Chicago, December 18, 1930. On the southside of town, Herbie Catcher is playing 8-ball for 50 cents a game, in a dilapidated pool joint. Herbie, not being much of a pool player, gets cleaned out by Cooker. Herbie's best friend is Josh, a nice black man who happens to be blind, who is the employee working in the pool hall. Josh tells him, ""You'd be surprised at the things I can see, I'm an owl in the dark."" (""Owl"" is his nickname.) Since Herbie can't make money shooting pool, and only has a job working as a busboy, he is in the habit of getting a few bucks by giving Eliot Ness tips. However, today his tips are all stale. Herbie tells Ness that Wally Marcos is back in town; Ness says he already left again. Herbie has info on Angel Podaris; Ness says he sold out to Martin Rawlings. Herbie relates that there's a new place on Maple Street making bottles for imported Scotch; Ness says, ""We knocked it over last week."" Even though all the ""hot tips"" are useless, Ness slips h