The Real Untouchables

[first lines]

[segment:
"Eliot Ness"]

Narrator:
He was the first untouchable, the Prohibition agent who cleaned up Chicago and brought down Al Capone. He became a legend. But does he owe his name to history or Hollywood? Who was the real Eliot Ness?

[last lines]

[segment:
"Eliot Ness"]

Narrator:
Eliot Ness wasn't the man who got Capone, but the image of the untouchable, a fearless and incorruptible agent, helps to ease our memory of the corrupt Prohibition years. In our timeless search for heroes, Eliot Ness still answers that call.

[first lines]

[segment:
"Melvin Purvis"]

Narrator:
In a desperate age when bank robbers were called Robin Hoods, he made the lawman the hero. The ace G-man, he lead the hunt for Public Enemy Number One, John Dillinger. In reward, he was hounded to his grave and written out of history. Who was the real Melvin Purvis?

[last lines]

[segment:
"Melvin Purvis"]

Alston Purvis:
There was a need for a hero - of a hero that represented the other side, other values. And my father provided that hero. He was a hero.

[first lines]

[segment:
"Thomas Dewey"]

Narrator:
In a city where everyone was for sale, he couldn't be bought. He took on the racketeers and risked his life to put mafia kingpin Lucky Luciano behind bars. His victory took him to the steps of the White House, but now he's forgotten. Who was the real Thomas Dewey?

[last lines]

[segment:
"Thomas Dewey"]

Narrator:
In the corrupt years between the wars, it looked like America would never win its war on organized crime. But in his defeat of Lucky Luciano, Thomas Dewey won a pioneering victory. The war on crime is never-ending, but the untouchable Thomas Dewey, one of a new breed of incorruptible lawmen, showed America how to fight and win.