Original air date: 16 February 1969
This episode was not rerun
Arnold Grant Toby: Interstate Transportation in Aid of Racketeering—Attempted Murder.
Erskine and Colby lead an FBI raid that seizes illegal gambling equipment being shipped by Arnold Toby, a New York organized crime boss. But that’s just the start of the complicated case. Toby’s attorney, Richard Bender, gets Toby freed on bail. The arrest is covered in newspapers. Dennis Holland reads of the arrest. His son was arrested and executed years earlier; Bender had declined to represent the son and Holland has held a grudge ever since.
Holland manipulates one of his employees, Pete Zacharias, into typing up a death threat and to handle a handgun. Holland plans to kill Bender and make Zacharias the scapegoat. Holland chose Zacharias because his daughter, Carol, is the girlfriend of gangster Toby. On top of all this, Toby imports two out-of-town hit men to kill Zacharias after Carol tells him she’s afraid her father threatened Bender, the attorney. In the midst of the case, Erskine gets shot and laid up in the hospital. That leaves Colby to attempt to prevent the murder of Zacharias.
- Edward Asner who has a guest starring role, was well known for playing the cantankerous news boss Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-77) and the spinoff series Lou Grant. This is his final appearance on the series. By the time this aired, he was working on what was to be Elvis Presley’s final movie, Change of Habit, which co-starred Mary Tyler Moore.
- Guest star Dawn Wells was well known for her portrayal of castaway Mary Anne Summers on the 1960s sitcom Gilligan’s Island (1964-67). She is almost unrecognizable because of her glamorous appearance.
- Inspector Erskine takes a gunshot from Dennis Holland, one of the few times he is wounded in the series. The criminals are subdued by Tom Colby and another special agent.
Credits:
Directed by: Robert Douglas
Written by: Albert Aley
Performer | Role
- Linden Chiles | Arnold Grant Toby
- Edward Asner | Peter Zacharias
- Dawn Wells | Carol Morton
- Arthur Hill | Richard Bender
- Louise Latham | Edith Bender
- Tim O’Connor | Dennis Holland
- Walter Janowitz | The Head Waiter
- Phil Chambers | Dr. Cruz
- Giles Douglas | Bus Boy