Part X of Undressed Under Duress  -  “A Piece of the Action”

In this January, 1968 CBS Star Trek television episode, Captain James Kirk (William Shatner) and two members of the U.S.S. Enterprise crew, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy, beam down to a very familiar planet. Here people look and act just like U.S. citizens of yesteryear. Their mission was to uncover the disappearance of a Federation space ship, the Horizon, which had disappeared one hundred years previously. This Star Trek second season installment was written by David Harmon and Gene Coon, and directed by James Komac.

The Star Trek crew was invited down by Bela Okmyx, crime boss, who told Capt. Kirk he had information about the disappearance of the Horizon. Upon arriving, Kirk and company discovered the society had patterned itself after 1920's Chicago. Well dressed citizens here carry around Tommy guns as they walk nonchalantly down a busy street. The city is ruled by different mob bosses. Members of various gangs feud resulting in a number of them summarily shot and killed on the streets of this unruly city.

Having arrived by transporting from the Enterprise, Kirk and company are met and held by gun point by a couple of gangsters who work for the city's primary boss, Bela Okmyx. Bela soon demands Kirk help him overcome the other city crime bosses so he can take over. When the boys of the Enterprise refuse, they are held captive by three rather dumb, poker playing mobsters. Capt. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy out maneuver Okmyx's henchmen, getting the upper hand. Kirk and McCoy turn the gangsters' Tommy guns on the gang themselves, demanding two of them strip down to their underwear and hand over their clothes. In this 1920's time period, the gang members are, of course, wearing union suits. They spend the rest of the show in their long underwear...

Kirk, playing the role of a mob boss himself, rounds up the other mob bosses with the help of Spock and McCoy. Talking tough, he convinces the gang leaders to stop the senseless murders and work for the Federation. Far fetched even for Star Trek? Yes. But, take a look at “A Piece of the Action.” The episode is interestingly entertaining for Union Suit Fans. 

Artist's Rendition of this great union suit episode: