Plot

Late at night in an empty greasy spoon, a mug coolly kills the owner, but when the register yields only $14, he just shrugs and unscrews his silencer. The diner was Lt. Jacoby's teenage hangout, so he rabidly pursues the murderer, while struggling to prevent a mob leader from muscling in on Jacoby's side of the river. To help Jacoby, Peter Gunn pays diminutive pool shark Babby (Billy Barty) for a lead.—David Stevens

Season 1 Episode 24 The Ugly Frame Prologue: A short greasy looking man in a suit comes into a small delicatessen late in the evening just before closing the grill's still on, he orders a hamburger with everything, and coffee. The owner is pouring the coffee and as he turns toward the counter, he is shot twice with the man's pistol and silencer. The man empties the register drawer, taking what little cash there was, grabs a cheese crisp near the register and exits. The burial of the delicatessen owner is witnessed by Jacoby, Pete and the grave digger shoveling dirt in the hole of the casket. Raincoat attired, Jacoby tells Pete they called the owner uncle Eli, that he used to hang around the same place after school. Why would anyone want to kill Eli Gans, Jacoby asks? Pete says I understood it was a robbery, Jacoby says $14. Eli was conscious long enough before he died to give the description of his killer as Jimmy Blane. Jacoby vows vengeance to get Jimmy, wherever he is hiding. Edie is singing with a new do, Mr. Quoit asks her to join his table for champagne, Edie says no, Jacoby walks in, tells him he's got a bad memory, that he was ordered to stay on the other side of the river. Ten seconds is given to Quoit to leave, he hands Jacoby cash for the bill, and leaves with two bimbos and a henchman. Pete will try to open some alleys to find Blane. Jacoby says something about he hopes it is a dark one. The lieutenant exits and Pete exits within minutes of one another, as new short hairdo Edie smiles. There is a stranger lurking in a dark corner of an adjacent building, and following Pete. Pete visits Babby, pool hustler and contact, at the pool hall, while the same stranger walks into the pool hall. Pete asks Babby for a line on Jimmy Blane, while the stranger calls Quoit saying Gunn is asking about Jimmy. Quoit says drop the word Blane is hold up at the Morris Hotel, obvious there is a plan to trap Jacoby, based on Quoit's conversation with the desk clerk at the hotel. Henchman Hank escorts Jimmy, Pete is at home getting a call from Babby, Morris Hotel you'll find Jimmy Blane, Babby tells him, He calls Jacoby, relaying the information about Jimmy, Jacoby enters room number 21 given from the punk desk clerk, to find a dead Jimmy Blane, with a mark on his forehead. The desk clerk accuses Jacoby of wrongdoing, obviously a frame up. Mother's is where the lieutenant sits for two hours, not touching the coffee he ordered, Pete walks in telling of the preliminary hearing not going well, they are either believing the cop or the hotel clerk. Quoit walks in with the bimbos and Hank, he gets under Jacoby's skin, restrained from Pete, Jacoby leaves, then Pete follows. Pete says he will look into the matter of Quoit framing him. Babby is in the barber's chair viewing the barber's work, acknowledging the tip was a bad one, but there is another road to travel, he gets in Pete's car going to a sub-sidewalk apartment. Pete grabs the stranger, escorting him to the river, questions him about the Quoit framing Jacoby setup, the stranger confesses it was Quoit all the way with Jimmy's death and the frame via the desk clerk. Pete escorts the stranger away from the water, has Babby make a call to Mother's for Quoit stating Mooney, the stranger, is meeting Gunn at pier 16 to sell him out. Quoit tells Hank, sending him to get rid of Mooney. Hank goes to the pier, sees Mooney's back, gun drawn, fires, but Pete blocks it, a fight begins, ending with Pete telling Hank we are to have a talk about Quoit. Jacoby walks into Mother's, telling Quoit your associates sang like a barbershop quartet, you're under arrest for murder, the lieutenant escorts Quoit out. Mother hands the tab to the bimbos at the table, sticking them with the check and asking are your hands allergic to detergent, while at the bar, Pete and Edie just smile.