The Untouchables (1959–1963): Season 4, Episode 1 - The Night They Shot Santa Claus - full transcript
It's Christmas eve 1930 and Eliot Ness and his men are investigating the murder of a close friend of his, Hap Levinson. The man had been playing Santa Claus at a children's orphanage and had just left when he was gunned down by a passing car. Levinson was the front man in a nightclub-speakeasy and he and Ness had spent many hours together laughing and passing the time of day. As Ness looks into his old friend's background, he learns that he may have had a girlfriend named Renée that he kept in a downtown apartment. It's readily apparent that she's a junkie and what he learns about his friend isn't pretty. Soon, mobsters are being knocked off and it seems someone is getting rid of witnesses to a crime.
(theme music plays)
WALTER WINCHELL:
Chicago, 1931.
This junkyard, beyond
a South Side dead-end street,
was the front organization
for one of the largest rackets
empires of the Prohibition era.
The man who ruled this empire
was a man who had risen in two
short, but violent, years
from a Glen Street pool room
to and underworld throne.
His formula for success:
brutality and murder.
His name: Victor Salazar.
Looks like Salazar is turning
the trucks back.
I wonder why.
It's not like him.
Every time we move in, he backs
up a little further.
Since when did Salazar
start backing up?
Well, he must have a reason.
Maybe I didn't do
the right thing, Barney,
turning all them booze trucks
around.
You got it Ness was tipped-- it
was the only move.
Oh, he stops maybe two,
three trucks,
the rest get through okay.
I like the percentages.
You keep busting through,
Ness keeps chopping away.
Percentages get smaller
and smaller.
Pretty soon,
there's nothing left.
So maybe I chop away at Ness!
That's not the answer, Victor.
I keep telling you
it ain't smart
to be spread out
the way you are.
So maybe it ain't smart,
but a piece of this,
a piece of that, it adds up.
Does it add up to $2 million?
Does it add up
to the North Side?
Does it put Chicago
right in your pocket?
Victor, one hit,
one narcotics shipment,
you got Chicago right
in the palm of your hand.
(phone rings)
That's him.
Yeah?
This is Keirson.
I just got in.
We'll pick you up.
Mohawk and 23rd, in ten minutes.
Right.
WINCHELL:
Keirson had, in his briefcase,
the information Salazar
waited for.
The time and the route
of a $2 million commercial
narcotics shipment
en route to a medical research
center in Chicago.
ANNOUNCER:
"Junk Man."
Starring Robert Stack
as Eliot Ness.
Co-starring Joe De Santis,
Edward Binns,
and Michael Constantine.
With special guest star
Pat Hingle.
And narrated
by Walter Winchell.
(sighs)
I don't get it, Lee.
There was nothing, Eliot.
Not a sign of him.
Salazar's got to make his move
or he's out of business.
He hasn't brought in a truckload
of booze in three weeks.
So, we start looking
some place else.
What about Barney Howe?
He's been moving up fast
the past few months.
He handles narcotics
for Salazar.
And closer to Salazar
than a Siamese twin.
That might be his angle.
Laying off the booze
and concentrating on narcotics.
Rico, from now on,
you stick with Barney Howe.
If he goes through one wrong
door, I want to know about it.
WINCHELL: When Keirson,
the underworld emissary,
didn't arrive
at the designated place,
Salazar called
in his enforcers.
Keirson didn't show.
I waited an hour.
He didn't show.
Two hours ago, he gets off
the El at Glen Street.
It's ten blocks
from here to there.
Now, find him.
Maybe somebody else met him.
Maybe somebody else is thinking
of hitting that shipment.
I didn't mean nothing, Vic.
What are you getting sore for?
You don't talk.
Be like Steve, here.
He don't talk, he listens.
He does like he's told.
Am I right, Steve?
He learned if you don't do like
he's told, he gets into trouble.
Bad trouble.
You don't find Keirson
out there,
I want you to turn every rat
hole in this city inside out.
But find him.
WINCHELL: Throughout the night,
the South Side district
was combed by Salazar's
strong-arm squad.
When they failed to produce
any trace of the missing
rackets' emissary,
Salazar had no alternative
but to wait for the next move
of his unknown rival.
(bell jingles)
I'd just like to look around.
Fine.
(bell jingles)
Can I help you?
Perhaps if I browse,
I'll find something I like.
Take your time.
1060 Buffalo Street,
ground floor, rear.
Is the stuff there?
It'll be there tonight.
Powder or crystal?
Crystal.
It won't be easy to convert.
I'll need money
to buy equipment.
How much stuff will there be?
150 kilos.
Where you finding
that much raw material?
What difference does that make?
(paper rustling)
It makes no difference to me,
Ballard.
Not as long as I get paid.
(piano playing jaunty tune)
(low chattering)
Barney.
Sit down.
What can I do for you?
My, my, my.
This year's been good to you,
Max.
$2 million good.
I had a good, uh, fiscal period.
What do you want, Barney?
This district's been good
to you.
You don't want to forget
who set you up here.
I don't forget.
Then if somebody else
contacted you
about a new shipment
of junk coming on the market,
you'd want Victor to know
about it, wouldn't you, Max?
You'd tell him,
wouldn't you, Max?
Listen, Barney,
I don't follow so good.
Why don't you say
what's on your mind?
-(piano playing)
-Some place else, huh, Rosie?
Hi, Barney.
Rosie.
I said, someplace else,
huh, Rosie?
(piano music continues)
That girl's been around here
too long.
She's been around
this operation too long.
Maybe one of these days
I'm going to put her
out in the street.
Victor...
had this town turned upside down
last night
trying to find that guy
that came up from the coast.
He disappeared, Max.
The one guy that knows when
that shipment's coming through,
and he-- zap-- disappeared.
You think, uh...
maybe somebody's sitting on him?
You think somebody's got ideas,
Barney?
What do you think, Max?
Listen, you tell Victor
something for me.
Mm-hmm.
I don't buy
unless it's from him.
He'll like that, Max.
But...
then you got no choice, do you?
WINCHELL: The heavily guarded
narcotics shipment,
en route to Chicago,
was on schedule.
It was transferred from a train
to the Rockdale, Illinois
station
where an armed truck would pick
it up for delivery
to the medical research center.
There were 20 minutes between
-the delivery and the pickup.
- (train whistle blows)
That was Steve Ballard's
timetable.
(explosion)
(men coughing)
(phone rings)
Yeah?
What?
When did it happen?
Yeah, Barney's here.
No, nobody does nothing
until I tell them.
We wait.
Barney, that shipment
was tonight.
Somebody knocked it over.
What do you think?
Who do you think done it?
I don't know.
(footsteps approaching)
What do you want, Ness?
I have a search warrant,
Salazar.
We'll take this place apart
if we have to.
(Salazar chuckles)
Take a look out this window.
It's the only kind of junk
you'll find around here.
-How did you know about that?
-I got a call.
You want to check the records?
I got a call,
a couple of minutes ago.
You better answer
some questions.
Don't ask me no questions, Ness.
I got no answers.
You better answer this one.
One of your hoods
was found dead at the scene.
What are you talking about?
I'm talking about Fred Santos.
I don't know no Fred Santos.
What about you, Howe?
Maybe you know him.
I asked you a question.
Don't lean on me, Ness.
Book him.
Wait a minute, on what charge?
Assault, till I can think
of a better one.
Come on, let's search it.
You think if I knocked over
that shipment,
I'd be stupid enough
to bring it here?
I don't know, Salazar.
I don't know how stupid you are.
You guys want to sit down?
There's chairs.
Come on, it don't cost nothing.
Sit down.
All right, all right, Max,
get on with it.
All right.
I figure we owe Victor something
because we made it big,
us four guys, right?
But Victor owes us something,
too.
Without us, he's got
no distribution, right?
All right,
so he provides the stuff,
we provide the outlets,
the pushers.
Everybody makes money,
everybody's happy.
Max...
why don't we just keep it
that way?
How? Ness got the squeeze
on Victor.
He's got half
his operation shut down.
What happens to us?
What happens if, uh,
somebody else comes along
with a better deal?
Pure stuff, the best.
And we, uh,
we only pay half
of what we pay Victor.
Tonight somebody hit a shipment.
A big shipment.
Max,
you wouldn't know who?
I know nothing;
I got a contact, that's all.
The guy wants an answer.
This stuff
was morphine crystals.
Every Fed in the country
will be looking for it.
And besides, like that,
it's clumsy to handle.
Uh-huh, but this guy is smart.
He's got the whole thing
figured out.
He brought a guy in special.
He tells me the way
we're gonna get this stuff,
we can move it right
under the nose
of Mr. Eliot Ness.
We'll let you know.
What do you think, Max.
They'll go along.
Set it up.
Sit down.
Thank you.
Before you didn't want to talk;
suddenly you do.
Why?
What I have to say,
I couldn't very well say
in front of Victor.
I thought if I took
a swing at you,
it might make you mad enough
to bring me in.
I'm with the Bureau
of Narcotics.
Nobody was let in on it
because that's
the way I wanted it.
There have been too many leaks.
With Salazar,
I can't afford even one.
Rico, check him.
Get his code two identification.
Right.
Oh, uh, what's the name,
the real name?
Barney Retsick.
All right, Retsick, go ahead.
In a sense, we're both working
for the same thing.
We're after the same man,
Salazar,
and I think we can help
each other bury him.
How?
Take the screws off
for a few days.
Give him a little
breathing space.
By that time,
Salazar will have that morphine
spread out to every distributor
and street corner pusher
in this district.
He doesn't have it, Ness.
Oh, he tried to hit
that shipment, all right,
but somebody beat him to it.
And that somebody
is gonna find out
that pure morphine crystals
are not practical.
They're gonna have
to be converted
to a more conventional form,
pills, caps,
before the pushers
can handle it.
How do you explain Fred Santos?
Fred knew about the guy coming
in from the coast.
Fred wasn't hard to buy.
Somebody bought him.
I've been with Salazar
long enough to know
that one way or the other,
he's gonna find out
who beat him
to that railroad station,
and when he finds out,
I'll find out.
And maybe we can put a fuse
to his whole operation.
Let me get this straight,
you want me to sit
on the sidelines
so Salazar can get to those
narcotics before we do?
Only long enough for him
to get his hands on that stuff.
Now, we can't nail him or his
distributors without possession.
That's the law.
And when that happens,
when that happens,
I'll blow the whistle
and you move in.
That's what I meant when I said
that we could help each other.
Sorry, Retsick,
it's taken me six months
to build a fire under Salazar;
he's finally squirming.
I'm not gonna pull back now.
It took me a long time, Ness.
I'd convinced Salazar that you
had him pretty well boxed in.
It wasn't smart for him to risk
his whole operation
for a few trucks of booze.
I convinced him
to put it all on the line
for that one morphine shipment.
And I was ready to jump
when he made his move.
His story checks out.
Direct from Washington.
-Thanks, Rico.
-(phone rings)
Hello, Ness.
All right.
Salazar's lawyer is downstairs.
He has a writ for your release.
What about it, Ness?
You realize
if this thing blows up,
there'll be enough narcotics
cut loose in this city
to addict everybody in it.
It is a calculated risk.
But I think it's worth it.
All right, Retsick.
I'll take the pressure off
for a few days.
Thank you.
I'll keep in touch.
♪♪
How soon before you're done,
Pegler?
Another 24 hours, perhaps.
Would you like to see
the finished product?
Yeah.
You'd never think of looking
in candy boxes.
In appearance, even a child
couldn't tell the difference.
Tomorrow night.
Just be sure they're ready.
(Jazz music plays)
(music stops)
Oh, oh.
Oh, did ... did I fall asleep?
Yeah.
(sighs)
Oh, for how long?
Couple of minutes,
maybe a half hour.
Oh, gee, I'm sorry.
Is something...
is something wrong, Steve?
Rosie...
You don't look so good.
I feel good, Steve.
I feel real good.
Yeah, yeah, you feel good.
Ah, Steve, you promised
you wouldn't.
Okay, okay.
You know, baby,
when we leave here,
I'm gonna get you cured.
Oh, Steve,
I-I heard what they do to you.
I-I don't think
I could go through that.
Would you rather keep going
the way you are?
Couple of years, they'll peel
you out of the gutter.
You rather have it that way?
I don't know, ...
I-I just know that...
the thought of it
just-just drives me crazy.
Rosie.
Rosie,
we got nobody.
We got nothing.
Victor...
Victor, he's got everything.
He sits there on top
of that pile of junk.
Hey says, "Hey, Steve,
go kill me somebody.”
A little guy,
maybe runs a delicatessen.
Very big, Victor.
You know something, Rosie?
He's scared of little people.
I don't know why.
Like he was scared of me once.
He thought I- didn't do
something he asked me to,
so he, uh,
he set me up with the cops.
I got hit.
I got hit good.
See where I got hit?
Yeah, Steve.
Now things are gonna
be different.
Now Victor
is gonna have nothing.
Oh, Steve, don't talk about it.
Not to me.
I don't want to hear about it.
Rosie, Rosie, baby,
you're the only one
I can talk to.
When are we gonna leave?
Right after the payoff.
A couple of days
if things go okay.
Rosie, baby,
we're gonna go so far away,
nobody is ever gonna find us.
It'll be just you and me.
And all the money
we can ever spend.
Rosie.
ANNOUNCER: And now,
back to The Untouchables.
(lively music playing)
(phone ringing)
Yeah?
All right, I'll be right over.
♪♪
(door closes)
(knocking)
Just talked to Pegler--
the stuff is ready.
That's good news, Steve.
Money'll be ready
tomorrow night.
I set it up for 11:00,
all right?
I don't like it.
Leaving the stuff
laying around that long.
Well, it takes time
to put together that much money.
What are you gonna do
when you get it, Steve?
Live it up?
Me and Rosie are leaving here.
I'm taking her with me
when I pick it up.
Oh, you think that's smart?
That woman is...
She goes with me!
Okay, Steve.
Okay.
Got to take Pegler to the train.
Listen, Steve,
you know, that guy...
that guy can get us
in an awful lot of trouble
if he should happen
to get picked up.
An awful lot of trouble.
I said I'm taking him.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
-Chestnuts, sir?
-Please.
What'd the lab
have to say about them?
Ten percent heroin,
nine percent simple milk sugar.
As far as they know,
they're not a commercial brand.
Homemade.
Yeah, I've seen work
like this before.
Try to check on a Pegler.
A Martin... Martin Pegler.
See if you can locate him.
You get his M.O. from
Captain Burgess, Detroit Police.
Want us to pick him up?
No, but if you find him,
you might also find
what they're looking for.
And if you do...
ask Ness if he'll hold off
till he hears from me.
You tell him
I'm just about ready
to light that fuse
we've been talking about.
I'll pass it along.
Thank you, sir.
Hey, Stevie.
It was a good job. Professional.
Ah, don't go for the gun, Steve,
you ain't gonna use it.
And don't look so worried.
If I was gonna tell Victor,
I figure I would've
told him by now,
and you'd be dead.
Why didn't you tell him?
'Cause if I go on,
it ain't gonna be with a loser.
Maybe I'm looking
for a winner, Steve.
How much?
Twenty-five percent.
You think I'm crazy?
Ha! I think you're smart!
Else, you wouldn't
have made it this far.
You know,
I can kill you, Barney.
Uh-uh.
I called Victor
on that telephone.
He's picking me up out front.
He ought to be here any minute.
I wouldn't want
to keep Victor waiting.
Would you, Steve?
Okay.
I want to be there
for the payoff.
Just to make sure.
Pick you up 10:00 tonight
outside of Max's place.
Good.
I'll be waiting.
(chuckles)
WINCHELL: A telephone call from
a South Precinct patrolman
took the federal agents
to a back alley
on the South Side.
Identification on the body
revealed the victim
to be chemist Martin Pegler.
When all of his other efforts
failed to locate
the hijacked narcotics,
Victor Salazar returned
to the strategy
that won him his throne.
His campaign was directed
for the little people
in the narcotics underworld--
the street corner pusher.
After only three hours,
these tactics bore fruit.
Hello, Henny.
Cigarette?
Who you pushing for, Henny?
S-Same as always,
Mr. Salazar-- Max.
Mm.
Things have been a...
little tight lately.
I mean, good stuff
is hard to come by.
(chuckles): I mean, you ought
to know, huh, Mr. Salazar?
No, I don't know.
You tell me.
Guess I shouldn't
ought to have said that.
Guess things are kind of
rough on you, too, huh?
I mean, every time you
turn around there's a Fed.
Yeah.
What I meant about the stuff,
Mr. Salazar,
my customers,
they know the difference.
Things are gonna get better,
huh, Mr. Salazar?
Max, he told me.
Everybody sit tight
a couple of days.
Things are gonna get better.
Max... told you that?
Yeah.
Maybe I ought to have
a talk with Max, huh?
WINCHELL:
The stamp inside the book cover
took federal agents
to the secondhand bookstore
on Glen Street.
From the proprietor,
they learned
that Martin Pegler
had arrived at the shop
the previous evening on foot.
He had come from an area
recently condemned
by city engineers.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Rossman?
How did Mr. Pegler die?
He was shot in the back.
Things are gonna get better.
How, Max?
We got no stuff coming in.
Maybe you know something
I don't know, huh?
Maybe you'll tell me
what it is, huh, Max?
I don't know what
you're talking about, Victor.
I never said nothing like that.
Offer him a chair, boys.
I ain't gonna
ask you again, Max.
I... don't know what
you want from me, Vic.
(snaps fingers)
Go on, Henny,
tell him what you told me.
Max... all-all I said was
what you told me.
"Everybody sit tight,
things are gonna get better.”
Get him out of here.
You see, Max?
Now, why you tell me you
didn't say nothing like that?
Well, uh... what I said,
that didn't...
that didn't mean nothing.
Th-That's what I meant,
Victor, nothing.
Who got the shipment, Max?
Who hit the stuff?
I'm gonna find out.
You know I'm gonna find out.
Now, you tell me,
maybe you walk out of here.
You don't tell me,
you go out on a board.
Steve Ballard!
Steve Ballard, that punk?
Him and... Fred,
they set it up.
Yeah. Yeah, Fred
wasn't that smart, but...
Steve could've done it.
What else, Max?
Tonight, 11:00, they meet Steve
and pick up the stuff.
"They"?
Monette...
Leopold...
Meyerhoff.
(Salazar chuckles)
How do you like that, Barney?
All the guys I trusted.
All the guys
I give a district to
and say, "Here, take it."
Victor's gonna make you fat.
(grunts)
Where's it gonna be?
Buffalo Street.
1060.
You go sit in the shade
for a couple of hours.
I'll take care of it from here.
Go on.
Go home.
You mean it, Vic?
Sure.
Go on.
Get out of here.
Hey.
Here you go, Max.
Hit him.
(three gunshots)
(exhales)
Get me Steve Ballard.
No. Now, wait a minute.
Victor...
Steve's got to be
at Buffalo Street tonight.
Meyerhoff, Leopold, Monette.
They're all gonna
be there tonight.
Yeah. All the guys
that double-crossed me.
You know something, Barney?
I'm gonna be there, too.
WINCHELL: Canvassing
of the condemned area
led the federal agents
to a janitor.
He reported having seen a man
answering Martin Pegler's
description
entering and leaving
the building
at 1060 Buffalo Street.
(wind whistling)
♪♪
(quietly):
Bill?
That's it, all right.
Sit on it.
I’ll call Eliot.
(wind whistling)
♪♪
(car approaches)
You stay right here.
I'll be back as soon as I can.
(car approaches)
I, uh, guess Victor forgot
to look in his own backyard.
What do you care, Monett?
I don't care,
as long as I get the stuff.
♪♪
(wind gusts)
Hello, Rosie.
Waiting for someone?
(muffled screams)
All right, boys,
take the stuff.
You're a rich man, Ballard.
Very rich man.
You crumbs don't buy from me,
you don't buy.
(gun shots)
Salazar, you're covered.
NESS:
Come on out.
(gun shot)
Barney...
(rapid gunfire outside)
Barney, I...
I knew I should've killed you.
Oh, Steve. Steve.
Oh, Steve. No.
(crying):
No. No.
(crying)
(gunfire)
Pin him down.
(gunfire continues)
Rico, cover us.
(gunfire)
(wind whistling)
Drop that gun.
Drop it.
(wind whistling)
Come on, move!
All right, come on, move, move!
There he is, Retsick.
Doesn't make any difference now
whether he's with possession
or not.
No, it doesn't.
WINCHELL:
The death of Victor Salazar
marked the end of a major
narcotics push in Chicago.
Narcotics expert Retsick
arranged
for Steve Ballard's
girlfriend Rosie
to be committed
to a clinic for treatment.
Retsick left Chicago
with distinction.
He conned the underworld
successfully,
and he got away with it.
WALTER WINCHELL:
Chicago, 1931.
This junkyard, beyond
a South Side dead-end street,
was the front organization
for one of the largest rackets
empires of the Prohibition era.
The man who ruled this empire
was a man who had risen in two
short, but violent, years
from a Glen Street pool room
to and underworld throne.
His formula for success:
brutality and murder.
His name: Victor Salazar.
Looks like Salazar is turning
the trucks back.
I wonder why.
It's not like him.
Every time we move in, he backs
up a little further.
Since when did Salazar
start backing up?
Well, he must have a reason.
Maybe I didn't do
the right thing, Barney,
turning all them booze trucks
around.
You got it Ness was tipped-- it
was the only move.
Oh, he stops maybe two,
three trucks,
the rest get through okay.
I like the percentages.
You keep busting through,
Ness keeps chopping away.
Percentages get smaller
and smaller.
Pretty soon,
there's nothing left.
So maybe I chop away at Ness!
That's not the answer, Victor.
I keep telling you
it ain't smart
to be spread out
the way you are.
So maybe it ain't smart,
but a piece of this,
a piece of that, it adds up.
Does it add up to $2 million?
Does it add up
to the North Side?
Does it put Chicago
right in your pocket?
Victor, one hit,
one narcotics shipment,
you got Chicago right
in the palm of your hand.
(phone rings)
That's him.
Yeah?
This is Keirson.
I just got in.
We'll pick you up.
Mohawk and 23rd, in ten minutes.
Right.
WINCHELL:
Keirson had, in his briefcase,
the information Salazar
waited for.
The time and the route
of a $2 million commercial
narcotics shipment
en route to a medical research
center in Chicago.
ANNOUNCER:
"Junk Man."
Starring Robert Stack
as Eliot Ness.
Co-starring Joe De Santis,
Edward Binns,
and Michael Constantine.
With special guest star
Pat Hingle.
And narrated
by Walter Winchell.
(sighs)
I don't get it, Lee.
There was nothing, Eliot.
Not a sign of him.
Salazar's got to make his move
or he's out of business.
He hasn't brought in a truckload
of booze in three weeks.
So, we start looking
some place else.
What about Barney Howe?
He's been moving up fast
the past few months.
He handles narcotics
for Salazar.
And closer to Salazar
than a Siamese twin.
That might be his angle.
Laying off the booze
and concentrating on narcotics.
Rico, from now on,
you stick with Barney Howe.
If he goes through one wrong
door, I want to know about it.
WINCHELL: When Keirson,
the underworld emissary,
didn't arrive
at the designated place,
Salazar called
in his enforcers.
Keirson didn't show.
I waited an hour.
He didn't show.
Two hours ago, he gets off
the El at Glen Street.
It's ten blocks
from here to there.
Now, find him.
Maybe somebody else met him.
Maybe somebody else is thinking
of hitting that shipment.
I didn't mean nothing, Vic.
What are you getting sore for?
You don't talk.
Be like Steve, here.
He don't talk, he listens.
He does like he's told.
Am I right, Steve?
He learned if you don't do like
he's told, he gets into trouble.
Bad trouble.
You don't find Keirson
out there,
I want you to turn every rat
hole in this city inside out.
But find him.
WINCHELL: Throughout the night,
the South Side district
was combed by Salazar's
strong-arm squad.
When they failed to produce
any trace of the missing
rackets' emissary,
Salazar had no alternative
but to wait for the next move
of his unknown rival.
(bell jingles)
I'd just like to look around.
Fine.
(bell jingles)
Can I help you?
Perhaps if I browse,
I'll find something I like.
Take your time.
1060 Buffalo Street,
ground floor, rear.
Is the stuff there?
It'll be there tonight.
Powder or crystal?
Crystal.
It won't be easy to convert.
I'll need money
to buy equipment.
How much stuff will there be?
150 kilos.
Where you finding
that much raw material?
What difference does that make?
(paper rustling)
It makes no difference to me,
Ballard.
Not as long as I get paid.
(piano playing jaunty tune)
(low chattering)
Barney.
Sit down.
What can I do for you?
My, my, my.
This year's been good to you,
Max.
$2 million good.
I had a good, uh, fiscal period.
What do you want, Barney?
This district's been good
to you.
You don't want to forget
who set you up here.
I don't forget.
Then if somebody else
contacted you
about a new shipment
of junk coming on the market,
you'd want Victor to know
about it, wouldn't you, Max?
You'd tell him,
wouldn't you, Max?
Listen, Barney,
I don't follow so good.
Why don't you say
what's on your mind?
-(piano playing)
-Some place else, huh, Rosie?
Hi, Barney.
Rosie.
I said, someplace else,
huh, Rosie?
(piano music continues)
That girl's been around here
too long.
She's been around
this operation too long.
Maybe one of these days
I'm going to put her
out in the street.
Victor...
had this town turned upside down
last night
trying to find that guy
that came up from the coast.
He disappeared, Max.
The one guy that knows when
that shipment's coming through,
and he-- zap-- disappeared.
You think, uh...
maybe somebody's sitting on him?
You think somebody's got ideas,
Barney?
What do you think, Max?
Listen, you tell Victor
something for me.
Mm-hmm.
I don't buy
unless it's from him.
He'll like that, Max.
But...
then you got no choice, do you?
WINCHELL: The heavily guarded
narcotics shipment,
en route to Chicago,
was on schedule.
It was transferred from a train
to the Rockdale, Illinois
station
where an armed truck would pick
it up for delivery
to the medical research center.
There were 20 minutes between
-the delivery and the pickup.
- (train whistle blows)
That was Steve Ballard's
timetable.
(explosion)
(men coughing)
(phone rings)
Yeah?
What?
When did it happen?
Yeah, Barney's here.
No, nobody does nothing
until I tell them.
We wait.
Barney, that shipment
was tonight.
Somebody knocked it over.
What do you think?
Who do you think done it?
I don't know.
(footsteps approaching)
What do you want, Ness?
I have a search warrant,
Salazar.
We'll take this place apart
if we have to.
(Salazar chuckles)
Take a look out this window.
It's the only kind of junk
you'll find around here.
-How did you know about that?
-I got a call.
You want to check the records?
I got a call,
a couple of minutes ago.
You better answer
some questions.
Don't ask me no questions, Ness.
I got no answers.
You better answer this one.
One of your hoods
was found dead at the scene.
What are you talking about?
I'm talking about Fred Santos.
I don't know no Fred Santos.
What about you, Howe?
Maybe you know him.
I asked you a question.
Don't lean on me, Ness.
Book him.
Wait a minute, on what charge?
Assault, till I can think
of a better one.
Come on, let's search it.
You think if I knocked over
that shipment,
I'd be stupid enough
to bring it here?
I don't know, Salazar.
I don't know how stupid you are.
You guys want to sit down?
There's chairs.
Come on, it don't cost nothing.
Sit down.
All right, all right, Max,
get on with it.
All right.
I figure we owe Victor something
because we made it big,
us four guys, right?
But Victor owes us something,
too.
Without us, he's got
no distribution, right?
All right,
so he provides the stuff,
we provide the outlets,
the pushers.
Everybody makes money,
everybody's happy.
Max...
why don't we just keep it
that way?
How? Ness got the squeeze
on Victor.
He's got half
his operation shut down.
What happens to us?
What happens if, uh,
somebody else comes along
with a better deal?
Pure stuff, the best.
And we, uh,
we only pay half
of what we pay Victor.
Tonight somebody hit a shipment.
A big shipment.
Max,
you wouldn't know who?
I know nothing;
I got a contact, that's all.
The guy wants an answer.
This stuff
was morphine crystals.
Every Fed in the country
will be looking for it.
And besides, like that,
it's clumsy to handle.
Uh-huh, but this guy is smart.
He's got the whole thing
figured out.
He brought a guy in special.
He tells me the way
we're gonna get this stuff,
we can move it right
under the nose
of Mr. Eliot Ness.
We'll let you know.
What do you think, Max.
They'll go along.
Set it up.
Sit down.
Thank you.
Before you didn't want to talk;
suddenly you do.
Why?
What I have to say,
I couldn't very well say
in front of Victor.
I thought if I took
a swing at you,
it might make you mad enough
to bring me in.
I'm with the Bureau
of Narcotics.
Nobody was let in on it
because that's
the way I wanted it.
There have been too many leaks.
With Salazar,
I can't afford even one.
Rico, check him.
Get his code two identification.
Right.
Oh, uh, what's the name,
the real name?
Barney Retsick.
All right, Retsick, go ahead.
In a sense, we're both working
for the same thing.
We're after the same man,
Salazar,
and I think we can help
each other bury him.
How?
Take the screws off
for a few days.
Give him a little
breathing space.
By that time,
Salazar will have that morphine
spread out to every distributor
and street corner pusher
in this district.
He doesn't have it, Ness.
Oh, he tried to hit
that shipment, all right,
but somebody beat him to it.
And that somebody
is gonna find out
that pure morphine crystals
are not practical.
They're gonna have
to be converted
to a more conventional form,
pills, caps,
before the pushers
can handle it.
How do you explain Fred Santos?
Fred knew about the guy coming
in from the coast.
Fred wasn't hard to buy.
Somebody bought him.
I've been with Salazar
long enough to know
that one way or the other,
he's gonna find out
who beat him
to that railroad station,
and when he finds out,
I'll find out.
And maybe we can put a fuse
to his whole operation.
Let me get this straight,
you want me to sit
on the sidelines
so Salazar can get to those
narcotics before we do?
Only long enough for him
to get his hands on that stuff.
Now, we can't nail him or his
distributors without possession.
That's the law.
And when that happens,
when that happens,
I'll blow the whistle
and you move in.
That's what I meant when I said
that we could help each other.
Sorry, Retsick,
it's taken me six months
to build a fire under Salazar;
he's finally squirming.
I'm not gonna pull back now.
It took me a long time, Ness.
I'd convinced Salazar that you
had him pretty well boxed in.
It wasn't smart for him to risk
his whole operation
for a few trucks of booze.
I convinced him
to put it all on the line
for that one morphine shipment.
And I was ready to jump
when he made his move.
His story checks out.
Direct from Washington.
-Thanks, Rico.
-(phone rings)
Hello, Ness.
All right.
Salazar's lawyer is downstairs.
He has a writ for your release.
What about it, Ness?
You realize
if this thing blows up,
there'll be enough narcotics
cut loose in this city
to addict everybody in it.
It is a calculated risk.
But I think it's worth it.
All right, Retsick.
I'll take the pressure off
for a few days.
Thank you.
I'll keep in touch.
♪♪
How soon before you're done,
Pegler?
Another 24 hours, perhaps.
Would you like to see
the finished product?
Yeah.
You'd never think of looking
in candy boxes.
In appearance, even a child
couldn't tell the difference.
Tomorrow night.
Just be sure they're ready.
(Jazz music plays)
(music stops)
Oh, oh.
Oh, did ... did I fall asleep?
Yeah.
(sighs)
Oh, for how long?
Couple of minutes,
maybe a half hour.
Oh, gee, I'm sorry.
Is something...
is something wrong, Steve?
Rosie...
You don't look so good.
I feel good, Steve.
I feel real good.
Yeah, yeah, you feel good.
Ah, Steve, you promised
you wouldn't.
Okay, okay.
You know, baby,
when we leave here,
I'm gonna get you cured.
Oh, Steve,
I-I heard what they do to you.
I-I don't think
I could go through that.
Would you rather keep going
the way you are?
Couple of years, they'll peel
you out of the gutter.
You rather have it that way?
I don't know, ...
I-I just know that...
the thought of it
just-just drives me crazy.
Rosie.
Rosie,
we got nobody.
We got nothing.
Victor...
Victor, he's got everything.
He sits there on top
of that pile of junk.
Hey says, "Hey, Steve,
go kill me somebody.”
A little guy,
maybe runs a delicatessen.
Very big, Victor.
You know something, Rosie?
He's scared of little people.
I don't know why.
Like he was scared of me once.
He thought I- didn't do
something he asked me to,
so he, uh,
he set me up with the cops.
I got hit.
I got hit good.
See where I got hit?
Yeah, Steve.
Now things are gonna
be different.
Now Victor
is gonna have nothing.
Oh, Steve, don't talk about it.
Not to me.
I don't want to hear about it.
Rosie, Rosie, baby,
you're the only one
I can talk to.
When are we gonna leave?
Right after the payoff.
A couple of days
if things go okay.
Rosie, baby,
we're gonna go so far away,
nobody is ever gonna find us.
It'll be just you and me.
And all the money
we can ever spend.
Rosie.
ANNOUNCER: And now,
back to The Untouchables.
(lively music playing)
(phone ringing)
Yeah?
All right, I'll be right over.
♪♪
(door closes)
(knocking)
Just talked to Pegler--
the stuff is ready.
That's good news, Steve.
Money'll be ready
tomorrow night.
I set it up for 11:00,
all right?
I don't like it.
Leaving the stuff
laying around that long.
Well, it takes time
to put together that much money.
What are you gonna do
when you get it, Steve?
Live it up?
Me and Rosie are leaving here.
I'm taking her with me
when I pick it up.
Oh, you think that's smart?
That woman is...
She goes with me!
Okay, Steve.
Okay.
Got to take Pegler to the train.
Listen, Steve,
you know, that guy...
that guy can get us
in an awful lot of trouble
if he should happen
to get picked up.
An awful lot of trouble.
I said I'm taking him.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
-Chestnuts, sir?
-Please.
What'd the lab
have to say about them?
Ten percent heroin,
nine percent simple milk sugar.
As far as they know,
they're not a commercial brand.
Homemade.
Yeah, I've seen work
like this before.
Try to check on a Pegler.
A Martin... Martin Pegler.
See if you can locate him.
You get his M.O. from
Captain Burgess, Detroit Police.
Want us to pick him up?
No, but if you find him,
you might also find
what they're looking for.
And if you do...
ask Ness if he'll hold off
till he hears from me.
You tell him
I'm just about ready
to light that fuse
we've been talking about.
I'll pass it along.
Thank you, sir.
Hey, Stevie.
It was a good job. Professional.
Ah, don't go for the gun, Steve,
you ain't gonna use it.
And don't look so worried.
If I was gonna tell Victor,
I figure I would've
told him by now,
and you'd be dead.
Why didn't you tell him?
'Cause if I go on,
it ain't gonna be with a loser.
Maybe I'm looking
for a winner, Steve.
How much?
Twenty-five percent.
You think I'm crazy?
Ha! I think you're smart!
Else, you wouldn't
have made it this far.
You know,
I can kill you, Barney.
Uh-uh.
I called Victor
on that telephone.
He's picking me up out front.
He ought to be here any minute.
I wouldn't want
to keep Victor waiting.
Would you, Steve?
Okay.
I want to be there
for the payoff.
Just to make sure.
Pick you up 10:00 tonight
outside of Max's place.
Good.
I'll be waiting.
(chuckles)
WINCHELL: A telephone call from
a South Precinct patrolman
took the federal agents
to a back alley
on the South Side.
Identification on the body
revealed the victim
to be chemist Martin Pegler.
When all of his other efforts
failed to locate
the hijacked narcotics,
Victor Salazar returned
to the strategy
that won him his throne.
His campaign was directed
for the little people
in the narcotics underworld--
the street corner pusher.
After only three hours,
these tactics bore fruit.
Hello, Henny.
Cigarette?
Who you pushing for, Henny?
S-Same as always,
Mr. Salazar-- Max.
Mm.
Things have been a...
little tight lately.
I mean, good stuff
is hard to come by.
(chuckles): I mean, you ought
to know, huh, Mr. Salazar?
No, I don't know.
You tell me.
Guess I shouldn't
ought to have said that.
Guess things are kind of
rough on you, too, huh?
I mean, every time you
turn around there's a Fed.
Yeah.
What I meant about the stuff,
Mr. Salazar,
my customers,
they know the difference.
Things are gonna get better,
huh, Mr. Salazar?
Max, he told me.
Everybody sit tight
a couple of days.
Things are gonna get better.
Max... told you that?
Yeah.
Maybe I ought to have
a talk with Max, huh?
WINCHELL:
The stamp inside the book cover
took federal agents
to the secondhand bookstore
on Glen Street.
From the proprietor,
they learned
that Martin Pegler
had arrived at the shop
the previous evening on foot.
He had come from an area
recently condemned
by city engineers.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Rossman?
How did Mr. Pegler die?
He was shot in the back.
Things are gonna get better.
How, Max?
We got no stuff coming in.
Maybe you know something
I don't know, huh?
Maybe you'll tell me
what it is, huh, Max?
I don't know what
you're talking about, Victor.
I never said nothing like that.
Offer him a chair, boys.
I ain't gonna
ask you again, Max.
I... don't know what
you want from me, Vic.
(snaps fingers)
Go on, Henny,
tell him what you told me.
Max... all-all I said was
what you told me.
"Everybody sit tight,
things are gonna get better.”
Get him out of here.
You see, Max?
Now, why you tell me you
didn't say nothing like that?
Well, uh... what I said,
that didn't...
that didn't mean nothing.
Th-That's what I meant,
Victor, nothing.
Who got the shipment, Max?
Who hit the stuff?
I'm gonna find out.
You know I'm gonna find out.
Now, you tell me,
maybe you walk out of here.
You don't tell me,
you go out on a board.
Steve Ballard!
Steve Ballard, that punk?
Him and... Fred,
they set it up.
Yeah. Yeah, Fred
wasn't that smart, but...
Steve could've done it.
What else, Max?
Tonight, 11:00, they meet Steve
and pick up the stuff.
"They"?
Monette...
Leopold...
Meyerhoff.
(Salazar chuckles)
How do you like that, Barney?
All the guys I trusted.
All the guys
I give a district to
and say, "Here, take it."
Victor's gonna make you fat.
(grunts)
Where's it gonna be?
Buffalo Street.
1060.
You go sit in the shade
for a couple of hours.
I'll take care of it from here.
Go on.
Go home.
You mean it, Vic?
Sure.
Go on.
Get out of here.
Hey.
Here you go, Max.
Hit him.
(three gunshots)
(exhales)
Get me Steve Ballard.
No. Now, wait a minute.
Victor...
Steve's got to be
at Buffalo Street tonight.
Meyerhoff, Leopold, Monette.
They're all gonna
be there tonight.
Yeah. All the guys
that double-crossed me.
You know something, Barney?
I'm gonna be there, too.
WINCHELL: Canvassing
of the condemned area
led the federal agents
to a janitor.
He reported having seen a man
answering Martin Pegler's
description
entering and leaving
the building
at 1060 Buffalo Street.
(wind whistling)
♪♪
(quietly):
Bill?
That's it, all right.
Sit on it.
I’ll call Eliot.
(wind whistling)
♪♪
(car approaches)
You stay right here.
I'll be back as soon as I can.
(car approaches)
I, uh, guess Victor forgot
to look in his own backyard.
What do you care, Monett?
I don't care,
as long as I get the stuff.
♪♪
(wind gusts)
Hello, Rosie.
Waiting for someone?
(muffled screams)
All right, boys,
take the stuff.
You're a rich man, Ballard.
Very rich man.
You crumbs don't buy from me,
you don't buy.
(gun shots)
Salazar, you're covered.
NESS:
Come on out.
(gun shot)
Barney...
(rapid gunfire outside)
Barney, I...
I knew I should've killed you.
Oh, Steve. Steve.
Oh, Steve. No.
(crying):
No. No.
(crying)
(gunfire)
Pin him down.
(gunfire continues)
Rico, cover us.
(gunfire)
(wind whistling)
Drop that gun.
Drop it.
(wind whistling)
Come on, move!
All right, come on, move, move!
There he is, Retsick.
Doesn't make any difference now
whether he's with possession
or not.
No, it doesn't.
WINCHELL:
The death of Victor Salazar
marked the end of a major
narcotics push in Chicago.
Narcotics expert Retsick
arranged
for Steve Ballard's
girlfriend Rosie
to be committed
to a clinic for treatment.
Retsick left Chicago
with distinction.
He conned the underworld
successfully,
and he got away with it.