A Seat on the Fence

Chicago, late Summer 1932.  Eliot Ness and his men had stemmed the supply of narcotics coming into the Windy City from Asia and southern Europe.  Now the Underworld was using new ways to supply the city's 5,000 dope addicts.  The Syndicate was robbing drugstores, doctors' offices, wholesale drug houses-- any place which kept a supply of painkilling drugs.* Ness and his men investigate one such robbery: a clue is a note with a list of items to be stolen (morphine, cocaine, etc.)-- numbered with Roman Numerals, written by an educated man.  That man is Victor Bardo, one-time narcotics czar of all eastern Asia; he was imported by the Syndicate in 1931.  His headquarters are some offices behind a legit front: an arcade.  Crooked Dr. Hallet has just told him about a couple of nursing homes they can knock off.  However Dino Patrone (age 46), a contact man for narcotics in Europe, has fallen out of favor with Bardo-- he tells his hitman Willie Dasher to rub Patrone out when he gets back.  Ness

Un gros bonnet de la drogue, à la tête d'un gang spécialisé dans le cambriolage d'hôpitaux et de pharmacies suite à une pénurie, doit récupérer une lettre compromettante laissée par un acolyte qu'il a fait liquider. La fille de cet ancien associé et un journaliste radio sont impliqués mais le manque d'insuline permettra à Ness et ses hommes de localiser le caïd.

Ness busca pistas para una investigación sobre robo de narcóticos… pero los despiadados métodos usados por los delincuentes desalientan a los posibles informantes.