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My partner's Frank Smith, the boss of Chief Detective Stad Brown. My name's Friday. I was on my way back from the street and it was 11:42pm when I got to the 8:14 club, the back room. I hate to think what's going to happen when Mr. Negry hears about it. Gonna be pretty bad. Yes, sir. How about it, Joe? You catch the fellows yet? No, sir. Description's out. Guys from the F cars are checking the neighborhood. Haven't got nothing yet though, huh? No, sir. Not yet. Wish I was home, sir. If I was home, I could turn off the phone. I got one of those attachments in the extension in the bedroom that turns it off. Wish I was there. Now Mr. Negry's really going to be sore. Was there anything at all about the two men that would stand out and make it a little easier for us to identify them? Tell you the truth, Sergeant, if there was, I didn't see it. All right? I was scared, darn scared. I'm not afraid to say so. Yes, sir. I can tell you again if you want me to, about the robbery. All right, if you would. Might be something you didn't remember the first time through. Okay. Guess it was about a quarter 11 when we came in, but I think it was about then. A dark one. He had the machine gun. He kind of moved over, so he had a good look at the people sitting at the bar. What kind of a gun was it? Machine gun. I see. Go ahead. Guess he could have hit them off from where he was, held the gun kind of low, you know, like at his hip here. What about the other one? Well, he waited with his friend and he walked up to the bar, stood right in the middle of the floor. He had the automatic, huh? Yeah, looked like a.45. Stood right in the middle of the place, just looking there, watching it. What happened then? Well, the fellow out in front reached over and pulled the plug in the jukebox, turned it off right in the middle of the record, pull the plug. And that's what made the other people turn around. Turned right around and looked at the guns. That's when the light fellow, the one with the.45, he said, sit where you are. This is a stick up. Are those his exact words? Well, near as I can remember, yeah. He kind of had a squeaky little voice like it was still changing, you know. Yes, but those were the words. Sit right where you are. This is a stick up. All right, Mr. Gilmore, you want to go ahead? Well, the one with a funny voice told everybody, get up and turn around. So they was facing the bar, you know, with their back to the hold up man. Made them all turn around. Then he told them to start in the back of the place and walk over to one of the tables and dump all their money out. Said not to forget anything, put it all there. Did they take anything besides money? Not that I saw. There were a couple of people who had pretty good looking watches on. But the only thing the bandits seemed to want was cash. I see. And they left after they got the money? Yeah. Yeah. Walked to the door and said for us not to try to call anybody for five minutes. After that they walked out. Did you see if they had a car? No, sir. Didn't even go near the door. We did like they said, five minutes. And after that I called you. You'd know him again if you saw him, would you? You bet I would. You put me in a crowd with them and I'll tell you, no trouble there. I've known. Oh, excuse me. Go right ahead. 814 club. Yeah. Oh yeah. Mr. Negry? Uh huh, that's right. Well, who called you? Yeah, well, there wasn't anything I could do about Mr. Negry? No sir. Both of them had guns. Yeah. All right, sir. That's the way you feel about it? All right, sir. Fine. I'll be in the morning. Right nice. Fired me. Well, that's too bad. I thought I heard you say you'd be in in the morning now. Yeah, well, I come in to pick up my money, you know. I see. By the time I get here tomorrow, he'll have another change of heart. So hire me back. I've been fired 12 times already. 12. He always hires me back. Isn't anybody else who worked for him very. He had a lot of trouble keeping help. A lot of. He thinks I should have stopped the hold up men myself. Just walked in with my bare hands and stopped them. Pretty silly when you think of it. He says they're only kidding with the guns. That they wouldn't have really shot me. Pretty silly. Says he'd have bet on it all right. Doesn't take too much to figure that out. Yeah. Either way, I'd have lost, wouldn't I? The description of the suspects, the method of operation they'd used, everything about the robbery sounded just as if it had been read from our MO Bulletins. For the past three weeks, Frank and I had been after the two gunmen. All sources of information had been tapped. Victims and witnesses had been questioned and requested. People in the immediate vicinity had been talked to. Mug shots had been pulled and worn out. By handling to date in concrete information, we had exactly what we'd started with. Two gunmen who were moving around at will and robbing citizens where and when they chose. The victims of the latest robbery were shown the mug books, but they were unable to make an identification. The canvas of the area turned up no usable information. Frank and I worked until 3:45am and then we filled out the log and left the office. The next morning we checked with Captain Donahoe and Chief Brown. As a result of the meeting, we arrived at the only possible solution to apprehending the suspect. Legwork, and a lot of it. We spent the rest of the afternoon rechecking informants. At 9:30pm we stopped for dinner and then we went back to the office. You got the address Sam gave you? Yeah. It's here somewhere. Yeah, there it is. You think it's worth checking out? Well, we got nothing else to do. We might as well soon. I get these straightened up, we can take a ride out there and see him. Yeah, Robert Murphy? Yeah, he's here. Just a minute. Friday? Yeah. Murphy. Take three, will you, Joe? Thanks. Three? Yeah. This Friday? Yeah. Boy, when was that possible? Do you see anybody else? All right, we'll come right over. Bye. Highland Park. They just picked up a guy for 459. Yeah? Matches the description of our blonde. Hold up, man. Think it'll check out? I don't know. They shook him down. When he was picked up, they found a.45 with a full clip. It's pretty heavy for a burglar. Yeah. Let's go over and talk to him. Sure be a break. We've been chasing luck long enough. Or maybe we caught up. Frank and I signed out of the office immediately and we started over to Highland Park. It wasn't the first time we'd gone out on a similar call. During the time we'd been after the hold up men, there'd been several others. All of them had to be checked out. We never knew when an odd piece of information might turn the lead that we'd been looking for. Just before we turned off onto Avenue 64, a call came in over the radio. All units on frequency one, standby. You want to turn it up? Yeah, I got it. Standby. Standby 11, gate 4. All units on frequency 1, please stand by. Sounds like a good one. Yeah. All units in the vicinity of Highland Park. All units in the vicinity of 6045 York Boulevard, Highland Park. Division units, 11F2, 11F3, 11F5 and 11F7. And all traffic units, attention. It's a big one. At 10:47pm this date, an armed man entered the Highland park police station and forced an officer to release two prisoners. The man was armed with a submachine gun believed to be a.45 caliber. Suspect is described. Sounds like our boy, as W. The Highland Park Police Division is a large brick building located on York Boulevard. On the ground floor is a booking desk and a couple of administration offices. Directly behind the booking counter across the hall is a cell block. Prisoners are held there pending further investigation or transfer to the main jail. When Frank and I arrived, there were a dozen police cars around the building. Other units were searching the area for the escaped suspects. The call had gone out to the entire state and members of the highway patrol and the Sheriff's department and all other departments were joining in the manhunt. Frank and I talked to Officer Boyd Hutchins. The policeman who'd been on duty when the escape took place. Well, he came in the side door and first I thought he just wanted some information. Uh huh. When I walked over to take care of him, I couldn't see the gun. He was carrying it low, kind of hidden by the counter. You didn't see him come into the building then, huh? No, I was on the phone. First I knew was when he asked me if he could see Burton. Uh huh. I told him we couldn't swing it right then. Said he'd have to come back. And that's when he asked me if there was anybody around who could okay a visit. Well, I told him there was and Said for him to come back in the morning. That's when he showed you the gun, huh? Yeah, he brought it right up over the counter. Said for me not to cause any trouble and I wouldn't get hurt. He didn't have to tell me. Yeah, there'd been a chance for me to take on him, I'd have tried, but I didn't see how it'd prove anything for me to bleed all over him. Yeah. They made me take him back to the cell block. I unlocked the door and he told Burton to come out. What about the other guy? His name is Kenneth Lechner. He was in the same cell with Burton. Guy with a machine gun asked if he wanted to go for the ride, and Lechner said yes. And then the three of them walked out of the building. Did they make any attempt to tie up anything like that? No, I just said sit tight. I wasn't about to argue. What do you know about this Lechner? Oh, he was picked up on a want from Oklahoma. What charge? Murder. We went to the city hall and we checked the name Gail Burton through R and I. There was no record on him in Los Angeles. We forwarded the information on him to George Breton up at CIA in Sacramento. The rest of the night was spent in checking out the possible places the suspects might have been hiding. In a city of over 2 million people, there are a lot of places. While we were combing the city, men from the sheriff's department were going over the county territory. We had a vague description of the car that was used, but it might match any one of several hundred being driven on the streets of Los Angeles. Roadblocks were set up on principal routes leaving the city. Special details were standing by at all train and bus depots, and the airports were covered. Leads and days off for all personnel were canceled, and by the time the search got out of low gear, over 3,000 policemen were looking for the three men. Field stations were set up in the less populated areas, and coffee and hot soup were served to the men participating in the search. The night dragged on without result. Saturday, September 11th, we received a report that two men answering the descriptions of Burton and the man who'd aided in his escape had tried to rent a boat down in San Diego. However, when this was checked out, it proved to be false. Saturday afternoon, we received information from George Brereton that Burton had an arrest record in Sacramento and that mug shots and all information were being forwarded. We got in touch with the authorities in the northern city and asked them to check further on the friends and relatives of Burton. When the mug shots arrived, they were shown to the holdup victims. Mr. Gilmore, like to have you take a look at these pictures, see if they recognize any of them. You think there might be one here? The fellow who held us up? Well, we want you to tell us if you can. Uh huh. No, not him. Uh, no. Well, you remember how I told you Mr. Negrig, give me my job back? Yeah, I remember that. He did, just like always. Well, that's fine. Soon as he read in the papers how they broke out of jail, he said I was right not to cause trouble. Soon as he found out about the jailbreak. We're not sure they're the same men yet, Mr. Gilmore. Don't know why, sir. Don't know why. Ain't sure. Here's this picture. This is the man who held you up? Yep. One in the same. How about a Jeff Burton? The other victims also identified Burton as one of the men who'd held them up. With the name of the man, we at least had some place to start. We put in a call to Sacramento and we talked to the police department up there. We found that the suspect had been arrested on charges of suspicion of burglary, suspicion of robbery, 80W and assault with intent to do great bodily harm. In spite of the numerous arrests, Burton had only served one term in the county jail. We got all available information on him and the search was intensified. We've gotten reports from informants that the three men might try to escape across the border into Mexico. San Diego was notified of this and Al Gaten was dispatched to the international boundary of Tijuana to aid the Mexican police. Two days passed without news of the suspects. Monday, September 13th. Frank and I got back into the office from chasing down a lead that went nowhere. Better check with a skipper. Yeah, I'll do it right away. I got it. Robbery Friday. Yeah. All right, I'll take it long distance. San Francisco might have gotten up there. Hello? This Friday? Oh, yeah, Eddie. Mm. Yeah, well, we got the identification from Brereton. No, nothing yet. When was that? That could be it, given time, wouldn't it? Just a minute, Frank. Yeah, said Evandervert up there. When these guys pull the first job. I think it was August 16th. Placed over on Pico. That's the first one. Yeah, August 16th. Ed. No, the other one doesn't show up on any of the sheets. Kenneth Lechner. No, we're expecting it from Oklahoma. Podbean. Your message amplified. Ready to share your message with the world? Start your podcast journey with Podbean. Podbean, the AI powered all in one podcast platform. Thousands of businesses and enterprises trust Podbean to launch their podcasts. Use Podbean to record your podcast. Use PodBean AI to optimize your podcast. Use PodBean AI to turn your blog into a podcast. Use Podbean to distribute your podcast everywhere. Launch your podcast on Podbean today. You guys will check it out for us then, huh? All right, let us know as soon as you got something definite, will you? Right. Okay, Ed. Thanks for calling. All right, bye. What you got? Well, I got a rumble that Burton was up there the first part of August. He stayed about a week, he said. Yeah, Ed says he's got an informant down in the Fillmore district. Used to run with Burton. Might give us a lead on the partner. How come? Well, according to the informant, Burton met a guy up north. They got real chummy. They left town together. Come up with a name? Yeah, he did. Kirby Monet. M O N E T Been in trouble a couple of times. Petty stuff. Rumbles. Got it. But he was always talking about going big, forming his own gang, cutting into the heavy stuff. Matches real good. Monet's description is the same as our number two man. Pictures of Kirby Monet arrived from San Francisco. And when they were shown to the victims of the thieves, we had a positive identification on our second suspect. Armed with this information, the job of the men in the field was considerably easier. Now they knew who they were looking for. 10:42pm Frank and I started downstairs for our car. Excuse me, fella. Yeah? You tell me where the office of the chief is. Down the hall and to the right. Thanks. Wait a minute, fella. Hold on. What do you want to see the chief about? That's personal. Maybe you better tell me, huh? If I wanted you, I'd ask it. That way I'd get over the wall. Better shake him down, Frank. All right. Over here. You don't have to go through all this. I'm not gonna cause you any trouble. Your name's Kenneth Lechner, innit? That's right. You couldn't find me. Figured I'd come to you. Frank and I took the suspect to the squadron. We got in touch with Chief of Detective Stabb Brown. We told him what had happened, and he said he'd come over to the office as soon as possible. We shook Kenneth Lechner, but we found nothing. We asked him to tell us about the jailbreak. I didn't have nothing to do with it. You got to believe that. We'll let you tell Us. I'm giving it to you the way it happened. Where are Monet and Burton? I don't know. Last I saw them, they were out on West Pico. You got an address? No. Sitting in the car. They had a place case and they were waiting for the crowd to clear before they took it. You know what place it was? That's a bar out there. Got the name? No, I haven't got any idea. I told you, I want no part of it. That's the reason I left. You haven't got any idea where the place is, huh? No, none. You want to tag communications, Frank? Tell them about it. Yeah, I'll get right away. You guys must have every cop in the country out looking for us. Never saw so much of us. I can't go that route anymore. It doesn't work out for me. Never was any good at running. Do you hear anything at all about the plans they were making? No, not a lot. I don't think they trusted me very much. I was with them, but like an in law or something. I'll tell you something, Sergeant. What's that? These guys are roof jobs. Both of them. What do you mean? Well, they lost the road. All the time talking about how they're gonna put class back in hold ups. Gonna form a big gang and really jump the cops. All the time talking like that. Roof jobs. You got any idea where we can pick them up? Ain't nothing I'd like better than to give you the address, but I ain't got it. What about this car they're using? Can you give us a description of it? Yeah, it's a 52 Nash, four door. Stolen? It must be. They had it where we left Highland Park. You give us the number on the plate? I don't think so. I can't pull it up. I don't think I ever really took a good look at it. What about this machine gun? They got shells for it. They're loaded with them. These two guys are heavy enough to start a small war on their own. Monet carries a chopper and a.45 in his belt. Burton's got two 45s and a.38. He carries a.38 strapped to his leg. He's always laughing about it. Says even if he's picked up, he's got to take it out. Oh, these guys are real far out. They've been reading too many comic books. All the time talking about Dillinger and Floyd. Burton even took to smoking cigars as it makes him look like Doc Barker. Anything you can give us? That'll help us nail him? No, Nothing. All right, Leckney, let's go. You take me to jail? That's right. Hey, you do me a favor, huh, Sergeant? What's that? Give me a cell. By myself. I hadn't much sleep in the last couple of days. I'd sure like to get some. We'll see what we can do. All right, sit still a minute. All right, let's go. You gotta put these on again. That's right. All right, come on. Get the word out. Yeah. A little late. What do you mean? Burton and Monet have already hit the bar. Patrol car spotted him on the way out. Yeah? Was a beef. And the men in the car took Burton into custody, dropped him in the car and started to bring him in. Hadn't gone more than a couple of blocks when Monet drove up, rammed the police car and started shooting. Anybody hurt? Yeah. He took Burton away from the men in the unit and shot one of them. How bad? He's at Georgia Street Receiving now. They don't expect him to live. We had Count Fleckner held for the Oklahoma authorities. We contacted Captain Donahoe and told him what had happened. He'd taken over the search for the two suspects in the Pico area. A blockade had been set up on all streets leading into and out of the area. All vehicles were being stopped and searched. All pedestrians were being interrogated. Frank and I joined in the manhunt. By 6:30 the next morning, Wednesday, September 15, the area had been covered without result. However, in checking all automobiles in the vicinity of the hold up we come across a 1952 Nash, gray in color. The left front fender was damaged and matched the description of the suspect's car very close. We put a stakeout on the vehicle and it was kept under watch for the next 24 hours. During that time, no one approached it. We checked the license number with Auto Theft Division and found the car to be stolen. It had been taken from the owner five days before. On September 10, we brought Kenneth Lechner from the main jail and he positively identified the car as the one driven by Monet and Burton. At the end of the surveillance, a crew from the crime lab came out and identified paint scrapings from the damaged fender as having come from the police car that had been rammed. A crew from Layton Prince came out and went over the car while they worked. Frank and I stood by. Looks like we got a turn. It's not gonna do us much good if we can't find the guy with the key. Well, he should be about finished now. I'LL check with him. All right. I'll walk over with you. Excuse me. Yes, ma'. Am. Something we can do for you? You know what those men are doing to that car? Police business. You a cop? That's right. You tell me. What's going on? Investigation. Of what? The car? That's right. What are you looking for? Information. Not gonna tell me, huh? That'd be a little better if we didn't, ma'. Am. Okay. He's not gonna like it. Not a bit. Who's that fellow that owns the car? He's not gonna like having all you guys roam around. You know the man that owns the car? Sure. Begin to get married. I know him. What's his name? Monet. He's kind of French. Like romantic. How long you know him? Not long. Sort of a whirlwind courtship, you'd say. Just met each other and we knew. You know where this Monet is now? Not right off. I know where he'll be. Where's that? At his place. I'm supposed to meet him there at 7:30 tonight. We got a date. Why? You want to talk to him? That's right. He's a nice fellow. You'll like him. Almost everybody does. Is that right? Never knew anybody met Kirby. Didn't want to be around him all the time. Everybody wants to be around Kirby. The norm. You'll see. Well, I won't be too hard, ma', am. Huh? He's already convinced us. We had the girl, Drusilla Roth, show us where the suspect was living. The results of the investigation by Leighton Prince brought out several partial fingerprints. These were identified as belonging to both suspects. We checked with the landlady at the apartment. She verified the fact that Monet and Burton had moved into the place three days before. She told us that neither man was at home in our company. We checked the room under a pile of dirty clothes. In one of the bureau drawers we found several boxes of ammunition for the.45s and the.38. There were also several hundred rounds of cartridges for the machine gun. Because of the physical structure of the building, it was decided the best way to keep the place under surveillance would be for one team to cover the front door, another to watch the rear entrance and the third to wait in the room itself. Frank called the office and Sergeants Murphy, Rafferty and Benson, along with Lieutenant Stoner, came out to help us. We instructed the manager to stay in her room and not let on to either of the suspects that we were in the building. We waited. 6:45pm should be showing up pretty quick, huh? Now, anywhere from Georgia Street. I talked to Stoner when he got here. They've given Simon a couple of transfusions. Figure they're going to be able to transfer him to General the first thing in the morning. You gonna make it then? Looks like it. They took a.38 out of his left lung, two more out of his hip. Pretty rough go. The time again, 6:47. Should be here by now if he's gonna keep that date. Now, there's another one. That comes first. At 7:06pm there was a knock on the door. It was a signal that we'd arranged. We opened it and found that Lt. Stoner had come up to tell us that Gail Burton had been taken into custody. He'd approached the apartment and as soon as the officer stopped him, he'd surrendered, offering no resistance. Stoner wanted to tell us that he and Benson would take the suspect downtown for booking. Frank and I settled back to wait for Monet. All right, Tory, I'd sure like a smoker. Why is it, Joe, you and I always draw the steak inside the room where all we can do is sit? I don't know. You usually ask for it that way, don't you? Well, next time we're gonna take one of the entrances. Sit out there in the car, smoke when you want. You want something to eat, you just run down the drugstore for a candy bar. It's a lot better duty to. Sounds like somebody coming to me. Yeah. What's that? Yeah. All right, man. Hold it right there. Watch it, Joe. See him? Down this way. All right, hold it. Any silence? No. He might have gone down the stairs. The apartment at the end of the hall. Right. Come on. All right, Monet, come on out. So last time around. Monet, throw that gun out and you follow it. Not coming out. All right, let's go in. Wait a minute. I'll knock. I got you anywhere. I quit. I don't want to fight. Throw the gun out here. Right there. Drop it. All right, here it is. Like you say. I got it. All right, hands behind your head. Back out of the door. Come on. Turn around. Keep those hands where you can see them. Okay, okay, I'm coming. I don't shoot anymore. I won't give no more trouble. I'd hold it right there, but don't move. Keep those hands up. I'll see. Here's another one. 45 had in his belt. I'd have given it to you. I wasn't gonna try any more. Keep still. All right, take your hands Down. Back of it. One at a time. Why not turn around? Don't take me in now. That's right. That cop I shot, he didn't die. No. You're pretty lucky. And all you got me for is robbery. That's all. Just robbery. That's how it looks from here, doesn't it? Robbery. That's all. Jail term doesn't make a lot of difference. Is that right? Sure isn't a jail built can hold me. Not one. I'll get out. I'll be running again. You see, I wouldn't give odds. Huh? Bigger men. And you said they'd come back. Yeah. Show me. I'd sure like to meet him. Don't worry, you will. Kenneth Nelson Lechner was returned to the state of Oklahoma for prosecution on a murder charge. A hold was placed against him by the state of California. In the event he is paroled. Gail Claude Burton and Kirby Arno Monet were tried and convicted of robbery in the first degree, six counts, violation of section 4574pc bringing a firearm into a prison, violation of the machine gun law and assault with intent to commit murder. Robbery in the first degree is punishable by imprisonment for a period of not less than five years. Violation of section 4574 is punishable by imprisonment for a period of not less than one year in the state penitentiary. Violation of the machine gun law is punishable by a term in the state prison, not to exceed five years and or a fine of $5,000. Assault with intent to commit murder is punishable by imprisonment for a period of not less than 1 nor more than 14 years in the state penitentiary. 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 Service.