The BEST episodes written by Joseph Petracca
#1 - Incident of the Querencias
Rawhide - Season 5 - Episode 11
Gil's old friend, Lije Crowning, has had his ranch foreclosed on by the bank. Lije wants to take his thirty head with the drive to Colorado.
#2 - The Waxey Gordon Story
The Untouchables - Season 2 - Episode 4
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. Next day, John Carvell, U.S. Attorney for the southern district of New York, sends for Ness and his men. Ness and Lee Hobson drop in at Waxey's live theatre, where beautiful showgirl Flo Ingalls is doing her act in a sequined one-piece swimsuit. Later, Ness and Hobson go to Waxey's office to arrest him, but Flo (still in costume) provides his alibi, saying she was with Waxey all last night. April 18, in a private office at the swank Nest nightclub, there is a council of war: ""Bugs"" Donovan is convinced the N.Y. Syndicate is behind
#3 - Nicky
The Untouchables - Season 2 - Episode 3
Chicago. By the middle of 1933, Eliot Ness and his Untouchables had almost checked the manufacture and sale of whiskey in Chicago. But the biggest operator was still in business: Giuseppe Marconi a.k.a. Gus Marco. He was an apparently respectable owner of a garage of taxis by day; but he trafficked in bootleg booze by night, he had a huge distillery underground in which he processed stolen industrial alcohol. Gus Marco is pulling a big job tonight; one of his honest taxi drivers, Mario Bousso (Nicky's father), is going to drive one of the trucks because he needs the money for his 2 kids. Gus' cousin Mike Marconi will be riding with Mario. Gus Marco had schmeared the lone federal guard of a government warehouse; for $2,500 he was assisting in the heist. 2 of Marco's trucks pull into the warehouse. They siphon off thousands of gallons of pure alcohol, worth half a million dollars; they refill the government barrels with water. But Ness and his men raid the place. There is a huge
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Rawhide - Season 5 - Episode 18
Gil stands by his old friend Jack Jennings. Jack's a gunfighter. In a fair fight he shot the brother of the most powerful man in the town.
#5 - The Jamaica Ginger Story
The Untouchables - Season 2 - Episode 16
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. Ness and his men are on the case. Jamaica Ginger is made by cheap labor in Santo Domingo, then smuggled into the U.S. in New Orleans, and then shipped to K.C. Rafael Torrez has a meet with Jerry LaCarver and his 5 hoods, they come over to Torrez's ranch where he trains racehorses. Torrez says the 2 hijacked trucks are just a small part of the stuff he's got; he's willing to cut LaCarver in for 10%. But when LaCarver wants to go 50/50, the meet is adjo
#6 - The Lovers
One Step Beyond - Season 2 - Episode 22
Evil spirits are determined to break up the romance between Otto, a patron at a Viennese tavern, and Elsa, a beautiful waitress there. But the connection between the two lovers seems to be stronger than the spirits counted on.
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#7 - Testimony of Evil
The Untouchables - Season 2 - Episode 23
October 11, 1932. Chicago. Less than one month before the elections, David Mantley, running for State's Attorney on the Reform ticket, is making speeches: he says the power behind his opponent, Jeremiah Down, is mobster Bryan O'Malley. At the same time, across town, O'Malley is being feted at a testimonial dinner-- even though a week from now he'll have to stand trial for murder and income tax evasion. After Mantley's speech, and the small crowd has left, a speeding car goes by, and a chopper riddles Mantley full of bullets. Ness and his men are on the case. Henry Weiser is meeting with his boss Bryan O'Malley; it was Weiser who had Mantley rubbed out. O'Malley's murder trial (for the contract killing of Rocky Marlos) is in 4 days, and Ness will help the prosecutors; there are 2 witnesses who could get him convicted: George Davas and Stan Willinski, former associates of Weiser. O'Malley thinks they can scare Davas into not testifying, by getting to his girlfriend Julie Duvall.
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#8 - The St. Louis Story
The Untouchables - Season 1 - Episode 16
Spring 1931. Gangland warfare had broken out again with sudden violence in the streets of St. Louis. Tim Harrington, who was long entrenched as the undisputed boss of the city, was fighting off the challenge to his leadership from Joe Courtney, an upstart hoodlum. The elder Dink Conway calls for a sit-down between the two, at the Jockey Club. Dink points out they are operating the old way: shootouts and dealing in cash. He offers them organization and protection, and says the new way is to use fronts to cover your criminal activities and keep books so the Feds can't get you on income tax evasion (he knows what happened to Al Capone). Dink wants them all to pool their resources; he says working together they can triple their take. Joe Courtney says, ""I buy that,"" but Tim Harrington says, ""I pass."" As Harrington leaves, Dink gives a sign to Whitey Deering. Instead of the valet pulling up with Harrington's car, the driver is Whitey-- ready to take him on the infamous ""one way ride
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#9 - The Tri-State Gang
The Untouchables - Season 1 - Episode 9
In the latter part of 1933, there was an epidemic of truck hijackings in the states of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania; this was the work of 6 gangsters: the Tri-State Gang. Tonight, in Richmond, Virginia, they're hijacking a truckload of radios. As usual "Big" Bill Phillips, a 6'4" ox of a man, takes over the hijacked truck, transferring the load onto their truck; Artie McLeod, a cheap tinhorn gambler, puts a burlap sack over the driver's head, blinding him, and chains the driver to a tree. Other gang members are Georgie Kaufman, an ex-boxer, the oldest of the gang; and James Jonathan Harris, aka Gentleman Jim, aka "Harris the Fence"; and the 2nd-in-command, Bobby Mais. Their leader is the vicious, sadistic Wally Legenza-- he shoots 4 bullets into the driver (who never got a good look at the gang members, and couldn't identify them) because Legenza is a psychopath. Ness and his men, who had been assigned by Washington, DC, to investigate the Tri-State Gang, are on the scene. May 14, 1934. That night, Wally Legenza calls a meet, to go over tomorrow night's hijacking job. "Big" Bill Phillips is absent-- he's seeing his sweetie, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Dauphine, a French girl from Quebec, Canada that he nicknames Alouette. Legenza goes to their place and breaks it up. The night of May 15, in Oakhurst, Virginia, the gang hijacks a truck hauling $20,000 of tobacco. Again they chain the driver to a tree, but this time Legenza only shoots one bullet into him; the driver doesn't die, and when the sack over his head falls off, he sees their license plate number: T-4514. Ness and his men are staying in Richmond; Ness investigates this first break in the case. The Dept. of Motor Vehicles shows the truck is registered to Briggs Salvage Co.; the Internal Revenue shows the owner is James J. Harris. Ness and his men stake out the Briggs Salvage place; it is virtually deserted, only Harris and one watchman. But on the 5th night, Harris shows up with Legenza and "Big" Bill Phillips.
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#10 - Little Egypt
The Untouchables - Season 1 - Episode 18
Little Egypt (not the Belly Dancer) was the city of Morraine, the heart of the gangster-infected area in downstate Illinois known as ""Little Egypt."" Election night, 1931. New mayor Marcus Stone is giving a speech on the radio-- he meant what he said about reform, and promises to rid the town of Charlie Byron (a Major in WWI) and his gang, whom he calls ""bloodsuckers"" and ""scum."" Listening to the radio is Major Byron, who gives his gang orders to knock off both Mayor Stone and Sheriff Mooney; they both get tommy-gunned that night. Governor Joseph Stone calls in Eliot Ness; they decide one man should infiltrate this gang, and pick Cam Allison Jr., the son of Judge Cameron Allison who was killed by the mob. Since trying to communicate by phones (which can be wiretapped) is too risky, they decide Cam should communicate with Ness via carrier pigeons, which Enrico Rossi has trained for a hobby. The birds can fly the 100 miles from Morraine to Chicago in less than 2 hours (they say). Ca