Frank Kennelly (0:04)

21St Precinct. Sergeant Klein? Yes. Where? 3120 in the bar and Grill. Now, who's shot? What's his name? Where's the man with the gun? You are in the muster room at the 21st Precinct, the N Center. A call is coming through. You will follow the action taken pursuant to that call from this minute until the final report is written in the 124 room at the 21st Precinct. I'll send the officers. What? Talk into the phone. It's on its way. The ambulance is already on its way. Just wait there for the officers. 21st Precinct. It's just lines on a map of the city of New York. Most of the 173,000 people wedged into the 9/10 of a square mile between Fifth Avenue and the east river wouldn't know if you asked them that they lived or worked in the 21st. Whether they know it or not, the security of their persons, their homes and their property is my job. My job and the job of the 160 patrolmen, 11 sergeants and four lieutenants of whom I'm the boss. My name is Kennelly. Frank Kennelly. I'm captain in command of the 21st. I was working my 6pm to 8am tour. It was a hot, muggy night. After I turned out the platoon for the late tour I went on patrol of the precinct with Patrolman Johnny Farrell as operator and myself as recorder. At 2:55. We were driving south on Lexington Avenue. In the 70s there were few cars on the street and fewer pedestrians. All right, cut across east on 72nd, Johnny. We'll take a turn up first. Yes, sir. KBA 38. What was the matter with your boy Johnny? I don't know, Captain. Analogy to doctor. A rack like that could be caused by anything. Nothing he ate or one of his toys or weed or something. Hide itself? Yeah. And to keep it from scratching. How are you going to keep a kid 5 years old from scratching in his sleep unless you're trying? Well, if there's somebody running, where? This side. Down on the next lot. Oh, yeah? Let's take a look. The man. Pull up ahead of him. Police officer. Watch your hurry. Now, hold up. I was running to the police station. Okay, Captain. Yeah, well, tell me, mister. Hold up, guys. They shot my boss. Where? Bar and Grill. He's dead. I think he's dead. Why were you running the police station? What was the matter with the phone? I don't know. I was so excited, I guess. What's your name? Charlie. Charlie Burgess. I'm the bartender. Okay, get in the car. Open it off, Al. Yes. He looked dead to me. All right, get in. Charlie, you go around. Johnny. Yes, sir. Where is it? The Bar and Grill, two blocks up. What's the seat of that? 3120. 3120, Johnny. Yes, sir. The two guys were there for an hour. Almost. Poor steps. All right, six two zero. Go ahead, six two zero. We picked up a man who reports a robbery and shooting at the Bar & Grill. 3120 Lexington. 3120. That's right. We've got the witness. We're on our way. Okay. You. You were running to the police station? Yeah, that's right. Police station's in the other direction. Car 6 31. 6 32. The address. 31 2. All right, come on, Charlie. Let's go. Come on. I didn't know where the police station was. How should I know? Inside, Johnny. He's over there behind the bar. How come the music. Hold up, guys. Put a couple of quarters in the jukebox. I don't know. There. Is he dead? Yeah, he's dead. Here's a gun, Captain. Over here. All right, let it lay, Sal, and pull the plug on that jukebox. That's it. Gas registers clean now. Why'd they shoot him, Charlie? I don't know. Happened so fast, I don't know. Where were you standing? Right here. Right? With a beer tap. You were the bartender? Yeah, that's right. Substitute the regulars on vacation. Why didn't they shoot you? I ducked. I ducked down behind the bar. If you were the bartender, what did you do, change into your street clothes after the shooting? No, Dutch said I could go home early. Business was slow. I could go home, so I chased. If you change, what were you doing behind the bar? It was my last night. I came back here so Dutch could give me my money. No other customers around when it happened? No, just the two hypers. Hey, what is this anyhow? That's what we want to know from you, Charlie. What it is. Two sector cars, the sergeant's car, detectives from the 21st Squad and an ambulance arrived on the scene almost immediately, as required in homicide cases. Lt. Matt King, commanding the 21st Squad, was called from his home. Also notified were the Manhattan East Homicide Squad, the medical examiner's office, the New York County District Attorney's office, the police laboratory for latent fingerprint experts and a police photographer and such superior officers of the department as were concerned. Premises were completely examined for latent fingerprints and other physical evidence. The Apparent murder. Gun carefully handled, was tagged for evidence by the laboratory men for ballistics and fingerprint examination. Body of the victim was taken to Bellevue morgue for autopsy. At 10 minutes to 4am Lt. King brought Charles Burgess to the station house for a detailed account. There in the 21st Squad, he was questioned by Lt. King in his office in the presence of Assistant District Attorney Lewis Curly, two detectives and myself. Now, you said the two bandits were average height. Yes, sir. Tell me what you mean, Charlie, by average height. Average height. They weren't too big, they weren't too small. Would you say they were as tall as I am? A little taller maybe. About as tall as Captain Kelly? About. Yeah. Yeah, I guess both of them. And they were about the same height? Well, one was a little taller than the other was. Only a little. Which one? The one that fired the shot? Yeah, the one that fired the shot. He was a little taller. You told Captain Kelly on the scene that the other one was a little taller. Isn't that right, Captain? That's what he said. Well, one of them was a little taller. What are you trying to do to me anyway? Getting a little confused, Charlie. Well, this whole thing is enough to confuse anybody here, Charlie, have a cigarette. I could use one of her. Squad shouldn't be confusing if you're giving us the facts. That's all I'm giving you is the facts. Facts. All right, I'm telling you what happened. What else do you want from me? Okay, fine. Nothing else, Charlie. Well, that was Emmy's office with the preliminary report. Lieutenant. Yeah. Two bullet wounds. One through the right shoulder. The other entered the left arm, went through the chest and pierced the heart. That was a baby. Stand up a minute, Charlie. Me? Yeah, you. Stand up. Waiting. Yeah. Lieutenant, come over here a minute. Yeah, yeah, sure, Lieutenant. Charlie, supposing Detective Howard was the holed up man with a gun. That's good, Whitey, right there. Supposing, Charlie, you were Dutch. Yeah, Dutch about. Where was Dutch standing from the holdup man when the shots were fired was about here, I'd say. Uh huh. Where were you standing, Charlie? About right over there. But the bar ran along this way. Captain, would you be Charlie? Yeah, sure. Right about here. Yeah, right about there. I could show you better if I was myself. I want you to be Dutch. Yeah, Dutch. All right. Now, the hold up man fired the first shot. Bang. It hit Dutch in the right shoulder. Yeah. The second shot. Bang. Through the left arm and into the chest. Dutch fell down? Yeah, that's right. He fell down. Charlie, are you sure that's about where the hold up man was standing. Yeah, that's where he was standing about. Are you positive, Tommy? Sure, I'm positive. Okay, I'll sit down. Listen, can't I go home? We've been at this an awful long time. I'll tell you something, Charlie Dutch will be dead a long time too. The questioning continued for some minutes more. Charlie Burgess stated he would be able to recognize either or both of the two killers if he saw them again. Finally, coffee and sandwiches were sent for. Charlie sat on a bench in the corner munching at his food. Two uniformed officers arrived with a pair of narcotic addicts they caught in the act of breaking into and stealing goods from parked cars on Madison Avenue. It was a good collar. There'd been 10 to 20 squeals a night in the precinct concerning such thieves. As detectives started to talk to them, Charlie watched with fascination from the bench. It was a question who was more in trouble. I went back downstairs to the muster room and checked with the desk officer and the man on the boxes. Other than the homicide, it had been a quiet tour. I went into my office to read and sign reports which had accumulated during the tour. It was getting light out, and with the dawn came the first breeze in 48 hours. It might be a cooler day. Shortly before 7:00, Lt. King came downstairs and crossed the muster room to my office. Captain. Come in. Matt, you got a minute? Yeah, sure. How you doing? I don't know. I think Charlie's telling us a pack of lies. You think he killed a man? Sure could have, Captain, but we'll need a lot. We'll need to know if it was his gun, where he got it and so forth. We'll need a straight story on what went on there. Yeah. Oh, could you use a cup of coffee, man? Yeah, there's some hut I think so. Hey, what about the three customers he keeps talking about? If Charlie didn't kill Dutch, somebody had to. Somebody right out of his head. Sergeant. Excuse me, Captain. Go ahead and take the phone. 21st Precinct. Sergeant Klein, 37. All right, listen, you're ringing in three minutes late. I don't care what the clock in the jewelry store says. According to this clock, you're three minutes late. All right. Yes, sir. Captain, is there any hot coffee? Yes, sir. It's on fire. Oh, thanks. The sugar's in the drawer there. Good. Thanks. What do you think happened, Matt? I think Charlie tried to dip the till and Dutch quartermatters. It was an argument. Charlie had a gun and bang. The cash Register was empty. Money had to go someplace. Charlie didn't have it on him. Wasn't any place in the store. I know, but he ran a block and a half before you nailed him. Could have been dropped in a trash can or hallway or even a mailbox. Sugar man? Yeah, please. Here, help yourself. Thanks. I've got two men out checking every trash can and doorway between the bar and grill and where you stopped them, Captain. Good. But he could have had a friend who carried it away. Yeah, that's a possibility. Problem right now is what we're gonna do with Charlie. We haven't got enough to book him in on homicide. The assistant DA thinks we ought to take him down to court and have him held as a material witness. Sounds like a good idea. Oh, how's the coffee, man? Hot enough? Yeah. We told Charlie what we're gonna do. He called his brother and I think they'll have a lawyer down there. The DA says if they put up a fight, he'll need your testimony at the hearing. Because you collared him on the street, huh? I told them you were due to go off at 8. Well, that's all right. I'll go down. He said he'd get it set down for soon after 10 as possible. Don't worry about it. Oh, thanks, Captain. That'll help us a lot. Coffee sure takes fine. Yeah, that was a good tower your men made, Hernan Ross. Or to clear most of those squeals we had breaking into cars. Better still, man, it ought to stop him. Yes, sir. He's got a big point. At 8am I turned out the platoon for the day tour. A few minutes later, with the two detectives and Charlie Burgess, I rode to Police Headquarters Annex, 400 Boome St. We parked the car and took the elevator to the fifth floor. Bureau of Criminal Identifications. It was approximately 8:30am Charlie was taken back to the combination ammo and general appearance. Here there are thousands of photographs of men with criminal records classified according to the type of crimes they had committed. Stick up men, burglars, forges, auto thieves, pickpockets and so forth. Within each classification, the photographs are broken down according to general physical description, that is according to height, weight, hair color, complexion and build. Charlie was seated on a stool in front of the file. Fox and Howard stood on either side of him. I leaned on another file behind them and watched. Well, take your coat off, Charlie. You got about 6,000 pictures to look at. It's hot. No, that's all right. Suit yourself. Relax, Charlie. Count on making a career out of it. I'm relaxed. Now, this is what's known as a visible record file. There are 12 slides to a cabinet, 71 pockets on each slide. In each pocket, there's two pictures, full face and profile, of the same man. I'll pull out a slide, start dropping the pocket in front of you. Say no, and I'll drop the next one. You all set? I'm set, I guess. Now, relax, Charlie. You'll be here a long time. All right, here goes. No, that's not him. Just say no. Save your voice. No, that's the guy. That's him. That's one. That's him, I tell you. That's the one that shot Dutch. That's him. Are you sure? I'm telling you. Okay. Study it a little longer. Make sure I don't have to study. That's him. Study it anyway. Whitey, come here. Now just sit there. Charlie, do you believe him? Yep. I asked you first, Captain. You said it like it mattered. It's like hitting the sweepstakes. 50,000 mugs to look at and he makes the third picture. Well, either Charlie lives right or he's the best liar I ever met. You are listening to 21st Precinct, a factual account of the way the police work in the world's largest city. Charlie Burgess was put to work looking through the muds for the number two man. Meanwhile, Detective Fox had an identification man pull the complete jacket on the suspect. He identified Al Hantz, also known as Alfred Harrods. A man with a record of two arrests and one conviction, armed robbery. This information was telephoned to Lieutenant King. So was the report that the murder gun bore no readable fingerprints. By 9:45am Charlie had failed to identify a picture of the number two man. He was taken to the car and we drove farther downtown to the criminal courts building at A hundred center Stage. There, in felony court, he was met by his brother and an attorney. After considerable argument before the magistrate, Charles Burgess was ordered held as a material witness in $15,000 bail which could not be posted immediately. The two detectives signed a receipt for Charlie and drove him back uptown to the 21st. I went with him. In there, Charlie. In the lieutenant's. Come in. Go ahead, gentlemen. Hello, Captain. Thanks a lot. Oh, that's all right. Shut the door, will you, Fox? Cheers. Sit down, Charlie. Look. Sit down, Captain. You were in on this thing before any of us. Except Charlie, that is. Do you think you can get him to talk to. I'll try. Look, I don't feel like talking to anybody. I'm bushed. What do you think we are? I'm really bushed. Can't I get some sweet maybe? Maybe? What kind of an answer is maybe? It's as good as the answers you've been giving us, Charlie. You know I wouldn't do nothing like killing Dutch. I liked him. I loved him like a brother. I loved him. Charlie, there's more murders over love than hate. I'm telling you, everything stacks up against you, Charlie. You say there were three other fellows left the bar right before the holdup. We can't find a trace of them. They were in there. They were in there. You could have used the phone to call the cops. Instead you ran to the police station, only you ran the wrong way. I'm from Brooklyn. I only worked there three days. I got mixed up. That's natural. Is standing behind the bar in your street clothes natural? Why did it happen when there were no customers in the joint, Charlie? I don't know. What do you want from facts, Charlie? Just facts. I'm giving you facts. That's all I've been giving you, isn't it? The fact that you waited until all the customers were gone and you pulled a gun on Doug. No, it's not. Isn't it a fact that you shot him in cold blood with the intention of saying two hold up men walked in.