Latest / The Great Detectives Present Dragnet (Old Time Radio) / Dragnet: The Big Key (EP4436)
Transcript
- 0:28Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho. This
- 0:36is your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment, email it
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- 1:07Graham pill Box one five nine one three. That's pill Box one five nine
- 1:14thirteen, Boise, Idaho eight three seven one five, and you can also
- 1:19become one of our ongoing Patreon supporters for as little as two dollars per month
- 1:25at Patreon dot Great Detectives dot net. Well, now it is time for
- 1:30this week's episode of Dragnet. The original airdate on this is May the twenty
- 1:38fifth, nineteen fifteen. The title is The Big Key. The story you're
- 1:53about to hear is true, only the names have been changed to protect the
- 1:57innocence. You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned to Homicide Detail, A woman
- 2:10has been murdered. Her identity unknown. The body shows the marks of a
- 2:15savage attack. Your job find the killer. Dragnet the documented drama of an
- 2:30actual crime. For the next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles
- 2:35Police Department, you will travel step by step on the side of the law
- 2:38through an actual case, transcribed from official police files, from beginning to end,
- 2:44from crime to punishment. Dragnet is the story of your police force in
- 2:47action. It was Sunday, December twenty fifth, was reigning in Los Angeles.
- 2:57We're working a day watch out, a homicide detail. My partner's Ben
- 3:00Romero. The boss is Blaine Steed, Captain a homicide. My name is
- 3:04Friday. Was thirty nine minutes past five am when I got to San Andreas
- 3:07Cathedral on First Street. Churchyard. Lady, Hi, Dave, Hi,
- 3:21Joe. Body's over here, all right, Mary Christmas? Huh yeah,
- 3:29section from the church founded by an hour ago. I have a look pretty
- 3:38brutal. Yeah, okay, boys, she no identification. The corner checked
- 3:44the body in. Yeah, how long you've been dead? We want it
- 3:46started rating midnight, didn't Yeah, the ground's dry under the body open dead
- 3:53five or six hours. I'd say, Ben, get here yet. Yeah,
- 3:55he's helping Claudia check the area. This park here, it is all
- 4:00a part of the church grounds, and I think so I was stuck out
- 4:03of this range for a minute. It's an alcove over there by the church.
- 4:06Yeah. What how much we got to go one day? Not much
- 4:14motive. Looks like robbery. Found a woman's person in the body, pretty
- 4:17well picked over. Pursus wet lease Jones's destiny contents for print corner is checking
- 4:26and the idea of what the killer used in the woman's face and coroner figures
- 4:30a sharp instrument of some kind nasty one. Yeah right here, well,
- 4:35l so you and everything happened on Christmas? Chris was soaking wet. Ordinary
- 4:42black handbag raised any prints on the stuff inside? Non want? Yeah you
- 4:46can check the content, thank you. Let's see small comb close to the
- 4:53teeth out of it. Three pennies European mer lipstick. That's it. A
- 5:01couple more things, yeah, this fountain panel, this door, key armstong
- 5:06found them in the grass few feet from the body. I have a look
- 5:10at us. Yeah, it's an ordinary ballpoint fountain pen buy him and any
- 5:13drug stuff for sixty nine cents new center rushed on. The key must have
- 5:16been dropped recently. Maybe this will explain what happened to her face? Broken
- 5:20beer bottle? Where'd you find that? Alt? One? Found? The
- 5:23back of the pushes over there? These jagged edges here, smears of blood.
- 5:28Too much rain. Can't do anything about prince till a drive and get
- 5:32enough from the smears to nun a precipitate, think so leek? Yeah man?
- 5:36What is it? Oh? Hi Joe? All right, car?
- 5:40Do you find a set of footprints over with that clump of shrobbery? Rain
- 5:43hasn't spoiled me? Did you cover them? Yeah? I think you can
- 5:45get a pretty good cash for them. But get a picture of MI right
- 5:47away. Hey, Charlie, I'll get the stuff from the car. Mind
- 5:51giving me a hand? Day, let's go. Well this takes care of
- 5:56Christmas? Joe? Yeah, you get a chance to check the bim.
- 6:00What do you think? Well, there's no sign of struggle. Could have
- 6:04happened after a Christmas Eve brawl? Maybe? Yeah? Whoever the victim is,
- 6:08she was probably acquainted with the killer and the two of them came in
- 6:11the park and the victim got it before she knew what was happening. Might
- 6:14work easier if we find out who the victim man. We can check our
- 6:16prince through R and I when we get back to the office. What do
- 6:18those footprints look like? Seem like a heavy print, maybe work shoes or
- 6:23some kind. I want to see how he's making off. Yeah, it's
- 6:26good. Remember miss Christmas dinner again this year? What Trent Fount and Fan
- 6:36and key? What it was doing? There's a cheap pain they sell thousands
- 6:41of them were smoke than footprints will help him victor kill I gotta find him
- 6:46for it. M thank you. I don't know. Maybe we can work
- 6:54to switch. How's that buying the lock that puts the key? Nine am
- 7:01Christmas Day, Sergeant's Dave Royo, Robert Claudio, Ben and I went back
- 7:05to the office and took stock of what we had to work with. Wasn't
- 7:10much. The woman had been murdered. Who was she? Why was she
- 7:14killed? Who was the killer? Dave and Claudio had the dead woman's fingerprints
- 7:17taken him and we're run through the record bureau. Ben and I checked with
- 7:20Lee Jones at the crime LAMB. The results of the precipitent test showed the
- 7:25type of blood found on the broken beer bottle matched that of the victim.
- 7:30From the cast of the foot impressions found at the scene of the killing,
- 7:32Lee estimated it and were made by a person approximately five feet nine inches tall,
- 7:38weighing about one hundred and sixty pounds. He figured the foot gear must
- 7:41have been of a heavy type, either a boot or address shoe with thick
- 7:44double souls size eleven nine am. We checked in at the basement of the
- 7:48Hall of Justice the County morning. Doc. How's it going, Oh there,
- 7:58Joe, it's caused by cracks with the skulls slashing the face was a
- 8:01contributing saus I sent it close to me, Jones. Yeah, we know,
- 8:05no lun remark Ah, I got two things. You never helped me.
- 8:07They won't. Yeah. The chemist report here on the blood analysis shows
- 8:15the victim of drinking. She was definitely under the influence at the time she
- 8:18was murdered. Twelve hundred percent alcohol in blood. How about the murder weapon,
- 8:22Doc, We're gonna rule out that beer bottle. Just coming to that
- 8:26step over here, Yeah, that's smark here on the side of her face,
- 8:31brown smudge. Well. Joanes says that that shoe polys. He analyzed
- 8:35a few of the particles ties in the cause of death was brought about by
- 8:39severe blows in the head and face. Happy shoe, Huh, that's my
- 8:41guess. Probably a boot or workshop. That doesn't man, Joe, what
- 8:46do you mean? They were heavy work shoes the killer was wearing. Why
- 8:48were they poled? How many people polis that work for you could be waterproof?
- 8:52No, Jones says it was a brown paste polish. It doesn't trigger
- 8:56unless the killer was wearing some kind of dress, boots, cycle boots,
- 8:58maybe the kids on the motorcycles room. Yeah, that's going to be about
- 9:03as helpful as a key or a cheap fountain pen. Excuse me, County
- 9:09Moore Tyson speaking, Yeah, all right, think I'll tell the cunning Amada
- 9:15and I want to see you right away. What's up? I made the
- 9:18victims prince. During the war years, a complete file of pictures and fingerprints
- 9:24had been kept on all persons employed at local defense plans. Out of this
- 9:28file came our first major lead. The victim's fingerprints matched those of one Maria
- 9:33Camacho, thirty eight years old, formerly employed at Universal Aircraft. Her address
- 9:39in nineteen forty five was listed as ninety two to thirty Sheridan Avenue. Ben
- 9:43and I went over to the crime lab, picked up the key in the
- 9:46fountain pen found near the body, and drove to the Sheridan Avenue address.
- 9:50The house was three blocks from the churchyard where the body was found. A
- 9:54young woman with a baby in her arms answered the door. She identified herself
- 9:56as Elena Gomanz. She told her Maria Camacho was run. They were expecting
- 10:01her for Christmas dinner late that afternoon. We told her what happened. Once
- 10:07she recovered from the shock, we questioned her and her husband, the furnature
- 10:09worker. So hard for me to believe. Why anyone do this to Maria.
- 10:16When's the last time you saw her? Mitter Filmy? She was around
- 10:18last night, sargant. She brought the presents for the kids. I bought
- 10:22them presents on Christmas? Did she live here? Was this her permanent address?
- 10:26No? She stayed with us during the war when Ray was overseas.
- 10:31When he came back, she took a room down the street. I'd you
- 10:33give you a dress? All right? What time did Maria leave the house
- 10:35last night? Oh see, that's been around ten o'clock, not months later,
- 10:41don't you think, Lena about ten o'clock? Yeah, that's go see
- 10:46what those kids are doing? A ready? Yeah, did Maria have anything
- 10:50to drink here last night? Minute? Mayor? Yes? You had a
- 10:52glass to share? You together? That's all? Would you tell if she's
- 10:54been drinking before she came here? It was Christmas eve? I guess she'd
- 10:58had a few whiles. Was she a pretty heavy drinker? Usually? No?
- 11:03Maybe on the holidays. So I really like to get out and have
- 11:07fun living alone all that? Really? Oh? Did she drink it home?
- 11:13Or was there some particular place she liked to go? CANTEENA got on
- 11:16Soda Street. She used to go there. Any others? A couple of
- 11:22bars on Brooklyn Avenue? I know the name. Whatd Maria do for a
- 11:26living in this Gomez? She took in some dressmaking work herself. It wasn't
- 11:33poor, wasn't rich her landlady could tell you about her friends are hungry when
- 11:37you get sigh that we had to break in on you, like, what's
- 11:41sorry? Just the kids ask the officers if they want some meant to pie?
- 11:45Rick? No, No, no, that's all. I think.
- 11:48Just one more thing. Would you look at these please? Pam. Sure,
- 11:54that's Maria. That's great, Maria's pen. Now how about this key?
- 12:00I never saw it? Well, thanks very much both of you.
- 12:05Sorry to hold up your dinner. Alright's sorry? Hey maybe I could picture
- 12:09a turkey sandwich. Oh, thank you the same. We have to be
- 12:11going. We'll contact you later on. Here's our card. All right.
- 12:16I can't think of a reason, searcher, why someone would kill it?
- 12:22Why did say killing Maria? Nice kid to be having a good Christmas?
- 12:35Too bad? We had to spoil it. We drove down the street to
- 12:41the rooming house where Maria Camacho's stayed. We talked to the landlady and the
- 12:45rest of the tenants and failed to come up with the lead. They told
- 12:48us Maria Camacho drank a little, but she was always pleasant. He said,
- 12:50you get along with We checked her room. We went through stacks the
- 12:54Spanish language newspapers and magazines. We went through her bills, photographs, her
- 12:58letters on nothing. There wasn't an item in the small apartment that could help
- 13:03us. We went through the entire rooming house, trying each door with a
- 13:05key that we'd gone to the body. Didn't fit any of them, not
- 13:09even the door to the victim's room five pm. There was a lull in
- 13:13the ring. They picked up Dave and Claudio and started to explore the only
- 13:16lead we had. The victim had been drinking a few hours before she'd been
- 13:20murdered, probably in a neighborhood tavern. For the next six hours, we
- 13:24canvassed every bar in the vicinity. Eleven fifteen pm Christmas night, the four
- 13:28of us met in a combination bar restaurant at Brooklyn and Soto for a bike.
- 13:33D Well, you had as much luck as we did. Nothing,
- 13:37Dave. Everybody we talked to neither woman. Nobody saw her Christmas. We
- 13:39picked up the names of a dozen friends of hers from the bartend and checked
- 13:43them out. They couldn't tell us anything. We still got another dozen bars
- 13:46to cover. At least she must have been in one of them last night.
- 13:48I wish we'd find it. My wife's sure, man, you've got
- 13:52the company, so it's mine all right? Gentlemen, who had the girl?
- 13:54Have salvage? I did all right? And the Hamburgers, Yeah,
- 14:03there we go. I played that some ketchup. Please sure say you wouldn't
- 14:09like a little leg night to go with that? It's good. I make
- 14:11the better myself, and yeah, there's something you can do for it.
- 14:16Yes, sir, did you look at this picture? All right? She
- 14:18give me identify this woman? She looks like Maria. Yeah, that's her,
- 14:24you know it. Were you in here last night? You know?
- 14:26Yeah? She was? What time was she about? Eleven eleven thirty?
- 14:30Y? Was she with someone or half a dozen of them, at least
- 14:33Maria, another woman and four or five men. Were they drinking? Well
- 14:35they were well behaved. Just have a little Christmas chair, that's so.
- 14:39They like my eggnites. What time did Maria leave you remember? Well,
- 14:41no, not exactly, but she left before the others they closed the place.
- 14:45Pose did she leave alone? No, Tony father out of I think
- 14:48it must have been sometime around midnight. I'm not sure. Who's Tony Tony
- 14:52perege fust play here? You know it? Marie? Where's he now?
- 14:54Christmas? He's our lives in a hotel down the street someplace. I don't
- 14:58know t Maybe the key does. David Claudio started to check the neighborhood to
- 15:07locate the hotel where Tony Perez stayed. Ben and I continued our canvas of
- 15:11bars and restaurants in the area. One am, the ring started in again.
- 15:16We checked into the bar on Brooklyn Avenue near Cornwall, the cantenas and
- 15:20aaloa. Yes, sir, gentlemen police officers, you look at this picture
- 15:24please if you can identify Until I draw my hands, I've getting some of
- 15:28these glasses out of the way. Let's see you never see her before?
- 15:37Yeah, that's Maria, too bad? I reading the papers about it.
- 15:41Can you tell us if she was in here last night? No? I
- 15:43didn't see how. I've reading the papers about it, though. Terrible Maria.
- 15:48Is it possible she might have been in you didn't hear? No?
- 15:52I always know when Maria's here. She was always full of fun. Should
- 15:56like to sing, I'm going to get these glasses please. Then you want
- 16:00to call it off? Yea? All about a drink, Sagan. You
- 16:04don't look so good. You got any coffee? Not very fresh? Been
- 16:10standing there a couple of hours? That's all right, okay, Here here's
- 16:22the sugar. He thank you. Yeah, that's not very warm. Huh,
- 16:30that's okay. What do you think of it, sir? The guy
- 16:34was crazy? I don't know. Ah, he must have been crazy.
- 16:41That's a nice rain. Let's good for the farmers. Yeah, sure,
- 16:48you ever see this key before? Let's see I don't know Joe. Yeah,
- 16:55they'ven Thodia found the hotel. They picked up doing for a took him
- 16:57in. What do you tell him? Have you said? As you're talking
- 17:00to him now? I won't samely to find anything on him. He's wearing
- 17:03a pair of dark brown boots. Yeah, well polished, you are listening
- 17:15to Dragnett. The case history of a police investigation presented in the public Interest.
- 17:30Monday, December twenty sixth nine am. We checked Tony Perez through R
- 17:33and I. He had a record of seven arrests but no convictions. During
- 17:37the past year, he'd been booked on suspicion of two to eleven PC assault,
- 17:41would intent to do great bodily harm and second degree burgenering. In each
- 17:45instance, he had been released for a lack of evidence. All of his
- 17:48shoes and clothing were brought to the crime lab for examination. Nine five am
- 17:52we brought Perez back to the interrogation room. He admitted that he had been
- 17:56with Maria Camacho Christmas Eve, but he denied having anything to do with her
- 18:00killing. He told us that after he had left Maria, he'd go into
- 18:03a party at some friend's house. David Claudio went out to check your story.
- 18:07I gave him the key found near the body and ask him to try
- 18:10it on the door to Perez Hotel Room Ben and I continued to question the
- 18:12suspect. How well did you know Maria montre TONI I told you already.
- 18:18She was just some old crow who used to hang around the bars. That's
- 18:22all. I used to talk to her once in a while. Did you
- 18:25ever have any arguments with it? No? How many times are you going
- 18:27to ask me that? It would help a lot if you could tell us
- 18:30exactly where you left Maria Christmas, even when you left it, I told
- 18:33you already. I don't remember exactly. We're drinking. We were all drinking.
- 18:37I don't remember. How'd you get to that? Boy? Walked pased
- 18:41on Malabar Street. Maria stopped at the bar someplace along the way, and
- 18:45that's the last time I saw her. Did you go in with her?
- 18:48No, she went in alone. I went to the party, That's all
- 18:52I know. Interrogation room fright, Yeah, check the boots matches with the
- 19:00spirit of polish on the victim's face. Wax components were exactly the same.
- 19:03Good How about the cast Nope, they didn't matter. The prince we cast
- 19:07out there beside eleven big heel Prez. Where's the mine? But he's small?
- 19:11Hi, don't at all? What about the other stuff went over?
- 19:14The rest of his shoes was closed? Nothing. The guy's in well,
- 19:18Jamie, thank you? You shine your own boots? Tony? No,
- 19:23Why where do you get them? Shane? I go to Angelo's Chicago Street
- 19:30black man. First. When's the last time he got a shame? Oh?
- 19:33Christmas? Heat? What time Christmas? He's done? When I got
- 19:37off work about two and a half. You know, Hi? Hi dad?
- 19:41See when you're outside of it? Yeah? Pres telling the truth about
- 19:51the party. He was there. We timed out. How long did it
- 19:52take him to walk from the restaurant of the party. Yeah, pretty close.
- 19:56His friends say, you got to the party about twelve thirty. Doesn't
- 20:00look like you had time to kill that woman? Oh where does that leave
- 20:02us? Still got those boots? No? No more. They don't match
- 20:04the impressions at the murder scene. Well it makes us even here's your keyback?
- 20:10Didn't sit? Tony Perez was held for further investigation. Dave and Claudio
- 20:18took up the canvassing of bars in the same area where we left off The
- 20:22night before, Ben and I drove down to Angelo's shine stand. It stood
- 20:26just outside a barber shop, four chairs with an awning full of cigarette holes
- 20:30over him. He identified Maria Camacho's picture immediately. We questioned him while he
- 20:34polished their shoes. Marie, I used to tell Sergeant running around like that,
- 20:41she had so many friends, so many? Did you see Maria on
- 20:45Christmas Eve? Angela? Christmas Eve? Let me see no? No,
- 20:51last time was a few days before Christmas? Angela. Do you know a
- 20:53man but the name of Tony Perez? Tony Shore, Tony Perez, tour
- 21:00fellow, big should is you one of your customers? Long the time he
- 21:04comes to see me? Let's he here on Christmas Eve? Thank you?
- 21:07Yeah? Yeah, he was here. I get him a shined Remember what
- 21:11kind of shoes he had on? Shore? Boots? He always wears boots.
- 21:15What color were they? Do you know? Brown? I always wears
- 21:18brown boots. Well, what's the matter, Tony and Tom what kind of
- 21:23polish do you use in his boots? As low? Well? I got
- 21:26the can down here, Yeah, it's here. I great polish. You
- 21:32got boats, I can fix them up. You use the same polish on
- 21:34all the boats you shine? Angel Oh, only the brown boats. That's
- 21:38brown polish. No, fellas, there's too many questions. Make me go
- 21:42through slow, there's no rush, Angelow, can you tell me this?
- 21:47Oh, besides Tony Perez, was there anybody else with brown boots who gotta
- 21:51shine from you? Christmas Eve? I don't know. Lots of people get
- 21:55shined and see it's pretty busy, and just the people with brown boots?
- 21:59Thank you? Though? Can you remember? No, no, no,
- 22:00I don't think so. Only was the only one with the brown boots?
- 22:04Is no otherist? How about heavy brown shoes? Huh? You remember the
- 22:08people with heavy brown shoes that came in for shine? No, no,
- 22:12I don't know. I don't know. Look, please just letting me shine
- 22:15your shoes. Huh. That can of brown poly shane, you say that's
- 22:18the kind you use on Tony Raesi's blue. Yeah, that's the kind that's
- 22:22kind of right here. Well, can you remember how many times you used
- 22:25that polish on Christmas Eve? Well? I open this can that morning and
- 22:30see how much is gone? Maybe I use it all? Maybe half a
- 22:33dozen times. Can you remember the people whose shoes called for this kind of
- 22:37polish? Lots of the brown shoes. I know the peat when I see
- 22:42him. I don't know the faces. Don't you remember any of them?
- 22:45They like the shine might be fine to fy they come back poor. Maybe
- 22:52I see him before. I don't know the names. Okay, can I
- 22:56get a shine? Oh? Yeah, fine, say I'm gonna buy that
- 23:03can of polish from the Angelo and we're going to check back with you later.
- 23:07Okay, that's fine polish best you couldn't get. Yeah, but it
- 23:12rubs off. December twenty sixth five pm, we drove back to the crime
- 23:22lab and had Lee Jones analyzed the can of shoe polish get matched exactly with
- 23:26the particles of shoe polish taken from the victim's body and from the boots of
- 23:29Tony Perez. We arranged for a stakeout at Angelo's shine stand in case the
- 23:33people with heavy brown shoes returned. Angelo could point them out immediately to the
- 23:37men on duty. Five thirty pm, Dave and Claudio called in. I
- 23:41thought they had another nibble, this time from the bartender at the Elsadello tavern
- 23:45A bar on Soto Street. We drove down to South Main and Hollm Place
- 23:48for a meet. Hi Dan Hi, figured we'd better move on the tonight.
- 24:00What's the pitch bartender and Soto tipped me the Maria Camacho was in his
- 24:03place. Christmas Eve said it was a little after midnight now said she had
- 24:07a drink. Left the place about ten minutes past twelve with a guy called
- 24:10Frank Tallano nosed around from his Toilanta works at the midnight mission over there.
- 24:15All right, let's go, they said. Day Yeah, good friend's mission.
- 24:22Come in for a nice warm spiritual band, coffee and soup free the
- 24:27watch the stairs. Yeah no, brother, I only hope that I'm a
- 24:33meeting here at Talking plus and made yourselves the flow with the great and glorious
- 24:37light of the spirit. And yes, brothers, if we be not born
- 24:41again of that light of the book says, we will be damned, brothers.
- 24:45Damn. And then yeah, my brother as well, Sister Michael pergers
- 24:51some place one of his steering marches. Let's goin on brother the brother and
- 24:55march into the lond room, where, through the kind graces of one of
- 24:57our benefactors, he this is the acropolis. He want of you will be
- 25:02entitled to pull the turkey soup. So my sister Wilson's homemade bread and a
- 25:06cut him in, spie, sister Ferguson very much. You SI's men seeing,
- 25:15Yeah, let's go sure pack him in, don't you That soup smells
- 25:19real good? Excuse me, sir, brother police officers. Do you have
- 25:26a Frank Tolanto working here? Well? What's the trouble? Does he work
- 25:30here? Well? Yes, he's a very good man, Frank. Anything
- 25:32wrong? Is he here now? No? He doesn't. Where can we
- 25:34find him? What I like to know what the trouble is? We like
- 25:37to talk to him, mister? That so, well, he has a
- 25:38roum A good friend's mission Inex. That's so Mansan Peedi Street. Is that
- 25:42his permanent residence, the Mission Annix? Yes, Frank's very helpful. He
- 25:45works for a small satary and we get him Roman boyd. Is he over
- 25:48at the Annix now? Yes? But maybe you'd better not see him now,
- 25:52officer. Well, well, Frank's not at his best. He's been
- 25:56drinking again. That's a sure sign. How do you mean? Well,
- 26:00whenever Frank starts drinking, that means that he's worrying he's one of those.
- 26:04Thanks to forget him. He's been drinking for three days. He must have
- 26:08a lot to forget. Come on six thirty pm, we drove over to
- 26:15the good Friend's mission Anex on San Pedro Street. A man in charge told
- 26:19us that Toronto had a small room to himself at the rear of the second
- 26:22floor. Dave and Claudia went around to cover the mission. Anex from the
- 26:25back ben and I went up a narrow flight of wooden stairs. Plain white
- 26:29plaster walls were chipped and cracked and scrawled with pencil markings. They walked down
- 26:33at the end of a wide hallway to a brown panel door with a transom
- 26:36above it. There was a man in soiled work clothes sitting on the bed.
- 26:41On the table next to him, there were three quart wine bottles,
- 26:44two of them were empty. Get out of here, you, franked Lano.
- 26:48What about it? Police officers like to talk to you. Get out
- 26:56of here and not taking me. I'll touch you the pieces. Drop the
- 27:00bottle to Lono. Get out of here. Drop the bottle. I'll cut
- 27:03you to pieces like you cut Maria. I'll kill you. Put it down
- 27:08to Lonno, drop it. Get the cups on. Yeah, let's go
- 27:22just a mind. Yeah it fits. The story you've just heard was true,
- 27:41only the names were changed to protect the innocent. On March seventh,
- 27:45trial was held in Superior Court Department ninety four, City and County of Los
- 27:49Angeles, State of California. In a moment the results of that trial,
- 28:02Frank Dominique Tolano has tried and convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life
- 28:07imprisonment. He is now serving his term in the state penitentiary. You have
- 28:14just heard Dragnet a series of authentic cases from official files. Technical advice for
- 28:19Dragnet comes from the Office of Chief of Police W. A. Wharton,
- 28:22Los Angeles Police Department. Patty Page visits Jack Birch tomorrow morning on NBC Welcome
- 28:38Back. The key was the clenching piece of evidence, but it couldn't get
- 28:45the police there. There are millions of locks in Los Angeles, and without
- 28:52an identifying mark or some clue where the look, you're not going to find
- 28:56where it goes. So it's an interesting contrast between the evidence that led the
- 29:03police to the killer and the evidence that was almost certainly more prominent and important
- 29:08trial. This is also one of those holiday episodes of Dragnet that's set at
- 29:14a holiday but really hasn't aired at that time of year and has little to
- 29:18do with it other than background. I don't know whether the actual cases occurred
- 29:22around the holiday, which would have made them more memorable to the investigating officers,
- 29:29or if Web chose to set them at that time for dramatic effect.
- 29:33Now, one thing I have commented on in the past with Dragnet is kind
- 29:38of the incongruity of the dialogue of these Protestant ministers and workers, which sounds
- 29:49nothing like how anyone in those particular movements or positions taught. It's such an
- 29:56odd thing for Dragnet, given its dedication to being accurate. One thing I
- 30:03thought is, I wonder if it might be intentional, like to avoid any
- 30:10potential problems or conflicts or potential offense, to be so generic as to create
- 30:18dialogue that couldn't actually belong to any specific group at all, even with the
- 30:26Big Little Jesus, which I think is the one big clear portrayal of Catholicism
- 30:33in Dragnet that was written by Richard Breen and written very intentionally and different from
- 30:40the rest of the series. So I wondered if something intentional was going on
- 30:45in that regard. Well, now we turn to listener comments and feedback,
- 30:49and we start on Spotify and we've got a couple of comments from Harrison,
- 30:56and Harrison writes regard the Big Knife, we can ask Lee Jones. In
- 31:03fact, he's right in your principal's office. Too bad. Herb Butterfield never
- 31:07start in his own series where he just plays every male character. Well,
- 31:14Herb Butterfield is definitely an interesting performer, and of course they essentially don't tend
- 31:22to have Lee Jones on stage in episodes where Herb Butterfield's playing another prominent character.
- 31:33That tends to be how they work it. Now, it's funny you
- 31:36should mention those sort of shows because they did actually exist during the Golden Hazer
- 31:41Radio The first one was by Frank Graham and it was a series called Not
- 31:48Cap Yarns where he played all the characters, narrated and it was a Monday
- 31:56through Friday series. He was doing like an hour of this every single week.
- 32:04And then later on Paul Freese did a version of it. I don't
- 32:08know the frequency. It was syndicated series, so it may have been less
- 32:15frequent. It was called Studio X and also the player, and they were
- 32:21able to bring all of these characters to life, change voices, and go
- 32:25up and down quite a bit. I honestly don't know if her Butterfield would
- 32:31have the range for it. He was able to do some unique voices.
- 32:36For example, if you wanted to have Sydney green Street in something and you
- 32:42didn't want to pay Sidney green Street, her Butterfield was your man. But
- 32:46I don't know if he had quite the same flexibility as Graham and Freeze.
- 32:53Generally, when he doubled or tripled there would be slight differences, but he
- 32:59would also be in a situation where there would have been some time in the
- 33:05episode passed since the last time he appeared with Freezing Graham, they had so
- 33:09many voices that was hardly necessary. Harrison also commented regarding The Big Badge Joe
- 33:19finally gets a meal in and ad Harrison never has an audience experienced such joy
- 33:28at a character being served leftovers by his mother. Then occurred in The Big
- 33:35Badge that that right there was a highlight And then a recent comment on The
- 33:42brick Batslayer from Lance the site called X got me well thanks so much,
- 33:47Lance, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Probably the best reason I can think
- 33:52of for us to hang around there at this point. And then a nice
- 33:58comment off our listener survey from Phineas, who writes, I've been listening to
- 34:04Adam Graham in this podcast for years and it's been a pleasure to witness him
- 34:07grow into a solid professional host. Thanks for all the hard work. Well,
- 34:13thank you so much. And that's from Phineas over in Juliet. Well,
- 34:16now it's time to thank our Patreon supporter of today, and I want
- 34:21to go ahead and thank Shannon. Shannon has been one of our Patreon supporters
- 34:24since August twenty twenty three, currently supporting the podcast at the Detective Sergeant level
- 34:30of seven dollars and fourteen cents or more per month. Thank you so much
- 34:35for your support, Shannon, and that will actually do it for today.
- 34:38If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software and
- 34:44be sure to rate and review the podcast wherever you download it from. We
- 34:49are now going to commence with a week plus of encore presentations for your listening
- 34:55pleasure. And one thing I've realized over the four and a half years we've
- 35:00been doing this. Is this not only gives me a rest from recording,
- 35:05but in fifteen years you record a lot of shows, and some of it
- 35:12some listeners have never heard in others don't mind hearing it again. But Dragonet
- 35:15will be back in two weeks and will of course return to your regular lineup
- 35:22on Monday, January fifteenth. In the meantime, if you have a comment,
- 35:28email it to me Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net, follow us
- 35:32on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and check us out on Instagram, Instagram,
- 35:38dot com slash Great Detectives from Boise, Idaho. This is your host,
- 35:45Adam Grahamson and Off