The Lawless Years
The Lawless Years is the first television crime drama set during the Roaring 20s, having predated ABC's far more successful The Untouchables with Robert Stack by six months. The 47-episode half-hour series aired nonconsecutively on NBC from April 16 to August 27, 1959, from October 1, 1959, to January 19, 1960, and, finally, from May 12 to September 22, 1961. It starred James Gregory as real-life NYPD Detective Barney Ruditsky, with Robert Karnes as Max, his associate. Ruditsky, who had become a private investigator in Hollywood after retiring from law enforcement, served as the show's technical advisor. Jack Chertok was the producer. Episode 03 The Jane Cooper Story Parolee Jane Cooper's goal is to improve her status in life by trading in her low-class boyfriend for progressively wealthier gangsters. As she moves up the food chain and plays one man off another, each of her ex-boyfriends meets a tragic end. This doesn't go unnoticed by Ruditsky or the mob; they give her the nickname "Jane the Jinx."
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- Director
- Jack Chertok
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