Latest / Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas / Dragnet: The Big Chance (EP1670)

Transcript

Dragnet: The Big Chance (EP1670) · Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas

0:28
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
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Speaker 1: Also over at great Detectives dot net. This weekend my
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Speaker 1: review of Big Finish's original Sherlock Holmes story, The Reification
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Speaker 1: of Hans Gerber. And you can get all of my
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Speaker 1: reviews automatically delivered your kindle by subscribing through the Amazon Store. Well,
2:08
Speaker 1: now it's time for today's episode of Dragnet. The original
2:13
Speaker 1: airdate on today's program is August twenty fourth of nineteen
2:17
Speaker 1: fifty and the title is The Big Chance.
2:28
Speaker 2: The story you are about to hear is true, only
2:32
Speaker 2: the names and locations have been changed to protect the innocent.
2:35
Speaker 2: Dragnet Here a detective sergeant here assigned a homicide detail.
2:50
Speaker 2: He went to an early morning call a police officer
2:53
Speaker 2: on patrol duty disappears. Any attempt to contact him by
2:57
Speaker 2: car radio fails. Job find him.
3:11
Speaker 3: Drag Net, the documented drama of an actual crime paull
3:15
Speaker 3: the next thirty minutes. In cooperation with the Los Angeles
3:17
Speaker 3: Police Department, you will travel, step by step on the
3:20
Speaker 3: side of the law through an actual case, from official
3:23
Speaker 3: police violence, from beginning to end, from crime to punishment.
3:27
Speaker 3: Drag Net is the story of your police force in action.
3:34
Speaker 4: It was Monday, June fourth, was sultry in Los Angeles.
3:38
Speaker 4: We were working early morning watch out a homicide. The
3:40
Speaker 4: partner's Ben Romero. The boss's chief detective's Thad Brown.
3:44
Speaker 5: My name is Friday.
3:45
Speaker 4: Was six forty five am when we got the Imperial
3:48
Speaker 4: Highway San Pedro cut off.
3:52
Speaker 6: All right, Friday and Ramera, Yeah, that's right, Pete Sutton
3:55
Speaker 6: Insurance Department, All right, come we got here, sent as
3:58
Speaker 6: we could inspect your bowers for the end.
4:01
Speaker 4: You know it had backstra in Central Homicide told us
4:03
Speaker 4: to check with Bowers at the Sheriff's office. Bowers directors
4:05
Speaker 4: to come out here to lend you a hand.
4:06
Speaker 6: This thing happens close to the county line. They figured
4:09
Speaker 6: both departments ought to go to work on it. Sure,
4:11
Speaker 6: glad to have you looks like a tough one. Is
4:13
Speaker 6: this the highway patrol car the missing officer? He signed, Yeah?
4:17
Speaker 7: Is it just the way we found it?
4:19
Speaker 6: We turned off to the missions, motor was running, lights
4:22
Speaker 6: were on, must have been idling quite a while, the
4:24
Speaker 6: temperature was up pretty high. When'd you find it this way?
4:27
Speaker 6: Forty five minutes ago? Missing Patrolman's name is Eugene Brewer.
4:31
Speaker 6: State Highway Patrol called the Sheriff's department a little before
4:34
Speaker 6: six a. M told us the missing officer wasn't acknowledging
4:37
Speaker 6: his radio called. I talked to Mark Benson his radio right.
4:41
Speaker 6: We checked it. In fact, it was operating normal when
4:43
Speaker 6: we found the car. Mike was out of the bracket,
4:46
Speaker 6: laying on the seat day well, any ideas, no signs
4:50
Speaker 6: of struggling, No blood stained this assholeed here, no footprints anywhere,
4:56
Speaker 6: nothing on.
4:56
Speaker 7: The shoulder of the road.
4:57
Speaker 6: You said the car was running, that's right, emanates any
5:00
Speaker 6: engine trouble. Yeah, Oh, there's more to it than that,
5:03
Speaker 6: gotta be.
5:05
Speaker 5: Nobody has any idea why or when he left his car.
5:07
Speaker 7: You've got it all, you know, as much as we do.
5:10
Speaker 7: What was the check on Brewer?
5:12
Speaker 6: Mark Benson says he's one of their top men. Been
5:14
Speaker 6: with highway Patrol for eight years. Good record all the way.
5:17
Speaker 6: Have you talk to anybody around here? Pretty remote spot
5:20
Speaker 6: out here, a lot of truck gardens, it's about all.
5:23
Speaker 6: My partner Dave Terry, turned up one man. Maybe he's
5:25
Speaker 6: got something that's him over by our car.
5:28
Speaker 8: Hey, Dave, would you send him over here please.
5:31
Speaker 6: Who is the fellow one of the farmers works at
5:33
Speaker 6: truck garden out here?
5:35
Speaker 7: Names Henry Tanagucci.
5:38
Speaker 6: Tennant second, Yes, sir, mister Tanagucci, this is Sergeant Friday
5:43
Speaker 6: and Rameira. Oh yes, sir, I know you filled my
5:47
Speaker 6: partner in, but would you mind going over it again
5:49
Speaker 6: for us?
5:51
Speaker 9: All right?
5:52
Speaker 10: I can tell you very little.
5:53
Speaker 9: You know.
5:54
Speaker 11: We start worked early in the garden, yes, sir, kind
5:57
Speaker 11: of a fellow. I work with Conye to cover. We're
6:01
Speaker 11: started on a string beings about five o'clock this morning,
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Speaker 11: a pink patch near Imperial Highway. Yeah, we noticed a head.
6:10
Speaker 11: I'd stop off the side of the road. This happened
6:13
Speaker 11: all the time along the highway, but this stayed very long.
6:17
Speaker 5: By what time did you notice this? Mister Tanner Gucci?
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Speaker 11: Must have been or ten minutes past five, I remember,
6:26
Speaker 11: asked Charlie Fujikuni cultivator man.
6:29
Speaker 7: What time was?
6:30
Speaker 5: Let's see? Did you see or hear anything out of
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Speaker 5: the ordinary?
6:33
Speaker 7: Oh no, sir.
6:35
Speaker 11: We wait a while and the head I do not move.
6:38
Speaker 11: Connor and I decided maybe somebody was in trouble. This
6:42
Speaker 11: highway quite deserted early morning hours. What do you do then?
6:47
Speaker 7: We walked up to see what was wrong.
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Speaker 11: When we get close, we could see what state highway car,
6:53
Speaker 11: so we know everything all right.
6:54
Speaker 5: Did you see the officer in the car?
6:56
Speaker 11: No, the door was opened on the other side. But
7:00
Speaker 11: maybe officer investigate something down in the brush.
7:02
Speaker 7: Did you see him down there?
7:04
Speaker 5: Oh?
7:04
Speaker 8: No, we just think he was check up something.
7:08
Speaker 5: So we go back to work. You saw nothing out
7:10
Speaker 5: of the ordinary, nothing unusual.
7:12
Speaker 7: No, we don't.
7:14
Speaker 10: We hear the radio play.
7:16
Speaker 7: We know everything. Okay, that checks after radio was functioning
7:20
Speaker 7: when we got here.
7:21
Speaker 5: You didn't notice any other cars around anywhere, did you? Well?
7:24
Speaker 10: Knowsa.
7:25
Speaker 7: Thank you very much, mister Tanagucci. Here's my car. I'd
7:28
Speaker 7: appreciate it. If you think of anything else, please let
7:30
Speaker 7: us know.
7:31
Speaker 5: Yes, I will.
7:33
Speaker 11: What happened to Alfice Sunday's car, We don't know. Oh,
7:37
Speaker 11: he's all right. Probably look for somebody.
7:41
Speaker 4: It makes us even we're looking for him. Monday, June fourth,
7:47
Speaker 4: eight am, according to our instructions, we headed back to
7:50
Speaker 4: the Hall of Justice to check in with Inspector Gordon
7:52
Speaker 4: brought Bowers and Captain Garner Brown of the Sheriff's Department.
7:56
Speaker 4: They were coordinating his search for the missing Highway patrolman
7:58
Speaker 4: Eugene Brewer. Spector ed Backstrand, Central Homicide was helping out
8:03
Speaker 4: to the peace officer. Cooperation with all branches of the
8:07
Speaker 4: various law enforcement agencies is essential. Each man on the
8:10
Speaker 4: force knows the value of a coordinated effort. He knows
8:14
Speaker 4: that without the aid of the many divisions of law
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Speaker 4: enforcing bodies in his city and county, the task of
8:19
Speaker 4: maintaining law and order would be a total failure. The
8:22
Speaker 4: local officer depends on the men in the federal, state,
8:25
Speaker 4: and county departments as they depend on him. Without this coordination,
8:29
Speaker 4: no one department could survive. Eight twenty five am. We
8:32
Speaker 4: met with Inspector Bowers and ed Backstrand in the Sheriff's office.
8:36
Speaker 7: Nothing now, nobody.
8:37
Speaker 8: Saw somebody did We haven't found him, Inspector Bauer.
8:41
Speaker 6: We both figure the only thing to do is to
8:42
Speaker 6: ask the cooperation of the newspapers.
8:45
Speaker 7: We got it.
8:45
Speaker 5: Pretty good layout, the.
8:47
Speaker 12: Stories, and every morning edition in town they're running a
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Speaker 12: picture in full description of the missing patrolman.
8:52
Speaker 4: We talked to everybody we could find in a general
8:54
Speaker 4: area out there.
8:55
Speaker 5: We were two hours at it.
8:56
Speaker 4: The spot where the patrol car was found is pretty
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Speaker 4: remote couple of gas states and some vegetable gardens.
9:01
Speaker 6: He told you about the ten and Gucca Fella checked
9:03
Speaker 6: all his friends that work with him.
9:04
Speaker 5: They couldn't add anything.
9:05
Speaker 6: Maybe the newspaper will turn up something. I sent a
9:09
Speaker 6: special detail out there to fan out and search the
9:11
Speaker 6: entire area five square miles.
9:13
Speaker 5: Yeah, it will take time. There's nothing else we can do.
9:16
Speaker 10: No, there's nothing more we can do.
9:17
Speaker 12: There's nothing anybody can do until we can show him
9:19
Speaker 12: the patrol cars how to carry two men.
9:21
Speaker 8: Nobody seems to be able to do anything by it.
9:24
Speaker 12: Maybe they will now, sending one officer out in the
9:27
Speaker 12: patrol cars like trying to run a trolley line with
9:29
Speaker 12: one man. How many cases can you remember? An hour
9:31
Speaker 12: department ed deadman pulled the car over and Doug ten
9:34
Speaker 12: at three o'clock one morning. Driver turned out to be
9:37
Speaker 12: a guy with the record. Deadman couldn't know that. While
9:39
Speaker 12: he was making out the traffic ticket, the guy shot
9:41
Speaker 12: him down the street.
9:42
Speaker 10: Deadman died before he could get help.
9:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, he'll do a lot of griping that he'd take
9:45
Speaker 4: the division. But those men in the patrol cars and
9:48
Speaker 4: the motorcycle boys, they get the dirty end.
9:50
Speaker 10: Of the deal, for sure, you bet they do.
9:52
Speaker 12: When of the detective ists in on a job, he
9:54
Speaker 12: knows who he's after, what he looks like, what he
9:56
Speaker 12: can expect when.
9:56
Speaker 10: He finds him.
9:58
Speaker 12: The boys in the patrol cars answer a call three
10:00
Speaker 12: ninety four, fifteen or five oh seven. Sure we know
10:02
Speaker 12: what they're supposed to be. But how often do they
10:04
Speaker 12: turn out that way prowler or peeping tom? How many
10:07
Speaker 12: times do they have a gun in their pocket? How
10:09
Speaker 12: many cops do they kill every year?
10:10
Speaker 5: And we've all been through it, you know what it is.
10:12
Speaker 12: Yeah, but how often do we think about it when
10:14
Speaker 12: we're griping on steakhouts.
10:15
Speaker 10: Let me tell you something. This goes for me as
10:17
Speaker 10: well as you.
10:18
Speaker 12: Let's not forget who the real cream of the force is,
10:20
Speaker 12: the backbone of any police department. Men on wheels, no question,
10:23
Speaker 12: Thank every Sorry. I didn't mean to make a speech,
10:26
Speaker 12: but when something like this happens, it gets to me.
10:28
Speaker 12: They're riding on short odds as it is. There ought
10:30
Speaker 12: to be two men in every patrol Calm.
10:32
Speaker 4: Or we should have been somebody else with Brewer. The guy
10:34
Speaker 4: on the job just doesn't disappear without a trace.
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Speaker 6: It's just what he's done. You checked everywhere everything. Excuse me?
10:43
Speaker 6: Powers who Yeah, I send them right in this My
10:49
Speaker 6: health truck driver by the name of Matt Wolf says
10:52
Speaker 6: he's got something for him. Come in, mister Wolf, Yes,
10:57
Speaker 6: come in, mister Wilf inspected backstrand Sergeant Friday Romero, how.
11:07
Speaker 10: Do you do him?
11:09
Speaker 13: I saw the story in this morning's Times. I don't
11:12
Speaker 13: know what I got's worth the him, but I figured
11:15
Speaker 13: i'd better pass.
11:15
Speaker 7: Along with you guys. Something on the missing Highway patrol then, well, I.
11:20
Speaker 10: Don't know the reason I'm here.
11:21
Speaker 13: Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I gave a fellow
11:23
Speaker 13: hand early this morning out of the Imperial Highway, not
11:25
Speaker 13: far from war.
11:26
Speaker 6: The paper here says that empty patrol car was about
11:29
Speaker 6: what time was that, mister will All around four.
11:31
Speaker 5: Thirty this morning?
11:31
Speaker 10: Do you want to tell us about it?
11:33
Speaker 5: Yeah?
11:34
Speaker 13: Yeah, I'm an independent trucker. I haul top soil for
11:38
Speaker 13: different nurseries. Stuff out there in imperials good rich stuff.
11:41
Speaker 13: We did it right out of the side of the hill.
11:43
Speaker 9: Him.
11:43
Speaker 13: Well, I just loaded up and sas I'm my way
11:45
Speaker 13: back to town. This fella flags me down, said he'd
11:48
Speaker 13: had a flat pulled out on the shore of the
11:50
Speaker 13: road to fix it. Said he didn't know it was sand.
11:52
Speaker 13: After he'd fixed the flat, he found out he's stuck.
11:54
Speaker 13: He couldn't get his car. You gave him a hand, huh,
11:56
Speaker 13: not out with a flat. He already had that fixed.
11:58
Speaker 13: But I turned him off, and that's how it became
12:00
Speaker 13: suspiciously fell.
12:02
Speaker 7: How do you mean well?
12:03
Speaker 13: I offered to get out, hook up the toe chain.
12:05
Speaker 13: He said, no, no, just stand a cab. I figured
12:08
Speaker 13: if he could do it along, though I was me,
12:10
Speaker 13: I pulled him out. Here's the funny plant. Here's him
12:13
Speaker 13: a chain, got a kink in it from the way
12:15
Speaker 13: to the poll. It's no mean job to handle it alone,
12:19
Speaker 13: he says, Right, he'll do it himself. Seem to me
12:22
Speaker 13: like he didn't want me to get a good look
12:24
Speaker 13: at him or his car. I could be wrong, but
12:27
Speaker 13: well that's the way it struck me. Did you notice anything, Yes,
12:31
Speaker 13: I did one thing. I got to look at him
12:33
Speaker 13: when I threw on my backup lights in his car.
12:36
Speaker 7: That's a real funny one.
12:37
Speaker 10: What do you mean it is a.
12:38
Speaker 5: Fairly new car.
12:39
Speaker 13: I'd sayen older than the last year's my Liettle Plymouth.
12:44
Speaker 13: If the risk is sounding completely nuts. I'm going to
12:46
Speaker 13: tell you that car looked like I had just been painted.
12:48
Speaker 13: There's nothing wrong in that.
12:49
Speaker 7: Is it?
12:50
Speaker 9: Well?
12:50
Speaker 13: There is if you're off on the side of the
12:52
Speaker 13: road at that time in the morning throwing cheap black
12:54
Speaker 13: pain all over a fairly new car. He's using a
12:57
Speaker 13: spray gun. I could understand part of it. What's that
13:00
Speaker 13: is his license plate?
13:01
Speaker 7: Front one?
13:02
Speaker 6: It was all painted over here. You couldn't read any
13:04
Speaker 6: of the numbers. What led you to believe he just
13:07
Speaker 6: finished painting his car?
13:08
Speaker 5: Always hands and arms?
13:09
Speaker 7: It was always closed.
13:10
Speaker 5: See that kind of paint you put all on the.
13:12
Speaker 7: Right and who am? Well?
13:16
Speaker 6: I don't know. Was it was it worth bothering you
13:18
Speaker 6: guys about you? Really it was, mister Wolf. I can't
13:21
Speaker 6: tell you just what it means now. Maybe it doesn't
13:23
Speaker 6: mean anything, but certainly it's out of the ordinary and
13:26
Speaker 6: worth reporting to the police.
13:27
Speaker 13: Wow, sir, I'd like to see your boys find it missing.
13:30
Speaker 13: Officer thought it was pretty rotten in Denmark about that one.
13:34
Speaker 7: Huw.
13:34
Speaker 6: Maybe we found a whole maybe, but I'd like to
13:38
Speaker 6: have you and me Mary help out in the next step.
13:40
Speaker 5: What's that go up a roadblock? Ten? Thirty am.
13:50
Speaker 4: Before we left the Sheriff's office, the truck driver nat
13:53
Speaker 4: Wolf gave Inspector Bauers a description of the man in
13:55
Speaker 4: the Plymou sedan. Together with Lieutenant Pete Sutton and Dave Terry,
13:59
Speaker 4: we drove to the Imperial Highway. Nat Wolf showed us
14:02
Speaker 4: the spot beside.
14:03
Speaker 5: The road where he towed the man.
14:04
Speaker 4: The area was checked and sample scrapings of the black
14:06
Speaker 4: paint were taken. There was no chance of taking a
14:08
Speaker 4: tire impression because of the loose sand in the area.
14:11
Speaker 4: All physical evidence was taken back to the crime lab
14:13
Speaker 4: for analysis. Gnat Wolf returned to the office to check
14:16
Speaker 4: through mug books for possible identification of the man he
14:19
Speaker 4: helped out. Meantime, a special detail of man continued to
14:22
Speaker 4: search the area where the missing patrolman had disappeared.
14:25
Speaker 5: Three a m.
14:26
Speaker 4: According to instructions, the roadblock was established at the spot
14:28
Speaker 4: where the abandoned patrol.
14:29
Speaker 5: Cardsman found Imperial Highway San Pedro cut off.
14:39
Speaker 14: Success play was one.
14:46
Speaker 10: Police business.
14:47
Speaker 7: Yes, sir, I wonder if you could help us out.
14:49
Speaker 8: Certainly you travel this highway every night, ma'am, Yes I do.
14:53
Speaker 8: I'm in the vegetable business. Did you come this way
14:56
Speaker 8: last night about this time. I run pretty much on schedule.
14:58
Speaker 9: Yes I did.
15:00
Speaker 8: Did you notice anything unusual along the highway? I bet
15:03
Speaker 8: I know what this is about that missing highway patrol man.
15:05
Speaker 10: Yes, ma'am.
15:06
Speaker 6: We're stopping everybody to see if they can give us
15:07
Speaker 6: any information that might help us out.
15:10
Speaker 8: Oh I wish I could, but I didn't see a
15:11
Speaker 8: thing that poor fella.
15:13
Speaker 7: Do you think you'll find him?
15:14
Speaker 8: M we're trying off all right, Sorry I.
15:16
Speaker 7: Can't help you.
15:18
Speaker 8: Can I go now? Yes, ma'am?
15:19
Speaker 7: Thank you?
15:23
Speaker 13: Thinks really good party?
15:24
Speaker 5: How'd you do?
15:26
Speaker 7: Nothing? What time you got your uh? Almost four? Got
15:31
Speaker 7: a little more hot coffee in that jugus?
15:33
Speaker 5: That's fine with me, you know.
15:40
Speaker 7: Here we I.
15:43
Speaker 6: Cuts in the lid here and trump and thanks, so
15:49
Speaker 6: watch your fingers it's hot. Yeah, yeah, that's good. Now
16:00
Speaker 6: I'll take this one.
16:01
Speaker 5: I'm wanna put my coffee on the fender here, don't
16:03
Speaker 5: knock it off on how much you thank you?
16:06
Speaker 9: Hey?
16:07
Speaker 4: Wait a minute, wait a minute, colla, can you see
16:12
Speaker 4: my light? I haven't even got a cigarette, I mean
16:15
Speaker 4: my flashlight.
16:16
Speaker 9: I got a cigarette, lader. If I don't do you
16:18
Speaker 9: any good.
16:19
Speaker 5: You've been drinking haven't you.
16:20
Speaker 10: Yes, I have.
16:21
Speaker 9: I never get drunk, but I've had a little drink.
16:24
Speaker 5: I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to ask you to
16:25
Speaker 5: pull over the side of the road.
16:26
Speaker 9: Okay, what happened to my car? It was broke?
16:33
Speaker 5: Better let me do it, huh. I wanna slide over
16:35
Speaker 5: a little bit there.
16:36
Speaker 9: I'll never pick up hitch hikers.
16:38
Speaker 5: I'm just gonna move your car to the side of
16:39
Speaker 5: the highway.
16:39
Speaker 8: Now, many troubles you, No, five oh two.
16:42
Speaker 5: We'll have to hold him awhile.
16:43
Speaker 9: We'll tell your friend to get into here's the citland.
16:46
Speaker 5: We're not going far. Where we're going right? Here?
16:56
Speaker 9: Is this the road to Pistonol Beach?
16:58
Speaker 5: No? Not this one.
17:00
Speaker 9: Well, that dirty little ernie he lied again. He hates clams.
17:05
Speaker 5: What's that?
17:05
Speaker 9: I've been trying for five months to get the Pismo
17:08
Speaker 9: Beach for a bowl of cram chowder. I haven't major.
17:11
Speaker 5: Yes, all right, you just sit here a while and
17:13
Speaker 5: sober up with you. I'm gonna hold onto your keys
17:15
Speaker 5: and get them back to you. You haven't got a
17:16
Speaker 5: bottle in the car? Heavy? No?
17:18
Speaker 9: I never drink and drive. Alcohol and gasoline do not mix.
17:23
Speaker 5: You drive this road every night every night, and.
17:28
Speaker 9: He keeps telling me to take me to Pismo Beach.
17:31
Speaker 9: I love crams.
17:33
Speaker 6: You just sit here and sober up, happy drunk. Yeah,
17:40
Speaker 6: he's too drunk to drive, getting along towards daylight.
17:45
Speaker 5: Where I put my clock?
17:46
Speaker 6: No, I've put it over here, Joe friend, we knock
17:48
Speaker 6: it out. No thanks, this one's mine day.
17:53
Speaker 8: Hu seem to come in bunches. You get to her
17:57
Speaker 8: three and then you wait for an hour.
17:58
Speaker 5: You know they don't use this highway much since they
17:59
Speaker 5: put that all.
18:00
Speaker 6: In the channel at least business. Yes, sir, you travel
18:03
Speaker 6: this highway every night about this time once in a while.
18:06
Speaker 6: I haven't been over this way in a week. You
18:07
Speaker 6: didn't drive this way last night, No, sir, I didn't
18:10
Speaker 6: anything the matter. Routine check. Thank you very much.
18:13
Speaker 7: You can go on nothing.
18:21
Speaker 5: It looks like a hopeless job, doesn't it.
18:24
Speaker 8: M business is picking up?
18:26
Speaker 7: Here comes another one.
18:27
Speaker 5: It looks like one of your sheriff's cars peaked.
18:29
Speaker 7: Yeah, Reynolds homicide.
18:32
Speaker 8: Eat something, Yeah, Reynolds, you can pack up.
18:36
Speaker 7: They found him, Is he all right? Two bullet holes
18:38
Speaker 7: in the back of his head.
18:54
Speaker 3: You are listening to drag net.
19:02
Speaker 5: Five am Tuesday.
19:04
Speaker 4: The body of Highway Patrolman Eugene Brewer was found half
19:07
Speaker 4: buried in a shallow grave approximately four and a half
19:09
Speaker 4: miles from the point where his car had been found
19:11
Speaker 4: standing on the highway. The scene was roped off, photographed
19:15
Speaker 4: measurements were taken, and the area carefully gone over for
19:17
Speaker 4: any physical evidence. A few scattered residents were again checked
19:21
Speaker 4: and asked if they'd heard gunshots. Since the nearest dwelling
19:25
Speaker 4: to the place where the body was found was two
19:26
Speaker 4: miles it was a possibility that they could have not
19:29
Speaker 4: heard the shots.
19:30
Speaker 5: No one could give us any further information.
19:32
Speaker 4: The corner's autopsy showed that Patrolman Brewer had been shot
19:35
Speaker 4: three times in the chest, one bullet directly entering his heart.
19:39
Speaker 4: He'd also been shot twice through the base of the skull.
19:41
Speaker 4: One pm Wednesday, I get it homicide Friday eight sudden Joe.
19:48
Speaker 15: Yeah, just had a call from our Hollywood substation. Women
19:51
Speaker 15: reported a car stolen on Sunday night. Thought the guy
19:54
Speaker 15: was going to bring it back. That's why she didn't
19:55
Speaker 15: report it sooner.
19:56
Speaker 5: What about it?
19:57
Speaker 15: Bee to a Plymouth Sedan last year's model, the same
19:59
Speaker 15: type the truck driver told us about.
20:01
Speaker 5: It sounds good.
20:02
Speaker 15: We already have a broadcast out on it. We're putting
20:04
Speaker 15: out an APB. Now you want to check and see
20:06
Speaker 15: if they got it on to Night's Hot.
20:07
Speaker 5: Sheet right any on the guy who stole the.
20:09
Speaker 15: Car, boyfriend of the woman who owned it. He left
20:12
Speaker 15: her in a restaurant and got away with her car.
20:14
Speaker 15: Remember the description of the guy the truck driver helped
20:16
Speaker 15: out Monday morning, m the guy that stole this woman's car.
20:19
Speaker 15: It's the same. Yeah, still doesn't prove he had anything
20:21
Speaker 15: to do with it.
20:22
Speaker 5: Doesn't prove he didn't.
20:27
Speaker 4: Together with Pete Sutton and Dave Terry from the Sheriff's office,
20:30
Speaker 4: we drove out and interviewed the woman whose car had
20:31
Speaker 4: been stolen. She told us that the man who had
20:34
Speaker 4: taken her car had also been seen in the company
20:36
Speaker 4: of one of her girlfriends, of Miss Helen Farrell, who
20:38
Speaker 4: worked as a cashier at a Hollywood theater. The faral
20:41
Speaker 4: girl identified the man as Mike Lopino, whom she gave
20:44
Speaker 4: us a snapshot of me. She also gave us his
20:46
Speaker 4: last known address. We had no actual tie in between
20:49
Speaker 4: the theft of the woman's car and the murder of
20:50
Speaker 4: patrolman Eugene Brewer, but the circumstantial evidence submitted at least
20:54
Speaker 4: worth checking out. The only car known to have been
20:57
Speaker 4: in the vicinity the morning of the murder was the
20:59
Speaker 4: car the truck driver and Nat Wolford rewarded the same
21:02
Speaker 4: making model card been stolen the night before the killing.
21:05
Speaker 4: The general descriptions of the man from two different people
21:07
Speaker 4: tally closely. We figured before we'd pass this lead by,
21:10
Speaker 4: we check it out all the way. Four pm Wednesday,
21:14
Speaker 4: we met with Inspector Bauers at the Sheriff's office.
21:16
Speaker 6: We checked this in the painter's apartment. Found a shirt
21:18
Speaker 6: and pair of pants, black pains on both of them.
21:21
Speaker 6: All right, sent for that truck driving that little to
21:23
Speaker 6: identify this picture here? Do you find anything else in
21:26
Speaker 6: the about him?
21:27
Speaker 4: Well, this address book, there's no local places in it.
21:29
Speaker 4: There are all Las Vegas and THEVD addresses.
21:31
Speaker 9: That's it.
21:32
Speaker 5: Huh Yeah, what'd you get from the record? You're on
21:34
Speaker 5: the guy.
21:35
Speaker 7: The Iburea pulled the package on him. That is Mama sheet,
21:38
Speaker 7: Thank you.
21:40
Speaker 5: Yeah.
21:41
Speaker 4: My Flippino spent some time at San Quentin armed robbery,
21:46
Speaker 4: grand theft, auto assault, pretty good record.
21:50
Speaker 6: It's still not positive he had anything to do with
21:52
Speaker 6: the brew of killing. Why he's got the training part. Yeah,
21:58
Speaker 6: send them right in, Matt wilf am in mister Wolf,
22:03
Speaker 6: good bye Verty.
22:05
Speaker 5: Shame about that boy?
22:07
Speaker 7: What about it in the paper?
22:08
Speaker 10: Yeah?
22:09
Speaker 7: Got a photograph. We'd like you to look at miss
22:11
Speaker 7: the Wolf.
22:12
Speaker 5: You bet.
22:16
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's the man for sure. Sure, no mistake. Hey,
22:22
Speaker 7: why do you suppose he was pinning that car four
22:24
Speaker 7: o'clock in the morning. Maybe that's what that patrol in
22:27
Speaker 7: Lana don't know.
22:33
Speaker 4: We waited for an answer on the APB. Two days
22:36
Speaker 4: pans Saturday, June ninth, received a phone call from the
22:39
Speaker 4: Las Vegas, Nevada Police Department. The stolen black Sedan had
22:43
Speaker 4: been found in the downtown area of Las Vegas. We
22:46
Speaker 4: requested them to put a stake out on the sedan
22:48
Speaker 4: and ask them not to disturb either the car or
22:49
Speaker 4: its contents. Together with Pete Sutton from the Sheriff's office,
22:53
Speaker 4: Mark Benson from the Highway Patrol, and Ray Pinker of
22:55
Speaker 4: our Crime LAMB, we flew to Las Vegas. Pinker checked
22:59
Speaker 4: the stolen car, embedded in the rear seat where two
23:01
Speaker 4: spent bullets. There were also bloodstains on the seat and
23:03
Speaker 4: on the floor of the car. Pinker flew back to
23:06
Speaker 4: Los Angeles, where the evidence was analyzed. The bullets found
23:09
Speaker 4: in the car were fired from the same gun as
23:10
Speaker 4: the bullets found on the body of the dead patrolm
23:12
Speaker 4: finger prints lifted from the stolen car match those of
23:15
Speaker 4: Mike Lapino. Saturday afternoon, we checked in with Chief Harry Miller,
23:18
Speaker 4: Las Vegas Police Department.
23:23
Speaker 16: This is all you've done on him? Man, Gee, that's
23:25
Speaker 16: most of it. Yeah, since we staked out that black sedan,
23:27
Speaker 16: I've had the town covered. Filipino.
23:29
Speaker 5: No one saw him abandon that car. Huh.
23:31
Speaker 10: No one we know of.
23:32
Speaker 16: No had good cooperation from the newspapers. Story has been
23:35
Speaker 16: on page one since.
23:36
Speaker 10: The thing broke.
23:37
Speaker 6: Anything kind of those names we got from Lapino's address
23:39
Speaker 6: book to the ones we've phoned for you.
23:41
Speaker 7: Let's see, I got the list right here.
23:44
Speaker 10: Yeah, here we are.
23:45
Speaker 16: These are the ones my men have checked out already.
23:48
Speaker 16: George Connolly, nothing there. Harry Carlson, he and his wife
23:53
Speaker 16: have been checked out. Nothing there. We'gham Spencer, nothing in
23:57
Speaker 16: his place. We've got them all staked out, at least
24:00
Speaker 16: two to go. U. That's right, we're checking the last
24:03
Speaker 16: two and now. Nothing from the railroad station's the airline.
24:06
Speaker 16: They've been covered ever since we got your phone call.
24:09
Speaker 16: I could be wrong, but I think your man's still
24:10
Speaker 16: here in town. Any reports and a couple of wild ones,
24:13
Speaker 16: nothing definite. Checked him out. Had one this morning. My
24:16
Speaker 16: dealer at one of the clubs downtown about ten thirty
24:19
Speaker 16: this morning, he saw the Pino playing the two bit
24:20
Speaker 16: slot machine.
24:21
Speaker 10: They showed him his mugshot. He swearrez, it's the guy.
24:24
Speaker 5: All we can do now is sweat it out.
24:26
Speaker 16: My men have covered everything. I don't know what else
24:28
Speaker 16: we can do. Yes, excuse me, Cheef Miller. Yeah, the shirt,
24:35
Speaker 16: it's him. Oh, don't try to handle it a long.
24:38
Speaker 16: Keep the place covered the best you can.
24:40
Speaker 9: We'll be right out.
24:42
Speaker 7: They found him.
24:46
Speaker 4: Two Las Vegas detectives named Billings and Vance answered a
24:49
Speaker 4: phone tip from a groceryman in the east end of town.
24:51
Speaker 4: He said a man had been buying groceries from him
24:53
Speaker 4: for the past two days and lived in the apartment
24:55
Speaker 4: house above the store. The two detectives showed the groceryman
24:58
Speaker 4: and La Pino's mugshot, and he gave a pos the identification.
25:01
Speaker 4: They then checked with the apartment house manager. After looking
25:04
Speaker 4: at the mugshot, he identified Lapino as the tenant and
25:06
Speaker 4: Apartment ten B. Detectives Buildings and Vance staked out the
25:09
Speaker 4: place until our arrival with enough men to cover the area.
25:19
Speaker 10: Vance.
25:21
Speaker 7: Yeah, Chief, that's a story. Well he's in there, hasn't
25:24
Speaker 7: been out all day, Apartment ten B.
25:26
Speaker 5: We'll take the front.
25:26
Speaker 7: Chief manager thinks Lapino has a gun. Majors cleaning the apartment,
25:30
Speaker 7: fontslus slugs and addressed drawer.
25:32
Speaker 6: He still wanted Friday. Sorry headache, Joe, and I am
25:35
Speaker 6: going chief right. Vance gets the men up on the
25:37
Speaker 6: roof to cover you.
25:38
Speaker 7: Already fann him out around the building.
25:40
Speaker 16: I don't know what they tell you in La on
25:41
Speaker 16: one of these things, but here we tell him to
25:43
Speaker 16: be careful.
25:43
Speaker 14: Right, Chief, let's go. Ten B's on the second floor.
25:57
Speaker 7: Let's take the stairs. It's a long way up, and yeah,
26:14
Speaker 7: this way.
26:22
Speaker 5: You cover him.
26:23
Speaker 17: Ye, shut right through the door, and he's got two left.
26:38
Speaker 17: He's got another gun. Let's take him one good kick
26:40
Speaker 17: out to get the lot right. Just a minute, let's
26:45
Speaker 17: go beat.
26:47
Speaker 9: Like take what you.
26:56
Speaker 5: Let a long latino?
26:57
Speaker 6: Thank god, it's come on, get up all right, Okay,
27:03
Speaker 6: I get the cut.
27:05
Speaker 5: That's a big idea, they'd tell us you killed that patroller.
27:08
Speaker 5: He got tough.
27:09
Speaker 7: He didn't have to kill him in spite of the
27:11
Speaker 7: stolen car.
27:12
Speaker 5: What else could I do?
27:13
Speaker 10: Come on you? He had as much chats as I did.
27:16
Speaker 5: That figures. Yeah, two bullet holes in the back of
27:19
Speaker 5: his head.
27:27
Speaker 2: The story you have just heard was true, only the
27:31
Speaker 2: names and locations were changed to protect the innocent.
27:34
Speaker 3: On October, second trial was held in Superior Court Department
27:37
Speaker 3: ninety one, city in County of Los Angeles, State of California.
27:40
Speaker 3: In a moment the results of that trial, Michael Everett
27:52
Speaker 3: Lupino was tried and convicted of murder in the first degree.
27:55
Speaker 3: The jury failed to recommend the death penalty. Lupino is
27:58
Speaker 3: now serving his life term in the state penetate entry.
28:01
Speaker 2: Ladies and gentlemen, the Los Angeles Police Department requests the
28:06
Speaker 2: cooperation of all dragnet listeners in the following police matter.
28:10
Speaker 2: The Los Angeles Police Department would like every and any
28:13
Speaker 2: information regarding a gun fitting the following description thirty eight
28:18
Speaker 2: caliber Special Smith and Wesson Revolver Gold Seal model. The
28:22
Speaker 2: gun has a blue steel four inch barrow. The serial
28:25
Speaker 2: number is two to one eight eight two one eight eight.
28:32
Speaker 2: If you have any information as to the past or
28:34
Speaker 2: present whereabouts of this gun, contact W. H. Parker, Chief
28:38
Speaker 2: of Police, Los Angeles, California. This is a very important matter.
28:42
Speaker 2: All information furnished will be held in strictest confidence.
28:45
Speaker 5: Thank you.
28:48
Speaker 3: You have just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases
28:50
Speaker 3: from official files. Technical advice comes from the Office of
28:53
Speaker 3: Chief of Police WH Parker, Los Angeles Police Department.
28:57
Speaker 2: Coming up Duffy's Tavern.
28:58
Speaker 8: Three times Mean Good Times on NBC.
29:15
Speaker 18: This is Andrew Ryans with OTR Westerns dot com, where
29:18
Speaker 18: we stream live old time radio Westerns twenty four hours
29:21
Speaker 18: a day, seven days a week with a special twist.
29:24
Speaker 18: You select the tracks that get to be played. We've
29:28
Speaker 18: got a thousand different episodes from shows like Gunsmoke, Tales
29:31
Speaker 18: of the Texas Rangers, Escape, Genautry, and many more. Come
29:36
Speaker 18: check us out at OTR Westerns dot com slash live. Again.
29:40
Speaker 18: That's OTR Westerns dot Com slash Live. You're listening to
29:44
Speaker 18: the great detectives of old time radio with Adam Graham
29:47
Speaker 18: and now let's get back into the show.
29:54
Speaker 1: Welcome back, Well. This episode featured a slot different friends
30:00
Speaker 1: in the beginning only the names and location have been
30:05
Speaker 1: changed to protect the innocent, and in many ways that
30:08
Speaker 1: makes sense because the circumstance of this death doesn't necessarily
30:13
Speaker 1: scream an event that had to have happened in Los
30:18
Speaker 1: Angeles in the urban section. Now, there were sections of
30:22
Speaker 1: particularly the Greater Area, that were a little less populated,
30:28
Speaker 1: where some aspects of the story may be more plausible.
30:31
Speaker 1: But it was interesting that they admitted that the location
30:34
Speaker 1: was changed for the episode to raise really awareness about
30:38
Speaker 1: the risk that patrol officers faced not only in Los
30:41
Speaker 1: Angeles but all across the country. Also, we saw Ravenburg
30:46
Speaker 1: returning to his ed backstrand, so apparently retirement didn't take
30:52
Speaker 1: or more likely they just decided to ignore the continuity
30:58
Speaker 1: because the Dragnent's never been dependent on the internal show continuity.
31:05
Speaker 1: But at any rate, it was good to hear Raymond
31:07
Speaker 1: Burr back all right. Well on to some listener comments
31:10
Speaker 1: and feedback. Tam said along a very nice encouraging note
31:14
Speaker 1: with his donation, and we also received this letter from
31:18
Speaker 1: Kate written on a very nice cord. Kate writes, I'm
31:23
Speaker 1: a great fan of the great detectives of old time radio,
31:27
Speaker 1: and I should say this is a handwritten letter, so
31:29
Speaker 1: I definitely appreciate the effort here. Thank you for bringing
31:34
Speaker 1: us these little slices of days gone by. I especially
31:38
Speaker 1: enjoy yours truly. Johnny Doller and Dragnet Bob Bailey is delightful,
31:43
Speaker 1: and the character of Johnny is written so well. He
31:46
Speaker 1: can be hard boiled, but most of the time is
31:49
Speaker 1: just over easy. I love it when he just throws
31:55
Speaker 1: away the expense account because his service either wasn't necessary
32:00
Speaker 1: or for some poignant reason. The guy has such heart
32:04
Speaker 1: and well as integrity. Dragnet is my favorite, though I
32:08
Speaker 1: tell you some of it could have been recorded today.
32:12
Speaker 1: It seems so real to me. I love the naturalistic
32:18
Speaker 1: quality of the acting, the lack of gunplay or other
32:21
Speaker 1: violence so far in nineteen fifty and the consci engines
32:25
Speaker 1: reminders that cops are human. The loss of any human being,
32:29
Speaker 1: cop victim or purp affects us all. Lastly, I like
32:33
Speaker 1: listening to old time radio because it transports me to
32:37
Speaker 1: another place in time. I love to ride my bike
32:41
Speaker 1: nineteen thirties and forty district near my home Forest Hills
32:46
Speaker 1: in East Rochester, New York.
32:48
Speaker 2: And.
32:50
Speaker 1: Imagine the excuse me, imagine the residents of those houses
32:55
Speaker 1: gathered around their radio every week listening to another case
33:00
Speaker 1: being cracked by a great detective. Well, thank you so
33:04
Speaker 1: much for your kindo and definitely a lot of good
33:08
Speaker 1: points in there, and certainly the lack of gunplay would
33:12
Speaker 1: be something that would find dragnant throughout all of its
33:18
Speaker 1: seasons and shifts. And I think it has a very
33:23
Speaker 1: interesting effect because it's played realistically. When there is gunplay
33:28
Speaker 1: and there is violence, it feels impactful, it feels like
33:32
Speaker 1: something exciting, important and out of the ordinary has happened.
33:37
Speaker 1: When you have a program where violence happens every week,
33:40
Speaker 1: it's just kind of desensitizing. It's like, yeah, somebody got shot.
33:45
Speaker 1: Somebody gets shot every week. And certainly there are programs
33:48
Speaker 1: Dragnet in particular, but it's not the only one. Of course,
33:53
Speaker 1: our last listener support special really had a feel of
33:59
Speaker 1: currency and have been something that could have been taken
34:03
Speaker 1: right from the headlines right now. But thank you so
34:06
Speaker 1: much for listening, Kate, and I appreciated your card in
34:09
Speaker 1: the enclosure. And finally we do have a listener comment
34:14
Speaker 1: from Tricksy, who just says, simply love these Well, thanks
34:19
Speaker 1: so much, and do appreciate con comments and that will
34:25
Speaker 1: actually do it for today. Remember that you can support
34:29
Speaker 1: the show on an ongoing basis at Patreon dot great
34:33
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35:37
Speaker 1: this is your host, Adam Grahamson and off