Latest / The Great Detectives Present Dragnet (Old Time Radio) / Dragnet: The Big Mailman (EP5044)

Transcript

Dragnet: The Big Mailman (EP5044) · 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
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: going to bring you this week's episode of Dragnant. But
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: first I want to encourage you, if you're enjoying the podcast,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: to please follow us using your favorite podcast software. And
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: today's program is brought you in part by the financial
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: support of our listeners. You can support the show on
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: a one time basis by mail in a donation to
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Adam Graham peelbox one five to nine three. That's peel
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: box one five nine thirteen, Boise, Idaho eight three seven
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: one five, and you can become one of our ongoing
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Patreon supporters for as little last two dollars per month
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: by going to Patreon dot Great Detectives dot net. But now,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: from May fifteenth, nineteen fifty two, here is the big mail.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to read a telegram we
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: just received final ballot tabulation shows. Dragnet has won Michael
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Award for Best Radio and also for Best Television Mystery
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Program in nineteen fifty two. Twenty thoy ninety qualified members
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: participated in nominations and final ballot. Congratulations and best wishes.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: Ed Bobbley, President Academy of Radio and Television Arts and Sciences.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: The story you are about to hear is true. The
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: names have been changed to protect the innocent. You're a
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: detective sergeant. You're assigned a robbery detail. A United States
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: mail truck is held up and robbed. Twenty two sacks
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: of registered mail have taken the hold up men escape.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: There's no lead to their identity.
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: Your job get them.
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: Dragnet the documented drama of an actual crime. For the
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department,
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: you will travel step by step on the side of
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: the law through an actual case, transcribed from official police files,
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: from beginning to end, from crime to punishment. Dragnet is
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: the story of your police force in action.
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: It was Monday, August fourth, was hot in Los Angeles.
• 3:06
  Speaker 5: We were working the night Watch out of robbery detail.
• 3:08
  Speaker 5: My partner's Frank Smith. The boss's captain Dideon. My name's Friday.
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: I was on the way back from communications and it
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: was eleven o five pm when I got the room
• 3:15
  Speaker 5: twenty seven as the squad room.
• 3:18
  Speaker 6: That's it.
• 3:18
  Speaker 7: There wasn't anything else to do. I had a gun
• 3:21
  Speaker 7: pressed right up against the back of my head. I
• 3:22
  Speaker 7: didn't dare make a move.
• 3:23
  Speaker 6: Yeah, i'd but take it easy, Joe, nothing yet.
• 3:26
  Speaker 7: The broadcast in the apb are out on 'em. How
• 3:28
  Speaker 7: you feeling, Houston? Not bad, It's still a little shaky.
• 3:31
  Speaker 7: How about my partner's Frank and eight off? Are they
• 3:33
  Speaker 7: hurt bad?
• 3:33
  Speaker 6: No, a couple of bad bumps in the head. They'll
• 3:35
  Speaker 6: be all right by morning. Doctor's treating him now over
• 3:36
  Speaker 6: Georgia Street. We talked on tonight. Doctor doesn't think it'd
• 3:39
  Speaker 6: be a good idea. Wait, can't wait all the morning.
• 3:41
  Speaker 6: It was a little pale uston You sure we can't
• 3:43
  Speaker 6: get you something? No, No, I'll be all right.
• 3:45
  Speaker 7: Still a little shaky in it's so so we're scary
• 3:48
  Speaker 7: I ever got in my life. Thought I was gone
• 3:50
  Speaker 7: for sure. How about a glass of water?
• 3:51
  Speaker 6: Yeah? You know, okay, if you got it, you're back.
• 3:55
  Speaker 6: You got a penny Frank, Yeah, just talking about the
• 4:09
  Speaker 6: getaway car when you came in, Joe. Yeah, Houston here
• 4:12
  Speaker 6: is pretty sure it was right the first time. It
• 4:13
  Speaker 6: was a dark blue Sedan.
• 4:15
  Speaker 7: Light model, and the idea all what make it was?
• 4:17
  Speaker 7: But I wouldn't like to say definitely. I don't want
• 4:19
  Speaker 7: to mix you up. I think got half an idea
• 4:20
  Speaker 7: was a GM car, maybe a Buicker and Olds. I
• 4:23
  Speaker 7: can't say for sure, though, but here's your water.
• 4:25
  Speaker 6: Huh. You didn't get a look at the license. You're
• 4:27
  Speaker 6: sure of that, are you?
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: No?
• 4:28
  Speaker 6: I didn't see that. All the whole thing went too fast. Fun.
• 4:32
  Speaker 6: I appreciate this.
• 4:35
  Speaker 7: I got it, Robbery Smith, Yes, sir, Oh yeah, inspector, actually, yeah,
• 4:44
  Speaker 7: we'll be here for a while. Yeah at twenty seven
• 4:47
  Speaker 7: A right, thank you, goodbye, we got posting inspector.
• 4:51
  Speaker 6: Joey's on his way over. Now that's fine. Hey, Bud,
• 4:53
  Speaker 6: when you started your run with that mail truck tonight,
• 4:56
  Speaker 6: you have any inkling at all? But there was something wrong.
• 4:58
  Speaker 6: I don't think I got you, serg you mean well?
• 5:00
  Speaker 5: I mean, if you happen to notice anyone suspicious hanging
• 5:02
  Speaker 5: around the post office out of the loading platform?
• 5:05
  Speaker 6: No, no, no, buddy.
• 5:06
  Speaker 5: How about on your way to the union station. You
• 5:08
  Speaker 5: know it's any cars following your mail truck.
• 5:09
  Speaker 7: No, if they were, I think i'd have noticed it.
• 5:11
  Speaker 7: I usually keep an eye out when we're making a run.
• 5:13
  Speaker 7: The habit I got into I guess how long you've
• 5:15
  Speaker 7: been driving a mail truck, but about five years. I've
• 5:17
  Speaker 7: only been handling the registered mail last couple of months.
• 5:20
  Speaker 7: So did your truck leave the post office on schedule
• 5:22
  Speaker 7: to man, Yeah, right on the dot.
• 5:23
  Speaker 6: We followed the other trucks out.
• 5:25
  Speaker 7: See the trucks that pick up the ordinary mail, they
• 5:27
  Speaker 7: leave first, and then our truck leads right after him.
• 5:29
  Speaker 7: We only handle registered stuff. So the same routine tonight.
• 5:32
  Speaker 7: You know, different you're with the driver of the truck
• 5:34
  Speaker 7: that ride. But yeah, that's all I do is drive.
• 5:36
  Speaker 7: Frank's a clerkt offs the guard. That's regulations on trucks
• 5:39
  Speaker 7: that handle just as straight mail. The driver is the
• 5:41
  Speaker 7: only one aboard registered mail. Truck's got to have three men,
• 5:43
  Speaker 7: the driver, the clerk.
• 5:44
  Speaker 6: And the guard. We know usually drive the same route
• 5:47
  Speaker 6: from the post office to the Union station.
• 5:48
  Speaker 7: Yeah, we go the same way every night, straight down
• 5:50
  Speaker 7: Temple Street, turn right and go down Ferguson to Alameda
• 5:53
  Speaker 7: and over all a meta the Union station, make the
• 5:55
  Speaker 7: pick up or the delivery, and then we come back
• 5:57
  Speaker 7: the same way as the post office.
• 5:58
  Speaker 6: I mean that's the route of Palm Snyder, Yes, said,
• 6:00
  Speaker 6: that's it. Only we didn't make it back this time.
• 6:02
  Speaker 5: I'd like to make sure we got this street now, Bud,
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: Do you mind checking us out on exactly what happened
• 6:06
  Speaker 5: from the time you got to.
• 6:06
  Speaker 6: The Union station. No, no, I don't mind.
• 6:08
  Speaker 7: I'll try to relax. If you can't, just take your time,
• 6:10
  Speaker 7: try to remember everything. Say, would you mind very much
• 6:13
  Speaker 7: if I called my wife first? I know I'm going
• 6:15
  Speaker 7: to be late getting home.
• 6:16
  Speaker 6: I don't want her to worry about right ahead, but
• 6:18
  Speaker 6: what's your number? I'll doe O. Thanks, it's pleasant two nine, three,
• 6:22
  Speaker 6: two one. Okay you got a family, Bud, Yeah, three kids,
• 6:28
  Speaker 6: mother in law too. She lives with us here.
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: You are bout night?
• 6:34
  Speaker 6: All right? Oh? Hi, mother got you out of bed.
• 6:39
  Speaker 6: Nothing's wrong. I just called it.
• 6:40
  Speaker 7: Say i'd be a little late tonight. I didn't want
• 6:41
  Speaker 7: Lorraine to worry. No, please, no, I'm not in a bar.
• 6:46
  Speaker 7: Why do you have to say things like that? That's
• 6:49
  Speaker 7: the way you feel?
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: All right?
• 6:50
  Speaker 6: Just tell Lorrain we're got it. Hello, mother in law.
• 6:55
  Speaker 6: They never get off your back. Sorry to inter reptops.
• 7:00
  Speaker 6: All right, glad you want to go ahead now?
• 7:02
  Speaker 7: See you wanted to know what happened after we left
• 7:05
  Speaker 7: Union State that's right. What time was it when you
• 7:07
  Speaker 7: left the station? Right after we loaded the mail sacks
• 7:09
  Speaker 7: on the truck, twenty eight sacks all registered and took off.
• 7:12
  Speaker 7: What time was that scheduled time? Nine fifty six left
• 7:16
  Speaker 7: the station? Hit it for the po throw the same
• 7:19
  Speaker 7: route long alimedia the Ferguson and up Ferguson. As I
• 7:22
  Speaker 7: turned the corner, I picked up their headlights in the
• 7:24
  Speaker 7: rear view mirror and they started crowding us.
• 7:27
  Speaker 6: I knew something was wrong, too late to do anything new.
• 7:29
  Speaker 6: They pulled up along side forcedield of the curbs and yeah,
• 7:31
  Speaker 6: the darkest part of the street too.
• 7:33
  Speaker 7: It was a big toeday and I know that had
• 7:34
  Speaker 7: a four door job dark blue and it was a
• 7:36
  Speaker 7: late model.
• 7:37
  Speaker 5: I'm sure you noticed anything special about the car, but
• 7:40
  Speaker 5: I mean maybe a dead of defender, some special accessories on.
• 7:42
  Speaker 6: It, anything like that. Oh nothing, I'd be sure. I
• 7:44
  Speaker 6: was too busy trying to keep going get out of
• 7:46
  Speaker 6: their way.
• 7:47
  Speaker 7: I didn't have much of a chance. They forced us
• 7:49
  Speaker 7: up on the sidewalk. I saw a telephone poll County
• 7:52
  Speaker 7: and maybe I had a stop.
• 7:53
  Speaker 6: What happened?
• 7:53
  Speaker 7: Then I threw a bright spotlight on its blinded me
• 7:56
  Speaker 7: for a minute, and these three men got out of
• 7:59
  Speaker 7: the car, came out of his guns in their hands.
• 8:01
  Speaker 6: It all happened in a couple of seconds. I've never
• 8:03
  Speaker 6: so scared in my life. You got a good look
• 8:05
  Speaker 6: at any of the men, No, I didn't.
• 8:06
  Speaker 7: It was pretty dark place they stopped or said. I
• 8:08
  Speaker 7: couldn't be sure I'd recognize any of them if I
• 8:10
  Speaker 7: saw them again. What did the men do when they
• 8:12
  Speaker 7: came up to the truck, put the guns in our face,
• 8:14
  Speaker 7: made us get out of the truck and climb into
• 8:15
  Speaker 7: their car. The LUSI dan and one of them got
• 8:18
  Speaker 7: in the mail truck behind the wheel.
• 8:20
  Speaker 6: His name was Sid.
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: I heard that.
• 8:21
  Speaker 7: One of the men said, follow us in the truck,
• 8:23
  Speaker 7: said you know where to go. That's that's what he said.
• 8:25
  Speaker 7: And you happen to hear any other names? Now, that
• 8:27
  Speaker 7: was the only one. The Sid seemed to be the boss.
• 8:30
  Speaker 7: He was giving the orders anywhere. They put you in.
• 8:31
  Speaker 7: Your two partners in the back seat.
• 8:33
  Speaker 6: Of their car.
• 8:33
  Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, And the two thieves were in the front seat.
• 8:35
  Speaker 7: One drove and the other held a gun on us.
• 8:38
  Speaker 7: He kept the lower part of his face covered with
• 8:39
  Speaker 7: a handkerchief. I'd see the mail truck following a little
• 8:42
  Speaker 7: ways behind.
• 8:42
  Speaker 6: Us, and they drove you straight down in Alameda, all.
• 8:44
  Speaker 7: Right, yes, sir, like I told you before. I think
• 8:46
  Speaker 7: it was about a mile a mile and a half.
• 8:48
  Speaker 7: And they turned off right into that alley by the warehouse,
• 8:51
  Speaker 7: the same place you found it.
• 8:53
  Speaker 6: I figured that was the end. Us out of the car,
• 8:55
  Speaker 6: Frank and me and Ate off.
• 8:57
  Speaker 7: I made us line up against a brick wall there
• 9:00
  Speaker 7: up in the air, facing the wall, and then they
• 9:01
  Speaker 7: opened up the back of the truck and transferred the
• 9:03
  Speaker 7: mail sacks to their car. Well, any conversation while all
• 9:06
  Speaker 7: this was going on, not too much. No, you see
• 9:08
  Speaker 7: one of them, I think that was Sit. He covered
• 9:10
  Speaker 7: us with a gun, a shot gun, and the other
• 9:12
  Speaker 7: two moved the mail sacks from the truck to the car,
• 9:14
  Speaker 7: and every once in a while was sitting tell him
• 9:16
  Speaker 7: come on faster, we're short on time.
• 9:18
  Speaker 6: I think that's what he said. Well, why did they
• 9:19
  Speaker 6: slug your two partners, this, Frank and Adolf? Any reason
• 9:22
  Speaker 6: that's coming to that?
• 9:23
  Speaker 7: You see, when they got all the mail sacks in
• 9:24
  Speaker 7: their car and they were ready to pull out, the
• 9:26
  Speaker 7: other two guys came over to sit and one of
• 9:28
  Speaker 7: them said, what are we waiting for let's kill them and.
• 9:29
  Speaker 6: Get out of here.
• 9:30
  Speaker 7: Yeah, right away, our clerk Frank. He began pleading with
• 9:33
  Speaker 7: him not to kill us. I guess Frank was thinking
• 9:35
  Speaker 7: of his wife and his little kid. How the thieves
• 9:38
  Speaker 7: react when they slugged him, cranked him with a gun
• 9:40
  Speaker 7: and git him a couple of times.
• 9:42
  Speaker 6: Frank went down. He started crying, just a young kid,
• 9:45
  Speaker 6: you know. Yeah.
• 9:47
  Speaker 7: This other guy told Si again, he said, come on,
• 9:49
  Speaker 7: let's kill him, let's get out of here. He's the one,
• 9:51
  Speaker 7: and that's something wrong with his voice. It was real husky,
• 9:53
  Speaker 7: you know, like he had a cold go ahead.
• 9:55
  Speaker 6: Well, I got to say this Cid wasn't much for
• 9:57
  Speaker 6: killing us.
• 9:58
  Speaker 7: He told the other guy he didn't think they ought
• 9:59
  Speaker 7: to kill because they'd set him up for a murder
• 10:01
  Speaker 7: wrapped besides mail robbery. The other two guys told Sid,
• 10:04
  Speaker 7: what's the difference. If we're going to rob the mail
• 10:06
  Speaker 7: to you might as well go all the way. And
• 10:07
  Speaker 7: they argued about it a minute or so. Then my
• 10:10
  Speaker 7: other partner ate off. He began to plead with him.
• 10:12
  Speaker 7: He said, please don't kill us. I sick to my stomach.
• 10:15
  Speaker 7: I couldn't even talk.
• 10:16
  Speaker 6: I said, I was sick to my stomach. I couldn't
• 10:19
  Speaker 6: even talk. Was that when they slugged it off? Yeah?
• 10:21
  Speaker 7: You know this Sid slugged me. He hit him worse
• 10:24
  Speaker 7: than he did Frank. He kept beating and beating him.
• 10:26
  Speaker 6: I still hear it. I just got sick.
• 10:29
  Speaker 7: We'll make a long story short, they said. Finally said
• 10:32
  Speaker 7: we'll give him a gambler's chance. We'll choss for it.
• 10:34
  Speaker 7: That's just what he said. He said, we'll choss for it.
• 10:37
  Speaker 7: And he says, hey, you, and he motioned to me.
• 10:38
  Speaker 7: He said, I'm going to toss a coin.
• 10:40
  Speaker 6: You call it. If you lose, we kill the three
• 10:41
  Speaker 6: of you. If you wing, we don't, so help me.
• 10:44
  Speaker 6: It's the truth. I didn't know what to do.
• 10:46
  Speaker 7: I tried to talk him out of it. They wouldn't listen.
• 10:49
  Speaker 7: The Sid told me either I called it, or they'd
• 10:50
  Speaker 7: kill us. Then to a coin out of his pocket
• 10:53
  Speaker 7: and put it in the air. I called heads. I
• 10:57
  Speaker 7: guess I don't have to tell you. I won something
• 11:00
  Speaker 7: new for the book How to Go? After that, but
• 11:03
  Speaker 7: tied up the three of us and drove off in
• 11:04
  Speaker 7: their car. About fifteen minutes later that night, watching the
• 11:07
  Speaker 7: Fadust and called you fellas you know the right, and you're.
• 11:09
  Speaker 6: Sure you wouldn't be able to identify any of the
• 11:11
  Speaker 6: hold up minu if you saw him again, now real sure?
• 11:13
  Speaker 7: No, the general bill, that's the only thing I'm sure
• 11:15
  Speaker 7: if this fellow sid was tall and the thin side
• 11:18
  Speaker 7: about forty five.
• 11:18
  Speaker 6: Fifty years old.
• 11:20
  Speaker 7: The other two were fairly short, stocky, Like I told
• 11:22
  Speaker 7: you that. One fella's voice deep and husky. I think
• 11:25
  Speaker 7: i'd know him if I heard him talk again.
• 11:27
  Speaker 6: Excuse me, robbery Friday. Yeah, well, how's it going?
• 11:33
  Speaker 5: Uh huh yeah, not much doubt a fine, yeah, fine, Well,
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: getaway car had just gone a torrida up the Alleesian
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: Park just off river Side.
• 11:43
  Speaker 6: What about the mail sacks? They find them too? Yeah,
• 11:46
  Speaker 6: every one of them empty.
• 11:53
  Speaker 5: According to the report we've received, the getaway car was
• 11:56
  Speaker 5: found parked in the clump of shrubbery on the edge
• 11:58
  Speaker 5: of Alesian Park, about half a mile from river Side Drive.
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: All of the twenty eight registered mail sacks were found
• 12:03
  Speaker 5: scattered in and around the car, and with the exception
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: of a few pieces of mail, the sacks were empty.
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: The crew from the crime lab was dispatched immediately to
• 12:10
  Speaker 5: the scene to check the car and the mail sacks
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: for fingerprints and to cover the entire area for physical evidence.
• 12:15
  Speaker 5: The mail truck was also gone over for prints at
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: the point where it had been located. The officers at
• 12:20
  Speaker 5: the scene, Sergeants bitter Off and Gonzales, continued the investigation
• 12:23
  Speaker 5: on their end. Eleven fifty pm, after the inspector from
• 12:27
  Speaker 5: the post Office Department arrived, we continued our interview with
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: Budd Houston, one of the three victims of the mail
• 12:31
  Speaker 5: truck robbery. We ended the interview a few minutes after midnight,
• 12:35
  Speaker 5: and Houston was driven to his home. The following morning,
• 12:38
  Speaker 5: along with the postal inspector, Frank Smith, and I talked
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: to the other two victims, the clerk and the guard,
• 12:42
  Speaker 5: who were with Houston at the time of the hold up.
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: They could add nothing to what their partner had already
• 12:46
  Speaker 5: told us. The investigation went on, every possible angle was.
• 12:49
  Speaker 6: Checked and rechecked. Three days passed nothing.
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: Thursday August seventh, five forty pm. Hi, Joe, Jamake a
• 12:58
  Speaker 5: sour nothing at all. The guy wasn't even in town
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: the night of the whole up, and he can prove it.
• 13:02
  Speaker 5: Do you have any luck you know better than yours?
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: I might just as well have taken the day off.
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: For all the good we did nothing from the stats office.
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: Huh now, last one we asked, well, won't be ready tomorrow.
• 13:10
  Speaker 5: It's gotten a little embarrassing, Joe.
• 13:11
  Speaker 7: We got them checking practice every robbery card they've got
• 13:14
  Speaker 7: mo description. Only a few of them come close. We've
• 13:16
  Speaker 7: already rolled them out as possible. The one you just
• 13:18
  Speaker 7: checked down, that was the last one.
• 13:20
  Speaker 6: About does it ight as we'll close up shop for
• 13:22
  Speaker 6: the day. Huh you ready?
• 13:23
  Speaker 7: Yeah, let's go our signs out? Uh okay, Joe. Now
• 13:34
  Speaker 7: mail truck driver Houston. He and his partners were in
• 13:37
  Speaker 7: checking through our mug books again this afternoon.
• 13:38
  Speaker 6: Oh yeah, I forgot about that. They come up with anything.
• 13:40
  Speaker 7: They spotted one mug shot Paroly from Quenton, only a
• 13:42
  Speaker 7: partial idea, and three of them couldn't even agree on that.
• 13:45
  Speaker 7: I'd checked down the man. He's back in Quenton for
• 13:46
  Speaker 7: a month. I can't say the three of them are cooperative.
• 13:49
  Speaker 7: They sure have been working for us, haven't they.
• 13:50
  Speaker 6: Hey, Joe, you in a hurry? How about watching it? Yeah?
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: All right?
• 13:56
  Speaker 6: In a long time since we've had when start dis
• 13:57
  Speaker 6: closed this one? You're really the worst, fright.
• 14:04
  Speaker 7: I mean right from the Star show. I'm trying to
• 14:06
  Speaker 7: get away car. Plenty of prints on it. You can't
• 14:08
  Speaker 7: get a make on any of them. Find out the
• 14:14
  Speaker 7: car was stolen.
• 14:15
  Speaker 6: We checked the owner location leads nowhere. Prints on the
• 14:18
  Speaker 6: steering wheel of the mail truck, parts of the mail sacks.
• 14:20
  Speaker 6: Still know me? How tough can it get? Well?
• 14:24
  Speaker 5: They might have something when their kickback comes through from
• 14:26
  Speaker 5: Washington to hold up and then we're an amateur as
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: we know that.
• 14:29
  Speaker 6: Joe, you check with Gonzales and better off today. I
• 14:31
  Speaker 6: didn't see him. Yeah, they're not doing much better than
• 14:33
  Speaker 6: the rest of us.
• 14:34
  Speaker 7: We got an informant hot on the thing we're supposed
• 14:36
  Speaker 7: to have somewhere for him tomorrow. And a couple of
• 14:38
  Speaker 7: possibles say how about the money taking from the mail league,
• 14:40
  Speaker 7: got list of the cerial numbers on the.
• 14:41
  Speaker 6: Bills going on to everybody. Yeah, it reminds us when
• 14:43
  Speaker 6: I lay last night and copy cent a little the time. Right, Yeah,
• 14:47
  Speaker 6: I'm ack'ring here, calls and says, okay, nice to be
• 14:51
  Speaker 6: right there. Okay, let's go.
• 14:58
  Speaker 7: Hope this call means something Joe wouldn't aren't going wait tonight,
• 15:01
  Speaker 7: what do you mean my sister in law, Lawrence, Do
• 15:03
  Speaker 7: you haven't me and the wife over for dinner some
• 15:05
  Speaker 7: kind of fancy pork dish.
• 15:06
  Speaker 6: What's the matter with them? He never cooks anything until
• 15:08
  Speaker 6: it's done. She likes things wrong. Imagine what that roastbork
• 15:11
  Speaker 6: is going to be like? Well, all end up with crickonosis. Yeah,
• 15:13
  Speaker 6: go ahead, Max, which one? Max? Joe? Thank you?
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: Friday talking? Yeah, oh yeah, Johnny, Okay, fine, about twenty minutes.
• 15:27
  Speaker 5: Twenty minutes, Yeah right, thank you, edything Joe. Wilcher Detectives.
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: They got a petty theft suspect out there now named
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: Cecil Grant. Picked him up this morning. What about him, Well,
• 15:35
  Speaker 5: he had a twenty dollars bill on him, stuff down
• 15:37
  Speaker 5: in the corner of his pocket.
• 15:38
  Speaker 6: Yeah, they checked out the serial number. It's on the list.
• 15:44
  Speaker 5: Six oh five pm, Frank and I got in the
• 15:46
  Speaker 5: car and drove out to Wilshire Station where we double
• 15:48
  Speaker 5: checked the serial numbers on the twenty dollars bill taking
• 15:51
  Speaker 5: from the petty theft suspect, Cecil Grant.
• 15:53
  Speaker 6: It checked out.
• 15:54
  Speaker 5: The officers of Wiltshire Division had already made a run
• 15:56
  Speaker 5: on Grant through R and I, but outside of one
• 15:59
  Speaker 5: other arrest for that hey theft. He had no further
• 16:01
  Speaker 5: criminal record. His fingerprints had been checked, but they failed
• 16:04
  Speaker 5: to tie in. The suspect was taken from his cell
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: to the interrogation room, where Bill and I questioned it.
• 16:09
  Speaker 6: He talked a lot, but he didn't say much.
• 16:11
  Speaker 8: Well, I look, there ain't any reason to get mad.
• 16:13
  Speaker 8: We can settle this thing without a big rue bard.
• 16:15
  Speaker 6: No reason to get mad. Twenty eight sucks of us mail, mister,
• 16:17
  Speaker 6: A couple of men slugger. They couldn't stand up. We
• 16:19
  Speaker 6: figured that's a good reason, right, all right? Why bring
• 16:23
  Speaker 6: your troubles in me? I wasn't in.
• 16:24
  Speaker 7: You got a piece of the loot, a twenty dollars bill,
• 16:26
  Speaker 7: You had it in your pocket. You admit it's yours,
• 16:28
  Speaker 7: all right, So what the hold up?
• 16:29
  Speaker 6: Still fresh? It ties you in close seat, so you're
• 16:31
  Speaker 6: warm enough for us? What do you mean?
• 16:32
  Speaker 9: What are you getting?
• 16:33
  Speaker 5: You don't need me to explain it. You got a
• 16:34
  Speaker 5: piece of the loot, you say. The bill must have
• 16:36
  Speaker 5: been in your pocket for at least a day. That's right,
• 16:37
  Speaker 5: and it's a good chance you were in contact with
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: the thieves.
• 16:39
  Speaker 6: Either that or you're one of them. I'm not you
• 16:41
  Speaker 6: know that couldn't have been there. I got an alibi.
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: Now face it, grants.
• 16:44
  Speaker 6: You're not going to alibi that twenty dollars bill? No,
• 16:46
  Speaker 6: how about it? I don't know. I told you, I
• 16:48
  Speaker 6: don't know. If it's not your job, you better check
• 16:50
  Speaker 6: us out. Ceacil, robbing the US mail, I think you
• 16:52
  Speaker 6: know what that gets you. I don't know money was
• 16:54
  Speaker 6: in my pocket. I just don't know. Twenty five years,
• 16:56
  Speaker 6: thirty maybe thirty five. If you're not in white, fool
• 16:59
  Speaker 6: with it? How about it, Cecil, I'm not in you
• 17:02
  Speaker 6: know that? But what about the twenty? What about it?
• 17:06
  Speaker 8: Well, this is the way it happened. The guy owed
• 17:08
  Speaker 8: me a twenty, owed it to me for six months,
• 17:10
  Speaker 8: maybe more. Tuesday came around, paid off, gave me that
• 17:13
  Speaker 8: bill you've got this last Tuesday. That's right. I thought
• 17:15
  Speaker 8: it was funny. But he's a nice guy. I didn't
• 17:17
  Speaker 8: want to make trouble.
• 17:18
  Speaker 6: What do you mean?
• 17:18
  Speaker 8: Oh, and he paid me the twenty back. He said, well, look, hey,
• 17:22
  Speaker 8: Bill isn't phony, but don't let it out for a
• 17:25
  Speaker 8: couple of days. Bill's okay, but just sit on it
• 17:27
  Speaker 8: maybe a week or two. That's just why he told
• 17:29
  Speaker 8: them who was it? Where do we find him?
• 17:31
  Speaker 6: You're a nice guy, friend. I don't want to make trouble.
• 17:33
  Speaker 6: It's already made. Now what about it?
• 17:35
  Speaker 8: Johnny Carter, three eighty Nashville Avenue, apartment too.
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: You are listening to drag met authentic stories of your
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: police force in action.
• 18:01
  Speaker 5: August seventh, Thursday, six fifty five pm. We called R
• 18:05
  Speaker 5: and I, but they had no make on the name
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: John Carter. My partner Frank Smith, and I left Wiltshire
• 18:10
  Speaker 5: Division and headed out to check on the address given
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: us by the theft suspect, Cecil Grant. The three hundred
• 18:15
  Speaker 5: block on Nashville Avenue was in West Hollywood, just below Melrose.
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: Number three eighty was an aging, two story apartment house.
• 18:22
  Speaker 5: The architecture was Old Spanish, a relic of the mid twenties.
• 18:25
  Speaker 5: The name John Carter appeared on one of the mailboxes,
• 18:28
  Speaker 5: but when we rang it was no answer. We contacted
• 18:31
  Speaker 5: the apartment manager and he told us John Carter worked
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: at night at a downtown garage. Along with the manager,
• 18:36
  Speaker 5: we went up to the second floor and checked to
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: the suspect's apartment. We found nothing to indicate that he'd
• 18:41
  Speaker 5: taken part in The mail holder After a routine interview
• 18:44
  Speaker 5: with the manager, we got the name and address of
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: the garage where Carter was employed, and we left eight
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: twenty three pm. We pulled up and parked half a
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: block away from Carter's place of employment, an all night
• 18:54
  Speaker 5: service garage on South the Euroa. Frank waited in the
• 18:57
  Speaker 5: car and I headed up the block alone toward the garage.
• 19:00
  Speaker 5: In the event Carter was one of the mail truck
• 19:02
  Speaker 5: hold up man, it was a possibility, is too, Confederates
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: might be employed at the same place he was.
• 19:06
  Speaker 6: If this was the case, we didn't want to give more.
• 19:15
  Speaker 9: Hi, Yeah you want some Yeah I do.
• 19:18
  Speaker 6: I need a little help, if you got the time.
• 19:20
  Speaker 9: I know, I'm busy right now.
• 19:21
  Speaker 6: I'm smart. I got my car stall down the street there.
• 19:24
  Speaker 6: I can't figure out what's wrong. A lot of your
• 19:26
  Speaker 6: things just.
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: Stopped on me.
• 19:27
  Speaker 9: All right. Check your gas tank?
• 19:29
  Speaker 6: Yeah, nothing as simple as that. I got almost a
• 19:30
  Speaker 6: full tank. Well, I hate to bother you. You think
• 19:34
  Speaker 6: it could come down and take a look at it.
• 19:35
  Speaker 6: It's not fired. Just the half a block down the street.
• 19:37
  Speaker 9: I'm pretty busy. You can see that.
• 19:39
  Speaker 10: I don't know.
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: I sure appreciate it if you give it a look,
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: I'm not much of a mechanic with stall, probably something
• 19:43
  Speaker 5: real small.
• 19:44
  Speaker 6: My car is almost new A just man, all right.
• 19:50
  Speaker 11: That's gonna have to do. It's two and a half
• 19:53
  Speaker 11: service charge. I have to leave the garage. I guess
• 19:55
  Speaker 11: you know that.
• 19:56
  Speaker 6: Okay, that's all right with me. I gotta get that
• 19:57
  Speaker 6: car started.
• 19:58
  Speaker 11: You pay in advance from how many hassles on this before? Okay,
• 20:04
  Speaker 11: there you go, Yeah, okay, just down street?
• 20:08
  Speaker 6: His head, yeah, down this way.
• 20:09
  Speaker 11: Okay.
• 20:11
  Speaker 6: I don't know what happened to the lousy thing. You
• 20:13
  Speaker 6: just quit on me?
• 20:14
  Speaker 9: Ah, nice sny? What'd you do upon I gas fed off?
• 20:20
  Speaker 11: Uh?
• 20:20
  Speaker 9: The car writer?
• 20:21
  Speaker 5: No, I don't think so. I kept trying the starter
• 20:23
  Speaker 5: when the thing quit on me. There's an automatic choke
• 20:25
  Speaker 5: on the car, though maybe that had flooded.
• 20:26
  Speaker 6: I don't know.
• 20:28
  Speaker 9: At half a block, now, which one is your car?
• 20:30
  Speaker 6: Straight ahead?
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: There?
• 20:31
  Speaker 6: And gray sedan? Oh? Uh? This one right here?
• 20:35
  Speaker 9: Okay, hold on, we'll.
• 20:37
  Speaker 6: Never mind that. Mister. Just get in the car, all right, frank?
• 20:40
  Speaker 11: Oh?
• 20:40
  Speaker 9: What's his?
• 20:41
  Speaker 6: Police officers? Is identification? Get in the car?
• 20:43
  Speaker 9: What's the matter?
• 20:44
  Speaker 6: Come on, come on in the car.
• 20:48
  Speaker 9: I watch the pitch. What's it all about?
• 20:50
  Speaker 6: Your name, John Carter, address three at Nashville Avenue.
• 20:53
  Speaker 9: I wants your talking.
• 20:54
  Speaker 6: Is that your name and address? All right?
• 20:55
  Speaker 10: It is?
• 20:56
  Speaker 9: What about it?
• 20:56
  Speaker 6: Get him behind you help him frank? Yeah, that's good.
• 21:00
  Speaker 9: Why you're trying and pull? What's this about the.
• 21:02
  Speaker 6: US mail robbery? Carter? I want to talk to you downtown.
• 21:04
  Speaker 9: I don't want to hang about any mail robbery. What
• 21:06
  Speaker 9: are you talking about?
• 21:07
  Speaker 6: You to worry over? If you're cleared, you'll be back
• 21:09
  Speaker 6: on the job in an hour.
• 21:09
  Speaker 9: Oh, I picked me hour garage. That's my bread and butter.
• 21:12
  Speaker 9: Why don't you go ahead and arrest of newsboy down
• 21:14
  Speaker 9: corner the same thing.
• 21:15
  Speaker 5: Oh there's a big difference. Yeah, your name it twenty
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: dollars bill, nine oh five pm. After checking with a
• 21:24
  Speaker 5: garage manager to make sure none of his employees were
• 21:27
  Speaker 5: possible accomplices of Carters, we drove the suspect back to
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: the city hall, took him to the interrogation room, and
• 21:32
  Speaker 5: started to question him. In the space of an hour
• 21:34
  Speaker 5: and a half, he gave us three alibis, supposedly accounting
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: for his whereabouts the night of the mail truck robbery.
• 21:39
  Speaker 5: In the same period of time, we checked out each
• 21:41
  Speaker 5: of the three alibis by phone calls.
• 21:44
  Speaker 6: Every one of them was alive.
• 21:45
  Speaker 5: The questioning went on eleven thirty midnight, twelve thirty am.
• 21:50
  Speaker 5: We sent out for coffee one am, one point thirty.
• 21:53
  Speaker 5: We stayed on it two o'clock two thirty three AM.
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: Was like any other interrogation, it's a lot offer to
• 22:00
  Speaker 5: keep asking the questions and to answer him. We were
• 22:03
  Speaker 5: as tired as a suspect.
• 22:04
  Speaker 6: But he had one big advantage.
• 22:05
  Speaker 5: We had to keep pressing, and we couldn't afford to
• 22:07
  Speaker 5: show our fatigue. All he had to do was to
• 22:09
  Speaker 5: say no and refuse to answer the questions. At a
• 22:12
  Speaker 5: few minutes before five am, we called a halt of
• 22:14
  Speaker 5: the interrogation, but not before we gained a point, apparently
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: by a slip of the tongue. Carter gave us the
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: name of the girl he was keeping company with, and
• 22:21
  Speaker 5: also her place of employment. After we booked Carter on
• 22:24
  Speaker 5: suspension of two eleven PC, and after we picked up
• 22:27
  Speaker 5: two hours sleep, we located the girlfriend, a Grace Nelson,
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: at her place of employment, a telegraph office at Alpine
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: and South Flower.
• 22:35
  Speaker 10: All I know is I met John about three months ago.
• 22:37
  Speaker 10: His families from Cedar Rapi's same as mine. There's nothing
• 22:40
  Speaker 10: wrong with John I know of.
• 22:41
  Speaker 6: You don't need his friends, Miss Nelson, any good people
• 22:43
  Speaker 6: he has dealings.
• 22:43
  Speaker 10: With, not personally. I don't hearde him talk about some though,
• 22:47
  Speaker 10: Whoever's now?
• 22:47
  Speaker 6: Do you remember any of the names, Miss Nelson?
• 22:49
  Speaker 10: You see so I always talking about Sid. I don't
• 22:52
  Speaker 10: know his last name though, don't the way you'd find him.
• 22:54
  Speaker 10: And then there's Sammy. Don't remember his last name either,
• 22:57
  Speaker 10: met Sammy once, but in the way he stays.
• 22:59
  Speaker 6: You noticed any unusual about mister Carter the last week
• 23:02
  Speaker 6: or so, ma'am? I mean anything peculiar, anything out.
• 23:03
  Speaker 10: Of the ordinary an't peculiar? No, I don't think so.
• 23:07
  Speaker 10: John's been just as nice as ever to me. Well,
• 23:09
  Speaker 10: like him very much. Matter of fact, he's been nicer
• 23:11
  Speaker 10: than he's ever been. What do you mean, mister, Yeah,
• 23:13
  Speaker 10: for my birthday, I mean last Wednesday? Yeah, Well he
• 23:16
  Speaker 10: was so sweet about it, I mean really sweet the
• 23:18
  Speaker 10: game four hundred dollars, gave it to me in cash,
• 23:21
  Speaker 10: told me to go out and buy what I wanted.
• 23:23
  Speaker 10: Wouldn't you say that sweet?
• 23:24
  Speaker 6: You any of that money left, Miss Nelson?
• 23:26
  Speaker 10: Why? Yes, of course I have see you writing him
• 23:30
  Speaker 10: a purse, see right there, more than half of it.
• 23:34
  Speaker 6: Carter? Tell you where he got this money, Miss Nelson.
• 23:37
  Speaker 10: Gambling game? He said he wanted the cards. What's wrong?
• 23:41
  Speaker 6: Serial numbers? Ma'am?
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: His money was taken in a hold up us. Male,
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: we've got a pretty good reason to suspect Carter.
• 23:46
  Speaker 10: And John's a thief. That's how he got the money.
• 23:49
  Speaker 6: I can't believe it quite as true.
• 23:50
  Speaker 10: Man, so hard to believe. I hope you don't think
• 23:53
  Speaker 10: I had anything to do with it, I mean robbing people, males.
• 23:57
  Speaker 10: Are you sure it's John Carter?
• 23:58
  Speaker 6: You want yes, ma'am, We're pretty sure. We understand you
• 24:00
  Speaker 6: were pretty close to him. He said the two of
• 24:02
  Speaker 6: you were going to get married.
• 24:03
  Speaker 10: I don't know. He did have it said at one time,
• 24:05
  Speaker 10: but now I don't know. I mean, I had people
• 24:07
  Speaker 10: in this town, my whole family. I could let this
• 24:09
  Speaker 10: get out.
• 24:09
  Speaker 5: Now you're willing to admit the four hundred dollars you
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: got came from John Carter, the same bells.
• 24:13
  Speaker 6: That he gave him to you.
• 24:14
  Speaker 10: Oh no, I love John. I want to hurt him
• 24:16
  Speaker 10: and I really love him. Tell me the truth. What's
• 24:19
  Speaker 10: gonna happen?
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: Oh, he's going to be charged with robbery, ma'am holding
• 24:21
  Speaker 5: up a US mail truck taking twenty eight sacks of
• 24:23
  Speaker 5: registered ma'am.
• 24:24
  Speaker 6: John John Carter, that's right, him and two others.
• 24:27
  Speaker 7: Like to ask you one more question, miss, Do you
• 24:29
  Speaker 7: have any idea what Carter was up to the robbery?
• 24:31
  Speaker 10: Emmy Christener, no idea at all. I loved China, loved
• 24:35
  Speaker 10: him for what I thought he was go through anything
• 24:38
  Speaker 10: for him or love him? This would make any sense, though,
• 24:41
  Speaker 10: Would he, ma'am go into jail for him? Just common sense.
• 24:44
  Speaker 10: I can't love anybody that much.
• 24:50
  Speaker 6: That afternoon we had the suspect John Carter brought from
• 24:52
  Speaker 6: his cell.
• 24:53
  Speaker 5: To the interrogation room, where he was confronted with a
• 24:55
  Speaker 5: testimony of both Cecil Grant and Grace Nelson, the two
• 24:58
  Speaker 5: of the people he'd given some of the stolen money.
• 25:00
  Speaker 6: Me too. Another hour of interrogation and Carter broke.
• 25:03
  Speaker 5: He admitted taking part in the hold up and gave
• 25:05
  Speaker 5: us the name of his partner he named as the
• 25:07
  Speaker 5: leader and mastermind of the robbery. A Sidney Grover had
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: an address in Highland Park. Frank and I checked it out. Yeah,
• 25:16
  Speaker 5: police officers, you Sidney Grover?
• 25:18
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm not feeling so well. Can't you come back later?
• 25:20
  Speaker 6: Not feeling well at all? It's kind of important, Grover.
• 25:22
  Speaker 6: I like to talk to you downtown. Come back later
• 25:24
  Speaker 6: a little later on. I got so many troubles right now.
• 25:26
  Speaker 5: Please like to talk to you about a hold up, Grover,
• 25:28
  Speaker 5: a mail truck. We got the two men who worked
• 25:30
  Speaker 5: it for you. They gave us the whole story.
• 25:31
  Speaker 6: Two men. What do you mean? Can't you see I
• 25:33
  Speaker 6: got troubles. Please don't bother me. Come back later. Huh,
• 25:36
  Speaker 6: bad trouble. You better get your cold. Grover got to
• 25:38
  Speaker 6: talk to you downtown. Look, don't you understand my son's
• 25:40
  Speaker 6: left me, my only boy.
• 25:41
  Speaker 7: He backed his bag, he walked out. He left me right,
• 25:43
  Speaker 7: that's your problem, mister. He said he didn't want any
• 25:45
  Speaker 7: part of me.
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: He had an argument.
• 25:47
  Speaker 6: He didn't like what I was doing. Big argument.
• 25:49
  Speaker 7: He slapped my face, my own boy, and he walked out,
• 25:53
  Speaker 7: slapped my faith. All right, you want to get your coat?
• 25:55
  Speaker 9: Yeah?
• 25:55
  Speaker 6: Okay, a male job? Is that it? The other two?
• 26:00
  Speaker 10: Yeah?
• 26:00
  Speaker 7: We got him, all right, no argument. I didn't try
• 26:06
  Speaker 7: to run away. I guess you can see that. My
• 26:08
  Speaker 7: boy said it was a crook. We argued they slapped me,
• 26:11
  Speaker 7: walked out. Oh, come, sergeant, I wouldn't know. Let's go, Robert,
• 26:16
  Speaker 7: it's this our story. Huh, oh man trying a mail robbery.
• 26:21
  Speaker 7: I'm fifty five. I don't look at do I kids
• 26:24
  Speaker 7: slapped my face. He said I was a crew. I
• 26:27
  Speaker 7: couldn't hit him back, my only boy. I wish she
• 26:30
  Speaker 7: hadn't called me a crook. But it's our story, isn't it. Yeah,
• 26:34
  Speaker 7: it's our Let's go. The story you have just heard
• 26:45
  Speaker 7: was true. The names were changed to protect the innocents.
• 26:48
  Speaker 4: On November twenty ninth, trial was held in Superior Court,
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: City and County of Los Angeles, state of California. In
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: a moment the results of that trial, Saidney Alan Grover,
• 27:05
  Speaker 4: along with his two accomplices, John Harold Cutter and Samuel
• 27:08
  Speaker 4: Maxwell Johnson, were tried and convicted of robbery in the
• 27:11
  Speaker 4: first degree one count, and assault with a deadly weapon
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: one count. All three are serving their terms in the
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: state penitentiary. First degree robbery is punishable by imprisonment from
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: five years to life.
• 27:21
  Speaker 6: Assault with a deadly.
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: Weapon is punishable by imprisonment for not less than one
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: nor more than ten years. You have just heard Dragnet
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: a series of authentic cases from official files. Technical advice
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: comes from the Office of Chief of Police, wh partner,
• 27:43
  Speaker 4: Los Angeles Police Department Technical Advisers Captain Jack Donahoe, Sergeant
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: Marty Wynn, Sergeant vans Bracher. Heard tonight were Herbellus victeren
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: inga Hollis script by Jim Moser, music by Walker Schumann,
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: hal Gibney speaking.
• 28:07
  Speaker 6: No, it's counter spy on NBC.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: Welcome back. So we now have herb Ellis playing Joe
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: Friday's partner, and I guess I should have noted after
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: the departure of Barney Phillips that there really is quite
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: a cycle of different people playing Joe Friday's partners, and
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: a few of them will be named Frank Smith. Ellis
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: was another one of those character actors who just did
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: a ton of work over the decades, both on radio
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: and on television. Yet Ellis worked very close with Webb,
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: particularly in the early days of Dragnet. In fact, in
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: the two thy twelve book Raised on Radio, written by
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: Gerald Knackman, Ellis recounts how the first version of Dragnet
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: was actually created at his kitchen table, where he and
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: Webb came up with the idea for a semi documentary
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: police show called Joe Friday Room five in nineteen forty eight.
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: The pilot didn't sell, and of course there'd be official
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: cooperation from the LAPD and then we would get Dragnet.
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: So Ellis was definitely someone that Webb was comfortable working with.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: I did question a little bit oh Friday's declaration that
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: we know they weren't amateurs, and I'm not certain that
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: you really can say that, particularly looking back the episode
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: as a whole. Certainly the one guy did a lot
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: in terms of giving out money from the robbery and
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: just asking people to hold on to it, and didn't
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: even do that with the girlfriend pretty much determined that
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: they would be captured. But even during the robbery saying
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: the first name of one of the robbers, that is
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: a huge mistake. And then the whole let's flip a
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: coin to determine whether we're going to murder the guards
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: didn't seem like the mark of professionals. I am curious
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: about the real life case that this is based on,
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: as what we get here seems to be a mix
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: of some very strong professional moves but also just some
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: really dumb mistakes that you wouldn't think that experience people
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: would make, so maybe there was a mix of professionals
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: and amateurs involved. And I'm also curious how they got
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: the roote information on the truck, although that's one of
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: those cases where Dragnet doesn't need to answer the question
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: in order to resolve the case, so they don't. I
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: did feel sorry for that driver went through a horrible
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: experience like that and just called home out of courtesy
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: and got his mother in law, and then she went
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: off in some direction. Well, now we turn to listener
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: comments and feedback, and we have a comment from Peter
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: regarding the big elevator. Because it's Dragnet, I really expected
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: to hear that the suspect killed the victim. It was
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: a surprise to learn that she died of natural causes.
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: It's nice that a seventy year old program can still
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: keep people guessing. Well, thanks so much, Peter, and I
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: do think this is one of those cases where using
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: real life case files can produce a different outcome than expected,
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: because life can be surprising at times, and that old
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: saying about truth being stranger than fiction is absolutely correct.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: There are so many realistic touches which if you were telling.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: A strictly fictional series would be problematic, but with Dragnet,
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: it's just the way the story's told. I thought an
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: interesting example and something that you wouldn't really see in
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: a fictional series, was at the end where the ringleader
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: was essentially broken by his own son turning on him
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: as a result of this crime, and therefore offered no resistance.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: Dragnet doesn't mind having a story go a direction the
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: audience is, particularly if it aligns with what happened in
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: real life. Dragnet is willing to be anti climactic at times.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: The nineteen fifty four Dragnet motion picture is certainly a
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: good example of that. Now it's time to thank our
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: Patreon supporter of the day. Thank you to allan Patreon
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: supporter since February twenty twenty four, currently supporting the podcast
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: at the Detective Sergeant level of seven dollars and fourteen
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: cents or more per month. Thanks so much for your support, Alan,
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: and that will do it for today. If you're enjoying
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: and be sure to rate and review the podcast wherever
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: you download it from. We will be back next Thursday
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: with another episode of Dragnet. But join us back here
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: tomorrow for yours truly, Johnny dollar.
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: Ware, Johnny Dollars, Well, Johnny, tell me all about the fanksake.
• 34:03
  Speaker 11: Hell, I suppose you're here on account of every Nicholason.
• 34:05
  Speaker 6: Sure, that's right, wrote his policy himself ten thousand straight line.
• 34:09
  Speaker 11: And the beneficiary to be named in his will.
• 34:12
  Speaker 6: Where the policy read?
• 34:13
  Speaker 9: Well, isn't that rather unusual?
• 34:16
  Speaker 7: Entirely irregular?
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: What thebody doing within me?
• 34:19
  Speaker 11: But that was what you wanted, and that's what he got,
• 34:22
  Speaker 11: and it's made us a lot of trouble out first.
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: All later he died, nobody knew what he'd even made
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: out with.
• 34:28
  Speaker 7: All right, it isn't for some of the little characters
• 34:30
  Speaker 7: moved to Lake Mohavey come along and showed us why
• 34:33
  Speaker 7: he didn't it there in that house that was Redbird.
• 34:35
  Speaker 4: That's right, Lloyd Bird called.
• 34:37
  Speaker 6: Himself read I understand he was a very good friend,
• 34:40
  Speaker 6: I only.
• 34:41
  Speaker 5: Real friend he ever had. I guess they needed to
• 34:44
  Speaker 5: do some pross effects in their cattle raising or something together.
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: How if you'll be with us then in the meantime,
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: send your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: Follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives and check us
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: out on inch, Instagram, Instagram, dot com, slash Great Detectives
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: from Boise, Idaho. This is your host, Adam Graham sogning
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: off