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Sergeant Gino Totaglia
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Detective Danny Clover
Broadway's My Beat. From Times Square to Columbus Circle. The gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesome, awesomest mile in the world.
Narrator
Broadway's My Beat. The exciting drama of people who walk the Great White Way with Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover.
Detective Danny Clover
The miracle of June slips down over Broadway like a golden gauze. And the street slows down for the burst of sun. It's the time of vacation schedules posted near the water cooler and the words, the magic names. Catskill, far rockaway, Atlantic City. And you wonder how she'll come to you this year. On a sand dune of portable radio, or with a tennis racket and golden legs. Or on a horse. It's the time to turn on the dream. Cotton candy time and carnival bleachers and hot dog. With everything time, it's happened. It's here again. It's June. And in the afternoon, in the E60s, June gets an assist from the management. White stock in bowls on the lobby desk, Gladiola in bases on card or tables. And ended abruptly at the doorway, number 312. Where death had intruded. Where I was, Where Detective Mugaman was.
Lieutenant Mugaman
This man was found here in his living room by a newsboy. Danny. The kid I talked to.
Detective Danny Clover
Door to this apartment open?
Lieutenant Mugaman
Uh huh. Left the money for the week's paper delivery on that table right inside the door. Kid would pick up the money, lock the door on his way out. No money left today. So the kid walked in a little way. And so, yeah,
Detective Danny Clover
shot up close with looks like a.38 caliber.
Lieutenant Mugaman
About that. Been dead about two hours, huh? Placer's. Time of shooting? Around 3 o'. Clock.
Detective Danny Clover
You know who this man is? Sure.
Lieutenant Mugaman
Positive identification. Name is Harry Moore, age 41. Construction contractor, firm of Moore and Nelson. No financial worries, no known enemies? No.
Detective Danny Clover
That's real good, McGovern. How'd you find out so soon?
Lieutenant Mugaman
His wife. She's in there.
Detective Danny Clover
She see it happen?
Lieutenant Mugaman
No, she came in here a few
Detective Danny Clover
minutes after I got here. Let's talk to her.
Lieutenant Mugaman
Sure. Mrs. Moore?
Steve Nelson
Mrs. Moore?
Lieutenant Mugaman
This is Lieutenant Clover, Mrs. Moore.
Detective Danny Clover
He'd like to speak to you.
Mrs. Vivien Moore
Oh, you can't come in here. This is my bedroom.
Detective Danny Clover
I'd just like to ask you a few questions, that's all.
Mrs. Vivien Moore
I feel very much better. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Lieutenant Mugaman
Well, Mrs. Moore was at a tea luncheon. Danny she told me where Mrs. Moore had six cocktails.
Mrs. Vivien Moore
I think it was only five. I was going to tell you because I don't want to lie to any
Detective Danny Clover
policeman in the world about your husband. Mrs. Moore.
Mrs. Vivien Moore
Harry's dead. This man told me. Harry's going away and never coming back. And I must be very brave about it.
Detective Danny Clover
You have any idea why?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
Someday, if I'm very good, I'll see Harry again.
Detective Danny Clover
That's the kind of answers I've been getting.
Lieutenant Mugaman
Danny.
Detective Danny Clover
She doesn't look real drunk.
Lieutenant Mugaman
You feel fine, huh, Mrs. Moore? Head's not spinning, Nothing like that.
Mrs. Vivien Moore
Fine. Clear headed. Oh, I'm not drunk, if that's what you mean. Not at all. I know what being drunk's like. It. Yeah, I do feel a little dizzy. And I know why Harry's not with me anymore. Harry's dead and I know it. And I know it. And I've got to think about it.
Detective Danny Clover
Watch her as she turns away from you. The motion tenuous, suspended dance like. Then the sudden twist and contortion. The sobbing wells like something from childhood. Watch her as she moves swiftly to a couch. Throws herself onto it. Mutes her sobbing in the silken pillow. It es from her. Then she's still. Then sleeps. This is the escape of a wife of the dead. Leave there. Leave now to check an alibi. Learn that Vivy Moore had attended a wives and girls tea luncheon. From 1 until 4, the cocktails had been served. Vivien got tipsy and giggly. It had to be put in a cabin to hold the way home. And thank the woman who was bored and exhausted with having arranged it all for the wives and girls. Then to the construction firm of Moore and Nelson. And the information from a weary draftsman that he was overworked. That Mr. Nelson was supervising the current job at 30th and East River. Out in the sun then the skeleton of steel patterned and laced and riveted against the backdrop of river. The man with a straw hat tilted far back on his head.
Mrs. Vivien Moore
Yeah.
Steve Nelson
I'm Nelson. Steve Nelson. Got something I can do for you?
Detective Danny Clover
Police, Mr. Nelson.
Steve Nelson
One of my boys, huh? Rough crew. Lusty. I'll go bail for any one of them. Kick him out and bring them to me. I'll go as bail.
Detective Danny Clover
Not the crew. Harry Moore.
Steve Nelson
I'll do likewise for him. Anytime, any day. Gotta tell you, though, long as I know him, you're the first cop that ever said Harry Moore to me. That gonna do him any good?
Detective Danny Clover
No. He's dead. He's been murdered. We found him in his apartment. Shot with a.38 we figured happened to him around three this afternoon.
Steve Nelson
Three this p.m. i was up 40 stories there.
Detective Danny Clover
You have a gun, Mr. Nelson?
Steve Nelson
No gun, but ask my boys. They tell you I've got a whip studded with hot rivets. They talk like that. And I'm so good to him. Ought to tell you something, Mr. Clover.
Detective Danny Clover
What?
Steve Nelson
About Harry? Not really any of my business. No skin off of my back. Tell me, what about Harry? About how for a week now, maybe 10 days, my boy has been leaving me alone to handle this job. Hasn't showed up at all. I couldn't figure it. Harry's the type. Guy was always right in there. Made with a rivet gun, with advice, with bandages when somebody was hurt. Couldn't figure it until.
Detective Danny Clover
Until what?
Steve Nelson
One of my boys, one of the crew, spied Harry walking skid row. You know, the Bowery. Goes to show, you're never alone in this town. Harry walks skid row. There's always a guy to tell you about. A slumber guy.
Detective Danny Clover
You know what he was doing there?
Steve Nelson
Worried me too. So one night I went down, cornered har a bar, said, look, pal, that's as far as I got. Look, pal, I said. And then I dried up. Because I figure Harry's life is Harry's life. We were partners, not man and wife. I bought him a drink and said, see you, pal. And walked out.
Detective Danny Clover
You know his wife, Vivi?
Steve Nelson
Yeah, I know her. You know her?
Detective Danny Clover
I talked to her this afternoon.
Steve Nelson
That child that walks like a woman, huh?
Detective Danny Clover
That's really. How'd she get along with her husband?
Steve Nelson
Harry told me once. Said Vivie was a romance. From football grandstands in school and nighttime bonfires. He married her. They got along fine, he told me. Sometimes ice cream and cake, sometimes champagne and off the shoulder gowns that Vivie quit in time, Mr. Clover. See you and I can knock off, huh?
Detective Danny Clover
So back to headquarters. Now to the photo lab. Obtain a picture close up of Harry Moore, only slightly retouched. Take it and ride the night streets, the Bowery. Go to the places, the bars and the back rooms dedicated to knock rummy, to regret, to limbo to the biggest beer in town for a dime or six empties. Show the picture. Shaking of the head means no in all the mother tongues gathered together here. Meaning never saw the man. Meaning you never been in here. Meaning you're a cop, so get out of here. Walk the streets. Show the picture. Get the stairs. Get the stairs. And the whispers. And he walked away from the policeman. The intruder upon the 10 cent heaven. And at the time when one day slips into another. The time of the sprawled man in the doorway, the bus stop deals a little after that. After midnight, walk into another place. Benson's, it's called. Walk up to the bar. The man behind it flicks a corner of soggy rag to make clean the area of an elbow.
Lieutenant Mugaman
What's yours?
Detective Danny Clover
Police. I know. Why. Here, take a look at this picture. Ever seen this man? Why? Homicide. It would be. Have you seen him? You said Homicide. You mean he killed somebody? He's dead.
Lieutenant Mugaman
Now I'm confused.
Detective Danny Clover
Him dead? Why don't you see him? Homicide's about as big as it can get, right? That's right. That's why I'm telling you.
Lieutenant Mugaman
Yeah, I saw this guy days ago. I don't remember how many, maybe a week. Came in there. As for Joe Kano, I pointed Joe out to him.
Detective Danny Clover
Who is Joe Kano?
Lieutenant Mugaman
Big guy, comes in here for the brew. Joe was there when this guy came in. I pointed Joe out to him, like I told you.
Detective Danny Clover
He walked over and talked to Joe. They went out together in a friendly manner. Joe's a big guy.
Sergeant Gino Totaglia
Tough.
Detective Danny Clover
Dumb, but tough. I was surprised. Where do I find this Joe o'? Connell? I can tell you where he lives if that'll help you.
Lieutenant Mugaman
Down the street.
Detective Danny Clover
Second house from the corner, this side. I brought a bottle to him on third rear. This guy dead, huh? I'm really confused.
Steve Nelson
No one told you the show was
Sergeant Gino Totaglia
here, so you walk right in, huh?
Detective Danny Clover
You Joe Kano?
Sergeant Gino Totaglia
Big.
Steve Nelson
Joe Kano.
Sergeant Gino Totaglia
Big.
Detective Danny Clover
Big. What'd you bring to see the show, kid? Pennies? Buttons? Let me see. What's the matter with you, Connor? You hurt? Turn on the light, kid. You're gonna see a show.
Steve Nelson
Turn it on.
Detective Danny Clover
You're bleeding. Here, take your hands away.
Lieutenant Mugaman
Ah, you spoiled it, kid.
Detective Danny Clover
You went and spoiled.
Sergeant Gino Totaglia
He, like, crawled in under the tent
Detective Danny Clover
and grabbed to look for free. You've been shot.
Lieutenant Mugaman
Yeah.
Steve Nelson
Yeah.
Detective Danny Clover
You take a seat, kid. Watch this. Watch me. I'm gonna show you how a big man dies.
Sergeant Gino Totaglia
You watch this.
Detective Danny Clover
You know something? All of a sudden, a few real small group.
Narrator
Broadway's my beat. Written by morton fine and david friedkin. And starring larry thor as detective danny clover.
Detective Danny Clover
The June morning is a sheen on Broadway's pavements. The street is lustrous with the glow of chrome and the brilliance of glass. Reflecting the summer walk of women in their morning trials. Broadway leans against the neon railings and times handicaps makes odds on how promises will run later this day when the track is Faster and the weather clearer. And the other diversions. The ones from out of town in flowered prints. The straw bonnet woven for big city wear. Veiled and tilted to the angle. Safe on crowded subways. The non crushable linen. The freshly laundered seersucker. And the white purse clutched tight, held close to the body. So make your pick, kid, and walk up to the window and play it across the board. It's June, the month of the winning ticket. And at headquarters, the June morning has Sergeant Gino Totaglia in it.
Sergeant Gino Totaglia
Hey, Danny, you know what?
Detective Danny Clover
What?
Sergeant Gino Totaglia
That Joe Cano, the big boy you found shot up.
Detective Danny Clover
What about him?
Sergeant Gino Totaglia
Gino sinking fast at police hospital. Danny still in shock, still unconscious. Dr. Sinski don't hold out much hope.
Detective Danny Clover
Wherever I am, Gino, you'll let me know when I can talk to him?
Sergeant Gino Totaglia
Goes without saying. I've been thinking, Danny. I come up with several items about this Conno.
Detective Danny Clover
Like what?
Sergeant Gino Totaglia
Like he is on the regular schedule of roust by our boys. Our boy's got the sneaking hunch this Kano is a gun for hire. A freelance hood who works for anyone with the price.
Detective Danny Clover
So they got something to build that on.
Sergeant Gino Totaglia
Two sentences for assault.
Detective Danny Clover
Brutal, vicious.
Sergeant Gino Totaglia
No apparent motive. None that our boys could prove, anyway. This gives them these hunches. And nth Kano.
Lieutenant Mugaman
What else?
Detective Danny Clover
What else is.
Sergeant Gino Totaglia
According to many previous tests by prison psychiatrists. This Kano is immature for such a big boy. IQ reports a child would be scared to bring home. Another thing, Danny, from Technical also. And then Kano.
Detective Danny Clover
Oh, anytime you feel up to it.
Sergeant Gino Totaglia
You know from Technical. The report that the gun that killed Harry Moore also played hob with Big Joe Kano.
Detective Danny Clover
I see you get in touch with Mrs. Moore like I told you?
Sergeant Gino Totaglia
Police hospital check me a little while ago. Danny, Mrs. Moore is in the waiting room cooling her heels for you. Like at your request, I got in touch with her to do.
Detective Danny Clover
You did fine. Thanks. You know,
Mrs. Vivien Moore
Hospitals frighten you, Mr. Culver. Sometimes. Other times, yeah. Quiet and flowers. But then I think, what happens here? Pain, sorrow and crying out. I know what that means. I cry out. Sometimes at night. I do that. And I sit up in my bed. No one comes to me and comforts me.
Detective Danny Clover
Yeah. Now, that your husband?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
I know. Before that, all the time, since I was small, no one comes to me.
Detective Danny Clover
We're going to go in this room, Mrs. Moore. I want you to look at a man. I want you to tell me what man.
Mrs. Vivien Moore
Why? Why do you want me to do this?
Detective Danny Clover
You must remember it's my job. To find out who killed your husband.
Mrs. Vivien Moore
Yes, that's right. That's right.
Detective Danny Clover
Yeah. You ever seen him before?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
Very sick, isn't he?
Detective Danny Clover
Very sick.
Mrs. Vivien Moore
He's going to die, isn't he?
Detective Danny Clover
The doctors are doing all right.
Mrs. Vivien Moore
I would like to touch his face. I know he can't hear me. Maybe the touch, somehow he can feel it. Know how sorry I am?
Detective Danny Clover
Have you ever seen him before?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
No.
Detective Danny Clover
Mrs. Moore, this man was seen with your husband a few days before Mr. Moore was murdered.
Mrs. Vivien Moore
I do.
Detective Danny Clover
And, Mrs. Moore, the gun that shot your husband shot this man.
Mrs. Vivien Moore
Yes. Poor man.
Detective Danny Clover
Do you know why your husband was with this man?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
Oh, no. Please. Take me out of here now, Mr. Clover.
Detective Danny Clover
And leave there walking the gleaming corridors of the hospital again. Mrs. Moore takes your arm and smiles up to you sadly, apologetically. Sighs then thanks you when you put her in a cab and tip your hat to her. Find a restaurant and coffee now. And watch the fat fly on his slow trajectory across the menu painted on the window. Make a pattern with the bottom of the coffee mug on the enameled counter and think. A man respected. Harry Moore dead, an assassin. Joe Connell dying. And the questions, why and by whom? What chain of circumstance. Back to headquarters with it. Why and by whom?
Lieutenant Mugaman
Hey, Danny, wait a minute. He's going to your office to give you something.
Detective Danny Clover
What have you got?
Lieutenant Mugaman
Routine check, Danny. Bank account of Harry Moore.
Detective Danny Clover
Oh, what about it?
Lieutenant Mugaman
A week ago, he made a withdrawal of a thousand dollars even. And Three days ago, Mrs. Moore made a withdrawal too. Separate accounts. She withdrew 2,000. And what, day before yesterday, she put it back.
Detective Danny Clover
Make sense to you, huh? A lot.
Sergeant Gino Totaglia
Hey, Danny, you down there?
Detective Danny Clover
Yeah. What do you want, Gino?
Sergeant Gino Totaglia
So dark in these hallways, you can't tell Ada from Diesel Bub. Anyhow, Dr. Sinski just caught in the hospital. Joe Connell is dead. The good doctor said. Joe opened his eyes and said I couldn't take money from her, not from her, and died. That mean anything, Benny?
Detective Danny Clover
Everything. That's all I needed to.
Mrs. Vivien Moore
Why, Hello.
Detective Danny Clover
Good evening, Mrs. Moore. You remember Detective Mugman, don't you, Mrs. Moore?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
Yes, of course I do. Well, why shouldn't I? Please come in.
Lieutenant Mugaman
Thanks. How you feeling, Mrs. Moore?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
Oh, very well, thank you.
Lieutenant Mugaman
No more. Six cocktails at one sitting, huh?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
I told you I only had five.
Lieutenant Mugaman
That's right, you did.
Mrs. Vivien Moore
I'd be very pleased to fix you something. I make a nice martini. My husband Harry taught me. Whenever we had guests, I'd mix the martinis and bring them in and pass them around. Harry would be proud. He'd say My little girl made these. And the guests would all smile and Harry would say, no, I mean it. My little girl really did make the. Shall I fix you up?
Detective Danny Clover
Nothing, thank you. Do you know why we're here, Mrs. Moore?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
That man you took me to see at the hospital, how is he?
Detective Danny Clover
He died a little while ago.
Mrs. Vivien Moore
I've been sitting here all day making phone calls, arrangements for Harry's funeral. Making out lists. When I set my mind to do anything, anything at all. I can do it.
Lieutenant Mugaman
Mrs. Moore?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
Yes?
Lieutenant Mugaman
Mr. Clover asked you a question. He wanted to know.
Mrs. Vivien Moore
I know he did. He asked me if I knew why you gentlemen were here. I suppose you have your reasons. You'll tell me.
Detective Danny Clover
One of the reasons was to tell you Joe Connell died.
Mrs. Vivien Moore
But you said that. You've already told me that he killed your husband. And now he's dead. This man, this Joe Connell.
Lieutenant Mugaman
You know why he killed your husband, Mrs. Moore?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
No.
Detective Danny Clover
Or who told him to kill your husband?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
No.
Lieutenant Mugaman
You're not drunk now, so you can think clearly. Do you know why he killed your husband?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
No. No, I don't. I don't.
Lieutenant Mugaman
You've made all the arrangements for your husband's funeral, haven't you?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
I told you.
Detective Danny Clover
Do you have a maid here?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
No. No, I don't.
Lieutenant Mugaman
Beautifully kept apartment.
Mrs. Vivien Moore
I do it all myself and I shop and I budget. Harry used to say there's nobody like my little girl to run a house. I do it all myself.
Lieutenant Mugaman
Why don't you come off it, Mrs. Moore? Why don't you tell us about your husband, about Joe Connell? You're a capable woman. You're not a little girl no more.
Mrs. Vivien Moore
No more.
Detective Danny Clover
That's right. So it's all right to tell us about your husband and Joe Connell?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
I don't know what you mean, honestly, the way you're talking.
Detective Danny Clover
How did you and your husband get along?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
We were man and wife.
Lieutenant Mugaman
He called you a little girl all the time?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
No, not for a long time. We had a big argument one day. He screamed at me.
Lieutenant Mugaman
This little girl bit got on his nerves, huh?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
Listen, I'm me and I'm nobody else. I'll tell you just what I told Harry Moore. I'm me and I'm nobody else. Harry wooed me. He won me, and I'm the kind of girl he married.
Detective Danny Clover
We know all about it, Mrs. Moore. How your husband searched the Bowery and finally found the man he was looking for, Joe Connell.
Mrs. Vivien Moore
Harry did things. A lot of things he didn't have to tell me. A man has his privacy. I know that.
Detective Danny Clover
Did you Know he hired Joe Connell to kill you. Paid him $1,000 to murder you because he was sick of you.
Lieutenant Mugaman
Did you know that, Mrs. Moore?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
Yes. One day when I was on the street, Joe got out of a car and walked over to me. He pointed a gun at me and told me to get in the car. I did. By the time we got to where we were going, Joe put away the gun. We were laughing.
Lieutenant Mugaman
You and Connell got along, huh?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
I never met anybody like him. He told me people thought he was dumb, but he wasn't dumb. I knew that right away.
Detective Danny Clover
He told you why he picked you up, didn't he?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
He said Harry had given him a thousand dollars. I told Joe I'd give him $2,000, not to kill me. Joe said, all right. But when I got the money from the bank and gave it to him, Joe wouldn't take it. We got along fine.
Detective Danny Clover
How?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
We went to the movies, penny arcades. Joe wanted to take me to Coney, but I said later, after.
Detective Danny Clover
After what?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
Joe told me he was going to kill Harry after that.
Detective Danny Clover
Joe told you that? And you didn't do anything about it?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
Harry wanted me dead, so why should I help Harry? Tell me. Right. Joe and I figured that out together.
Detective Danny Clover
Tell me, how did Joe get shot?
Mrs. Vivien Moore
His room. The evening after he shot Harry. He was showing me how he did it. He said, I took this gun and I shot him. I said, let me see. He gave me the gun, showed me how to work the safety catch and everything. I said, like this. And I pointed it at him. And he laughed. And I laughed. I said, bang. I must have pulled the trigger. Joe stopped laughing. He said, you'd better go home now.
Detective Danny Clover
Lights plume upward into the sky on Broadway and night bursts over the swarm starts its dance down the canyon streets and a little man stalks the heels of a drunkard the place of darting eyes of the fleeting smile Whispers in the wind and crowd and roar and the empty hand. It's Broadway. The gaudiest, most violent. The lonesomest mile in the world. Broadway. My Beat.
Narrator
Broadway's My Beat is produced and directed by Elliot Lewis with music composed and conducted by Alexander Courage. The program is written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin and stars Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover with Charles Calvert as Tartaglia and Jack Crucian as Mugavan. Featured in tonight's story were Sammy Hill, Clayton Post, Shep Menken and Lou Merrill.
Mrs. Vivien Moore
Sam.
Podcast: Choice Classic Radio Detectives | Old Time Radio
Episode: Broadway Is My Beat: The Harry Moore Murder Case
Air Date: 06/02/1952
Featured Cast: Larry Thor (Det. Danny Clover), Charles Calvert (Sgt. Tartaglia), Jack Crucian (Lt. Mugavan)
Original Broadcast Length: ~25 min (non-content omitted)
This episode of "Broadway Is My Beat" plunges listeners into a classic New York murder mystery. Detective Danny Clover navigates the emotional undercurrents and hard realities behind the murder of Harry Moore, a construction contractor found shot dead in his apartment. The story unravels along Broadway’s neon-lit, emotionally charged landscape, exploring unhappy marriages, hitmen, and deeply broken lives.
Notable Quote:
“Harry’s dead. This man told me. Harry’s going away and never coming back. And I must be very brave about it.” — Mrs. Vivien Moore (03:15)
Notable Quote:
“Harry walks skid row. There’s always a guy to tell you about—a slumber guy.” — Steve Nelson (06:26)
Notable Quote:
“Homicide’s about as big as it can get, right?” — Bartender at Benson's (08:56)
Notable Quote:
“I’m going to show you how a big man dies.” — Joe Kano (11:02)
Notable Quotes:
The dialog is classic noir: terse, dramatic, introspective, and tinged with world-weariness and bitterness. The language is vivid, painting Broadway as a character unto itself—glittering yet lonesome, home to lost dreams and sudden violence.
The episode explores themes common to noir: innocence corrupted, the randomness of violence, and the impossibility of truly knowing another’s heart. Mrs. Moore emerges as both victim and survivor, acting not with malice but in confused self-preservation. The detectives, meanwhile, pursue the truth with patience, empathy, and a recognition that on Broadway, everyone has a secret—and sometimes, even the happy endings come stained with loss.