User Reviews

One thing about this episode is true, there was a time where the Capone organization of Chicago gave the Purple Gang of Detroit a very wide berth because they were quite a nasty bunch. Other than that Eliot Ness and his squad of The Untouchables never had anything to do with dealing with the Purple Gang.

The Purple Gang headed here by Steve Cochran at his nastiest did the usual gangster rackets, but added a new and lucrative one depending on who you snatched. They go into the kidnapping game only they kidnap other criminals and depending how far up the food chain they are fixes the ransom demand.

After first snatching Werner Klemperer and getting nothing for their efforts, Cochran snatches Steven Geray who is Klemperer's brother-in-law and a distributor out of his little novelty shop of heroin for Frank Nitti. But as Klemperer was already in the sights of The Untouchables that proves to be the Purple Gang's downfall.

Cochran sets some new lows for villainy in his performance. He adds this Untouchables episode to a gallery of some of the meanest hoods on the big screen and small.

Werner Klemperer certainly is not the sort of guy you'd expect to see on "The Untouchables"...but it's still a very good episode.

This episode is set in Detroit, home of the infamous Purple Gang (also of "Jailhouse Rock" fame, by the way). This mob was famous for killings, bootlegging and much more...but their biggest claim to fame were their kidnappings. However, in a twist that makes ZERO sense, the leader of the Purples, Eddie (Steven Cochran), decides to kidnap a member of the Nitti/Capone mob--something that never would have happened in real life. Despite this, it's still a very entertaining show because of the acting of Cochran and because of all the action. Enjoyable but like so many episodes, the stories actually take HUGE liberties with the truth and should never be seen as history lessons.

... and here he is a cold blooded one as Eddie Fletcher. He is in charge of "The Purple Gang" who is having to change up their rackets with the repeal of Prohibition. In this case, they have decided to go into kidnapping minor mobsters and ransoming them. They figure that people on the wrong side of the law are less likely to complain to the press or the police, keeping their enterprise quiet.

The Purple Gang decides to kidnap Jan Tornek (Werner Klemperer) , who the gang thinks is just somebody who gambles heavily. They think wrong. He is instead working for the Capone gang in the drug trade. And when kidnapped he offers up his boss, Erik Vajda, who is one of Capone's lieutenants and worth lots of money to Frank Nitti himself. What the Purple Gang didn't figure on was that Ness and the Untouchables have been staking out the drug trade for awhile and are very aware of Tornek's comings and goings. When he doesn't show up at his scheduled time to pick up his package, they know something is amiss. So Ness and company stumble into the Purple Gang quite by accident.

This episode is quite violent, even among episodes of the Untouchables. Most of the violence is just implied, except for the final shoot out. Eddie Fletcher was an actual member of The Purple Gang, but as with all episodes of The Untouchables, the fate of both Fletcher and his gang in this episode is highly fictionalized.

There has NEVER been a better scene on television than the one in this episode where Frank Nitti (Bruce Gordon) and his goons enter a deserted warehouse for a rendezvous with Eddie Fletcher (Steve Cochran) and the Purple Gang. The eeriness and raw power of that scene is stunning. Not to mention the acting of Gordon, Cochran, and Carl Milletaire. Show this scene to any fan of crap shows like "Buffy" and "Angel" and even they will be amazed. Nothing out there on television today can top what was done on The Untouchables nearly 50 years ago. It's a timeless classic that still blows people away and the Purple Gang is one of its best episodes. You want to see a real hero, watch Robert Stack. You want to see real villains, watch Bruce Gordon and Steve Cochran. None of this Buffy and Angel crap.

..although the plot is forgettable, it is most remembered for Steve Cochran as an evil don Ed Fletcher of the Purple gang,& Werner Klemperer as a drug mule for the Capone gang. Although Neville brand is most engaging as Al Capone in the TV series, it is Bruce Cochran who is most remembered as the enforcer for the 'Chicago outfit' who commands the stage in the dimly lit warehouse scene w/ Ed Fletcher; he will rank in the TV villains' Hall of fame right up there w/ Gus Frimg(Giancarlo Esposito)of 'breaking bad' fame, but you must remember, BB is entirely fiction from the fertile imagination of Vince Gilligan, whereas Frank Nitti historically came up the ranks as a foot soldier, born in Italy, learned the crime trade in Brooklyn, Galveston, Dallas & finally caught the eye of Johnny Torrio, head of the Chicago Outfit, along w/ another unknown consigliere, a young 32-yr-old named Al Capone. When Capone succeeded Torrio, it was Nitti who 'outsourced' the dirty work for Capone . And Cochran's, excuse me, Bruce Gordon's faithful TV portrayal as Nitti cemented his place in gangland history.