The Untouchables
The Matt Bass Scheme
TV Flash files “The Matt Bass Scheme” as hour 65 of 118 in the TV Flash guide — The Untouchables (1959–1963) on ABC, season 3, episode 5, aired 1961-11-09, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E05: listed hour 65 of 118 in the The Untouchables guide, hour 5 of 28 in season 3. It aired 1961-11-09 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “The Genna Brothers” (S03E04). Next is “Loophole” (S03E06).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Matt Bass is an ex-con and a former member of Al Capone's criminal empire. In prison, a fellow con, engineer Jason Fiddler develops what he thinks is the perfect way to deliver illicit liquor to central Chicago. Once out of jail, Bass approaches his old friend Frank Nitti to sell the idea. Nitti has been hit hard lately by Eliot Ness and the Untouchables who have pretty well shut down most of his distilleries and the speakeasies are starting to close their doors. Nitti tries to solve the delivery problem himself but in the end, agrees to Bass and Fiddler's scheme. Ness is soon on to them however.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Matt Bass Scheme sit in the The Untouchables guide?
S03E05 is listed hour 65 of 118 — hour 5 of 28 in season 3, season 3 episode 5.
When did The Untouchables S03E05 air?
The Matt Bass Scheme aired 1961-11-09 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…