Adam Graham (6:52)

Yeah.

Joe Friday (6:53)

And when the light turned green, I started across the intersection. This guy laying here came barreling down big. So went right through the red light, hit the front of my truck, flipped this car right over on its side. Just like you see it, you know. Go ahead. The guy went a little crazy, I guess. Right after the crackup, I pulled the truck to the curb and got out. This fellow here was just climbing out of the top side of his car. Didn't seem hurt at all. Yeah, huh? Well, when he saw me coming over to him, he pulled a gun and pointed it at me. Then he turned and started running. I couldn't figure it out. What'd you do? Well, as soon as he turned his back, Darren, I went for him and tackled him. Fought like a tiger. That's why I say I slugged him. I had to. Officer. Hey, Something awful funny about the whole thing. What do you mean by that? Well, look here. This box right here fell out of his coat when I slugged him. Here, take a look. Yeah, here. Must be three, four dozen in there. Rings, all kinds. Looks like diamonds in them, doesn't it? The ambulance arrived and we took the unconscious jewel robbery suspect to Georgia Street Receiving Hospital. After he was revived and treated for cuts and bruises, we took him back to the city Hall. At the interrogation room, he fitted the description of the jewelry store bandit almost exactly. He refused to talk. He wouldn't even give us his name. We had his fingerprints taken and then we had them checked through R and I. The man was identified as Vernon Albert Nicole, an ex convict out of Folsom and a two time loser. He'd served one five year term for armed robbery and another three years for adw. We checked out the wrecked car he'd been driving and found out that it had been stolen two blocks from the scene of the holdup. We had the manager of the jewelry store which had been robbed, brought downtown. He identified Nicole as the bandit. The suspect still refused to talk. Ben and I took him to the main jail where he was booked on suspicion of 2 11pc 4:15pm we checked back in at the office. Takes some of them a long time to learn. Yeah. Two time loser. This one ought to finish him. I can't figure it. He's been out of Folsom seven months and going right back in again. Well, we can get the complaint from the DA tomorrow and set the arraignment for Thursday. Yeah, better check with the manager of the jewelry store first. Wonder if Nicole could Have been in on those gas station holdups. Remember Last month? Well, we'll have him in the show up Thursday and see what happens. You want to take care of the arrest reports? Yeah, I'll get out an APB too. Might turn up some outside jobs on him. I'm sure hungry. You still got that candy bar from lunch? Yeah, I think so. Somewhere. Here. Yeah. There you go. What's the matter with you lately anyway? I don't know. Been eating like a horse. Can't understand. Hot shot. I'll get it. What do you got? Joe Smith. Well, that does it. What? Nicole. He escaped. A broadcast and an all points bulletin were gotten out on Vernon Nicole. All units in the vicinity of the escape were alerted. An hour passed, there was no report on the suspect. We checked with the main jail and got the details on the escape. They told us that while Nicole was being locked up in his cell, he pushed his fingers into the door jam and had them badly mashed when the cell door closed on them. Both of Nicole's wrists were then handcuffed and along with two other ailing suspects, he was taken over to Georgia Street Receiving Hospital by a pair of transportation officers. Going up the stairs to the hospital, Nicole had turned suddenly, kicked one of the officers in the stomach, slugged the other one and escaped. It happened at about 4:14pm By 11:00 clock that night, there wasn't a trace of the suspect. 7:30 the next morning, Ben and I checked back in for work. Nicole was still at large. Overnight report. Joe, have a look. What you got here? Liquor store, gas station, another liquor store. All three of them held up between midnight and 2am Take a look at the band's description. Let's see. WMA. 5ft, £950, medium build, dark wavy hair, dark eyes, fair complexion, deep scar and chin. How about it? He didn't waste time getting started again, did he? A pretty big come down. If it's Nicole diamond, theft's a liquor store. He had to do something. He didn't have any clothes, no money. How about that car he used on those jobs? Stolen. Recovered early this morning. They're going over it for Prince Romero. Joe. Skipper, get on this one right away, will you? Just got the call a minute ago. What's that? Here's the name. Address? Matthew Hobbs. He runs a candy store near one of the grade schools over in Boyle Heights. He might be able to tell you something. Yeah? About what? Nicole saw him last night. We got in the car and drove over to the Boyle Heights district where we located Matthew Hobbs Place of Business was a small store on Delray Avenue. One block from the neighborhood grammar school. The sign out in front read New Geneva Candy Parlor and Variety Store. It was the usual display in the window. A wind up train, a few inexpensive dolls, pencils, writing tablets and some crepe paper. Inside, the main attraction was two long showcases filled with a variety of penny candy. There was a small soda fountain at the rear of the store. Topped with a slab of worn marble. Matthew Hobbs was a small, thin man. He looked to be in his mid-60s. He sat behind one of the counters filling cellophane bags with Christmas candy. While he talked to us, we asked him about Nicole. Yes, that's right. Vernon was here last night about 10 o' clock. 10:15, no later. You want me to help him? Did you know nicole that well, Mr. Hopps? As well as I know most of the kids who grew up around here. Yes, I guess I knew him well. What did he ask for in the way of help, sir? Money, clothes. He got no family left. I guess I was the only one he's not come to. Well, how is it that you didn't notify us sooner, Mr. Hobbs? I knew you'd ask. I'd like to explain if I could. Yes, sir. Please. Could you hand me that stack of bags there, Sergeant? Yeah, this. No, no, no, the number twos. Yeah, those. Yeah. All right. Here you are. Thank you. As I said, he knocked on my back door about 10 o' clock and I let him in. Acted just like an animal. Some kind of crazy animal. I see. Did he have handcuffs on? Yeah, but the chain connecting him was broken. Made me file off each handcuff. Yeah, I wouldn't do. I had no idea what was going on. He said he'd kill me if I didn't help him. Kept threatening me. I never saw Vernon like that before. You know, Sergeant, I knew that boy when he was in grammar school. Right up the street there. Makes you sit down and think sometimes, huh? The way they grow up and change. Yes, sir. Well, what happened after you took the cuffs off of him? He got out of his jail clothes and put on one of my suits. Took what I had in my wallet. $12. And then he kept running around until he found my gun. He took that with him too. Well, didn't you think of calling for help? Not the way he acted, Sergeant. Just like a crazy animal. He'd have killed me if I'd have tried anything. Warned me not to tell anybody he was here. Said he'd come back and kill me if I Did? Well, I waited this morning and I called the police. You said McCauley took a gun from Mr. Hobbs. What kind of a gun was it?32 automatic. Colt. I've had it for years. I have it registered with you people. He took just when he pleased. Clothes gun. If you want the truth, Sergeant, I just wasn't brave enough to try to stop him. When the Coley left here, did you notice if he had a car? No. He left on foot. Walked across the street and he went down that way. Towards town? I don't know. I don't suppose he'll get too far. I hope not. You have any idea who he might try to contact? Some of his old friends or relatives? No, he doesn't have any folks I know of. Terrible thing, isn't it? Kids growing up, sir. It's the way they change. Like Nicole. I can understand them when they're kids. Seen hundred of them come through here. Know what they're thinking, how they feel. Kind of a hobby. I understand kids. Yes, sir. I see. Trouble is they grow up. All of a sudden they stop being kids. Yes, sir. I don't understand them after that. After we left the candy store, we went back to the office and got out a supplementary APB containing a description of the suspect's clothing and the gun that he'd stolen. Together with Gonzales and Pena from robbery, Ben and I checked all of Nicole, his known friends and his usual hangouts. Stakeouts were placed. We got nowhere. The late evening holdups continued. Each of the victims identified Nicole as the bandit. Used the same ammo in each case. He worked only on the weekends. Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights he'd steal a car, pull three holdups in the same general area within an hour, abandoned the car in the same area and then disappear. Two weeks passed. And then a month. The weekend robberies went on. For the most recent hold up victims, we found out that Nicole had picked up a partner. We checked the man's description through the stats office. Each of the stolen cars used by the suspects and men abandoned were checked for prints. We failed to identify the second man. The hold ups continued. The Coley and his partner were still at large. Monday, January 26th, 8:30am Ben and I met with Captain Didion. What's the comps giver? The usual three hold up Friday, three Saturday, three Sunday. He's proved his point. He's consistent now. When do you blow the whistle on him? We're doing everything that can be done. Stakeouts, extra units on duties. Not enough. The Corner Pocket wants some results. They Want them fast? Well, how about the times listed for the three stick ups last night? Have they been double checked? They're all correct. And something else for you. Figure it out. What is it, Joe? Now look here. There's a drugstore out in West Hollywood robbed at 11:14pm yeah. All right. Now this one coffee shop out in the Valley robbed at 11:21pm Both of them the same MO the same everything. That doesn't fail you. They couldn't have made it from the spot in West Hollywood out to the Valley in seven minutes. It's not possible. There's a report. Check it. I know, but how could they do it? There must be some way to work out the answer. There's gotta be. I can give you a shortcut. Yeah. Nicole. Find him. Another two weeks passed, and then two weeks more. Besides the extra men and units put in service on weekends, two dozen separate stakeouts were established in areas where we figured Nicole and his accomplice would strike. Didn't help much. The hold ups continued. There was only one difference. The description of the bandit didn't jive anymore. We still didn't have an answer to the superhuman speed that the two gunmen seemed to show. And robbing victims at widely separated points, all within a short period of time. We Friday, February 21st. Ben and I took our turn on night stakeout in a vacant store on Sunset Boulevard. We were assigned to cover a drugstore and a bar directly across the street. We spent two weekends on the job. It was quiet. Nothing happened. The third weekend was no different. One thing's for sure, we never have any luck picking steakhouse. What do you mean? This empty store must be the draftiest place in town. No, we've had worse. What time you got? 5 past midnight. That little band over in the bar sure earn your money, don't they? Yeah, allow it anyway. Where, Ben. Huh? Have a look getting out of that car down the street there. See? Oh, yeah, they're heading for the bar. What do you think? Both got dark hair, about the same. Bill. Go back there in a hurry. You're going in the bar? Yeah. Come on. Well, we better hurry. That's it. Come on. All right, throw down the guns. Look out. All right, hold it, hold it. Throw down your guns. All right, come on. Hands behind your head. You're not taking me watch. You all right, hold it right there. Come on, on your feet. You all right then? He had a good punch. Well, that's both of them at raps it apple. Oh, you better look again, huh? Neither one of them is Nicole, you are listening to Dragnet. A series of authentic case histories documented from Official files. Saturday, February 22nd. Ben and I took the two robbery suspects downtown to the city Hall. At the interrogation room, we checked them through R and I and found that they both had records for burglary and grand theft auto. The car that they'd been using that night had been stolen. After two and a half hours of interrogation, one of the suspects, a Pete Albanez, decided to break down and cooperate. 1:00am Interrogation room I'll get something out of it. Don't I? Helping you. You're not gonna forget I helped you. When they get me in court, we'll see if they know about it. Pete. It'll be mentioned in our report. Now, what's the story? I knew I never should have went for it. Believe me, it won't happen again. Nicola, he talked me into with. Talked you into what? Pete. Helping him on those stick ups. I was his partner. His first one after he broke jail. Yeah, that's right. He came to me with his foolproof system as I was sucker enough to go for it. How long did you work with him this? Couple of weekends. Three, four maybe. I didn't get along with him. No, nobody gets along with him. He's a little crazy, I think. Who's working with him now? I don't know. He's had two. Three different guys. I don't know who's with him. Say, sergeant, can I have a drink of water, please? All right. I'll get you some people. All right. There you go. How about the way Nicole works, Pete? Three or four robberies a night, all over town. A lot of guys work on, that's all. You mean they all keep her the same way, huh? Yeah, sure. When I left him, I went on my own. I picked up a partner and used his system. Pretty good one. Well, it looked like a good one, anyway. You mean working on the weekends? Picking up a hot car, dropping it fast? Yeah, you got it. Must be half a dozen guys in this town working the system. They all got it from Nicole. He taught it to him. Where do we find him, Pete? You know Nicole? No, not for sure. He's got it figured, you know. He doesn't live here in town. He only comes up for the weekend. Works for Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And then he takes off again. Takes off for work. We're down by the border someplace. Palm City, Tijuana. I'm not sure. You're not gonna forget I'm helping you, huh? You let him know I cooperated? Yeah, we'll let him know. Pete. Now, when's the last time you saw Nicole? Oh, it's been a month. Anyway, I never want to see him again. Say, this may help you, though. I know where his girlfriend stays. Yeah, Apartment on South Rampart. I can give you an address. He probably goes see her once in a while. Anyone else you can think of? No, that's about it. Won't be any pushover, Sergeant. Like I said, I think he's a little crazy. He's not gonna be an easy one to take. Well, we'll give it a try. Well, I mean it that way. He's wild, but you'll get him, I guess. Just one thing. Yeah? You'll have to kill him first. 3:45am Pete Albanez and his accomplice were booked at the main jail on suspicion of 211pc. The next morning, Ben and I checked out the address of Nicole's girlfriend, which Albanez had given us. The girlfriend's name was Esther Rivard. She told us that she hadn't seen Nicole in more than two weeks. We asked her if she knew where the suspect stayed when he was in town. She gave us an address on South Pico. We called in and arranged for a stakeout on the girl's place. And then we drove over to check the address that she'd given us. It was a small apartment court on the edge of the industrial district. Nicole wasn't there. Neither was the manager. We talked to one of the tenants who told us that the manager, Mrs. Clara Fontaine, was out of town. He said that while she was gone, her daughter Norma was looking after the place. The daughter was employed as a secretary at the Blue Cross Hospital Plan office over on Wilshire Boulevard. We called the office and arranged for another stakeout at the apartment court. 1:25pm we located the landlady's daughter at the Blue Cross office on Wilshire. We showed her Nicole's mugshot. Yes? He's one of Mama's tenants, Mr. Reynolds. He's in Bungalow 5. Anyone staying with him, Ms. Fontaine? No one's registered with him, no. He has visitors, though. Is there something wrong? When did you see this man last? This morning when I was leaving for work. He was outside working on his car. Would you excuse me, please? Sure. Go ahead. Blue Cross. Yes, sir. I see. No, just address the letter to Blue Cross Hospital plan. You can send it to us here at the Wiltshire office. That's right. Well, you're welcome.

Adam Graham (23:36)

I'm sorry.

Joe Friday (23:38)

What was I going to say? You told us that you Saw this man working on his car this morning. Oh, yes. He was parked right outside in front. I couldn't very well miss it. I'm going to tell mom about it when she gets home. What's that, man? Well, it was certainly strange because it's not that time of year. That's why I noticed it. What's that? Well, he was changing the license plates on his car. Did you get the numbers? It's right here in my purse. 1:32pm with the information furnished just by the girl, Ben got on the phone and called in a description of the suspect's car. Together with the two sets of license numbers was a 1941 Ford sedan. Dark blue, white sidewall tires. Communications got out of broadcast and the supplementary APB on it. At 6pm Ben and I relieved the men on a stakeout at Nicole's apartment. We waited. No sign of him. We checked with the office on the hour. No sign of the car. 10:00pm still nothing doing. 11:00 clock. Nothing. Gonzalez and Pena from robbery drove out and relieved us and we headed back for the office. 11:26pm what do you think? I don't know. Plugged every hole I can think of. Things due for a break, isn't it? Overdue. I could use some sleep. What is that? Right. Yeah, right away. Skimmer. Hi. Here's one to move on. Yeah. 12th and Beacon, southeast corner. What is it? Nicole's car. They got it spotted. 11:56pm Ben and I drove to the vicinity of 12th and Beacon where we checked with the men in unit 80K who'd spotted the car. They'd gotten out a code 5 on it. The description matched perfectly. A 1941 Ford sedan. Dark blue, white sidewall tires. The license number was one of those given us by the apartment manager's daughter. That afternoon, together with the two men in 86K, we staked out on the suspect's car at a distance. Was parked almost exactly in the middle of the block. About 20ft behind it, a red and white delivery truck was parked. The street was fairly deserted. The only place of business open was a small corner bar at the far end of the block. 12:31am no one came near the dark blue sedan. We waited. 2am the corner bar closed up. A man came out, got in the red and white delivery truck and drove off. 2:30am the dark blue sedan was still sitting there. We kept waiting. Roger, 13R. Code 7. Well, one way or the other, I wish he'd make up his mind. It's a long wait. Cold rain here. And it wasn't that vacant's door. Better check and see if we're clear. Yeah, all right, I'll do it. 80k to Control 1. 8 okay to Control 1. Control 1 to 80k, go ahead. 80k to Control 1. Are we clear? Control 1 to 8. OK, standby. Are you on smoke? Well, I'm out. You too? Yeah, I guess we do without. Control one to 80K. Control one to eight. Okay, you're clears. Code one, KMA 367. 80K to control one. Roger. KMA 367. Hey, have a look, Joe. Just turn the corner. Where? Far end of the block. Opposite side. Heading up this way. Yeah. You make out two of them? There. There's two. They're passing by. The sedan. No. Are they? No. They're getting in, aren't they? Come on, hurry up. Spotted us, Joe. They're getting out. All right, hold it there. Both of you, down. Joe, give it up. Nicole, behind that car. All right, hold it. Don't shoot. Don't throw out your guns, both of you. Harry, don't shoot. Throw out your gun. They'll kill us. Give it up. Harry, don't kill it. Come on, throw him out. Don't shoot. Here's my gun. Don't shoot. It's one of them. Come on, Harry, you gotta skew it up. That's two. Let's go. Yeah. Careful, there's a guns. Oh, shoot. I got my hands up. All right, keep them up. Okay, I will. Just don't shoot. I didn't use my gun. Harry did. I tried to tell him. You heard me. You heard me. Heard me say not to shoot. Check my gun. I didn't shoot at you. Come on, get him out in front of you. I'll get the guns. All right. How about it, officer? It's a third time for me. All right. Save it. Okay, Joe, you ready? Let's go. Please, huh? Give me a break. You picked the wrong time to cry, mister. Please, huh? This is the third time for me. I'm no good in there. When you had your chances, you kicked him away. Let's make a deal, huh? I'm no good in jail. No good at all. You're no better out here. Let's go. The story you have just heard was true. Only the names were changed to protect the innocent. On May 24, trial was held in Superior Court Department 87 City and County of Los Angeles, State of California. In a moment, the results of that trial. Vernon, Nicole and his accomplices were tried and convicted on several counts of first degree. Robbery. They received sentences as prescribed by law and are now serving their terms in the state penitentiary. First degree robbery is punishable by a prison term of not less than five years with a maximum life term. Ladies and gentlemen, the Red Cross has been asked by your government to help the nation mobilize for defense. You can help by giving generously to the Red Cross. You have just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases from official files. Technical advice comes from the office of Chief of Police W.H. parker, Los Angeles Police Department. David Harding counterspy solves an exciting case next on NBC. You can make a difference in someone's life, including your own, with a job in home care. These jobs offer flexible schedules, health care, retirement options and free training. They also provide paid time off and opportunities for overtime. Visit oregonhomecarejobs.com to learn more and apply. That's oregonhomecarejobs.com.

Adam Graham (30:10)

Welcome back. An interesting personal dynamic here with an antisocial perpetrator who spreads his method and creates copycats because while his method is great, he's just so difficult to work with and be around. Also, you don't generally ask the arresting officers for leniency on being a three time loser. That's going to be up to the prosecutor, though. They'll pretty much say the same thing as Joe Friday, I imagine. Poor Ben Romero, he just has not enjoyed these assignments. You just know even if it's a case that doesn't get covered on the program, their next stakeout is going to be in a walk in freezer. That's the sort of luck Ben's been having. All right. Well, now we turn to listener comments and feedback and we start over on Facebook where regarding the episode the Big Crime, Dave writes, good episode. And then we have a couple of comments on Spotify. And we start with a comment from Prince Adam, no relation. And he writes, I know Dragnet and Tales of the Texas Rangers are both based on actual crimes. I wonder if anyone ever did research and found the crimes to see how accurate they were. Well, thanks so much. I appreciate the question. Over the years, I've actually received comments from listeners who've looked into cases or they have heard of cases that were covered in a true crime or other sort of context and have shared some of the results. And it's interesting we did that a little while back when we talked about the human bomb city hall bombing case. There were some of the early cases that came directly from the LAPD that are better known. But I think it becomes a bit harder once you get past those few episodes, because what Webb did for the stories that they did on Dragnet is they actually got these stories from policemen and they would tell their stories and it would be adapted by the writer. At this point, Jim Moser and Webb paid them, I think, like $20 for their story, which was pretty good money for the 1950s. And of course, the story would have to be approved by the LAPD and the network, but what that meant is that you would often have crimes that were not very prominent or well covered at the time that they were committed. Plus, you also have to keep in mind that while the crimes profiled on Dragnet were based on true cases, they could be brought forward in time quite a few number of years. As we talked about the City hall bombing case, that one was actually from the 1920s, and so was the story of the Big Little Jesus, which was also set in San Francisco. So it would be a challenge to locate them all. Plus, the stories told on Dragnet might not have been profiled to a degree in newspaper accounts that you could easily go through and say, well, this and this and this was different. There are a few. There was actually one case where Dragnet got sued because a person alleged defamation. It was not actually all that serious of a case, and a whole lot fewer people would know it was you or would be reminded of it if you didn't take them to court. But I digress. Now, on a related note, if you are kind of curious about the sort of cases that Webb was offered, he did write a book among Jack Webb's many talents. He wrote a true crime book called the Badge, subtitled the True and Terrifying Crime Stories that Could not be presented on TV. And the book was reprinted in 2005. It's still available on Amazon or you can get it through your library through an interlibrary loan that might offer some interesting insights, although not much detail as to cases that were adapted for Dragnet. And then we have a comment from Moss, who writes, thanks, Adam. These stories make my commute much more interesting. Well, thanks so much. Appreciate your kind comment. Now it's time to thank our Patreon supporter of the day, and I want to go ahead and thank Michael. Michael's been one of our patreon supporters since February 2020, currently supporting the podcast and at the psalmist level of $4 or more per month. Thanks so much for your support, Michael. And that will actually do it for today. If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software and be sure to rate and review the Podcast, wherever you download it from. We will be back next Saturday with another episode of Dragnet. This weekend, be sure to watch public domain video theater available on our YouTube channel. Also in podcast stores that feature podcasts such as the Apple Podcast Store and Podbean. And now available on Spotify. We'll have an episode of Mr. And Mrs. North for you. But we will be back here tomorrow. If you notice the episode number, this is our 4700th episode. So we have a special tomorrow where.

Joe Friday (36:08)

No. You don't know of any relatives he might have? He never talked about any. At least not to me. But you did know him pretty well. Your boss says you were kind of a favor to the old man. Yes, I always liked him. Yeah, he got drunk every Saturday night regular, didn't he? Real drunk. Billy never hurt anybody but himself. And if he did take a few drinks once in a while. I don't just answer Officer Keough's questions, Kathy. Well, Adam, it's not fair with poor Billy lying there. The officer has his report to make, Kathy. And he's only trying to confirm what we all know happened. Yeah. Thanks, mister. Sadly, the old guy could really tie one on, couldn't he, miss Owens? Get so as he didn't know whether he was coming or going. Yes, I've seen Billy with too much, officer. But I saw him about two hours ago when I went over to get something to eat, and I'm not sure he was drinking at all tonight. What do you mean? Well, he was worried about something he'd found. He started to ask me about it and then said I probably wouldn't know either. With just some scrap celluloid he had in a blue tobacco can. A blue tobacco can? Like this one guess. I'm almost sure that's the can he had. And he didn't seem as if he'd been drinking. Mr. Sadleck here tells me the can was empty when they found it on him after fishing him out of the water. You sure the old guy wasn't just kidding you, Ms. Owens? Of course, I don't really know whether it has anything to do with. Thanks very much, Kathy. You've confirmed that. Officer Keo want to know.

Adam Graham (37:28)

I hope you'll be with us then. In the meantime, send your comments to Box 13@GreatDetectives.net follow us on Twitter at radiodetectives and check us out on Instagram. Instagram.com greatdetectives from Boise, Idaho, this is your host, Adam Graham, signing off.