Wally Lagenza (William Bendix) is a merciless psycho of a gang leader. He and his men (which include Alan Hale Jr. and Gavin MacLeod). Their m.o. is to hijack trucks in the Maryland- Pennsylvania-Virginia area. They then blindfold the driver and chain him up...and Lagenza, just for kicks, kills the guys--even though though could not identify the hijackers! Nice guy, huh? The gang's problems start when one of them (Hale) begins dating a nice French-Canadian lady. Lagenza is either jealous or worried about witnesses but soon decides to have the lady killed...and the botched killing ends up helping Ness and his men catch up to the thugs. But it's a long and slow process...and other innocent victims end up assuming room temperature...including one of Ness' men!
This is a violent and vicious episode...and Bendix never is disappointing. My only reason for not scoring it a point higher is the ending. When Leganza falls into the polar bear enclosure at the zoo you really are rooting for the bears!!
By the way, the local cop who works with Ness is Dick Wilson--Mr. Whipple from the long, long series of Charmin commercials from the 1960s-2000s!