THE BIG PRESENT and THE BIG ODD DRAGNET

Summary

1001 Radio Crime Solvers
Episode: THE BIG PRESENT and THE BIG ODD (Dragnet)
Release Date: May 27, 2026
Host: Jon Hagadorn

---

Episode Overview

This episode of "1001 Radio Crime Solvers" presents two classic Dragnet radio dramas: "The Big Present" and "The Big Odd." These stories highlight the diligent, methodical work of the Los Angeles Police Department in solving crimes, focusing on realism and authenticity. The first story ("The Big Present") centers on a string of peculiar burglaries involving a juvenile suspect seeking attention. The second ("The Big Odd") follows the police as they break up a gang of truck hijackers. Both dramas blend crime-solving procedure, psychological insight, and occasional dry humor.

---

Story 1: "The Big Present"

[01:01 – 25:13]

Main Theme

A series of petty burglaries in markets points to an unusual suspect. Detectives Friday and Smith trace the pattern, only to discover the root of the crimes is personal insecurity and a longing for recognition.

Key Discussion Points

• The "Milk Bottle Burglaries":
  • 18 store break-ins in two months. Each scene had an empty milk bottle, and only small items (cash, cigarettes, candy) were stolen. No attempt made on larger valuables.
• Suspected Juvenile Involvement:
  • The entry point at each crime scene is so small it suggests a child or small adolescent. Discussion centers on whether the suspect might be a kleptomaniac or just a very clever kid.
    • Quote:
      • Detective Frank Smith: “If you know anybody that can climb through a 14 by 10 inch hole, you trot him up and we’ll talk to him." (03:42)
• Investigation at the Market:
  • The detectives meet with Ray Pinker from the Crime Lab and find another milk bottle, candy, and cigarettes missing, but minimal physical evidence.
  • They recognize the pattern: the burglar strikes on Friday and Saturday nights, between 8pm and midnight.
• Personal Interlude – Smith’s Birthday Dilemma:
  • Smith confides in Friday about his wife's birthday, humorously lamenting her reaction to his gift and the troubles at home as a lighter moment amidst the case.
    • "Faye’s over 30, Joe. She’s getting to the point where she’s taking off years. See, how can you give a person a last birthday present?" (11:05)
• Stakeout and Apprehension:
  • During a rolling stakeout, Friday and Smith hear the alarm and apprehend a young boy, Elroy Graham, at the scene.
  • Graham is belligerent, challenges authority, and requests reporters when brought in for questioning, hoping for publicity.
    • “Go ahead and shoot. Come on and kill me. Go ahead and shoot me. It doesn't matter anymore.” (12:27)
    • “You get the reporters all lined up. … I'll tell you all about it. The whole thing. Story. You just get the reporters and the photographers.” (15:46)
• Psychological Motivation Revealed:
  • Questioned under the ruse that a reporter is present, Elroy finally reveals his true motivation: he is self-conscious about his small size (4’7”, 97 lbs at almost 15), ridiculed by peers, and wanted to do something to make him “big” in their eyes.
    • "…Big reason. Biggest reason in the world. Because I’m almost 15 years old. I’m 4ft 7 inches tall. 4ft 7. Weight, 97 pounds. That ain’t very big. Not big enough. All the time, other kids shoving you around… I did it to be big. That’s why I had the things other people wanted. …So the kids would know I’d done something big." (20:52 – 21:47)
• Resolution:
  • Elroy’s parents are summoned, and he’s booked for delinquency but released to their custody. He later visits the detectives for Christmas, bringing them gifts in gratitude.
    • Elroy: "I wanted to bring you these. Merry Christmas." (24:06)
    • "I didn’t steal those." (24:47)
  • Final note: Elroy is placed on probation and ordered to see a psychiatrist (25:13).

Memorable Moments

• Elroy’s confessional, revealing how ridicule and longing for status led him to crime—a poignant, human moment.
• Frank Smith’s running jokes and anecdotes about food and his wife add warmth and realism.
• The small but meaningful Christmas gift from Elroy to the detectives.

---

Story 2: "The Big Odd"

[27:35 – 55:10]

Main Theme

A gritty, procedural investigation into a violent string of hijackings targeting loaded trucks, culminating in a suspect’s desperate flight.

Key Discussion Points

• Truck Hijackings:
  • 14 loaded trucks stolen; one driver, Russell Gilmore, kidnapped and beaten. Friday and Smith interview Gilmore at the hospital, gathering information about the hijacking and the suspects.
    • Gilmore (humorously): “Feel like I’ve ridden 50 miles in the back of a ready mixed cement truck… I’m a kind of a student of phrenology. I could tell about those fellows… Real criminal heads. Bumps told me so.” (30:19 – 32:11)
• Following the Trail:
  • Using Gilmore’s vague recollections, sound cues, and estimates of distance/time, detectives plot a search area on a city map.
  • The crime lab finds blue paint (from a ’53 Hudson Jet) and unique multi-layered house paint on the hijacked truck, helping to precisely identify the house.
    • Ray Pinker: “Works out to 1 in 6 quadrillion… chances of finding its twin.” (38:50)
• Neighborhood Canvassing:
  • The detectives question Myrtle Richards, a talkative neighbor, and learn the suspect Conrad Lewis lives next door. Her blue car was dented the morning of the hijacking; she confirms Lewis’ routine and comings and goings.
• Unraveling the Suspects:
  • Lewis has a criminal record (armed robbery, ex-con). Truck shipment records link him to suspicious deliveries.
  • Oakland police confirm stolen goods ended up at the destination listed in Lewis’ business ledgers.
• Confrontation and Chase:
  • Lewis plays tough during interrogation:
    • Lewis: “You think you’re gonna send me to the joint with a batch of paint?” (51:51)
    • Friday: “It’s gonna help.” (51:53)
  • As detectives close in, Lewis flees in his car, resulting in a tense chase and a crash at a dead end.
    • Lewis (injured): “Lousy break. I’d have made it if I stayed off this street. You’d never got me if I’d stayed off the street…” (53:44)
    • Friday: “Afraid you’re wrong there, mister. You’ve been there a long time.” (54:01)
• Aftermath:
  • Lewis and his confederates are convicted of grand theft auto and kidnapping, receiving long prison terms.

Notable Quotes

• “If every man, woman and child on the face of the earth owned 10 houses apiece, there wouldn’t be another one like it.” – Ray Pinker, on the unique paint layers (39:06)
• “You ain’t coming in here unless I know who and what you are.” – Myrtle Richards, the neighbor (42:54)

Memorable Moments

• Gilmore’s cheerful monologue about “reading bumps” on people’s heads.
• The trademark Dragnet dramatics—a meticulous trail of physical evidence, and matter-of-fact but determined detective work.
• The thrilling final pursuit and abrupt end to Lewis' getaway.

---

Timestamps Summary

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |-----------|---------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:01 | Introduction to "The Big Present" and initial briefing | | 05:35 | Crime lab examination at the Italian market | | 12:07 | Stakeout, chase, and apprehension of Elroy Graham | | 15:46 | Elroy’s obsession with media attention revealed | | 20:52 | Elroy’s emotional confession of motivation | | 24:06 | Elroy’s Christmas visit to the detectives | | 27:35 | Introduction to "The Big Odd" (“Next case…”) | | 30:19 | Interview with kidnapping victim Gilmore | | 36:30 | Crime lab analysis with Ray Pinker | | 42:48 | Questioning neighbor Myrtle Richards | | 47:57 | Interview and confrontation with suspect Conrad Lewis | | 53:05 | High-speed chase and Lewis' crash | | 54:17 | Case disposition and sentences announced |

---

Tone & Language

The episode is trademark "Dragnet": terse, dry, professional dialogue, with moments of understated warmth and humor, particularly in the interactions between Friday and Smith. The realism in police work, the careful piecing together of the case, and empathetic handling of troubled suspects are all present.

---

Conclusion

This double-feature Dragnet installment delivers two compelling crime stories—one exploring the psychological motivations of a troubled youth, the other unraveling a complex, violent crime operation—while showcasing the patient, persistent efforts of the LAPD. Both stories blend suspense, procedural detail, human interest, and classic mid-century American radio style, offering a powerful window into crime-solving in the golden age of radio.

---

For more classic radio mysteries and detective drama, tune in to 1001 Radio Crime Solvers every Sunday at 5pm ET.

Transcript

[VRBO Announcer]

VRBO makes it easy to claim your dream summer spot with early booking deals from homes with pools to poolside loungers. When you book a vrbo, you don't have to reserve any loungers. They're all yours. All you have to do is book early book with vrbo.

[Libsyn Ads Announcer]

Marketing is hard, but I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now and it's great. You love the host. You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, go cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion. And this is a podcast ad. Did I get your attention? You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from Libsyn Ads. Choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements or run a pre produced ad like this one across thousands of shows. To reach your target audience in their favorite podcasts with Libsyn ads, go to Libsyn ads.com that's L I B S Y N ads.com today.

[Narrator (Dragnet)]

Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to hear is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Drag man.

[Narrator (Dragnet)]

You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned a burglary detail. In the past two months, a thief has broken into 18 markets. There's no lead to his whereabouts, no clue to his identity. Your job.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Get him. It was Monday, December 14th. It was cold in Los Angeles. We were working the day. Watch out. A burglary detail. My partner's Frank Smith. The boss is Captain Bernard. My name's Friday. We're on our way out of the office and it was 8:05am when we got to Georgia Street Juvenile Bureau. Sergeant Lindsey Simmons office.

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

Yeah. Well, did you give it to him?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Huh?

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

Yeah.

[Detective Joe Friday]

What'd he say?

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

Yeah, when he come back, huh? Well, did he have it for you?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah.

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

Well, that'll teach you not to go that route anymore. All right, Patrick, Tola's sergeant to call me when he gets back. Right. Hi, Friday Smith.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Hi, Lindsay.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Morning, Sergeant.

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

Just talking to Gene Patrick over at Holland Park. You know him?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah, I met him a couple times.

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

Picked up a youngster a couple of days ago on suspicion of burglary. Brought him into the office and Patrick talked to him.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah.

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

Well, he finally bought it that the kid didn't have anything to do with the thefts. He told him to go home. Kid told Gene he didn't have the money to get home, so gene gave him 20 cents. Kid swore he'd come in and pay it back.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Did he?

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

Yeah, he came in this morning, gave Patrick two dimes. Told him thanks for believing the story. Then Patrick got the kicker. Kid really did break into a house last night to get the money.

[Detective Joe Friday]

What's Patrick got to say about that?

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

Says the kid's honest in a sort of way. He did pay him back.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Where's the youngster now?

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

Got him over Highland Park Juvenile.

[Detective Frank Smith]

I better call Gene. Maybe I can give him a hand. I got a couple of streetcar tokens I won't be using.

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

Might like to have you. I don't think I'd bring it up to him for a couple of days. Well, what can I do for you, too?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Well, Lindsay, we've been working on a string of burglaries. You maybe got the word on them?

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

I don't think so. What's the story?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Bunch of store burglaries. Papers that tagged them the milk bottle jobs.

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

Oh, yeah?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah.

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

Seems Hartgrove was telling me something about them the other day. Where did we come in?

[Detective Frank Smith]

Well, the way the jobs look, we've been thinking that maybe belong in your department instead of ours.

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

How do you figure that?

[Detective Frank Smith]

First off, the milk thing.

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

What do you mean?

[Detective Frank Smith]

Every job he's full. We found an empty milk bottle on the counter.

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

Okay, what's that prove?

[Detective Frank Smith]

Well, milk and kids go together.

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

Sure, so do milk and ulcers. Maybe a thief's got the bull harves when he gets into the store.

[Detective Joe Friday]

No, Lindsey, there's another thing. The way he prowls, the places. All he takes is petty cash. Just a couple of bucks outside. Candy, cigarettes, nothing big. Some of the places he's gone into, you could open the safe with pocket knife and he hasn't even made a move toward him.

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

Maybe he's a kleptomaniac. Got a lot of them on the books. Maybe that's the way he gets his kicks.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Oh, it's a nice try, Lindsay. If you know anybody that can climb through a 14 by 10 inch hole, you trot him up and we'll talk to him. Okay?

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

I haven't got the names on my desk, but you take a trip to San Anita, you'll meet a lot of them jockeys you guys know. We'll go along with you on this thing. Anything we can do. But until we're sure that there's a juvenile involved, there's nothing we can do. Anything turns up, we'll be sure to

[Detective Frank Smith]

turn it over to you.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Now, look, we're not trying to palm this thing off on you, Lindsay. We've had the stats office make so many runs on small adults that the cards are wearing out. It just seems that none of the leads we've been chasing come out anywhere. We figured that maybe you could come up with some answers for us.

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

It's a new one on me, Joe, this milk bit. I've heard of a couple of thieves that went for it, but I can't name you a juvenile offhand. I'll pass the word around the day watch, see what they can come up with. I'll leave a note for Heartgrove. He can pass it on the night watch.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Well, appreciate anything you can do.

No trouble.

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

Been running your ragged on this, huh?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Pretty rough. Just that we can't seem to be able to come up with anything that adds. Yeah?

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

Excuse me.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah?

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

Georgia Street Journal and Sergeant Simmons. Yeah, yeah, they're here. Which one? Okay, hang on. For you, Joe.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Your office.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Thank you. Friday talking. Yeah, right away. What's the address? Yeah, no, I got it. We'll leave right away. Who? Yeah, call him. Thanks. Come on, let's go. The milk bottle Kitty hit again. The call had come from Lieutenant Ginder in Burglary. He told us that he'd just gotten a call from a storekeeper named Marty Dara Burtis. The man had called to report a burglary at his store at the corner of Jackson and Broadway streets. Lt. Ginder told us that the crime lab had been notified and had dispatched a crew to investigate the premises for physical evidence. Frank and I left Georgia Street Juvenile. We drove over to Figueroa. Then we turned over onto Broadway. The store that had been broken into was a small Italian delicatessen on the southeast corner. By the time we got there, the crime lab crew had already arrived and was winding up their investigation. We walked into the place and we met with Ray Tinker. Hi, Joe.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Frank.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Ray. Hi, Ray.

[Detective Joe Friday]

How's it going?

The usual thing.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Bottle of milk on the counter. Want to check it over? Yeah, come on back here. Thief made his entrance back here at the rear of the store. There it is. Broke out the window pane.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Not very big, huh?

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

That measures nine and a half by twelve and three quarters.

[Detective Joe Friday]

No alarm on the window, huh?

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Yeah, you can see the wires Here, take a look.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Oh, yeah. How come the alarm didn't go off?

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

I talked to the owner. He said he's had trouble with the alarm system last couple of weeks. Called the company and asked him to fix it. He thought it was okay. Guess there's something wrong someplace. Didn't work last night.

[Detective Frank Smith]

What kind of alarm was it, Ray?

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Outside on the building. You know the kind?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah. What'd he take this time, Rick?

Usual run of stuff.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

According to the owner, they're about four cartons of cigarettes missing several boxes of candy. Can't be absolutely sure.

[Detective Joe Friday]

So he's got a check.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

He stock. Be better if you talk to him on that.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah, we will. We'll catch him later.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Wanna wait a minute? I'll check and see how the boys are doing on the prints. Adam, check the counter in the milk bottle.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Fine. Thanks, Ray.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Be right back.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Right. I wonder when we're gonna blow the whistle on this guy.

[Detective Frank Smith]

I don't know. Can't do it fast enough for me.

[Detective Joe Friday]

I'm with you.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Hey, Joe, look at this. Yeah, I'd like to get a couple

[Detective Joe Friday]

of those before we leave. What are you talking about?

[Detective Frank Smith]

Salami, Joe.

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

Those right there.

[Detective Frank Smith]

The hard Italian kind. See right there.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah.

[Detective Frank Smith]

I remember last summer I was up in San Francisco.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah, I remember.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Went up there to pick up a prisoner. Remember you were collecting days off?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah, I recall I had a hundred of them coming.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Yeah, pretty funny. Anyway, I met Dan Shelley up there.

[Detective Joe Friday]

You mean the Irish tenor? Yeah.

[Detective Frank Smith]

He and I went down to Cookie's bar for lunch. Cookie had some of the salami, slice it like paper. You could almost read through it.

[Detective Joe Friday]

That's the way it's supposed to be. I know, Joe.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Anyway, Cookie sliced up a bunch of it, served it with cold cracked crab. Boy, I never tasted anything so good in my life.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Don't you ever read the newspaper through slice salami? Yeah, I never have. Have you? All the time.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Just the funnies. Well, anyway, Faze tried to find them for me. Salami like this brought home all kind of things, but she's never found the right kind. You know, they'd be hard enough to pound tax with them. She got them home. Boy, never forget old Cookie and that spread. Brought home all kind of things, but she's never found the right kind. You know, they'd be hard enough to pound tax with them. She got em home. Boy, never forget old Cookie and that spread.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Well, if you can get your mind off food for a minute, and I know that'll be tough. Let's get on with this thing, Joe. Yeah, sure.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Gotta buy some of these before we leave.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Just like Cookiehead. Yeah.

[Detective Frank Smith]

The space of the powder, Joe.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah. Nothing.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Whoever it was drank the milk. He took the bottle out of the refrigeration compartment.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Bottle sweated.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

And there's a print on it we can lift.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Too bad none of many places.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

No, we've gone over the Place from

[Detective Joe Friday]

top to bottom to there.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

We can't find them.

[Detective Joe Friday]

That's not much help, is it?

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Came up with one thing. Maybe you can make something out of it.

[Detective Joe Friday]

What's that?

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Outside the window in the back parking lot. Came up with an open package of cigarettes. Don't know if it belonged to the thief.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Anything on it?

[Detective Joe Friday]

No.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Fog last night ruined any prints that were on it. Boys have got it if you want.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Well, we take a look at it. Looks like everything's against us, huh? Another blank.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Don't envy you guys trying to break this one. Most of the time there's a leak someplace. Somewhere along the line the guy's gonna make a mistake and not cover something.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah, we've been saying that for weeks.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

This is either the smartest thief I've ever seen or the luckiest. What's this make for him?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Number 19.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Well, the chance is to take for nothing. He's not getting anything out of the jobs.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Maybe he isn't, but we are. What headaches? 9:38am we talked to the victim, he told us, but as near as he could figure There was approximately $4 stolen from the store. Went on to say that he'd ascertained that five cartons of cigarettes and several boxes of candy bars were taken. He was unable to tell us if any other merchandise was taken until he'd made a complete inventory. He went on to tell us that there was over $600 in the safe but that as far as he could tell, there'd been no attempt to break into it. We made a canvas of the neighborhood and talked with the neighbors. None of them recalled having seen any suspicious people in the neighborhood the night before. None of them had seen any suspicious automobiles in the area. The one thing that was apparent was that the thief was working in a definite pattern. It worked only on Friday and Saturday night, always between 8pm and 12 midnight. Frank and I met with Captain Bernard and it was decided that we would maintain a rolling stakeout in the area in which the suspect operated. Four other cars from Metro Reserves were assigned to work with us. The next five nights we worked without results was slow and tedious. But considering the lack of information on the thief it was the only way we had left. We had to be on or near the scene when the feet struck again. Saturday night, December 19th, Frank and I met and drove out to the area. The streets were crowded with early Christmas shoppers.

[Detective Frank Smith]

I'll sure be glad when it's over.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Fine. What's the matter?

[Detective Frank Smith]

How many rooms in your apartment, Joe?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Three. You Know that. You've been there.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Yeah.

[Detective Joe Friday]

That won't be enough room. What are you talking about?

[Detective Frank Smith]

Faye.

[Detective Joe Friday]

What's Faye got to do with this?

[Detective Frank Smith]

Hack, Joe. Real hack. Why?

[Detective Joe Friday]

What's the matter?

[Detective Frank Smith]

I got up this morning, I felt great. Faye's got breakfast on the table, all nice.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Couple eggs, little pig sausages.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Nice, you know?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah.

[Detective Frank Smith]

I come down to the table, she's got the. And I hit her with it.

[Detective Joe Friday]

What, the food? No, Joe.

[Detective Frank Smith]

I hit her with what I'm about to tell her. I tell her I'm gonna have to work tonight.

[Detective Joe Friday]

You work every night this week. What's wrong with that?

[Detective Frank Smith]

That's the way I figure it. So I got a way out.

[Detective Joe Friday]

You have, huh?

[Detective Frank Smith]

Today is Faye's birthday.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Well, you didn't tell me.

[Detective Frank Smith]

It's not good to tell people, Joe.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Oh, it isn't? No.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Fay is over 30.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah, I kind of figure that. Don't you get it? I'm sorry, pal. You left me a couple of blocks back on this one. Look, I may never catch up.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Faye's over 30, Joe. She's getting to the point where she's taken off years. See, how can you give a person a last birthday present?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah, I'll tell you about it.

[Detective Frank Smith]

You're gonna give her a present, only now, instead of 30. She's 29. You understand?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Well, to be perfectly honest with you, no. But as long as you do, it's perfectly all right with me. Yeah? What about this morning?

[Detective Frank Smith]

Well, I told her I was gonna

[Detective Joe Friday]

have to go to work.

[Detective Frank Smith]

I got this present for her. New deep fat fryer, real good.

[Detective Joe Friday]

All wrapped up.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Deep fat fryer, all wrapped up with ribbon.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Beautiful.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Shiny.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Beautiful. So you gave it to her? Did it do any good?

[Detective Frank Smith]

Not a pound. You know what she does with it?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Well, at this point, I wouldn't even want to guess.

[Detective Frank Smith]

I'm serious, Joe. This may mean the end of my home.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Go ahead.

[Detective Frank Smith]

She doesn't even open it. Just puts it in the closet on the back porch. Doesn't even pull the paper apart to peek at what's in it. Real mad. Joe, you may not let me back in the house tonight.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Well, you can apologize when you get home.

[Detective Frank Smith]

I don't know, Joe. Face pretty sore. Didn't even open the present. I'm in a peep, huh?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Listen.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Yeah, tell where it's coming from.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah, sounds like up on seventh. Come on. Yeah, right here.

Pull up.

Come on.

[Detective Frank Smith]

I'll take the front.

[Detective Joe Friday]

All right.

Hey, hold it up there. Police officer. Stop or I'll shoot. Frankie, come around your way. Okay, take it easy.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Go ahead and shoot. Come on and kill me. Go ahead and shoot me. It doesn't matter anymore.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Go ahead. Yeah, that's the kid.

Joe.

Yeah, see?

[Detective Frank Smith]

What are you doing in the store, son?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

What do you think I'm doing?

[Detective Joe Friday]

You ask your question, son?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Pretty stupid. What do you think I was doing?

[Detective Frank Smith]

How many stores you broken into, son?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Figure it out for yourself.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Look, what do you got, a chip on your shoulder?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

They're big guys. Don't give me a lot of conversation. Do what you want to do.

[Detective Joe Friday]

All right, boy, you called it. Come on. 11:50pm we called the office and told them that we had a subject in custody. And that we were taking him to Georgia Street Juvenile Bureau. We put the boy in our car and we waited until a radio car arrived. We asked the officers to notify the owner of the store and stand by until he got there. We also asked that they make a 459report. 11:55pm we started to take the youngster to the Juvenile Bureau. What's your name, son?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

What difference does it make?

[Detective Frank Smith]

Acting like that isn't gonna help you.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

You guys pick me up, remember? You worry about it. I got nothing to be afraid of.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Oh, yes, you have, boy. You could have been shot back there.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Maybe you should have pulled the trigger.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Look, son, what's the matter with you? Why are you acting like this? You just got real lucky back there. That's the only reason you're alive now. It was dark in there. As far as I could tell, you were an adult. You didn't stop when I told you to. Now, according to the book, I could have shot you. You know that, don't you?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Killing the kid, that'll make you a big man.

[Detective Joe Friday]

No, I'm just bringing it up to prove a point.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Save him.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Now, I'm gonna tell you something. When you break into a place at night, you're not a kid anymore. You're asking for trouble. You got both your pockets full of it. The way you work tonight makes us think you're mixed up in a lot more thefts than just tonight.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

That right?

[Detective Frank Smith]

You ever been arrested before?

[Detective Joe Friday]

No, never been in trouble with the law.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Sure, I'm a real criminal. I got a ticket once for riding my bike through a boulevard stop. Radio car stopped me and tagged me. Big deal. Look, they're gonna send me to San Quentin. Maybe you can give me the gas. Tune.

[Detective Joe Friday]

How old are you?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

What difference does that make?

[Detective Joe Friday]

How old are you? You figure it, all right. You look like you're about.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

That's what Everybody thinks be 15 my next birthday.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Don't kid us.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

It's the truth. 15, that's what I'll be, 15.

[Detective Joe Friday]

When were you born?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

1939. November 2nd.

[Detective Frank Smith]

You're small for your age, aren't you?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Why do you say that?

[Detective Frank Smith]

Aren't you?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

It's got nothing to do with it. Nothing at all. I can do anything. Any other kid can do anything. Don't you forget that.

[Detective Joe Friday]

What's the matter with you? Is that a sore point with you? Huh? Your size. Is that a sore point?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Nothing wrong with my size. Doctor says that I'm all right. Just that some people aren't meant to be as big as others, that's all. There's nothing wrong with me.

[Detective Joe Friday]

No, no. Come on, son. What you. Now look. You know we're gonna find out.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

How are you gonna find out?

[Detective Joe Friday]

We will. Now why don't you save us all a lot of time and tell us the truth here.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Be better if you did.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

If I do tell you, you gonna put it in the papers what I tell you? There are gonna be a lot of reporters around. My name gonna get in the papers?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Not from us.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Can't tell you that.

[Detective Joe Friday]

You mean if there's no reporters around, you aren't gonna tell us your name? Is that it?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

That's the way it is.

[Detective Joe Friday]

It's kind of funny, isn't it?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Maybe that's the way it looks to you. Where do you you that either?

[Detective Joe Friday]

You got things all wrong, son. It isn't what you want to tell us. That's got nothing to do with this. You're going to tell us what we want to know sooner or later.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Where are we going?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Georgia Street.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

That's where the jail is.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Why do you ask that?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Because I want to know.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Yeah, there's a jail there.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Reporters.

[Detective Joe Friday]

What?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

They're going to be reporters.

[Detective Joe Friday]

What is this thing with reporters in you? What's this all about?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Reporters put your name in the papers, don't they?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Sometimes.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Well, you get the reporters all lined up. You get them from all the papers. You have them there and I'll tell you all about it. The whole thing. Story. You just get the reporters and the photographers. Be sure about them, cuz. I want some pictures, too.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Hold up. Let me get this straight.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

What?

[Detective Joe Friday]

You say you weren't going to give us any information without the press being there, is that right?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

That's the way it's going to be.

[Detective Joe Friday]

You got it wrong, boy.

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

What?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Doesn't make any difference who's there. You're going to come around. Yeah, we'll Find out.

[Jack Webb (Narrator/Announcer)]

You are listening to Dragnet. The authentic story of your police force in action.

[Detective Joe Friday]

12:10am we got to Georgia Street Juvenile Bureau. Frank pulled the car into the side alley. And we took the subject out of the back seat.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Up this way, son.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

It's a seedy looking place.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah, well, it's been here a long time.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Looks like a set out of a picture.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Don't you worry about it, huh? You want to take him down the hall, Frank? I'll check with Hargrove. Yeah. Come on, boy.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Hi.

[Narrator (Dragnet)]

Friday.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Working kind of late, aren't you?

[Detective Frank Smith]

Yeah, we are.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

I got the note from Simmons on the milk burglaries. Checked around the night watch.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Nothing on it, so I didn't call you. I don't think you have to worry about it. I think we got the answer.

Yeah?

We just picked up a kid. We got him dead to rights in the market. Open bottle of milk right next to the cash register.

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

Where is he now?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Frank's got him down the hall.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

You think he's your boy?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Looks like it. Everything adds up. The entrance. What? He tried to take the milk all along. Seems to fit.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

You got that kind of a case. What are you worrying about?

[Detective Joe Friday]

There's two things. Yeah? Who he is and why he did it. He won't tell you? No. He's got some big thing working about the press. Says he won't give us anything without reporters being there.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Makes it rough, Joe.

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

You know the policy.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah, I do. He won't let us help him.

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

If he wants publicity, Take me down,

[Detective Joe Friday]

introduce me as a reporter. Melon might do it.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Won't do any harm to try.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Let's go.

Go ahead.

Thanks.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Who am I gonna be?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Well, tell him he's Sid Hughes from the Mirror, huh?

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Might as well be one of the good ones.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Son, you want to talk to somebody from the papers? It's against the policy, but we swung it for you. This is Sid Hughes from the Mirror.

Hi.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

You the fellow that held that guy on the phone in Baltimore?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Great. I read all about it. Gonna write me up like that?

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

I hope not, son.

[Detective Joe Friday]

There were two men killed in that operation.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

I read all the stories. Everybody did. That's how. I mean for you to write me up with a picture.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

What makes you think you got it coming? You break into one store and try

[Detective Joe Friday]

to steal a couple of cartons of cigarettes.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

That doesn't make the first page.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

One store. I got into 19 of them. 19. Before they caught me. That's important, isn't it? That's a story.

[Detective Joe Friday]

I don't know, it might be a couple things we better get straightened out here. First off, what's your name?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Better get your notebook out, be able to take all this down.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Don't worry about it, son. You just answer the questions.

[Detective Joe Friday]

I'll get it.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Yeah, okay. My name's Elroy Graham. That's E, L, R, O Y, G, R A H A M. Yeah.

[Detective Joe Friday]

How old are you?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

I told you once. Almost 15.

[Detective Joe Friday]

You said you'd broken into 19 stores. Is that right?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Yeah, 19. Might have made them more, but something went wrong tonight. Had trouble with the burglar alarm. Thought I'd turned it off. Bad mistake. He's still working. If it wasn't for that. Guess it only takes one, though, huh, Mr. Hughes?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah, I guess so. You want to tell us why you did it?

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

What?

[Detective Frank Smith]

You had to have a reason for committing these robberies. You want to tell us what it was?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Sure. Good reason. Real good.

[Detective Joe Friday]

All right, tell us.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Well, you see, I always had trouble at school. Never seemed to quite make it. All the guys liked me. They all did. All the girls do, too. Got girls calling me almost every night, asking me to take them to dance and stuff like that. I don't go much for stuff like that. You can understand. Kench. Mr. Hughes.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Go ahead, Elroy.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Well, they wanted me for all the teams. Football, basketball, all the time. Ask me to play. But I figure if you want to get ahead in the world, you gotta have an aim someplace where you want to get. Figure out that work for it, and you're gonna get there. Don't you find that true, Mr. Hughes?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Go ahead.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

That's the way it was with me all the time. Turning down offers to be on some team. Telling some girl that I couldn't take her to a dance. Just didn't have the time. Somehow I just couldn't make it. You can understand it. You've been around, you know all the successful kind of people. You write something and a lot of people read it. You know what I mean, don't you? Well, what's the matter? Something wrong? I'm trying to tell you what happened. I'm giving it to you straight. What's the matter tonight?

[Detective Joe Friday]

You want to tell us the truth, Elroy?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

What?

[Detective Joe Friday]

I don't know why you're trying to sell us this, lion boy. It isn't necessary. I don't know why you did what you did, but I do know you had a reason for it. Now, that's all we want to know. Just the reason.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

You don't believe me?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Afraid not.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

How about you?

[Detective Joe Friday]

No son, I don't.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Mr. Hughes.

[Detective Joe Friday]

No.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Can't even lie right. Can't even tell a lie. Good. All my life I've been trying to be like other kids all the time. Getting beat up, getting left out of things, you know? Why do you know?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Go ahead, son.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Big reason. Biggest reason in the world. Because I'm almost 15 years old. I'm 4ft 7 inches tall. 4ft 7. Weight, 97 pounds. That ain't very big. Not big enough. All the time, other kids shoving you around all the time. You're the joke. Gets to the time when you figure it's easy to laugh too. Because if you don't, some kid's gonna beat you up. Gets to the point where you don't care anymore. I used to clip out those coupons and send them in. Get the books back on how to build myself up. Worked at it. Didn't do nothing for me. I was still 4ft 7 and weighed 97 pounds. All the stuff I took didn't do no good. Still came out 4ft 7, 97 pounds.

[Detective Joe Friday]

All right, son. You want to tell us about the burglaries?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

I did it to be big. That's why I had the things other people wanted. Cigarettes, candy. The other things kids wanted. I had all that stuff that the other kids wanted made me important. Don't you see that? You gotta understand it, mister. That's why I wanted my picture in the paper. That's why I wanted the story. So the kids would know I'd done something big. So they know.

[Detective Joe Friday]

All right, son. It's going to be all right here.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

No, it isn't. Like everything else I tried to do, I loused it up. I didn't mean to steal, but it was the only thing to do, the only way I had.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Now, wasn't there some other. No.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

No, there wasn't. All the time the other kids laughing all the time, talking. Just couldn't stand it anymore. I just couldn't.

[Detective Joe Friday]

There you go.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Thanks. You can understand it, can't you? It makes sense.

[Detective Joe Friday]

What's that, son?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Wasn't so much the kids saying I was little.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

I didn't want him to think I was small.

[Detective Joe Friday]

12:36am we contacted the parents of the Graham boy and asked them to come down to the station. We talked to them for an hour and tried to fill him in. In view of the fact that the parents of the subject were responsible persons the boy was booked for violation of section 459, PC delinquent. And he was released to his parents pending his hearing in Juvenile court. Five days passed, and we heard nothing from the boy. On December 24th. Frank and I checked into the office.

Friday.

Yeah, Earl.

[Sergeant Frank Smith]

Kid in the back wants to see you in Smith.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Okay. Thank you.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Hi, Mr. Friday.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Well, hello, Elroy. What can we do for you?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Well, I guess you think it's kind of funny.

[Detective Joe Friday]

What's that?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

I want to tell you that I sure think it's good what you did for me. Helped me with that burglary thing the other night.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Well, it isn't over yet, son. The court still has to make a decision on it.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Yeah, what you did to make me feel better. As far as I'm concerned, whatever the judge decides, I'll go along with it. I had a long talk with my folks, so we got it all talked out. All the way talked out.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Well, that's good, son.

[Detective Frank Smith]

We're glad of it, son.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Maybe you guys won't like it, I mean, me knowing you such a short time and all, but I wanted to bring you these. Merry Christmas.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Well, that's awful nice of you. All right, but it's necessary.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

I want to give them to you anyway for what you did for me.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Well, that's mighty nice of you.

[Detective Joe Friday]

All right.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Sure appreciate it.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Couple of packages of cigarettes. Hope they're the kind you smoke.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah, son, they'll be fine. Thanks, son.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Well, you guys are on, huh?

[Detective Frank Smith]

Yeah. Sure, son.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Just one more thing, Sergeant.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yes, huh?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Just thought you'd like to know.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah, what's that?

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

I didn't steal those.

[Jack Webb (Narrator/Announcer)]

Elroy, Merton Graham appeared before the juvenile court where he admitted the alleged burglaries at this time, under the counsel of the judge of the juvenile court. The subject was placed under the care of the probation department for a period of three years, with provision that his parents take him to a competent psychiatrist.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

You have just heard Dragnet, the authentic story of your police force in action, and starring Jack Webb, a presentation of the United States Armed Forces Radio.

[ZipRecruiter Announcer]

Finding great candidates to hire can be like, well, trying to find a needle in a haystack. Sure, you can post your job to some job board, but then all you can do is hope the right person comes along. Which is why you should try ZipRecruiter for free at ZipRecruiter.com Zip ZipRecruiter doesn't depend on candidates finding you. It finds them for you. Its powerful technology identifies people with the right experience and actively invites them to apply to your job. You get qualified candidates fast. So while other companies might deliver a lot of hay, ZipRecruiter finds you what you're looking for the needle in the Haystack.

[Narrator (Dragnet)]

See why 4 out of 5 employers

[Detective Joe Friday]

who post a job on ZipRecruiter get

[Narrator (Dragnet)]

a quality candidate within the first day.

[Detective Joe Friday]

The smartest way to hire and right now you can try ZipRecruiter for free. That's right, free at ZipRecruiter.com Zip that's ZipRecruiter.com Zip ZipRecruiter.com Zip Today we'll attempt

[SoFi Personal Loan Announcer]

a feat once thought impossible. Overcoming high interest credit card debt. It requires merely one thing. A SoFi personal loan. With it you could save big on income interest charges by consolidating into one low fixed rate monthly payment. Defy high interest debt with a SOFI personal loan. Visit sofi.com stunt to learn more. Loans originated by SOFI Bank n a member FDIC terms and conditions apply. NMLS 696891 if you're into tech, you will love this.

[TikTok/Shopify Announcer]

Tick Tock is a live lab where users post instant reviews of the latest trends.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Download Tick Tock and check it out.

[Narrator (Dragnet)]

Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to hear is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

[Jack Webb (Narrator/Announcer)]

Dragnet is brought to you by Chesterfield. Made by Liggett and Myers. First major tobacco company. To give you a complete line of quality cigarettes.

[Narrator (Dragnet)]

You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned a robbery detail. A gang of truck hijackers has been

[Detective Joe Friday]

working in your City.

[Narrator (Dragnet)]

They've stolen 14 loaded trucks. They've kidnapped and beaten one of the drivers. There's no clue to their identity. Your job, get them. With the winter season coming on, Young America and all of us will be concentrating on our favorite winter sports. Ice skating, bowling, basketball, skiing. One thing you'll notice, whatever young America does, wherever it goes, Chesterfield goes along. Yes, Chesterfield is the choice of young America. Chesterfield is the choice of more. Thousands of smokers. Everywhere, people are learning the facts about Chesterfield. Learning that Chesterfield is highest in quality, low in nicotine. Learning that Chesterfield is really mild, really satisfying. How about it friends? Change to Chesterfield yourself. Smoke America's most popular two way cigarette, regular and king size Chesterfield. Best for you,

[Jack Webb (Narrator/Announcer)]

Dragnet. The documented drama of an actual crime. For the next 30 minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department, you will travel step by step on the side of the law through an actual case transcribed from official police files. From beginning to end, from crime to punishment, Dragnet is the story of your police force in action.

[Detective Joe Friday]

It was Wednesday, June 4th. It was warm in Los Angeles. We were working the day. Watch out A robbery detail. My partner's Frank Smith, the boss of Chief of Detective Thad Brown. My name's Friday. We were on the way out from the office and it was 9:47am when we got to the county hospital. Ward 419. Hi, Mr. Gilmore?

Yeah. I know you guys?

No sir, we're police officers. This is my partner, Frank Smith. My name's Friday.

[Detective Frank Smith]

I do, sir.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Hello.

A couple of stools over there.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Drag them up.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Sit down.

[Detective Frank Smith]

I'll get them.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Here you go. Thanks. How do you feel, Mr. Gilmore?

Rough, real rough. Feel like I've ridden 50 miles in the back of a ready mixed cement truck. Weren't for the pills they'd be giving me, I think I'd go off my rocker.

You want to tell us what happened?

Yeah, as much as I can remember. Only goes so far. Then there's a room full of black.

[Detective Frank Smith]

If you'll tell us what you can, please.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah.

Yesterday.

That's when it was. Yes sir, yesterday morning I checked in for work. Had a load I was going to take over to Phoenix. Supposed to shove off about 10, 10:15.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Did you know what you were carrying?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah, I saw the way Bill. Some of the stuff they were loading, used furniture. Didn't make any difference to me. They load the truck and I'll drive it.

Uh huh.

I went across the street, little coffee place over there. Got my vacuum bottle filled and came back. By that time they had the truck loaded. I signed the way Bill on the office and went out and got into the truck. The two guys were waiting for me.

[Detective Frank Smith]

They were in the cab of the truck?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah, sitting there kind of scratched down so you couldn't even see them from the outside?

Yes sir.

Since I opened the door, one of them had a gun pointed at me. Told me to get into the truck like there was nothing wrong. Just start the motor and get the truck away from me.

Did they get out of the truck at that time?

No, no, they were waiting for me. When I got there they told me to drive away and I did. Wasn't gonna mess around with them having a gun.

Yeah, go ahead.

We drove about three blocks and he told me to pull into an alley just off of Santa Fe.

Santa Fe? And what do you remember?

By Porter Street? Between Porter and Enterprise.

I see. Like to go ahead?

Then they told me to pull into the alley and when I did, they made me get out of the truck. Took me around back and broke the seal and told me to get inside.

And that's what you did?

Officer, if they'd have told Me to jump off the city hall. I'd have gone, I hadn't done it. But that gun pointed at me. I'm a coward. Fella weighs a gun around, and I'm gonna do just like he tells me. Yes, those guys were mean. You could tell.

How's that?

Oh, I'm a kind of a student of phrenology. I could tell about those fellows, real plain.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Student of what?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Chronology. You know, bumps on the head. They all mean something. Of course, I didn't get a chance to make a good examination of these guys, but I could see it. Real criminal heads. Bumps told me so. One fella had a head that was one of the worst I'd ever seen.

Yes, sir.

He was mean to his mother. I could tell. Had a bump right here. Here, you see?

Yeah.

He was mean to his mother.

I see. Well, what happened after they tied you up?

Just left me there.

I see. You want to go on?

[Jack Webb (Narrator/Announcer)]

Yeah.

[Detective Joe Friday]

They must have drove for about 20 minutes when they stopped. Pulled in some sort of a driveway.

[Detective Frank Smith]

How do you figure that?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Well, right after they stopped, they made a half U turn, then backed up. Backed up this ramp. Steep. Then they stopped and took me out of the truck, blindfolded me and made me get out of the truck.

Now, this place where they stopped, that's where they unloaded the furniture. Did they? Yeah.

I must have taken it out of there. Heard them thumping around the truck. Sounded like they were unloading it.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Well, now, what'd they do after they got all the furniture out?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Put me back in. Drove off to where you found the truck after they. They both climbed into the back, beat me up. Don't remember much after that.

Both of them worked you over, huh?

Yeah, Both of them got in their licks. Especially the one who was mean to his mother.

He was vicious. He was mean.

They kept hitting me with their fist until I just passed out. Couldn't remember anything after that till I came to in the back of the truck. That's when I called the cops and the guys in uniform came out. I guess they're the ones who called you.

Yes, sir. Now, is there any way that you might be able to tell us where they took you?

You mean when they unloaded the furniture?

Yes, sir.

Well, I think maybe I got an idea. I tried to figure out how fast they was driving. And after you had been a driver for a while, you get to know. I'd say they were going about 20 miles an hour. We were still in town. My own guess is that they were not. Alameda must have gone Out Santa Fe and then turned on the Alameda.

Mm.

I remember hearing kids yelling. That'd probably be Santa Fe High School. Yeah, I guess we went out Alameda to maybe 43rd or 44th, and they turned right. Kind of hard to figure it. Then the truck got tied up in traffic. It was hard to tell if they were stopping for that or they're just out of light. But I'd say that they went out about Avalon. Maybe they went up to San Pedro. I don't think so. I'd say Avalon. Then they turned left and headed for Hawthorne. Not sure how far they went, but I figured maybe around Rose of Crowns. And then they turned a couple more times and they stopped and drove up that steep ramp.

Mm.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Now you figure they ended up around Rosecrans and Avalon.

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

Yeah.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah.

Guess that's not much help, though, huh?

Well, it gives us an idea where to start looking.

Couple other things that might help you.

What's that?

Well, it seems that when we started to back up the ramp, I heard a bump, like they backed into a car. They didn't hit it hard, but I bet they did hit a car.

Yeah.

After that, they pulled the truck forward and stopped and backed up again. This time they scraped into the side of a house. I could feel it run along the side of the truck. Sounded like they might have torn up some of the wood on the house.

Yeah.

Will that help any?

Yeah. Sir, we'll have our crime lab check the truck and see if they can come up with anything.

Sure hope you can. Oh, you talked to my boss yet?

No, sir, but he's been notified. We understand.

Bet he's plenty sore about it.

Well, we wouldn't know about that. But he should understand that it wasn't your fault.

He should. But he won't. I know that.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Right?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah. He doesn't understand anything that doesn't go on his way. Spotted a mile off.

What's that, sir?

His head. All kinds of bumps.

10:06am we continued to question the victim, Russell Gilmore. He gave us descriptions of the two men who kidnapped him. He also told us that at one time he heard one of the men call the other by the name Leo. Further, he told us that when the two bandits had taken him from the truck, they placed him in a garage. He was able to feel the wall. He said that he was sure it was a plaster wall and as much as he could feel the studs and the wire holding the plaster. He said that at one time he heard a woman come out of a house and say something to the Thieves while they unloaded the truck. He told us that the garage wasn't very large because there was no echo on the sounds that were made in the building. We called the office and got out a supplementary broadcast on the thieves carrying their descriptions. 10:40am Frank and I left the county hospital and drove over to Central Station. We went up the crime lab and talked to Ray Pinker.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

On the right rear fender we found evidence of the truck had hit a car. Looked at some paint chips.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Got them here.

Uh huh. Looks like a blue car, huh?

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Yeah, we checked the paint with a Ditzer production color book. Here, I'll show you. We got all the paints cataloged by color.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Uh huh.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Here, this is the one.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah, but Ray, there are a lot of blues here. How can you be sure this is it?

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Well, here you see they got a color patch on each page in the book. Hole in the patch.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Oh, this little hole here, huh?

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

We just put this chip we lifted from the truck in the hole. Now lay it down. Get this lamp there. Color matches, get them the same light, you can see the same paint, huh.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Look at that, Joe. Same.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah, I see. Well, what do we got out of it, Ray?

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Car the truck hit was a 1953 Hudson jet. It was a single tone car. You know, the top color matches the body color. Yeah, you only use this on one color cars unless you got a special order.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Did you find any house paint on the side of the truck?

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Yeah, over here. Might be able to do a little better on that for you. House the truck ran into is about 36 years old. Might be a little more than that, but it's right around there.

[Detective Joe Friday]

How could you come up with that?

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Been painted 18 times. Figure once every two years you come out with 36.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Yeah, but how do we know it's been painted every two years?

[Detective Joe Friday]

We don't, Frank.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Just guessing, but the layers of paint are pretty even. Might indicate they did it regularly. You know, didn't let the paint go too far before they redid it.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Oh yeah.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Here are the chips of the house paint here. I put one of them under the microscope. Now take a look, Joe.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Okay.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

You see?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Okay, I haven't got a. I'll adjust it. Yeah, I see what you mean.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

I noticed that the first coat was a cream white. And they stuck pretty much to that for the next half dozen paint jobs. Then they changed to a barn red, then to a green, then back to cream white. That goes on for three layers and then to the blue. That's on it now.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Yeah, Ray, if we find a House. Can you tell us if it's the same one?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Shouldn't be too hard.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Aren't many of them around.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Well, how many?

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Well, 18 coats would be 18 factorial. That's multiplying. 18 times 17 times 16 times 15, so on to times one. I got it worked out for you.

[Detective Joe Friday]

I hope you have. I'm not with you at all here.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Well, look, works out to 1 and 6 quadrillion. 4023-737057-28000 chances of finding its twin.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Oh, that's pretty long odds.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Well, if every man, woman and child on the face of the earth owned 10 houses apiece, there wouldn't be another one like it.

[Detective Joe Friday]

11:37am we put in a call to Leighton Prince. Harlan Stahl told us that his crew had gone over the truck thoroughly but had failed to come up with anything. We contacted the stats office and asked them to make a run on the MO that the thieves had used. They told us that the results would be ready for us. Late in the afternoon, we contacted hit and run detail, but there'd been no reports that could have been the car that they the truck had hit. We went to the office and got a large map of the city. Then we drove out to the county hospital to talk to the victim again. We asked him to trace his movements while he'd been held prisoner in the back of the truck. He drew a line down Santa Fe Avenue up to Alameda, then over to avalon Boulevard on 43rd Street. From there, he traced the streets down to Rosecrans Avenue. He drew a circle on the map centered on the intersection of Rosecrans Avenue and Avalon Boulevard. He told us that we'd find the house we were looking for inside the circle. Before we left him, we made arrangements for the mug shots to be taken to the hospital for him to check for a possible identification of the suspects. 12:40pm we contacted records and Identification Division and asked them if they'd had any luck on running the name Leo. We were told that they had three possibles for us. The addresses on the packages were not in the area that had been circled by the victim, Russell Gilmore. We got in touch with Lieutenant Jack Smyers and filled him in on the developments. He called Metro Division and made arrangements for three additional teams of men to work with us in a search of the the streets within the circle drawn by the victim. He also contacted the divisional commanders and asked for their cooperation. The men were instructed to find a residence with a steep driveway leading to a detached garage. The house would have a wooden porch on the right side of the house. As it faced the street. It would be damaged to the wood on the porch. Also, there was a possibility that a Hudson automobile would be parked either in the driveway or on the street right next to it. The car would have some damage done to it. 5:15pm Frank and I got back to the office from the search area.

[Detective Frank Smith]

I'm sure tired.

[Detective Joe Friday]

I'm with you. A lot of streets out there.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Yeah, a lot of houses on the streets. Wonder how the guys from Metro are doing.

[Detective Joe Friday]

I don't know. I'll get it. Robbery, Freddy? Yep. Mm. Just a minute. Let me get there. Yeah. Okay, hang on to it. We'll be right out. Right. Well, the Metro boys did some good, huh? The house. They found it. The address given us on the phone was 1486 Cedar street down in Compton. It took us 35 minutes to get out there from the City Hall. The officers from Metro Division Reserve stood by until we got there. We found the house. Located on Cedar between Dwight street and Tawana Avenue was a one story frame building with a stucco garage in the rear of the lot. On the left front side of the house was a wooden porch which had been scraped by some large object. Several of the pickets in the railing were broken. On the street in front of the house next door, we found a 1953 Hudson Jet painted a light blue. There was a dent in the left rear fender. We couldn't tell for certain, but the color of the car and the color of the paint on the port seemed to match the chips that we'd seen in the crime lab. While the officers from Metro covered the rear of the building, Frank and I rang the front doorbell. There was no answer. We checked the garage, but we found nothing that would tie the house owners in with the robbery kidnapping. The interior walls of the garage were rough wooden studs. Between them we could see chicken wire embedded in plaster. The physical description of the house, the ramp leading to the garage, the garage itself and the car parked on the street matched in every detail the picture that we'd been given by the victim. 6:10pm we got the name Conrad Lewis from the mailbox in front of the house. And while the officers from Metro checked the with our office, Frank and I went next door to talk with the neighbors.

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

Yeah?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Wonder if we could talk to you, man.

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

Sure. Who are you?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Well, it might be better if we got in off the porch.

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

You ain't coming in here unless I know who and what you are.

[Detective Joe Friday]

We're police officers. Oh, yes, ma'.

Am.

Here's our identification.

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

Oh, yeah. Well, come on in.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Thank you, ma'.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Am.

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

I'm Myrtle Richards.

[Detective Frank Smith]

This is my partner, Sergeant Friday. I'm Frank Smith.

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

Oh, how do you do?

[Detective Joe Friday]

How are you, ma'? Am?

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

You just sit down. I'll turn off the television.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Thank you.

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

Comedy. I've seen it before a couple of times. I always laugh at them. Again, though. They're funny.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yes, ma'.

[Elroy Graham (Juvenile Suspect)]

Am.

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

It's a great boon to the people, television. This is only 12 inch, but I think maybe next year I'll get a bigger one. Maybe even color. They got it now. You know, it's true. Color is beautiful.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yes, ma'. Am.

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

Of course, I ain't actually seen it myself. I just read about it, you know. Beautiful. Well, I'm a great fan. I got it on all day, right from the early show to the late, late show. I understand next week one of them stations are gonna start early. Early show. Now. That'll be nice, won't it?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yes, ma'. Am. Sure. I wonder if we could ask you a few questions.

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

Why, certainly. You just go right ahead.

[Detective Joe Friday]

That car out front, does that belong to you?

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

The blue one?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yes, ma'. Am.

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

Yeah, that's mine. I just got it a few months ago. That's what you hear about, huh?

[Detective Joe Friday]

I beg your pardon?

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

About how somebody hit my car. Big dent. Isn't that what you're here for?

[Detective Joe Friday]

No, not exactly. Do you know who hit your car?

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

No. I wish I did. If I knew, I'd sue him. Imagine hitting a car that's parked right at the curb. Not leaving a note or something to say who did it. Person who ran into me must be insured. Wouldn't cost him nothing. All he had to do was leave a card.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yes, ma'.

[Conrad Lewis (Suspect)]

Am.

[Detective Joe Friday]

When was the automobile hit?

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

Yesterday morning. I walked down to the market to do some shopping, get some things for dinner. Pretzels, potato chips. Things to eat while I watch the tv. When I got back, the dent was there. Did it while I was gone. Did it and didn't even leave a card.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Yes, ma'.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Am.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Could you tell us who lives next door to you, please?

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

Which side?

[Detective Frank Smith]

The left side, over there.

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

Well, that's Lewis's house. Why are you asking about them?

[Detective Joe Friday]

How long have they lived there? Do you know?

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

Yeah, I guess it's been about 10 years. They moved in right after Conrad. That's Mr. Lewis. Right after he opened up the new store.

[Detective Joe Friday]

What line of business is he in?

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

Well, he got some kind of a shipping business. Has deals with different stores all over the state.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Did you see Mr. Lewis yesterday?

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

Yes, matter of fact, I did. He come over like usual? 5:30.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Usually come over at that time, does he?

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Yeah. You see, there's a TV show he likes to see. I watch it. But his wife don't care for it. She watches something else. So Conrad comes over here. He was here last night.

[Detective Frank Smith]

You see him during the day at all?

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

No, I didn't.

[Detective Joe Friday]

You know where they are tonight?

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

I'm not sure, but I think they went to the movies. Seems to me Mrs. Lewis said that her and Conrad was going to a show over in town.

[Detective Frank Smith]

That's probably for us. I'll get him.

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

I imagine so. Isn't anybody come calling on me this time of night?

[Detective Frank Smith]

Oh, it's Henderson. Joe, I'll be right back.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Right. Have you noticed any trucks in the neighborhood lately, Mrs. Richards?

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

Oh, well, I have to think about that for a minute. You don't mean like the garbage you can truck, do you?

[Detective Joe Friday]

No, man. Large moving vans.

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

See the others? Quite a bit.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah.

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

Well, now, let me see.

[Detective Joe Friday]

See.

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

Well, there were some people who just moved into a new house down the street. That was about a month ago. That didn't help.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Well, thank you, Ms. Joe.

[Detective Frank Smith]

See you a minute?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah. Excuse me, please. Ms. Richards?

[Myrtle Richards (Neighbor)]

Yeah, you go right ahead.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Anderson ran the name Conrad Lewis through the files.

[Detective Joe Friday]

He's been convicted for armed robbery.

[Jack Webb (Narrator/Announcer)]

You are listening to Dragnet, the authentic story of your police force in action.

[Narrator (Dragnet)]

Smokers by the thousands are now changing to Chesterfield because they're learning the facts about Chesterfield. Facts like these.

[Jack Webb (Narrator/Announcer)]

A doctor has been examining chesterfield Smokers for 20 months. Almost two full years now. We've just received his latest report and it confirms again no adverse effects to the nose, throat and sinuses from smoking Chesterfield.

[Narrator (Dragnet)]

That's a matter of record. And so is this. Chesterfield is the only cigarette proved highest in quality, low in nicotine. Those are the facts about Chesterfield. More good reasons why Chesterfield's taste so good smoke so much milder. How about it, friends?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Smoke.

[Narrator (Dragnet)]

America's most popular two way cigarette. Chesterfield, regular and king size. Best for you.

[Detective Joe Friday]

The record showed that Conrad Lewis had been arrested for suspicion of armed robbery 10 years before he'd been brought to trial. Convicted and sent to San Quentin. He'd served six years and then he'd been released. He was not on parole at the time. Frank and I parked our car down the street from Lewis's house and we waited for him to return. At 10:57pm we saw a dark colored Lincoln sedan turn onto the street. And swing into the driveway of the Lewis residence. A man and a woman got out of the car and entered the house. Frank and I waited a few minutes and then we walked up to the front door and rang the bell.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Yeah?

[Detective Joe Friday]

You Conrad Lewis?

Yeah, that's right. Who are you?

Police officers. Like talking. You sure? Come on in.

What's this all about? Something wrong?

You own a truck? H? A truck? Do you own one? No.

[Conrad Lewis (Suspect)]

You mind telling me what this is all about?

[Detective Frank Smith]

Can you account for your time since Monday night?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Why?

[Detective Frank Smith]

Can you?

[Conrad Lewis (Suspect)]

Look, I don't know what this is all about, and I'm not going to tell you a thing until you let

[Detective Joe Friday]

me know what you want.

[Conrad Lewis (Suspect)]

Now, what do you want?

[Detective Joe Friday]

The answers to those two questions. 12:15am it had been only a little over 48 hours since Russell Gilmour had been kidnapped and beaten, and we had a suspect in custody. However, Lewis refused to admit any complicity in the crime. We talked to him for several hours, but he told us nothing. He admitted that he'd been arrested before and that he'd served time in San Quentin. However, he stuck to his statement that since his release he'd done his best to live by the law. With the evidence at hand, he was booked at the main jail on a charge of suspicion of violation of section211.PC. We obtained the keys to his place of business and Frank and I went out to check it. It was a large wholesale store selling used furniture. A search the premises failed to turn up any of the stolen merchandise. While Frank went through the stock rooms, I checked the business ledgers.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Nothing back there either. Joe, how'd you do?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Well, according to these, Lewis does a big shipping business.

[Detective Frank Smith]

That's what the woman next door told us.

[Detective Joe Friday]

He's been making shipments up to Oakland.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Regular books tell what they were?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah, right here. He's been sending large lots of used stuff to a place on MacArthur Boulevard. There's a whole list of it here. Tables, living room sets, TV sets.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Better get in touch with the police up there and have them check this place out, huh?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah. Without that stolen property, we're not gonna have a very good case against them.

[Detective Frank Smith]

You got the address of the place up north?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah. Let's go back to the office and get a call in. Right. Sure hope they come up with the answers. Well, if they don't, we might be in trouble. Yeah, the DA's office is liable to throw the whole thing out. Thursday, June 5, 8:20am we put in a call to captain of Inspectors Tony Bulger in Oakland and asked him to Check on the recipient of the furniture shipment from Lewis. We also gave him as detailed a description of the stolen merchandise as we were able to obtain. In the meantime, Lewis had been admitted to bail and was released Thursday. 11:15pm Frank and I got back to the office from checking a lead on one of the suspects who'd driven the truck. I got it. Robbery, Friday. Yeah. Yes, it is. All right. Tony Bulger from Oakland.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Let's hope we called it.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Yeah. Yeah, Tony. Yeah. What'd he say? Well, that's the way it looked from here. What? Yeah, right. Okay, thank you.

[Detective Frank Smith]

How about it?

[Detective Joe Friday]

When you talk to the man who bought this stuff, he's clean.

[Detective Frank Smith]

How about the merchandise itself?

[Detective Joe Friday]

It's all stolen. 11:20pm we got in touch with Lt. Smyers and filled him in on the new developments. After we talked to him, we contacted Officers Max Herman and Ed Benson and made arrangements to meet them at the house on Cedar Street. It took us less than half an hour to get out to Compton. The other officers were there by the time we arrived. While they covered the back door, Frank and I went up to the front.

[Detective Frank Smith]

I think he knows the test.

[Detective Joe Friday]

I don't know. Try it again. The car's in the driveway. We know he's in there. Wait a minute. Sounds like somebody's coming out.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Yeah.

[Conrad Lewis (Suspect)]

What are you doing out here? Aren't you guys ever gonna get all the time?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Mind if we come in and talk?

I got a choice?

No, you haven't.

Lint.

[Narrator (Dragnet)]

Come on in.

[Conrad Lewis (Suspect)]

Want to go through the house again?

[Detective Joe Friday]

That won't be necessary.

Yeah, I'm glad of that.

[Conrad Lewis (Suspect)]

What's it about this time?

[Detective Joe Friday]

Same as before.

[Conrad Lewis (Suspect)]

Maybe you better spell it for me.

[Detective Joe Friday]

We can go that route. If that's the way you want it.

[Conrad Lewis (Suspect)]

Go ahead.

[Detective Joe Friday]

I like fairy tales. All right. We got a report from a victim who was robbed and kidnapped. He was able to give us a description of this house, of your garage and the whole setup.

[Conrad Lewis (Suspect)]

You've been on a spike again. You're seeing.

[Detective Joe Friday]

We took a sample of the paint from your front porch. It matches paint found on a truck that was hijacked. Lot of houses in LA not painted like this one.

[Conrad Lewis (Suspect)]

You think you're gonna send me to the joint with a batch of paint?

[Detective Joe Friday]

It's gonna help.

[Conrad Lewis (Suspect)]

Look, cop, you know, I've been the rounds. I've seen enough trouble to know it's rough to get a conviction with circumstantial evidence. That's all you got with me, Nothing more. Now, why don't you go home and I'll just forget you were here tonight.

[Detective Joe Friday]

We got the plan.

[Conrad Lewis (Suspect)]

What?

[Detective Joe Friday]

We got the plant. They moved in on it.

[Detective Frank Smith]

The man you sold the stolen furniture to is willing to test.

[Detective Joe Friday]

You know we got your code now. Why not cop out?

That's the way it hangs, huh?

That's the way. All right.

[Conrad Lewis (Suspect)]

I'll get my coat and go.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Just point it out. We'll get it for you in the closet. Never mind.

[Detective Frank Smith]

He is making a help

[Detective Joe Friday]

outside. He's in his car. Yeah.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Come on.

[Detective Joe Friday]

He's heading down toward Rosecrans. Better hit the siren.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Right.

[Detective Joe Friday]

He's turning on the Rosecrans.

[Ray Pinker (Crime Lab Technician)]

Take a left.

[Detective Frank Smith]

I got him.

[Detective Joe Friday]

See him?

[Detective Frank Smith]

Wait a minute. Yeah, up ahead there. Dry shot.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Better not. Too many people around. Can't you close in on him? I think we're pulling up. Making a turn. Yeah. Stay with him.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Hang on.

[Detective Joe Friday]

It's a dead end, Frank.

[Detective Frank Smith]

Yeah. He's in trouble, Joe.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Come on. Come on. Let's get him out of there. Hey, that door stuck. Wait a minute, I'll give you a hand there. Can you get him?

[Detective Frank Smith]

Better call an ambulance. The motors in his lap.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Is he still alive? Looks like it. Can you help me here? Yeah, let me get in there. All right. Come on. Let's put him down here. Yeah.

All right.

Take it easy, Lewis.

[Detective Frank Smith]

I'll call the ambulance.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Right. Take it easy, Lewis. We sent for a doctor.

[Conrad Lewis (Suspect)]

I didn't see the sign. I didn't know the street didn't go through.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Lousy break.

Lousy break.

[Conrad Lewis (Suspect)]

I'd have made it if I stayed off this street. You'd never got me if I'd stayed off the street. I just turned the car and all of a sudden I was on a dead end.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Afraid you're wrong there, mister. You've been there a long time.

[Narrator (Dragnet)]

The story you have just heard is true. The names were changed to protect the innocent.

[Jack Webb (Narrator/Announcer)]

On October 14, trial was held in Department 97 Survey Superior Court of the State of California. In and for the county of Los Angeles. In a moment, the results of that trial.

[Narrator (Dragnet)]

Now here is our star, Jack Webb.

[Detective Joe Friday]

Well, here it is. The most talked about Christmas gift of the year. The Chesterfield Christmas carton. Now featured in nearly a million three hundred thousand retail tobacco stores from coast to coast. The famous covered bridge has been honored this week by a new Christmas tune, the Kissing Bridge. You'll be hearing a lot of it between now and Christmas. Christmas. So give the gift that everybody's talking about. America's most popular two way cigarette regular and king size Chesterfield premium quality Chesterfield. Best to give, best to get For Christmas,

[Jack Webb (Narrator/Announcer)]

Conrad Austin Lewis and his confederates were apprehended and brought to trial on 11 counts of grand theft auto and one count of kidnapping. They were found guilty and sentenced as prescribed by law. Grand theft auto is punishable by imprisonment in the state penitentiary for a period of not less than 1 nor more than 10 years. Kidnapping is punishable by imprisonment for a term of from one to 25 years in the state penitentiary. You have just heard Dragnet a series of authentic cases from official files. Technical advice comes from the office of Chief of Police W.H. parker, Los Angeles Police Department Technical Advisors, Captain Jack Donahoe, Sergeant Marty Wynn, Sergeant Vance Brasher. Heard tonight were Ben Alexander, Vic Perrin, Virginia Gregg, Jim Griffith. Script by John Robinson. Music by Walter Schumann. Hal Gibney speaks.

[TikTok/Shopify Announcer]

I'm Kiana and I leveled up my business with Shopify. Once I figured out that Shopify was a thing, I never turned back. I can create a site with my eyes closed. Shopify thinks ahead of us, you know, and it thinks about the customer more than anything. Every day I'm thinking about some other new business, but Shopify is doing it to me because it's so easy to use. It's like, I can't stop, stop. I'm addicted.

[SoFi Personal Loan Announcer]

Start your free [e-mail] high interest debt is one of the toughest opponents you'll face unless you power up with a Sofi personal loan. A Sofi personal loan could repackage your bad debt into one low fixed rate monthly payment. It's even got super speed since you could get the funds as soon as the same day you sign. Visit sofi.compower to learn more. That's sofi.com P-O-W-E-R loans originated by SoFi Bank NA member FDIC terms and conditions apply. NMLS 696891.