Trama

A popular stage magician murders his employer, who's been blackmailing him about his past, and makes it look like a contract killing; it's up to Lt. Columbo to trick the master trickster.

A stage illusionist kills his employer after the latter threatens to expose his true identity and past occupation as a prison guard for the SS during WWII to the Israeli government when the illusionist refuses to be a victim of his employer's blackmailing.

The Great Santini wows his audiences with illusions, but in reality he's being blackmailed by his employer Jerome who knows his real identity as a former Nazi soldier named Stefan. When Jerome threatens to contact the authorities Stefan murders him. Colombo must bring along his own bag of tricks in order to bring the Great Santini to justice—charmardee-smith

The Great Santini, a successful Los Angeles night-club illusionist, is really an ex-Nazi named Stefan Mueller. When his employer, Jesse Jerome, threatens to reveal his true identity to the Israeli government, Santini kills Jerome in a cleverly conceived scheme to commit the crime while in the process of performing an act on stage, in which he is bound by chains and submerged in a tank. Lieutenant Columbo, the cheaply dressed yet extremely intelligent detective from the LAPD's Homicide Division, arrives to investigate Jerome's murder and instantly suspects Santini. Columbo patronizingly pursues Santini with incessant questions while searching for a clue to prove Santini's guilt and to dispel the illusionist's "perfect" crime.—Kevin McCorry <mmccorry@nb.sympatico.ca>

The Great Santini is a brilliant stage magician with a hidden past. His real name is Stefan Mueller and he was an SS officer assigned to the concentration camps. Jesse Jerome, his current employer, knows of the illusionist's Nazi career and has used the information to blackmail him. One night, while ostensibly performing his celebrated trick of being locked in a steel cabinet and dowsed in a tank of water, Santini disguises himself as a waiter and walks unseen into Jerome's office. When Jerome turns up dead, it looks like a contract killing, but the rumpled, redoubtable Lt. Columbo of the LAPD, assisted by the overeager Sgt. Wilson, has a few tricks of his own.—J. Spurlin