The Untouchables

The Untouchables (1959)
The Untouchables
Format	Crime / Drama
Starring	Robert Stack Abel Fernandez Nicholas Georgiade Paul Picerni Steve London Bruce Gordon Neville Brand
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	118 & 2-part pilot
Production
Running time	60 minutes per episode
Distributor	Paramount Television CBS Paramount Television CBS Television Distribution
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Original run	October 15, 1959 – May 21, 1963

The Untouchables is a television series that ran from 1959 to 1963 on the American Broadcasting Company. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a special team of agents handpicked for their courage and incorruptibility, nicknamed the Untouchables. It was remade into a 1987 film by Brian De Palma also called The Untouchables, with a script by David Mamet.

Series overview

The stories often revolved around Ness' enmity with the criminal empire of Chicago mob boss Al Capone, and many focused on crimes related to Prohibition. The show starred Robert Stack as Eliot Ness and Neville Brand as Al Capone, and was narrated by Walter Winchell. The show drew harsh criticism from some Italian-Americans including Frank Sinatra^[1], who felt it promoted negative stereotypes of them as mobsters and gangsters. The Capone family sued the show for $1,000,000 for its unauthorized use of Al Capone's likeness for profit.

The series had 118 episodes which ran 50 minutes each. Though the book it was based on chronicled the experiences of Ness and his cohorts over a span of time ranging from 1929 to 1935, the overwhelming majority of episodes were set in the early 1930s (for example, one episode, You Can't Play This Number, begins with Winchell's words, "October 1932 ... the depths of the Depression"). A few episodes were set primarily in a locale other than Chicago (such as the one dealing with the shootout involving Ma Barker and her gang). The theme music was by Nelson Riddle.

Similar to The Untouchables was the NBC series The Lawless Years starring James Gregory, a half-hour crime drama set in the 1920s which ran between 1959 and 1961. The Lawless Years actually preceded The Untouchables by a half-season, but did not enjoy Untouchables-level success .

The other Untouchables were played by:

• Abel Fernandez as Agt. William Youngfellow
• Nick Georgiade as Agt. Enrico "Rico" Rossi
• Paul Picerni as Agt. Lee Hobson, (2nd season on)
• Steve London as Agt. Jack Rossman [1] *
• Jerry Paris as Agt. Martin Flaherty, (1st season only)
• Chuck Hicks as Agt. LaMarr Kane (1st season only)
• Anthony George as Agt. Cam Allison, (1st season only)

Other recurrent actors were:

• Bruce Gordon as Frank Nitti and
• Frank Dekova as Jimmy Napoli
• Announcer: Les Lampson - Very distinctive dramatic voice.
• Narrator: Walter Winchell .

* Contrary to popular belief, Steve London's character of Untouchable Jack Rossman (played in the "Scarface Mob" pilot by Paul Dubov), was in the series since the original season 1 series episode, "The Empty Chair", not from Season 2 on as is commonly reported.

Guest stars

Notable guest-star in selected episodes:

• Claire Trevor in episode 1.2 "Ma Baker and Her Boys"
• Jack Lord in episode 1.3 "The Jake Lingle Killing"
• Francis De Sales in episodes 1.23 "Three Thousand Suspects" and 2.9 "The Larry Fay Story"
• Robert Karnes (also a co-star of The Lawless Years) in episodes 2.9 "The Larry Fay Story" and 4.15 "Snowball"
• Lee Marvin, James Caan and Roy Thinnes in episode 4.10 "A Fist of Five"
• Mike Connors in episode 4.7 "The Eddie O'Gara Story"
• Martin Balsam in episodes 3.3 "Tunnel of Horrors" and 3.21 "Man in the Middle"
• Peter Falk in episodes 1.26 "The Underworld Bank" and 3.1 "The Troubleshooter"
• Gregg Palmer as Paul Di Marco in episode 2.12 "The Big Train: Part 1"
• Telly Savalas in episodes 2.20 "The Antidote", 3.5 "The Matt Bass Scheme" and 4.14 "The Speculator"
• Russ Conway in episodes 2.12 and 2.13 "The Big Train", 2.25 "Mr. Moon"
• Lee Van Cleef in episode 1.20 "The Unhired Assassin"
• Herbie Faye in episode 3.12 as Lefty in "Fall Guy"
• Charles Bronson in episode 3.16 "The Death Tree"
• Barbara Stanwyck in episodes 4.8 "Elegy" and 4.13 "Search for a Dead Man"
• Robert Redford in episode 4.15 "Snowball"
• Robert Duvall in episode 4.17 "Blues for a Gone Goose"
• Elizabeth Montgomery as Rusty Heller (for which she received an Emmy Award nomination) (1960)

The series aired on Thursdays during its first three seasons and was switched to Tuesday evenings for its final season. It aired at 9:30 Eastern each season except for the third season, when it was placed at the 10 p.m. slot after the failed sitcom Margie, starring Cynthia Pepper.

Episode summaries

Season 1Notable Episodes

"The Empty Chair" 

Frank Nitti and Jake Guzik square off to see who will sit in Capone's seat of power with the crime lord behind bars. Meanwhile, Eliot Ness hires a new Untouchable, a barber named Enrico Rossi, who witnessed a hit by Nitti.

"Ma Barker & Her Boys" 

Ness and his men trace the notorious Ma Barker and two of her sons to their Florida hideaway, which results in a long and bloody gun battle.

"The Jake Lingle Story" 

After an ace reporter is murdered, a bounty hunter offers to give Ness information about mobster Barney Bershe as long as Ness gives him information on all that the Untouchables know about the reporter's murder. But Ness is suspicious of the bounty hunter's motives.

"The George "Bugs" Moran Story" 

Capone's archrival Bugs Moran decides to enter labor racketeering and tries to take over a truck drivers' union. In order to do so, he kidnaps the son of labor leader Larry Halloran, then illegally pressures the Patterson firm to sign a contract.

"Ain't We Got Fun" 

With the demise of Prohibition in the offing, Big Jim Harrington concocts a plan to get rid of his immense supply of whiskey.

"The Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll Story" 

Maverick gangster "Mad Dog" Coll stirs up the New York underworld and his arch rival Dutch Schultz by openly defying them. He decides to wreak havoc on underworld betting by shooting the Kentucky Derby favorite with a high-powered rifle during the famous race.

"Mexican Stake Out" 

A mobster facing testimony that could convict him kidnaps the witness and hides him away somewhere in Mexico. Ness and a special agent team up to rescue the witness. But then the agent is also kidnapped and Ness must find both the witness and the agent before the mobster's hitmen do.

"The Artichoke King" 

Mobster Ciro Terranova, known as "The Artichoke King", makes a gambit to shake down New York's fruit and vegetable dealers, and Ness must travel to the Big Apple to thwart this underworld plot.

"The Tri-State Gang" 

Ness declares war on a gang terrorizing Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. The gang leader not only hijacks trucks but also shoots their drivers. When the Untouchables manage to drive the gang apart, the leader kidnaps a bookie and holds him for ransom. Untouchables agent LaMarr Kane (Chuck Hicks) is killed in this episode .

"The Dutch Schultz Story" 

Ness wants to prosecute Schultz for fraud. Schultz manages to get the trial moved to a small town, where he hopes to win the townspeople over to his side with promises of money and power. With Schultz temporarily out of the way, Lucky Luciano plots to take over New York.

"You Can't Pick The Number" 

A friend of one of the Untouchables gets mixed up in the numbers racket. When he gets in trouble with the syndicate leaders, the Untouchable (Martin "Marty" Flaharty),tries to convince his friend and his son to turn evidence over to Ness. They refuse. The father is killed, and the son decides to lead Ness to the headquarters of the numbers racket.

"Underground Railway" 

A gangster escapes prison and uses a syndicated escape route to travel across the U.S. in the company of a woman pretending to be his wife. The gangster undergoes plastic surgery and dental alterations so that neither the Untouchables nor his underworld rivals can recognize him.

"Syndicate Sanctuary" 

When Judge Zabo, the reform candidate for mayor of a small Illinois city, is gunned down by the mob, Ness steps in to prevent Guido Morelli from turning the town into a wide-open sanctuary where gambling and vice proliferate.

"The Noise of Death" 

An aging mob boss squares off against a younger gangster, who has the support of Chicago's top bosses. Ness uses the elder gangster's predicament to his advantage and tries to convince him to confess before the mob kills him.

"Star Witness" 

An accountant retires from mob employment but is soon set up for a hit by his former boss because of his inside information. He agrees to testify and Ness and his men must guard the accountant and his family.

"The Saint Louis Story" 

A nightclub owner tries to take over that city's rival gangs by hijacking a U.S. mail truck and stealing over a million dollars. Ness must work with a corrupt police lieutenant who could be a key to stopping the nightclub owner.

"One-Armed Bandit" 

A former mobster sent to prison by Ness is released and vows to go straight. But another mobster blackmails him into an illegal gambling racket and then orders him to kill Ness.

"Little Egypt" 

A southern Illinois town is dominated by a mobster and his thugs. A new Untouchable manages to infiltrate the gang but is soon discovered sending messages via carrier pigeons.

"The Big Squeeze" 

Ness crosses swords with a crafty bank robber who refuses the company of women, saying they would ruin his business. But during a trip to Florida he meets a woman whom he falls in love with.

"The Unhired Assassin" 

Frank Nitti plans to assassinate Chicago's mayor, Anton Cermak. Cermak is shot and killed in Miami Beach while appearing alongside President Franklin Roosevelt, but it's not Nitti who fires the fatal bullets.

"The White Slavers" 

A Capone lieutenant in charge of prostitution recruits young girls from Mexico with promises of a better life in the U.S. When a truck carrying the girls is stopped, the women are ordered massacred. Ness joins forces with a local madam to battle the gangster, and soon the girls themselves organize a union to battle their evil employer.

"Three Thousand Suspects" 

A mobster is murdered in prison and Ness orders another convict to flush out the killers.

"The Doreen Maney Story" 

Loosely based on the story of Bonnie and Clyde, a man and a woman lead a notorious gang of bank robbers. Ness and his men capture and woman and take her cross country to jail.

"Portrait of a Thief" 

Despite the Depression, the illegal alcohol traffic in Chicago thrives, thanks in large part to Capone's mentor, Johnny Torrio, and two mysterious men who are not all that they seem.

"The Underworld Bank" 

The underworld sets up its own bank to finance illegal activities. A petty crook falls in love with the niece of a mob boss and plans to marry her. When he doesn't get the full cut of a heist, he decides upon revenge.

"Head of Fire, Feet of Clay" 

Ness attempts to put a boxing racketeer out of business. He recruits an old high school friend for assistance, but Ness's buddy may not be as honest as Ness thought.

"The Frank Nitti Story" 

Prohibition is coming to an end, and Nitti tries to shake down the motion picture industry. Threats and violence are used to keep theater owners at bay. When a fellow Untouchable ( Agent Cam Allison, played by Anthony George) is killed, Ness becomes more determined to end Nitti's career.

Full Episode List

Season 1

Season 1, Episode 1: The Empty Chair Original Air Date—15 October 1959 With Capone in prison, Frank Nitti tries to grab the open top spot in the empire. But Capone's bookkeeper is giving him a run for his money.

Season 1, Episode 2: Ma Barker and Her Boys Original Air Date—22 October 1959 Ness has tracked down the notorious bank robber Ma Barker, a woman who turned her back on religion in order to lead a life of crime with her sons.

Season 1, Episode 3: The Jake Lingle Killing Original Air Date—29 October 1959 A newspaperman is murdered for double-crossing some mobsters. So a reward-seeking ex-con decides to work with Ness and find the killer.

Season 1, Episode 4: The George 'Bugs' Moran Story Original Air Date—5 November 1959 Ness tries to get the influential president of a truckers union to stop mobster "Bugs" Moran and his crime syndicate from infiltrating the labor unions.

Season 1, Episode 5: Ain't We Got Fun Original Air Date—12 November 1959 A successful bootlegger seizes control of a nightclub and takes its brash young comic under his wing, promising to make him a star.

Season 1, Episode 6: Vincent 'Mad Dog' Coll Original Air Date—19 November 1959 A deranged gangster kidnaps the right-hand man of mobster Dutch Schultz, then steals the horse Schultz was planning to bet on in the Kentucky Derby.

Season 1, Episode 7: Mexican Stake-Out Original Air Date—26 November 1959 Eliot Ness is lured south of the border to retrieve a witness who will help his case. Only it's a set-up...once there, the mobster on trial is planning to have Ness killed.

Season 1, Episode 8: The Artichoke King Original Air Date—3 December 1959 A gangster who controls the produce market in New York has a colleague bumped off. But when the hit man he hired gets greedy, he has to get rid of him too.

Season 1, Episode 9: The Tri-State Gang Original Air Date—10 December 1959 A notorious gang that hijacks trucks is unstoppable...until one of its members falls for a young French woman who can identify their leader.

Season 1, Episode 10: The Dutch Schultz Story Original Air Date—17 December 1959 After Dutch Schultz gets his income tax evasion trial moved to a quiet town, he starts to have a positive effect on its citizens and eventually sways the jury.

Season 1, Episode 11: You Can't Pick the Number Original Air Date—24 December 1959 Eliot Ness and the Untouchables set their sights shutting down the numbers racket. The numbers are like a lottery where anyone can place a bet of up to one dollar on a three digit number. The payout for a full dollar bet is $600 so the profit for the mob, who run the racket, is the remaining 40%. Ness wants to shut down that cash flow which can be used for more heinous crimes. They think they may have an in when one of Al Morrissey's collectors is stabbed. Ness pressures Agent Marty Flaherty to make contact with Morrissey, an old friend who once saved his life. Before he can do anything, the Chicago police arrest Morrissey for gambling violations and Marty focuses on Al's son, Phil Morrissey but with little luck until his father pays the price for being connected to the mob.

Season 1, Episode 12: The Underground Railway Original Air Date—31 December 1959

Season 1, Episode 13: Syndicate Sanctuary Original Air Date—7 January 1960 With Al Capone out of the way, the mob is looking to relocate its base of operations outside of Chicago in a nearby community. Their first step is to get rid of the incorruptible mayoral candidate, Judge Leon Zabo, who they run down in the street. The Coroner's inquest is a sham and it is obvious that the Chief of Police, who appoints the Coroner, is already in the syndicate's pocket. Ness and his men move into the town intent on shutting the mob down before they even get started but the Untouchables find that they also have to protect the dead Judge's daughter, Rosetta Zabo, who has taken up his anti-corruption campaign.

Season 1, Episode 14: The Noise of Death Original Air Date—14 January 1960 When Eliot Ness and Agent Martin Flaherty raid a small butcher shop looking for illegal liquor, they find more the cheap booze: they find the body of the store's owner, Arturo Vittorini, in the meat locker. The dead man's wife Barbara accuses the neighborhood Mafia chief, Joe Bucco, of ordering the killing. Bucco denies having anything to do with it - the dead man was his wife's cousin - but is pretty sure his collector, Little Charlie Sebastino, is responsible. He also learns to his shock and dismay that the Mafia hierarchy has pushed him out and Little Charlie has been named as his replacement. Bucco strikes back and sabotages Sebastino's trucks but the Mafia sends him a message when they kill his driver and he knows that unless he backs off, he will be next. He gives Eliot Ness a present just in case he's knocked off.

Season 1, Episode 15: Star Witness Original Air Date—21 January 1960 An accountant with a brilliant mind for numbers agrees to testify against the mob. But keeping him safe before the trial keeps Ness and his men on the run.

Season 1, Episode 16: The St. Louis Story Original Air Date—28 January 1960 The team faces a new kind of criminal when they battle the owner of the swank Jockey Club, a respectable gent who is the boss of the St. Louis underworld.

Season 1, Episode 17: One-Armed Bandits Original Air Date—4 February 1960 A newly released convict is blackmailed into running a slot-machine racket. If he refuses, his daughter will learn of his existence and be scandalized.

Season 1, Episode 18: Little Egypt Original Air Date—11 February 1960 The department's newest agent is able to infiltrate the mob, using carrier pigeons to get information out. That is, until a woman gets him into trouble.

Season 1, Episode 19: The Big Squeeze Original Air Date—18 February 1960 For Ness, a master bank robber proves a worthy opponent. But robbing banks is not a federal offense, so Ness must get him on another charge.

Season 1, Episode 20: The Unhired Assassin: Part 1 Original Air Date—25 February 1960 While a crazed derelict in Florida is obsessed with assassinating President Roosevelt, Capone's mob is planning to take over the Chicago World's Fair by killing the mayor.

Season 1, Episode 21: The Unhired Assassin: Part 2 Original Air Date—3 March 1960 Although unsuccessful in their first attempt to assassinate Chicago's Mayor, Anton J. Cermak, the Capone mob under the command of Frank Nitti and several other of the imprisoned mobster's lieutenants, have not given up. This time they hire a professional, Fred 'Caddy' Croner, an expert at using a long rifle with a scope who carries his weapon in a golf club bag. They put him on a retainer until Cermak goes out of town and sure enough, they learn that the Mayor will be traveling to Miami to attend a public event in honor of the President-elect, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who is visiting the area before returning to Washington for his inauguration a few weeks later. Eliot Ness and the Untouchables are soon onto their plan and travel to Miami to protect Cermak. Unbeknown to them however, a crazed man, Giuseppe 'Joe' Zangara, has purchased a handgun with the intent to kill Roosevelt at the same public function.

Season 1, Episode 22: The White Slavers Original Air Date—10 March 1960 The sadistic head of a prostitution ring tries to get a former madam to help him with his operation. Only she decides to work with Eliot Ness instead.

Season 1, Episode 23: Three Thousand Suspects Original Air Date—24 March 1960 Just as a prisoner is about to turn stool pigeon, he is shot by someone on the inside. So Ness transfers a con from another prison to find the killer.

Season 1, Episode 24: The Doreen Maney Story Original Air Date—31 March 1960 A woman and her boyfriend, dubbed "The Lovebirds" by the press, rob an armored truck. When she is caught, Ness uses her as bait to catch her partner.

Season 1, Episode 25: Portrait of a Thief Original Air Date—7 April 1960 The president of a firm that distributes alcohol is connected to the mob and has been swindling his company for years. But then the mob turns on him.

Season 1, Episode 26: The Underworld Bank Original Air Date—14 April 1960 The crime lords have now become money lenders. So when they cut one of their men out of his share of a heist, he comes after them...and so does Eliot Ness.

Season 1, Episode 27: Head of Fire: Feet of Clay Original Air Date—21 April 1960 Special agent Ness is worried about his childhood pal - a big, successful boxing promoter who's mixed up with a gangster Ness can never get convicted.

Season 1, Episode 28: The Frank Nitti Story Original Air Date—28 April 1960 Al Capone's main enforcer, Frank Nitti, has gone into the movie business. He threatens theater owners into paying him protection money...or else!

Season 2

Season 2, Episode 1: The Rusty Heller Story Original Air Date—13 October 1960 Rusty Heller is a nightclub performer who has her eyes set on a better life for herself which, in her case, means lots more money. She sets her eyes on mobster Charles 'Pop' Felcher who has his own ambitions: with the recent arrest of Al Capone on tax evasion charges, he sees himself taking over as the top mobster in Chicago. When Felcher shows little interest in her, she settles for his lawyer, Archie Grayson. Felcher eventually comes around but Rusty starts to play a dangerous game when she decides to make money off Felcher and the Capone mob by selling both of them the same information. Paul Picerni joins the cast as new Untouchables Agent Lee Hobson,replacing Martin Flaherty (Jerry Paris) as Ness' second-in-command.

Season 2, Episode 2: Jack 'Legs' Diamond Original Air Date—20 October 1960 Working in the New York area, Eliot Ness and his men are trying to trace an incoming shipment of narcotics. Some years before, mobster and nightclub owner Jack "Legs" Diamond spent time in Europe and he made a deal with a Greek crime family to buy $5 million worth of narcotics. Diamond is flamboyant and loves publicity but his partners, Lucky Luciano and Dutch Schultz, want him to lay low for a while and they send him off to his cabin in the Catskills. When Diamond learns that they have gone ahead with the drug deal without informing him, he assumes they're trying to cut him out of the deal and goes after the drugs himself.

Season 2, Episode 3: Nicky Original Air Date—30 November 1960 When a small-time hoodlum is apparently killed by Eliot Ness during a raid, the man's teenage son, Nicky Bousso, tries to kill him. Ness realizes that Nicky is no hood and tries to be nice, but the kid is persistent. When ballistics confirm that the man was killed before the raid took place, Nicky thinks Ness is just making it up. Nicky gets a job cleaning cars at his father's former place of work, a taxi company owned by Gus Marco. Unbeknown to Nicky, Marco is a major hoodlum and his father was in fact a hood. He is soon faced with the choice of following in his father's footsteps or helping out Ness and the Feds.

Season 2, Episode 4: The Waxey Gordon Story Original Air Date—10 November 1960 Waxey Gordon is known as the beer baron of New York and he decides that the time has come to expand his territory. He sets his sights on the New Jersey side of the river and successfully eliminates his three competitors there, including mobster Bugs Donovan. Ness and his men are trying to bring Waxey down and are sure they have located his warehouse but every time they raid the place, the building is completely empty. When they do finally figure out how he is moving his beer, they plan a little surprise for him with the help of the Elizabeth, New Jersey Fire Department.

Season 2, Episode 5: The Mark of Cain Original Air Date—17 November 1960 Eliot Ness and his team have been successful in shutting most of the drug trafficking in Chicago. One exception is 'Little' Charlie Sebastino's operation. He has accumulated quite a stash over the years and doesn't need to import new supplies to keep his lucrative operation going. A drug overdose victim puts Ness onto Sebastino's distribution chain but he is puzzled when the gangster stops selling the stuff. Unbeknown to Ness, the Commission, chaired by Joe Genna, has ordered Sebastino to stop selling drugs. Needless to say, 'Little' Charlie hatches his own plan to eliminate Genna and come out on top.

Season 2, Episode 6: A Seat on the Fence Original Air Date—24 November 1960 Narcotics smuggler Dino Patrone returns to the United States after visiting the old country for several months. He brings his younger sister Carla with him as she plans on studying in the U.S. Little does Dino know that his boss Victor Bardo has ordered his best friend Willie Asher to kill him. Traveling on the train to Chicago, Dino meets an acquaintance, print and radio journalist Loren Hall. Dino soon meets his end and it falls to Hall, who reluctantly agrees to work with Eliot Ness, to help Carla Patrone after she is kidnapped by the mobsters.

Season 2, Episode 7: The Purple Gang Original Air Date—1 December 1960 The Purple Gang, led by Eddie Fletcher, specialize in small-time kidnapping focusing on minor mobster that can fetch them a few thousand dollars in a short period of time. They may have bitten off than they can chew when they grab Jan Tornek. He is ostensibly an antique shop owner in business with his brother-in-law Eric Vajda. In fact, he's a messenger for the Capone mob, regularly collecting shipments of narcotics. Ness had been observing Tornek for some time and when he misses picking up a drug delivery, he's soon on to Mrs. Tornek who has already received the ransom demand. She works with Ness but Fletcher is soon on to them and they nab her brother, Eric Vajda. The case gets complicated when Capone's top enforcer, Frank Nitti, starts to negotiate for Vajda's release.

Season 2, Episode 8: Kiss of Death Girl Original Air Date—8 December 1960 Having had three boyfriends killed in the last 18 months, Francie West has earned her nickname, the kiss of death girl. She is a blackjack dealer in Phil Corbin's speakeasy and has been dating a minor mobster in Lou Scalese organization named Whitey Barrows. Corbin has plans to move into the big time and with Whitey's help, hijacks four truckloads of liquor belonging to Scalese. Corbin kills Whitey when the job is done and Eliot Ness tries to get Francie to help him out on the case. She's not too keen, initially refusing to accept that her latest boyfriend is dead. When she realizes that Corbin was involved and that her own life is in danger, she reconsiders.

Season 2, Episode 9: The Larry Fay Story Original Air Date—15 December 1960 When mobster Larry Fay gets control of the dairy industry, the price goes up and the city is in an uproar. Milk normally sells for 10 cents a quart but has risen to 13 cents with 2 cents going directly into 's Fay's pocket. A commission of inquiry is set up to investigate the matter but Fay only cares about his profit and to the chagrin of at least one of his partners, pushes the price of milk ever higher. Fay owns a nightclub with partner Sally Kansas who isn't aware of Fay's illegal activities. Her much adored younger brother Tommy does and when Fay kills him, Eliot Ness sees an opening to enlist Sally's help in bringing Fay down.

Season 2, Episode 10: The Otto Frick Story Original Air Date—22 December 1960 Otto Frick is a drug dealer with a traveling group of distributors. Ness and his men trace his supply chain to a book shop whose owner regularly visits the German Consulate in New York. Ness soon realizes that the Nazis are supplying Frick and that one of its agents, Walter Messlinger, is the point of contact. What Ness doesn't yet realize is that Messlinger wants Frick's experience as a hood to start using Nazi strong-arm tactics against local citizens. He also enlists Frick's right-hand man, Hans Eberhardt, to set up a protection racket against Jewish shopkeepers. When Ness intercepts one of the German drug shipments, Frick starts putting pressure on his German contact and it all comes to a head on the night of big German-American Bund rally at Madison Square Gardens.

Season 2, Episode 11: The Tommy Karpeles Story Original Air Date—29 December 1960 Following the Hillsdale Express train robbery in which a million dollars was stolen and a mail clerk was killed, 'Tough' Tommy Karpeles is convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Eliot Ness has been tasked by the Post Office to recover the missing million and he begins to think that Karpeles may be innocent. Information from a dying hood puts him on the trail of Karpeles' former associate Arnie 'The Wolf' Mendoza, now a supposedly reformed cinema owner living under the name of Albert Maris. When Mendoza kidnaps Karpeles' daughter Sally to keep her from talking, Tommy decides to help Ness and rescue his daughter.

Season 2, Episode 12: The Big Train: Part One Original Air Date—5 January 1961 When Al Capone is convicted of tax evasion, he's sentenced to 11 years and sent to the federal penitentiary in Atlanta. Capone's farewell is something normally reserved for more honest citizens leading Eliot Ness to go to Washington and propose the construction of Alcatraz prison. In Atlanta, Capone has a pretty good thing going, including guards who make life pretty easy for him in exchange for cash. When it becomes apparent that he too will be transferred to the new prison, Capone uses a cell mate's knowledge of the railroad route to plan his escape. In Chicago meanwhile, Ness becomes aware that the Capone empire is converting assets into cash and he and his team set out to find out why.

Season 2, Episode 13: The Big Train: Part Two Original Air Date—12 January 1961 Having managed to secretly inform his men of the departure date of the train carrying him to Alcatraz, Al Capone continues to work om his escape. The plan is to free Capone when the train stops for 5 minutes in the northern California community of Cloverville. Capone's men arrive the day before the snatch and basically take over the town at gunpoint. Ness and his men are soon on to them however and manage to enter the town. Needless to say, Capone ends up in Alcatraz.

Season 2, Episode 14: The Masterpiece Original Air Date—19 January 1961 When Al Capone is imprisoned for tax evasion, he leaves his operation in the hands of two of his lieutenants: Mayer Wartel is responsible for the speakeasies and Carl Positan is left in charge of the breweries. Wartel however soon ensures that he is left as the only one in charge and is soon dubbed Capone's heir apparent. He's a severe hypochondriac and a chronic worrier so when he takes a dislike to the newspaper articles about him, he personally gets rid of the editor. Wartel had his gun made from scratch and of unique lightweight materials which results in Ness being able to track down the gunsmith and keep him under surveillance. When worrier Wartel gets wind of Ness' interest, he hires contract killer Harry Strauss to get rid of him. The fact that his target is under constant watch only adds to thrill of the kill.

Season 2, Episode 15: The Organization Original Air Date—26 January 1961 With the imprisonment of Al Capone for tax evasion, Frank Nitti has taken over the operation of the organization but that isn't stopping others from trying to muscle their way in. Arnie Seeger in particular thinks he has the opportunity to create a national crime syndicate and partners with St. Louis mobster Joe Kulak to make it happen. They plan on inviting key mobsters from across the country to a conference in Chicago. Into this mix comes a recently released small-time criminal, Maxie Schram. His wife Roxie now lives with Seeger and Maxie tries to hit her up for money. Down and out, he has no choice but to turn to Eliot Ness as an informant after his wife refuses to help him. It is Maxie that puts Ness and his men on Seeger's trail. When Kulak kills a policeman who had wiretapped the site of the syndicate conference, theirs is now a murder investigation as well.

Season 2, Episode 16: The Jamaica Ginger Story Original Air Date—2 February 1961 Kansas City boss Torrez runs a lucrative trade in deadly, wood-alcohol tainted "Jamaica Ginger". When rivals try to move in on his operation, Torrez hires hit-men, but complications arise when one of the killers falls in love.

Season 2, Episode 17: Augie 'The Banker' Ciamino Original Air Date—9 February 1961 Augie 'The Banker' Ciamino is a bootlegger who seems to have developed an almost foolproof way of manufacturing his liquor. He has equipped over a hundred immigrant homes with small stills to actually make the stuff and a unique way of collecting the product. Not everyone in the immigrant community is participating in the illegal liquor-making operation and Eliot Ness visits a night class where adults learn English. His visit is followed by Ciamino's thugs who give the teacher a beating in front of his students. When shopkeeper Renzo Raineri intervenes, he learns that his son, a bookkeeper, is part of Ciamino's organization. Once Ness at his men learn how Ciamino collects the liquor, they try to catch him with goods but through intimidation and murder, the mobster proves to be elusive.

Season 2, Episode 18: The Underground Court Original Air Date—16 February 1961 Mobster Valentine Ferrar thinks he has the perfect way to steal $500,000 of the syndicate's money. When a passenger liner returning from Cuba catches fire off the New Jersey coast, he fakes his death and sends his underling to the Underground Court, the mob's court of law, to tell them he drowned. They are soon on his trail however so when he meets up with a kooky widow, Hannah Wagnall, they set off on what she calls a second honeymoon. What he doesn't realize is that Wagnall has her own plans and that she's gone on these second honeymoons before. Ness and his men, with the help of State Police, track Valentine and Wagnall across several States as they too try to not only get the money but hopefully find out where the Underground Court meets.

Season 2, Episode 19: The Nick Moses Story Original Air Date—23 February 1961 When gangster Nick Moses and another Chicago mobster threaten to go to war after Moses poaches customers in the other's territory, Frank Nitti - now the top mobster in Chicago after the recent incarceration of Al Capone for tax evasion - tells them to settle things amicably, or else. Moses pretends to make amends but actually arranges a hit on his rival, one that also leads to a young newspaper boy being shot. When Nitti tells him he's a dead man, Moses tries to make one last deal - in return for sparing his life, he will make sure Eliot Ness is killed. Nitti accepts the proposition and gives him six days to get the job done.

Season 2, Episode 20: The Antidote Original Air Date—9 March 1961 For years the Federal government has been trying to find a way to chemically de-nature industrial alcohol, but the mob has always found a way to re-nature the substance. In Chicago, the chief supplier of alcohol to the mob is Wally Baltzer who employs a crew of chemists to ensure a smooth flow of the product. The latest government formula is proving hard to crack and one of Baltzer's chemists, the physically disabled Russell Shield, sees an opportunity to make a name and a small fortune for himself. When his colleague develops the right chemical formula, Shield decides to kill him and blackmail Baltzer and Frank Nitti.

Season 2, Episode 21: The Lily Dallas Story Original Air Date—16 March 1961 Lily Dallas is a highly intelligent ex-con who has a history of committing bank robberies. This time she and her husband George 'Blackie' Dallas, who is known for his deft use of a Tommy gun, kidnap a well known and very rich businessman Thomas B. Randall and demand $300,000 ransom. Mrs. Randall follows their instructions and doesn't contact the police until after she has paid the ransom so Ness puts out a rumor that all of the bills have been marked. Blackie however is beginning to chafe under Lily's orders, all the more so as she is having an affair with a member of her crew, Marty Stoke. With the ransom money now unmovable, they go back to robbing banks.

Season 2, Episode 22: Murder Under Glass Original Air Date—23 March 1961 With the election of Franklin Roosevelt and the end in sight for prohibition, Frank Nitti and the Chicago mob have been shifting from alcohol to narcotics as their primary source of income. When their supply dries up, Nitti travels to New Orleans to meet with their supplier, Emile Bouchard, whose original shipment of drugs was hijacked but is expecting another any day. Nitti warns him that there better not be any foul-ups with this shipment but it soon becomes clear that Bouchard has plans of his own and is out to get a percentage of the mob's total income. Eliot Ness and his men are in New Orleans trying to break up the drug pipeline.

Season 2, Episode 23: Testimony of Evil Original Air Date—30 March 1961 Eliot Ness and the Untouchables are out to convict political boss Brian O'Malley and have two witnesses who will testify that he ordered a murder. O'Malley is an old-time politico who never seeks office himself but controls almost every party official that does. Ness' witnesses are living in a hotel under constant police protection but that doesn't stop O'Malley who manages to use a corrupt cop to kill one of them, George Davas. Ness' only remaining option is to find Davas' girlfriend, Julie Duvall, who he learns was also a witness to O'Malley orders. Time is of the essence for the Feds as mobsters for O'Malley are also on hot on her trail.

Season 2, Episode 24: Ring of Terror Original Air Date—13 April 1961 When boxer Joey McGrath dies in the ring, the medical examiner reports no special circumstances and the Press put it down to a tragic accident. A lab technician in the ME's office informs Eliot Ness that the medical report was fixed and McGrath had a high level of morphine in his blood, suggesting he had been drugged before the bout. McGrath's manager Barney Jarreau is a straight arrow who wasn't involved in the fix but with the McGrath incident about to be reviewed, numbers racketeer Rudy Krasna decides to force Jarreau's hand to fix an upcoming championship fight. Ness pressures Jarreau to help them out but he is reluctant to do so in order to protect his wife.

Season 2, Episode 25: Mr. Moon Original Air Date—20 April 1961 Melanthos Moon is a San Francisco art and antique dealer who manages to hijack a large supply of the special paper used to print U.S. Currency. He then arranges to spring from Leavenworth prison master counterfeiter Hans Dreiser to engrave the plates to produce the money. Eliot Ness and the Untouchables are soon on to him having followed Moon's henchman Benny Joplin back to his Oakland, California home. With the phony money available, Moon then approaches Chicago mobster Frank Nitti with an offer of $100 million split 50/50 with Nitti distributing the cash. Ness and his men are out to get one of the nearly perfect bills to get the serial number and stop the distribution of the cash before it starts.

Season 2, Episode 26: Death for Sale Original Air Date—27 April 1961 Johnny Lubin has been on the make since he was a young kid. He quit school after grade 3 and by the age of 13 was paying off his truant officer $75 a week to leave him alone. Now 20, he own a string of speakeasies on the waterfront, including opium dens. He soon hooks up with George Dodd a toy manufacturer whose real name is Phil Melnick and is a supposedly reformed mobster. He has $2 million worth of opium to distribute and Lubin thinks he has just the way to get it into the hands of distributors. Lubin's arrogance however pushes him into a deadly game of cat and mouse with Eliot Ness and his men.

Season 2, Episode 27: Stranglehold Original Air Date—4 May 1961 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.

Season 2, Episode 28: The Nero Rankin Story Original Air Date—11 May 1961 Although Eliot Ness and the Untouchables managed to destroy the Underground Court, they have yet to make a dent against the Syndicate, which has re-grouped and continues to operate. They elect Nero Rankin to chair the national board of the syndicate, but the choice wasn't unanimous. He's also in poor health and that leads Sylvia Orkins, who loves Rankin and is convinced he will die or be killed, to approach Eliot Ness to do something, anything, to get him out of his new job. Rankin knows he has only about a year to live and that he's an unpopular chairman so he offers Ness a deal: lay off the Syndicate for the year and when he's dead, he'll provide Ness with the Syndicate's books. When Ness turns him down, Rankin decides that there's only one option: fight back.

Season 2, Episode 29: The Seventh Vote Original Air Date—18 May 1961 After Al Capone is imprisoned for tax evasion, he leaves his Chicago operation in the hands of a governing council. There are two factions however, one headed by Frank Nitti and the other by Jake 'Greasy Thumb' Guzik, and they can't agree on anything. To resolve the deadlock, Capone asks his mentor, known only as Kafka, to return to the U.S.A. and take over the management of his organization. Kafka was deported 11 years previously and now lives in the Orient and Nitti and Guzik hire Alexander Stavro to ensure that Kafka entry is uneventful. Eliot Ness and the Untouchables work with the RCMP to ensure Kafka is prevented from crossing into the U.S.A.

Season 2, Episode 30: The King of Champagne Original Air Date—25 May 1961 After Federal Agents destroy a large shipment of champagne there a void in the market. Bottle manufacturer Edmund Wald decides that perhaps the time has come to start filling the bottles he sells. He teams with a bootleg liquor distributor, Michel Viton, who has the contacts to sell the stuff to. He also gets his cheapskate uncle Barney Loomis, a legitimate restaurant owner, involved by getting him to lend him the up-front money he needs to the the illicit liquor operation underway. Wald is taking all the risk however with both Viton and Loomis making sure their own interests are protected. Wald has his own plans however.

Season 2, Episode 31: The Nick Acropolis Story Original Air Date—1 June 1961 Nick Acropolis has created a vast network of bookies and is the king of the numbers racket in the greater Chicago area. His problems start when he discovers that Louis Manzak, his wife's brother and the manager of one his betting parlors, has skimmed $200,000 of the proceeds. Were it not for the family relationship, Nick would have had him killed but rather he gives Louis 48 hours to come with $50,000 as a down payment on what he owes. His sister lends him half of that amount but his attempt to borrow the rest from someone else leads to disaster. The dispute also brings Acropolis into a dispute with Frank Nitti while Nick's enforcer, Frankie Fershman, decides the time has come for him to move up in the organization.

Season 2, Episode 32: 90-Proof Dame Original Air Date—8 June 1961 Nate Kester is a burlesque theatre operator who decides to branch out into the lucrative brandy business. He is producing his own brandy, of very poor quality, and using a fancy French label to try and pass it off as de Bouverais cognac. He realizes that if his scheme is to work, he will have to ensure that the real stuff is unavailable for comparison to the rot gut he will be marketing. He manages to destroy the principal supplier of the real stuff but Etienne de Bouverais himself comes to Chicago to put a new wholesaler in place. When he kills off de Bouverais he finds he has a formidable foe in the form of Madame de Bouverais, the former Marcie McKuen, at one time a dancer in his theatre. Eliot Ness tries to convince her to cooperate with the Feds to bring Kester down but she has her own plans to get even her former employer.

Season 3

Season 3, Episode 1: The Troubleshooter Original Air Date—12 October 1961 A new 5 and 10 cent game using punch boards has become very popular and lucrative for the syndicate that controls it. With Eliot Ness and the Untouchables targeting them, receipts are down so they decide to accept New York hood Nate Selko's plan to deal with Ness. Selko's offer of a bribe is rejected by Ness out of hand so he goes to plan B: set Ness up to shoot a man who is apparently unarmed. Ness knows he was fired at first but when no gun is found anywhere at the scene, it becomes front page news and he forced to defend himself both publicly and to the DA

Season 3, Episode 2: Power Play Original Air Date—19 October 1961 With a public outcry over the level of gang violence in Chicago, the authorities appoint retired lawyer Willard Thornton to the new post of Crime Commissioner. What no one realizes is that he has formed a new syndicate bent on importing and distributing narcotics. When the new cartel's enforcer, Steve 'Country Boy' Parrish, is arrested by Eliot Ness he is soon out on bail thanks to bail bondsman Barney Lubin, a Thornton associate. Parrish knows that Thornton's style is to eliminate any possible risk to his reputation so he is soon on the lam, living in the back room of a country garage run by Emmy Sarver. She has her own ideas, primarily focused on keeping Parrish around. As both Ness and Thornton close in, Country Boy Parrish must face the wrath of a woman scorned.

Season 3, Episode 3: Tunnel of Horrors Original Air Date—26 October 1961 Acting on an anonymous tip, Eliot Ness and his men find themselves at a local carnival keeping an eye on an impending purchase of narcotics. The seller is Alexander Rader, a known drug dealer and the buyer is Arnold Justin on behalf of Frank Nitti. They are scheduled to meet in an electrical room accessible only through the tunnel of horrors tide. Justin is an ex-Chief of Detectives who was always honest when on the force but decided he was fed up putting his life on the line for minimal pay so he quit and now acts as a buyer for the mob. Unfortunately, he also realizes that the park is under police surveillance and refuses to go through with the buy. When the drugs disappear, Frank Nitti makes it quite clear that he expects Justin to deliver the goods, or else.

Season 3, Episode 4: The Genna Brothers Original Air Date—2 November 1961 Within a few short years of their arrival in the USA, the 6 Genna brothers have firmly establish themselves in Chicago's criminal community. Established in Chicago's Little Italy, they provide the Capone empire with illicit liquor that they have produced through a network of home distilleries that may only produce one gallon a day each. They also smuggle illegal aliens into the country and hold the threat of returning them to the old country if they don't do what they're told. Eliot Ness and his men have been trying to break up the Gennas network, but it has proved difficult to do as they can only find a few bottles at a time. With the help of a respected member of the local community, Carlo Giovanni, they try to get more information about the illegal operations. When the youngest Genna brother takes an interest in Giovanni's daughter, Ness moves in leading to a showdown with the family members.

Season 3, Episode 5: The Matt Bass Scheme Original Air Date—9 November 1961 Matt Bass is an ex-con and a former member of Al Capone's criminal empire. In prison, a fellow con, engineer Jason Fiddler develops what he thinks is the perfect way to deliver illicit liquor to central Chicago. Once out of jail, Bass approaches his old friend Frank Nitti to sell the idea. Nitti has been hit hard lately by Eliot Ness and the Untouchables who have pretty well shut down most of his distilleries and the speakeasies are starting to close their doors. Nitti tries to solve the delivery problem himself but in the end, agrees to Bass and Fiddler's scheme. Ness is soon on to them however.

Season 3, Episode 6: Loophole Original Air Date—16 November 1961 Morton Halas is an aggressive and very successful defense attorney who will stop at nothing to get his clients off. Having successfully defended Big Mike Probich he finds himself working for Larry Coombs, another small-time mobster who has ambition to rise to the top. Coombs and his top enforcer Whitey Metz decide to knock off Probich and take over his network. They succeed but things don't go as smoothly as planned and Eliot Ness soon has an eye witness who can identify both of them. Halas has a flair for the dramatic and just as the verdict in the case is about to be announced, he arranges for someone to stand up in open court and announce, with murder weapon in hand, that he is the killer. Ness and the District Attorney know that the fix is in and find they have to rely on their own trickery if Halas, Coombs and Metz are to face justice.

Season 3, Episode 7: Jigsaw Original Air Date—23 November 1961 Frank Nitti has a major problem: someone in his organization is leaking information to Eliot Ness and the Untouchables. They've closed down several of his distilleries and several members of the organization are starting to question Nitti's leadership. He decides to seek out someone who use to work for Al Capone, Walter Trager known as the Leaker, who has a knack for finding and closing down leaks in the organization. Trager narrows the possible list of leakers down to two people: Nitti driver Marty Wilger and his own brother-in-law Harry Mailer, a local politician on Nitti's payroll. Nitti orders them both killed but doesn't realize that Trager is out to take over the entire organization. Trager's sister, now a widow, has her own plans as well.

Season 3, Episode 8: Man Killer Original Air Date—7 December 1961 Eliot Ness and his men are having success shutting down the narcotics trade in Chicago thanks to a series of anonymous telephone tips. Ness manages to trace the call to a phone booth and identify the caller as Nick Dulov, owner of the Windy City cab company. Dulov has stolen Nitti's 15 kilo shipment of heroin and then gives it back to him - with a proposition that they go into the narcotics distribution business together. Dulov's wife, Georgiana Drake, is fed up with their relationship however and having killed her husband tries to convince Nitti to do business with her. Her proposal is to use her fleet of taxis - and those in several other cities as well - as mobile narcotics stores and having the junkies come to them, rather than the other way around, and offer a free fix to anyone of the who brings in a new customer.

Season 3, Episode 9: City Without a Name Original Air Date—14 December 1961 After a Federal Agent is gunned down, Eliot Ness and his Untouchables arrive in town to try and solve their colleague's murder. The perpetrator is believed to be Lou Mungo and his precipitous action is exactly the opening Frank Nitti was waiting for so he could move in himself. Nitti hires the smooth talking gambler Sebastian to convince Mungo to hand over his contacts at City Hall and he soon has the information he needs to blackmail Mungo. With Nitti putting pressure on Sebastian to get the deal done, Mungo decides to play hardball. Ness meanwhile is slowly building the case against Mungo for the murder.

Season 3, Episode 10: Hammerlock Original Air Date—21 December 1961 Always looking to expand their area of control, the mob is now out to get control of the bakery industry. Eliot Ness is in New York to testify at a trial and the local US Attorney asks him to stay on to help with the problem. Under the control of the Syndicate, Louis 'Lepke' Buchalter tasks Bryan "Bull" Hanlon to gain control of the industry by establishing a truckers association to get control of deliveries. Hanlon's inclination is to start with small bakers and slowly move up but under orders, he goes after the largest baker in the industry, Adam Stone. Highly respected in the industry, Stone is an old school businessman who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty or get down on his hands and knees to fix a piece of equipment. He wants nothing to do with the mob and isn't afraid to stand up to them. Until they threaten to harm his daughter Marcia, a dancer on Coney Island, who he has not seen for many years.

Season 3, Episode 11: The Canada Run Original Air Date—4 January 1962 Father Francis Gregory thinks nothing short of a miracle has happened when Joe Palakopolous, known as Mr. Pal to his friends, walks into his church. Pal is very generous and provides several hundred dollars to start up and maintain a soup kitchen. He also buys the church a new organ and puts up a brightly lit cross atop the church steeple. What Father Gregory doesn't know is that Pal is a gangster who smuggles in whiskey from Canada and is using this small community as a base of operations. Ness and his men are soon onto Pal when a top brand of Canadian whiskey, Canada Gold, suddenly starts to appear on the market. They soon focus on Pal and realize that his generosity to the Church, especially the brightly lit cross, all have a specific purpose.

Season 3, Episode 12: Fall Guy Original Air Date—11 January 1962 After mob hit man Frankie Gruder kills a warehouseman - and is almost nabbed by Eliot Ness and his men in the process - he turns to his old friend Julius Vernon to get him out of it. Vernon conspires with Willie Willinsky, who knows practically every crook in town, to find someone to plead guilty to the murder. The fraud works so well that Vernon suggests the three of them form an employment agency of sorts. Anyone who wants a crime committed need only tell them what they want done. Vernon will devise the scheme, Willinsky will find the men to make it happen and Gruder will provide the muscle. They decide that they also need a figurehead to take the rap if they get caught so they focus on recruiting Big Joe Holvak who has just been released from prison after serving his 10 year sentence. Joe doesn't realize what he's gotten himself into nor that time has also passed him by.

Season 3, Episode 13: The Gang War Original Air Date—18 January 1962 When gangsters invade and shoot up a speakeasy on the outskirts of Chicago, Ness thinks Frank Nitti may be trying to get rid of some of his competition. When one of Nitti's joints is bombed soon after, the authorities are worried that a massive gang war may erupt. The problem for Nitti is that the out-of-town clubs are getting quality booze smuggled in from Canada and its drawing away his well-heeled customers. He learns from one of the roadhouse managers that Parnise Surigao has been importing the liquor but he won't reveal where or how he's doing it. When Nitti takes one of the smugglers hostage and learns where Surigao is storing his liquor, he decides to get his hands on it.

Season 3, Episode 14: Silent Partner Original Air Date—1 February 1962 When Wallace Laughton is killed by Federal Agents, a mysterious man known only as The Partner orders that the agent responsible be eliminated. The Partner is a mysterious man whose identity is known to only a very few. He is reputedly the top man in organized crime. Lee Hobson is the agent responsible for shooting Laughton but when Eliot Ness gets wind of the contract, he claims responsibility and makes a point of telling the Press. Lee is taken aback with Eliot's moves and resents what he sees as his boss taking all the glory. When the contract killers kidnap Lee as bait to lure Ness into a trap, he learns exactly what his good friend is doing.

Season 3, Episode 15: The Whitey Steele Story Original Air Date—8 February 1962 In New York on a case, Eliot Ness learns that mobster Joe Kulak is out to get control of the racing wire. The wire provides horse racing results from tracks across the country to betting parlors and bookies. The mob is out to get control of Michael Barrigan's wire service and they've killed Barrigan's two partners to put pressure on him. With information that Gregory Pindar will be running the mob's wire service, Ness travels to San Francisco undercover posing as hoodlum Whitey Steele to see if he can infiltrate the new operation. He gets a job with Pindar and learns that Pindar may also be importing heroin. Problems arise when a New York mobster, who knows Ness, shows up in town.

Season 3, Episode 16: The Death Tree Original Air Date—15 February 1962 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.

Season 3, Episode 17: Takeover Original Air Date—1 March 1962 The demand for real beer goes unabated and Charlie Zenko tries to consolidate his control of the North side of Chicago. He arranges for brew master Franz Koenig to get a visit from Eliot Ness. At his trial however, Koenig is saved when a stranger, Leo Mencken, provides him with the alibi he needs. Soon Koenig and Mencken are partners and are using Mencken's unique way of temporarily masking the re-alcoholization of the beer they produce. Charlie Zenko is none too pleased that his competition is back on the street but has the good sense to check with New York mobster Joe Kulak who confirms that Mencken is working for him. When they finally meet, Charlie Zenko is shocked to see just who Leo Mencken really is.

Season 3, Episode 18: The Stryker Brothers Original Air Date—8 March 1962 Soon after the three Stryker brothers rob a train, killing someone in the process, Eliot Ness and his untouchables are on their trail. They get a warrant and seize the Strykers books and papers hoping to find something incriminating. The dim-witted Benny Striker has kept a piece of correspondence from the train robbery and his brothers decide they need to somehow get rid of that evidence. Benny approaches an old friend Mr. Jaeger, a retired arsonist, to set the Federal building's evidence room on fire and destroy the documents. He succeeds, but Ness uses basic psychology to ferret out Jaeger and the Stryker brothers.

Season 3, Episode 19: Element of Danger Original Air Date—22 March 1962 Victor Rait has developed a new method for converting opium to heroin and he and his partner Arnold Stegler hope to make a handsome profit. When Rait kills a Chicago policeman, who was actually on loan and working for Eliot Ness, he realizes that they have to clear out of their current location. Just as they are leaving Ness and his men arrives and Rait pretends to be an innocent bystander and witness to the shooting. When Stegler decides to eliminate Rait, Ness decides to use that to get Victor to cooperate.

Season 3, Episode 20: The Maggie Storm Story Original Air Date—29 March 1962 When junkie Benny Rivas is stopped by Eliot Ness and his men, he tells them in his dying breath that the source of his heroin is the 808 Club. Ness knows the club's hostess, Maggie Storm, quite well. She's married to the frequently absent owner and denies any knowledge of drugs being sold on the premises. In fact, she has set up a very clever trading floor where mobsters bid for anything from drugs to counterfeit money. She has a bigger problem however when Louis 'Lepke' Buchalter decides he wants to take over the club and sends his murderous henchman Vince Shirer to eliminate anyone that might stand in his way. Ness decides to recruit a soon to be paroled mobster to infiltrate the organization.

Season 3, Episode 21: Man in the Middle Original Air Date—5 April 1962 Slot machines have become all the rage and William 'Porker' Davis is making a fortune on all of those nickels and dimes. He soon comes under pressure from mobster Joe Bomer who's prepared to let him stay in business provided he gives the players a 70% return on their bets thereby making sure they will always come back. Davis agrees but when Bomer finds out the machines have been doctored to pay out less, Davis is soon on the run. Turns out it's Davis' friend and Bomer employee Benjy Liemer who has been fiddling with the machines and also providing Ness with anonymous tips.

Season 3, Episode 22: Downfall Original Air Date—3 May 1962 Joseph December is a legitimate businessman and the scion of a wealthy family who own the Great Lakes Pacific railroad which, by all accounts, is on its last legs. With Eliot Ness receiving hot tips and managing to intercept liquor being smuggled in from Canada, Al Capone enforcer Pete 'The Persuader' Kalmiski and his underling Allan Sitkin approach December to make a deal. In return for letting them use his railway, December get to keep 20% of the proceeds. The death of a railway track worker however puts Ness and the Untouchables onto the scheme. When a side deal on shares with Sitkin goes bad and he commits suicide, December gets hold of information that he hopes he can use against Kalmiski. December's right hand man, Henry Grunther, is appalled at what is happening to the company and seeks Ness' assistance.

Season 3, Episode 23: The Case Against Eliot Ness Original Air Date—10 May 1962 Mitchell Grandin is a prominent citizen of Chicago. As a former councilman and organizer of many charitable events, he has gained a reputation that he tries to put to good use. He's also trying to get the concessions for a major international fair and exposition celebrating Chicago's centenary and has hired a hit man to get rid of his competitors. When Eliot Ness tells the organizing committee that Grandin may be dirty, he finds himself being sued for slander to the tune of $500,000. His only possible defense is to prove that his suspicions are correct.

Season 3, Episode 24: The Ginnie Littlesmith Story Original Air Date—17 May 1962 A vice ring known as the Group has been hiding their speakeasies and brothels by using free soup kitchens as a front. When white slaver Chez Goshen dies his niece, Ginnie Littlesmith, decides to take possession of the Group's books. She had worked for her uncle and feels it is her inheritance. Enforcer Vic Cassandros tries to seduce the spinsterish Ginnie to get his hands on those books. Eliot Ness wants to get his hands on them as well knowing it would be the end of that racket.

Season 3, Episode 25: The Contract Original Air Date—31 May 1962 When the attempted assassination of small-time hood Smiley Barris, New York mobster Joe Kulak hires cold-blooded assassin Ray Quist to kill him. Ness tries to get Barris to cooperate but he refuses. When a second attempt on Barris goes wrong, Barris calls his Johnny Templar to help him out. Templar runs a gambling boat that goes out to sea beyond the three mile limit and beyond the long arm of the law. Templar hides his friend Barris on board so Joe Kulak turns the tables on both of them. He cancels Quist's contract and gives it to Templar - who knows that anyone who fails to deliver on a contract gets killed himself. When Templar has second thoughts about killing his friend, he soon finds that Quist is after him.

Season 3, Episode 26: Pressure Original Air Date—14 June 1962 With the end of Prohibition, gangsters have now focused on the drug trade. A New York-based syndicate known as the Big Six, long established in the illegal drug business, visit drug distributor Louis 'The Bear' Madikoff in Chicago who has had his recent shipments to Lucky Luciano in New York picked off by Eliot Ness and his agents. Madikoff is convinced that fellow Chicago drug dealer Mike Pavanos is responsible for feeding Ness with information so he sets out to even the score. It turns out however that Madikoff's son Danny is dating Pavano's daughter Francie. Their fathers blind hatred of one another leads to tragedy.

Season 3, Episode 27: Arsenal Original Air Date—28 June 1962 Frank Nitti and Bugs Moran are about to go to war, and to forestall that possibility, Elliot Ness and the Untouchables begin rounding up every machine gun owned by the gangsters' hitmen. To resupply himself, Nitti hires Polish gunsmith Jan Trobek to make a dozen Tommy guns. Unfortunately for Trobek and his wife, Nitti and Moran soon settle their differences, which means that the pair are now witnesses who could turn into liabilities for Nitti.

Season 3, Episode 28: The Monkey Wrench Original Air Date—5 July 1962 The mobsters are fighting among themselves for greater control of the beer market and Frank Nitti thinks he has the perfect solution. He is smuggling German brew masters into the United States and as a result, is making a far superior product than his competitors. This doesn't sit well with the New York mob, particularly Joe Kulic who decides to do something about it. He hires enforcer Karl Hansa, a bit of a madman, to infiltrate Nitti's operation and shut it down. Eliot Ness and the Untouchables are soon on to the whole scheme thanks to information from an attractive woman, Mady Collins, who seems to have taken a liking to Ness.

Season 4

Season 4, Episode 1: The Night They Shot Santa Claus Original Air Date—25 September 1962 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.

Season 4, Episode 2: The Cooker in the Sky Original Air Date—2 October 1962 With their breweries being knocked off by the Feds, local mobsters bring in an outsider from New York, Joey Lassiter. Known as the best inside man in the business, he promises them a Ness-proof operation. Caught in the middle is Harry Gordon, the current inside man who now finds himself nothing more than an errand boy. Harry's wife Edna isn't too pleased and starts feeding information to Ness. She eventually convinces Harry to do the same and were it not for their tips, Ness would be completely in the dark. Soon however, Ness and his men find the location of Lassiter's planned brewery on the 6th floor of an industrial building. Ness' plan is to let Lassiter finish the brewery before shutting it down but Agent Lee Hobson is concerned it will look like their on the take if they don't close it down immediately.

Season 4, Episode 3: The Chess Game Original Air Date—9 October 1962 Having had major successes in eliminating the illegal trade in champagne, Eliot Ness and the Untouchables suddenly find that the expensive wine is finding its way onto the market again. During one raid, they find that a couple of the bottles are frozen solid and Ness speculates that they may have been shipped in a refrigerated car. They trace the illegal shipment to Ira Bauer, a blind fish and seafood wholesaler. For Bauer, his lack sight is anything but an impediment. He particularly likes to play chess as a way of keeping his mind sharp. He and Ness are soon involved in their own game as the Treasury officer tries to get the evidence he needs to shut down Bauer's operation.

Season 4, Episode 4: The Economist Original Air Date—16 October 1962 With the price of illicit liquor bottoming out, Vincent Tunis suggests to his fellow syndicate members that they store their liquor rather than sell it, thereby creating an artificial shortage and pushing up the price. Eliot Ness and his men become aware of what's going on when the syndicate also starts to put small moonshiners out of business. When the only mobster who knows the location of the liquor is killed, Ness and his men try to find the only remaining truck driver from the job before the syndicate does.

Season 4, Episode 5: The Pea Original Air Date—23 October 1962 Herbie Catcher is a small-time nobody who really wants to improve his status in life. He tries to impress those around him, but without success. He's even tried to feed information to Eliot Ness hoping for praise, but he really has nothing to offer. He's a busboy at a posh restaurant run by Max Zenner and he's not very good at it. On the verge of being fired, he claims to have a recently killed employee's book naming names and other activities that have gone on at the restaurant., especially having to do with mobster Martin Rawlings. His demands aren't that great: he wants to be named the Captain of the waiters but eventually greed takes hold and he forces Rawlings to make him a partner. Throughout, Eliot Ness warns Catcher that he's playing a dangerous game and getting involved with hoods can only lead to jail or death.

Season 4, Episode 6: Bird in the Hand Original Air Date—30 October 1962 Gangster Arnie Kurtz is moving into Chicago's South Side and Eliot Ness very much wants to nab him, putting a 24 hour watch and tapping his phones. The operation is put in danger however when Kurtz inadvertently becomes part of a public health emergency. Against his better judgment - but at his wife's insistence - he agrees to let her brother Benno Fisk deliver $100,000 to a New York mobster. Unknown to anyone, Benno has contracted Parrot Fever from a recently acquired pet and collapses soon after his arrival. Federal health official frantically try to trace the source of the infectious disease. For Arnie Kurtz it may mean trouble as he and his wife have been caring for Benno's pets while he is away.

Season 4, Episode 7: The Eddie O'Gara Story Original Air Date—13 November 1962 Bugs Moran, hiding out since Al Capone eliminated his gang in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, is visited by Eddie O'Gara, a man he thought had been killed by rival gangsters several years previously. Although he never cared for O'Gara in the first place, Moran is intrigued when Eddie lays out a plan to put Moran back in charge of the rackets again. Meanwhile, Elliot Ness is looking for Moran and O'Gara, figuring that both will want revenge on the gangsters who are responsible for their plight and that he can use that to destroy the Chicago syndicates permanently.

Season 4, Episode 8: Elegy Original Air Date—20 November 1962 When mobster Charley Radick learns that he has leukemia and only a short time to live, he decides the time has come to visit his daughter, Margaret, now a young woman. When Charley had gone to prison for a 10 year stretch, he had left her with the Wilsons but when he got out, he decided to concentrate on moving up in the rackets and left the girl with them. When he visits the Wilsons however, he's told that Margaret left some three years before. When Eliot Ness learns that Radick is dying, he asks him to come clean and give him the organization's books. Radick makes a deal: if Ness can locate his daughter, he will give him the information he wants. Ness then turns to Lt. Agatha Stewart of the Missing Persons Bureau for help.

Season 4, Episode 9: Come and Kill Me Original Air Date—27 November 1962 After a mobster with valuable information is killed in broad daylight at the racetrack, Eliot Ness and his men try to identify the killer. No one will admit knowing him but by tracing his movements, they find he was a regular visitor to the home of Dexter Lloyd Bayless who lives in a well-to-do suburb of Chicago. Through surveillance, they note that he has regular visitors in the afternoon and Ness decides to break into the house to plant a listening device. Through that, they learn that Bayless is running a very special school out of his home: a school for assassins.

Season 4, Episode 10: A Fist of Five Original Air Date—4 December 1962 Mike Brannon is a tough cop but his two blocks of Chicago are among the safest there are. He has a tendency to be rough with hoodlums and when he beats up one of Tony Lamberto's boys he finds himself on indefinite suspension. Fed up with his corrupt superiors, he decides the time has come for him to make some money so he enlists his four brothers in a plot to kidnap Lamberto and hold him for $150,000 ransom. Unbeknown to anyone, Lamberto had recently approached Eliot Ness with a proposition: he would be prepared to roll up his entire operation and retire if the District Attorney would ensure no jail time from his upcoming trial on tax evasion. Soon, both Lamberto's associates and Ness are looking for him with the Brannon brothers in the middle.

Season 4, Episode 11: The Floyd Gibbons Story Original Air Date—11 December 1962 When newspaper man Carlton Edwards is gunned down on the street, the police and his friends initially think it's a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Eliot Ness and his men soon determine that Edwards was the target of a mob hit. His old friend, Floyd Gibbons, now a globe-trotting reporter, happens to be passing through Chicago and decides he's going to find the culprit. Working with Ness, they soon uncover that the hit was related to a series of articles Edwards was planning on the takeover of the scrap metal business by the mob.

Season 4, Episode 12: Doublecross Original Air Date—18 December 1962 Mobster Jake Kuzik is a major liquor supplier in Chicago and he doesn't hesitate to use strong arm tactics to keep his network of distributors and retailers in check. He's been having trouble getting supply lately and he comes under pressure - helped along by Eliot Ness and his men - to find liquor for sale or else. He forms an alliance with an arch-rival, Bugs Moran, to import half a million gallons of whiskey by train and they set up a clever deception to keep Federal agents off the scent.

Season 4, Episode 13: Search for a Dead Man Original Air Date—1 January 1963 When a body if fished out of the river, Lt. Aggie Stewart of the Bureau of Missing Persons is put I charge of the case. After 10 days and having made little headway, the body is buried in a pauper's grave. As is her custom, she attends the funeral to see if anyone shows up. In this case, flowers are sent from a well-known mob-owned business. She manages to trace the woman who sent the flowers. Eliot Ness meanwhile is looking to stop the biggest shipment ever of illegal liquor worth well over $1 million. What they all soon realize is that the two cases are connected.

Season 4, Episode 14: The Speculator Original Air Date—8 January 1963 Leo Stazak is a small time con artist on the periphery of the mob and he decides to con Frank Nitti in a stock scam. Stazak is a fast talker and an expert liar who quickly gains Nitti's confidence. Soon, the big man has entrusted half a million dollars to Stazak who has been printing fake stock certificates. Ness is also on to Stazak's printer and it doesn't take long for Nitti to realize what is going on.

Season 4, Episode 15: Snowball Original Air Date—15 January 1963 Jack Parker is an up and coming young hustler who wants to become part of Frank Nitti's organization. He thinks there's an untapped market on university and college campuses but Nitti thinks he's just a nickel and dimer and isn't interested. Parker has been making his own booze and selling it through Benny Angel, who hangs around the campus actually selling the stuff to the kids. Parker decides to get Nitti's interest by secretly arranging to sell wood alcohol to students and then convincing Nitti that he can make sure the stuff sold to students is clean. When Benny Angel is found dead, Ness has another reason to find the man behind the scheme.

Season 4, Episode 16: Jake Dance Original Air Date—22 January 1963 When a large supply of hair tonic is stolen, Ness and the Untouchables are concerned that it may be used as a base for illegal - and deadly - liquor. Soon after, the stuff starts to appear flavored with ginger jake, a popular patent medicine. The result is a permanent neurological disorder that was first seen in a major outbreak in Kansas City. The first victim in Chicago is Mary Kay Spencer, a 17 year old who drank the stuff while out on a date with her boyfriend. Working with public health officials, Ness tries to track down the source of the deadly hooch.

Season 4, Episode 17: Blues for a Gone Goose Original Air Date—29 January 1963 Ray 'Goose' Gander runs a jazz club in Chicago and he's coming under pressure from mobster Lou Cagan to sell booze at the club. Gander is a former musician who is in the business for the love of the music and wants nothing to do with selling the mob's liquor, but he's being backed into a corner. His protégé, trumpeter Eddie Moon, urges him to pack it in and go on the road but when Gander refuses, Eddie also talks him out of signing up with Cagan. When Gander is shot, Eddie blames himself for the death of his friend and mentor and he works with Eliot Ness and the Untouchables to bring Cagan down. He forms a partnership with Cagan to re-open Gander's club and he also starts an affair with Cagan's wife but he soon falls under suspicion.

Season 4, Episode 18: Globe of Death Original Air Date—5 February 1963 Frank Nitti decides to import a large amount of heroin - $2 million worth. Eliot Ness is soon onto him and arrests the delivery man, Mr. Yang from Shanghai, but he no longer has the goods and they have no reason to detain him. Ness and one of his men travel to San Francisco to see if they can determine how the goods were smuggled into the country and determine that it entered on a passenger cruiser and was then shipped by air to Chicago enclosed in a large globe. Meanwhile, one of Nitti's fellow gangsters, Larry Bass, has his own plans for the drugs and assembles his own team to break into the bank vault where Nitti is temporarily storing the globe.

Season 4, Episode 19: An Eye for an Eye Original Air Date—19 February 1963 A father's heartbreak at his son's death leads him to partner with Eliot Ness to bring in a major liquor distributor. Charles Tarasovich knows his son delivered liquor for Sol Girsch and Ness knows it as well, but without a witness who's actually done business with Girsch, there's no chance of getting a conviction. Charles offers to set a trap for Girsch and Ness agrees. Girsch meanwhile has seen his business grow to over 500 distributors and now wants a better deal from those who manufacture the illicit liquor. He also brings in some mobsters from Detroit to make sure he gets it.

Season 4, Episode 20: Junk Man Original Air Date—26 February 1963 Mobster Victor Salazar is out to steal a commercial shipment of morphine destined to a Chicago medical facility. Before he can do so however, it's snatched out from under him by one of his henchman, Steve Ballard. With Eliot Ness and his men have been keeping a close eye on Salazar, the drug kingpin desperately tries to find the junk. What he doesn't know is that another of his underlings, Barney Howe is actually Barney Retsick, a Federal narcotics Agent. Retsick and Ness work together to arrest all of the criminals before the narcotics, disguised as children's candy, hits the streets.

Season 4, Episode 21: The Man in the Cooler Original Air Date—5 March 1963

Season 4, Episode 22: The Butcher's Boy Original Air Date—12 March 1963

Season 4, Episode 23: The Spoiler Original Air Date—26 March 1963 Johnny Mizo has been on the lam for several years working as a seaman on cargo ships. He left the country after stealing $200,000 from mobster Vince Majesky who has been waiting patiently for his return. On Mizo's arrival in the U.S., Majesky has his hoods waiting for him but they kill the wrong man so both Majesky and Eliot Ness are now on the lookout for him in Chicago. When he committed the original robbery, Mizo's brother was killed but that doesn't stop him from seeking his sister-in-law's help and recruiting his nephew Arnie as he attempts to recover the hidden loot.

Season 4, Episode 24: One Last Killing Original Air Date—2 April 1963 Eliot Ness knows that John "The Cropper" Cropsie killed Belle Alpine's husband and that she witnessed it but for reasons of her own, she won't identify him. Cropsie is a small-time hood who wants to get into the big-time and gets a job loan-sharking for Julie Flack. One of his marks tells him that a local company has manufactured 50,000 gallons of industrial alcohol. He manages to steal the precious liquid and tries to sell it to Flack. Ness is onto him quickly and Cropsie has made a serious error in including Belle Alpine's brother-in-law Murray in his plans.

Season 4, Episode 25: The Giant Killer Original Air Date—9 April 1963

Season 4, Episode 26: The Charlie Argos Story Original Air Date—16 April 1963 Prohibition has come to an end and bootlegger Frank "The King" Argos has also come to the end of his life. He asks Eliot Ness to become the executor of his estate but Ness declines, for obvious reasons. He's left everything to his son Charlie, who was declared missing in action at the very end of World War I. When his minions find that life The King's money is not very much to their liking, they recruit and train someone to pose as the long lost Charlie. The man they've chosen however seems to know more about Charlie's childhood than they do.

Season 4, Episode 27: The Jazz Man Original Air Date—30 April 1963 When a police captain's son is arrested in a drug sweep, Eliot Ness decides to try and locate the source of the drugs. The pusher was someone known as Peepers but he dies before they can get much information from him. They do manage to trace him to Chicago nightclub owner Sal Rudin and believe the heroin originated in New Orleans. Ness travels to the Big Easy posing as a bass player and meets booking agent Russ Bogan, who is part of the distribution network. He also learns of their unique system of delivering the goods across the country.

Season 4, Episode 28: The Torpedo Original Air Date—7 May 1963 Mobster Victor Kurtz makes peace with his main rival for illegal liquor distribution in Chicago's South Side, Monk Lyselle. All goes well for several months until Eliot Ness and his men begin to intervene. They begin to hijack Kurtz' trucks and he automatically assumes that Lyselle has broken their agreement. Over the several months there was peace, Kurtz' main gunman, Holly Kester, has lost his nerve and Ness focuses on him as a possible way to put both Kurtz and Lyselle out of business.

Season 4, Episode 29: Line of Fire Original Air Date—14 May 1963 When one of Marty Pulaski's dance hall girls is shot by a sniper just outside his nightclub, he automatically assumes that his main rival, Vince Bogan, is responsible. Bogan controls most of the 10 cent dance halls in Chicago, but there has been peace between the two, mostly because of mobster Janos 'Jake' Szabo. Marty loses his temper and kills Bogan which Szabo is willing to forgive, if Bogan really ordered the killing. When a second girl is killed, it becomes obvious that someone else is behind the killing and Marty tries to protect himself and his brother Herbie.

Season 4, Episode 30: A Taste for Pineapple Original Air Date—21 May 1963 When racketeer Danny Mundt decides the time has come to get rid of Eliot Ness, he hires hit man Elroy Daldran. During World War I, Elroy had developed a taste for killing and he saw no reason to stop doing what he liked just because the war was over. His first attempt to get Ness - he tosses a grenade into his passing car - isn't entirely successful. Ness manages to jump out of the car before the grenade explodes but when he regains consciousness, he finds that he is blind. While Mundt is satisfied with the result, Elroy won't be satisfied until the job is completely done.

DVD releases

CBS Home Entertainment (distributed by Paramount) has released the complete first and second seasons of The Untouchables on DVD in Region 1. Season 3, Volume 1 will be released on August 25, 2009 [2] and Season 3, Volume 2 will be released on November 10, 2009. [3]

Further reading

• Tucker, Kenneth. Eliot Ness and the Untouchables: The Historical Reality and the Film and Television Depictions. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2000. ISBN 0-7864-0772-7

External links

• The Untouchables at the Internet Movie Database
• Encyclopedia of Television
• The Untouchables, Then and Now by Ed Robertson, an article about the show

Notes