8.6/10191 votesLoading...#1 - The Rusty Heller Story
Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 10/13/1960
Chicago, March 1931. Eliot Ness and his men were doing raid after raid on Capone's speakeasies and breweries; his empire was tottering. Who would take over? A big-time gangster from New York, Charlie ""Pops"" Felcher, had just arrived in Chicago, along with his crooked lawyer Archie Grayson.
Director: Walter Grauman
Writer: Leonard Kantor
8.6/1087 votesLoading...#2 - The Nick Acropolis Story
Season 2 Episode 31 - Aired 6/1/1961
Chicago, Summer 1931. Nick Acropolis is the new bookmaker in town, his territory is Illinois and the 6 surrounding states; he covers bets on horse racing, boxing matches, ball games, everything. By August, his operation is $2-million per month. And so Eliot Ness and his Untouchables are on the case; Enrico Rossi has a wiretap on one of Nick's betting parlors, run by Sully Hinds. Nick and his boys pay a visit to their bookkeeper, Louis Manzak, who is Nick's brother-in-law. Louis embezzled 200 grand of Nick's money, to make a side-bet on a boxing match, and lost.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.5/1093 votesLoading...#3 - The Unhired Assassin (2)
Season 1 Episode 21 - Aired 3/3/1960
Movie: ""The Gun of Zangara"" (continued) Nitti's plenty sore! Mayor Cermak's stepped-up law enforcement has cut deeply into Nitti's operations. In the Montmartre club, Nitti takes a newspaper with a big photo of Cermak on the front page, and tacks it to the wall-- then Nitti takes out his 6-shooter and blasts 7 bullets into the photo.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.5/1074 votesLoading...#4 - The Big Train (2)
Season 2 Episode 13 - Aired 1/12/1961
Movie: ""The Alcatraz Express"" (continued) Sunday, August 19, 1934. At 2:30 a.m., the Big Train is backed into the prison yard of the State Pen in Atlanta. 54 hardened criminals, including Al Capone and Tony Diaz, are handcuffed and loaded onto the train. On board are prison guards armed with machine-guns. Once seated, the prisoners are additionally given leg shackles and told to put them on. Then, at 5:00 a.m., the Big Train pulls out-- right on schedule.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.5/1086 votesLoading...#5 - The Masterpiece
Season 2 Episode 14 - Aired 1/19/1961
Chicago, December 1931. With Al Capone in prison, the bootlegging part of his empire was split in 2. One of Capone's lieutenants, Mayer Wartel, acquired the speakeasies; another lieutenant, Karl Positan, acquired the breweries and distilleries. In an attempt to take over the entire operation, Positan withholds his whiskey and beer; the number of speaks flourishing drops to an all-time Prohibition low. Eliot Ness and his men keep an eye on the situation. Nitti's plenty sore.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.4/1090 votesLoading...#6 - The Unhired Assassin (1)
Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 2/25/1960
Movie: ""The Gun of Zangara"" Chicago. November 9, 1932. FDR has just been elected president, and the repeal of Prohibition is inevitable. But later that night, Ness and his men smash another of Capone's breweries. Agent Youngfellow asks Eliot, ""Are we going to be out of work?"" But Ness tells him no-- after all, bootleg booze was only a part of the Capone empire: there's still narcotics, gambling, prostitution, protection rackets, etc. Capone may start muscling in on legitimate businesses; in fact, Ness is having a meeting with Mayor Anton Cermak-- they want to ""clean up this town"" before the Chicago World's Fair in the spring of 1933.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.4/1099 votesLoading...#7 - The Jamaica Ginger Story
Season 2 Episode 16 - Aired 2/2/1961
On the night of May 25, 1931, 2 trucks are rolling into K.C., carrying $1-million worth of Jamaica Ginger rotgut, also known as ""Ginger Jake."" The trucks are owned by Rafael Torrez, gangster and race horse trainer, who has a monopoly on the Jamaica Ginger. Rival crime boss Jerry LaCarver, wanting in on the enormous profits, is ready to hijack the trucks, along with his gang of 5 hoods: the 2 notorious Roth brothers, Andy Bello (alias Louis Belmont), Richie Peters and Wally Heilman. They hijack the trucks with dynamite and shotguns.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.4/1084 votesLoading...#8 - Mr. Moon
Season 2 Episode 25 - Aired 4/20/1961
Autumn 1934. An armored truck, loaded with the special paper used in printing U.S. currency, is headed for the Bureau of Engraving in Washington, D.C. The truck is hijacked, and the 3 armed guards are tommy-gunned. Since counterfeiting will be on a national level, it's a federal offense, and so Eliot Ness and 5 other federal agents from around the country convene in Washington, D.C., and are briefed on the situation.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.4/1090 votesLoading...#9 - The Troubleshooter
Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 10/12/1961
In the summer of 1934, a new gambling device was sweeping the nation: the punchboards. Even though they were nickel-and-dime games, it added up-- they made more money for the mob than the numbers racket. After Ness and his men smash some of the punchboard manufacturing sites, the 5 members of the syndicate running the punchboards hold a meet at a building by the freight yards: the top mobsters from Chicago (Jake ""Joe"" Petrie), Cincinnati, St. Louis, Detroit and New York (Max Riegel). Petrie says he can sum up all their problems in 2 words: Eliot Ness.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.3/10132 votesLoading...#10 - The Noise of Death
Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 1/14/1960
Chicago, March 31, 1933. Giuseppe ""Joe"" Bucco is at home when he gets a visit from his wife's cousin, Barbara Vittorini-- she says her husband Arturo has been missing for 3 days, and accuses Bucco of killing him. Bucco has his flunkie Abe Garfinkel take her home. Bucco knows about rub-out attempts, Guzik's boys once shot him 4 times, but he lived; Bucco swears to his wife Anna that he doesn't know where Arturo is.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.3/10112 votesLoading...#11 - The Mark of Cain
Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 11/17/1960
Chicago, late Spring 1932. There is public protest about the increase in drug addiction. Charlie Sebastino has amalgamated all the small distributors into one big empire, setting himself up as emperor. Ness and his Untouchables had virtually shut down dope dealings, by nailing the big operators, but this network is run through small-time pushers.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.3/10117 votesLoading...#12 - The Purple Gang
Season 2 Episode 7 - Aired 12/1/1960
Detroit, August 1932. The notorious Purple Gang-- long synonymous with terror in beer, booze, labor and prostitution-- gets into a new racket: kidnapping. They specialize in snatching other members of the underworld, since they can't go to the police for help. So far, they've kidnapped 9 hoods (the latest mug is Rocky Garver), for a total of 100 grand.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.3/1073 votesLoading...#13 - The Big Train (1)
Season 2 Episode 12 - Aired 1/5/1961
Movie: ""The Alcatraz Express"" (Disclaimer shown on screen) ""The events portrayed in this film are fictitious. The Federal Prison guards portrayed do not represent any actual persons, living or dead. ""Nothing herein is intended to reflect unfavorably on the courageous and responsible prison guards who supervised Capone during his internment in the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta and during his transfer from Atlanta to Alcatraz.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.3/1074 votesLoading...#14 - Takeover
Season 3 Episode 17 - Aired 3/1/1962
Chicago, October 1932. The only ""beer"" allowed to be served during Prohibition is ""near-beer"" or ""Near-O""-- which is 0.5% alcohol, as opposed to real beer which is 4.0% alcohol. And so, a lot of legitimate beer producers wind up ""spiking"" the barrels of near-beer with pure alcohol, to get it up to strength. A northside brewer named Woody O'Mara wants to smash all his competition; he tells his girlfriend Amy Gratzner, a rather plain-looking 23-year-old secretary for rival brewer Franz Koenig, to blow the whistle on her boss.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.3/1074 votesLoading...#15 - Element of Danger
Season 3 Episode 19 - Aired 3/22/1962
Chicago, August 29, 1934. That night, in the Haymarket district, special agent Daniel Gosden, a policeman on loan to the Untouchables, goes through a skylight and finds an opium laboratory in the top floor of a rundown tenement hotel. Just then, drug lord Victor Rait and 4 hoods (Gus, Sully, Max, and Trapp) show up, carrying crates of supplies into the place. Rait spots Gosden and gives chase; just as Gosden phones Ness for back-up, Rait blows him away with a shotgun. Then Rait blasts 6 bullets from his gun to disperse the crowd of tenants investigating the noise. Somebody phones the cops, because within minutes Eliot Ness and his men and some policemen are on the scene.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.2/1099 votesLoading...#16 - One-Armed Bandits
Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 2/4/1960
Chicago, February 1932. Crime has been spreading all over, from the dark alleys of Cicero to the social atmosphere of the Gold Coast. Crooked attorney Paul Curtiz is attending a party being hosted by gangster overlord Augie Viale, king of the southside of Chicago. At the affair, Viale is openly paying off this guests with cash-- police commissioners, judges, lawyers, and businessmen; all of them ready to hand Chicago to Viale on a silver platter.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.2/10122 votesLoading...#17 - Underworld Bank
Season 1 Episode 26 - Aired 4/14/1960
New York City. Saturday, September 23, 1933. Top rackets boss Milo Sullivan is the head of ""Crime, Inc."" He has a meet with 5 other crime lords: Augie Epstein (gambling, Miami); Harold Bishman (political power in Louisiana); Ralph Lucci (rumrunner, Detroit Purple Gang); Dino Monteiro (slots, K.C.); and Arte Martin (numbers, prostitution, Seattle). Their profits from Prohibition had been enormous; with Prohibition ending, they were going to put their money to good use, creating the Underworld Bank.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.2/10126 votesLoading...#18 - The Frank Nitti Story
Season 1 Episode 28 - Aired 4/28/1960
1934. Prohibition had been repealed (the Volstead Act ran from January 17, 1920 - April 7, 1933). The syndicate was looking for new sources of revenue. Frank Nitti expands his empire, and goes after small theatres-- with his extortion racket. Late one night, after theatre owner Harold Coldman had refused to pay, Nitti has his triggerman Louie Campagna throw some acid into Coldman's face, blinding him. Eliot Ness and his men are on the case-- this is only the latest in a series of muggings and beatings; even a theatre was burned down. Ness knows if he lets Nitti get away with extorting the small, independent theatre owners, in a few months Nitti will go after the big chains.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.2/1087 votesLoading...#19 - The Organization
Season 2 Episode 15 - Aired 1/26/1961
Chicago. November 9, 1932. Al Capone was in prison, and Frank Nitti was running his Organization. But other crime overlords were ready to take over; the biggest was Joe Kulak, from St. Louis. Joe Kulak was called ""The Teacher"" because he had trained so many Underworld bigshots, and given them their start. Eliot Ness and his men keep tabs on Kulak from the moment he arrives in the Windy City.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.2/1083 votesLoading...#20 - Death for Sale
Season 2 Episode 26 - Aired 4/27/1961
Chicago, last week of April 1933. Frank Nitti is offered a huge quantity of Chinese opium. Ever since the government had established the Bureau of Narcotics in 1930, the flow of opium from China to the USA had slowed to a trickle, and by 1932 the flow had almost ceased; now, with the end of Prohibition seeming imminent, the Syndicate is ready to deal in opium again. Late on the night of May 4, Nitti sends one of his top lieutenants, Ed Getty, to pick up some opium from Art Rele and his thug Cliff Anders. But Ness and Lee Hobson show up, too; in the shootout, only Art Rele escapes.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.2/1090 votesLoading...#21 - The Death Tree
Season 3 Episode 16 - Aired 2/15/1962
Early November 1931. On West Madison Street, there is a wonderfully diverse neighborhood made up of gypsies of Romanian, Hungarian and Czech descent. The area is flooded with Capone's rotgut, being distributed by Janos Colescu. There are many colorful characters, including the chestnut vendor with his singsong voice: ""Get your red-hot che-e-estnuts, the wind is cold."" When the rotgut leads to a drunken knife-fight that leaves a gypsy dead, the 8-member gypsy Senate, headed by Victor Bartok, with his brother Fedor Bartok, convenes. Eliot Ness shows up to offer his help to end the bootleg booze; they decline his help, saying they will handle matters themselves.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.2/1054 votesLoading...#22 - The Chess Game
Season 4 Episode 3 - Aired 10/9/1962
By mid-June 1932, Eliot Ness and his Untouchables had uncovered and shut down every champagne-producing operation in the city. 4 months later, however, champagne appears again in the fashionable Westside nightclubs. Ness is about to raid the swankiest speak, the Silver Canary. At the club, Marty Baltin is paying Charley Mailer for the last champagne shipment: $86,000 for 350 cases (that comes out to about $245 per case of 12, about $20 a bottle).
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.1/10190 votesLoading...#23 - The Empty Chair
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 10/15/1959
"Chicago, May 5, 1932. After 7 months of legal delays, Al Capone... was on his way to federal prison, to serve 11 years for income tax evasion."* Eliot Ness and his Untouchables had spent 18 months to get Capone behind bars-- but now who would try to take over the throne, the Empty Chair?
Director: John Peyser
Writer: David Karp, Ernest Kinoy
8.1/1095 votesLoading...#24 - The Waxey Gordon Story
Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 11/10/1960
New Jersey, the night of April 16, 1931. Waxey Gordon, the undisputed beer baron of New York, is muscling in on New Jersey, which is run by Frankie Dunn, ""Bugs"" Donovan and Roger Weiden. Waxey is waging a gang war to eliminate rival gangsters for control of the Jersey beer market. Waxey and his boys smash into a brewery owned and run by Frankie Dunn; they blast with their choppers until the large beer vats, Frankie and his workers are filled with holes.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.1/10100 votesLoading...#25 - The Lily Dallas Story
Season 2 Episode 21 - Aired 3/16/1961
April 11, 1932. Millionaire building contractor Thomas B. Randall is the target of a kidnapping; he is throwing a party right now. Intruding on his estate that night are: ex-bootlegger and now gang leader George ""Blackie"" Dallas, Pete Appleby (former torpedo for the Purple Gang), Marty Stoke (bank heist expert) and Jiggs (ex-heavyweight boxer and now strongarm man). The gang kills a security guard, and kidnaps Randall-- and they warn his family and guests not to call the police, or he gets it.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of The Untouchables
Every episode of The Untouchables ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of The Untouchables!
Special Agent Eliot Ness and his elite team of incorruptible agents battle organized crime in 1930s Chicago.
Genres:DramaCrime
Network:ABC
Best Episodes Summary
"The Rusty Heller Story" is the best rated episode of "The Untouchables". It scored 8.6/10 based on 191 votes. Directed by Walter Grauman and written by Leonard Kantor, it aired on 10/13/1960. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "The Nick Acropolis Story".