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Dragnet: The Big Saint (EP4748) · The Great Detectives Present Dragnet (Old Time Radio)

0:28
Speaker 1: Welcome to the great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
0:36
Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're
0:40
Speaker 1: going to bring you this week's episode of Dragnet. But
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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your support. Jerry really appreciate it.
1:35
Speaker 1: And now, from April twenty six, nineteen fifty one, here
1:40
Speaker 1: is the Big Saint.
1:50
Speaker 2: The story you were about to hear is true. Under
1:53
Speaker 2: the names have been changed to protect the innocent. You're
2:04
Speaker 2: a detective sergeant. You're assigned to auto theft detail, A
2:08
Speaker 2: well organized ring of car thieves begins operations in your sitting.
2:13
Speaker 2: It's one of the most puzzling cases you've ever encountered.
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Speaker 2: Your job break it.
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Speaker 3: Drag met the document a drama of an actual crime.
2:31
Speaker 3: While the next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los
2:33
Speaker 3: Angeles Police Department, you will travel step by step on
2:37
Speaker 3: the side of the law through an actual case transcribed
2:39
Speaker 3: from official police files, from beginning to end, from crime
2:44
Speaker 3: to punishment. Dragnet is the story of your police force
2:47
Speaker 3: in action.
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Speaker 4: It was Monday, Mail eleventh. It was fair in Los Angeles.
2:56
Speaker 4: We were working a day watch out of auto theft detail.
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Speaker 4: My partner's Ben ramerils Captain Stilson, my name is Friday.
3:02
Speaker 4: Was eight thirty five am when I got to Room forty,
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Speaker 4: Auto Theft Division Captain's office.
3:07
Speaker 5: Morning Friday, Rory, Ahi, Joe, Ben, Let's sit down, thank you.
3:12
Speaker 5: I was just telling Ramara here and briefing all the
3:14
Speaker 5: men in the bureau on this thing. That's the reason
3:16
Speaker 5: I called you two in. Yeah, I get some figures here.
3:18
Speaker 5: I want to go over with you acause you know
3:22
Speaker 5: all the percentage of all auto theft recoveries is ninety
3:24
Speaker 5: six to ninety eight percent on the average, that's normally. Yeah,
3:27
Speaker 5: and checking the monthly averages the past four months, that
3:29
Speaker 5: percentages dropped to the low eighties. Quite a drum corner
3:33
Speaker 5: pocket thinks so too. They want some action on it.
3:35
Speaker 6: Well, we've been working on it.
3:36
Speaker 5: Absolutely no pattern to the theft, time, location, the method makes
3:40
Speaker 5: it impossible to stake out on it. Yeah, those are
3:42
Speaker 5: some of the reasons our percentage is taking such a dive.
3:45
Speaker 5: I know the problems, we all do, but we got
3:46
Speaker 5: to break this thing soon.
3:48
Speaker 4: A lot of figures were dealing with a well organized bunch.
3:50
Speaker 4: They know what they're doing.
3:52
Speaker 5: And cross checking all the reports. It seems to boil
3:54
Speaker 5: down to this. In general here is that all the
3:56
Speaker 5: outstanding thefts are GM cars, Cads, Ponty Acts, Chevy, these oldsmobiles,
4:01
Speaker 5: all late models, all seem to be in good condition,
4:03
Speaker 5: low mileage cars.
4:05
Speaker 4: In addition to the regular broadcast and teletypes, we got
4:07
Speaker 4: out a special bullet.
4:08
Speaker 5: Ones that's right, all the that'ts realisted license, make, model,
4:12
Speaker 5: and color been sent to all major cities and border
4:14
Speaker 5: patrol stations.
4:15
Speaker 6: Nothing so far.
4:16
Speaker 5: I was checking through the salvage reports, salvage buys. Do
4:19
Speaker 5: you have the last two months escape in March and April? Yeah,
4:22
Speaker 5: right here. I know it's the same thing that I've
4:24
Speaker 5: fit down on San Peterro Street.
4:26
Speaker 6: Yeah, let me see.
4:29
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, this is a composite on the reports for
4:32
Speaker 5: the past two months.
4:33
Speaker 6: That's right.
4:34
Speaker 5: This one here Herman Salvage twenty seven to sixteen West
4:37
Speaker 5: San Pedro. They seem to deal a little heavy on
4:40
Speaker 5: General Motors card, don't they. Yeah, they do have been
4:42
Speaker 5: watching the buyers on this place for the past few weeks.
4:44
Speaker 4: Now.
4:44
Speaker 6: I wanted to make sure it wasn't coincidence.
4:46
Speaker 4: It looks like a good place to run down anyway,
4:48
Speaker 4: you too want to check it out, all right?
4:49
Speaker 6: Fine, twenty seven to sixteen West San Pedro. That's it.
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Speaker 6: If it appears to be okay, it never been out
4:54
Speaker 6: of line.
4:55
Speaker 5: Seems funny they should deal with the top AVY and
4:57
Speaker 5: GM cars, doesn't it right when our recovery percentage takes
5:00
Speaker 5: a diet?
5:00
Speaker 6: Yeah?
5:01
Speaker 5: Do you have the last salvage report there, Kevin? Yeah,
5:03
Speaker 5: the last week here you are, thank you.
5:10
Speaker 4: Yeah, here's one for Herman's nineteen forty nine Cadillac. A
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Speaker 4: little further down Herman's again forty seven. Ole's Yeah, there's
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Speaker 4: five GM buys on the list. Herman got four out
5:25
Speaker 4: of five of them.
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Speaker 6: Let's find out why.
5:32
Speaker 4: From the time an automobile is first manufactured and sold
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Speaker 4: a constant and the complete record is maintained on that automobile.
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Speaker 4: His certificate of ownership the pink slip in the state
5:41
Speaker 4: of California. His certificate of registration a white slip. These
5:45
Speaker 4: two slips of paper contained the information necessary for the
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Speaker 4: positive identification of your car. Fact that every motorist knows.
5:53
Speaker 4: There are many agencies that work for the protection and
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Speaker 4: security of your automobile. One of these is the National
5:58
Speaker 4: Auto Theft Bureau of nationwide clearinghouse. Acting upon information supplied
6:03
Speaker 4: by the various insurance companies and other allied agencies, this
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Speaker 4: Bureau forwards all facts and figures concerning the disposition of
6:10
Speaker 4: motor vehicles on a nationwide basis. Reports are made available
6:14
Speaker 4: to all law enforcement agencies. One of the pieces of
6:17
Speaker 4: information put out by the National Auto Theft Bureau is
6:20
Speaker 4: the Salvage Report, listing all sales and purchases of automobiles that,
6:24
Speaker 4: for one reason or another may have been relegated to
6:27
Speaker 4: the junkyard or to the salvage company, a fact that
6:30
Speaker 4: many motorists may not know. Nine four am Ben and
6:33
Speaker 4: I checked through the Police Commission and found that the
6:36
Speaker 4: owner of Hermann Salvage was a Herman Lester. He had
6:39
Speaker 4: been in business at the same location for six years
6:41
Speaker 4: and appeared to be a reputable businessman. We drove down
6:44
Speaker 4: to twenty seven to sixteen West sand Pedro to check
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Speaker 4: it out. Was an average looking garage with a connecting
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Speaker 4: salvage yard filled with several hundred smashed up cars of
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Speaker 4: all makes and models. It was nine thirty two am
6:55
Speaker 4: when we walked into the garage.
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Speaker 5: As a fellow then of shirt, Yeah, I see him.
7:02
Speaker 4: Can I help you?
7:03
Speaker 7: Gentlemen? Yes?
7:04
Speaker 6: Or police officers auto theft detail?
7:06
Speaker 7: Oh yes, don't believe I know you fellas. My name
7:09
Speaker 7: is Lester.
7:09
Speaker 6: This is Sergeant Friday. My name is from Merril.
7:12
Speaker 4: How I do How are you? Are you the owner here?
7:14
Speaker 7: Yeah? That's right.
7:16
Speaker 8: Whatever happened to Mac and Donovan used to drop in
7:18
Speaker 8: once twice a month.
7:19
Speaker 6: I haven't seen him for two three weeks now while.
7:21
Speaker 4: They're a little busy on a special assignment.
7:23
Speaker 7: Oh I see all right?
7:24
Speaker 8: If we look around here, Oh you bet make yourselves
7:27
Speaker 8: right at home. Anything special, No, just looking Okay, Notice
7:32
Speaker 8: you've been pretty busy. Huh yeah, I had a pretty
7:34
Speaker 8: good month. Salvage racket's gonna get sour again. Looks like
7:37
Speaker 8: with the Korean War and all.
7:38
Speaker 6: The cutbacks, doesn't seem to have hit you so far.
7:42
Speaker 7: Well, no, not so far. Looks like you may tighten
7:44
Speaker 7: up anytime.
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Speaker 5: I noticed from our salvage reports you've been doing a
7:48
Speaker 5: big business in GM merchandise.
7:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, we have.
7:51
Speaker 8: You know they're starting to build tanks back there now.
7:53
Speaker 8: We wanted to make sure we wouldn't run short on parts.
7:55
Speaker 6: You get a lot of call for GM parts.
7:57
Speaker 7: Do you, Oh? Yeah, we sure do.
8:00
Speaker 8: In town knows if they need something for a Caddy
8:02
Speaker 8: or a Buick or any of those cars, that's the
8:03
Speaker 8: place to come. We kind of built up a reputation
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Speaker 8: specializing in GMU's park.
8:08
Speaker 5: I say, line, if we check your last few buys, fine,
8:14
Speaker 5: you have a forty nine Cadillac, forty seven old body
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Speaker 5: Act forty eight, nineteen forty nine Chevrolet.
8:22
Speaker 7: Wonder if we might see those, yes.
8:24
Speaker 8: Sir, right out in the yard back this way. All
8:29
Speaker 8: four of them are really beat bad shape. Just breaks
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Speaker 8: your heart to see beautiful merchandise like that, all smashed up.
8:35
Speaker 7: I know what people are thinking of the way they drive.
8:38
Speaker 6: Yeah, and you take.
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Speaker 8: A new Caddy, one of those new convertibles, really beautiful merchandise.
8:43
Speaker 7: Somebody takes one out, rolls it. We pick it up
8:45
Speaker 7: and tow it down. Here, beautiful car like that, all
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Speaker 7: rolled up in a ball.
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Speaker 6: Georgia Street receiving at probably picked up the red Yeah,
8:53
Speaker 6: really shamed.
8:55
Speaker 7: Here we go. There's a Caddy.
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Speaker 6: Oh yeah, uh, let's see see uh.
9:03
Speaker 7: Old's and the pontiacar on that road there, you see him? Yeah?
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Speaker 7: Huh And Chevrolet, wasn't.
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Speaker 6: It, yes, sir, nineteen forty nine? Yeah, oh yeah, there
9:14
Speaker 6: she is over there?
9:15
Speaker 7: Uh?
9:15
Speaker 6: Third card?
9:16
Speaker 7: Uh? Maroon?
9:18
Speaker 6: Yeah, Marion one?
9:19
Speaker 4: Yeah down there.
9:20
Speaker 7: Yeah.
9:21
Speaker 6: It's like a graveyard, doesn't sure it does. What do
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Speaker 6: you do with all these cars? Sprip 'em down for parts?
9:27
Speaker 7: Well at least uh four you checking now? Yeah, they're
9:30
Speaker 7: all total wrecks.
9:31
Speaker 6: Nothing much can be done with them except for parts.
9:35
Speaker 4: How about that Cadillac down there to Sedan? Uhuh that
9:38
Speaker 4: one over there? Can't you fix that one up? That
9:40
Speaker 4: doesn't look beyond repair from here?
9:42
Speaker 8: Oh, step around the other side here. You can't see
9:44
Speaker 8: from where you're standing here. The right side's all stoven.
9:49
Speaker 8: By the time you figure replaced those side panels and fenders, tram,
9:53
Speaker 8: we couldn't come out on it.
9:54
Speaker 4: Yeah, I see now, well I don't know too much
9:56
Speaker 4: about it, but it'll look good from over there.
9:58
Speaker 7: Yeah. That's where we get all the time.
9:59
Speaker 8: People want us to pay top prices or stuff we
10:01
Speaker 8: can't get our money out of. If we could repair them,
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Speaker 8: fix them up, and re sell them as a complete
10:05
Speaker 8: autumn and bill would be a lot of money in
10:07
Speaker 8: this business.
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Speaker 6: We do that with some of them, don't you.
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Speaker 7: Oh, very few of them.
10:10
Speaker 6: I'll tell you.
10:11
Speaker 7: That's all we look for. But we don't always get lucky.
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Speaker 8: I see, say, hund you boys like to see some
10:17
Speaker 8: really beautiful merchandise.
10:18
Speaker 6: What's that?
10:19
Speaker 7: Well, come on back in the shop, all right.
10:22
Speaker 6: Kind of a hobby of mine.
10:28
Speaker 7: Here's what keeps us busy.
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Speaker 8: Plates and pink slips on they we to Sacramento for cancelation.
10:34
Speaker 4: H Over this way.
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Speaker 7: Here we are.
10:42
Speaker 9: Take a look at this baby.
10:43
Speaker 7: Yeah, hot rod? Huh oh, not exactly. We don't go
10:47
Speaker 7: in for that. Kids racing around town.
10:49
Speaker 4: Well sure looks like one.
10:51
Speaker 7: Yeah, but it's a little better and most of the
10:52
Speaker 7: kids can throw together. What dot it do?
10:54
Speaker 8: We clocked her up at me Rock at one hundred
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Speaker 8: and twelve last weekend. You know they were coming in
10:59
Speaker 8: here from all over time.
11:00
Speaker 7: I want to see this car, that's all. Yeah. You
11:02
Speaker 7: ever get up to Murock Dry Lake.
11:04
Speaker 4: No, I never do, but that's the place for it.
11:06
Speaker 4: Running around town and those things can cause a lot
11:08
Speaker 4: of accidents.
11:09
Speaker 7: Those drag races the kids have. Yeah, we don't go
11:11
Speaker 7: in for that stuff.
11:12
Speaker 6: This is strictly scientific as far as I'm concerned.
11:15
Speaker 7: I like to build them up. See what we can
11:16
Speaker 7: make them do.
11:17
Speaker 8: Cost a lot of money, don't They got fifty four
11:19
Speaker 8: hundred dollars in this one right now? I'm putting more
11:21
Speaker 8: into it. My reignition milled heads, twin Wakefields. Let me
11:25
Speaker 8: start it up for you.
11:26
Speaker 7: Okay, hundred twenty horses under there. Yeah sounds good. That's
11:40
Speaker 7: what at that?
11:41
Speaker 8: You want to Yeah, a lot of power in here ahead.
11:53
Speaker 7: You want to see it up in the lake?
11:55
Speaker 4: You really go al bat.
12:00
Speaker 6: It's all made up on a salvage car, every bit
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Speaker 6: of it.
12:03
Speaker 7: Buy a few things new, but most.
12:05
Speaker 6: Of it's right out of wrecks like those outside.
12:07
Speaker 4: There takes a lot of talent to build up something
12:09
Speaker 4: like this and scrapped, don't it.
12:11
Speaker 8: No, not really, After you've been at it long as
12:13
Speaker 8: I have, it's not too tough.
12:15
Speaker 6: The trick is to get more speed out of them,
12:17
Speaker 6: and anyone else can't.
12:18
Speaker 7: Yeah, we did a good job on this car.
12:21
Speaker 8: Oh, if you put your mind to it, you can
12:22
Speaker 8: do a lot with a wreck car.
12:27
Speaker 4: Before we left Herman Salvage, we checked all four of
12:29
Speaker 4: the GM cars that were listed on the salvage report.
12:32
Speaker 6: We made a careful check on all of.
12:34
Speaker 4: The cars in the yard and in the garage, paying
12:36
Speaker 4: special attention to the few cars that were in the
12:38
Speaker 4: process of being rebuilt by Herman Lester's mechanics. We went
12:42
Speaker 4: over his records, carefully checking the disposition of all of
12:45
Speaker 4: his buys for the past several months. Everything was in
12:48
Speaker 4: the perfect order. We found that in the past three
12:50
Speaker 4: weeks Lester had taken in ten cars, Eight of them
12:54
Speaker 4: had been stripped down for parts, and two of them
12:57
Speaker 4: had been rebuilt and resold. The investigation showed that four
13:00
Speaker 4: of those cars were GM cars and the two that
13:03
Speaker 4: were resold were both General Motors. Eleven twenty eight am.
13:07
Speaker 4: Ben and I drove back to the office and asked
13:09
Speaker 4: mc and donovan if they'd checked through the two resale
13:11
Speaker 4: cars to make sure everything was in order as the
13:14
Speaker 4: reports indicated. We checked through on the remaining eight cars
13:17
Speaker 4: that were listed by Herman. Lester is broken down for parts.
13:20
Speaker 4: According to DMV, all plates and pink slips have been
13:23
Speaker 4: returned to them for cancelation.
13:25
Speaker 5: Eleven fifty Am. Well that's it, Joe, Yeah, eight of
13:29
Speaker 5: the cars check out. Two of those were GMS.
13:31
Speaker 4: You know, well that leaves just the two that mcindonovan
13:34
Speaker 4: are checking.
13:34
Speaker 6: Uh. I don't know.
13:35
Speaker 5: Everything done there? Looked all right, says Saints Leicester. Wasn't
13:38
Speaker 5: holding back anything. Well as I could tell cooperative everything
13:42
Speaker 5: in order. If those two that mcindonovan are working on checkout,
13:45
Speaker 5: I get it, I'd say, well, it seems to me.
13:47
Speaker 5: Lester told us everything everything we ask him. Anyway, I
13:51
Speaker 5: don't think you don't there.
13:53
Speaker 4: If you did, I got an ID who might be
13:54
Speaker 4: able to tell us. Somebody's been left out in the
13:56
Speaker 4: cold here.
13:57
Speaker 6: What are you getting there?
13:58
Speaker 7: Well?
13:58
Speaker 4: No, if Herman's been able to buy up all GM cars,
14:00
Speaker 4: what are the other salvage dealers been doing about it
14:03
Speaker 4: that it's all.
14:04
Speaker 6: Let's check his competition.
14:08
Speaker 4: Twelve forty pm we drove back down to West.
14:11
Speaker 6: San Pedro Street.
14:12
Speaker 4: We picked out a group of salvage companies in the
14:14
Speaker 4: immediate neighborhood close to Herman's thirty two over nine West
14:17
Speaker 4: San Pedro John's wrecking Yard.
14:20
Speaker 6: We introduced ourselves and started to talk with the owner
14:22
Speaker 6: of John Bacon.
14:24
Speaker 4: A routine check was made of his establishment, and as
14:26
Speaker 4: far as we could tell, everything appeared to be okay.
14:28
Speaker 6: And that's all you made, just that won by that's it.
14:31
Speaker 6: Nineteen forty six Ford, we're dying a slow death.
14:35
Speaker 10: Business pretty bad, huh. I've never seen it worse, at
14:37
Speaker 10: least as far as we're concerned. How do you account
14:39
Speaker 10: for that, mister Bacon?
14:40
Speaker 7: Oh?
14:41
Speaker 10: Everything, I guess. Business is bad all over at the moment.
14:44
Speaker 10: Scrap metal situations in the state of flux the present time.
14:47
Speaker 5: And looking around mister began, we noticed you don't have
14:49
Speaker 5: much in the way a General Motors die. Is that
14:51
Speaker 5: because of GM going into war production, any cutback would
14:54
Speaker 5: eventually affect you, fellas, wouldn't they?
14:56
Speaker 6: No, No, not at all.
14:57
Speaker 10: Cutback would sure, But there's no tremendous cartoon one right
15:00
Speaker 10: at the present time. Just still turn out a lot
15:02
Speaker 10: of automobiles back there.
15:04
Speaker 6: Well, then, what's your problem?
15:05
Speaker 10: We're being out bid right up and down the line
15:08
Speaker 10: by the same outfit.
15:09
Speaker 6: Who's that company by the name of Herman.
15:11
Speaker 10: Salvage just up the street there, go out to buy
15:13
Speaker 10: a piece of merchandise there, boys just won't let's get
15:16
Speaker 10: near it.
15:16
Speaker 6: They paying more than you do, huh, more than.
15:18
Speaker 10: We can the sergeant, I unestly don't see how they're
15:21
Speaker 10: coming out on some of their deals.
15:23
Speaker 6: It's that much out of line now, it certainly is.
15:26
Speaker 10: You know, whenever there's anything available, all the salvage companies
15:28
Speaker 10: get their bid in.
15:30
Speaker 6: Well, Herman simply out bids all of us. Yeah, it
15:32
Speaker 6: makes it kind of rough.
15:33
Speaker 10: I'm not the only one Pete larking up the street,
15:35
Speaker 10: old man, huh, Henry next door all of us. I
15:38
Speaker 10: don't know what we can do about it. Herman seems
15:41
Speaker 10: to be doing all right, no matter what he pays
15:42
Speaker 10: for his cars. Anemost can figure it out. Just judge
15:47
Speaker 10: him from the number of cars he out bids us
15:48
Speaker 10: on the number he rebuilds. I just can't see how
15:51
Speaker 10: he's coming out. But he is uh figure, he's laying
15:54
Speaker 10: odds on a big shortage. That's what all of us think.
15:56
Speaker 10: He's laying in the stock files at the ENDEA sure
15:59
Speaker 10: what else could have think?
16:03
Speaker 4: We continued our check on all salvage dealers, both in
16:06
Speaker 4: the neighborhood of Herman Lester's place and throughout the city.
16:10
Speaker 4: Seemed to be a fact well known to most dealers
16:12
Speaker 4: that Herman was outbidding all of them on any and
16:14
Speaker 4: all GM automobiles. The only possible explanation was that he
16:18
Speaker 4: must be trying to lay in a large stockpile of
16:20
Speaker 4: this particular make of car. Three point thirty five PM,
16:23
Speaker 4: we received word from Sergeants Mack and Donovan that they
16:26
Speaker 4: had checked out the two remaining cars listed in Herman's books.
16:29
Speaker 4: The resales ben was right. They checked out with no discrepancy.
16:34
Speaker 4: During the next ten days, the investigation continued. The theft
16:37
Speaker 4: of late model GM cars continued, with few recoveries. Suspects
16:41
Speaker 4: were arrested. In question, we could find no connection that
16:44
Speaker 4: might lead us to an organized ring of car thieves
16:46
Speaker 4: that might be responsible for the lack of GM car recoveries.
16:50
Speaker 4: The salvag's reports showed no change in Herman's buying technique.
16:54
Speaker 4: Apparently he was still dealing heavy on the one particular
16:57
Speaker 4: make of car. Thursday, May twenty fifth, we received a
17:00
Speaker 4: teletype from DMV listing all the salvage by transfers, and
17:05
Speaker 4: making our usual daily check of this teletype, we noticed
17:07
Speaker 4: a nineteen forty nine Cadillac engine number five nine eight
17:11
Speaker 4: seven seven four one five. It had been resold from
17:15
Speaker 4: salvage to a used car lot.
17:19
Speaker 5: That's the place right up the block. Yeah, I say,
17:23
Speaker 5: same cad we saw in Herman salvage.
17:25
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's funny, isn't it the one in particular that
17:27
Speaker 4: I asked him about? You remember, Yeah, I remember you
17:29
Speaker 4: thought it could be fixed up. He said, No, it's
17:31
Speaker 4: only been a little over two weeks ago, hadn't it.
17:33
Speaker 4: Yeah right, Well, still doesn't prove anything.
17:37
Speaker 6: Here we are, Jakes. This is the place. Yeah, there's
17:40
Speaker 6: a cad in the front line right down there. Huh.
17:44
Speaker 6: I don't see anyone around you? No, I don't. Well,
17:48
Speaker 6: I guess it's hard to check the engine number anyway.
17:50
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'll get the hood really right.
18:04
Speaker 6: Yeah, there we go.
18:06
Speaker 4: Yeah, engines had a good steam clean let's say five.
18:13
Speaker 7: Nine eight.
18:15
Speaker 4: Seven seven four one five.
18:20
Speaker 6: That's it. I'man sure did a nice job, only didn't Yeah,
18:25
Speaker 6: almost looks too good. It just a minute.
18:27
Speaker 5: Yeah, body cereal doesn't match, doesn't correspond with the engine model.
18:33
Speaker 4: It's a forty nine. Body could be a late forty nine.
18:37
Speaker 4: But it's a definite switch in there.
18:39
Speaker 6: I'm sure it is. That's funny.
18:40
Speaker 4: Yeah, look at this right side here.
18:45
Speaker 6: This was the bad side, wasn't it. Yeah?
18:47
Speaker 4: Try it looks like it's been rolled out to you.
18:51
Speaker 6: No, there's no feathering, no orange peel. Either.
18:56
Speaker 5: That's the best repaying job I've ever seen. Or it's
18:58
Speaker 5: never been in an accident.
19:00
Speaker 6: We'll take a look underneath. Want to move your feet there?
19:04
Speaker 7: All right?
19:08
Speaker 6: Anything?
19:12
Speaker 4: No? Nothing, There's not a seam or a joint under there,
19:15
Speaker 4: no welding marks of any kind. This car has never
19:18
Speaker 4: been in a smashup. The engine number checks, the body doesn't.
19:22
Speaker 4: And this is the one herman couldn't fix up.
19:24
Speaker 6: That's what he said. Maybe he changed his mind or
19:26
Speaker 6: he lied.
19:39
Speaker 7: You are listening to Dragnet from beginning to end.
19:43
Speaker 3: Dragnet is the authentic story of your police force and action.
19:55
Speaker 4: Nineteen forty nine Cadillac engine number five nine eight seven
19:58
Speaker 4: seven four one and checking out this automobile, Ben and
20:02
Speaker 4: I had found that the engine number corresponded with the
20:04
Speaker 4: salvage report.
20:05
Speaker 6: Concerning Herman Lester's place.
20:07
Speaker 4: The one big item that did not jibe was the
20:09
Speaker 4: fact that the engine was now mounted in a different
20:11
Speaker 4: body than when the car left the factory, a fact
20:14
Speaker 4: that had to be accounted for in complete detail. When
20:17
Speaker 4: we had checked this automobile on the eleventh of May
20:19
Speaker 4: at Herman Salvage yard, both engine and body numbers corresponded.
20:24
Speaker 4: In taking a close look at the car, it was
20:26
Speaker 4: obvious that the body had not been repaired in any way.
20:29
Speaker 4: It was clear that this particular car had not been
20:31
Speaker 4: in any kind of collision. We went back to the
20:34
Speaker 4: rear of the lot and asked one of the salesmen
20:36
Speaker 4: not to sell the car without informing us. When we
20:39
Speaker 4: got back to the office, we started rechecking all of
20:41
Speaker 4: the auto theft reports. We found five stolen Cadillacts, but
20:45
Speaker 4: all the body styles and models were different, with the
20:47
Speaker 4: exception of one, a nineteen forty nine Cadillac sedan reported
20:51
Speaker 4: stolen on May fourteenth. It was registered in the name
20:54
Speaker 4: of William Brown l. We checked his home and found
20:57
Speaker 4: that he was at work. It was a superintendent for
20:59
Speaker 4: the northm Manya and Van lines. We drove over and
21:01
Speaker 4: picked him up and took him to Jac's carl out
21:04
Speaker 4: on Vermont Avenue.
21:08
Speaker 5: This is the car, mister Brown. Now, well, it's just
21:14
Speaker 5: like mine, but I don't think it's the one. Are
21:16
Speaker 5: you're sure?
21:16
Speaker 4: For one?
21:17
Speaker 6: Thing is a different color? My car was maroon. You
21:20
Speaker 6: wanna step over here, mister Brownew sure you know, if
21:26
Speaker 6: you'll look very closely here on the door edging and
21:28
Speaker 6: on the gym uh huh right here.
21:30
Speaker 4: See this is the one place sometimes they miss with
21:33
Speaker 4: a spray gun if they're gonna repaint.
21:35
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, there's a faint trace of red under the
21:37
Speaker 6: blue paint. There. Looks like it could be maroon, doesn't he?
21:40
Speaker 4: Yeah?
21:40
Speaker 6: It does it that this car has been repainted. It
21:44
Speaker 6: was maroon.
21:46
Speaker 5: Well, mine didn't have these kind of seat covers. Let's see,
21:53
Speaker 5: same kind of upholstery I had though underneath there.
21:58
Speaker 6: I don't know, mister Brown.
21:59
Speaker 4: Now there might be something other than the color and
22:01
Speaker 4: the upholstery that you'd know your own car buy never
22:04
Speaker 4: gave it much thought. Well, there's usually some little identifying
22:07
Speaker 4: markt some kind I know that on my car the
22:10
Speaker 4: limbs and the right headlight got broken and I had
22:12
Speaker 4: to replace it with one that didn't match.
22:14
Speaker 6: Something like that. You see Could I look inside them? Minute? Sure?
22:22
Speaker 5: All right here on it the speedometer, there was a
22:24
Speaker 5: thumbprint pressed in at the factory.
22:26
Speaker 6: It was pretty deep. No, it's not there now.
22:30
Speaker 4: I don't forget that the car has been repainted. It
22:32
Speaker 4: might have been covered up.
22:33
Speaker 5: Oh, this was clear down of the metal apparently when
22:36
Speaker 5: they were installing the instruments at the factory.
22:37
Speaker 6: Of the panel wasn't dry yet.
22:40
Speaker 5: Not there now, They couldn't have covered it up unless
22:42
Speaker 5: they made a special point of it.
22:43
Speaker 4: Well, sometimes that's done. Car thieves are kind of clever.
22:47
Speaker 6: I'm sorry, gentlemen. I don't think this is my car.
22:50
Speaker 6: I don't think. I don't wish it was, but it's not.
22:53
Speaker 5: Can you think of just one other thing? Maybe just
22:55
Speaker 5: one mark of identifications?
22:57
Speaker 6: All we need? Oh, even these tires aren't. Man.
23:00
Speaker 5: I had whiteside walls who could have been switched. They
23:03
Speaker 5: were pretty new. Wait a minute, I think I remember something.
23:10
Speaker 5: There's no rip up there.
23:11
Speaker 6: What's that, sir? I just thought of something.
23:14
Speaker 5: The boys down in the office gave me a Saint
23:16
Speaker 5: Christopher metal you know, the large metal kind you're supposed
23:19
Speaker 5: to bolt to your dashboard. Yes, I didn't want to
23:21
Speaker 5: put it on, so I carried it around with me
23:22
Speaker 5: in the car. There was a rip up there and
23:25
Speaker 5: the inner lining of the top, but she there's no
23:27
Speaker 5: rep in this. Let me see, how about it?
23:31
Speaker 6: Yeah? Yeah, I can feel it. Does it feel like
23:34
Speaker 6: a metal can get my pocket knife on it? What
23:37
Speaker 6: do you think they replaced the cloth up there? I
23:39
Speaker 6: don't know. Yeah, yeah, here, Eh does this sit mister Brodow?
23:47
Speaker 6: That's it.
23:48
Speaker 5: Look on the back there, my name's engraved on it.
23:50
Speaker 5: You see, Yes, sir, well, I sure didn't think this
23:54
Speaker 5: was my car. I never would have known it.
23:55
Speaker 4: That's what the guys figured who stole it. The nineteen
24:02
Speaker 4: forty nine Cadillac was taken to the police garage and
24:04
Speaker 4: a complete and thorough check was made. The car, with
24:07
Speaker 4: the exception of the engine, was positively identified as the
24:09
Speaker 4: property of William Brown l. This definitely implicated Herman Lester
24:13
Speaker 4: and showed his salvage operations to be illegitimate. He had
24:16
Speaker 4: obviously been buying one particular make of salvage automobile outbidding
24:20
Speaker 4: all his competitors to do so. When he would buy
24:22
Speaker 4: a piece of wrecked equipment, an exact duplicate would be
24:25
Speaker 4: stolen to match it. He would then dispose of the
24:27
Speaker 4: engine from the stolen vehicle and replace it with a
24:30
Speaker 4: Salvage engine. With this system of operation, Herman Salvage had
24:34
Speaker 4: been enjoying a lucrative business which accounted for a great
24:37
Speaker 4: percentage of the stolen cars that we hadn't been able
24:39
Speaker 4: to recover. Seven to twenty five pm May twenty fifth,
24:43
Speaker 4: we drove out to pick up Herman Lesker. His home
24:45
Speaker 4: address was listed as eighty six twenty five Wonderland Drive.
24:48
Speaker 4: It was up in the Law Canyon District, a heavily
24:51
Speaker 4: wooded section of Los Angeles.
24:55
Speaker 5: Pretty nice place up in there, which you can see
24:58
Speaker 5: of it through the trees.
24:59
Speaker 6: Let's go.
25:05
Speaker 5: Look at that, Joe Ye looks like a fifty olds
25:08
Speaker 5: everything there but the engine, no plates.
25:12
Speaker 6: I didn't notice that from the street. Did You never
25:14
Speaker 6: could have seen it from down there.
25:18
Speaker 5: It looks like a garage back up in there. Done there,
25:21
Speaker 5: perfect spot. You can't see any of this from the
25:23
Speaker 5: street with all those trees. Butt He fancy layout for
25:27
Speaker 5: a home garage, good side.
25:29
Speaker 6: You know somebody's working up in there.
25:33
Speaker 9: Yeah, come on, hi, there brings your fellows right up here.
25:41
Speaker 9: Won't have a little talk with you.
25:43
Speaker 6: Well, you're bet come on in the house, have a
25:45
Speaker 6: cold beer. Huh No, this would be all right, Joe.
25:48
Speaker 6: Uh you got a hot sheet?
25:50
Speaker 5: Yeah right here, kind of call me by surprise you're
25:53
Speaker 5: working out in the garage. Yeah, that figures lest year
25:56
Speaker 5: at these plates are from a stolen car.
25:58
Speaker 6: You sure that's why you remember?
26:00
Speaker 4: A forty nine Cadillac We looked at down at your
26:02
Speaker 4: place a couple of weeks ago. Not sure, forty nine cat,
26:05
Speaker 4: that's right? Whatever became of that car?
26:07
Speaker 6: Oh? No, I remember? Yeah?
26:09
Speaker 5: I sold that car to Jake's O Run Vermont. Thought
26:11
Speaker 5: you told us you couldn't fix it up.
26:13
Speaker 7: I don't remember. You're sure you don't mean some other.
26:15
Speaker 4: Car now, No, it's the same one, you know, the
26:17
Speaker 4: one we mean?
26:17
Speaker 6: How about it?
26:18
Speaker 7: How about what?
26:19
Speaker 6: That was a stolen car?
26:20
Speaker 5: Lester and you, knowing not the stolen car out there
26:22
Speaker 5: in the yard, didn't what's that hoistander?
26:25
Speaker 4: They go?
26:26
Speaker 7: Joe?
26:26
Speaker 6: All right, lest you're holding done?
26:28
Speaker 4: Get stop it.
26:39
Speaker 7: All right?
26:40
Speaker 6: I get I don't get the cuff, Joe.
26:43
Speaker 4: Come on, get up on your feet, all right, Come
26:46
Speaker 4: on on your feet, stand still rough one.
26:50
Speaker 5: Huh yeah, come on, Lester, let's go.
26:55
Speaker 7: Did you find out who took you off?
26:57
Speaker 6: Saint Christopher?
27:05
Speaker 2: The story you just heard was true, only the names
27:08
Speaker 2: were changed to protect the innocent.
27:10
Speaker 3: On August fifteenth, trial was held in Superior Court, Department
27:14
Speaker 3: eighty two, City and County of Los Angeles, State of California.
27:16
Speaker 3: In a moment the results of that trial, Hermann W.
27:27
Speaker 3: Lester was tried and convicted on three counts of grand
27:30
Speaker 3: theft auto and two counts of grand theft money, all
27:33
Speaker 3: sentences to run consecutively. Grand theft auto was punishable by
27:37
Speaker 3: imprisonment for a term of one to five years, grand
27:40
Speaker 3: theft money by a term of one to ten years.
27:42
Speaker 3: The suspect was also filed on by federal authorities for
27:45
Speaker 3: violation of the Diary Act. You have just heard Dragnet
27:51
Speaker 3: a series of authentic cases from official files. Technical advice
27:55
Speaker 3: comes from the Office of Chief of Police W. H. Parker,
27:57
Speaker 3: Los Angeles Police Department.
27:59
Speaker 2: For rot your Dragon questions transcribe for Los Angeles, Stay
28:03
Speaker 2: tuned for Conversty and next over many NBC stations.
28:15
Speaker 1: Welcome back. This is a reason I love revisiting Dragnet.
28:21
Speaker 1: Now there are those episodes which are all time great
28:25
Speaker 1: episodes that you remember, but then there are those quirky,
28:30
Speaker 1: interesting programs that you kind of forget. Because there were
28:35
Speaker 1: more than three hundred original broadcast of Dragnet, and this
28:39
Speaker 1: is one of those, and there's so much alike about this.
28:42
Speaker 1: We get a different type of crime in this sort
28:46
Speaker 1: of auto theft mixing with a junkyard, and there are
28:50
Speaker 1: some really interesting details in the investigation and how they
28:54
Speaker 1: solve this. I also want to say, from a technical standpoint,
28:59
Speaker 1: I love the sound effects work on that engine at
29:03
Speaker 1: the junkyard. They must have brought in a special engine
29:06
Speaker 1: or special piece of equipment to record that and make
29:11
Speaker 1: that come alive through the sound effect. Probably not quite
29:14
Speaker 1: the same as a car engine of the same sort,
29:17
Speaker 1: because I have to imagine that it would have been
29:20
Speaker 1: way too loud to even hear any of the dialogue
29:24
Speaker 1: or to sound good over radio. This one was surprising too,
29:28
Speaker 1: because of all the episodes to end with a suspect
29:33
Speaker 1: violently resisting, you would not have thought this one. But
29:36
Speaker 1: again it shows that while violent confrontations and arrest are
29:41
Speaker 1: not nearly as typical as many other programs would lead
29:44
Speaker 1: you to believe. It still does happen, and it can
29:49
Speaker 1: happen unexpectedly because a lot of people just do not
29:52
Speaker 1: want to go to jail. And another nice thing about
29:56
Speaker 1: Dragnet is that because it uses real locations, it just
30:01
Speaker 1: adds another dimension to the series. I found myself curious
30:06
Speaker 1: about Laurel Kenyon and the way, of course it's described
30:09
Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty one, and I was curious how it
30:13
Speaker 1: looks today, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that
30:18
Speaker 1: it's still a very nice and quiet neighborhood, but with
30:22
Speaker 1: a lot of history in the entertainment industry. And according
30:26
Speaker 1: to some of the articles I read, you still do
30:29
Speaker 1: see some wildlife in the neighborhood. While there had been
30:33
Speaker 1: a lot of developments of big, new expensive homes, there's
30:37
Speaker 1: a lot of history with the entertainment industry, and you
30:41
Speaker 1: still will find, you know, ramshackle cabins and tutor homes
30:46
Speaker 1: up in that area. And I think, actually, if there
30:49
Speaker 1: were a play, I'm not a person who dreams of
30:53
Speaker 1: moving to la and I don't think that would be
30:56
Speaker 1: the best thing in the world. For me, but if
30:58
Speaker 1: I had to move to LA, I think I would
31:01
Speaker 1: want to move to the Laurel Canyon area because looking
31:04
Speaker 1: at the pictures reminded me of a lot of places
31:08
Speaker 1: and neighborhoods I've seen around Idaho and very similar. I
31:12
Speaker 1: think probably the main difference is about six or seven
31:16
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars per house. Regardless, it was fun to
31:20
Speaker 1: look into and if you want to see some of
31:25
Speaker 1: the endscape, you can do a Google Images search. For me,
31:28
Speaker 1: it's probably as close as I'll get to living in La.
31:32
Speaker 1: Now it's time to thank our Patreon supporter of the day,
31:35
Speaker 1: and I want to go ahead and thank Laura, Patreon
31:38
Speaker 1: supporter since June twenty twenty, currently supporting the podcast at
31:42
Speaker 1: the Detective Sergeant level of seven dollars and fourteen cents
31:46
Speaker 1: or more per month. Thank you so much for your support, Laura,
31:50
Speaker 1: and that will actually do it for today. If you're
31:52
Speaker 1: enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software.
31:58
Speaker 1: And if you're enjoying the pond cast on YouTube, be
32:01
Speaker 1: sure to lock the video and mark the notification bell
32:05
Speaker 1: all those great things that help YouTube channels to grow.
32:08
Speaker 1: Dragnet will return a week from next Thursday. Coming in
32:13
Speaker 1: two weeks, we will be cross posting the series Cloak
32:18
Speaker 1: and Dagger from the new podcast series The Great Adventurers
32:23
Speaker 1: of Old Time Radio. And you can hear the premiere
32:28
Speaker 1: of the Great Adventurers of Old Time Radio one week
32:33
Speaker 1: from Sunday. And we have a fantastic week of encore
32:38
Speaker 1: presentations for your listening pleasure, ready to roll starting tomorrow,
32:44
Speaker 1: but from Boise, Idaho. This is your host, Adam Graham.
32:48
Speaker 1: Sign and off.