Stranglehold (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%. ... See full summary »

Director:

Paul Wendkos

Writers:

Eliot Ness (book), Oscar Fraley (book),

Stars:

Robert Stack, Phillip Pine, Kevin Hagen

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Robert Stack	...	Eliot Ness
Phillip Pine	...	Lennie Shore
Kevin Hagen	...	Swede Kelso
Ricardo Montalban	...	Frank Makouris
Paul Picerni	...	Agent Lee Hobson
Trevor Bardette	...	Capt. Joe McGonigle
Robert J. Wilke	...	Arthur 'Dutch Schultz' Flegenheimer
Nicholas Georgiade	...	Agent Enrico Rossi
Oscar Beregi Jr.	...	Joe Kulak (as Oscar Beregi)
Burt Miller	...	Henry Matson
Adrienne Marden	...	Mrs. McGonigle
Gene Roth	...	Louis 'Lepke' Buchalter
Frank Puglia	...	Carlo Feruzzi
Walter Winchell	...	Narrator (voice)

Storyline

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.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 May 1961 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Desilu Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Desilu Productions, Langford Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

User Reviews

Fish Racketeering

Eliot Ness and his Untouchables squad is taken out of Chicago once again to investigate racketeering at the Fulton Fish Market in lower Manhattan. Though the story is bogus I have to say the recreation of the Fulton Fish Market in the scenes was nicely done. It looks about the same today and probably the same when a kid from the Lower East Side named Alfred E. Smith was hawking fresh fish there.

Ricardo Montalban with his two top enforcers Phillip Pine and Kevin Hagen are muscling in on the Fish Market and getting real reckless in doing so. Robert Wilke who plays Dutch Schultz is ordering him to go which is a real irony because Schultz was usually leaned on himself to go slow in real life.

Through a tenuous Chicago connection Robert Stack and the guys are brought in. I guess there was no law enforcement good enough in New York. But the show had only so many Chicago based stories they could do.

Still the show is a good one and Montalban is especially good as the amoral racketeer of Fulton Street.