Transcript
A (0:01)
Shooting where? At the museum or near the museum? Who's doing the shooting? Well, are there any police officers there? You are by transcription in the muster room at the 21st Precinct, the nerve 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. All right, I'll send the officers right over there. Yeah, right away. 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 homes, their persons and their property is the job of the men of the 21st Precinct. The 21st. 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 night tour 4pm to 8am after I turned out, the platoon and the men marched out the front door to take over their posts, Lt. Matt King, commanding officer of the 21st Detective Squad, came downstairs to confer with me in connection with several pistol license renewal applications that were still pending. According to the Manual of Procedure, each application for renewal must be investigated annually by both the commanding officer and the detective squad commander of the precinct in which the applicant resides or is employed, and they must recommend either approval or or disapproval. The gun law of the State of New York is perhaps the strictest in the country, and licenses are granted only upon absolute proof of necessity and good character of the applicant. While Lt. King and I were busy in my office, Lt. Gorman was on duty as desk officer outside in the muster room, and Sergeant Waters was on telephone switchboard duty. Money for his placing. Sergeant Waters? Yeah. Listen, take a walk around the corner and talk to the butcher there, will you? He's got a complaint about some kids annoying his delivery boy. Yeah, see what it's all about, will you? Okay, that was forgotten, Lieutenant. I gave him the complaint about the butcher. Okay. Yes, sir. Can I help him? Yes, you can, Sergeant. Where'll I find Lieutenant King? Well, his office is upstairs on the second floor, but I know he's busy right now. He's down here in the captain's office. Oh, well, I've got an appointment with him for five o'.
B (2:44)
Clock.
A (2:44)
I'm an attorney, Ellis Hopkins. Well, I don't know when he'll be through. Mr. Hopkins, you want to go upstairs and talk to one of the detectives? Maybe they can help you. You haven't any idea how long he'll be tied up? I've got to get downtown to my office. Excuse me a minute. Oh, yeah, sure. Sorry. 21st facing Sergeant Waters. All right. All right, Captain. Yes, sir. Oh, Captain, would you tell Lt. King there's a lawyer named Hopton out here to see him? He has an appointment. Thanks, Sergeant. All right, Captain. I'll tell him. He'll be out in a few seconds. Mr. Hobson. He says wait here. Okay, Lieutenant. The Captain wants to go out on patrol. Shall I have number five come by the house? All right. Number five. Yes, sir. Hello, CB Sergeant Waters. It's a 25th. Have 681 call at 25th. Okay, thanks. How they keep you pretty busy? Well, yeah, sometimes. Like anything else, it's got its busy times and it's quiet times. Oh, there they come now. Lieutenant King in the civilian clothes. Yeah. All right, Matt. I'll put them through. Yes, sir. Is the car coming by for me, Sergeant? The Hodgson? Yes, I've got a call out for it. I'm Lieutenant King. What can I do for him? I want to talk to you about a client of mine. Who's that? Joe Creedy. Oh, yeah. Want to come upstairs to my office? Yes, I would you hold up on that one till we talk again, Captain? Yes, I will, Master. When's Joe's case set down for trial? The 20th, Lieutenant. What's he gonna do, cop out? I don't know. We haven't decided. You're not going to bat? That's one of the best cases of burglary we ever made around here, isn't that. Go ahead, Lieutenant. Thank you. Want to go into my office and have a seat? I'll be in there in a second. All right. Is that it there? That's right, dad. Yes, sir. Where's Goldman? He ran down the 17th and got a guy there he wants to talk to on that Blackwell squib. Oh, yeah? I'll tell you what. Yes, Go ahead and take the call. 21st Squad, Detective Fitzpatrick. No, he's not here now. Who is this? Can I take a mess? Yeah, he's working today. He's out on investigation. All right, all right, I'll tell him. Yes, sir. He was writing up a DD5 for me. Ask him where it is when he rings in or when you see him. Yes, I'll be in my office. Is this chair all right, lieutenant? Yeah, it's fine. Well, the reason I wanted to see you. One second. I've got one thing to write down before I forget. Oh, good. Unnamed faces, but figures escape me. All right. Well, as I told you, I'm representing Joe Creedy. Where is he, down at the Tombs? No, he's out on bail. He made 5,000. Bail? The court reduced it to 2,000. His mother scraped up a hundred dollars for the bondsman. Where's he now? He's been staying at home. Haven't seen him around. Well, I advised him to stay pretty close to the house and not get mixed up with that crowd again. He'd only make things worse for himself. Good advice. Think he's taking it? I think he is. He's got a job. Well, pretty hard for a boy awaiting trial on a burglary indictment to get steady work. But he's picking up a few odd jobs here and there. Like what? Well, he told me he'll be doing some messenger work downtown. And he's got a cousin who does some hauling out in Long Island City. He's been helping him out when he needs help. Some stick gum? No, thanks. Comes up on the 20th, huh? Yeah. What do you want from me? Joe would like to talk to you, lieutenant. About what? Well, the fact of the matter is I'm trying to get the district attorney to recommend a suspended sentence. I've convinced Joe that the only way he can get it is to be of some help to you. We collared him in the act of committing a burglary. He had plenty of opportunity to tell me everything he knew, then didn't say a word. Well, I suppose the closer the day comes, the more cooperative he feels. When I talked to him, he sure must have thought the penitentiary was a million years away because he didn't feel cooperative at all. Wouldn't tell me the right time of day. See, I knew those boys had been stealing his blind in this precinct. Cop caught him inside the place. He had two other boys with him. Wouldn't say a word about them. What about anything he'd been involved in before? That kid has been into more flats than a paper hanger, lieutenant. He's got something more on his mind than those burg liveries, huh? What? I don't know exactly. Don't think he does either, Mr. Hogden. He's looking for a cheap way to save himself a couple of years. You all are like these kids. They look you straight in the face and lie like demons. He's not a kid anymore. He's 20 years old. Well, another year I can vote. I have an idea that what he wants to talk about is a homicide case that he was involved in. Not going to talk about a homicide case to get a suspended sentence on a burglary indictment. Not that he was involved in. That he knows about. If he wants to talk about it, tell him to come and see me. Well, that's just the point, lieutenant. I tried to get him to come with me. He won't. That's what convinces me. He's really got something on his mind. I think he's a little bit frightened. I'll tell you, Mr. Hodson, it's all part of the act. The bigger he can make it sound, the better chance he thinks he's got. Will you go to see him? I'm around the neighborhood there. I might drop in. I'll see. I wish I could generate a little more enthusiasm. So do I. Well, I'm sorry I couldn't interest you more. I've seen this happen a million times. Sorry to take up your time. That's what I'm here for. Don't blame you. It's your job to do the best you can for your client. If you get a chance, you will see him? Yeah, sure. If I get the chance, I might drop in on him, see what he has to say. That's all I can ask for. But you better make it before the 20th. He might not be around after that. All right, if I can. But believe me, you've got to discount these things 95%. Yes. Yeah, I suppose so. Well, I'll see you again sometime, lieutenant. Yeah, I'll tell very soon. Yes. You remember that boy, Joe Creedy? The one we jumped up in the act of burglarizing a flat down there on 73rd Street, I think. Yes, sir, I remember. Get his address out of the card. Yes. What is this stuff you're working on? A bunch of disposition of defendant forms. What are you, detective, a bookkeeper? It's what I'd like to know, Lieutenant. All right, get it cleaned up. I think we're gonna have a heavy night. I'd like. Lieutenant. Don't know exactly, but that Creedy boy thinks it's enough to get him off the hook. If it is enough, it's good and heavy. As a result of what he had heard from the attorney who visited him. At 6:15pm Lt. King, along with Detective Fitzpatrick, left the station house and drove the squad car to Second Avenue, found the address they were looking for and stopped. Detective Fitzpatrick was instructed to wait in the car while Lt. King went into the entrance to a tenement, looked at the mailbox and walked up the stairs to the third floor.