The File of the Golden Goose

In the early hours of the morning of June the twenty-eighth,

near the Italian the city of Naples,

the first in a series of tragic events began.

A dead girl was identified by the Italian police as Mia Alete,

A high priced call girl from the area.

But her death took on a different aspect

when it was disclosed that her services had been paid for

with a American hundred-dollar bill.... Counterfit

In Calais, France, one week later,

the second entry was recorded in the files of the police.

Gendarms were called when the bank teller was accused of trading...

counterfit American dollars for French francs.

When the counterfit money began to turn up in New York

and other American cities,

Peter Novak, a secret service Agent...

was assigned by Washington to work on the case in the United States.

On the night of July 8th...

Novak was returning home from a date...

with a girl named Ann Marlowe.

Oh, Annie! What's the use, I am not coming up!

I promise you I won't ask you again!

Oh, Annie!

You're such a baby!

I love you more than anybody else.

But that's not fair to you and you will keep asking.

I won't. I promise!

Those eyes of yours...

...when you're looking at me ...

No, Annie! Fun time's over.

I know. You don't want to commit bigamy.

You're already married to the secret service.

That's right!

I have no regrets. No tears at my funeral.

All right...

All right!

You can ... You can go to hell!

OK, baby! After I see you to your door!

Annie get down!

Annie, are you alright?

The bullets meant for Agent Novak had killed Ann Marlowe.

The girl's death is now linked the United States

with France and Italy in the growing records of the police.

England was the next country to feel the impact.

The police were now aware that an international criminal conspiracy was in operation.

This was the height of the tourist season.

Millions of American dollars would be flooding England and the continent.

It would mean a tremendous increase in activity

by professional counterfit passers.

Bank tellers were alerted for any suspect

American dollars which might be tendered.

Stop him!

Stop him!

Stop that man!

Attention!

The forgery section of Scott Yard confirmed that this bill

was identical to those found in Italy and France.

Counterfit!

In a desperate attempt to stop the flow of the counterfit, John Owens,

an American treasury agent operating in the European area

was assigned to work with Scotland Yard on the case.

On the night of July twelve, Owens was on this train from Liverpool to London.

The impact of John Owens' death was felt deeply at Scotland Yard.

It seemed that the cooperative investigation of the US treasury and Scotland Yard...

had come to a dead end.

Now Owens phoned us from Liverpool

before he got on that train.

He said he made contact.

Bought some sheets of counterfit paper from them.

And when they found the body the paper was gone, of course.

Of course. At least for now.

The stuff is being printed in this country.

Come in!

These traveler's checks that were found next to his body...

...they are forgeries!

But the test proved that they were printed on the

same paper as these counterfit bills we picked up.

That's the same paper and notes as being passed in America?

Yes!

And all obviously printed by the same gang.

Get me Washington!

Harding! Treasury Department.

Can I buy you a drink?

On your expense account?

What are you doing in New York?

Washington sent me on a fishing trip.

Do you want to continue?

Scotch? - Yes.

Scotch!

What's up? - Did you hear about Johnny Owens?

What? - He got it.

Day before yesterday. In London.

Any connection between Owens and what happened to Annie?

It looks the same as the last one. The counterfits are the same.

Harding asked me to come and talk to you.

He wants you to take over Johnny's assignment in London.

I told him he shouldn't even ask you.

Not after ...

Annie wanted so much to get married.

I told her she was too young to be a widow.

Forget it! I'll tell him to get somebody else.

When Owens died ...

Did he take any of the bastards with him?

No.

Maybe I'll have better luck.

It's called the International Van and Storage Company .

In the heart of the Liverpool ports area.

It's operated by a man called George Leeds.

The informant said that the counterfit paper came from inside that company.

Did you pick up the pigeon? - Aah!

In a dark alley. cold. And minus a tongue.

Come in!

I apologize, sir! Am I late? No, no, bang on time.

I brought Mr. Novak up to date.

By the way, Arthur Thompson. Peter Novak.

Hello. - Hello.

Oh God! My wife insisted on dropping me. Women's drivers!

Julie has a birthday treat in town.

That's my daughter. She's five today.

You are a family man?

Well, small family. Just two kids.

With my paycheck, two is all I can afford.

Well, I don't know how to put it.

Could I ask you this?

What do all these pins represent?

These are the places where the storage company made deliveries and collections.

Each location is covered by one of our men.

Lots of little pins chasing storage vans.

Raising a lot of smoke.

We have occasionally been known to find a fire.

We think we are able to put one out.

Putting out a big fire or lots of small ones...

isn't gonna stop this gang.

What do you suggest?

You're up against a smart, tight, international ring.

We are not just playing monopoly with printed money.

They're killers!

What's the score so far? Four deaths!

We are aware of this as you are, Mr. Novak.

If you have any specific proposal, let's hear it.

Take every man off the case.

That's sick, why?

At least it will save the taxpayers a lot of money, sir.

You've got a small army there.

The more men, the more chance for a leak.

Poor British! Nobody trusts us anymore.

In this job I trust myself.

I should work alone.

When I need the Yard's help I'll ask for it.

You have a plan, I presume?

Infiltration Join the ring.

Simple as that!? - Yes, if I'm alone.

If the key is the storage company.

Then that's the door to open.

All right, Mr. Novak!

I'll go along with you.

But ... you will have another man.

Who could tell!

He might be able to show you one or two tricks.

Look, Arthur ... if you do not like the sound of this.

I can always assign someone else.

NO, NO NO Sir

No, I don't think I should pass up the opportunity

of working with Mr. Novak.

Besides, we wouldn't like to let our American friends down, would we?

This is Frank Spineta.

Corsican. Thirty-eight years old.

Arrested in 1960 for a burglary. He served eighteen months.

Arrested again in 1965. Forging pound notes.

Everett "Smiley” watts.

Twenty-seven years old. Canadian.

Drug addict, hold-up man. Involved with Spineta in sixty-five.

This is the last one.

Timothy O'Donald. Scot.

Expert locksmith. Explosive's man.

He served two terms for robbery.

That's it, gentlemen.

Oh, thank God for that. Oh, my aching back.

Well...

what do you think?

Well I think during the last six days this is the best gang we've seen.

What's their story?

Well, they all operated in Glasgow.

Known as the "Golden Goose" gang.

Got away with half a million pounds in gold ingots from a bank in Scotland.

All five were killed when their escape vehicle smashed into a petrol lorry.

The whole gang?

So far as we know.

Do you have any more dope on them?

We know everything about them,

Convictions, prints, habits, wives...

...girlfriends, the lot.

Okay!

I think that's what we want.

If they are all dead ...

who’s to say that there weren't seven members in that gang?

You mean that the two of us were the only ones who escaped?

Yes, that's the idea. It's up to us to make it stick.

I'd like to believe it was that easy...

but I keep thinking of your friend Owens.

Yes, so do l.