Latest / Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas / Dragnet: Truck Hijackers (EP1430)

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Dragnet: Truck Hijackers (EP1430) · Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas

0:28
Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho. This
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is your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment, email it
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to me Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net, follow us on Twitter at
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you two can support the show at support dot Great Detectives dot net and we'll
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send along access to the premium side as we do with all do nations of
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seven dollars or more. All right, well, now it's time for oh
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eight, and I should also mention over at Great Detectives dot net. This
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weekend I review Robert Goldsborough's attempt at a nearrowolfbook murder in the Ballpark. All
1:30
right, well, now it's time for today's episode of Dragnet. The original
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air date October one of nineteen forty nine, and the title is Truck Hijackers,
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Ladies and Gentlemen. The story you were about to hear is true,
1:56
only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. NBC brings you drag
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Net. You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned to Burglary Detail. A gang
2:16
of hijackers has started to work in your city. Truckloads of valuable merchandise have
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vanished. The thieves are clever, seem to have a fool proof system.
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Your job find them. Drag Net the documented drama of an actual crime,
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investigated and solved by the men who unrelentingly stand watch on the security of your
2:38
home, your family, and your life. For the next thirty minutes,
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in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department, you will travel step by step
2:46
on the side of the law through an actual case from official police files,
2:51
from beginning to end, from crime to punishment. Drag Net is the story
2:54
of your police force in action. It was Thursday, March sixth It was
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windy in Los Angeles. We were working the night watch out of Burglary Detail.
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My partner's Ben Romero. The boss is at backstring shee be Detectives.
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My name is Friday. I was on the way back from the record Bureau
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and it was five thirty five am when I got to room two a interrogation
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room. Read this to him, Ben, Yeah, twenty six hundred dozen
3:25
Ninlon stockings, forty five boats to sail, fifty eight cases imported burkey.
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Where you're dumping this stuff? Of all, it's what we want to know.
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I told you the truth. I have nothing to do with it.
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I don't know anything about it. What was the stolen way building in the
3:38
caviar truck? How many times I have to tell you I don't know.
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If fingerprints were all over it, you must have carried it there. I
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didn't carry it there. Somebody's out to frame me? How many in the
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hijack gang level? I'm not in a hijack game. I told you,
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I don't know. Why are you gonna let me go? Who's the head
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of the gang. I don't know any head of the gang. I want
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to get out of here. You're covering for somebody, not covering for anybody.
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You take the rap for all this. You're gonna have a beard down
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to your knees by the time you get out. I'm not taking any wrap.
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Then let's have it. I'm tired. Forty two thousand dollars worth.
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You know who took it, you know where it is they could have disappeared
4:14
anywhere on their way from the East to the Thousand Places. Nothing was missing
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from those shipments when they came in on the train. Everything was there when
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they were unloaded the warehouse. And I don't know, I don't know.
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Every dollar's worth was a count and for when it was loaded on the truck.
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Where is it now? I'm tired, We've been here all night.
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Let me well, let me read it for you again. Twenty six hundred
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dozen nine on stockings, forty five bolts of silk, fifty eight cases imported
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perfume. And you're trying to tell if somebody hijacked all that from the trucks
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without you knowing it. The trucks were loaded at the warehouse, we went
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out to eat, We came back out in the trucks, delivered the stuff,
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and that's all I know. And while you were out eating, the
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receipts for the low disappeared too, Is that right, Levell? I don't
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know where the waybills are the shipping truck. That's his job. We talked
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to him. He says, one of you could have taken the way,
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and then he's lying I didn't take him. And what was this way build
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doing in the cab your I told you, I don't know somebody's trying to
5:03
frame me why. I don't know somebody I don't know why? Then you
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better come up with an answer. Mister. Look, I'm tired. We've
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been here since six o'clock last night. We're all tired. Who you're covering
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for? What are you trying to build? Any of that coffee left?
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Man? It's cool, that's all right. We want someone l no right
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now. Look, let's get one thing straight. We've been here all night.
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We can be here all day tomorrow, the day after that, and
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the day after that. We got enough to make you on this. You
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know that we're gonna stay with you to tell us the truth. Everything I've
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told you all, I'm gonna tell you. We stay here for six months.
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You got it all this year. Home phone hill Side eight three two
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one. That's Frida sometimes your wife get up Laval. What do you mean,
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Ben? Get an outsideline. Yeah, you're not gonna call my home.
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It's Hillside eight three to one, Ben upside, don't do that,
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don't not my wife? Please? All right, ask the questions again.
6:32
This time I'll give you the answers. Thomas Laval was thirty eight years old.
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He was a well respected man in his community. Sometimes it's like that.
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You can question a man for hours and they'll never give you any information.
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But somewhere in every man's makeup there's a weak point. We were lucky
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enough to find Laval's. He told us that he would give us the locations
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where the hijacked goods were hidden. He told us the addresses were written on
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the ledge of a window sill on the seventh floor of the Teamsters Union.
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It was eight thirty am on the seventh floors that night. Yeah, do
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me your favor. Don't make it too big. Well, look, we
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have to walk through the hiring hall before we get to the elevators in the
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back. Yeah, these handcuffs, they'll see them. All the guys in
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the hall they know me. Can't you take them off my wrists till we
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get in the elevator. Sorry, Levallo. I won't try anything, but
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don't make me walk in front of them with these are Sorry, just till
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we get in the elevator. Can't you do that? I don't want the
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guys to see me. Well, here's my overcode, Levalla. Drive it
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over your hands here and they won't see the cuffs here. Come on,
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Hi Tom, Hi, Hi, there's no Tom. Not much sure.
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Oh, let's take the elevator, yeah, se Gren no thanks, Yeah,
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yeah, okay, as it's down this way. Let me show you
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to the left, the window up ahead, Yeah, this one. I
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don't see anything on the window. Sale, it's on the outside. Open
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the window and let me check. Yeah. Let me see your fan grabbing.
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He's trying to jump in. Get back here, get back back out
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of your hair. Dam go get him. Joe. He can't hold him.
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He's pulling me out. Hold on, Ben grabbing me, Joe.
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Joe, he's slipping head Try Joe, hold on, he's taking loose my
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cat hold of him. Hold him, Joel. I couldn't hold him.
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You almost went with Let's get downstairs. What happened? Call an ambulance.
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Has been an accident. Thomas Laval was thirty eight years old who was a
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well respected man in his community. He died with the same reputation we had
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a prisoner who had met his death while in our custody. In cases like
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this, we had to have witnesses. By the time we got to the
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street. The usual accident crowd had gathered. Anybody here see the accident.
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Where'd you want witnesses? Yeah, did you said? Yeah, we saw
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it. Let's get their names. Ben. My name's Pete Garfield. This
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is Jack Morris. We'll be your witnesses. You'll probably be stupinion for the
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ind quest tomorrow morning. Sure, we'll be there. We saw you push
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the guy out the window. We saw you kill him. The next morning,
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at ten am, in the basement of the Hall of Justice, Harold
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J. Lane, Deputy corners City and County of Los Angeles, who read
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the report of the findings of the autopsy on the body of the deceased Thomas
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Laval as his customary at a corner's inquest, the identification witness was called to
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testify. First, Elizabeth Laval, Please raise your right hand. Do you
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solemnly swear that the testimony you're about to give to be the truth, the
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whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help you God, Yes,
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be seated. State your name, Elizabeth Leavell. What is your address
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twelve sixteen East Camarillo Drive. What is your occupation. I'm a housewife.
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What is your relation to the deceased his wife? Have you viewed the body
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of the deceased in this office. Yes, who was the deceased husband,
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Thomas Leavelle? Is there anything further you wish to add? Thank you?
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Step down please, Joseph Friday raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear
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that the testimony you're about to give to be the truth, the whole truth,
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and nothing but the truth will help you God? I do be seated.
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State your name, Joe Friday. What is your address forty six fifty
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six Collis Avenue. What is your occupation? I'm a police officer in and
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for the city of Los Angeles. Are you the investigating and arresting officer on
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this case? I am? Will you state briefly the facts relating to the
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death of the deceased. On the morning following the arrest by us of the
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deceased on suspicion of grand theft merchandise, he expressed a desire to assist us
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in the apprehension of suspects involved in these thefts and the recovery of property taken
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in them. Did he assist you well? He informed us that if we
12:00
him to the Teamster's Union Hall, he'd be able to obtain addresses of the
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locations where the stolen property was catched. You then took him there? Yes,
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we did. What happened when we arrived, he requested us to remove
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his handcuffs. We refused. Deceased then informed us that the addresses were written
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on a window ledge on the seventh floor. When we arrived at the window,
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under the pretense of searching for the addresses, he threw himself over the
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ledge. I grabbed his left leg to restrain him, but he kicked loose.
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And did you, at any time have any idea that the disease planned
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such action? I did not. What did you do? Then? We
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immediately went to the location of the body and had an ambulance dispatched. Do
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you have anything further to state? No, I have not. Are there
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any questions from the jury? That's all off, Sir Friday stepped down.
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Peter Garfield raise your right hand. Yeah. Do you solemnly swear that the
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testimony you're about to give to be the truth, the whole truth, and
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nothing but the truth. So help you God. Yeah, be seated.
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State your name, Pete Garfield. What is your address? Sixteen fifty four
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North Pico. What is your occupation? Truck driver? Down at General Warehouse.
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Did you know the deceased? Yeah? How did you know him?
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I worked with him? And that CoP's a liar, and so it says,
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buddy's sitting over there. Please can find the testimony of this inquest to
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facts. Were you present at the time the deceased met his death? I
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told you I was. Those two cops pushed Tom out of the window.
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Where were you at the time the deceased was pushed or jumped from the window?
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Jack and I just left the Union Hall. We were growing out the
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front door when it happened, but attracted your attention or him scream. When
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I looked up, Tom was falling. That cop was standing at the window
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watch him. Did you see the officer push him? Yes, I saw
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him. Did I understand you to say you were on the street outside the
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building at the time, Yeah, and you saw the officers pushed the deceased
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from the window on the seventh floor from your vantage point. Yeah. Isn't
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it true that that's a physical impossibility? What is that you could have seen
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what you testified too from where you were standing. I know they pushed them,
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you know, or you saw? I know? That's all time.
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Wouldn't jump out of the window. Then it's true you didn't see the officers
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pushed the deceased out of the window. No, I didn't see them.
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Is there anything further you'd like to add? They must have pushed them.
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Any question from the jury, That's all. Garkia stepped down. Dorothy River,
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raise your right hand. Yes, you solemnly swear that the testimony you're
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about to give to be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
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the truth. To help you God, I do e seated. State your
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name, Dorothy River. What is your address two eleven South Beverly Drive,
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and what is your occupation. I'm a stenographer at the Teamsters Union Hall.
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Were you present the morning the deceased met his death? I was State where
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you were and what you were doing. I was in our office on the
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seventh floor doing some filing. Please state what you witnessed. The filing cabinet
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in our office is by the door. The office faces on the hallway,
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and the door happened to be open. I heard a commotion and looked out.
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I saw those two officers struggling with a man. Did you hear any
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conversation? Yes, I heard that officer there say get back here get back
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a man outside the window. Y'll let me go. Let me go.
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This officer here off, Socriety said, he's pulling me out. Hold on,
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Ben Grabney. How far from the window were you? I'd say about
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fifteen feet? Do you have anything else to add? Yes. As the
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two policemen started downstairs, offic Friday said to me, call an ambulance.
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There's been an accident. Thank you, Miss River. Those officers didn't push
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that man out the window, they were trying to hold him. After hearing
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additional witnesses, the coroner's jury retired at eleven fifty seven am. Eight minutes
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later, they returned with their decision. The deceased met his death voluntarily and
16:33
by his own actions. The homicide detail continued the investigation of Laval's death.
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A week went by with homicide working one side. We hope that they might
16:44
turn up additional leads in the hijacking case. Nothing turned up. It seemed
16:48
that with the death of Thomas Laval, our leads came to an abrupt stop.
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On Tuesday morning, March sixteenth, at nine am, we got a
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call from Chief of Detectives at backstrand. Now once more, what about the
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way bills shiments. You checked them everything, We could talk to everybody at
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hand them and talk to him some more. Forty two thousand dollars and merchandise
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doesn't just disappear. Who's the last one to handle those waves bills the warehouse
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shipping The bills were signed and stamped two hours after you filled them in his
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desk. He disappeared. What about the truck drivers? You checked them out,
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talked all of them. Nothing so far, nothing was missing from those
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shipments until they left the warehouse. Is that right? Yeah? And somewhere
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in between the warehouse and the delivery points, forty two thousand dollars worth of
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goods disappeared. Somebody's got to be hijacking those loads. We know that,
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but how do we get to it. Maybe they're working alone, Maybe they're
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working with the truck drivers. It's one of the others. Got to be.
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Just hadn't lost leval Well, you lost him. That doesn't close the
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case. You've got a suggestion, Yeah, I got a suggestion. Crack
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it. You are listening to drag nets, authentic stories from official police files,
17:56
and now an important announcement. Ladies and gentlemen, We are pleased to
18:00
announce that starting next Thursday, October sixth Dragnet will be brought to you by
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for your excellent response to our efforts in bringing you these weekly authentic presentations of
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actual cases from official files. Your letters are the only indications we have that
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Dragnet is a source of your listening pleasure. We'd like to hear from all
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of you. Starting next Thursday, October sixth, over most of these same
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immediately following the supper club. Check your newspaper for local release time.
18:45
We stayed on the job. Another week went by, no leeds. We
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spent so much time at the general warehouse where the merchandise disappeared, that we
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almost got to be a part of the crew. We got to know everybody.
18:56
We made frequent visits to the Teamsters union hall. It got us nothing.
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On Wednesday, March twenty sixth we reported in for work at eight am.
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Friday, Romeo, Yas Kibber. You pooled around just long enough.
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They hijacked another load last night, thirty eight thousand dollars, what outfit?
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Same General Warehouse? Who's your contact down there? Ray Hobart, shipping clerk.
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Hop down there right now and get the details right. There are two
19:19
ways to solve this thing. You can get those hijackers now or way till
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General Warehouse goes out of business. Get on it, Hobart. Who was
19:30
the shipping turk on duty last night? I was working for Sigi Sigellmeister.
19:34
He's out of the cold. And you saw this stuff was loaded on the
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trucks, and you checked the way bill as usual, everything as usual,
19:41
checked the trucks out at two am, went back to the office, file
19:45
the way bills. You worked pretty heavy schedule, Hobart. You started at
19:48
two am and you're still on duty. It took the last four hours of
19:51
Siggy shift at two am to six am. He had a cold. I
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was back here at ten this morning to start my own shift. When did
19:57
you find out the way builds were missing? None? That shipman last night?
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Uh? Just four I went off? Maybe had pass five quarters six?
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Well how about the truck drivers who handled that load? Hoe? Aren't
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you come? Let's see I got it right here? Okay, here you
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go Sargeant Jack Morris and Pete Garfield. Jack Morris and Pete Garfield were brought
20:21
in for questioning. We double checked with Homicide and found out their reports on
20:23
Morris and Garfield tallied with ours. No previous records. Both men had been
20:29
tailed for a reasonable length of time since their testimony at the Lavalley in quest
20:33
their actions failed to implicate them. Four days after the second hijacking, we
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got a tip from one of our informants down in the Warehouse district. He
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told us that a man in a gray suit had been hanging around the coffee
20:42
shop next to the teamster's union hall. He was peddling nylon stockings cheap.
20:48
There had been other reports like this which we had followed up, but none
20:51
of them had paid off. Usually such leads didn't pay off, but we
20:55
couldn't be sure. They had to be checked. Had a few minutes before
20:59
five that afternoon we found a nylon salesman in a gray suit in the back
21:02
booth of the coffee shop a joining a union hall. Look, bang,
21:07
take a look, I'll find it. You can't do better. Fifty one
21:11
gauged island Look good? Huh? Sure do don't they Joe, Yeah,
21:15
they do. We've been looking for you, Max. Some of the guys
21:17
in the union hall said that you'd be around. Sure, I saw lots
21:18
of these around the hall, truck drivers just like you, buying them like
21:22
crazy, good deal. Sure looks like it. Man, how many pregnant?
21:26
Half many as you want? Four bits? A pair of your name?
21:27
It got a couple of dozen for us? A couple of dozen?
21:30
No, not on me, But I can get them as many as you
21:33
want. Well, we're kind of in a hurry. Can you get them
21:36
force fast? Couple of dozen? Let him make it three dozen? Un
21:37
Joe? Yeah, if you want three dozen, can you get them now?
21:41
A couple of hours? I can get them same quality. You want
21:42
to meet me here? Oh? I don't know. We wanted him for
21:45
the night my wife's birthday. You know, well, maybe an hour and
21:48
a half. How's that three dozen? Meet you here? Oh? Look,
21:51
Mike, maybe we're both head in the same direction. Can't we go
21:55
with here and pick up a nine on save time for all of it?
21:56
No? I don't think so. Now can't you wait a hour and a
22:00
half? How's that that'll find a better buying? I'm sorry, Mac,
22:03
I wish we had the time. Well, where do you have to go
22:07
to pick up these nihlids? Oh? Way, Sunset Boulevard near Fairfax.
22:11
Can't you wait? I'll make it fast. Can't we pay you and then
22:14
go out and pick them up ourselves. No, don't work that way.
22:18
No, can't you wait too, I'll make it fast. We ought to
22:22
be home now, Joe. Yeah, I'm sorry, mister, we'll have
22:26
to skip it. Yeah, I mean we can pick up something on the
22:27
way home, ben candy or something wife likes. Can now, look,
22:30
fellas, I don't want to see you lose out on this deal. I'll
22:34
meet you halfway. How you mean? Look together, we will go out
22:37
to Sunset and Fairfax, huh near the place. You'll wait there at the
22:42
Hamburger stand, and in five minutes i'll bring you this stuff. Okay,
22:45
I don't know. We're late already, but all right, it's the deal.
22:49
I'll call a wife until her we're going to be a little later.
22:52
Three doesn't all right? Three doesn't of the best. You can't do better?
22:56
All right, I'll be back in just a minute. Two five three
23:14
two five two three Chief of Detective's Office, Chandler Mike Joe Friday backstrouand there
23:21
out right now, Joe, want do me a favorite chandler. Make it
23:23
fast, Get a couple of men out to Sunset and fair Facts as fast
23:26
as you can. Tell him to watch for Ben and me. You got
23:27
that? What else? We'll drive up in our car with another man.
23:30
Ben and I'll get out of the car and go in the Hamburger stands.
23:33
The other man will walk off whoever you get. Tell him to follow that
23:36
man. You got it right, all right, Just tail him, see
23:38
where he goes, see what he does. Okay, Joe right away over
23:45
said Jill. If you got dinner ready just about we better hustle. Sure,
23:49
best deal in the world. Let's go. At five minutes to six,
23:56
we pulled up at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Fairfax. It was
23:57
almost dark, and I got out of the car and started over for the
24:00
hamburg to stand on the corner. We caught a glimpse of Barsie and Kaplan,
24:04
one of our detective cars parked in the gas station on the opposite corner.
24:07
I had their eyes on our man. When the traffic signals changed,
24:11
the man crossed the street and headed down Fairfax Barsie and Kaplan waited a minute,
24:15
and then they took off after him. He turned at the next corner
24:18
and disappeared from sight. Then and I ordered a cup of coffee and we
24:21
sat out to wait. At half past six, we were still waiting.
24:26
At five minutes to seven, I went across the street to the drug store
24:29
and called the office. Barsie and Kaplan hadn't been heard from their car.
24:33
One five K was not acknowledging calls. I had my call switched from communications
24:37
to Backstrand's office. Well, they lost him Friday, and I don't know
24:40
how they lost him, but they lost him. Who's out there now?
24:41
Sullivan and Whitney took a detail out there. They're calling the neighborhood right now.
24:45
Well, how did that happen? A man just doesn't disappear in the
24:48
thin air. That's what I keep telling you about that stuff that's been hijacked.
24:52
The search for the Nylon salesman went on all that night and most of
24:56
the next day. From his description, we ran a make on him previous
25:00
records. He disappeared completely. We were right back where we'd started from.
25:03
The only thing we could do was to start backtracking, requestioning the people at
25:07
General warehouse, the truck drivers, the shipping clerks. We kept a close
25:11
check on Garfield and Morris, and when we went back to the only possible
25:15
leads still remaining, Missus Laval, she could tell us nothing more than we
25:18
already knew when we left her. We started on the neighbors for the second
25:22
time around. For the rest of the day we canvassed the immediate neighborhood.
25:26
We got as many opinions of the Laval's as they had neighbors. At three
25:30
point thirty that afternoon, we visited with Missus Gertrude Lancaster, a fifty year
25:34
old maiden lady who lived almost directly across the street from the Laval house.
25:38
She's been out of town the first time we covered the neighborhood. The old
25:41
single sergeant. There's no fool like an old fool. Oh say if I
25:45
told you the chances I had when I was a girl, Not truck drivers
25:48
like that Laval man God rest is soul, but fine, wealthy man as
25:52
lawy as Templeton. Grant you member him. No, ma'am, I was
25:56
engaged to him once, butterfly aways, that's what he used to call me.
26:00
I was sliming those days. Would you like to see some pictures of
26:03
me as a girl? No, no, thank you, ma'am. We'd
26:06
just like to ask you a few questions, that's all. Could you tell
26:08
us if the Lavals had many visitors to their house in the past six months
26:11
or so? Oh? My, no, funniest thing. I am the
26:15
nosy type, Sergeant. I like to know everything that goes on around my
26:18
neighborhood. And you can take my word for at the Lavals never had visitors,
26:22
you know, Sergeant Friday, you remind me of a young man I
26:23
used to be engaged to just a few years ago. Yes, Miss Langes,
26:26
Now would you tell us please? Did you have any reason to think
26:30
that there was something a little out of the ordinary about the Laval Oh little
26:34
out of the ordinary, he says, But my dear man, yes,
26:37
here he was a truck driver, and there she was with a home furnished
26:41
life for asters. Well. I even used to see him caught some of
26:42
the things home in that car. Has beautiful things, rugs and glassware,
26:47
boats of fabric, Oh gorgeous, And he'd bring these things home after work.
26:51
Is that it, Miss Langska? Anytime, anytime day, and night
26:52
weekends anytime after Ford, Joe, we better call office. Yeah, are
26:59
you sure of all that you've told us? Miss Langston? Sure? Oh,
27:00
my dear man, of course, I'm sure. I watched him week
27:03
after week. Well, thank you. Won't you stay for a cup of
27:07
tea? I'll have Josephine fixed it. Joseph no, thank you, ma'am.
27:10
Well, and perhaps a glass or sherry? Thank you? No,
27:15
but there is something, yes, I wonder if we could use your phone
27:18
please? Oh, yes, in the hall next to the umbrellas, Dan,
27:23
thank you, ma'am. Two five two three, thanks. Friday had
27:40
nothing much here? Well, it is something here, Barsia and Captain just
27:42
called Pete. Garfield left his house half an hour ago. Then he picked
27:45
up Marris. What's so unusual about that? Now they except the guy driving
27:48
the cars, the little man in the gray suit, the nylon salesman.
27:52
Barsa and Caplin are tailing them, headed north out of Riverside Drive. There's
27:56
nothing out there but a golf course, a lot of writing stables. I
27:59
don't care what they do for recreation. Go get him with red lighting,
28:03
sir. And it took us twelve minutes to pick up Barcie and Kaplan on
28:07
Riverside Drive at four twenty three pm. We pulled up in front of the
28:10
Blue Pony Riding Stables. Barcie and Kaplan's car was overturned just beyond the driveway
28:14
leading up to the riding Academy. Caplain's hurt. I pulled an ambum,
28:17
I say, Ram, that's a kind of a car they in. They
28:18
Swiss. They're driving a twelve town Bulldog Semi. Which way they had going
28:21
north? Got a three minute lead on you new mad commercial Adam sixty five
28:23
three. Let's go Ben. Can you see him? Joe? No,
28:30
not yet. Watch that crossing up ahead, Joe, that's the semi.
28:36
Can you read it? Wait a minute, Adam sixty five three? At
28:38
them? Took a ride on Lankershoe. Don't lose them. They're pushing that
28:45
semi too hard. Look at that trailer sway. They'll have to stay on
28:48
Langerashaim. They're going too fast to turn. Now, traffic's closing in up
28:52
ahead of them. They'd better not turn. That's what they're doing. Look
28:56
at that trailer whip. They're going over pit a start first, All right,
29:14
what are I want to see? Yeah, they're banged up, with
29:18
their lives. They are joll Yeah, Garfield, Morris, little Man Grace
29:26
is funny in it. Garfield's gonna swear we pushed that truck through that window.
29:38
The story you have just heard is true, only the names were changed
29:42
to protect the innocent. Peter Garfield, Jack Morris, and John Dulpho,
29:47
the stocking salesman, were hospitalized and later brought to trial. They were convicted
29:51
on charges of grand theft and received sentences as prescribed by law. They are
29:55
now serving their terms in the state penitentiary. You have just heard the eighteenth
30:03
in a new series of authentic cases from official files. Technical advice for Dragnet
30:07
comes from the office of Acting Chief of Police W. A. Wharton,
30:11
Los Angeles Police Department. Tonight's program is dedicated to motorcycle Officer Elmer Forceman of
30:17
the Presno, California Police Department, who, on the afternoon of October sixth,
30:21
nineteen forty six, gave his life so that yours might be more secure.
30:26
Remember. Starting next Thursday night, October sixth, Fatima Cigarettes invite you
30:32
to listen to Dragnet immediately following the supper club. That's ten thirty pm Eastern
30:36
Standard time. Over most of these same NBC stations. Check your newspaper for
30:41
local release time. Drag Net came to you from Los Angeles. Judy Canova
30:45
joins the star lineup of Saturday shows tonight on NBC Welcome Back. One thing
31:00
I have to appreciate about Dragnet is the way that the police are portrayed in
31:03
fully human and often fully fallible ways. And clearly there are some mistakes made
31:11
here or miscalculations, particularly when it came to laval In miscalculating how he would
31:22
respond to the pressure put on them. As I said, it was a
31:27
miscalculation, very hard to see coming, but certainly something in retrospect, they
31:33
would have taken different action or been more suspicious with the location and his attempts
31:38
to get at the window. But clearly he just could not face his wife
31:44
with the realization and her knowing what he had done. Also a realistic look
31:51
at life and Corner's inquest. This was an episode where Ed Baxtrand was not
31:57
at all helpful and was in this case, despite his official status, just
32:02
a boss who desperately wanted results, and I even Friday asked, well do
32:07
you have any suggestions? And it was just simple, Oh, you gotta
32:10
catch them. So they had to put up with that for the whole episode.
32:15
I'd have to men. As I was listening, I chuckled a little
32:19
bit when they gave the cover story of buying the nylons for Friday's wife's birthday
32:28
and they needed three dozen pair. Not to be fair, women wore and
32:32
went through a lot more nylons back then, but three dozen as a birthday
32:37
present still does seem quite a bit, and I did like Friday's a little
32:42
equip at the end. All right, Well, on to some listener comments
32:45
and feedback, and we begin with Julie, who says, as Scrooge said,
32:51
a great many back payments are included. I assure you've been listening for
32:54
years, and this is my first donation. Thank you, Adam, Well,
32:58
thanks so much, and I do appreciate everyone who supports the show.
33:01
And again you can support the show as well support dot Great Detectives dot net,
33:06
or you can mail in acheck to peel Box one five nine thirteen Boisei,
33:12
Idaho eight three seven one five. That's peel Box one five nine one
33:15
three boise Idaho eight three seven one five. And again, Julie, thanks
33:20
so much for your support. Well that'll do it for today. Join us
33:23
back here on Monday for the Saint. In the meantime, send your comments
33:27
to Box thirteen at Great Detectors dot Nette, follow us on Twitter at Radio
33:31
Detectives, and become one of our friends on Facebook, Facebook dot com.
33:36
Slash Radio attactives from Boise, Idaho. This is your host, Adam Grahamson and off