
Yes, sirree.
Ain't missed a
night in 14 years.
Maybe you can help me out.
Help you out?
Red-hot chestnuts.
Seen anyone around that tree?
See them them
put anything on it?
A paper or anything?
Can't say as I have.
But I been quittin'
early the last week or so
on account of the cold.
Fact is, I was just
about to close up now.
Paper, sir?
Why not?
Thank you, sir.
Good night.
Good night.
Chestnuts...
The wind is cold...
Get your hot chestnuts...
Get your red-hot chestnuts...
Chestnuts...
Chestnuts... Get
your red-hot chestnuts!
Chestnuts...
And now, back to
The Untouchables.
Still hoping to trace
the cheap whiskey
that had been flooding the area
to the man responsible
for Bartok's death,
Ness assigned Hobson and Rossi
to check the warehouse
for fingerprints.
They came up with nothing.
Nothing, Eliot, not a thing.
We just checked ourselves
into another blind alley.
Then we need
someone to lead us out.
Just wave a wand. Who?
The girl.
Maybe I'll go another
round with her.
Hello, Ness.
When?
You see it yourself?
No, but ask around.
Dig out anything you can.
Right.
Rossman, he's on Loomis Street.
There's another
name on the tree.
Whose?
Fedor Bartok.
Runs a market over
on Carson Street.
Pick him up, I'll
be over at the girl's.
Right.
He took the tough one.
Let's go find Bartok.
It is not right.
He should be on time.
When a man sits at
the head of the Senate...
When a man's
name is on the tree,
sometimes he
walks a crooked way.
You should have listened to me!
You should have
done what I said!
Listen to me now. I
will tell you something.
We must kill Colescou
before he kills us.
He won't stop with Fedor.
We will be next.
The Tribe will be frightened.
They will do nothing.
They will be like sheep
after Fedor is dead!
He is not dead yet.
Open up!
Open the door!
We are closed.
Go away.
Mama, it's me!
It's Fedor!
Let me in!
Go away!
I have told you!
Go away before... Mama?
Mama?
Mama?!
Mama? Mr. Bartok?
She's wrong.
We are open.
For business.
Get back! Get back!
Open up!
Open up! Federal Officers!
Check the back!
The back room is on the alley.
He was gone.
Did she see it?
I don't know.
Did you see anything?
Were you here?
Do you understand?
You can help us.
If you saw anything... Rico.
I'd better call Eliot.
You're playing with
some big boys now.
It's a pretty rough
game for a girl.
You don't know us.
We take care of ourselves.
So I've been told.
Your father's dead, your
uncle's name's on the tree.
Who did it Magda? Why?
You're a gago.
An outsider.
You couldn't understand.
Try me.
It goes back a long way.
To the old country.
To your father?
To my father's father.
He was head of the Senate then.
Our people were
camped near a little village.
An icon was stolen
from one of the homes.
An icon.
A holy statue
that should make
you clean and good.
The next morning, they
came marching into camp.
All the men from the village.
They wanted a gypsy.
And my grandfather
gave them a gypsy.
To save the others?
They dragged him
off to the square.
They tore off his
shirt and they beat him
and they hurt him.
Two days later, he died.
They killed him for
stealing a statue?
My grandfather
had a wooden chest
that he always kept locked.
His whole life,
nobody ever opened it.
They killed the wrong man.
And our people looked to
my grandfather with respect.
Hello?
For you.
Hello?
Yes, Rico.
Get her to a hospital.
Don't let anybody near her.
I'll be down as soon as I can.
Right.
Your grandmother, they've
taken her to a hospital.
She's had a bad shock.
Uncle Fedor?
My men just found him.
Who did it?
You want the price of
this to keep going up?
Who did it?
The son.
The man they killed had a son.
He has never forgiven us.
I want his name.
Colescou.
His name is... Janos Colescou.
He knows his name
is up and he's scared.
I mean, really scared.
I can feel him shaking
right through the door.
"Let me in," he says.
"Mama, Mama, let me in."
So, I let him in.
Now we hit the next one.
The next?
The girl.
I don't forget the girl.
You figuring on her, too?
I told you before...
All the Bartoks,
every one of them.
But not the girl.
The Feds are watching
her like she was pure gold.
The Feds have
gotta quit sometime.
I can wait.
All right, it's pretty
close to 1:00.
We'd better move.
November 16th, 1931, with
the death of Fedor Bartok,
Eliot Ness returned
to Karig's Cafe.
His purpose: to see Magda
Bartok take her rightful place
at the head of the table
and accordingly gain action
from the gypsy Senate.
You think the
Senate will go along?
I can't give them
any real proof.
They've got their own
ways to make a man talk.
They wouldn't
work with me before.
They'll work with you now.
They'll do what I say.
Because your name's Bartok?
Because I'll sit at
the head of the table.
They'll expect me to.
A woman?
We've got no schools, Mr. Ness.
We never learned any different.
We think that some women
are as smart as some men.
Some?
My name is Colescou.
Something you want?
With Colescou in
control of the Senate,
and with the Tribe
too terrified to talk,
Ness was forced to
move in another direction.
That night he picked
up Alex and Benno.
Convinced that Colescou
had not done the killing himself,
and suspecting that
he had delegated the job
to his torpedoes, Ness
decided to play a long shot.
We're ready now.
All right, you'll
all say one thing.
The same thing for everybody.
"She's wrong. We're
open for business."
You got that?
"She's wrong. We're
open for business."
One at a time.
You. She's wrong.
We're open for business.
Next.
She's wrong. We're
open for business.
Go on.
All right.
She's wrong. We're
open for business.
That one. Again.
The last one, repeat.
Repeat.
She's wrong. We're
open for business.
That is the voice.
That is the man.
Thank you very much.
All right, you can go.
You're going downtown.
What are you gonna do?
You won't like it.
Who is it?
Benno! Come on, open up!
What's the idea of barging in?
I need a drink.
So, go to a speak!
You'll need a drink, too.
They just picked up Alex. Who?
Ness and his boys.
They dragged me
along, but they let me go.
Why you? They had nothing on me.
They got nothing on Alex.
They got his voice.
She fingered him...
Bartok's old lady.
We tried to tell you,
Janos, them Feds are tough.
Alex is tough.
They're probably
sweating him right now.
Alex won't talk.
Won't talk?!
He's facing a murder rap, Janos.
He'll sing so loud, he'll
sound like a whole chorus.
Be glad it was me
knocking on the door.
Could just as well have
been Ness, you know.
You think he'll talk?
I think he'll talk.
Nothing.
I don't know nothing.
Then I'll tell you something.
An old woman can
see with her ears.
Better than most people
can see with their eyes.
We'll take her into court,
put her on the stand,
she'll pick you out every time.
You're in the chair, Alex.
You're roasting right now.
Unless you talk.
I got nothing to talk about.
Use your head.
Why take the rap
for somebody else?
What'd you have
against the Bartoks?
You think Colescou
would sweat for you?
Or burn?
You can't prove anything.
Don't think we can't.
We got the old woman.
We got her and we got these.
Your whole record:
Kansas City, Pittsburgh,
San Francisco, everything.
From the time you held
up your first gas station.
All the D.A.'s got to do
is to read these records
in court and the jury will
burn you four times over.
Now, who paid you to
knock over the Bartoks?!
Colescou.
It was Colescou.
I'll swear to it.
Take him to Homicide,
book him and hold him.
Tell Captain Dorset no bail.
Eliot?
You can't read a
man's record into a trial.
It's illegal, you know that.
Yeah.
Looks like he left in a hurry.
The search for Colescou
turned the town inside out.
It reached all known
hideouts in the underworld.
It probed in dark,
forgotten corners.
It was without result.
Colescou had disappeared.
For every hole we've checked,
there are a hundred more.
Colescou's hiding in
one of them, laughing.
He won't be laughing
when he comes out.
If he comes out.
He'll come out.
Who is it?
Want some chestnuts?
I told you only
if it's important.
It is important.
There's a name on the tree.
"There's a name on the
tree," and you got to tell me?
You got to come
here and maybe bring
the whole United
States Government?
Whose name?
It's hard.
It's a hard thing to say.
You take a chance and come here,
so you say it. Whose name?
Yours!
Your name is on the tree, Janos.
My name?
You didn't make a mistake?
Read it wrong maybe?
No.
I didn't make no mistake.
I didn't read it wrong.
You hear that?
You hear?
So your name's
on the lousy tree.
So what? So who do
you think put it there?
Who? Who wants to sit
at the head of the table?
Who wants my place?
Who wants to see me dead?
That's who.
Get your coat.
We ain't going out.
Get your coat.
Are you kidding, Janos?
You're asking for it. Ness'
got the town on a string.
We go out, he
picks us up for sure.
There's only one
Bartok left, that's the girl.
Then there ain't nobody
gonna stop me now.
Nobody... not Ness, not nobody.
Listen Janos, we don't
know where to look.
We don't even know where she is.
We're going to find out.
I am listening.
No, she is not here.
She's gone away.
Ah, these young ones
are always running.
To the Senate.
There is a meeting tonight.
Who is this?
Who is call...?
You did very well.
Did you know the voice?
I know that voice, even
when he was a boy.
Who? Janos Colescou.
I'm sure of it.
It could be dangerous.
You don't have to
go through with it.
We don't have much time.
We'll have to hurry.
Thanks.
It is not right.
We should not let you do this.
It's got to be settled
between him and us.
She's right.
She sits at the
head of the Senate.
Nothing yet, Eliot.
No sign of him.
That girl's hanging
by her thumbs.
I would be, too.
Think he'll show?
Well, I'll have to
go along with Eliot.
It's a pattern.
The guy has lived
with hate so long that...
Well, we should
know pretty soon.
I ain't going no further.
You don't want
to go any further.
All right.
So stay.
The alley!
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
With Colescou's death,
the shipments of
cheap whiskey stopped.
Capone had to take his
profits from somewhere else.
And the tree was
never used again.
The Senate continued to
meet and govern its people.
Although Eliot
Ness never returned
to the back room
of Karig's Cafe,
he was no longer a
gago to the gypsy people.
He was no longer an outsider.
The Untouchables.
Go away.
Mama.
Mama... Mama.
Mama. Mr. Bartok.
She's wrong.
We are open... for business.
Tonight's episode...
Starring Robert
Stack as Eliot Ness.
Costarring Barbara Luna
and Theodore Marcuse.
With special guest
star Charles Bronson.
And narrated by Walter Winchell.
Chicago, West
Madison Street, 1931...
A special neighborhood
with a special population.
It held Rumanians, Hungarians
and Czechs, among others...
Imports from a dozen
different countries
but all speaking one
language... The Gypsy tongue.
In the month of November,
the area was flooded
with rotgut whiskey
that could not be peddled
anywhere else, and suddenly
a people used to drinking
wine was drinking hard liquor.
Booze, bad booze.
Get out!
Chestnuts... Chestnuts...
Nickel a bag...
Get your red-hot chestnuts...
It's a cold... night.
The killing underscored
what was already a
serious problem for Ness.
Later that night, he
headed across town
hoping to talk to the
leaders of the gypsy people,
who met in solemn
conclave behind Karig's Cafe.
They were known as The Senate.
♪ ♪
Well, gentlemen?
Yes?
Victor Bartok?
I am Victor Bartok.
We spoke on the phone.
Gentlemen, my name is Ness.
I'm a Federal Agent.
You make the laws
for your people.
I represent another set of laws.
They're both pretty much alike.
I've come because I
want your cooperation.
Because one of our
people was killed tonight?
Yes and because the man
who killed him was drunk.
Because the rotgut
he was soaking up
is putting a fortune
in Capone's pocket.
We do not know this Capone.
You know the man
who's distributing for him.
And your people out
there know that whiskey.
Then find him. That's your job.
It's your job, too.
You owe it to your people.
You ask a great deal, Mr. Ness.
We are not like other people.
For 800 years, we
have walked the earth
and every man's hand
has been against us.
We have learned a lesson.
We have no friends.
We have only each other.
In this country,
you have friends.
We can help you.
We cannot help you.
If the man you are seeking is
one of us, we can say nothing.
If he is not one of
us, we can do nothing.
And you all feel the same?
My brother sits at
the head of the table.
He speaks for all.
What I'm trying
to say, Mr. Ness,
is that we take care of our own.
You've made your point.
It is not wrong what he asks.
I have not said it is wrong.
Then let us be men and
do something about it!
You know who's
bringing the whiskey in?
I know him.
Janos Colescou.
You know what to do.
Where is Colescou?
He never gets here before 11:00.
This is a warning
from the Senate.
We don't want Colescou here.
Tell him.
They don't want me.
The Senate don't want me, huh?
I'll tell you something,
the Senate don't say this.
Bartok says it. Victor Bartok.
He had a lot of men with him.
I got a lot of men, too.
Nine years, going on 10
it takes me to get this far.
Sweeping out for O'Bannion.
Carrying garbage cans.
A lousy dog nobody looks at.
A gypsy, a nothing.
Everybody spits on me.
Ain't nobody gonna
spit on you now, Janos.
You got it made, Janos.
The dough's rolling in.
The dough?
Some things the
dough don't pay for.
All those years I
sweat for one thing.
The Bartoks.
They sit like kings at
the head of the table.
The Bartoks.
Some things the
dough don't pay for.
We're gonna get
them, all of them.
Victor Bartok first. When?
Tomorrow night. How?
We make him sweat.
We use the tree.
The tree stood
on Madison Street.
A sickly,
under-nourished poplar.
Relic of an old world custom,
symbol of the mobsters'
contempt for the law.
Where they brazenly
posted in advance
the names of those they
had marked for death.
But the cynical joke had
been played too often.
The gangsters had
lost their taste for it.
The tree had gone
unused for six years.
Until November 12th, 1931.
That night it promised
death to Victor Bartok.
Chestnuts... It's
a cold... night.
Please, please,
it's very important!
Watch!
Hello, Ness.
Mr. Ness, this is Victor Bartok.
I must talk to you,
I must see you.
Bartok?
What is it, Mr. Bartok?
Mr. Ness, my
name is on the tree.
You'll need some help.
That's why I called.
Mr. Ness, maybe, maybe
we can help each other.
Where are you now?
On Carter Street.
In a drugstore, number 925.
925, we'll be right down.
Mr. Ness?
Yes?
If something should
happen to me...
Stay where you are.
We'll be down in
15 minutes or less.
Mr. Bartok?
Mr. Bartok!
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
Mr. Bartok.
No!
Hmm, getting kind of chilly now.
Winchell: Victor Bartok's
body was taken to the morgue.
The next morning,
his brother, Fedor,
made the formal identification.
Mr. Bartok... I'm sorry.
This may not be a
very good time to talk,
but, in our job, we
can't always wait.
We have nothing to talk about.
We have your brother.
I thought you could
tell me who killed him.
Maybe I don't know.
Then I'll have to
ask someone else.
There is nothing to ask!
You talked to my brother!
He didn't talk to
me and he's dead.
It is true.
There has been
some trouble with us.
A man.
One of your people?
One of us and yet not one of us.
He has no feeling
for his people.
He makes them into animals
with his cheap whiskey.
What's his name?
Where can I find him?
He brings the whiskey
in once a week.
Where?
The burned warehouse
on Lake Street.
When?
Wednesday night, 11:00.
Thanks.
Take it back out of sight.
No use advertising.
He said 11:00.
We got 10 minutes.
Well, it looks like we're
the first ones to the party.
Stop the car!
Cut the lights.
Look.
Get down!
What goes?
I don't know.
Split up, don't use your
guns unless you have to.
Whoever he is, he's
got some answers.
Who are you?
What are you doing here?
Get the car, Rico.
Pretty close to 11:00, Eliot.
I know.
I'll talk to her later.
Maybe you talk
easier in the light.
Jack, you'd better go along.
See if you can check this out.
Right.
Do you think they'll be here?
She thought so.
Ness.
What was all the
fireworks about?
A dame.
Ness was shooting at a dame?
I didn't say that.
The dame shooting at Ness?
Not Ness, me.
Would you like some coffee?
I just thought
it's kind of late.
Nobody showed.
You wanted to kill
someone tonight. Who?
Not me.
You didn't know I
was going to be there.
Who?
That's about all she's told me.
Get anything?
It was registered
to Victor Bartok.
What was Victor Bartok to you?
Why can't you tell me?
What are you scared of?
Look, by noon tomorrow,
I'll know more about you
than your own mother.
Talk and we can
both get some sleep.
What was Victor Bartok to you?
He was my father.
What's your name?
Magda.
Look, Magda, we're
both on the same side.
We want the same thing.
We want to pay off the
man who killed your father.
All you have to do
is to tell me his name.
Stubborn. I guess
it runs in the family.
You're just like your father.
You knew my father?
He wanted help.
He called me just
before he was killed.
And you didn't go to him?
We tried.
We couldn't get there in time.
You could have saved him.
You could have saved his life.
Rico, take her home.
We'll keep her under
surveillance around the clock.
I say no!
Well, I will tell you something.
This bullet that killed
Victor was meant for us, too.
And I say it is enough.
We must finish Colescou.
I am new to the
head of the table.
This place still has my
brother's warmth on it.
I do not speak for myself.
I speak for him and I say no.
He is right.
He brings his own wisdom
to the head of the table.
Death is a useless
answer to death.
Is there an answer Colescou
will understand better?
One, perhaps, that
will hurt him more.
We will order our people
not to drink his whiskey.
Benosch, as always,
finds the best way.
The word will go out.
Colescou's strength
is in his whiskey.
We will destroy his strength.
The word went out
and was obeyed.
Suddenly, the gypsies
seemed to be without thirst.
The cheap nightspots were as
empty as if the plague had hit.
For one man, it had.
For Janos Colescou.
Nothing!
It don't even pay to add it up.
If the spots don't buy,
Janos, they don't buy.
I tell Capone we move
300 cases a week,
we're gonna move
300 cases a week!
What if the Senate says no?
The Senate!
I told you before, it ain't
what the Senate says.
It's what Bartok says!
Well, suppose this Bartok
ain't around no more.
We got a good thing going, boss.
You don't wanna kill it, do you?
That's right.
We already got
Ness nosing around.
You're letting the Bartoks
run you off the track.
Forget it for a while.
Forget?
You gonna tell a
10-year-old kid to forget?
Ten years!
That's how old I was
when I had to watch
what they did to my father.
10 years old...
Too young to
help, too old to cry.
That was me.
I had to stand there,
watch him and
listen to him scream.
You think I'm gonna forget, huh?
Tonight.
Look, it might be tough.
Maybe the girl talks.
Suppose Ness has the
tree staked out, huh?
Tonight.
It isn't likely they'd
have posted his name
with anyone watching.
It's worth checking out.
There it is.
The wind is cold.
Get your hot chestnuts.
Good evening.
Oh, good evening.
It's cold tonight.
Cold every night.
Seems like the winters
get colder all the time.
This your regular stand?
Yes, sirree.
Ain't missed a
night in 14 years.
Maybe you can help me out.
Help you out?
Red-hot chestnuts.
Seen anyone around that tree?
See them them
put anything on it?
A paper or anything?
Can't say as I have.
But I been quittin'
early the last week or so
on account of the cold.
Fact is, I was just
about to close up now.
Paper, sir?
Why not?
Thank you, sir.
Good night.
Good night.
Chestnuts...
The wind is cold...
Get your hot chestnuts...
Get your red-hot chestnuts...
Chestnuts...
Chestnuts... Get
your red-hot chestnuts!
Chestnuts...
And now, back to
The Untouchables.
Still hoping to trace
the cheap whiskey
that had been flooding the area
to the man responsible
for Bartok's death,
Ness assigned Hobson and Rossi
to check the warehouse
for fingerprints.
They came up with nothing.
Nothing, Eliot, not a thing.
We just checked ourselves
into another blind alley.
Then we need
someone to lead us out.
Just wave a wand. Who?
The girl.
Maybe I'll go another
round with her.
Hello, Ness.
When?
You see it yourself?
No, but ask around.
Dig out anything you can.
Right.
Rossman, he's on Loomis Street.
There's another
name on the tree.
Whose?
Fedor Bartok.
Runs a market over
on Carson Street.
Pick him up, I'll
be over at the girl's.
Right.
He took the tough one.
Let's go find Bartok.
It is not right.
He should be on time.
When a man sits at
the head of the Senate...
When a man's
name is on the tree,
sometimes he
walks a crooked way.
You should have listened to me!
You should have
done what I said!
Listen to me now. I
will tell you something.
We must kill Colescou
before he kills us.
He won't stop with Fedor.
We will be next.
The Tribe will be frightened.
They will do nothing.
They will be like sheep
after Fedor is dead!
He is not dead yet.
Open up!
Open the door!
We are closed.
Go away.
Mama, it's me!
It's Fedor!
Let me in!
Go away!
I have told you!
Go away before... Mama?
Mama?
Mama?!
Mama? Mr. Bartok?
She's wrong.
We are open.
For business.
Get back! Get back!
Open up!
Open up! Federal Officers!
Check the back!
The back room is on the alley.
He was gone.
Did she see it?
I don't know.
Did you see anything?
Were you here?
Do you understand?
You can help us.
If you saw anything... Rico.
I'd better call Eliot.
You're playing with
some big boys now.
It's a pretty rough
game for a girl.
You don't know us.
We take care of ourselves.
So I've been told.
Your father's dead, your
uncle's name's on the tree.
Who did it Magda? Why?
You're a gago.
An outsider.
You couldn't understand.
Try me.
It goes back a long way.
To the old country.
To your father?
To my father's father.
He was head of the Senate then.
Our people were
camped near a little village.
An icon was stolen
from one of the homes.
An icon.
A holy statue
that should make
you clean and good.
The next morning, they
came marching into camp.
All the men from the village.
They wanted a gypsy.
And my grandfather
gave them a gypsy.
To save the others?
They dragged him
off to the square.
They tore off his
shirt and they beat him
and they hurt him.
Two days later, he died.
They killed him for
stealing a statue?
My grandfather
had a wooden chest
that he always kept locked.
His whole life,
nobody ever opened it.
They killed the wrong man.
And our people looked to
my grandfather with respect.
Hello?
For you.
Hello?
Yes, Rico.
Get her to a hospital.
Don't let anybody near her.
I'll be down as soon as I can.
Right.
Your grandmother, they've
taken her to a hospital.
She's had a bad shock.
Uncle Fedor?
My men just found him.
Who did it?
You want the price of
this to keep going up?
Who did it?
The son.
The man they killed had a son.
He has never forgiven us.
I want his name.
Colescou.
His name is... Janos Colescou.
He knows his name
is up and he's scared.
I mean, really scared.
I can feel him shaking
right through the door.
"Let me in," he says.
"Mama, Mama, let me in."
So, I let him in.
Now we hit the next one.
The next?
The girl.
I don't forget the girl.
You figuring on her, too?
I told you before...
All the Bartoks,
every one of them.
But not the girl.
The Feds are watching
her like she was pure gold.
The Feds have
gotta quit sometime.
I can wait.
All right, it's pretty
close to 1:00.
We'd better move.
November 16th, 1931, with
the death of Fedor Bartok,
Eliot Ness returned
to Karig's Cafe.
His purpose: to see Magda
Bartok take her rightful place
at the head of the table
and accordingly gain action
from the gypsy Senate.
You think the
Senate will go along?
I can't give them
any real proof.
They've got their own
ways to make a man talk.
They wouldn't
work with me before.
They'll work with you now.
They'll do what I say.
Because your name's Bartok?
Because I'll sit at
the head of the table.
They'll expect me to.
A woman?
We've got no schools, Mr. Ness.
We never learned any different.
We think that some women
are as smart as some men.
Some?
My name is Colescou.
Something you want?
With Colescou in
control of the Senate,
and with the Tribe
too terrified to talk,
Ness was forced to
move in another direction.
That night he picked
up Alex and Benno.
Convinced that Colescou
had not done the killing himself,
and suspecting that
he had delegated the job
to his torpedoes, Ness
decided to play a long shot.
We're ready now.
All right, you'll
all say one thing.
The same thing for everybody.
"She's wrong. We're
open for business."
You got that?
"She's wrong. We're
open for business."
One at a time.
You. She's wrong.
We're open for business.
Next.
She's wrong. We're
open for business.
Go on.
All right.
She's wrong. We're
open for business.
That one. Again.
The last one, repeat.
Repeat.
She's wrong. We're
open for business.
That is the voice.
That is the man.
Thank you very much.
All right, you can go.
You're going downtown.
What are you gonna do?
You won't like it.
Who is it?
Benno! Come on, open up!
What's the idea of barging in?
I need a drink.
So, go to a speak!
You'll need a drink, too.
They just picked up Alex. Who?
Ness and his boys.
They dragged me
along, but they let me go.
Why you? They had nothing on me.
They got nothing on Alex.
They got his voice.
She fingered him...
Bartok's old lady.
We tried to tell you,
Janos, them Feds are tough.
Alex is tough.
They're probably
sweating him right now.
Alex won't talk.
Won't talk?!
He's facing a murder rap, Janos.
He'll sing so loud, he'll
sound like a whole chorus.
Be glad it was me
knocking on the door.
Could just as well have
been Ness, you know.
You think he'll talk?
I think he'll talk.
Nothing.
I don't know nothing.
Then I'll tell you something.
An old woman can
see with her ears.
Better than most people
can see with their eyes.
We'll take her into court,
put her on the stand,
she'll pick you out every time.
You're in the chair, Alex.
You're roasting right now.
Unless you talk.
I got nothing to talk about.
Use your head.
Why take the rap
for somebody else?
What'd you have
against the Bartoks?
You think Colescou
would sweat for you?
Or burn?
You can't prove anything.
Don't think we can't.
We got the old woman.
We got her and we got these.
Your whole record:
Kansas City, Pittsburgh,
San Francisco, everything.
From the time you held
up your first gas station.
All the D.A.'s got to do
is to read these records
in court and the jury will
burn you four times over.
Now, who paid you to
knock over the Bartoks?!
Colescou.
It was Colescou.
I'll swear to it.
Take him to Homicide,
book him and hold him.
Tell Captain Dorset no bail.
Eliot?
You can't read a
man's record into a trial.
It's illegal, you know that.
Yeah.
Looks like he left in a hurry.
The search for Colescou
turned the town inside out.
It reached all known
hideouts in the underworld.
It probed in dark,
forgotten corners.
It was without result.
Colescou had disappeared.
For every hole we've checked,
there are a hundred more.
Colescou's hiding in
one of them, laughing.
He won't be laughing
when he comes out.
If he comes out.
He'll come out.
Who is it?
Want some chestnuts?
I told you only
if it's important.
It is important.
There's a name on the tree.
"There's a name on the
tree," and you got to tell me?
You got to come
here and maybe bring
the whole United
States Government?
Whose name?
It's hard.
It's a hard thing to say.
You take a chance and come here,
so you say it. Whose name?
Yours!
Your name is on the tree, Janos.
My name?
You didn't make a mistake?
Read it wrong maybe?
No.
I didn't make no mistake.
I didn't read it wrong.
You hear that?
You hear?
So your name's
on the lousy tree.
So what? So who do
you think put it there?
Who? Who wants to sit
at the head of the table?
Who wants my place?
Who wants to see me dead?
That's who.
Get your coat.
We ain't going out.
Get your coat.
Are you kidding, Janos?
You're asking for it. Ness'
got the town on a string.
We go out, he
picks us up for sure.
There's only one
Bartok left, that's the girl.
Then there ain't nobody
gonna stop me now.
Nobody... not Ness, not nobody.
Listen Janos, we don't
know where to look.
We don't even know where she is.
We're going to find out.
I am listening.
No, she is not here.
She's gone away.
Ah, these young ones
are always running.
To the Senate.
There is a meeting tonight.
Who is this?
Who is call...?
You did very well.
Did you know the voice?
I know that voice, even
when he was a boy.
Who? Janos Colescou.
I'm sure of it.
It could be dangerous.
You don't have to
go through with it.
We don't have much time.
We'll have to hurry.
Thanks.
It is not right.
We should not let you do this.
It's got to be settled
between him and us.
She's right.
She sits at the
head of the Senate.
Nothing yet, Eliot.
No sign of him.
That girl's hanging
by her thumbs.
I would be, too.
Think he'll show?
Well, I'll have to
go along with Eliot.
It's a pattern.
The guy has lived
with hate so long that...
Well, we should
know pretty soon.
I ain't going no further.
You don't want
to go any further.
All right.
So stay.
The alley!
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
With Colescou's death,
the shipments of
cheap whiskey stopped.
Capone had to take his
profits from somewhere else.
And the tree was
never used again.
The Senate continued to
meet and govern its people.
Although Eliot
Ness never returned
to the back room
of Karig's Cafe,
he was no longer a
gago to the gypsy people.
He was no longer an outsider.
The Untouchables.