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