Police Bullets

Johnny Reilly, the head of a protection racket, and his henchman, Gabby Walsh, have been successfully collecting their fees from their clients, but as they leave Pop Wilson's candy store, Pop shoots at them. They return fire, killing Pop, and in the getaway confusion, Reilly loses his wallet. After Duke Talbot, a rival racketeer, tips off the police, Reilly is arrested for the murder, but his lawyer, Slater, provides him with an alibi. W. A. Barlow, the chief of police, feels powerless but swears he will put Reilly behind bars. Donna Wells, Pop's niece, volunteers to infiltrate Reilly's gang for the police. Reilly, meanwhile, is panicked because his missing wallet contains not only money, but a complete list of his clients and amounts collected as well, and is relieved when a messenger delivers it to him intact. The wallet is accompanied by a note from a Professor J. Thomas Quincy, giving his address in case a reward is being offered. Reilly sends Gabby and Louie, another of his men, to check up on Quincy, who turns out to be a naïve, young professor of archaeology with a phenomenal photographic memory. Quincy has memorized the serial numbers of all the bills in the wallet, and when Reilly learns this, he tells his men to bring the professor to him right away. Meanwhile, Donna has persuaded Reilly to give her a job in his nightclub. After Duke attempts to muscle in on his territory, Reilly shoots him in the hand just as Gabby and Louie arrive with the professor. Reilly claims to be a member of the Geographical Institute to which the professor belongs, and when the professor asks him for $30,000 to finance an expedition to Aztec ruins in Mexico, Reilly offers to pay him the amount for six months of work. As Reilly is concerned that the government might subpoena his accounts ledgers, he has the professor memorize every detail in them and then burns them. Donna is spying on Reilly's activities and finds the professor working in a basement furnace room. She tips off Barlow, but by the time he gets there with two officers, Gabby and the professor have left. Duke starts to take over Reilly's collections, and he kills a storekeeper. Gabby, who is supposed to be guarding the professor at all times, is then lured away by Reilly's secretary, Milly, who is really working for Duke. Before Duke gets to him, Donna enters the professor's room by a window, pretending that the police are chasing her, and learns that he has memorized all of Reilly's ledgers. Duke and his henchman, Monk, arrive and, at gunpoint, kidnap Donna and the professor. When Slater advises Reilly to kill the professor as he is a walking encyclopedia of his racketeering activities, Reilly sends Gabby to find him. Before she skips town, Milly tells Gabby that Duke is holding the couple in an old warehouse. Meanwhile, after Duke tries unsuccessfully to get the information from the professor, Donna tells Quincy that she is working for the police and kisses him. Quincy then engineers their escape by setting off a burglar alarm, but they are found by Gabby and Louie, who drive them over to Reilly's. En route, the professor pushes Donna out of the moving car, and she calls the police. Gabby and Louie's car is chased by another containing Duke and his men, but Duke's car crashes and they are killed. Reilly tells the professor to start writing everything down again, after which he intends to kill him, but the professor claims to be suffering from amnesia. When Barlow and the police arrive, they find that the professor has managed to overpower and disarm Reilly, Slater, Gabby and Louie and is holding them at the points of two guns. Reilly and his men are arrested, and when Donna again kisses the professor, both guns start firing.