Dragnet: The Big Phone Call (EP4974)

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Great Detectives Present Dragnet – “The Big Phone Call” (EP4974)

Date: May 14, 2026
Host: Adam Graham
Original Air Date of Dragnet Episode: February 14, 1952

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Adam Graham revisits the classic Dragnet radio episode “The Big Phone Call.” The story follows Sergeants Friday and Jacobs as they close in on Ernest Garvey, a seemingly respectable jewelry salesman, revealing how careful police work and critical evidence—including wiretapped dictograph recordings and meticulous financial analysis—bring a hidden criminal to justice after a major robbery. Graham offers his critique on the story’s adaptation from radio to television and reflects on the episode’s effectiveness and realism.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Case Summary: The Dragnet Investigation (03:14–27:13)

• The Crime:
  • $20,000 in diamonds stolen during a robbery of jewelry salesman Tom Ashley.
  • After nine months of investigation, the detectives believe Ernest Garvey, a colleague of Ashley, orchestrated the crime.
• Interrogation Highlights:
  • Garvey is brought in and feigns ignorance, but Friday and Jacobs confront him with mounting evidence.
  • Despite Garvey’s repeated denials, detectives lay out:
    • Garvey’s association with Kenneth Tyson (the hold-up man).
    • Large sums of unexplained wealth and luxury expenses.
    • Surveillance and dictograph recordings from Garvey’s office.
    • Financial inconsistencies impossible to explain legitimately.

“You engineered the whole thing. We know it and so do you.”
— Sgt. Friday to Garvey (07:17)

2. The Evidence Unfolds

• Tape Recordings (13:01–17:01):
  • Officers play incriminating taped conversations, including exchanges between Garvey and Tyson as well as the fence, Fred Lawrence.
  • Garvey tries to dismiss these as fakes or circumstantial.
• Financial Trail (19:00–23:08):
  • Detectives methodically reveal Garvey’s loans, bank statements, and extravagant purchases.
  • Garvey unsuccessfully maintains all income is legitimate or borrowed from friends or family.
• Psychology of the Suspect:
  • Garvey continually blames his wife’s demands for his financial stress, justifying the crime as a response to family pressure.
• Confession (26:14–27:13):
  • Under pressure, Garvey reveals motivations rooted in marital discord and financial frustration.
  • Admits to his involvement and implicates Tyson and Lawrence.

“She was never satisfied. She just kept riding me, day in, day out. There’s only so much you can take.”
— Ernest Garvey (26:14)

“You figured the robbery’d solved the problem, is that it?”
— Sgt. Friday (26:37)

3. Verdict and Sentencing (28:04)

• Garvey and Tyson are convicted of first degree robbery.
• Lawrence is convicted of receiving stolen property.
• Sentences: Robbery—five years to life; Receiving—up to five years.

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Host Adam Graham’s Post-Episode Commentary (30:10–33:42)

• Radio vs. TV Adaptation:
  • Finds radio version more compelling—claustrophobic, intense, focused on character interplay.
  • TV version criticized as visually uninspired and less effective.
• Realism & Character Insight:
  • Garvey’s arrogance and refusal to accept responsibility resonate as authentic.
  • Key tactic: Garvey tries to bluster through (“I’ll sue you”; “the tapes are faked”).
• Crucial Evidence:
  • Most damning: direct phone calls with Tyson, which tie Garvey directly to the crime.
  • Host notes that if Tyson had been paid off earlier or left town, the case would have been harder to close.

“If I’m on a jury, the most damning piece of evidence are those phone calls with Tyson… and that’s on him, despite what he thinks.”
— Adam Graham (32:30)

• On Garvey’s Attitude:
  • Points out Garvey’s lack of self-reflection—blaming his wife and refusing to acknowledge personal fault.

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Notable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

• Detectives Present the Evidence:

  “We've been recording every conversation that took place in your office for the last four months. Every word.”
  — Sgt. Friday (09:20)

• Garvey’s Bluster:

  “Either you book me in on a charge or release me. You try booking me in and I'll sue you for false arrest. I'll break you. I'll sue you blind.”
  — Ernest Garvey (18:11)

• Breaking Down:

  “She was never satisfied… She just kept riding me, day in, day out. There’s only so much you can take.”
  — Ernest Garvey (26:14)

• Final Confession:

  “Book me in. I don’t care.”
  — Ernest Garvey (27:13)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Dragnet Radio Play Start: 03:14
• First Confrontation with Garvey: 04:35
• First Tape Evidence Introduced: 13:01
• Direct discussion of finances/evidence: 19:00
• Critical phone call/confession: 25:31–27:18
• Host’s Analysis and Critique: 30:10–33:42

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Summary of Takeaways

• Police Methods: Dogged, step-by-step investigation and layered evidence (audio and financial) are key to securing a confession.
• Suspect Psychology: Garvey’s pattern of denial, blame-shifting, and ultimate weariness highlight the human side of crime and consequence.
• Host’s Perspective: The host values the radio format’s tension and subtle character study, finding the episode more gripping in audio form than on TV.

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For Listeners Seeking More

This episode serves as a classic example of Dragnet’s procedural format, showcasing relentless investigative logic and the psychological unraveling of a suspect. Adam Graham’s commentary provides further context on storytelling choices and the realism embedded in Dragnet’s enduring appeal.

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Transcript

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[Adam Graham (Podcast Host)]

Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho. This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're going to bring you this week's episode of Dragnet. But first, I do want to encourage you. If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software. Also, today's program is brought to you in part by the financial support of our listeners. You can support the show on a one time basis by mailing a donation to Adam Graham, P.O. box 15913. That's P.O. box 15913, Boise, Idaho, 83715. And you can also become one of our ongoing Patreon supporters for as little as $2 per month. And I do want to welcome our latest Patreon supporter. Thank you so much to Bill supporting the podcast at the Master detective level of $15 or more per month. Thanks so much for. But now, from February 14, 1952, here is the big phone call.

[Liberty Mutual Spokesperson]

And Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual. Even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.

[Liberty Mutual Co-Spokesperson]

Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?

[Liberty Mutual Spokesperson]

Oh, no. We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual to get together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.

[Liberty Mutual Co-Spokesperson]

Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.

[Liberty Mutual Spokesperson]

Anyways, get a [e-mail] or with your local agent.

[Liberty Mutual Co-Spokesperson]

Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty.

[Dragnet Narrator]

The story you are about to hear is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned a robbery detail. A jewelry salesman is slugged and robbed of $20,000 in precious stones. After months of investigation, you finally discover the man responsible for the holdup. You've got the evidence to prove him guilty. Your job. Bring him in.

[Dragnet Announcer]

Dragnet. The documented drama of an actual CR. For the next 30 minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department, you will travel step by step on the side of the law through an actual case transcribed from official police files. From beginning to end, from crime to punishment. Dragnet is the story of your police force in action.

[Sergeant Friday]

It was Thursday, July 18th. It was sultry in Los Angeles. We were working the day watch out of robbery detail. My partner's Ed Jacobs. The boss is Captain Didion. My name's Friday. It was 1:35pm when we got back to the city hall. The interrogation room.

[Sergeant Joe]

Sit down, Mr. Gravy.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Yes.

[Sergeant Friday]

You want to call the captain, Ed? Let him know we're back? Thanks.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I'd still like to know what this is all about, Sergeant. Dragging me down here in the middle of the day. I've got an office.

[Sergeant Joe]

Yeah, I just got back.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

All of them. Good.

[Sergeant Friday]

Yeah.

[Sergeant Joe]

Interrogation room. Right.

[Sergeant Friday]

Let us check in yet?

[Sergeant Joe]

Yeah, all back. Worked out fine.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Would you please explain what this is about? Why you brought me down here.

[Sergeant Joe]

We think you know why.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I don't. I haven't any idea. You take me away from my store on a busy day. You put a police guard on it. You insist on bringing me down here. What's it all about? Tell me.

[Sergeant Friday]

No, you tell us, Mr. Garvey.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Tell you about what?

[Sergeant Friday]

A jewel robbery nine months ago. That hold up.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

What holdup? My store hasn't been well.

[Sergeant Friday]

Talk about your friend Thomas Ashley.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Ashley. What about him?

[Sergeant Joe]

We think you remember it. Nine months ago. Parking lot back of the building down on 4th Street.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Oh, sure. Some hold up man slugged him, stole his case of samples. I remember it now. Poor Tom. The thief made a big haul, didn't he?

[Sergeant Joe]

Unset Diamond's $20,000 worth.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I remember it now. I don't think Tom's gotten over it yet. I was a jewelry salesman for the same company at the time, you know. Same company Tom was working for.

[Sergeant Friday]

Yeah, we know all that.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Some of the big bosses thought Tom had a hand in it. They figured it was a put up job. Nothing was further from the truth.

[Sergeant Friday]

That so?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Sure, I know Tom. He's a close friend of mine. He wouldn't be mixed up in a deal like that. Tom and I worked out of the same office for years. We've had him over the house for dinner. We've even been on vacations together. He's one of the most honest men I know.

[Sergeant Friday]

You sure of all this, are you?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Of course I'm sure. That isn't why you called me down here, is it? You don't think Tom had anything to do with that robbery, do you? You don't think he was in on it?

[Sergeant Joe]

He had nothing to do with it. I think you know that as well as we do.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Then why am I here? There's nothing I can tell you about the holdup. Only what I heard from Tom, what I read in the news.

[Sergeant Friday]

Now you can tell us a lot more, Garvey. We didn't bring you here just past time of day.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Tom was slugged and his sample case of stones were taken. That's all I can tell.

[Sergeant Friday]

You're a liar, mister.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

What?

[Sergeant Friday]

You engineered the whole thing. We know it and so do you.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Is this some kind of a joke? If it is, I think it's invertible.

[Sergeant Joe]

Long way from a joke, Garvey. You planned the job, you got the loot. We can give you chapter and verse.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I really think you're serious. You think I robbed Tom?

[Sergeant Friday]

We're past the thinking stage, Garvey. We already told you, we know you robbed him.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Now wait a minute. This thing is ridiculous. The whole idea is ridiculous. I don't know who gave you the so called information on me, but it's wrong. There's nothing further from the truth.

[Sergeant Joe]

Nobody gave us the information. We got it ourselves.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

You're really serious, are you? I robbed Tom. And you can prove I did?

[Sergeant Joe]

You're getting the idea.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I don't know what to say.

[Sergeant Friday]

Fantastic.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I robbed my best friend, Tom Ashley, nine months ago. I have $20,000 worth of diamonds. And you can prove it?

[Sergeant Friday]

Every bit of it. What about it?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I think you're out of your mind. My name's George Garvey. Are you sure I'm the man you want? There couldn't be a mistake.

[Sergeant Friday]

No, there's no mistake.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

You're saying it'd be funny if I didn't think you were serious? Let me ask you just one question. Maybe that'll clear it up for you. Yeah. If I held up Tom Ashley, how is it he didn't recognize me?

[Sergeant Joe]

You know better than that, Garvey.

[Sergeant Friday]

What?

[Sergeant Joe]

You didn't hold up Tom Ashley yourself yet. Someone do it for you?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Oh, cloak and dagger. I'm afraid this is getting a little too wild for me, Sergeant. Maybe you can waste time making ridiculous charges. I can't. I'm going back to my store.

[Sergeant Joe]

It's a weak bluff, mister. It's not going to do it.

[Sergeant Friday]

Excuse me.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Are you sure you two men haven't been drinking?

[Sergeant Friday]

Sit down, Mr. Garvey.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I told you, I'm going back to my store.

[Sergeant Friday]

Sit down.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Look, you have no right to keep me here. These are ridiculous charges. You think I'm one of those cheap hoodlums you're used to dealing with?

[Sergeant Friday]

Oh, now, come off it, mister. You've got a $5,000 car and a $40,000 home. That doesn't rate you a special treatment. You're a thief and you know it as well as we do.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I don't have to take this from you.

[Sergeant Friday]

You haven't got much choice. We just finished five months legwork proving it.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Proving what?

[Sergeant Friday]

All right, now sit down there. You engineered that. Hold up. We know who you got to do it. We know how it was carried out. We know how you planned on disposing of the diamonds. We know who your fence was. We know what the split was. We know what you did with part of the money. We know how much you got left.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Is that right?

[Sergeant Friday]

Yeah, that's right.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

What can I say? I don't even know what you're talking about.

[Sergeant Joe]

Any way you want it, Mr. Garvey.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Maybe you'd like to tell me why I did all this.

[Sergeant Joe]

You know it better than we do.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

No, I mean it.

[Sergeant Joe]

Tell me you weren't making enough money at your job to suit yourself. Suit your wife either.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

That's pretty good. Marilyn would get a big kick out of that one.

[Sergeant Friday]

All right, fellow, we can wait it out as long as you want. We spent nine months on this already. Another few days aren't gonna make that much difference.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Just as a matter of curiosity, how'd you first start off on this tangent? Whatever gave you the idea that I had anything to do with the hold up?

[Sergeant Friday]

When you started to spend money. New car, new office for yourself, fur coat for your wife, transferred your two children to that private school.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

That makes a hold up, man out of me. Because I wanted to send my kids to a better school.

[Sergeant Joe]

Where'd the money come from? Can you explain that?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Don't you think that's my business, Sergeant? Where I get my money, what I do with it.

[Sergeant Joe]

Not when you get it. Stealing.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I'm afraid you're going just A little too far. You insist I'm a thief? I'm gonna insist you prove it.

[Sergeant Friday]

All right. Have a look over here, Mr. Garvey.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Yeah.

[Sergeant Friday]

Some of the reports on the investigation. Reams of them. They cover everything from the time of the jewel robbery up to late yesterday. It's all right there. Everything from the crime report to signed statements.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Well, how would that concern me?

[Sergeant Joe]

Three quarters of this stuff concerns you. Have a look for yourself.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I still can't get it straight in my mind. What makes you think I had anything to do with that robbery?

[Sergeant Friday]

You know what this is, Mr. Garvey? This machine right here?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

No. Some kind of recording apparatus.

[Sergeant Friday]

That's right. It's a tape recorder.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

You've been taking down this conversation, then why?

[Sergeant Friday]

No, not this one. We've been recording every conversation that took place in your office for the last four months. Every word.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

What do you mean?

[Sergeant Joe]

Just that, Mr. Garvey. Every time you talked on the phone, every visitor you had. It's all done on tape. 25 reels of it.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Interesting. Is that supposed to frighten me? No, no.

[Sergeant Friday]

We don't care if it frightens you or not. Something else here.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Yes.

[Sergeant Friday]

Reports on what you've been doing for the last four months. Daily reports. Every movement you made.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

That's so.

[Sergeant Friday]

Everywhere you went, everybody you talked to, everything you did. Want to hear a sample?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

This must be some kind of a joke. That's the only explanation I can think of.

[Sergeant Friday]

May 12, Thursday. Sergeants Bitteroff and Rafferty. Those are the two officers who were tailing you at the time you checked in at your new office at 9:38am at 10:03am, you had a visitor, Kenneth Tyson. You talked to him in your office. Conversations recorded. Tyson left at 10:18am at 10:32am you left your office.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

If you're trying to impress me, I'm afraid it isn't working out very well.

[Sergeant Joe]

You care for a cigarette, Garp?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

No, thanks. I have my own. All right, well, I've wasted enough time. Exactly. What's the point of all it?

[Sergeant Joe]

Pretty simple. You're responsible for a robbery. We can prove it. We're giving you the chance to make a statement.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

It's nonsense. Is it?

[Sergeant Friday]

Of course.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

People following me, checking everything I do, where I spend my money, where I send my kids to school. What's it all about? It doesn't make any sense.

[Sergeant Friday]

All right, Mr. Garvey. We've said it before. We can wait it out as long as you want.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Look, let's get this thing straight. Let's go Back to the beginning and take it step by step.

[Sergeant Friday]

That's fine.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

The hold up was last fall, wasn't it? Sometime in October.

[Sergeant Joe]

October 7th. Monday. 5:20 in the afternoon.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

All right. Now, just what am I supposed to have done? None of your vague references about a new quote from my wife or where I send my kids to school. Let's have some facts, Joe.

[Sergeant Friday]

All right, Mr. Garvey. You went to work as a jewelry salesman for the company 10 years ago. Your friend Tom Ashley, the victim, started the same year. The two of you have been pretty close friends.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

That's right. I told you that.

[Sergeant Friday]

Now, we'll skip the rest of your background for now. Two weeks before the robbery, on September 24th, you had a meeting with a Kenneth Tyson. We met in the cafeteria on South Broadway. Tyson's 19 years old, lives with an older sister. He works in a gas station on Olympic Boulevard. He's done some work on your car for you. That's how you happen to know him.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Yes, I think I remember the boy. I don't know him well, though. I don't recall the meeting either.

[Sergeant Friday]

No, you know the boy very well. At the time of the meeting, you promised him $1,000 if he'd hold up Your friend, Tom Ashley.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Ridiculous.

[Sergeant Friday]

Tyson agreed to it. And you briefed him on the plan. The following day you gave him a gun.32 caliber Smith Wesson. Serial number 362745.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Nonsense. Where did you get that information?

[Sergeant Friday]

Tyson.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Well, he's lying. Believe me, if he told you that, he's lying. Is he the one who robbed Tom

[Sergeant Friday]

October 7th, at your direction? He was in the parking lot behind the Hunter Croswell Building. Tom actually came out to get in his car. He had his case of sample diamonds with him. Tyson held him up, slugged him, took the stones and got away.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Of course. It's obvious Tyson's trying to say I put him up to it. He's trying to get out of it that way.

[Sergeant Joe]

Afraid not, Mr. Garvey. Boy couldn't have carried off the hold up by himself.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Of course he could. It's obvious he's trying to cover up.

[Sergeant Joe]

There were six people in the company you worked for who knew that on Mondays, Ashley always took the case of sample diamonds long when he made his calls. Only on Monday. You were one of the people who knew that.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I suppose you've considered the other five people.

[Sergeant Joe]

They were all checked out at the time. They were all cleared. You along with them.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

But I'm not clear anymore. Is that it? This young hoodlum, Tyson, you're willing to take his word over mine.

[Sergeant Joe]

After the robbery, he took the case of diamonds to you. That was the next day. You paid him $500 and promised him the other 500 when he got rid of the stones.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Oh, I suppose I've gotten rid of them. Or do I still have them?

[Sergeant Joe]

Two months after the hold up, he contacted a fence up in San Francisco. He drove up there and sold him some of the stones. And he broke them up and sold them. We know who he sold them to. We know what he got for them.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

This fence, he's supposed to be another good friend of mine.

[Sergeant Joe]

He's still doing business with him. His name's Fred Lawrence.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

That's a new one on me. I don't know any Fred Lawrence. Can't even recall the name now.

[Sergeant Friday]

Maybe this will help you, Mr. Garvey. Listen to him on the tape recorder. It's real four, isn't it, Ed?

[Sergeant Joe]

Yeah, I think so. They're all labeled there, right on the back of box.

[Sergeant Friday]

Yeah. Here we are. Well, what's all this about phone conversation, Mr. Garvey? One of the things we recorded from your office. I told you about it before. Let's see. This one was on March 18th.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I always thought wiretapping was against the law. Or do you pay any attention to that?

[Sergeant Joe]

You didn't type your telephone line. Recorded everything from dictographs we installed in your store. And back in your office. They started recording the day you moved in. That was the 1st of March, wasn't it?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I don't know why you're telling me. I can sue you for that, you know. I can sue you for your last dollar.

[Sergeant Friday]

All we're concerned with right now is Fred Lawrence. You say you don't know him. I'd like to have you listen to this. This was recorded March 18th in your office.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Okay.

[Sergeant Friday]

Here.

[Kenneth Tyson (Accomplice)]

Yeah.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Marion, Mr. Lawrence? Yeah, sure. Put him on.

[Kenneth Tyson (Accomplice)]

Hi, Fred.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

How are you? I'm good. Everything's fine. No heat at all. Tyson? No, he's all right. Believe me, he's a good kid. Night. All right. Where?

[Kenneth Tyson (Accomplice)]

I don't know.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

It might not be so good if you're seen coming here. Only 8 o'.

[Kenneth Tyson (Accomplice)]

Clock.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

8:30, okay? Fine. Close to 8:30. Zing, Mikey.

[Sergeant Friday]

Bye, friends.

[Kenneth Tyson (Accomplice)]

Bye, Mr. Garvey.

[Sergeant Friday]

You recognize that? How about it, Garvey?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I understand they can do clever things with tape recorders nowadays. There's a way of piecing words together, isn't there? They can record your voice and then fix the tape. Take a simple sentence and change the words. Around to mean just the opposite.

[Sergeant Joe]

You can examine the tape if you like. We didn't make a splice in it, or you'll find it. The usual factory splice. It's just where it comes from, the manufacturer.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

What difference does it make anyway? There's nothing criminal about that conversation. Nothing at all.

[Sergeant Joe]

You told us a few minutes ago you didn't know Fred Lawrence. You never heard of him on that recording. It sounds like you know him pretty well.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

It's a fairly common name, wouldn't you say? Must be quite a few Fred Lawrences. I didn't happen to remember the name right off.

[Sergeant Friday]

How about Tyson?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

What?

[Sergeant Friday]

Tyson? You told us you didn't know him well at all.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I don't.

[Sergeant Friday]

Well, it didn't sound that way on

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

that tape, did it?

[Sergeant Friday]

You were telling Lawrence that he was all right. You said. Believe me, he's a good kid. Know what you said? Now, how about it, mister?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

How about what? Is this, some kind of a frame? What are you trying to make me say?

[Sergeant Joe]

I'm not gonna make you say. We work robbery detail. That's the job. Robberies, they pay us to clean them up.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I can pay you.

[Sergeant Friday]

What?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Never mind. I didn't mean that. I meant I pay my taxes. I pay your salaries. I help to. Anyway, I don't know why I have to be treated like this.

[Sergeant Friday]

No reason to make a big headache out of this for anybody, Garvey. Now, you engineered a hold up. We can prove that. We're giving you a chance to make a statement. That's all we want here.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I've got nothing to say. Make a statement about what? All you're going on is hearsay, circumstantial evidence. You can't say I planned that, Robert.

[Sergeant Friday]

Well, you admit you know Tyson. You know him.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Well, I don't. I admit nothing.

[Sergeant Joe]

What about you? Phone conversation.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

It's a fake. They're phony, those things up all the time. You know it as well as I do.

[Sergeant Joe]

You admitted you know Fred Lawrence. We proved that from the recording.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I admit nothing.

[Sergeant Friday]

You don't even know Tyson. Is that what you want to say?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I know him, that's all. He worked on my car a couple of times. I don't know him. Well, all right, sir, I'd like to

[Sergeant Friday]

play you another recording.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

It's a waste of time. I haven't got the whole day to spend here. I gotta get back to my store. I've got a business to operate.

[Sergeant Friday]

This won't take very long. Yeah, here we are, April 5th.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

A lot of foolishness. Anyway. How do I know you made those recordings? You could have gotten actors, maybe made them up yourselves. There weren't any dictographs. How'd you make those things?

[Sergeant Joe]

There were dictographs, Mr. Garvey. Remember before you moved into that new suite of offices, you had them redecorated.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Yeah.

[Sergeant Joe]

There were sound technicians from our crime lab out there working side by side with the painters and carpenters, installed dictographs in your store. And back in your offices, they bugged the entire place.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Wiretapping. I'll bring this into court if it's the last thing I do.

[Sergeant Friday]

Look, now, we already told you, Mr. Garvey, it's not. Not wiretapping. We didn't touch your phone lines. We didn't have to.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

It's invasion of privacy. I'm going to take this into court now.

[Sergeant Friday]

Well, let's listen to this recording. Might clear up a few things.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Clear up what? What are you trying to prove?

[Sergeant Joe]

Okay, Joe.

[Sergeant Friday]

Yeah, it's coming in here now. Date ON this is April 5th.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Yeah. Mary who? Tyson. Well, does he know I'm in? Yeah. Okay, send him.

[Kenneth Tyson (Accomplice)]

Yeah, Come in. Hi, Mr. Garvey.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I'm Ken. How are you? Come on in. Sit down. Thanks. How you been anyway?

[Kenneth Tyson (Accomplice)]

Pretty good. Trying to get a hold of you last week. It's so hard to do. You're not in very much.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Pretty busy.

[Sergeant Friday]

Yeah, Ken.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Good time of year, you know, it keeps you going.

[Kenneth Tyson (Accomplice)]

I don't want to waste any time. I'd like to know how the deal's working out, though. Going back east to Albany next month. I'd like to get the rest of my money if I could.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Well, just like I told you the last time, Ken, I'm sending the stuff north. I hope to hear in a couple of days. Yeah, I know.

[Kenneth Tyson (Accomplice)]

That's what you told me before was a pretty heavy job. I could use the money. I mean, if it wasn't so heavy, I wouldn't mind, but I. I got it coming, I think.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Of course you do, Ken. There's no question there. It's just that I haven't got it right now. Believe me, you'd have it in a minute if it was mine again.

[Kenneth Tyson (Accomplice)]

Yeah, but that was the agreement, wasn't it? 500 before the job, 500 after, and happened last October. That's a pretty good stretch.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Now, look, Ken, I told you the truth. I just haven't got it. Now, why don't you drop back in a week or so?

[Sergeant Friday]

How about a machine, Garvey? What do you say to that?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

It's ridiculous, that's all. It's an obvious fake.

[Sergeant Joe]

You can look at the tape if you like, inspect it. You can check every one of those 25 reels. We'll play every one of them right if you want.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Fakes. And they're bad ones at that. Now look, I'll give you both a chance. Either you book me in on a charge or else release me. You try booking me in and I'll sue you for false arrest. I'll break you. I'll sue you blind, I can promise you that. Release me and I'll get back to work. I'll forget all about it. Now, you name it. Which one? Book me in or release me.

[Sergeant Friday]

Oh, that's fair enough. You're gonna give us a choice, huh?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

You bet it's fair. You could get in a lot of hot water. Now it's up to you which one.

[Sergeant Friday]

You ran a bad bluff, mister.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

What?

[Sergeant Friday]

We're booking you in.

[Dragnet Announcer]

You are listening to Dragnet authentic stories of your police force in action.

[Sergeant Friday]

Thursday, 3:55pm Ed Jacobs and I continued questioning the robbery suspect, Ernest Garvey. Despite the evidence at hand, he still refused to admit any knowledge of the twenty thousand dollar jewel theft nine months before. The questioning went on, Garvey's answers became more and more confused. We kept pressing, laying out the case against him step by step. 4pm 4:30. We stayed at it.

[Sergeant Joe]

Must have taken quite a bit of money, didn't Garvey? My wife's new fur coat. New car for yourself. Where'd he come from?

[Sergeant Friday]

Now look, there has to be an answer. Where'd that money come from?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Simple. I borrowed it.

[Sergeant Friday]

Where'd you borrow it?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Some from friends, some from the banks. I don't see how it concerns you.

[Sergeant Joe]

How much money did you borrow?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Don't you think that's my business?

[Sergeant Friday]

Wasn't it about $7,000? Is that about right?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Yes. No, it was more. Well, what's the differences? My business.

[Sergeant Friday]

You want to grab that folder in one of the dark brown. That's it. Complete financial file on you, Mr. Garvey. Took us quite a few weeks getting this together. And a lot of work.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

You must like snooping in other people's affairs.

[Sergeant Friday]

No, not especially. It's pretty dull. Here's a copy of your bank statement. It's a photo, stat. Doesn't make much sense.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

What do you mean?

[Sergeant Friday]

Well, we checked. Your income for that month amounted to $620.18. Your bank statement here shows you made deposits totaling 760. Now, how is that possible?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Well, for your information, I made a loan that month. That's probably some of the loan money I deposited. I quit my old job that time. I was going in business for myself. I needed the money to redecorate the new store in the office. It's as simple as that.

[Sergeant Friday]

Yeah.

[Sergeant Joe]

Quota stats. Your loan papers right here. Loan was for $2,000. The month before that, February for $3,000. Made another one in April, too. That was for 1500. Different. Back again.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

That's right. Do we have to go over this line by line?

[Sergeant Friday]

In three months, you made bank loans for $6,500. Besides that, in the same three months, you earned a total of 17 $13.88. Together, that makes $8,213.88.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

What's the point?

[Sergeant Friday]

Copies your bank statements, Garvey. You have five different savings accounts in five different banks. They show from February to April, the same three months you made deposits of more than $11,000. Now, how do you explain that, Garvey?

[Sergeant Joe]

Any explanation.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

It's almost 5 o'. Clock. Can I use the phone? I have to call my wife and let her know.

[Sergeant Friday]

All right. We'll have to listen in on the extension. Conversation's gonna be mine.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Go ahead. I don't care.

[Sergeant Friday]

Okay. Dial 9 to get an outside line. Oh, man.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Mine's busy.

[Sergeant Joe]

Motor stats are there for you to examine them.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Garvey. I see him.

[Sergeant Friday]

You want to give us an explanation? You only had $8,200. How could you bank 11,000? It had to come from somewhere, didn't it?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

It's purely a personal matter, that's all. I borrowed 3,000 from a brother. Mine lives back in Minnesota.

[Sergeant Joe]

You'd already made three loans. Why'd you have to borrow from your brother? You mind telling us?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.

[Sergeant Friday]

Well, that still doesn't balance the books, Mr. Garvey. You earned and borrowed $8,200. You got another 3,000 from your brother. You say that's 11,200. You banked $11,000?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Yes, that's right. You always have to repeat.

[Sergeant Friday]

That'd leave you with $200. You and your family live for three months on $200?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Is that why not? That could easily be. A lot of people do it.

[Sergeant Friday]

Yes, sir.

[Sergeant Joe]

But not your family.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I'm getting sick and tired of this. You're trying to tell me you know my family better than I do? What they eat, what they spend, what it takes to support them.

[Sergeant Joe]

We've been on this thing for nine months. We put in A lot of hours. We know your family pretty well. If you like, I'll tell you. The last time you ordered steak from the meat market. When you paid your gas bill. The last time your wife bought a pair of shoes.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I guess this is standard procedure for you, huh? Threatening people?

[Sergeant Joe]

We're not threatening you, Mr. Garvey. We're giving you facts.

[Sergeant Friday]

Another file here. Took us over a month to get this one together. Complete record of your expenses from February 1st. Covers February, March, April, May, June.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I hope the police department has a good lawyer, sergeant. You've got a fair warrant, you say?

[Sergeant Friday]

You and your. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I hope the police department has a good lawyer, Sergeant. You've got fair warning. I'm gonna sue you for your last dollar.

[Sergeant Friday]

Now, you say you and your family live three months on $200. That doesn't jibe with what we've got here. Take a look if you want to. It's all lies.

[Kenneth Tyson (Accomplice)]

Lies.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Forgeries. It's all lies. I promise you.

[Sergeant Friday]

You Photostat of the receipt for your wife's coat, Garvey. $1,612.34. That includes the tax paid in full. Photo stat of the contract for your new car. Down payment, $2,000. Liquor bill for the big party you threw in March. March 20. Liquor bill, $387. Catering bill, 194. Pull yours. Check for tuition, room and board for your kids at the private school you sent them to. $1,864.07. That's only the beginning, Garvey. Comes to a lot more than $200. Have you heard enough?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I better try to get my wife again. I have to let her know.

[Sergeant Friday]

And you handle extension.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Yeah.

[Sergeant Friday]

All right. Go ahead.

[Sergeant Joe]

Dial 9 to get outside.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Garvey? Yeah,

[Sergeant Friday]

Still talking.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

She might know I'm trying to get her. Stupid.

[Sergeant Friday]

Well, wait a couple of minutes. She'll get through.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Gavin on the phone all day long. Gab on the phone and play cards. That's all she ever does.

[Sergeant Joe]

Got some more figures here for you. It'd be a good idea if you hear them. Bills for two more parties you threw last month.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Food bills, like a. Why do you have to keep pushing that stuff at me? So you've been sneaking around, finding out about my personal affairs. That's supposed to be good police work. Is it? This is the kind of thing you

[Sergeant Friday]

carried off a robbery, Garvey. We're giving you a chance to make a statement. I told you.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Why should I? What for? Give you a statement? Have you twisted around, Incriminate me. I haven't had anything to do with this kid, Tyson. I better try that call.

[Sergeant Joe]

Well, down mine first.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I know, I know, you told. Me.

[Sergeant Friday]

What's the matter?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

What's the matter with her? Stupid? She ought to know I'm trying to get her.

[Sergeant Friday]

What's the matter, Garvey?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Don't forget.

[Sergeant Friday]

Down iron.

[Sergeant Joe]

One more recording out of here. I'll just play.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I don't want to hear it.

[Sergeant Joe]

I'll just play Piece. I think you ought to hear it.

[Sergeant Friday]

That's the same reel there. Just fan it over there to that other part, Ed.

[Sergeant Joe]

All right, Tyson. Mr. Garvey. Same place.

[Sergeant Friday]

The office.

[Kenneth Tyson (Accomplice)]

But you told me on the phone you say you'd have the dough for me.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Today.

[Kenneth Tyson (Accomplice)]

You said today. Sure.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Now, wait a minute, Tyson. I didn't say that at all. I said maybe. I have it for you. I didn't say definitely. Look, I can't give you what I haven't got.

[Kenneth Tyson (Accomplice)]

I want the 500, Darby. I need it. I stuck my neck out on a robbery, Joe. I get five delights.

[Sergeant Friday]

All right, Ed. Couldn't be any plainer. Now what do you say?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

She was never satisfied. She never couldn't be satisfied. Always more. She always had to have something else.

[Sergeant Joe]

How do you mean?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Your wife. Playing cards, gabbing on the phone. That's all. She just kept writing me, day in, day out. I wasn't making enough money. She didn't have any clothes. Kids ought to go to a better school. We ought to have a new house, a. I ought to go in business for myself. Make money, lots of money. Same thing all the time. Talk, talk, talk. There's only so much you can take.

[Sergeant Friday]

You figured the robbery'd solved the problem, is that it?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I guess so. I would have tried anything just to shut her up, get her off my back for a while. I guess you got Tyson, huh? The other man, too. Fred Lawrence. Yeah.

[Sergeant Joe]

They were picked up this afternoon. Lawrence at the airport. Tyson and show downtown. All three, all at the same time.

[Sergeant Friday]

What about your wife, Garvey? She knew you planned this robbery.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

I didn't tell her. I think she knows, though.

[Sergeant Friday]

Pretty sure.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Maybe she'll be satisfied now. Lousy money. She had a habit. Didn't even leave me enough to pay off that kid. Tyson. Private school for the children. Wall to wall carpets in the house. New dishwasher, new coke, new car, everything. She just had to have them. You want to take me, book me in. I don't care.

[Sergeant Friday]

All right. We'll stop off down the hall and take your statement.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Sure. I don't care.

[Sergeant Friday]

All right, let's go.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Hey, just a minute, huh? Yeah, let me take a minute. That's what I figured.

[Dragnet Narrator]

The story you have just heard was true. The names were changed to protect the innocent.

[Dragnet Announcer]

On November 4, 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. Ernest W. Garvey and Kenneth Tyson were tried and convicted of first degree robbery, one count and received sentences as prescribed by law. Fred Lawrence was tried and convicted of receiving stolen property, one count, first degree robbery is punishable by imprisonment from five years to life receiving stolen property as punishable by a prison term of not more than five years. 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. Heard tonight were Barney Phillips, Vic Perrin and Eddie Firestone. Script by Jim Moser. Music by Walter Schumann. Hal Gibney speaking.

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

February 18th hear the gaylor city service

[Dragnet Narrator]

silver radio jubilee on NBC.

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[Adam Graham (Podcast Host)]

Welcome back. Well, I've done the video version of this and I'm pretty firmly on the record that I don't think much of the TV version that aired in 1952 of this story. I think it was the weakest story we have from season one because it's kind of visually dull. It's a poor choice to adapt to television, it works better on the radio, and you do have the sort of claustrophobic feel you have of what's essentially a three hander. Now, you do have a little bit of tape from Tyson and from the Fence, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was actually pre recorded. You get this really sort of claustrophobic story of these characters talking and of our man realizing that the walls are closing in. So it's a more interesting story. It's not one of my Favorites, to be honest, even over radio, because essentially it's a guy who made a lot of dumb mistakes. And because of these mistakes, he is cooked. And his only tactic is to try to bluster his way through with, you know, I'm gonna sue you, and the tapes are all faked. But there is something real about this guy, particularly in the way at the end, he doesn't really take personal responsibility, putting all blame on his wife, including for him not paying off Tyson. It's all the things his wife demanded. So he didn't have money to pay off Tyson, forgetting that he spent nearly the amount that he owed to Tyson on booze from the liquor store. Now it's his wife's fault that he didn't pay Tyson off. And truly, if Tyson had been paid off, he probably goes ahead and leaves town. And even if he doesn't, if Tyson were out of his life before the police got suspicious, this would have been a lot harder to prove. Although you still do have that financial trail. But if I'm on a jury, the most damning piece of evidence are those phone calls that he had involving Tyson and where he had these conversations directly with Tyson. And that's on him, despite what he thinks. But now let's go ahead and thank our Patreon supporter of the day. And I want to go ahead and thank Michelle Patreon, supporter Since May of 2021, currently supporting the podcast and at the psalmist level of $4 or more per month. Thanks so much for your support, Michelle. And that will 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'll be back next Thursday with another episode of Dragnet, but join us back here tomorrow for yours truly, Johnny Dollar,

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

where I didn't have to wonder for long.

[Adam Graham (Podcast Host)]

Hey.

[Sergeant Joe]

Hey, you crazy old coot

[Adam Graham (Podcast Host)]

Sidewinder.

[Sergeant Joe]

What the Sam, Hell's the matter with you?

[Ernest Garvey (Suspect)]

Well, welcome to Fung Fun, Johnny. Listen, you wild old character, put that

[Sergeant Joe]

thing down or I'll start throwing some lead around my.

[Adam Graham (Podcast Host)]

I hope you'll be with us then. In the meantime, send your comments to box13atectives.net follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives and follow us on Instagram instagram.com Great detectives from Boise, Idaho, this is your host, Adam Graham, signing off.

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