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,
Speaker 1: email it to me 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 Radio Detectives. Well,
Speaker 1: before we do get started, I do want to let
Speaker 1: you know the programs brought to you by the financial
Speaker 1: support of our listeners, and I particularly want to thank
Speaker 1: you for his support. You can support the show support
Speaker 1: dot Great Detectives dot net. You can also give to
Speaker 1: us on an ongoing basis recurring once a month Pytreon
Speaker 1: dot Great Detectives dot net, and we have levels from
Speaker 1: two dollars on up. A list available details there. But
Speaker 1: now it's time for today's episode of Dragnet. The original
Speaker 1: air date September fourteenth of nineteen fifty and the title
Speaker 1: is The Big Mac.
Speaker 2: The story you were about to hear is true, only
Speaker 2: the names have been changed to protect the innocent. You're
Speaker 2: a detective sergeant. You're assigned to robbery detail. The small
Speaker 2: bakery shop in your city is held up. A man
Speaker 2: and his daughter are shot down without reason. Your job getting.
Speaker 3: Drag meet the documented drama of an actual crime. For
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 to an actual case from official
Speaker 3: police files, from beginning to end, from crime to punishment.
Speaker 3: Dragnet is the story of your police force in action.
Speaker 4: It was Tuesday, November three, was Chile in Los Angeles.
Speaker 4: We were working the night watch out of robbery detail.
Speaker 4: My partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Captain ed Walker.
Speaker 4: My name is Friday. Was five minutes to midnight when
Speaker 4: we got to three eighteen Silver Avenue, Stendall's Bakery shop.
Speaker 5: A Maryland Friday Central robber at sixteen.
Speaker 6: Are my partner Olson's back there in the shop talking
Speaker 6: to the owner.
Speaker 4: You answered the call, did you?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 6: I must have been a crazy man. Shot two of
Speaker 6: them down, cold blood. They go in the ambulance now shot.
Speaker 4: Up pretty bad.
Speaker 5: Who runs the place?
Speaker 6: Swedish family named Stendall, father, mother, two daughters, All four
Speaker 6: of them work in the bakery here.
Speaker 4: They all here at the time of the robbery.
Speaker 6: Yeah, the hold up man shot the father and the
Speaker 6: oldest daughter. The mother and the younger girl are in
Speaker 6: the back straight through that door.
Speaker 5: Okay, thanks James, Right, Sergey, yo on the side of
Speaker 5: the door here looks like a bullet hole.
Speaker 4: Yeah, thy Jacob, Sergy, you want to call into the
Speaker 4: crime lab, ask who send somebody out?
Speaker 5: All right?
Speaker 4: Thank you?
Speaker 5: Hi you Olson. That's right, romere on Friday, sent for robbery.
Speaker 5: Oh how are you? These are two of the victims,
Speaker 5: missus Sidney Stendall, girls, her daughter named Jennifer. Any other
Speaker 5: witnesses not so far. Neighbor around here is pretty deserted
Speaker 5: this time of night. Hold up, man made a fast
Speaker 5: getaway and two people who were shocked. What kind of
Speaker 5: shape of then? And father and mister standle he's got
Speaker 5: a bullet wound on the right shoulder. Older daughter is
Speaker 5: a lot worse. Her name is June, nineteen years old.
Speaker 5: Chat four or five times in the stomach or do
Speaker 5: you want to stand by?
Speaker 4: Right? Yeah? Okay, missus Stendall, we're from robbery detail.
Speaker 7: Yeah, how do you do?
Speaker 4: How do you do?
Speaker 7: Jeannie was Alexei and Sis plats for her to go too.
Speaker 7: You will excuse me for not getting up offer It
Speaker 7: doesn't feel so bad.
Speaker 4: That's perfectly all right. Man.
Speaker 5: Oh, thank you, okay, thank you very much.
Speaker 4: You and your daughter here. We're in the front of
Speaker 4: the bakery shop at the time of the robbery, Is
Speaker 4: that right, miss Standle?
Speaker 8: No?
Speaker 7: Yeah, Nie was back here with her father. That's Lars,
Speaker 7: my husband. Unie and I were in the shop in front.
Speaker 5: Who were you with, man, Uni?
Speaker 7: Uni and I MoMA means June, my older sister, she
Speaker 7: calls it Uni.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Yun oh yeah, do you mind telling us what happened?
Speaker 7: Well, Yun, and I was scrubbing the floor of the shop.
Speaker 7: You choose the nightly scrubbed the floor of the shop.
Speaker 7: Then this man came in and pointed a gun. He
Speaker 7: wanted our money.
Speaker 4: Boy, what time did he come in?
Speaker 7: Eleven fifteen, eleven twenty, I don't remember for certain. He
Speaker 7: wanted dull money and I gave it to him.
Speaker 5: How much was that man?
Speaker 7: Yeah? No, do it omka bang? Twenty four dollars, Yeah,
Speaker 7: twenty four dollars. Used the paper money, He took it
Speaker 7: and put it in his pocket. Un my daughter, she
Speaker 7: started to cry. The man hit her. She cried some
Speaker 7: more than last.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 7: He came around and from the back the man pointed
Speaker 7: the gun he made Lars and me and yeh he
Speaker 7: stand against that war, but not you. He took hold
Speaker 7: of her. Jenny, who's held the theay been vegan denman
Speaker 7: and but you.
Speaker 9: He was getting fresh with your mom. The man tried
Speaker 9: to get fresh with June. Officers, June.
Speaker 7: He tried to drag out the door with yeah you,
Speaker 7: and he hit him, hit him good and even like that,
Speaker 7: drew her against the counter and pushed June down. Crazy
Speaker 7: man class he looked. He kicked her.
Speaker 4: M h.
Speaker 7: Then Lars, my husband. He ran at the man. He
Speaker 7: hurt the gun loud and Lars fell down and I screamed, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 7: I screamed. He turned and I saw the man standing
Speaker 7: over you. He pointed the gun down at her. I
Speaker 7: see looked on him. He kept shooting her four maybe
Speaker 7: five times. Yeh, miscreamed, She kept screaming. The man ran
Speaker 7: off the door.
Speaker 4: It's all right now.
Speaker 5: And either one of you ever seen this man before?
Speaker 7: No?
Speaker 5: No, did I But you know him?
Speaker 4: If you saw him again, I think so I.
Speaker 9: Would, abser. I got a good look at him. He's
Speaker 9: wearing a blue cap like a baseball player wears.
Speaker 4: Howd he get away? Was he on foot or did
Speaker 4: he have a car?
Speaker 9: Nobody followed him, but after he left I heard a
Speaker 9: car start up down the block and then it drove away.
Speaker 5: Do you have anything else to add, Missus Staniel.
Speaker 7: I hope you catched the man. He beat his catch.
Speaker 4: Yes, ma'am, we're gonna try.
Speaker 7: Yin Arsenella, Calm and Nichols. Here, Mom, your officer, can
Speaker 7: you find the man? Please call me.
Speaker 4: You keep the nickels, we'll call you. Before we left
Speaker 4: the scene of the robbery and shooting, Missus Stendall and
Speaker 4: her daughter gave us their description of the hold up man,
Speaker 4: together with the clothing he wore. The suspect had no
Speaker 4: outstanding physical characteristics that they'd noticed. The only thing unusual
Speaker 4: about his clothing was that he wore what appeared to
Speaker 4: be a baseball cap at the time of the hold up.
Speaker 4: She described the cap as light blue with a visor.
Speaker 4: Together with officers Bechdel and Lopez from Central Robbery, we
Speaker 4: canvassed the immediate neighborhood for us their possible witnesses. We
Speaker 4: found none. The next morning we went out to the hospital.
Speaker 4: The condition of the older daughter, June, was critical. We
Speaker 4: interviewed the father. He could tell us nothing. At ten am,
Speaker 4: missus Stendall and her younger girl, Jenny were brought to
Speaker 4: the office and we started them looking through mug books
Speaker 4: of Parolis previously convicted of armed robbery. Within two hours,
Speaker 4: both of them positively identified the picture of a recent
Speaker 4: San Quentin release as that of the hold up man.
Speaker 4: His name was Harold Best. We started a quick rundown.
Speaker 5: You pulled the Packagejohnny, here's the dope.
Speaker 4: Harold Best as Harold Norris alias Harold Thomps alias Tom
Speaker 4: Norris one term for arm robbery and Q got out
Speaker 4: four months ago. M owned description both match. How about
Speaker 4: the ex con file to check he's registered? Do you
Speaker 4: get ahold of his parlofs.
Speaker 5: Yeah, twenty four to for to Excelsior Avenue's rooming. I'll
Speaker 5: let checks for the x con files. Cruel officer says
Speaker 5: Best went to work two weeks ago to filling station
Speaker 5: over on from mine. Yah doesn't seem to be able
Speaker 5: to hold a job. Quarrelsome n himself to dead. I've
Speaker 5: got robbery romel. You're right, that's all huh yeah, right,
Speaker 5: but great thinker. The crime lab they checked the slugs
Speaker 5: taken from the two victims. Yeah, they came from a
Speaker 5: thirty two caliber revolver. I'll be a cult anything else,
Speaker 5: that's it. I'm too bad at dark. We've had worse. Yeah,
Speaker 5: maybe we can make that phone call pretty quick.
Speaker 4: Two pm Wednesday, Ben and I drove out to his
Speaker 4: rooming house at twenty four to forty ex Celsia Avenue,
Speaker 4: and we found that Herbert Best was still living there.
Speaker 4: We had the landlady show us his room. Besides the
Speaker 4: usual personal belongings, we came across nothing of consequence. After
Speaker 4: questioning the landlady, we drove to the service station on
Speaker 4: Vermont Avenue where Best was supposed to be employed.
Speaker 5: I don't seen him run around.
Speaker 4: There's a fellow over there greasing your car in there as.
Speaker 5: Oh oh yeah, it looks like Best.
Speaker 4: Hey fella, you now, can you tell us if there's
Speaker 4: a Herbert Best working here?
Speaker 5: Uh?
Speaker 10: Man?
Speaker 4: Why police officers would like to ask you?
Speaker 8: Ah?
Speaker 5: Matter routine investigation. Got a few questions for you supposed.
Speaker 4: To have this greased up a quarter to four?
Speaker 8: What am I supposed to do?
Speaker 4: Please?
Speaker 5: Your boss?
Speaker 4: I'll find him.
Speaker 5: Your got any heat on you?
Speaker 8: Oh?
Speaker 5: This is all a bar?
Speaker 4: How long is it's gonna be a.
Speaker 8: Couple of minutes. I'm gonna take more on a grease job.
Speaker 8: Put this singing shape.
Speaker 4: I will wait for you.
Speaker 8: How'd you find me? Mosey Line, lady of mine, No routine, general,
Speaker 8: you're very fetnah on. This trap is froze, he said, Chunk, Well,
Speaker 8: what's all about?
Speaker 5: Got a few things are straightened out? Bess how long
Speaker 5: you been working here?
Speaker 8: You didn't drive out here for that. That's not your game.
Speaker 4: What's the pitch routine?
Speaker 5: Investigation?
Speaker 4: We'd like to know where you've been spending your nights.
Speaker 4: For instance, Sunday night, where were you?
Speaker 5: Well, I don't know.
Speaker 8: I went to a show. Yes, I saw Mickeyrny Pitcher
Speaker 8: where downtown? I had a beer after the show? Come home?
Speaker 5: H How about Monday night? Uh?
Speaker 8: Or went home after work? I was booked, went to
Speaker 8: bed early?
Speaker 4: Can you prove it?
Speaker 8: Land ladies saw me come in, always snooping around. She
Speaker 8: ought to know if I was there or not?
Speaker 4: How about last night Tuesday?
Speaker 8: Played some cards a friend of mine, him and his
Speaker 8: wife Penny Annie Pooker.
Speaker 5: Where the place it's.
Speaker 8: Down on Pico near the park. You can ask 'em
Speaker 8: what times you get there? I'm not sure. Oh, eight o'clock.
Speaker 8: I guess what.
Speaker 5: Time did you leave?
Speaker 8: What's it all about?
Speaker 4: What time did you.
Speaker 8: Leave roun midnight? Y'all must have been around midnight?
Speaker 4: What'd you play with your friend and his wife?
Speaker 8: Okr ook her loss as usual, took a street car home,
Speaker 8: went to bed.
Speaker 5: I'm sure you didn't leave earlier.
Speaker 8: Of course, I'm sure it was rum midnight? I remember,
Speaker 8: how do you remember? I looked at my watch, but
Speaker 8: not for you.
Speaker 4: What times you get home?
Speaker 8: It takes about a half hour on trolley. Must have
Speaker 8: been about twelve thirty.
Speaker 5: And the land lady see you coming.
Speaker 8: I don't know if she saw me or not? Always
Speaker 8: snoop aroun probably did?
Speaker 5: You're not sure?
Speaker 8: No, of course, I'm not sure she looks for me.
Speaker 8: I don't know for her.
Speaker 4: You want a gun? Best?
Speaker 8: You know better than not? Copper ex cons Can I
Speaker 8: have a gun?
Speaker 4: Your friend and his wife now, they're going to back
Speaker 4: you up? If you were playing cards with him till midnight?
Speaker 8: Why not?
Speaker 4: I was?
Speaker 8: There's a boss looking from here. I'd better let him
Speaker 8: know I'm here.
Speaker 4: Best. What's that you got in your back pocket? There?
Speaker 4: In your back pocket? The right one? There?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 8: This yeah, baseball cap Why.
Speaker 4: Four pm, Ben and I checked the suspects locker at
Speaker 4: the service station and then drove him back to the office.
Speaker 4: At the interrogation room, we continued questioning him. He denied
Speaker 4: any knowledge of the hold up and shooting at Stendall's
Speaker 4: bakery shop the night before. We asked him again about
Speaker 4: the friends he was supposed to be playing cards with
Speaker 4: at the time of the robbery. He told us that
Speaker 4: they lived over on Peico, but he couldn't remember the address.
Speaker 4: He volunteered to direct this there, but he said they
Speaker 4: wouldn't be home. He told us their names were mister
Speaker 4: and missus Clyde Mitchell. They were in charge of the
Speaker 4: food concessions at one of the football stadiums in town.
Speaker 4: Best was held for suspicion of robbery. That night. We
Speaker 4: drove out and interviewed the landlady at his boarding house.
Speaker 4: She knew nothing of Best whereabouts the previous night. She
Speaker 4: didn't know what time he left or what time he returned.
Speaker 4: Ben and I went over his room again. There was
Speaker 4: no sign of a gun. Friday, two pm, officers Beckall
Speaker 4: and Lopez went out to the hospital to see if
Speaker 4: mister Standell and his daughter June could identify best mug shots.
Speaker 4: Ben and I drove out to the stadium to locate
Speaker 4: and missus Clyde Mitchell was a high school football game
Speaker 4: going on.
Speaker 5: High school kids here, have a lot of fun nowadays.
Speaker 4: Best years of your life, Joe, you sound like you're
Speaker 4: eighty five.
Speaker 5: Some nights. I feel like it. Way those kids turned
Speaker 5: out for these things. You'd think USC and Noted Dame
Speaker 5: were playing. You see the number on that gate over there, Yeah,
Speaker 5: it's twenty three. That the number of the gatekeeper gaming.
Speaker 4: Yeah, must be the Mitchell stand over there.
Speaker 5: Come on, oh mess, and you'll tell us where to
Speaker 5: find mister and missus Mitchell.
Speaker 9: You'll run back to ten.
Speaker 5: You're knocking the door. Thank you.
Speaker 4: Godle Man to Mims Mitchell, it's all right. What is
Speaker 4: it police officers like talk to if you a few minutes, I'm.
Speaker 7: Having a bottle lunch with some money.
Speaker 4: Shut the door, yes, ma'am, Thank you.
Speaker 11: Lowsy food business. You never get a chance to feed yourself, Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 11: Hey care for some of these new kind of potato chips? Revolutionary,
Speaker 11: it says, oh, mother, Thompson's poff chips flavored.
Speaker 7: Get all kind.
Speaker 11: See do you her a combination?
Speaker 7: See girl like an egg?
Speaker 8: Clint?
Speaker 7: Sure tastes different?
Speaker 8: Have come?
Speaker 5: I would thank you.
Speaker 4: See we're inquiring about a friend of yours, Miss Mitchell.
Speaker 4: Maybe you can tell us something about him.
Speaker 7: Oh that.
Speaker 5: Man, but the name of Herbert.
Speaker 8: West herb you o time friend of my husbands?
Speaker 7: What do you want to know?
Speaker 5: You see him quite often, do you, Miss Mitchell?
Speaker 8: Once?
Speaker 7: Twice a month, Clyde and I played cards or glot
Speaker 7: bowling with him. Her pretty, you got me?
Speaker 4: When's the last time you saw him?
Speaker 11: Early this week?
Speaker 7: Tuesday? I think?
Speaker 5: Was sure it was Tuesday?
Speaker 7: Mmm, see, yeah it was. We played card twice.
Speaker 5: That's your play, that's right.
Speaker 7: I a little poker cride and herbing me.
Speaker 4: What time did best get to your place, Miss Mitchell?
Speaker 7: Right after I finished up for the dinner dishes, around
Speaker 7: seven forty five?
Speaker 4: I'd say, how long did you stay?
Speaker 5: A couple hours?
Speaker 7: We sat around, had a few drinks, played poker.
Speaker 5: Nicol Emmett, what time do you leave?
Speaker 4: Do you remember that?
Speaker 7: A little before ten?
Speaker 5: I think? Sure that man is important, A sure as.
Speaker 7: I can be. Must have left before ten, because Clyde
Speaker 7: and I listened to the ten o'clock news alone. Then
Speaker 7: we went to bed ye after your.
Speaker 5: Friend Best tells us he didn't leave your place until midnight.
Speaker 7: Oh, that's not right. He must be mixed up.
Speaker 8: He left before ten.
Speaker 4: I'm sure that all right, miss Mitchell. Thank you say
Speaker 4: I hope I.
Speaker 7: Haven't said anything I shouldn't have. I know Herb's next gun. Yeah,
Speaker 7: he likes to gamble, not checking out on for Tuesday night.
Speaker 4: I that's right, you're playing too much poker for not
Speaker 4: playing enough. Three point thirty pm, we located mister Mitchell,
Speaker 4: corroborated his wife's story, and then we went back to
Speaker 4: the city hall. Officers Beckel and Lopez were waiting for us.
Speaker 4: They told us that they had seen mister Stendall and
Speaker 4: his daughter June at the hospital. Both of them had
Speaker 4: identified Herbert best mugshot as that of the hold up
Speaker 4: man had a show up Missus. Stendall and her daughter
Speaker 4: identified Best. We checked auto records for all stolen cars
Speaker 4: that might tie in. There were none. We then started
Speaker 4: to work on the theory that he had taken a
Speaker 4: bus from his friend's place where he had been playing
Speaker 4: cars at the stend Doll Bakery where the shooting took place.
Speaker 4: Lopezan Bechdel rode the bus over the same route, took
Speaker 4: forty three minutes, plenty of time for Best, who have
Speaker 4: gotten from one place to the other, even on a
Speaker 4: slow run. We interviewed the bus driver who'd been on
Speaker 4: duty that particular line Tuesday night between ten pm and midnight.
Speaker 4: He identified Best as one of his passengers, but he
Speaker 4: didn't remember where he got off. The next morning, Ben
Speaker 4: and I met with Ed Walker, captain of robbery.
Speaker 5: How they got just sew the wu DA night out
Speaker 5: the case for him. Yeah, we got to complain. He'll
Speaker 5: be arrangdous afternoon.
Speaker 8: That's doing a case.
Speaker 4: He got well, he's one of the Stendall family. Identified Best.
Speaker 4: His alibi didn't stand up for Tuesday night, and we
Speaker 4: got that bus driver. He tapped Best too in that
Speaker 4: blue baseball camp. All we need now's the hold up again?
Speaker 5: I hate to spoil it for you. This letter just
Speaker 5: came through the man. Have a look. What do you
Speaker 5: think I read in the paper this morning about Herbert Best.
Speaker 5: You've got the wrong guy. I'm the one who held
Speaker 5: up that baker. Every detail about that robbery is written
Speaker 5: down in that letter. The information wasn't in the newspaper story.
Speaker 5: Nobody else with the hold up man at no all
Speaker 5: those details. Yeah, wait a minute, isn't it If you
Speaker 5: don't believe I'm the right man, I'll shoot up a
Speaker 5: couple of more jerks. Next time I'll kill him. It's
Speaker 5: no crank letdy, Oh it isn't You got the wrong man?
Speaker 3: You are listening to dragnet.
Speaker 4: After we received the anonymous letter in the mail confessing
Speaker 4: to distend All Bakery hold up, we met with the
Speaker 4: Deputy District Attorney. We acquainted him with the new facts
Speaker 4: in the case. That afternoon, the charges against Herbert Best
Speaker 4: were dropped. We started again at the beginning ten am Monday,
Speaker 4: November ninth, the members of the Stendall family were again
Speaker 4: shown mug books of x cons with robbery records. This
Speaker 4: time they picked out eight mug shots of known robberymen,
Speaker 4: each with a marked resemblance to the original suspect, Herbert Best.
Speaker 4: Together with Officers Bechdel and Lopez, we started checking them out.
Speaker 4: The first two days we tracked down four of the eight.
Speaker 4: All of the four were in the clear. Five point
Speaker 4: fifteen pm we got back in the City Hall, the
Speaker 4: carpool seen any empty spots you no, but don't park
Speaker 4: it in any one of the city councilman's stalls. Yeah,
Speaker 4: it might get so well, why don't you pull up here?
Speaker 4: Boyd'll take care of you. Yeah, that's just good, right good?
Speaker 5: Oh God? And I knew there's something I forgot to do.
Speaker 4: What's that?
Speaker 5: Well? They had an underwear sale today and placed down
Speaker 5: on the South bag shorts T shirt, and I have
Speaker 5: feeling to be showing you get down.
Speaker 4: There'll be another one. That place has sales all the time,
Speaker 4: don't they.
Speaker 5: I mean twice a year on underwear stuff. I've got
Speaker 5: not gonna last the next time. Right, Wait a minute,
Speaker 5: jeaned back.
Speaker 4: From here, high back, all right up, Yeah, I'd just
Speaker 4: make out.
Speaker 12: The two men we checked with clean picked up something.
Speaker 12: Seventy seventh Street station. Go ahead, Ben, Well, what's that
Speaker 12: elevator door?
Speaker 4: I'm sorry? Well, what's was seventy seventh Street?
Speaker 12: A couple of minute in traffic out there covered an
Speaker 12: accident this afternoon ninety first in central hit and run,
Speaker 12: and so one of our traffic cars saw the collision,
Speaker 12: took out after the guy chased him ten blocks. While
Speaker 12: they were chasing him, they thought they saw the driver throw.
Speaker 5: Something out of the car window.
Speaker 12: What I'm coming to that. When they finally pulled a
Speaker 12: car over, great coup, the driver told him his shoulder
Speaker 12: was wrenching the accident. He was on his way to
Speaker 12: his own doctor. Our men took him the seventy seventh Street.
Speaker 12: Had the doc there look at him? Yeah, well, the
Speaker 12: doctor was treating the guy. Only one of the officers
Speaker 12: was in the room. When he turned to get a
Speaker 12: drink of water. The suspects slugged him, and then the
Speaker 12: doctor jumped out of the window, got away, teletypes out on.
Speaker 4: He went to an awful lot of trouble to beat
Speaker 4: a traffic wrap.
Speaker 12: Yeah, that's the way it impressed the boys out there.
Speaker 12: They got out of broadcast and the guy went back
Speaker 12: to the spot where they thought they saw the guy
Speaker 12: tossed this thing out of his car. When they were
Speaker 12: chased him, he found a thirty two coat revolver. Arrest
Speaker 12: camps checking it now in the crime lab.
Speaker 4: What they see the man look like description.
Speaker 12: Measures pretty close to our hold up gun.
Speaker 4: I'll get a robbery Friday. Yeah, just a minute you.
Speaker 12: Back, yeah, oh yeah, right, yeah, okay, fine, right, Rush
Speaker 12: camp checked thirty two revolved with the slugs and the
Speaker 12: stend All case. Yeah positive make.
Speaker 4: The gray coop which the unidentified suspect had been driving
Speaker 4: had been checked out by traffic officers at seventy seven
Speaker 4: Street Division. They had found that the owner and driver
Speaker 4: of the car was a man named Bruno Stock, a
Speaker 4: two time loser with a page full of major and
Speaker 4: minor crimes to his credit. We checked his Mama sheet
Speaker 4: and we got out a broadcast on him in an
Speaker 4: apb A steake out had been placed at his last
Speaker 4: known address. We picked up a sandwich and a cup
Speaker 4: of coffee for dinner, and then we started checking out
Speaker 4: Bruno Stock's relatives and friends. By six o'clock the following night,
Speaker 4: we still had no idea where he was. A little
Speaker 4: after nine pm, we got a call from an informant
Speaker 4: who told us that Tommy Josephson, a small time thief
Speaker 4: and reputedly a friend of Bruno Stocks, wanted to talk
Speaker 4: to us. We found him in a small apartment over
Speaker 4: on West sixth.
Speaker 13: One thing I want to set you straight on, Bruno's
Speaker 13: no friend of mine. He's in on the heavy rackets.
Speaker 13: No heavy racket man's a friend of mine.
Speaker 5: All right, we've got it. Now's Bruno.
Speaker 13: He came here tonight quarter after six, moved right in
Speaker 13: on me, didn't even ask me.
Speaker 4: What do you want with you?
Speaker 5: Now?
Speaker 8: You remember Bruno's no friend of mine.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, we got that. Now, what do you want?
Speaker 5: A gun?
Speaker 13: He knew I had one. I keep it for self protection.
Speaker 13: You can't trust these heavy men. Did you give him
Speaker 13: a gun? Can you give it to him? He took it,
Speaker 13: took me done like a rat. Maybe go out and
Speaker 13: bite dinner, my own dough. Have to bring it back
Speaker 13: here from Yeah, Bruno is no friend of mine. What
Speaker 13: he does with that gun is his criep. It's out
Speaker 13: of my hands.
Speaker 4: When he leave here.
Speaker 13: An hour ago, I think maybe a little less shot
Speaker 13: me down like a rat. Real heavy guy.
Speaker 4: Where was Bruno going?
Speaker 8: I don't know.
Speaker 13: He's crazy. All them heavy guys are crazy. He talked
Speaker 13: like somebody with a paper head.
Speaker 5: Can he tell you where he was going?
Speaker 13: See a friend of his? Oven dogtown guy runs a
Speaker 13: bowling alley. Bruno's going to borrow his car.
Speaker 4: He's heavy.
Speaker 5: I tell you.
Speaker 13: I said he was going out on a heist tonight.
Speaker 13: Did he ever write you guys a letter?
Speaker 4: Why?
Speaker 13: Well, he told me he was going to prove what
Speaker 13: he woke to you crazy. I didn't get it at all. Yeah,
Speaker 13: he said he was going out to kill a couple
Speaker 13: of jokes.
Speaker 4: Nine thirty pm we got the address of the bowling
Speaker 4: alley run by Bruno Stock's friend and we called the office.
Speaker 4: An alert for the suspect was broadcast immediately. Together with
Speaker 4: Jean Bechdolen Lopez, we drove to the bowling alley. Ben
Speaker 4: and I went in. Bechdoln Lopez covered the eye side.
Speaker 5: He's a good crowd, and wonder where they do business.
Speaker 5: I don't see any counter, no need? Oh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 5: there it is way over in front.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, there's nobody behind the cash o the show.
Speaker 4: How about that full on the white T shirt staying
Speaker 4: with a cigarette machine.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it looks like he works here. That's come for me.
Speaker 5: Joe guy with him just turned towards you.
Speaker 4: No, come on, he sees this.
Speaker 5: He's going to the back, all right, you let's hold
Speaker 5: it up.
Speaker 4: Come on.
Speaker 5: He ducked in there to the right.
Speaker 4: Joe down behind the alleys.
Speaker 5: Hold it up, Stock now one to Joe went right
Speaker 5: through it. Come on here he is, get out. He's
Speaker 5: in there back top of the front, over the fence.
Speaker 5: Show there he is.
Speaker 4: I'll give it back. Yeah, come on.
Speaker 5: You see you got to be in the yard someway.
Speaker 5: Yeah yeah, where it come from?
Speaker 4: I can't see keep down from.
Speaker 5: Backstairs that house there he is?
Speaker 4: Give it up, all right, mister.
Speaker 5: You're tagg Come on, what's it? Look like?
Speaker 4: It's a shoulder one? You want to shake him down?
Speaker 5: Okay?
Speaker 4: All right, yeah, get an ambuous what you back right?
Speaker 10: I'll throw the cuffs on. Yah h ah, that said, Joe, Yeah,
Speaker 10: where you're going? I got a phone call to make.
Speaker 2: The story you have just heard was true. On The
Speaker 2: names were changed to protect the innocent.
Speaker 3: On February eighteenth, trial was held in Superior Court, Department
Speaker 3: eighty four, city in County of Los Angeles, State of California.
Speaker 3: In a moment the results of that trial.
Speaker 4: And now here is our star, Jack Webb, thank you.
Speaker 4: In the record Bureau of all metropolitan police departments, there's
Speaker 4: a special file in which all known criminals are cataloged
Speaker 4: and cross index according to identifying Marx Marx, which helped
Speaker 4: the working detective.
Speaker 3: Bruno. Alfred Stock was tried and convicted of first degree
Speaker 3: robbery and assault with intent to commit murder two counts.
Speaker 3: Because of his prior convictions, he was a judged and
Speaker 3: habitual criminal and sentenced to a life imprisonment. He is
Speaker 3: now serving his term in the state penitentiary. You have
Speaker 3: just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases from official files.
Speaker 3: Technical advice for Dragnet comes from the Office of Cheap
Speaker 3: of Police W. H. Parker, Los Angeles Police Department.
Speaker 2: Coming up, Duffy Staver Next Tuesday.
Speaker 4: It's Bibber mcgeeaw on NBC.
Speaker 3: This is Andrew J.
Speaker 2: Graham, author of the web surface series Oh and a
Speaker 2: Man of His Wife. You're listening to the Great Detectives
Speaker 2: of Old Time Radio.
Speaker 1: Welcome back. Well, a very well done episode of Dragnet.
Speaker 1: There are a couple of things I found really good here.
Speaker 1: The first was the questioning of the victim's wife. It
Speaker 1: was a very good scene with this of this actress
Speaker 1: playing this role in a very realistic way. I thought,
Speaker 1: very well done. And I also so like the way
Speaker 1: that they built up the case and then you know,
Speaker 1: a very strong, circumstantial case and then it basically turned
Speaker 1: out to be wrong and they had to start over again,
Speaker 1: and that was very realistic. Just because you proved that
Speaker 1: he didn't go home from the card game when he
Speaker 1: said he did, and because he had a blue baseball
Speaker 1: camp doesn't necessarily mean gilt. Of course, they got a
Speaker 1: very cooperative criminal who was willing to tell them they
Speaker 1: made a mistake. But it's a kind of a thought
Speaker 1: provoking idea. When you have this very strong, circumstantial case,
Speaker 1: just absolutely crumble. Well, now we turn to listener comments
Speaker 1: and feedback, and we have this from Laura, who says,
Speaker 1: thanks so much for the podcast. I've been listening to
Speaker 1: it for a couple of weeks now and I love it. Well,
Speaker 1: thanks so much, Laura. I appreciate your comments and that
Speaker 1: will actually do it for today. Over at Great Detectives
Speaker 1: dot net. Meant to say that at the start of
Speaker 1: the program, we have my review of Big Finish's adaptation
Speaker 1: of The Hound of the Baskervilles, and you can check
Speaker 1: out all my reviews at Great Detectives dot net. Tomorrow
Speaker 1: we do have a video theater episode, as I'm announced
Speaker 1: last week, it's going to be the Big Producer Dragnet
Speaker 1: episode in honor of the late Martin Milner who appears
Speaker 1: in that episode. So be sure and watch that tomorrow.
Speaker 1: We'll be back on Monday with Michael Shane and Tuesday
Speaker 1: will feature Heartstone of the Desk Squad. And then next Saturday,
Speaker 1: be sure and join us back here for another episode
Speaker 1: of Dragnet. Remember box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net,
Speaker 1: I follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and become
Speaker 1: one of our friends on Facebook, Facebook dot com. Slash
Speaker 1: Radio Detectives from Boise, Idaho this year as your host,
Speaker 1: Adam Grahamson and Off