The Untouchables
The Nero Rankin Story
TV Flash files “The Nero Rankin Story” as hour 56 of 118 in the TV Flash guide — The Untouchables (1959–1963) on ABC, season 2, episode 28, aired 1961-05-11, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E28: listed hour 56 of 118 in the The Untouchables guide, hour 28 of 32 in season 2. It aired 1961-05-11 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Stranglehold” (S02E27). Next is “The Seventh Vote” (S02E29).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Although Eliot Ness and the Untouchables managed to destroy the Underground Court, they have yet to make a dent against the Syndicate, which has re-grouped and continues to operate. They elect Nero Rankin to chair the national board of the syndicate, but the choice wasn't unanimous. He's also in poor health and that leads Sylvia Orkins, who loves Rankin and is convinced he will die or be killed, to approach Eliot Ness to do something, anything, to get him out of his new job.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Nero Rankin Story sit in the The Untouchables guide?
S02E28 is listed hour 56 of 118 — hour 28 of 32 in season 2, season 2 episode 28.
When did The Untouchables S02E28 air?
The Nero Rankin Story aired 1961-05-11 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with Stack's Ness and Winchell's newsreel bark in early Chicago-raid form. The granite stare and the tommy-gun morality are the brief.
In the series
Why this series still plays
The Untouchables is Eliot Ness versus Capone's Chicago: Robert Stack's granite stare, Walter Winchell's newsreel bark, Desilu muscle, machine-gun morality in sharp suits. Watch it in 2026 as violent prestige crime that pushed 1950s network boundaries — raids as spectacle, and a national argument about blood and stereotype.
The work is a raid with newsreel grammar. ABC's *The Untouchables* (1959–1963) makes Robert Stack's granite stare into crime-drama law: 118 episodes, four seasons, Eliot Ness and an incorruptible squad, Walter Winchell's rat-a-tat narration, Desilu production gloss, machine-gun morality in sharp suits. Loosely inspired by Ness's Prohibition-era memoir. Quinn Martin's later crime empire would refine the procedural; this was the loud opening statement. Justice came in fedoras and final shootouts.
Filed against
- Robert Stack as Eliot Ness
Robert Stack’s Eliot Ness granite-stared through The Untouchables — Capone’s Chicago, Walter Winchell’s newsreel bark, machine-gun morality in sharp suits — then put on Unsolved Mysteries’ trench coat until the theme song became a…
- Nicholas Georgiade as Agent Rossi
Nicholas Georgiade’s Agent Rossi rode The Untouchables’ machine-gun morality in a sharp suit — 1950s Eliot Ness versus Capone’s Chicago, Robert Stack’s granite stare, Walter Winchell’s newsreel bark, Desilu muscle. TV Flash files him as…
- Paul Picerni as Agent Youngfellow
Paul Picerni played Agent Youngfellow on The Untouchables, 1950s Eliot Ness versus Capone’s Chicago — Robert Stack’s granite stare, Walter Winchell’s newsreel bark, Desilu muscle, machine-gun morality in sharp suits. Violent prestige…
- Bruce Gordon as Frank Nitti
Bruce Gordon played Frank Nitti on The Untouchables — Capone muscle opposite Robert Stack's granite Eliot Ness, Walter Winchell's newsreel bark, Desilu machine-gun morality in sharp suits. Violent prestige crime that pushed 1950s network…