About this season
Lt. Frank Ballinger is a no-nonsense plain clothes cop in the elite M Squad Division. The Squad's task is to root out organised crime and corruption in America's Second City, Chicago.
Episodes (40)
1. More Deadly
Aired 19 September 1958 • 30 min
2 innocent men are iced by a currency exchange bookkeeper, to disguise her embezzlement. The sultry femme fatale's yarn that it was a heist gone bad makes sense at first, because of a wave of such robberies on Chicago's Far East Side. But the murdered customer Halper checks out as a solid working stiff, plus the other stick-ups were solo jobs while this was supposedly a 2 hood hold-up, so M Squad's debonair Lt. Ballinger's sic-ed on the case to soften up hard boiled Ora Kane.
2. Dead or Alive
Aired 26 September 1958 • 30 min
A pair of gun crazy kids are loose in Chicago-- and a young reporter is defending them in the press against Ballinger and "police brutality".
3. The Missing Claimant
Aired 3 October 1958 • 30 min
A shady lawyer protects a false heir to a fortune-- by killing the real relative! Ballinger is called in to set everything straight.
4. The Refugee
Aired 10 October 1958 • 30 min
Ballinger goes undercover as an immigrant worker to help break an extortion ring targeting foreigners.
5. The Trap
Aired 24 October 1958 • 30 min
Danny Mitchell is trying to find an engagement ring for his girl when he mistaken for a thief by the store owner. A fight convinces him he has killed the old man-- as such Danny's on the run! Ballinger is called in to find the kid before he gets into real trouble.
6. Force of Habit
Aired 31 October 1958 • 30 min
Val Mooney, hiding out from the cops, sees the perfect opportunity to evade them. When his wife's brother is killed in a massive warehouse fire, he forces her to identify the body as-- VAL MOONEY.
7. The Phantom Raiders
Aired 7 November 1958 • 30 min
A pair of high-speed motorcycle thugs are robbing gas stations across Chicago. When one attendant gets shot, Ballinger goes undercover as a biker to crack the case.
8. The Merits of the Case
Aired 14 November 1958 • 30 min
A famous defense attorney is gunned down in his house. Now Ballinger must piece together the clues to find the kille
9. The Big Kill
Aired 21 November 1958 • 30 min
Larry Princeton is the master of bank heists-- he plans then sits back while his thugs pull off the job. Except for the last one-- which resulted in a bank teller's murder! Now Ballinger's after him.
10. The Sitters
Aired 28 November 1958 • 30 min
Unsuspecting women allow bookmakers to use their telephones in return for payment of $50 per week, but they later learn that their lives will be in danger if they try to get out of the agreement.
11. The Executioner
Aired 5 December 1958 • 30 min
12. The Widows
Aired 12 December 1958 • 30 min
Widows have something in common. All their husbands were murdered, and all had life insurance policies with double indemnity. And the widows have the same crooked lawyer. Lt. Frank Ballinger suspects a murder for hire scheme.
13. Contraband
Aired 19 December 1958 • 30 min
14. Prescription for Murder
Aired 26 December 1958 • 30 min
The wife of a brain surgeon is abducted and threatened with death if the surgeon goes ahead with an emergency operation to save a critically injured police witness that can implicate a loan shark in two murders.
15. The Teacher (aka Trade School)
Aired 2 January 1959 • 30 min
Young hoodlums use a trade school for criminal purposes.
16. The Third Shadow
Aired 9 January 1959 • 30 min
17. One Man's Life
Aired 23 January 1959 • 30 min
An innocent man will be executed in 48 hours unless Lieutenant Ballinger can convince a socially prominent woman to recant the false testimony that she gave as a result of a ruthless blackmailer's threats.
18. The Jumper
Aired 30 January 1959 • 30 min
19. The Last Act
Aired 6 February 1959 • 30 min
20. Mugger Murder
Aired 13 February 1959 • 30 min
Frank must solve several connected homicides wherein convicted muggers are being strangled to death.
21. The Star Witness
Aired 20 February 1959 • 30 min
22. The Take Over
Aired 27 February 1959 • 30 min
Racketeers try to steal profits from a new entertainment establishment run by an old friend of Ballinger.
23. Voluntary Surrender
Aired 6 March 1959 • 30 min
24. Death Threat
Aired 13 March 1959 • 30 min
25. The Harpies
Aired 20 March 1959 • 30 min
26. Ghost Town
Aired 27 March 1959 • 30 min
Lieutenant Ballinger and the FBI have few leads and little time to find a kidnapped socialite with a predilection for visiting jazz clubs. Bound, unattended, and hidden in a condemned building during a cruel Chicago winter, the young woman is in grave danger of dying from injury or exposure before she can be rescued.
27. The Vanishing Lady
Aired 3 April 1959 • 30 min
28. The Crush Out
Aired 10 April 1959 • 30 min
29. The Fire Makers
Aired 17 April 1959 • 30 min
Detective Ballinger helps investigate a series of arson crimes that are being used to cover up insurance scams.
30. The Terror on Dark Street
Aired 24 April 1959 • 30 min
Lieutenant Ballinger investigates a possible link between a series of Dark Street purse snatchings and the disappearance of a successful but unhappily married architect.
31. Robber's Roost
Aired 1 May 1959 • 30 min
32. The Baited Hook
Aired 8 May 1959 • 30 min
A former convict and his daughter are being harassed by an old inmate.
33. Model in the Lake
Aired 15 May 1959 • 30 min
A swimsuit model is found dead in Lake Michigan, but physical evidence indicates the she may not have drowned while swimming. Lieutenant Ballinger becomes convinced that she was murdered after he learns that she was a strong swimmer and an iniquitous individual with a large number of unexplained bank deposits.
34. The Outsider
Aired 22 May 1959 • 30 min
35. High School Bride
Aired 29 May 1959 • 30 min
36. The Dangerous Game
Aired 5 June 1959 • 30 min
The M squad is called in after a brutal robbery at the Leslie Fur Salon leaves a man clinging to death. As the investigation progresses, the situation faced by M Squad becomes more and more complex.
37. Decoy in White
Aired 12 June 1959 • 30 min
The M Squad become involved when a bank manager laundering illegal money is killed. The situation becomes tangled when a young lady accompanying the bank manager comes forward.
38. Mr. Grim's Rabbits
Aired 19 June 1959 • 30 min
A seemingly random dockside shooting leads M Squad on a strange investigation involving fur skins and ancient Inca artifacts.
39. Platter Pirates
Aired 26 June 1959 • 30 min
A D.J threatens to reveal the influence of racketeers in the music industry. Before he can go to air with the information he is gunned down. M squad are brought in to solve the mystery of the death as well as the validity of the information he was going to reveal.
40. Death Is a Clock
Aired 3 July 1959 • 30 min
LT. Frank Ballinger takes a personal interest in a case when the wife of convicted murderer Paul Danzig approaches him for help. Danzig has only 20 hours to live and his wife talks openly of stopping the clock. Ballinger has to figure out what she means, and ensure the right man pays for the crime of murder.