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21st Precinct. Sergeant Lyons. What's the matter with him? Who told you to call the policeman there? Did he say definitely the man was shot? Yeah. You are in the muster room at the 21st Precinct, the nerve center. The 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. Okay. Go back there, tell the officer I'm sending a car right over there. And the ambulance. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. You tell him that. Okay. Yeah. 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 Cronin, Vincent P. Cronin. I am captain in command of the 21st Precinct. I've been off duty since 6pm when I had signed the blotter and left the station house not scheduled to report until 4 the following afternoon. My wife had been visiting her sister in Teaneck, New Jersey, during the day and when I came out of the station house, she was waiting for me. We drove to downtown Brooklyn for dinner to a restaurant I'd patronize frequently when I was attached to the 17th Division before being transferred to command of the 21st. After dinner, we went to a movie on Flatbush Avenue. It was after midnight when we came out. We got in our car, drove to Belk Parkway which runs along the shore past Coney Island, Sheepshead Bay, Floyd Bennett Field into Queens, near the international airport. I drove off the parkway to Ozone park and through the quiet streets to our home. My wife got out in the driveway and went in the front door. I continued into the garage. Nearly one. Peggy fell asleep on the couch. I threw her up to bed. Watching television? No. Studying. Reading. Economics. Well, that's understandable. You want me to put up some coffee? No, no, Tucks, Honey, I'm kind of beat. I don't think I can wait for coffee. Just have a glass of milk. Just a sec. All right. No, no, never mind. I'll get it. Johnny, get to sleep, all right? Yes, Peggy said, he went up at 9 o' clock and no complaints. That's good. My kids been staying up entirely too late. No wonder you can't get him up for school in the morning, huh? He doesn't get half enough sleep. You want a piece of cake? No, no, thanks. I don't think so. Oh, I'm glad to get some sleep myself on a rough day. I'm sorry about the movie. I didn't realize we'd have to sit all through the other picture to see the beginning of the main sequel. Nah, it's all right. I enjoyed it. What can it take? Is that Blair Chalton? Want a piece? No, no. I just want to get the bed. There's a white inside. Instead of doing. Well, all right. Just a little piece. Yes. Not too much now. Oh, no. Now get us. Hello, Captain. Yes. Sergeant Lyons on ts. Captain. Yes, Sergeant. We had a bad homicide. Oh, yes. Man found shot and killed in the parked automobile. He was discovered by the patrolman on post at 78. Confers seven. It was 12:48. Who is he? Do you know, Sergeant? No identification yet. What does it look like? A ride job? Yeah, it could be. There's a bar and grill open near there. And luncheonette. Nobody heard any shot. Could have been dead in the car when it was parked there. Okay. Send the car out for me. Yes, sir. Right away. Are you going in, Vince? Yeah, I got a bad homicide. Too bad. He's so tired. No, I'll be all right. Just small enough. Yeah, that's fine, Helen. Look, on second thought, maybe coffee wouldn't be such a bad idea. Such. Not too much trouble? Oh, it's no trouble, Vince. No trouble at all. While I was en route to the scene, the formalities attending the beginning of a homicide investigation were underway. By the time I arrived, the morgue wagon was there. Several patrolmen of the 21st Precinct had been posted to keep the sidewalk and street clear of curious citizens within a circle of 50ft from the automobile in which the body was found. When I walked through the police lines, I saw Lt. King standing on the streetlight talking to several detectives. What I want you to do is I want you two to take a run back to the house. Nomads. Captain. Skipper, that's Novak. This is the precinct commander, Captain Cronin. Detectives Vaughn and Cooney, Homicide Squad. How are you? Glad to know you, Captain. All right. Now, what I was saying is, Cooney, you and Novak went back to the house. I want you to check this fellow's name out down at BCI and the information Unit, see what they come up with. Give him the registration number and description of the car. Find out if it's registered in his name. Now, if it isn't, get the name and address of the owner, if he's ever had any arrests or convictions. Okay. All right, get going. The car's around the corner. All right. Fitz and Vaughn. Yes. Why don't you go into the luncheonette over there and all the bars and grills around here. Okay, let's go. Try this one over here first. What's it look like, man? Well, we don't know much yet. Forming on post on slumped over the wheel. Carl was parked to the curb. Yeah, I know. He was shot twice. One in the neck and one in the chest. Medical examiner said either might have done it. We'll know more about that when he finishes the autopsy. Wasn't any weapon in the car, was there? No, there wasn't any identification on it. He had a wallet in his pocket. There was a Social Security card in there. He had an operator's license issued to Philip Bardino, age 31. 412 Avenue C. You think that's him? Well, the description on the operator's license checks out pretty good. Five' ten and a half, 161 pounds, brown hair, blue eyes. Also, there was a dunning letter from a credit clothing store and Edisonville in his pocket. Same name, same address. Say, listen, Lieutenant King. Yeah, Fit? I just saw Bender. He rang into the house. This fellow Ardino didn't own the car. No. Belongs to a Joe Norwell. 235 Bank street, down the Village. Is it in the alarm been reported stolen? No, sir. Bender said it hadn't been. All right. Tell you what you do. Yeah? Which one of those homicide squad men you're working with? Vaughan. All right, you and Vaughn take a run down to the Village, check out the address, see if we can find the owner of the car and bring him into the house. Okay, Lieutenant, we'll do that. Vaughan, wait a minute, will you? Well, maybe that'll give you a star. Not something, Matt. I hope so. Captain, we've got nothing to get our hooks in yet. Because a murder investigation requires an inordinate amount of manpower, a homicide squad is maintained in each borough to assist the precinct squad detectives. At the beginning of such an investigation, each homicide squad detective assigned to the case teams up with a precinct detective and they work together until their job is completed. In this case, Detective Fitzpatrick of the 21st Squad and Detective Vaughan of the Manhattan East Homicide Squad were assigned by Lt. King to locate the owner of the car in which the body was found in. Compliance, they went to 235 Bank street in Greenwich Village, the address listed by the Motor Vehicle Bureau. They found the building to be a four story brownstone converted into small flats. They rang the bell of Joe Norwell. There was no answer. At 20 minutes to 3am they were on the stairs overlooking the door to Joe Norwell's flat, waiting. Well, I'd sure like to jump in someplace for coffee. We're getting groggy. We better not fit. We're not a show. What do you say we wait another 15 minutes, then one of us will be down and ring in again and pick up some coffee on the way back, huh? Yeah, that's a pretty good idea. About 15 minutes. Hold it. What? Three minutes. What? Somebody coming up the stairs. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you're right. All right. Keep it down, man. Yeah, that's him. Yep. Watch him. He may be healed. Wait a minute, mister. We want to talk to you. Who, me? Yeah. What's your name? Max. Who are you? We're detectives. Oh, yeah? What's your name? Norwell. Joe Norwell. You live here? Yeah, right here. There's much trouble. What happened? Go ahead, open up the door. Hey, wait a minute. How do I know you're detectives? How's this? This satisfy you? Yeah, that satisfies me. Go ahead, open up the door. What do you want with me? You want to talk to. All right. Want to talk to me? Come on in. Yeah, thanks. Make yourself sit down. No, it's all right. You want a beer or something? I got some beer all night. No, nothing. You own an automobile, Mr. Nolan? Yeah, yeah, sure, I own an automobile, kind of a car. Do you own Chevy? 1952 Chevy. Do you have the registration for it? Do you have it on you? Yeah, I got it. I got it right here. Can I see it? Yeah, sure, if you want to. Hey, what's the matter? What happened with the car? Where's the car now, Mr. Nolan? Well, I lent it to a friend of mine. What's the matter? Do you have an accident with it or something? Where is it? Did you see the car? Here, put this back in your pocket. Listen, no kidding. Did he have an accident? He didn't wreck it. What's the name of this friend you lent the car to? My friend Phil. Phil. Wait a sec. Over on Avenue, see. Listen, you know, that car is my bread and butter. Something happened to it. How good a friend are you of his? Oh, we're good friends. We see each other a lot. What's the matter? What happened what did he do to the car? He didn't do anything to the car and he didn't have an accident. Yeah, he had an accident all the. He got shot, Bill. Yeah? Who shot him? Well, that's what we're trying to find out. Well, don't look at me. I'm not looking at you. How is he? Is he in the hospital? He's dead. Yeah? Yeah. Wow. He was found in your car on First Advent. Well, how do you like that? You know, I knew I shouldn't have let him the car. I knew it turned out to be a pretty bad idea, I'll say that. I'll tell you what, Mr. Norwell, we want you to come to the station house with us. Lieutenant wants to talk to you, mind. What about? How come he happened to get shot in your car? Well, I lent it to him. Yeah, well, you better come along with us. Maybe we better take a look around here. You don't mind if we take a look around your flat, do you, Mr. Norwell? What are you looking for here? I got nothing you want. If you do, we'll find it. One of the best moving men in the world. Have you got anything on you, Mr. Norwell? Let's see what you got on you. I got nothing on me. Well, we'll see. Oh, come on. What is this? I lend a guy my car, that's all. Is there any law against lending a guy your car? No, but it looks like you picked the wrong night to do it. Sir. Of a patrol precinct informs the Communication Bureau that a homicide has occurred. Notification is made immediately to the division office of the borough commander, Chief Inspector's office and the district attorney's office as well as to the technical squads and bureaus whose assistance is required in the investigation. When the body had been taken to the morgue, the center of investigation moved to the 21st Detective Squad and the station house became the scene of considerable activity. But by 3:20am the house was again quiet. I instructed Sergeant Lyons to have a car come by the house and take me to my home. When he informed me that the car was waiting outside, I went around the desk and sat down to sign the block. Okay, lieutenant. Okay. You take your meal now. Where will you be? Where? Yeah, all right. Okay, sergeant. Good night. Good night. Skipper. Oh, captain. Yes? Are you swinging tomorrow? No, I'll be here 3:30. We'll be doing night duty. Walk right up to that test chair. Mr. Normal, we've got the ring upstairs. Okay. Hello, captain. Good night, skipper. Can I use this? Yeah. Hey, Lieutenant Dingham. Okay, Fitz, look, I'm telling you, all I did was lend my friend my car, that's all. Yeah, we know all about that, Mr. Norwell. We know you lend it to him. Hello, Lieutenant, this is Fitz. We're downstairs with the owner of the automobile. Yep. Yeah, okay. Okay, Luke. Right away. I say, Sergeant, he says, come on upstairs, little boy. That way, Joe. Hey, listen, how long you think this is going to take? Well, that's up to the finish. All I did was lend the guy my car. That's enough. Upstairs. I mean, I can't help it if he goes out and gets himself shot while he's driving my car, can I? No. Then what do you want from me? Right over that way. Go ahead, Lieutenant, is office. No. Yeah, he's in there. Has he got anybody with him? No, no, he's all alone. All right, Joe, come over here and sit down. Yeah, why don't you sit down right here? How long? Well, we've just got to talk to the lieutenant a minute. I'll tell you what, Fitz, I better wait out here with him. Yeah, you do that. I'll be right back. Yes, Fitz. Lieutenant, Come in. Got the owner of the car. Oh, that's good. What does he have to say for himself? Well, he admits he lent Ardino his car tonight. Yeah, he had nothing on him. Nothing in his room. Well, the victim wasn't exactly an angel that. No, his record down at BCI showed three arrests for burglary and one conviction for unlawful entry. Did some time out in the island. He visited that address down at Avenue C. All alone? Apparently. No relatives. Apparently he hasn't been working lately. That's all we've been able to come up with so far on him. Superintendent of the building down there says he's only had that flat about six weeks. He doesn't know where he lived before. What about his last address down at BCI? Show us a building on East 104th Street. The building has since been demolished to make way for a housing project. Oh, yeah? Yeah. All right. Bring the owner of the car in here. Let's talk to him. Yes, go on. Yeah, come on in here with him. How's they luck to you? We haven't talked much to him, Lieutenant. All right, go right in there, Mr. Norwell. Yeah, sure. How's the door? Vaughn? Mr. Norwell, this is Lieutenant King, judge of the squad here. I know you. All right, Mr. Norwell. Sit down. Yeah, sure. Now, Mr. Noel told us, Lieutenant, that he lent Dardino his car last night. That's the same Car that Ardino's body was founded? Yeah, that's right. I lent it to him. Now, before we get into that, Mr. Norwell, let me find out a few things about you. How old are you? I'm 29. You live at 235 Bank Street? Yeah, that's right. How long have you lived at that address? Let me see. Going on two years now. What have you got there? What do you mean, what I got there? I got a room. A small flat. One room. What do you work at, Mr. Norwell? A mechanic. What do you mean, a mechanic? Automobile mechanic. Yeah. Where are you working now? Well, I'm. I'm not working right now. Why not? Well, I hurt my hand on the job. This hand? The right one. When was that? Oh, about five, six weeks ago. All right now, though, isn't it? Well, it's. It's getting all right. Well, what have you been doing? Drawing workman's compensation? Well, no, it wasn't on that kind of a job. You see, I was. Well, a friend of mine had trouble with his car on a Sunday morning. He asked me to fix it and I was working on it and tool slipped and I hurt my hand. Then you didn't get hurt on a regular job? No, I said I didn't. It was on a Sunday morning. Well, were you working on a regular job at the time? Let me see. No. No, I wasn't. How have you been maintaining yourself, Mr. Norwell? Well, I've been drawing unemployment. How much have you been drawing? Been getting $30 a week. $30 a week? How much rent are you paying? $50 a month. All this time you've been paying rent and eating, driving a car and dressing pretty nice. You've been getting by on $30 a week? Well, it's a little tight. You ever been arrested, Mr. Darwell? What do you mean, arrested? You mean like a traffic shot? I mean arrested for a crime. Oh, no, no, not me. You've never been arrested? No, never. How long have you known Phil Ardino? Let me see. A couple of weeks. Three weeks, maybe. Excuse me, Lieutenant. Let's get back to this other thing a minute. Now, have you ever been arrested for anything? No. I got a traffic ticket once or twice, that's all. I was running a red light. Now, you want to get this thing straightened out, don't you? Oh, sure, I want to get it straightened out. All I did was lend a guy my car. I want to go home, go to bed. All right, Ms. Norwell, why don't you take everything out of your Pockets and put it on the desk there. Do I have to? You want to get it straightened out, don't you? Just take everything out of your pockets, put it on the desk. Everything. All right. All right. Let's pack a cigarette. Okay. And I got some matches and a handkerchief. I got this case here that's got a comb and a nail file in it. Then I got the keys to my flat. Oh, yeah, And I got a little change here. And I got my wallet. Got any money in the wallet? Yeah, I got a little bit. All right, take the money out of the wallet and count it. Well, okay. I'd be delighted. But listen, before you do that, what else have you got in the wallet? Well, I got the ownership for my car and my driver's license. Got a couple of telephone numbers and a couple of business cards. Let me see those business cards. Yeah, sure. What are you handing us, Joe? What do you mean, what am I handing you? You're sitting there telling us you've never been arrested and you got the card of a lawyer and two bail bonds on your wallet. I know this lawyer handles nothing but criminal cases. You've never been arrested. What do you need the cards from, Bail bondsman for? Now you'd want to tell us the truth. Have you ever been arrested? Nope, I never been arrested. I think this guy is handing us a line. Go outside, will you? Call the BCI in the Information unit. Let him check out his name and address, see what they come up with on it. Okay. Lieutenant, they're not going to come up with nothing. We'll see. We'll see. What could they come up with? All right, Joe, how much money have you got there? You mean you want me to count it? Yeah, count it. Well, I could give you a rough idea without counting. Count it. All right, all right. 20, 40, 60, 80, 100. 20, 40, 60, 82. 20, 30, 40, 45, 50, 51, 52, 53. $253? Yeah, that's right. 250. $253. That's more than a little bit. All right, put the money back in your wallet. Put it in your pocket. Okay. Where'd you get that money? Oh, what do you mean? When I get it, it's mine? You said you hadn't worked in a couple of months. You said you've been drawing unemployment, you've got a car, you're maintaining yourself. Now, where would you get $253 in cash if you haven't worked? Listen, you won't know the truth. That's what we're here for. All right, I'll tell you the truth. You won't if you just won't let it go any further. I won that in the crap game down in the Village. Now that's the problem. That's the honest to goodness truth. I mean, I had a lucky streak. I made seven passes in a row. Give me the name of one of the players in that crap case. Oh, well, you never get into that. Later. Fritz, you said you've known Phil Ardino for two or three weeks? Yeah. When did you see him last? Well, tonight. You mean last night? After 3 o' clock in the morning? Yeah, yeah, last night. What time last night? About seven, eight o', clock, I guess. How is this? In a bar over there, right near my house. The name of the bar? Bonley's. How do you spell that? B, O, N, L, E, E, S. Where is it, on Bank Street? Yeah, it's right down on the corner from where I live. How did you happen to meet Ardino there? I saw him in the afternoon. He said, what are you doing tonight? And I said nothing. And he said, would you like to have a drink tonight? And I said, yeah, we made up to meet in Bonley. Who got there first, you or him? I'm. I did. I live right near there. He lives all the way over on Avenue C. What time did he get there? A few minutes later. Before 8 o'. Clock. The two of you sat there drinking? Yeah, that's right. What'd you drink? Personally? I was drinking beer, he was having whiskey. How long were you there together? Oh, well, we must have stayed till 9:30, 10:00', clock, something like that. Did you see anyone in there you knew? Anyone that could say that you two were in there together? No, nobody. Unless somebody that I didn't see saw me. You stayed in there until 9:30, quarter to 10? Yeah, something like that. You leave together? Well, tell you, the fact of the business is we walked out together, but we didn't stay together. Why not? Well, because when we were in there, Phil says he's got to meet somebody uptown and he asked me could he borrow my car. And I said, well, what's the matter? You want to borrow my car when you got one of your own? Well, he said he stood around there too long and he was late to meet a guy uptown. He didn't want to go all the way over to Avenue C to get his own car to drive up. And you agreed to lend him your car? Yeah, he was a nice fella. I wanted to save him the Trouble. Who is he gonna meet uptown? Well, I don't know. Some fella. He didn't tell me. Where. Uptown? He didn't tell me that either. He just said uptown. And you left the bar together? Yeah. Yeah, I took him over to my car to show him where it was. He. He didn't know where it was parked. I had to show him that. And then what happened? Well, he got in my car and he drove away. Did he say he'd bring it back? He said he'd bring it back about midnight and he'd leave the keys in my mailbox. That is, if I wasn't home. You had no idea where he went or who he was going to see? No, I swear. No idea. BCI come up with anything. Adam Vaughan? Yeah, they came up with something on the Lieutenant. Why? Why? What did they come up with? Don't you know what being arrested means? He did some big time, Lieutenant. Oh, he did? For what? Burglary. He did two years and eight months on a two and a half to five in Sing Sing. That right, Joe? If it's right, it's right. What can I do? You've been lying to us about everything, haven't you, Joe? Where were you between 10 o' clock and 3 o' clock in the morning? You weren't home. We were there waiting for you. Well, I was out. I was out drinking. Who were you with? Were you with anyone? Well, I was in bars, you know. I was making around. Now, the fact of the matter is, when you left that bar on bank street, you got in the car with our Zeno. Isn't that right? No, it's not right. You were out for five hours from 10 o' clock to 3 o' clock in the morning. You must have seen someone you know. Give the Lieutenant the name of one person you saw. I didn't see anyone I knew. Now, isn't that possible? Now look, Joe, I know you shot him. I did not. I want to know is why and where the gun is. I didn't shoot. Don't hand me that. There are a couple of good thieves. You got into a fight over the $250 you have in your wallet. Isn't that right? No. No. I'm telling you, I swear. Now look, Joe, you're either going to help us or you're not. Where's the gun? That's the first thing we want to know. You listen to me, Joe. I know exactly what happened. I'm going to tell you right now. I'm going to put you into this thing I'm going to put you into it. Good. So you make up your mind whether you're going to help me or you aren't. Vaughn, Esther must have thrown that gun someplace in the neighborhood. Tell the desk officer I want to make a complete search within five blocks in every direction. Get as many patrolmen as you can, the emergency squad and the Department of Sanitation on the job. Yes. Now, wait a minute. There's something else I want. All right, all right. Well, you're gonna scratch around, you're gonna get it anyway, aren't you? Yeah, you can count on it. Look, he came at me. I had to do it. All right, just start at the beginning. Well, we decided to do some work together. After we left the Barn, we came uptown in my car, and I knew this building over on 74th Street. I knew there was some nice flats up in there, so we went in and we finally found one that we could make, and we. We got inside. You were in Phil together? Yeah. Yeah, that's the two of us together. And we scratched around the joint. All I found was a gun and a pita. You know, this lady had a couple of lousy rings and a jewelry box and some earrings. Well, I was looking out of the corner of my eye at, and I saw him going in the desk and flipping something in his pocket. And I figured, this guy's made some cash, you know? So I didn't say nothing until we got back down in the car, and we were both commiserating with each other about what a lousy touch it is. We decided to stop the car and get a drink. So when we parked, I decided to spring it on him. I said, come on, come on, let's have that cash you put in your pocket. And he said, what cash? So one thing led to another, and he came at me, and I used a gun on him. I mean, what else could I do? He really came at me when I said, let's see what you got in your pocket there. He was mad. I was just protecting myself, that's all. There I was. He was in my car, shot twice. What could I do? I had to get out, that's all. Do the best I could for myself. Yeah. Where did you throw the gun? Around there someplace in the trash basket when I was walking to the subway. All right, Fitz, take him out. See if he can find the gun. Meantime, we'll get the District Attorney up here. Okay, Lieutenant. Come on, Joe, let go. Tell Novak to call the DA's office. Okay, Lieutenant. Close the door, William. Okay, Lieutenant. 21st Squad Lieutenant King. That's Captain Conan, man. Oh, hello, Captain. I just got home. I was wondering how you were doing with that homicide. It's all cleaned up. Captain is. That's pretty fast work, Matt. Yes, sir. The boy that did it was a pretty fast talker. He talked himself right into it. 21st briefing, Sergeant Lyons. A what? Well, how do you know something's wrong? And so it goes. How many days? Around the clock through the week, every day, every year, a police precinct in the city of New York is a flesh and blood merry go round. Anyone can catch the brass ring, or the brass ring can catch anyone. 21st Precinct, a factual account of the way police work in the world's greatest city is presented with the official cooperation of the Patrolman's Benevolent association, an organization of more than 20,000 members of the Police Department, City of New York. James Gregory in the role of Captain Cronin, and Ken lynch as Lt. King. Featured in tonight's cast were Wendell Holmes, Ethel Everett, Bill Zuckert, John McQuaid, William Redfield, and Bill Quinn. 21st Precinct is written, produced and directed by Stanley Nist, Art Hannah Siegel.