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Speaker 1: Again, thanks so much for your support, Sandy. Now, from
Speaker 1: March twentieth, nineteen fifty two, here is the Big Border.
Speaker 3: The story you were about to hear is true. The
Speaker 3: names have been changed to protect the innocent. You're a
Speaker 3: detective sergeant. You're assigned a robbery detail. Two convicts escape
Speaker 3: from the state penitentiary. They're heading for your city. They're armed,
Speaker 3: they boasted, they won't be taken alive. Your job get them.
Speaker 4: Dragnet the document a drama of an actual crime. For
Speaker 4: the next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles
Speaker 4: Police Department, you will travel step by step on the
Speaker 4: side of the law through an actual case transcribed from
Speaker 4: official police violence. From beginning to end, from crime to punishment,
Speaker 4: Dragnet is the story of your police force in action.
Speaker 5: It was Wednesday, October sixth, that was cloudy in Los Angeles.
Speaker 5: We were working a day watch out of robbery detail.
Speaker 5: My partner's said, Jacob's the boss's up and didyon. My
Speaker 5: name is Friday. We're on the way out from the
Speaker 5: office and it was two forty pm when we got
Speaker 5: to Kesterton Boulevard, number.
Speaker 6: Twelve fifty six. Sounds like she's having a party.
Speaker 2: Huh yeah, try it again. Maybe they can't hear it. Yes,
Speaker 2: police officers, ma'am you Ruth Thompson.
Speaker 7: Yes, that's right. What is it.
Speaker 5: My name's Friday. This is my partner, Sergeant Jacob Central Robbery.
Speaker 5: We'd like to talk you a few minutes if we could.
Speaker 8: Well, I have a.
Speaker 7: Party going on right now, if you my friends were over,
Speaker 7: what'd you want?
Speaker 6: Sergeant brought Andy Poum. Miss Thompson, understand you know him.
Speaker 7: I didn't know him, Yes, I haven't seen him for
Speaker 7: a long time, three or four years.
Speaker 6: Anyway, mind if we ask a few questions about him.
Speaker 6: It won't take long.
Speaker 7: Hi, come in, please, thank you.
Speaker 2: We're sorry to disturb you, ma'm it's pretty important that
Speaker 2: we wouldn't hold you up.
Speaker 7: It's all right down the hall here. We can talk
Speaker 7: in the kitchen if you don't mind. It's my girlfriend's
Speaker 7: birthday today, though, I'd be nice to have a little party.
Speaker 8: Four.
Speaker 7: Oh, I see chair there if you like, Oh here,
Speaker 7: let me wipe it offle you spuild a drink on it.
Speaker 7: Probably Dan was born.
Speaker 6: I suppose you know about Andy Palm, Miss Thompson. What
Speaker 6: happened this morning? What's that about Andy Powell? You heard
Speaker 6: what happened this morning?
Speaker 7: Just what I read in the morning paper. They said
Speaker 7: he broke out of Sam Quentin, another man with him.
Speaker 7: It's true, then he did break out.
Speaker 5: Yes, ma'am, that's the information we have. There's an all
Speaker 5: points bulleting out on him.
Speaker 7: Well, I don't want to get involved in it. It's
Speaker 7: not my business. Andy doesn't mean anything to me.
Speaker 2: Well, at the time he was set up, you were
Speaker 2: engaged to Powell.
Speaker 6: Is that right?
Speaker 7: Yes, But that was before he got into trouble, before
Speaker 7: he went to San Quentin. I saw him after the trial.
Speaker 7: I told him how I felt about it.
Speaker 6: I told him wasn't any use an He called it off, that.
Speaker 7: It wasn't much else to do. It was robbery five
Speaker 7: years to life. It wasn't the first time either. Andy
Speaker 7: knew it would be a long time, so die, Really
Speaker 7: I had to tell him I have to.
Speaker 2: Call it off.
Speaker 5: We understand you were on Powell's correspondence list while I
Speaker 5: was up at Quinton.
Speaker 6: He wrote to him, did you yes?
Speaker 7: The first couple of months we haven't written lately though.
Speaker 7: It wasn't any point to it, no point at all.
Speaker 5: Well, when was the last time you heard from Paul
Speaker 5: Miss Thompson last time you wrote to him?
Speaker 7: Oh, eight or ten months least.
Speaker 8: That.
Speaker 7: As I say, there wasn't much sense in going on.
Speaker 7: Andy knew he was in there for a long time.
Speaker 7: He couldn't expect me to wait all that time. Matter
Speaker 7: of fact, he said he didn't expect it.
Speaker 6: He told me that you've been up to visit Paul recently,
Speaker 6: Miss Thompson.
Speaker 7: No, No, I haven't well, and you.
Speaker 2: Haven't seen him since he went up to Quentin. You'll
Speaker 2: swear to that.
Speaker 7: Why do I have to swear to what I already
Speaker 7: told you? Andy doesn't mean anything to me? Didn't make sense,
Speaker 7: it's all over. I'm not even a relative. Why do
Speaker 7: I have to swear to anything?
Speaker 6: You haven't seen Paul since he went up to Quintin
Speaker 6: that right, Miss Thompson? Is that right?
Speaker 7: What if I saw him? If I didn't see him,
Speaker 7: what difference does it make? It's none of my business?
Speaker 6: Or did you say, Miss Thompson, what difference.
Speaker 7: Does it make? I don't have anything to do with him.
Speaker 7: He doesn't mean anything to me.
Speaker 2: I told you, did you see.
Speaker 7: Him this morning?
Speaker 2: When?
Speaker 7: Late this morning about ten thirty was no? Another man
Speaker 7: was with you?
Speaker 6: Who was the other man? You recognized him?
Speaker 7: Bert Selby. That's the way he introduced to me. He
Speaker 7: didn't try to hide it. Some fellow broke out of
Speaker 7: jail with.
Speaker 2: What they want?
Speaker 7: Why were they here, clothes, money, looked like the devil,
Speaker 7: both of them terrible.
Speaker 2: What'd you give them?
Speaker 7: They asked for? I'm not that silly. Didn't trust me
Speaker 7: anymore and they trust you. And he had a knife.
Speaker 7: I tried to tell him I didn't have any money.
Speaker 7: He didn't believe me, came at me with that knife.
Speaker 2: I gave the.
Speaker 7: Money that much, about seventeen eighteen dollars, some loose change.
Speaker 7: The emptied my purse, took it off anything else, closed
Speaker 7: a couple of suits of my father's. He died last year.
Speaker 7: They took his gun too. Never thought Andy b that way.
Speaker 7: It was terrible.
Speaker 6: What kind of a gun wasn't miss Thompson.
Speaker 7: Quote revolver thirty eight. I think they took that and
Speaker 7: closed the money. It's about ten thirty this morning, Malcolm.
Speaker 5: He didn't report that. You say you knew about the escape.
Speaker 5: You know they were wanted, didn't you?
Speaker 7: Why should I? They warned me about it. They threatened me,
Speaker 7: said they'd come back and get me if I told
Speaker 7: the police. Look, I don't want to get mixed up
Speaker 7: in this. I'm engaged on a nice fella. Now we
Speaker 7: want to get married. I don't want to get mixed
Speaker 7: up in this. Andy Powell's nothing to me.
Speaker 6: Do you watch the two men when they left the
Speaker 6: house here and you noticed that they drove off my car?
Speaker 7: No, I didn't. I just shut the door and prayed.
Speaker 7: I was rid of him. Took my money, food, my
Speaker 7: dad's clothes. Don't make it any tougher. Huh, Please, that's.
Speaker 2: Not a question of that man. We have to find him.
Speaker 2: We're going to need all the cooperation we can get.
Speaker 7: I told you everything I could. Honestly, he said they'd
Speaker 7: come back and kill me if I even talked to you.
Speaker 7: I can't do any more. I sure hope you don't
Speaker 7: find him.
Speaker 6: How's that?
Speaker 7: When Andy went out the door. It's the last thing
Speaker 7: he said. He said, if the cops ever found him,
Speaker 7: there was going to be a fight. Terrible look on
Speaker 7: his face. No, he said he'd never take him alive.
Speaker 5: The APB had come in a few minutes before eight
Speaker 5: o'clock that morning, was from the Warden's office San Quentin.
Speaker 5: The two suspects had been assigned to an early morning
Speaker 5: work detail at the penitentiary, and they were first reported
Speaker 5: missing at the seven am count. Number one suspect was
Speaker 5: Andrew A. Powell, WMA twenty nine years, five nine, one
Speaker 5: hundred and seventy five pounds, brown hair, blue eyes, tan complexion.
Speaker 5: Suspect number two, Bertram O Selby, WMA, thirty one years,
Speaker 5: five foot eleven, one hundred and sixty pounds, blonde hair,
Speaker 5: gray eyes, tan complexion. Both of them had long criminal records.
Speaker 5: Both of them had been serving time for armed robbery.
Speaker 5: They'd used guns before. We figured if they had to,
Speaker 5: they'd use them again. Before we left, Powell's ex girlfriend,
Speaker 5: Ruth Thompson, we called the office and arranged for a
Speaker 5: twenty four hour stakeout on her home in case the
Speaker 5: escape primer's return. We also made arrangements for a stake
Speaker 5: out at the downtown restaurant where she was employed his cashier.
Speaker 5: We passed along the information which the Thompson girl had
Speaker 5: given us, and a broadcast and an APB was gotten
Speaker 5: out on the suspects. Four h five pm, ED and
Speaker 5: I continued making the rounds of all unknown friends and
Speaker 5: associates of the escape prisoners. We failed to come up
Speaker 5: with any more leads. Five point fifty pm we went
Speaker 5: back to the City.
Speaker 6: Hall, clouding up again. Huh over there in the east.
Speaker 2: Yeah, papers has rained tonight and tomorrow.
Speaker 6: We can sure use it my cats.
Speaker 2: What's the matter?
Speaker 6: I haven't had a chance to get the shoemakers yet. Yeah,
Speaker 6: there pulling my shoe and meaning you get them half
Speaker 6: sole to keep forgetting. Yeah, and don't tell me that's
Speaker 6: the only pair of shoes you got. Oh, I've got
Speaker 6: another pair at home and not comfortable though and not
Speaker 6: broken in. It's in trouble with job. What do you
Speaker 6: mean shoes? You get a new pair of start wearing
Speaker 6: them around. It happens every time. No, sooner you get
Speaker 6: the tops broken in, the soldier were Out's a vicious circle. Yeah,
Speaker 6: all right? Word you know, hi, Jess?
Speaker 2: Anything in the book for us?
Speaker 6: I don't know. I don't think so I'll check it.
Speaker 6: How do you to make out any well?
Speaker 2: Not too bad, Jess.
Speaker 5: We know Poll and Selby were in town this morning.
Speaker 5: Good chances still here? Any kickback on that last all
Speaker 5: points we got.
Speaker 6: Out nothing so far.
Speaker 9: Gaffney and rickets are running down a couple of possibles
Speaker 9: right now. One of them might pan out nothing on
Speaker 9: the book show. We're clear just saying it. On this
Speaker 9: Powell and Selby thing, got a couple of possibles were
Speaker 9: checking on. Both calls came in the last hour. One
Speaker 9: was a hold of the Olympic near Vermont bun shop.
Speaker 9: There two men pull it off, slugged the owner, took clothes, money,
Speaker 9: twelve gage, shotgun.
Speaker 2: I'll about descriptions on them in and it seemed to
Speaker 2: be fairly close.
Speaker 9: When I got over the phone, Gaffney and Rickitts are
Speaker 9: out talking to the victim. They took mugs of Powell
Speaker 9: and Selby along waiting for their callback.
Speaker 6: Now said you had two calls? What was the other one?
Speaker 6: Two eleven?
Speaker 9: The slugging out on Hollywood Boulevard just about Western A
Speaker 9: couple of thieves knocked over a dry goods store. Some
Speaker 9: take clothes and money. Descriptions are pretty close there too,
Speaker 9: Hollywood divisions covering waiting for their callback.
Speaker 6: Do you any want to smoke?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 6: Thanks, yeah, thanks. Thompson girl is the only one who
Speaker 6: had anything. Huh. None of the others could help you out. Yeah,
Speaker 6: it's about size of it. Apparently Paul doesn't have too
Speaker 6: many connections in town. Selby has even less. I'm more
Speaker 6: a dozen names on that list. Were they Joe friends,
Speaker 6: relatives or.
Speaker 2: An even dozen?
Speaker 5: A couple of bars Powell was known to hang out
Speaker 5: when he was in town. Check them out too.
Speaker 2: Nothing.
Speaker 9: I sure made a bee line here after they broke Quinton.
Speaker 9: It's a good five hundred miles stretch. They don't have
Speaker 9: the connections here to help them, then, what's the big attraction?
Speaker 8: Yeah?
Speaker 6: I could have some help lined up, we don't know about.
Speaker 6: Somebody'd hide them out, keep them in groceries for a
Speaker 6: while as possible.
Speaker 5: They're making a run for one of the border towns
Speaker 5: to j Wanta, MEXICALI maybe poll figured on more help
Speaker 5: from the Thompson Girl. Clothes and money enough to get
Speaker 5: him and sell me over in New Mexico.
Speaker 6: Huh, she said, all I got was seventeen dollars. I
Speaker 6: had to cut Connors to make none that.
Speaker 8: Robbery.
Speaker 6: Gonzalez, Oh yeah, Jack, are you sure? Okay? Fine? Thanks? Bye,
Speaker 6: We got Jack Recketts.
Speaker 9: He and Gaffney just finished talking to the owner of
Speaker 9: the pawn shot that was held up at one on
Speaker 9: Olympic Fill. They gave him a handful of mugshots check
Speaker 9: he tabbed to them. Paul and Shelby.
Speaker 5: Six thirty PM A supplementary broadcast and an APB was
Speaker 5: gotten out on the two suspects, and the Record Bureau's
Speaker 5: photocopyroom turned out two thousand copies of Powell's and Selby's
Speaker 5: mug shot for distribution. At nine PM, a theater on
Speaker 5: Western Avenue was robbed of one hundred and ninety two dollars.
Speaker 5: Powell and Selby were again identified as the hold up
Speaker 5: men the robbery victim. The manager of the theater said
Speaker 5: that both men were armed, one with a thirty eight revolver,
Speaker 5: the other with a sawed off shotgun. Neither the manager
Speaker 5: nor the two witnesses were able to tell us how
Speaker 5: the thieves got away from the scene of the crime,
Speaker 5: if they were on foot or if they had a car.
Speaker 5: Eleven twenty pm, a hot shot call came through on
Speaker 5: a hold up at a liquor store and delicatessen down
Speaker 5: on South Central Avenue. For the third time that night,
Speaker 5: Poull and Selby were identified from their mugshots as the
Speaker 5: hold up men. They'd used the same weapons, the revolver
Speaker 5: that they'd taken from the Thompson Girls home and the
Speaker 5: shotgun that they picked up in the robbery of the
Speaker 5: Olympic Boulevard pawn shop.
Speaker 2: Again, the victims were unable to.
Speaker 5: Tell us how the suspects got away, whether on foot
Speaker 5: or by car. Midnight one am, there were still no
Speaker 5: replies to supplementary broadcasts and bullets which had been gotten out.
Speaker 5: One twenty five am, another hot shot call came through,
Speaker 5: this time on a hold up and a slugging at
Speaker 5: the twenty fifty Room, a small night club on West
Speaker 5: ninth Street. Ed and I handled the call for the
Speaker 5: fourth time. The bandits were identified as Powell and Selby,
Speaker 5: and for the fourth time they'd made good their escape.
Speaker 5: We interviewed the manager of the twenty fifty Room at
Speaker 5: Hermann Saunders.
Speaker 6: Quite a few people in here at the time the
Speaker 6: hold up, mister Saunders.
Speaker 9: Yeah, good for Thursday night, thirty or forty anyway, I
Speaker 9: sure left in a hurry. This is the second time
Speaker 9: this year we've been knocked over. Insurance company isn't going
Speaker 9: to like it too much.
Speaker 2: How much money did they take all together?
Speaker 9: You know, little less than six hundred of the cash register,
Speaker 9: mostly currency, some rolls of dives and quarters. Got another
Speaker 9: one hundred and a half for my wallet about it.
Speaker 9: They didn't take anything from the customers.
Speaker 5: You're sure about that identification now, there's no chance of
Speaker 5: a mistake there.
Speaker 9: I'm positive I know Andy Paul anywhere. I should know him,
Speaker 9: Like I told you, worked for me a.
Speaker 6: Year and a half.
Speaker 9: I was here at twenty fifty. Yeah, he worked behind
Speaker 9: the bar. Good Man too. I don't get it at all.
Speaker 9: You mean when I went bad, Well, yeah that too.
Speaker 9: What I mean is, if you're going to hold up
Speaker 9: a place, you don't pick a joint where everybody knows you.
Speaker 9: I spotted any soon as I saw him at the bar,
Speaker 9: so a couple of the waiters.
Speaker 5: He wasn't wearing any kind of a mask. He didn't
Speaker 5: make any attempt to disguise himself.
Speaker 9: No stood their biggest life. Him and this other fella
Speaker 9: didn't waste any time either. I pulled the guns, line
Speaker 9: up everybody in the place and stood him against that
Speaker 9: wall over there, real wild West style took over the
Speaker 9: whole place. That could real wild Andy and this other
Speaker 9: fellow must be crazy. Nobody was hurt, didn't slug anyway.
Speaker 9: I slapped a few of the customers around. I thought
Speaker 9: for a while they were really going to get rough.
Speaker 9: Adis lined up against the wall, Andy was acting tough,
Speaker 9: had this knife with him. Good four inch blade, went
Speaker 9: right down the line, jabbing people with they're threatening him,
Speaker 9: must be out of his mind.
Speaker 2: And you say he didn't take any money from the customers, Yeah.
Speaker 6: That's right.
Speaker 9: They worked it pretty fast, emptied the cash registered in
Speaker 9: my wallet, then they beat it.
Speaker 6: Never so glad to see anybody go in my life life?
Speaker 2: Well how'd they get away?
Speaker 9: Do you have any idea on that old guy who
Speaker 9: sells papers down the corner? He says he thinks he
Speaker 9: saw a car pull away right after the stick up
Speaker 9: said it was a blue sedan. Don't know much stock
Speaker 9: you can put in at the old man's eyes on
Speaker 9: what they used to be.
Speaker 6: Do you know Paul pretty well when he was working here,
Speaker 6: mister Saunders? I mean, do you know any of his
Speaker 6: friends people used to run with?
Speaker 9: No, I didn't know him that well. He worked for me,
Speaker 9: that's all. I still have his old address, the place
Speaker 9: he was living.
Speaker 6: When he worked for me.
Speaker 9: I can get it if you want, Yeah, if you would, please, sure,
Speaker 9: No trouble. I just don't get it. Don't get it
Speaker 9: at all. Of all the joints in time he could
Speaker 9: have held up. He had a pick mine, the one
Speaker 9: place he'd be recognized. Do you think he'd have better
Speaker 9: sense when.
Speaker 6: You'd think so.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I'd ever hire a guy's dumb as that. Paul
Speaker 9: holding up the place he worked for. Biggest mistake he
Speaker 9: ever made.
Speaker 5: No, he made a bigger one yesterday. Yeah, what was
Speaker 5: that when he broke prison two five am. Further investigation
Speaker 5: at the scene of the latest hold up failed to
Speaker 5: turn up any new leads. While Ed and I checked
Speaker 5: on Powell's former address, which we'd gotten from the owner
Speaker 5: of the twenty to fifty room, Gonzales, Ricketts, and Gaffney
Speaker 5: continued checking the immediate neighborhood. In addition, the special detail
Speaker 5: from Metro Division was sent in to cover the entire area.
Speaker 5: The suspect's former address turned out to be a rooming
Speaker 5: house up on West Temple Street. The landlady remembered Andy Powell,
Speaker 5: but she had no forwarding address on him, and she
Speaker 5: could tell us nothing about his former friends and associates.
Speaker 5: We checked back with Gonzales, rickettson Gaffney, and they told
Speaker 5: us that besides the old newspaper vendor, the counterman at
Speaker 5: the coffee shop near the twenty fifty room, it also
Speaker 5: spotted a blue sedan leaving the vicinity of the nightclub.
Speaker 5: Shortly after the hold up. He was able to give
Speaker 5: him the make, the model and a partial license number.
Speaker 5: A supplementary all points had been gotten out on it
Speaker 5: immediately and the information relayed to DMV and Auto Theft detail.
Speaker 2: Three.
Speaker 5: Ten am ed and I completed our assignment in the
Speaker 5: investigation and went back to the office to check for
Speaker 5: instructions from Captain Dideon.
Speaker 6: Can't sy how we'd be much used out on the
Speaker 6: street the way things stand out, can you No? I
Speaker 6: know everything's covered. I can think of supplementary All points
Speaker 6: is out detail from Metro's work in the neighborhood.
Speaker 2: It's funny, isn't it.
Speaker 6: What's that?
Speaker 5: Unless Andy Powell going back to that place he used
Speaker 5: to work and holding it up. That doesn't make any
Speaker 5: sense at all, does it.
Speaker 6: That's for sure. Must have known somebody was going to
Speaker 6: recognize him. Couldn't have been a coincidence.
Speaker 5: That was only one way I can figure it. They
Speaker 5: don't care, either one of them. They got their money,
Speaker 5: now a car, they both got guns. They're out to
Speaker 5: go as far as they can.
Speaker 6: Oh, hi, Jess, all right, you just get back in, Yeah,
Speaker 6: all right, Joe.
Speaker 9: Right, He was tired as you sound worse. Fair piece
Speaker 9: of news, though, Yeah, what's that Paul and Selby? They
Speaker 9: just found their hideout.
Speaker 5: After three hours of canvassing the general downtown area, particularly
Speaker 5: in the vicinity of the last hold up, a team
Speaker 5: of men working with a special detail from Metropolitan Division
Speaker 5: interviewed a desk clerk in a small hotel on South
Speaker 5: Broadway who recognized the suspects mugshots. The two of them
Speaker 5: had registered early the morning before under the names J. E.
Speaker 5: Dennis and Harold Thompson, both from Fresno, California. The hotel
Speaker 5: room was searched and two San Quentin inmate uniforms were
Speaker 5: found stuffed under the mattress of the bed. After the
Speaker 5: room was processed for fingerprints, there was no doubt that
Speaker 5: the occupants were Powell and Selby. The clerk had no
Speaker 5: idea when they were supposed to return. The hotel was
Speaker 5: staked out immediately, and the city wide search for the
Speaker 5: escape prisoners went on. The following day, Thursday, October seventh,
Speaker 5: eleven thirty am, still no sign of the suspects, no
Speaker 5: further reports or leads as to their whereabouts. The search
Speaker 5: went on ed and I signed back in at the office.
Speaker 5: Ten minutes later, a long distance phone call came in
Speaker 5: for us.
Speaker 6: When was that mort what's that? Yeah? Close enough, right,
Speaker 6: we'll let you know ya. Bye, Mak good on San Diego.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what do you want?
Speaker 6: One of the traffic officers were checking a car about
Speaker 6: eight o'clock this morning, five eighty six parking Lucidan. Fits
Speaker 6: close to the description of the escape car.
Speaker 2: It was a pretty common model, isn't he see anything else?
Speaker 6: Traffic man checked the inside of the car glove compartment
Speaker 6: found half a dozen rows of dives and quarters, the
Speaker 6: same name stamped on all of them. Yeah, twenty fifty room.
Speaker 4: You are listening to dragnet authentic stories of your police
Speaker 4: force in action.
Speaker 5: October seventh, Thursday, one pm, after we got the report
Speaker 5: from Lieutenant mort Gear that the escape car, along with
Speaker 5: a few dollars of the stolen money, had been located
Speaker 5: in San Diego. That morning Ed and I had a
Speaker 5: meeting with Captain Didion. Was beginning to look like our
Speaker 5: first hunch was right. Howl and Selby's twenty four hour
Speaker 5: campaign of hold ups in the Los Angeles area had
Speaker 5: netted them a fresh change of clothes and more than
Speaker 5: enough money to live on for a while. With the
Speaker 5: locating of the escape car in San Diego, had looked
Speaker 5: like the suspects were apparently taking the next logical step,
Speaker 5: a fast move over the international border into Mexico, a
Speaker 5: distance of less than twenty miles from San Diego. Probably
Speaker 5: they figured once over the line they had a good
Speaker 5: chance of losing themselves one on Captain Didion's orders, Jessicin
Speaker 5: Zalez ed and I got in the car and headed
Speaker 5: south for San Diego with a supply of mug shots
Speaker 5: of the escape prisoners. We got there a few minutes
Speaker 5: after four pm. We went directly to the San Diego
Speaker 5: PD where we contacted Sergeant Tony McGuire, Robbery Detail.
Speaker 6: Tough week here.
Speaker 8: They've been driving you crazy up there.
Speaker 6: Just about Tony. Four robberies in twenty four hours has
Speaker 6: given us a run. How about mort gear here?
Speaker 10: Ron, Yeah, he just went down the hall. Jest I
Speaker 10: ought to be back in a minute. And why don't
Speaker 10: you fellows sit down?
Speaker 6: Than?
Speaker 2: Thanks very much? Well, what's the latest, Tony? Anything since
Speaker 2: you picked up that blue sedan?
Speaker 10: No, not much. Got the car and the impound had
Speaker 10: a dust it for prints. We made them all right.
Speaker 10: Both Seids, poul and Selby. No sign them around.
Speaker 8: Tom No got it pretty well covered too, not a trace.
Speaker 2: Le're in a good spot to make it over in
Speaker 2: New Mexico. Hate to disappoint you.
Speaker 6: What do you mean we think they already made it?
Speaker 5: At six o'clock that night and zalez Ed and I,
Speaker 5: together with Lieutenant gear Tony McGuire and Sergeants Gaton and Schultz,
Speaker 5: drove south from San Diego to the international line. We
Speaker 5: left mug shots of Powell and Selby with the immigration
Speaker 5: officers at the entry gate, and then we drove into
Speaker 5: the town of Ta contacted the local commandant of police
Speaker 5: and he promised to school cooperation. He assigned a special
Speaker 5: detail of his men to work with us in covering
Speaker 5: the town. At eight pm, the block by block canvas
Speaker 5: of the city began. Every back alley, every bar, every restaurant,
Speaker 5: every hotel. They were all checked, the tourist attractions, the
Speaker 5: souvenir stands, the nightclubs, the highlight pavilion. We went straight
Speaker 5: through on it eight o'clock that night until five o'clock
Speaker 5: the next morning. All it got us was sore feet
Speaker 5: and a mediocre lead from a native taxi driver after
Speaker 5: being shown the mugshots, he told one of the Mexican
Speaker 5: officers in the detail that about noon that day, he
Speaker 5: picked up two Americans resembling Powell and Selby and driven
Speaker 5: them to the town of Takati, another Mexican tourist spot
Speaker 5: about twenty five miles to the east. Ten thirty am
Speaker 5: we drove over and checked with the police at Takati,
Speaker 5: and they told us the two Americans had arrived in
Speaker 5: the town that morning. He invited Jessicin Zales to go
Speaker 5: along with the three of his men to the hotel
Speaker 5: where the men were supposed to be staying ed.
Speaker 2: And I waited in the office.
Speaker 9: All right, all right, jess what he got oh much?
Speaker 9: Went over the hotel. The two men weren't there, desk
Speaker 9: clerk says, I told him they were driving out to
Speaker 9: a little village about a mile from here. Police coming down.
Speaker 9: Ask me to come back here and wait, said he
Speaker 9: and his men, I drive out to the village and
Speaker 9: check the man out.
Speaker 2: Seems a little funny to that.
Speaker 6: Really didn't invite me to come along. It's not a
Speaker 6: good idea to push him. I mean, after all, it's
Speaker 6: his jurisdiction. Yeah, we're supposed to wait here they get back. Yeah,
Speaker 6: I'm out to him now.
Speaker 9: See yeah, yeah, see see about half an hour Yes,
Speaker 9: all right, goodbye, sick, they're comment down.
Speaker 6: He and his men found the two Americans.
Speaker 9: Yeah, no, go, they're not Paul and Selby.
Speaker 5: Half an hour later, the police comming down of Takati
Speaker 5: returned to the station along with his men and the
Speaker 5: two American tourists in question. One look at him and
Speaker 5: we knew we'd made the trip from Tijuana for nothing
Speaker 5: except for their build and the color of their hair.
Speaker 5: The two Americans bore a little or no resemblance to
Speaker 5: Powell and Selby two point thirty pm, we headed back
Speaker 5: for Tea j and we checked in with mort Gear
Speaker 5: and the rest of the men. While we'd been gone,
Speaker 5: they'd chased down half a dozen leads, but none of
Speaker 5: them had panned out. The rest of the afternoon, we
Speaker 5: covered the racetrack at Agua Calianti and distributed mugshots of
Speaker 5: the suspects to all track police officers. The mutual windows
Speaker 5: were covered and also the foreign book.
Speaker 2: No luck.
Speaker 5: The six of us took time out for a bite
Speaker 5: a supper and we talked it over logically. The next
Speaker 5: place in line to cover was either the fishing town
Speaker 5: of Ensnada on the coast, or the city of Mexicali
Speaker 5: further inland. We decided to try in Sonata first. Seven
Speaker 5: point thirty that night, we checked in at the Ensinada
Speaker 5: police station, where we met with a local subcommandant, Pedro Martinez.
Speaker 5: Like the other commandants in Tijuana and Takati, he offered
Speaker 5: full cooperation and gave us a special detail of men
Speaker 5: to aid in the search. We gave him a supply
Speaker 5: of mug shots of the two convicts to distribute among
Speaker 5: his men.
Speaker 6: Hey you are these are pictures one of the Manrew Paul.
Speaker 6: This one here is the other man, Bert Selby. All right,
Speaker 6: thank you? What what see?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 8: These pictures one criminals? Therefore distribution to the man one.
Speaker 9: Each see, says the symbris seem to see.
Speaker 6: Excuse me?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 6: Sorry, go ahead, Joe? What is What's got me?
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 6: See the look on his face when the chief showed
Speaker 6: him mugshots.
Speaker 2: He he's got something on his mind. I just wait
Speaker 2: a minute, Ovi.
Speaker 8: He says. I hope you would excuse me?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 10: Or anything wrong with my assistant Saverripo, he says, he
Speaker 10: knows the pictures of these men.
Speaker 6: Oh, how's that?
Speaker 8: He says he saw these men this morning here in Nincenada.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's sure about that, is he?
Speaker 8: Yes, sir, he says he's sure. He says, the two
Speaker 8: men were here last night, right here in the station.
Speaker 2: You mean you're a man booked the men? They committed
Speaker 2: some kind of crime.
Speaker 8: Oh, no, sir, they came in to report a crime.
Speaker 2: Eight twenty pm.
Speaker 5: On further questioning, the assistant to the ENSNATA Commandant of
Speaker 5: Police told us that the night before, two men answering
Speaker 5: Powell and Selby's description, had come in to file a
Speaker 5: complaint at the Central police station. They charged that they'd
Speaker 5: had their pockets picked at a local bar while they
Speaker 5: were under the influence of alcohol. The two complainants, who
Speaker 5: matched Powell's and Selby's descriptions perfectly signed themselves Je Dennis
Speaker 5: and Harold Thompson, both from Presno, California, the same names
Speaker 5: and addresses that had been used by the occupants of
Speaker 5: the South Side Los Angeles hotel room where the discarded
Speaker 5: prison uniforms had been found a day and.
Speaker 2: A half before.
Speaker 5: After a brief talk with a police commandant, he dispatched
Speaker 5: a special detail to go out and pick up the
Speaker 5: two men registered as Dennis and Thompson at a motel
Speaker 5: near the south end of the city. At the Commandant's request,
Speaker 5: we remained at the office. Nine pm nine thirty the
Speaker 5: detail assigned to the job returned, but with only one
Speaker 5: of the suspects with him, Andrew Powell, while resisting arrest.
Speaker 5: The other suspect, identified as Selby, received a cut forward
Speaker 5: and was being taken to a local clinic for treatment.
Speaker 5: The commandant briefed us on what had happened. Their ooms
Speaker 5: were searched Office of Friday.
Speaker 8: Some money was found. Also two gune say rivolrey shud
Speaker 8: gun here they are.
Speaker 2: All right, thanks for very much. Well, Paul, how about it?
Speaker 2: You're ready to cop out?
Speaker 6: What are you talking about? Cop out? Would you guys
Speaker 6: come all the way down here for anyway. You can't
Speaker 6: touch us. What makes you think we can? You can't.
Speaker 6: That's all you know about it. You can't arrest us
Speaker 6: down here. No jurisdiction. We didn't arrestue Paul. The Mexican
Speaker 6: officers did.
Speaker 9: Okay, find out how they expect to get us out
Speaker 9: of Mexico. Yes again, Copper you know you can't do it.
Speaker 9: You haven't got the right.
Speaker 5: Maybe you want to tell us where you have the loot,
Speaker 5: the money you're took in those hold ups.
Speaker 9: Why should I look? Why don't you admit it? We
Speaker 9: got your beat, we got over the line. You can't
Speaker 9: touch this down here.
Speaker 5: I don't bet on that, mister comment down, Yes, sir,
Speaker 5: you want to tell them how it stands.
Speaker 8: I will see that the end Island charge of the
Speaker 8: Northern District is notified. In the morning of your case.
Speaker 8: You will see that you and your partner are deported.
Speaker 9: What are you trying to pull? You can't do that.
Speaker 9: You know it's illegal, so's robbery. Paul, Come up, It
Speaker 9: doesn't make any difference. You can't touch this in Mexico.
Speaker 9: It's against the law. You can't touch it.
Speaker 10: A popular misconception, mister Paul, I'm afraid you have made
Speaker 10: a mistake.
Speaker 2: If you like to compass the word, how long would
Speaker 2: it be for us to receive the prisoners at the answer?
Speaker 8: I don't know A long time. I think maybe as
Speaker 8: long as one o'clock tomorrow.
Speaker 9: You know you can't do this. You'll never get away
Speaker 9: with it. I know a lawyer one I'll get him
Speaker 9: to train that out.
Speaker 8: You understand, sergeant, we can't hand this man over to
Speaker 8: you now.
Speaker 10: But if you will be at the international border at
Speaker 10: one o'clock tomorrow, I'm sure they'll be crossing over.
Speaker 6: You can't do this. It's illegal. You know you can't.
Speaker 9: We're gonna try wasting your time. Why don't you admit it.
Speaker 9: You can't arrest us. We got over the line, we
Speaker 9: got your beat. You can't arrest us.
Speaker 8: And you know it.
Speaker 4: You know that.
Speaker 2: There's only one thing I know for sure.
Speaker 6: Powell.
Speaker 2: Yeah, San Quentin, you got out and you're going back.
Speaker 3: The story you have just heard was true. The names
Speaker 3: were changed to protect the innocent.
Speaker 4: On December ninth, trial was held in Superior Court, Department
Speaker 4: eighty seven, City in County of Los Angeles, State of California.
Speaker 4: In a moment the results of that trial, Andrew Powell
Speaker 4: and Bertram Selby were deported from Mexico as undesirable aliens
Speaker 4: and turned over to US authorities at the international boarder.
Speaker 4: They were immediately arrested by police officers on the American
Speaker 4: side and returned to Los Angeles for trial. They pled
Speaker 4: guilty to four counts of first degree robbery and received
Speaker 4: sentences as prescribed by law. First degree robbery is punishable
Speaker 4: by a prison term of from five years to life.
Speaker 4: After being returned to San Quentin, Powell and Selby were
Speaker 4: filed on, tried, and convicted of escape. Both of them
Speaker 4: are now serving life terms in fulsome state penitentiary Represser California.
Speaker 3: For their cooperation in preparing tonight's broadcast. Dragnet wishes to
Speaker 3: thank Chief of Police Adamy Jansen in the San Diego
Speaker 3: Police Department.
Speaker 4: You have just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases
Speaker 4: from official files. Technical advice comes from the Office of
Speaker 4: Chief of Police W. H. Parker, Los Angeles Police Department
Speaker 4: Technical advisors, Captain Jack Donaho, Sergeant Marty Winn, Sergeant Van Sprascher.
Speaker 4: Heard Tonight where Barney Phillips with Connor Herbellus. Script by
Speaker 4: Jim Mozer, music by Walter Schumann. Hell give me Speaking.
Speaker 2: Now, It's counter Spy on NBC.
Speaker 1: Welcome Back Well, an episode that illustrated the dangers of
Speaker 1: believing a cultural myth when it really matters. In this case,
Speaker 1: a lot of people had the idea that if you
Speaker 1: committed a crime and you escaped across the Mexican border.
Speaker 1: You were home free. And this reveals the truth. No,
Speaker 1: not really, not at all. Really. Now, it is true,
Speaker 1: of course that Sergeant Friday couldn't arrest them on Mexican soil,
Speaker 1: But the truth is that Mexico has had a longstanding
Speaker 1: extradition treaty with the United States, but they didn't even
Speaker 1: bother with that, as you were dealing with a clear
Speaker 1: case of escape convicts entering the country under an assumed name,
Speaker 1: just going ahead and expelling them as undesirable aliens. That'll
Speaker 1: do the track.
Speaker 6: Now.
Speaker 1: Of course, like with many popular myths, there is a
Speaker 1: kernel of truth that the myth is based on. As
Speaker 1: someone in law enforcement, you don't want your suspect escaping
Speaker 1: to Mexico because you don't have jurisdiction there to follow
Speaker 1: a legal process. You're going to end up losing time
Speaker 1: and giving your fugitive a head start into the country
Speaker 1: while you arrange things through proper channels. And in fact,
Speaker 1: many fugitives have escaped from Mexico and remain hidden for
Speaker 1: years because there are a lot of places to hide,
Speaker 1: particularly if you know people who will help you, or
Speaker 1: you know the country, or you understand the process and
Speaker 1: you keep moving. If, on the other hand, you stay
Speaker 1: relatively close to the border, and you so much assume
Speaker 1: that you are home free in Mexico that you feel
Speaker 1: free to go into the police station to file a
Speaker 1: complaint about a pickpocket, then it will be a lot
Speaker 1: easier for you to be caught. Now it's time to think.
Speaker 1: Our Patreon supporter of the day, I want to go
Speaker 1: ahead and thank Christine, Patreon supporter since March twenty eighteen,
Speaker 1: currently supporting the podcast at the Shawmus level of four
Speaker 1: dollars or more per month. Thanks so much for your support, Christine,
Speaker 1: and that will do it for today. If you're enjoying
Speaker 1: the point cast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software.
Speaker 1: And if you're enjoying the podcast on YouTube, be sure
Speaker 1: to lock the video, subscribe to the channel, and mark
Speaker 1: the notification bell. We will be back next Thursday with
Speaker 1: another episode of drag Net. But join us back here
Speaker 1: tomorrow for yours truly, John, eat all our ware now.
Speaker 11: As you were saying, mister Herling, yes, mister Doner, I
Speaker 11: certainly hope mister.
Speaker 3: Moody shows up again.
Speaker 6: Your fine man, fine man.
Speaker 11: Used to come down here at the store for quiet
Speaker 11: game of checkers. Now man, and the police have no
Speaker 11: idea where he might have gone or why. Yeah, well,
Speaker 11: I guess I'm about the only police we have here
Speaker 11: in Kirkwood. All of course, I notified the state police,
Speaker 11: and I.
Speaker 2: Presume they're still looking.
Speaker 11: For just what happened. Mister Hrling just took the bus.
Speaker 2: Into Philadelphia one day.
Speaker 11: Well, let's the last.
Speaker 2: We heard of him.
Speaker 11: Do you know anything about the beneficiary of his insurance.
Speaker 11: Let's see, according to my list, it's your nephew, mister Dollar. Yeah,
Speaker 11: Charles Mordy lives out in California. Yeah, mister Moody always
Speaker 11: felt that he was the most deserving of his relatives,
Speaker 11: left him everything, well, the insurance and his money. Yes,
Speaker 11: you know, I know, because I'm the only lawyer here
Speaker 11: in Kirkwood, and I made out a will for her.
Speaker 11: You say, just the money to his nephew, except for
Speaker 11: his wine cellar.
Speaker 3: All his property will go to the.
Speaker 11: Town wine cellar.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 11: If mister Moody doesn't come back, or if he's proved
Speaker 11: to be dead, the wine cellar will go over to
Speaker 11: a man over in Philadelphia had themselves a sort of
Speaker 11: a girl met club.
Speaker 6: I guess you'd call it. I see.
Speaker 11: But now tell me, you know, I kind of wish
Speaker 11: he will meet that wine cellar. Oh, you should see
Speaker 11: the collection he has there from all over the world,
Speaker 11: German wines and French. And I'm sure.
Speaker 1: I hope you'll be with us then in the meantime.
Speaker 1: Send your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net,
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Speaker 1: out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com slash Great Detectives From Boise, Idaho.
Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham's son and off