Speaker 1: Welcome to the great Detectives of Old time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're
going to bring you this week's episode of Dragonnet. But
first I want to encourage you, if you're enjoying the podcast,
to follow us using your favorite podcast software. Today's program
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one five nine one three. That's peelbox one five nine thirteen, Boise,
Altaho eight three seven one five. But now here is
the one hundredth radio episode of Dragnet from May tenth,
nineteen fifty one.
Speaker 2: The Big Drills.
Speaker 3: The story you were about to hear is true, only
the names have been changed to protect the innocent. You're
a detective sergeant. You're assigned to burglary detail. For the
past eighteen weeks, a gang of safe men have been
breaking into large grocery stores all over the city.
Speaker 4: They work fast. You can't localize their operations.
Speaker 5: Your job get.
Speaker 6: Them Dragnet the documented drama of an actual crime. While
the next thirty minutes in cooperation with the Los Angeles
Police Department.
Speaker 5: You will travel step by step on the side of
the law through an.
Speaker 6: Actual case transcribed from official police files. From beginning to end,
from crime to punishment. Dragnet is the story of your
police force and action.
Speaker 7: It was Wednesday, September sixteenth, was hot in Los Angeles.
We're working a day watch out of burgery detail. My
partner's Ben Romero. The boss's Captain Wisdom. My name is Friday.
It was seven forty five am when I got to
the service station on the corner the phone booth.
Speaker 4: Anyhow two five two four please.
Speaker 8: Breg Maury Rubles, I.
Speaker 4: Take this fidy Romero there, Moman, Joe, thank you, Hey Romeo,
I'll take two.
Speaker 8: Romero.
Speaker 4: Is Friday? Ben?
Speaker 8: Yeah? Where you've been?
Speaker 4: Wow? My car again? Something's wrong with that distributor. I'm
gonna leave it at the service station and I'll grab
a street car down.
Speaker 8: Huh heyhead again Joe. It's gonna make a thirty seven job.
Speaker 4: We're at this time.
Speaker 8: We have some brothers market Melrose and Green drilled us
safe and walked out with four hundred and sixty two dollars.
Speaker 4: Steakhouts are doing a lot of good, aren't they. I'm
worn out from last night.
Speaker 8: I didn't get any sleep. Beat the just that time
to go home, brush my teeth when this thing broke.
Speaker 4: Okay, you said, Melrose and Green.
Speaker 8: Yeah right, I won't wait for you. I'll go right
on out there. Armstrong and Rubles just left right.
Speaker 4: I can get over there as fast as I can.
Speaker 8: Oh Man went down here, bright and merrily. Thank you, jobbing.
Speaker 4: Okay, I'll see you later.
Speaker 8: Huh oh, Joe just meant it. Gibber just came in
the end there right anywhere to Melrose.
Speaker 9: I's ry.
Speaker 4: Why do you get back? I want to see you
two of my officer right.
Speaker 8: I guess you heard it?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I did?
Speaker 8: Gets you the kail from the dome of his voice.
Speaker 4: Yeah, sounds a little upset. How's he loved the same way.
For eighteen weeks, Ben and I had been assigned to
this same case.
Speaker 7: The burglary gang was victimizing only Wilson Brothers Market throughout
the city and in surrounding towns adjacent to the city
of Los Angeles.
Speaker 4: Their criminal activities had given them.
Speaker 10: Well over one hundred thousand dollars stolen from these various markets,
additional officers were assigned from the Metropolitan Division, and the
case had grown.
Speaker 4: To large proportions. It was twelve minutes.
Speaker 7: Past eight when I arrived at Melrose and Green Streets,
the latest Wilson market to be victimized.
Speaker 4: Same thing, Joe, just like Colore. Yeah the crime, I
have fined anything, been here and gone.
Speaker 10: We found a few particles of claw, probably from the
guy's bloods, some metal shavings for spectrographical analysis, same as.
Speaker 4: On all the other job how the game, the entry,
same way on front, looks like a tyren ride the.
Speaker 10: Door, come about the burglar a line, No problem, there's
a ladder.
Speaker 4: I'm up and take a lot.
Speaker 8: Yeah, see yeah, I see it.
Speaker 4: Cut the key leaves again. Huh. Now thing's different, Joe,
just exactly the same all around. Really cares if then?
Speaker 10: Yeah, two hundred and fifty two men on the stakeout
last night, and they know just which market to hit.
Speaker 4: One that isn't covered.
Speaker 10: When you figure Wilson's got over three hundred stores, we
can't cover them all.
Speaker 4: I think we might have some of the luck we
sure overdue. Nobody could be this lucky this long. You
know they're out to break the record. I haven't turned
up anything to do at all, not so far. I've
been looking around. Come on, yeah, Rubles and Armstrong in
the store.
Speaker 10: Yeah, they're taking them back of the store of stock room, employees,
locker room.
Speaker 4: And how much is taken goes you on the phone.
Speaker 10: Four hundred and sixty two dollars some checks about two
hundred dollars worth.
Speaker 4: Well, this is Wednesday. I suppose the thieves have discontinued
the weekend jobs.
Speaker 10: I don't know.
Speaker 4: Your guess is as good as mine.
Speaker 10: Here's a buck, yeah, sure, good clean job. A lot
different those first ones.
Speaker 11: Huh.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they've come a long way. It was safe for
certainly well lighted whenever up there, Bill Bunning when we
got here. Doesn't do much good with.
Speaker 10: All those boxes piled up over there in front of
the window, though Maner says he went there when he
closed up there. Now nothing seems to botto room, does it.
They move in, don't chance turning out the light. They
just pile crates up between themselves in the street, and
then they take their time going the box.
Speaker 4: That's it. There's the usual empty pop bottle, three of them,
cool of bits with you know, Hi Friday didn't know
you were here. Ye, Rubles, are you have we got something? Yeah,
fist he's out of the drain in the bathroom. What
you got? Looks like they're trying to get rid of some.
Speaker 10: Of the checks torn up and it's fishing license written too.
Speaker 4: Could I see the Charles W. Royal issued last month?
Speaker 10: A good chance he might have carried the license in
his pocket and got it mixed up with the checks first.
Maybe he was going to take the checks but changed
his mind, tore him up the license with him. Let's
hope you're right to day, but it might just belong
to some employee here.
Speaker 4: Well, we've been kind of figuring these jobs might have
an inside connection. Maybe this is it. Let's check it out. Yeah,
maybe this is the break we've been looking for. We
went back to the office and checked the name Charles W.
Royal through R and I. No record.
Speaker 7: We contacted the management of the Wilson Markets. He had
been an employee at the store which was just held up.
He'd been transferred six months prior to their van Ey's branch.
In checking back, we found that the Vaney's Market was one.
Speaker 4: Of the first stores to be burglarize.
Speaker 10: It was placed under surveillance for several days, and during
this period another Wilson market was Burgeride.
Speaker 7: The officers conducting a surveillance accounted for all of Royal's
time during the burglary. It was brought in for questioning
were cleared of any complicity in the burglaries. Monday, September
twenty eighth, eight am, we met with capt'n Wisdom.
Speaker 10: The reason for royal fishing license being in with those
checks was because he left it behind at that store
when he was transferred.
Speaker 4: That's right.
Speaker 10: Manager of the store confirmed it that he kept it
in the safe for him so it wouldn't get lost.
Speaker 4: That lead went nowhere, and none of them go anywhere.
We don't get any leads.
Speaker 10: Men, No kickbacks on any of our teletypes. Apb's radiogram
between Armstrong, Rubles and Ben and I. The girls in
the stats office think we're on the payroll down there.
We're wearing out the cards having to make runs on
the game's m for us. How about that last stuff
Breton from the CII sent down.
Speaker 4: Then we checked all three of them out. Nothing.
Speaker 10: Boys in the crime lab got a lot of physical
evidence that they could make something out of it.
Speaker 4: That's just it. You can't make something out of nothing.
You haven't got much up there. A few steel shavings
off those safe, a couple of.
Speaker 10: Broken bits, handfull of cotton fuzz I think is off.
The guy's gloves can't work miracles.
Speaker 4: Yeah, sure, I don't think we've overlooked any in Cap'n.
Speaker 10: Every neighborhood in the vicinity of every burglary has been
checked and rechecked.
Speaker 4: And all you turned up was that one woman now,
the one that saw the three men out in the
back of the Wilson Market overr on Vermont. She thought
they worked there, didn't know she'd witnessed the burgery. We
told her she couldn't identify an apple. I just checked
with the Sheriff's office.
Speaker 10: These burglaries are driving them crazy too, Only it's voice
from the parole office.
Speaker 4: Been trying to give us a hand.
Speaker 10: Have checked out everything they sent us on dischargees and parole.
Speaker 4: Nothing fit well.
Speaker 10: Did the markets seem to be cooperating, holding up their
end as they were instructed?
Speaker 4: Well, as far as we can tell, right to the letter.
Speaker 10: You know, all the safes that were concealed in anyway
have been moved out in a more conspicuous spot.
Speaker 4: All well eliminated.
Speaker 7: Wilson Company has bought better made safe to replace the
ones that we're broken into that are replacing their old
models as fast as they can. Doesn't seem to stop them. Yeah,
all that's according a book. Doesn't figure it.
Speaker 10: All those precautions, they'd be foolish enough to tip off
the thieves.
Speaker 4: I mean here, pick a look at this. Yeah, Washing
and Gun turned this up at that venus full of
our job night before and last let me a graft
stakeout instructions.
Speaker 10: That's right put out by the management of the markets
every time we informed them of a stake out at night,
they put these inner store memos on.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that was for the purpose of informing all the.
Speaker 10: Different store managers of the police Department's plan so they'd
be sure and comply with our instructions. Motive was okay,
but the effects have been causing us more trouble than
we know. We weren't these destroyed after the store managers
read them.
Speaker 4: Apparently not.
Speaker 10: We'd notify the management of the stores to be staked
out a week in advance so that they could quietly
let the stores know about it.
Speaker 4: Whether we wanted the lights left on and turned off
to move the safe out of hiding all.
Speaker 10: The various instructions, and the management if the market changes
took it on themselves to send out these memio sheets.
You know, not only that in checking the last couple
of jobs, either these sheets were in the manager's desks
or they were posted in the store someplace. All what
Beves had to do was go through a desk or
check a bullet and boardening and right where we'd be
without this advanced information. Maybe it'll slow them down. Maybe
we can write in on part of the luck we'd Yeah,
Now come on over here at the pin map Friday
and red pin for you and one for you rom Merrow,
you'll put them in. I got calllesses of my thumb
from trying to keep up with those things.
Speaker 4: Who you know, Vellis Boulevard and rock Well from us
myth huh. You just look at him on there.
Speaker 10: They're gonna run uside of pins if we don't blow
the whistle on them.
Speaker 4: And I'm getting a little sick of it myself.
Speaker 10: You take a good look at the map here, all
the red pins of these market jobs in and around
here and through here. Now, as you know, Wilson's got
stores throughout most of southern California. Yeah, they've hid in
and around the metropolitan area a Mona, Glendale, a couple
of times at the beach cities.
Speaker 4: Look over here.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 10: Now for some reason, the leaving Eagle Rock alone. There's
seven Wilson markets out there, and not one of them
have been touched.
Speaker 4: Or maybe they'll hit there next huh.
Speaker 10: And we double checked all Cruiser units out there, told
them to be doubly alert, also to report any suspicious
moves arounder any of the stores. I want to report
in any and all cars driving below normal speeds anywhere
near those markets, anything even remotely out of line. There's
seven stores in the around that area.
Speaker 4: Excuse me, Burglary.
Speaker 5: Wisdom, Hi, going, Who's that.
Speaker 4: They did Colorado on Brian Yeah right away, Yep, that
was Lieutenant Vaughan Highland Park. I was wrong.
Speaker 10: There's only six stores in Ingle Rock, now, what I mean,
they're not going over last night.
Speaker 7: The preliminary investigation of the Wilson Brothers market and Eagle
Rock yielded no additional physical evidence, but it definitely showed
that we were dealing with the same gang of thieves
in this last burglary, they got away with eighteen hundred
and fifty two dollars.
Speaker 4: One thirty four.
Speaker 7: Pm, after five hours of continuous checking in the immediate
neighborhood of the latest market to be burglarized, Ben and
I located a Missus Olive Rebard.
Speaker 10: We felt sure that we'd reached the turning point in
the case. Missus Rebard had seen two.
Speaker 7: Of the gang members at work in the Wilson Market
at Colorado and Bryce and Eagle Rock. She agreed to
come downtown and go through photographs of criminal suspects.
Speaker 4: No, not any of these. Let's try the next two paces.
There are a lot of them, aren't the Yes, ma'am.
There's still a lot more to go here.
Speaker 11: I see.
Speaker 4: No one of these sons.
Speaker 8: This book.
Speaker 4: How many does that make we've been through? I believe
this one makes fifteen.
Speaker 11: Looking at all those faces makes you wonder are there
any honest people?
Speaker 4: I always books represent an accumulation of many years. You understand, you.
Speaker 11: Keep pictures of everybody ever been in prison, well within
our jurisdiction.
Speaker 10: Yes, and a great many more besides. I see, man,
how about that fulsome book up there for forty five
and forty six.
Speaker 4: All right, I'll put this one back fine forty six. Yeah,
that's it, And here we are you ready, missus leeb
all right, No, no, I don't believe it's any of them.
Turn the next dace, and how about these.
Speaker 11: H this one?
Speaker 4: No, No, that one fellow looked a little like one
of them. I thought he did it first. Which one
was that? This one? No? I was I was wrong.
You looked familiar with first glance. Well, now we told
you before, mis reebn.
Speaker 10: If any of these men in their ears, eyes, nose, chin,
any part of them looks like any part of the
men that you saw, we'd like to know that.
Speaker 4: We'll have our sergeant put off up in their crime
lab drop a composite for you. You mean you put
all the different features together, Yes, ma'am. You think it
might helpen anyway, I mean will certainly help.
Speaker 12: Right.
Speaker 11: I didn't realize that you were that thoroughly to be well,
I'm just not that sure about any of their features.
Just like I told you, I didn't get too good
a look at them, but I thought I might remember.
There's so many pictures here.
Speaker 4: We would you like to rest a little on as
webard we've been going at this thing for about two hours. No,
that's all right. I want to help if I can,
thank God, open this door a little joe, all right.
I got a little draft in from the hall, gets
a little stuff in you. Sometimes. I wonder if you'd
like a cold drink or some kind of coke something out.
Thank you, that's very kind. I'm careful one, all right?
You like to go on?
Speaker 11: Yes?
Speaker 4: Mm hm.
Speaker 11: You understand that when I saw these men in the store,
I had to look through the front window. We must
have been at least for feet away from me. I
had a shot to be heard, Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 4: We understand.
Speaker 11: They didn't come over to me at all. I just
can't believe that they were really those lightning burglars. Isn't
that what the paper called?
Speaker 4: Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 11: They were just as big as light They're standing behind
the meat counter. They even had on the butcher's ay
for Still hard to believe, because they didn't act like.
Speaker 4: Burglers at all. Sometimes they don't.
Speaker 11: The only thing that struck me funny was that anybody
be working there on a Sunday. I've seen men in
there before. It just didn't seem right that they'd be
working there.
Speaker 4: I wanted to get in to.
Speaker 11: Pick up a box of starch. They told me to
come back Monday morning when they were open.
Speaker 10: If you could have seen over the counter from where
you were standing, you would have seen the floor safe
right there in the meat department.
Speaker 4: They were trying to open it known it.
Speaker 11: You're sure you people couldn't have made a mistake.
Speaker 10: No, ma'am, I don't think so. We've checked there and
there was no authorized employees in that story. Yesterday morning.
Speaker 4: Must have been then, yeah, we're pretty sure it was.
And let me help your damages right by. These pages
are stuck together.
Speaker 11: I've seen so many photographs. They're only going to look
alike to me.
Speaker 4: You'd like to rest a while, It's fine, Maybe you'd
like to go home, come back a little later. Do
you know something that I'm positive now I wouldn't know
those men if I saw.
Speaker 6: You are listening to drag Net from beginning to end.
Drag Net is the authentic story of your police force
and action.
Speaker 7: M Once more, what appeared to first be a good
lead dissolved into nothing. The stakeouts were continued. Everything possible
was being done to apprehend them. The burglaries of the
Wilson markets continued. On the night of October third, Officers D. B.
O'Connell and P. W. Murphy were working the stakeout on
one of the Wilson markets in Eagle Rock.
Speaker 4: At two thirty three am.
Speaker 10: They had observed a great Board Coop California licensed nine
Robert nine eight one three driving at normal speed until
reaching the storefront and then slowing down perceptibly, showing unusual
interest in the market. Lieutenant Armstrong and Sergeant Rubles check
the license number through DMV.
Speaker 4: The car was registered to a Clyde R.
Speaker 10: Bingham two three three South Carmona Place in Eagle Rock.
It was placed under surveillance while we made a thorough
check into his background. We located him at the Neighborhood
Bar on Colorado Boulevard.
Speaker 4: We talked to him for an hour, so that's it.
Speaker 10: I'm not sure, man, Are you sure you didn't drive
fast that Wilson market on Bellevue Avenue. I didn't say,
I've never done driven by it, but not on the night.
You said, well, have you driven by it another Night's
I wouldn't remember that. I live out here and I'd
drive down Beltue a lot, but I don't know if
I've ever been by that market.
Speaker 4: I suppose I have.
Speaker 10: We have your likings number, and the word of two
officers will tell you. I'm fraid they must be mistaken.
You have the word of Benny and Walt. You just
talk to them. I told you I was here on
the night of October third. I stayed here until almost daylight,
talking to Walt. He closed up at two, and sat
around and talked. What'd you say your car was parked
all this time right out in front? Ben Wal told
you that too. I'm telling you I never left this place.
Speaker 4: The other night.
Speaker 5: Is it possible you could have forgotten.
Speaker 10: Not all three of us and you didn't loan your
cart anybody? No, sir, I never loaned my car stayed
right out there in front. What'd you say you did
after this place closed? As I said, I sat around
and talked to Wall he owns the place. What'd you
talk about? Well, I don't know all this, and that
I don't recall exactly. You go to work the following day, Yes,
I did it. It's funny you'd sit up on that
talking and go to work.
Speaker 4: I don't have to be to work until I please.
You know my own books. You know, when you run
your business all by yourself. No, I have two secretaries.
They make up.
Speaker 10: Checks, keep the books. What kind of business did you
say you were in business management?
Speaker 11: You know.
Speaker 10: The thing that bothers me is why you're asking me
all these questions. Routine investigation and sound very routine to me.
I don't understand well on an assignment. During the course
of that assignment, it became necessary to interrogate you. I
still don't understand anything else you want to know, No, sir,
I think that pretty well covers it. Something I'd like
to know.
Speaker 4: Yeah, is there a law against slowing down in front
of a market?
Speaker 7: Ben and I felt that Bingham was lying for some
reason that we were not aware of. All efforts were
made to determine that reason. We made a complete search
of his residents. His relatives, friends, and associates were interrogated.
The two men who had alibied for him were checked out.
No evidence was obtained to connect him in any way
with the Wilson Market burglaries. A surveillance was continued on
the three men. During the next two weeks, another market
was burglarized. None of the three men could have been
involved in any way. Another month went by, the burglaries
continued unchecked. The newspapers had dubbed them the Lightning bandits.
There was only one exception to the title. By this time,
they'd begun to repeat on markets to hit again where
they had burglarized the safe previously. December third, four am,
Ben and I were cruising the central area of the
section not covered by steakhom.
Speaker 10: I figured there's only one way to beat this thing. Now,
what's that as for a transfer before they offer us one? Well,
it seems like every way we turned or stopped, no
leads nothing here. It is almost Christmas again. Those markets
these started last Easter.
Speaker 12: Yeah, I know.
Speaker 4: Now we got everything covered again tonight as best we can.
Speaker 10: We could just keep all the markets covered at one time.
Well that's been done a couple of times, you know that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I know that. But keep them covered all the time.
Do we get to them? If we had demand far,
we could do it. Yeah, you want to swing in
close to the curb. Here's another market yet see anything? No,
nothing on this side.
Speaker 10: We can't see the safe in there, can you No,
those vegetable counters are partially blocking it.
Speaker 4: Lights on all.
Speaker 10: Yeah, this side's clear to rear of the store, backs
up against that other building, doesn't Yeah, only a front
and side entrance.
Speaker 4: They swing around again. Will you make a U Do
you see something?
Speaker 10: No, I'm not sure. Just pull back up in front again.
Huh right, okay, this is fine. I want to kill
your engine.
Speaker 4: You hear that. I'm not sure. I come on, you
hear it now? Now I stopped. Come on, they're throwing
vegetables at that front window.
Speaker 7: I trying to draw our attention here. Now you cover
the side. I'll try to force to you. Right, there's
a news right right, I say it.
Speaker 4: All right, you want to shake him down?
Speaker 5: All right?
Speaker 4: All right, stand still, government, Joe. I'll see if there's
any more besides these two right through tip jaw. We'd
have had a tip. We'd gotten you a long time ago.
That's it, just these two.
Speaker 5: Somebody must tip jaw. You couldn't be this lucky.
Speaker 4: Why not? You've had your share. The two men were
taken into custody.
Speaker 7: Inn were identified as Wilfrid Lawson and Thomas Greenfield.
Speaker 4: A check with ON and I showed no previous record
on either man.
Speaker 7: After a short interrogation, Wilfrid Lawson admitted his part in
all of the burglaries of the Wilson Brothers markets. He
steadily refused to give us any information as to the
other possible members of the burglary game. Thomas Greenfield was interrogated.
He was the more timid of the two and claimed
that this was the first job he'd been on with Lawson,
that he did not know of any other members of
the gang, that he'd only served as lookout on this
particular burglary, that he was not deeply involved in. Further
investigation of the two suspects, Armstrong and Rubel found that
they had been seen in the company of still another man,
was impossible to get any kind of lead on the
remaining suspect.
Speaker 10: We took the matter up with Captain Wisdom. It was
our combined belief that we should allow Thomas Greenfield to
be released on the grounds that we believed this story
about his slight part in the crimes. He was placed
under close twenty four hour surveillance. Thursday, December sixth, two
days after we'd released Thomas Greenfield, we were calling the
Captain Wisdom's office. Yes, we played it the right way,
letting Thomas go. How do you mean, well, first, of all,
we passed one up last October. You remember Bingham guide
driving slow past to market in Nigrok. Yeah, well here's
the one we watched and these two letters both postmarked. Hey,
we picked him up on that mail stop on Lawson?
Really from Thomas? Yeah, a couple of choice parts. Yeah,
listen to this. Client says to tell you he's not
sore anymore. Ever since that mix up him and the
Wall and Benny decided this was the best way to
play it. He says he'd want no part of what's yours.
And then there's a lot more here. Says he'll get
an attorney for Lawson, and he thinks he really put
one over on us.
Speaker 4: Anyway, all three of m murnered it all the way.
Speaker 10: Well, how does Bingham figure in it? We had him
under surveillance, didn't they you. We'll listen to this from
this other letter they I heard it is. I've been
talking with C. B Clide Bingham getting real clever now
using initials. I've been talking with CB several times only
on the phone. He's really not sore. He only laid
out since that time he figured he might be high.
Speaker 4: That's enough, isn't It's all there, dad, Okay, you got
one to roll on? Yeah, go out and pick him up.
This time, we'll keep him.
Speaker 5: The story you have just.
Speaker 4: Heard was true, only the names were changed to protect
the innocent.
Speaker 6: On March twenty, second trial was held in Superior Court,
Department eighty eighth, City and County of Los Angeles, State
of California.
Speaker 5: In a moment the results of that trial, all.
Speaker 6: Three suspects, Wilfrid George Lawson, Clyde Robert Bingham, and Thomas
Lewell and Greenfield were filed on for burglary in the
second degree.
Speaker 4: Wilford G.
Speaker 6: Lawson was filed on for twelve counts, Clyde R. Bingham
for six counts, Thomas L. Greenfield for three counts. Sentences
to run consecutively. They are now serving their time in
the state penitentiary. In view of the fact that the
authorities were unable to prove the defendants were armed at
the time of the burglaries and the stores were not inhabited,
they could only be filed on for burglary in the
second degree. Second degree burglary is punishable by a term
of not less than one nor more than fifteen years.
Speaker 3: Ladies and gentlemen, we wish to gratefully acknowledge the Michael Award,
presented by the Academy of Radio and Television Arts and Sciences.
The Academy voted Dragnet the finest program of its kinds
with deep humility that Dragnet accepts this citation, the highest
award bestowed by the radio and television industries.
Speaker 5: You have just heard Dragnet. A series of authentic cases
from official files.
Speaker 6: Technical advice comes from the Office of Chief of Police
wh Parker, Los Angeles Police Department.
Speaker 12: Day two and for Counterspy next over most NBC stations,
welcome back.
Speaker 1: This one was an episode that when you get brought
down to it was about the challenge of conducting an
investigation and the fact that luck plays a role for
both the policeman and the criminals. I should say a
parent look, and this is a case where you have
to admit that the criminals had come up with.
Speaker 2: A pretty good method.
Speaker 1: As you've got this massive chain of hundreds of stores,
you can't possibly cover them all, and you really can't
predict which one of these two or three hundred stores
the criminals were going to strike at. And then of
course you have a witness who can't identify anybody, and
I sympathize with them, and I sympathize with her as
I listened to her going through the books, It's like, Yeah,
that's me all over. I'm horrible at remembering faces and
what people look like. I'm not quite face blind, which
is a real thing. But if I'm outside of a
store and there are a couple guys in meat department uniforms,
and then I think to tell the police about it later,
I'm not going to be able to tell them much
aside from maybe race facial hair. If I ever provided
information that helped the police, it would be some random
thing I noticed, or a couple numbers off a license plate.
Speaker 2: But no, nothing like that.
Speaker 1: So I understand her point, but again it leaves Friday
and Ramarro in a difficult spot. And this is a
case where you know, you can say different things. You
just got to go out there and work harder, or
you know, you just need a brilliant plan. But that's
not what happens here. Even though there are times in
Dragnet where somebody comes up with a clever idea that
changes things up and goes a little outside the box,
but most of the time the police saw the case
through the marriage of a plan that's worked before in
similar cases to diligence and carrying it out. It's t
that is and difficult, but sometimes it's the only thing
that gets the job done. Or Ben was so tired
of it he was hoping to get reassigned before the
next episode. But thankfully that's where the break came. Listener
comments and feedback and we go to Spotify. We're regarding
the big speech a chameleon of Central Police Headquarters rights
Joe and his mom must be a blast at parties. Well,
I would say that it is possible to be very
serious but to also be able to lighten up and
have a good time. I would say in theory, I
do think that when it comes to Joe Friday, there
is an image that Friday acquired as kind of a
stick in the mud.
Speaker 2: Though I would say that in some ways it's a bit.
Speaker 1: Similar to Batman, and that he becomes so dedicated to
the job and so married to the job that it
becomes his identity. That may be part of the reason
why there are many people who prefer Adam twelve to
the sixties dragging that Martin Milner as Pete malloy could
be very intense and serious, but he had a lighter side.
He liked to joke around even between calls. He actually
had some relationships as the show went on in a
really good sense of humor. No, I will say that
if I theoretically ended up at a party with the
old Friday and probably end up hanging out with him,
because I'm also bad at parties.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, now it's.
Speaker 1: Time to thank our Patreon supporter of the day, and
I want to go ahead and thank Mark, Patreon supporter
since March of twenty twenty, currently supporting the podcast at
the Shawmus level of four dollars or more per month.
Thanks so much for your support, Mark, and that will
do it for today. If you're enjoying the podcast, please
follow us using your favorite podcast software and be sure
to rate and review the podcast wherever you download it from.
We'll be back next Thursday with another episode of Dragnet.
But join us back here tomorrow for yours truly. Johnny Dollar, Where.
Speaker 2: And what's he doing here? Pullman?
Speaker 4: What's there to investigate?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 9: You may be trying to say I killed off the
herd myself to collect the insurance b said nothing of
the sort, And what's to investigate? I told you I
don't like this, and I'm telling you right to your face.
Speaker 4: You shouldn't talk like that. It's the truth.
Speaker 9: What do you think you're gonna do around here?
Speaker 2: Dollar?
Speaker 10: Bye?
Speaker 4: Please? Well, that depends mister turmbull.
Speaker 9: Does he have to say it's okay pullman before you
can pay my claim?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 4: He does.
Speaker 9: Well, believe me if I'd known this was the kind
of aut that I was dealing with paying premiums to. Okay,
all right, poke around as much as you want, stay
around as long as you like. We'll bed you down,
we'll feed you, we'll show you what kind of people
we are. Just don't get in my way. I've got
a lot of work to do. And don't tell me
I'm a crook.
Speaker 5: Now, let's be reasonable about this.
Speaker 2: Me, I'm being reasonable.
Speaker 1: You're the one hope you'll be with us then in
the meantime, send your comments to Box thirteen at Greatdetectives
dot net, follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and
check us out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com, slash Great
Detectives from Boise, Idaho. This is your host, Adam Graham
signing off