The Lawless Years

30min

Crime

Drama

The Lawless Years is an American crime drama series that aired on NBC from April 16 1959, to September 22, 1961. The series is the first of its kind set set during the Roaring 20s, having predated ABC's far more successful The Untouchables by six months. The series stars James Gregory and Robert Karnes.

Production Companies

Jack Chertok Television Productions

California National Productions

NBC

Episodes

Cast

The Nick Joseph Story

1. The Nick Joseph Story

30min

16th Apr 1959

Detective Ruditsky relates the story of Nick Joseph, a small-time hood from Manhattan's Lower East Side, who rises from petty theft to become an ace contract killer for the syndicate's notorious Murder, Inc.

The Immigrant

2. The Immigrant

30min

23rd Apr 1959

An immigrant woman tries to get Ruditsky to set her son on the straight and narrow. It seems as though he's been hanging around with a gang of hoodlums. Ruditsky gives it his best effort but it could be a tough sell.

The Jane Cooper Story

3. The Jane Cooper Story

26min

30th Apr 1959

Jane Cooper, recently paroled from prison, proves that she hasn't learned anything when she once again begins hanging around with underworld characters. Only this time it seems as though her mobster boyfriends keep dying off.

The Story Of Cutie Jaffe

4. The Story Of Cutie Jaffe

30min

7th May 1959

Cutie Jaffe, a small-time hood with big time ambitions, begins knocking over some of his brother-in-law's bootlegging trucks. Will Cutie rise in the underworld hierarchy or is he headed for a hard fall?

The Dutch Schultz Story

5. The Dutch Schultz Story

30min

14th May 1959

Dutch Schultz wants to bump off special prosecutor Thomas Dewey who has been after him. The syndicate bigwigs deny him permission to make the hit but the Dutchman proceeds with his plans anyway.

The Lion And The Mouse

6. The Lion And The Mouse

21st May 1959

Small time racketeer Eddie Safronek plots revenge against the hoods who beat him up and left him for dead.

No Fare

7. No Fare

28th May 1959

The underworld bribes police detective Harry Kramer in order to get him to withhold information in a case.

The Payoff

8. The Payoff

11th Jun 1959

After a moll is found murdered, flashbacks tell her story and those of mobsters Tony Sappio and Big Ed Harper, who both loved not wisely but too well.

The Marie Walters Story

9. The Marie Walters Story

18th Jun 1959

The body of a murdered young woman is dragged from the Harlem River and the police ascertain that she was killed because she knew too much regarding the activities of a bootlegging gang. Ruditsky then becomes puzzled when the attorney of the chief suspect insists on going to trial as quickly as possible.

The Maxey  Gorman Story

10. The Maxey Gorman Story

25th Jun 1959

Ex-convict Maxey Gorman gets a Machiavellian character named A.J. to finance his entry into the bootlegging business. The two men become partners but when the dough starts pouring in Maxie looks for a way to rid himself of A. J.

The Muddy Kasoff Story

11. The Muddy Kasoff Story

2nd Jul 1959

Muddy Kasoff has been renting automobiles for gangsters to use but he has been secretly tippin the cops. When the hoods discover that Muddy has been informing they have him killed. Ruditsky investigates and discovers that a cigar band might be an important clue.

Framed

12. Framed

16th Jul 1959

When Ruditsky can't be bribed by a waterfront crime gang they attempt to frame him by making it look like he's on the take.

Four the Hard Way

13. Four the Hard Way

23rd Jul 1959

Ruditsky warns visiting high roller Big Ziggy to get out of town but before he can hit the road he get roped into a crooked poker game with three cardsharps.

The Tony Morelli Story

14. The Tony Morelli Story

25min

30th Jul 1959

Dick Wilson (2) as Game Boy Miles | Harry Arnie as Benny | Brad Trumbull (2) as O'Neill | Lou Herbert as Titanic Thompson | Jack Kruschen as Laughing Boy | John Vivyan as Big Ziggy

The Ray Baker Story

15. The Ray Baker Story

6th Aug 1959

At a wild gangland party a young girl falls out of a window and is killed. When evidence shows that the girl was pushed, visiting Chicago mobster Ray Baker is arrested and charged with the crime. But Ruditsky has his doubts and thinks that the real culprit might be another mobster.

The Story of Lucky Silva

16. The Story of Lucky Silva

13th Aug 1959

ucky Silva is a small-time hood who by a combination of circumstance, ambition, and drive rises quickly to a position of prominence in New York's Mafia.

The Morrison Story

17. The Morrison Story

20th Aug 1959

A judge is murdered right before a state crime commission is scheduled to take a look into his activities.

The Poison Ivy Story

18. The Poison Ivy Story

27th Aug 1959

Ruditsky is temporarily assigned to duty in a Brooklyn precinct and must get the goods on a gang of hooligans who are pulling off a series of drug store robberies.

The Prantera Story

19. The Prantera Story

3rd Sep 1959

First air date

16th Apr 1959

Last air date

22nd Sep 1961

Status

Ended

Type

Scripted

Original language

en

Networks