30min | Crime, Drama | TV Series (1950–1955)
A squad of Treasury Department agents, headed by "The Chief", go after counterfeiters and other criminals who commit crimes that fall under the Treasure Department's jurisdiction.
Customs agents go after a ring of gangsters who are smuggling rare parrots into the U.S. from Mexico.
Director: Gerald Mayer
Writer: Robert Sloane
Stars: Walter Greaza, George Wallace, Martin Garralaga
A squad of Treasury Department agents, headed by "The Chief", go after counterfeiters and other criminals who commit crimes that fall under the Treasure Department's jurisdiction.
Customs agents go after a ring of gangsters who are smuggling rare parrots into the U.S. from Mexico.
Director: Gerald Mayer
Writer: Robert Sloane
Stars: Walter Greaza, George Wallace, Martin Garralaga
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00It started in a small shack on the American side of the Mexican border.
00:22Let's go.
00:34Bottom.
00:53Shut up, quiet.
00:55How old are they?
00:56Four weeks.
00:57Even six?
00:58Ah, they're just a little sleepy from the ride.
01:00Here, take a look.
01:10They're all like this, perfect health.
01:12Six hundred and forty of them in this one load.
01:14And what's the price?
01:16Same as before, you take the whole load, a dollar and a half a bird.
01:19How do you do it, Cain?
01:21How do you sell them so cheap?
01:23Where do you get them?
01:24Look, you want the birds, pay me.
01:26Just don't ask any questions.
01:33In order to prevent the spreading of a rare but extremely contagious disease known as Psittacosis,
01:39regulations of the United States Public Health Service do not allow citizen birds like parakeets
01:45to be brought into the country for sale.
01:48Enforcement of these regulations is the responsibility of the Customs Service.
01:53In my role as Chief, Division of Investigations, United States Customs,
01:57I'm going to tell you about one member of a large organized ring of parakeet smugglers
02:03whose combined efforts resulted in a million dollar racket
02:06until the long arm of the law eventually put an end to it.
02:10Treasury File 4977, United States Customs.
02:16The case of the Green Feathers.
02:42Again, Maria?
02:43Again you go out tonight?
02:45Only for a little while, Papa.
02:47My friend have a car.
02:48Almost a new car.
02:50And it rides so beautiful.
02:53Like you can't tell the motor is running.
02:55And who is this friend with the car?
02:58Who is this man who makes your eyes to shine when you talk about him?
03:03Americano, Papa.
03:04Big, tall Americano.
03:06With a beautiful smile and silver to jingle in his pocket.
03:10What do you know about this man?
03:12Where he come from?
03:14And why he come to Nogales to give you a ride in his car?
03:18I like better you go for a ride with Miguel.
03:21Miguel, Miguel.
03:22Who care about Miguel?
03:24When I marry, Papa, I don't want to marry a man like Miguel.
03:27He's a nice boy, Maria.
03:28He have a good farm.
03:29And what I can do with a good farm?
03:31Feed the pig, take care of the goats,
03:33make a family and get so fat I don't fit in a chair?
03:36No, Papa.
03:37When I marry, I want to live in big city.
03:40With lights and music.
03:42Oh, where I can dance, go to the movies, see double feature.
03:46Not Miguel and his goats.
03:48And what you see with this Americano?
03:50Why you come home so late when you go out with him?
03:53And why he don't bring you home sometime?
03:56Tell me, Maria, tell me.
03:58What kind of a man take you out in four o'clock in the morning
04:01and let you come home alone?
04:03He did not, Papa.
04:04Four o'clock, Maria.
04:05I wait up for you that night and nobody take you home.
04:08From the window I see you come down the street alone.
04:11He left me off on the road, Papa.
04:12So the car won't wake up the neighbors.
04:14We were afraid they might talk.
04:16Maria, where did you go with that man that night?
04:19Why there is mud on your shoes when you come home?
04:22And little feathers on your coat.
04:24Little green feathers.
04:25Where they come from?
04:26What are they?
04:27How I know what they are?
04:29Feathers.
04:30It's no business of yours anyway.
04:33It's my business to be your father, Maria.
04:36Papa, he's here and you made me late.
04:39Don't go, Maria.
04:40I am afraid for you to go with this man.
04:42Papa, I am late.
04:43You do not go, I say.
04:46Please, Maria.
04:48You are my heart.
04:51Let me go.
05:03He asked me why I come home so late
05:05and why you don't bring me home.
05:07Well, don't worry about that, Maria.
05:09He probably figures you've been going out too much,
05:11having too many dates.
05:13I might feel the same way too if I was your old man.
05:15But the feathers.
05:17He asked me about the feathers on my coat.
05:19Oh, well, now look, honey.
05:21There's a million and one things you can worry about
05:23if you want to start looking for them.
05:24Only this kind of stuff ain't important.
05:26It is important to me, Ralph.
05:28I never do anything like this before.
05:30If not for you, I don't do it now.
05:33You ain't sorry, are you?
05:35And every time we pull one of these jobs,
05:37it puts you that much nearer to just what you want.
05:39I don't be sorry if you love me, Ralph.
05:42I don't be sorry if I know where we go
05:44when we finish these jobs.
05:47Tell me about Tucson and Phoenix.
05:50Tell me about the big, wonderful places
05:52you will take me when we have enough money to marry.
05:55You are going to marry me, aren't you?
05:57Of course I am.
05:59Told you I was.
06:01Tell me again.
06:02Tell me a thousand times so I don't be afraid.
06:05And put your arm around me and kiss me.
06:07Sure, honey. Sure.
06:11What it be like to live in Arizona, Ralph?
06:14What it be like to have a big apartment there?
06:17Drive a car, have a shower,
06:20eat sometime maybe in a big restaurant?
06:23Oh, you'll love it, Maria.
06:25We'll get ourselves a little place in Phoenix
06:27and really settle down.
06:28They have big stores in Phoenix.
06:30They have lights and music
06:32and places to dance at night.
06:34They have television there.
06:36They got everything, honey.
06:38Just wait and see. Everything.
06:46Of course, we can't possibly watch every inch of the border
06:49at all hours of the day or night
06:50to prevent someone from slipping across.
06:52But we can do the next best thing.
06:54You mean, sir, try to find out
06:55where those parakeets are coming from?
06:56Exactly. Find out where they're being sold
06:58and who's buying them in large quantities.
07:00Our information from the treasury attaches in Mexico City
07:03indicates that thousands of these birds
07:05are being shipped into Mexico from Holland by air.
07:09And their suspicion is that these shipments
07:11are intended for smuggling into the United States.
07:13Any idea what dealers are handling these shipments?
07:16No, not yet.
07:18But if we establish surveillance of Mexican airports
07:20in the border area, perhaps we can find out.
07:23Perhaps we can also find out
07:24who's buying from these dealers or any others
07:26in abnormally large quantities
07:28and be ready for them when they make their next move.
07:30It's a pretty big job, chief,
07:32investigating all the parakeet farms and dealers in Mexico.
07:35Perhaps we can't check on all of them.
07:37But we certainly can concentrate on those in border towns
07:40like Mexicali, Nogales, Juarez, as far east as Laredo.
07:46Now, you can't handle it alone, Lansing,
07:48so there'll be four of you,
07:49each one of you covering a separate sector.
07:51Right, chief.
07:52Now, your particular territory
07:53will be right in through here, Lansing.
07:55These 400 miles on either side of Nogales.
08:02That's pretty sparsely settled country.
08:04Up through there, and there shouldn't be
08:06too many people handling parakeets in that area.
08:08No, that shouldn't be too hard to cover.
08:10I covered very much the same ground in the Wellington case.
08:12That's exactly why I sent for you.
08:14I want you to leave tomorrow, Lansing.
08:16Our information is that the traffic in illegal parakeets
08:20has been increasing steadily,
08:22particularly here in the Nogales area.
08:25And we've got to put a stop to it.
08:27Yes, sir.
08:31For the better part of the next two weeks,
08:33Agent Lansing went from town to town
08:35on the Mexican side of the border,
08:38talking with parakeet breeders,
08:41dealers, and others who handle the birds in quantity lots.
08:46His purpose was to determine, if possible,
08:48whether their sales had increased
08:50to any considerable extent in recent months,
08:53and also who might be buying the birds in large amounts.
08:57Posing as a possible buyer,
08:59Lansing became friendly with several merchants
09:02in the Nogales area,
09:04and during his discussions with them,
09:06picked up some information about a new buyer
09:08who was purchasing the birds in fairly large numbers.
09:11By discreet questioning, he learned that it was a woman,
09:14a young, attractive Mexican woman
09:16who paid in cash for the birds she bought,
09:18packed the cages in an old jalopy of a car,
09:21and drove off in the direction of Nogales.
09:25And from this same dealer, he was able to get her name,
09:28Carmen Gonzalez,
09:30the Mexican equivalent of Jane Doe.
09:37On the basis of this information,
09:39his only chance of discovering her true identity
09:42was to keep the market under the closest possible surveillance
09:45on the hope that she would show up there before too long.
09:51Oh, it's so beautiful, Ralph.
09:53Oh, it's the first time I ever have anything so beautiful to wear.
09:57You'll have plenty of things, kid.
09:58You just stick with me and I'll teach you how to live right.
10:01Oh, sometimes you're so good to me, Ralph,
10:03when I need you to be good.
10:05Just when I think you don't love me anymore,
10:07that you want me only for these jobs,
10:09you come along and do something like this,
10:11make me feel so warm inside,
10:13make me feel like we're already married.
10:15That's the way I want you to feel, Maria,
10:17because we've still got a lot of work to do.
10:19And I want you to know that we're not just doing it for me,
10:21we're doing it for us.
10:23Tonight I know, Ralph.
10:25And tomorrow will be the same way, too.
10:27It'll always be like this, Maria.
10:29Now look, kid.
10:30You've got to shop around tomorrow and buy a whole new set up of birds,
10:33just like the last time.
10:34Don't buy any more than 50 or 60 in any one place.
10:37And keep bringing them back to that old barn on the road to Canania.
10:40You're taking them across the border tomorrow night.
10:42The same place as before?
10:44No, no, I've got a whole new layout for you.
10:46I'll show you how it works after you've bought the birds.
10:48Why don't you buy them yourself, Ralph?
10:50Why do you always ask me to buy the birds?
10:52I can't take that kind of a chance, kid.
10:54I told you, I was arrested for crossing the border once without going through customs.
10:58Anybody see me buying a parakeet's a liable to get ideas.
11:01That time you were arrested, it was for carrying birds?
11:04Yeah, yeah, yeah, parrots, you know, the big ones.
11:07Look, sweetie, it's getting kind of late.
11:09I'd better take you home, huh?
11:12I love you, Ralph.
11:16I love you too, honey.
11:18Muchos amores. Muchos amores.
11:34I have the light.
11:35You frighten me.
11:37I'm sorry, Maria, but you frighten me more.
11:41Going out with this man, coming home late again,
11:44no matter how many times I tell you he's no good for you.
11:47How you know what he's good for me?
11:49How you know what it's like in a woman's heart?
11:51Or what she wants?
11:52Or the kind of man that make her feel like a flame is burning inside her?
11:55Listen to me, Maria.
11:56I have find out about this man.
11:58He's a crook, a liar, a cheat.
12:00Papa!
12:01It's the truth, Maria.
12:03Miguel has a friend who is a witness when he go to jail.
12:06This Americano goes to jail three times
12:09for a smuggling dope, heroin, opium,
12:12anything he can lay a hand on.
12:14And for this man, you burn a flame in your heart.
12:18I don't believe it.
12:19Miguel is jealous, that's why he say these things.
12:22Miguel say them because they are the truth.
12:24Miguel no liar.
12:25I don't care.
12:26I don't care I love this man and I'm going to marry him.
12:29You ruin your life, Maria.
12:30No, you ruin my life.
12:32You telling me what to do all the time,
12:34watching me, never trusting me to go anywhere.
12:36Maria, till I was 18 years old,
12:37you don't let me go out even with a boy.
12:39It's no wonder I want to go out now.
12:41It's no wonder I have love for this Americano.
12:43I grow up like a dog in this house.
12:45Like a dog with a chain around his neck.
12:47And all because of...
12:50Look at that, Maria.
12:51You have say enough.
12:58I have hurt you, Maria.
13:00I'm sorry I have hurt you.
13:04I'm sorry too, papa.
13:11Keeping Granado's market under surveillance,
13:14the woman agent Lansing had been hoping to see,
13:17finally appeared.
13:20Making a purchase of six dozen four week old parakeets.
13:25Lansing watched her as she placed these birds
13:27in an old jalopy bearing a Mexican license.
13:30And immediately started off on the main road to Nogales.
13:37Lansing followed this car from the outskirts of Nogales
13:40to an old barn on the road to Canonia
13:43where Maria removed the cages from her car
13:45and took them inside.
13:51A few minutes later,
13:53agent Lansing concealed himself
13:55in a location where he could observe
13:57the barn at close range.
13:59And from here he saw Ralph Kane
14:01drive up to the barn and go inside.
14:10Where did you get them, Granado's place?
14:12Si, Granado's.
14:13Good.
14:14So that makes the last batch.
14:16It's only about three o'clock.
14:18Tell me a time to get back up to Tucson
14:20and get everything ready for tonight.
14:22What time do you want me to cross the border?
14:24Well, I guess you better leave no doubt.
14:26Well, I guess you better leave Nogales at about 11 o'clock.
14:29You won't have any trouble getting on the right road.
14:31I've got a mark right here on the map.
14:33You see, you get on this old dirt road
14:35just outside of Natco
14:37and you leave the car about 100 feet
14:38this side of the border.
14:39Then you have to take the birds out
14:41and carry them down this footpath
14:42to the American side.
14:43Now there's kind of an old shack right about here
14:45and that's where I want you to bring the birds.
14:47But I have to walk all the way to the shack?
14:49Look, it's only about an eighth of a mile.
14:51You may have to make four or five trips.
14:52It all depends on what you can carry at one time.
14:54If I can get my truck down to the shack early enough
14:56I may be able to help you.
14:57Same as last time.
14:58Seriously?
15:04What's the matter, Maria?
15:05Don't you care about all this?
15:06Ralph, when you'll be arrested for crossing the border
15:09they send you to jail?
15:11Oh, look now, honey.
15:12We've got a million things to do.
15:13Let's not start asking a lot of silly questions.
15:16Let's see, what else is there?
15:17Oh, yeah, the breadcrumbs.
15:18Ralph.
15:19Don't forget the breadcrumbs, kid.
15:21Soak them in the tequila
15:22and then be sure and feed them to all the birds
15:24who want to be quiet and sleepy when they leave here.
15:26Because if they squawk, they'll have to get us into trouble.
15:28Ralph, when you'll be arrested for crossing the border
15:31what do you take with you?
15:32I told you, parrots.
15:33You not try to take heroin? Opium?
15:35Who told you that?
15:37Look, what difference does it make?
15:38You take one thing, you take another.
15:39It's all the same.
15:40It's not the same to me because you lied.
15:42So I lied.
15:43What do you care how many times I've been in jail
15:45or what it was for?
15:46You know I'm no angel.
15:47If you lie about that, you could lie about getting married.
15:49Now, wait a second.
15:50We get married tomorrow, Ralph.
15:52Or I don't take the birds.
15:54Tomorrow?
15:55What are you talking about, baby?
15:56I won't even see you tomorrow.
15:57I'll be in Phoenix.
15:58I will be in Phoenix too.
15:59I'm not coming back to Nogales tonight.
16:01We get married tomorrow.
16:06Okay, baby.
16:07We can get married tomorrow.
16:09Only just make sure you bring the birds tonight, huh?
16:13I'll see you later, honey.
16:15And don't forget, I love you.
16:27Unaware that Agent Lansing had the barn under surveillance,
16:30Ralph Kane proceeded to his car.
16:33Observing him at relatively close range,
16:36Lansing recognized Kane,
16:38Lansing recognized Kane as an ex-convict
16:40who had only recently been released from a federal penitentiary
16:43after serving a term for attempting to smuggle narcotics
16:46across the border in the same district where Lansing had worked.
16:52Lansing was forced to make a quick decision.
16:55Giving up his surveillance of the girl,
16:57he decided in favor of following Ralph Kane.
17:01The pursuit led back across the American border to Tucson, Arizona,
17:05where Kane proceeded to a local garage
17:10where he rented a light truck and left his own car behind.
17:16Yes, Lansing.
17:17And you followed him all the way to Tucson.
17:20Well, that's fine.
17:21Now, if you don't mind me asking,
17:23do you know where Ralph Kane's car is?
17:26You followed him all the way to Tucson.
17:28Well, that's fine.
17:29Now, if you need any extra men, get in touch with Haynes.
17:32I'll set it up for you from this end.
17:35All right, Lansing.
17:37Good luck.
17:57You are going, Maria?
17:59You are going with him?
18:01I left you in El Papa.
18:02I'm not coming back.
18:04Maria, you go with this man because of me.
18:08Because I don't be good father to you.
18:11It is not my fault, Maria.
18:13I have never bring up a girl before.
18:16If your mother was alive...
18:18I haven't time to talk to you now, Papa.
18:21No time?
18:22When you go away and you don't come back?
18:26No time to talk to your father.
18:28Maria, I know what you do.
18:31I have look in your car.
18:32You have parents, little ones in the back.
18:34You keep away from there. It's mine.
18:36I buy it with my own money.
18:37You buy the car, si, si.
18:39But the parakeets, you buy for him.
18:40And for him, you take them across the border.
18:42Keep quiet, Papa.
18:43For him, my own little girl become a thief.
18:46I don't let you do it, Maria.
18:48I don't let you go with him.
18:49You don't stop me.
18:55You don't stop me.
19:26Ralph, is that you?
19:27Yes, it's me.
19:33How you come here?
19:34I did not hear the truck.
19:35It's down the road away.
19:36I want to make sure nobody was around before I drove up in it.
19:39Everything okay? You got all the cages?
19:40Si.
19:41Any trouble at the border? Anybody see you?
19:42No, everything is fine.
19:43Good, good.
19:44Ralph?
19:45Huh?
19:46We get married tomorrow?
19:47Yes, yes.
19:48Well, aren't you going to kiss me?
19:49Oh, sure, sure.
19:50Well, we got to get moving, kid.
19:51I'll go get the truck and...
19:52I come for Maria.
19:53I come to take her home.
19:54How did you get here?
19:55Who told you about this place?
19:56It's time to go, Maria, before it's too late.
19:57The police are looking for you already.
19:58Please.
19:59They come to the house to ask about the birds.
20:00The birds?
20:01Yes, the birds.
20:02The birds.
20:03The birds.
20:04The birds.
20:05The birds.
20:06The birds.
20:07The birds.
20:08The birds.
20:09The birds.
20:10The birds.
20:11The birds.
20:12The birds.
20:13The birds.
20:14The birds.
20:15The birds.
20:16The birds.
20:18They ask where you are.
20:20Where?
20:21What did you tell them?
20:22What I can tell them?
20:23Maria is good girl.
20:24It's only you that he's bad.
20:26It's only you that...
20:27Listen, you.
20:28If you tipped off the cops of a...
20:30What is that?
20:33It sounded like a car.
20:38You did put them on us.
20:40You did tip off those cops.
20:41No.
20:42Don't tell me.
20:43You know, I can hear them out there.
20:44They probably got the place surrounded.
20:45You're out. What we do?
20:47I'll show you what we're going to do.
20:49Pop, you got us into this. Now you're going to get us out of it.
20:51You're going to take the rap for this whole deal.
20:53Tell them it was you who brought the birds in here. Make a full confession.
20:55So you can run away with Maria.
20:58No, I don't do it.
20:59You'll do it, all right.
21:01Go ahead, shoot me. That won't do any good.
21:03If the police are out there, the shot make them come quick.
21:07Who says I'm going to shoot you?
21:09What?
21:10Come here, Maria.
21:13Come here!
21:16Now maybe you'll know I mean business.
21:17Open up.
21:20This is the United States Customs Officer.
21:23Open the door and come out with your hands up.
21:25You've got the place surrounded.
21:27Go on, Pop. Tell them you brought the birds in here.
21:33Go on, Pop, tell them.
21:35You say one word about us and she gets it.
21:45Didn't you hear us knocking at the door?
22:01Where'd you get them? Whose are they?
22:03They're mine.
22:05I take them across the border.
22:08Alone? Who's in this with you?
22:11Nobody.
22:13What's in there?
22:15Nothing. Just an empty storage room.
22:18I think I'll take a look, Watson.
22:20No.
22:21What are you worried about?
22:23Just an empty room, I tell you.
22:25Why you ask me all these questions?
22:27I have told you I take the birds across the border.
22:30I have nothing more to say.
22:32All right, mister, but I still want to look in this room.
22:43Throw the gun out, Cain.
22:45And then follow it with your hands up.
22:49I know it's you in there, Cain.
22:51I've been telling you since 3 o'clock this afternoon.
23:07I told you we had the place surrounded.
23:10Don't shoot.
23:12Don't shoot.
23:14I give up.
23:17Don't shoot.
23:31Maria.
23:33Papa.
23:35He would have killed me, Papa.
23:37If it could have saved him, he would have killed me.
23:40He wants me only for his own good, Papa.
23:43Only for his own good.
23:46It's all right, Maria.
23:48You'll be all through with him now.
23:51Okay, Webster, bring him along.
23:57I'm glad, senor.
23:59I'm glad you stopped them.
24:01It's better she go to jail than to be with him.
24:10Maria Reynosa pleaded guilty to a smuggling charge
24:13and became a witness for the government
24:15in its case against Ralph Cain
24:17who, it was subsequently discovered,
24:19had four other drivers besides Maria
24:21helping him smuggle parakeets into the United States.
24:24Maria's father, against whom no action was taken,
24:27became a witness, too, for the prosecution.
24:31In this drive against a parakeet smuggling ring,
24:34Cain was one of five Americans
24:36found guilty of smuggling
24:38and sentenced to federal penitentiaries
24:40for terms of six to eight years.
25:08This is a test.
25:10This is a test.
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25:18This is a test.
25:20This is a test.
25:22This is a test.
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25:26This is a test.
25:28This is a test.
25:30This is a test.
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25:36This is a test.
25:38This is a test.
25:40This is a test.