The story you are about to hear is true.
Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
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Dragnet, the documented drama of an actual crime.
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.
It was Thursday, March 8th.
It was windy in Los Angeles.
We were working the night watch out of homicide.
My partner's Ben Romero, the boss is Thad Brown, chief of detectives.
My name's Friday.
I was on the way back from the record bureau.
It was 11.45 p.m. when I got to room 42.
Homicide.
Joe?
Hi, Bill.
Romero called about five minutes ago.
He's on his way in from Georgia Street.
Oh, thank you.
Is the captain still around?
He's gone for the night.
You can catch him at home if you want.
Any trouble?
The rattlesnake bandit.
He got two more couples tonight.
All right.
Ben?
About the same as the last three jobs he pulled.
Pretty vicious.
Gave the victims a bad going over.
Who are they?
A young salesman and his girlfriend.
They were parked up in the Silver Lake area.
Bandit robbed them.
When he didn't find enough money in the young fellow's wallet, he pistol whipped and messed
them up quite a bit.
Why'd he do that?
There's no reason for it.
A young girl in the car had an engagement ring on.
She offered to hand it over.
The bandit pulled her out of the car, punched her in the face, hit her quite a few times.
Guy just seems to be looking for blood.
No leads on him, huh?
No, not so far.
It looks like I'm out.
Have you got any aspirin, Bill?
Yeah, I got a fresh bottle this afternoon.
Lousy headache I've had it all night.
How about the thief Samoah?
The same, huh?
Well, he has been so far.
He works the outlying districts, parking areas.
Doesn't seem to be any reason at all for these sluggings.
The victims all agree on that.
No provocations at all.
The guy just seems to get a kick out of punching in somebody's face.
Two pills, isn't it?
Oh, yeah, that's fine.
Thank you.
Boys in robbery turn up anything?
No, neither have we.
Bandit operates in hot cars.
He's got a few good prints to work with.
No make though.
Guy works alone, huh?
Well, he did for the first two jobs.
Last few times he had a bright looking blonde with him.
Good looking, you know, nice figure.
Victims say that she stands by and just seems to egg him on.
Seems to get a big thrill out of him, I guess.
Hi, Bill.
Hi.
How'd you do, man?
The doctor didn't think it'd be a good idea to bother him too much tonight.
We can talk to him tomorrow.
Well, how about the holdup man's description you get there?
Yeah, from the girl.
Matches what the other victims gave us.
She didn't see the getaway car though.
Didn't have a chance.
Well, how about the young fellows?
Are they still unconscious?
Yeah, they're going to move him to the county hospital.
He should have seen his face.
Yeah?
Terrible.
It's a mess.
This bandit's girlfriend, the blonde, nothing at all on her?
Victims say she's got a nice figure and good looking.
Quite a few like that in Los Angeles.
What are they getting out of these stickups anyway?
Can't be too much, huh?
Oh, that's just it.
None of the heists have netted them more than $50.
Hardly worth the trouble.
Hot shot.
I'll get it.
What is it?
Rattlesnake bandit.
He got another couple.
Where?
South end of Echo Park.
Yeah?
He shot both of them.
Together with Cummings and McCready from homicide, Ben and I drove to the scene of the holdup
and shooting in the Echo Park area.
The victims were identified as Ralph Younger, 34, a high school English teacher.
He'd been beaten severely about the face and neck and shot once through the right shoulder.
His companion was Ethel Madonovan, 26, a grade school teacher.
He'd been shot through the temple just above the eyes.
She was still alive but in a critical condition.
We questioned Ralph Younger briefly before he was removed by ambulance to the Georgia
Street Receiving Hospital.
His description of the holdup man tallied exactly with that of the rattlesnake bandit.
He also gave us the description and license number of the getaway car.
We got out of broadcast in an APB.
A routine check of the area failed to turn up any leads.
11 a.m. the next morning, Ralph Younger told us the story from his hospital bed.
I was teaching Thelma how to drive, Sergeant.
We were going along that side street when the sedan pulled up, forced us over to the
curb.
Was your friend Miss Donovan was sitting in the driver's seat then?
That's right.
I got out on my side and started over to ask this fellow what he was doing.
Crowdiness like that.
He rushed up to me and started slugging me in the face with his gun.
I went down.
What did Miss Donovan do?
She started hollering for help.
The holdup guy ran over and shoved his gun at her.
He had it pointed at her head and grabbed Thelma's purse and started looking through
it.
For money, I guess.
Say, would you mind moving this pillow over a little bit?
Sure, I'll bet you.
There we are.
How's that okay?
Come on.
Under the shoulder, please.
All right.
There you are.
It's fine.
Thanks.
Were you lying on the street while all this was going on, Mr. Younger?
No, he yanked me to my feet, made me stand by the car with my hands up.
Thelma was crying.
The holdup man looked through her purse and then he said, what are you trying to kid,
you got more money than this.
Thelma told him the truth.
It was all she had, three dollars.
What happened then?
He shoved the barrel of the gun against her head right here by the temple.
Then I heard the gun go off.
Thelma fell over in the seat.
There wasn't any reason for it.
No reason at all.
He just shot her.
What did you do then, do you remember?
I jumped for the man.
I wanted to kill him right there.
He turned and fired the gun at me, hit me right here below the shoulder.
Then he ran out and got in his car and drove off.
There was a blonde girl with him.
I got a good look at her.
Blonde, pretty, attractive.
Well, is there anything else about the man's description that you might have forgotten
to tell us last night?
No, I don't think so.
I gave you the license number of his car.
Can't you find him that way?
It was a stolen car, Miss Young.
He took it from one of his other victims.
It was found out at Wilshire this morning.
Banned it.
I only wish I'd got my hands on him.
Poor Thelma.
How is she, do you know?
Well, there's no late report.
Maybe you better check with the doctor, huh?
Yeah.
Hey, before you go, would you mind ringing this button here?
It's for the nurse.
The shoulder's giving me trouble again.
Yeah, okay.
Well, thanks very much, Younger.
Sure hope that shoulder of yours gets better.
I hope so.
Goodbye.
We'll be checking with you later on.
Yeah, okay.
Come on, man.
Romero?
Joe?
How'd you do, Bill?
Checked with the doctor.
Donovan girl's still unconscious.
Pretty critical.
What'd the doctor say?
Is she gonna pull through?
She might.
They can't tell yet.
One thing's sure, though.
What's that?
Bullet did a lot of damage.
Yeah.
It's a bullet.
Four days before a bullet from the holdup gun had blinded schoolteacher Thelma Donovan
for life, the rattlesnake bandit and his blonde girlfriend were unknown to the city
of Los Angeles.
In the space of little more than 96 hours, they'd robbed and slugged a dozen people from
one end of the city to the other.
In every case, the attacks were just about as brutal and vicious as they were unprovoked.
The amount of money taken from each victim was negligible.
The only apparent conclusion was that the bandit and his girlfriend were out for blood.
That night, despite a city-wide alert to all radio cars and patrolmen, the suspects robbed
and slugged two more couples between the hours of 10 p.m. and midnight.
Between midnight and 1.30 a.m., they got two more victims.
2.30 a.m.
Ben and I got back to the city hall, the carpool.
11-8, 6th and Spring.
11-8, 6th and Spring.
Looks like a place over there, huh?
Wonder how much radio they're coming from, eh, now?
I hope they got more than we have.
Yeah.
Yeah, this is good right here.
Wanna get the radio, Joe?
Yeah, fine.
Let's go.
Oh, God, I knew I forgot something.
What's that?
Cigarettes.
You got any left?
I don't think so.
Old pack is all...
No, there's one left in here.
No, no, that's all right.
I can't take your last move.
Oh, go ahead.
There's a machine upstairs by the elevator.
I'll get some.
All right.
I
sure better get these shoes half sold.
Be walking around on my stocking feet pretty soon.
We just got them a couple of weeks ago, didn't you?
Yeah, that's right.
Tops are as good as new.
Solds of darn things went just like that.
No wonder they had them on sale.
Yeah.
Just a minute.
I wanna get those smokes.
Oh, yeah.
Skipper say he was gonna stay around?
Until about two.
Yeah, he's probably gone by now.
That's a long day.
Anything in the book?
Just a minute.
Yeah, your wife called.
I want you to get a refill on that prescription for your little boy.
Oh, huh.
Hiya.
How'd you two do?
Nothin'.
How about you?
Chandler called from robbery a minute ago.
Thinks they may have something.
Yeah?
At 211, big service station out on Pico.
Hold up man had a blonde in the car with him.
What about descriptions?
Chibes pretty well with the guy we're after.
Well, the MO doesn't.
That thief and his girl haven't tried anything but car hold up since they started.
How'd they manage the job?
Well, you know how they've been operating for transportation.
They rob the people, steal their car.
When they reach another victim, they transfer to his car.
First time they switched that system was tonight.
Hold up on South Hoover, the man and his wife.
Instead of changing over, they stayed in the blue Chevy coupe.
Same one they took in the job before that.
Up to now they've used the same hot car in the last three jobs.
Sure gonna help if they stick with it.
What about the gas station at dinner?
Well, it...
Excuse me Crowley Chandler.
Homicide Cummings.
The egg line.
Uh-huh.
5-4-389.
Right, thank you.
They dug up a witness to the gas station job.
Suspects drove off in the blue Chevy coupe.
License 5-Pol-389.
Same car, huh?
It stops me.
What was the take?
Twenty-three bucks.
Slugged the attendant, took off.
The broadcast's out.
Area's been alerted.
Nothing yet.
Okay, Ben.
Yep.
Sure is growing into a long night.
Yeah, you're gonna cover, huh Bill?
Yeah, until Fergie gets back.
Right.
Well, we'll be checking with you.
You got it?
Uh-huh.
Homicide Romero.
Yeah.
How's that?
Yeah, right, thanks.
Drugstore in South Fig, 211, slugging.
Blonde girl drove the escape car.
Yeah.
5-Pol-389.
In the next three hours before dawn, the rattlesnake bandit and his blonde girlfriend held up and
robbed a restaurant and two more service stations and made good their escape.
For some unknown reason, they continued to use the same stolen car, the blue Chevrolet
coupe.
By noontime, the following day, composite pictures of the holed up couple were drawn
up by the crime lab artist from the descriptions given by the victims.
The pictures were printed up and given wide distribution throughout the city.
The description and license number of the escaped car was in the hands of every radio
car and patrolman in all divisions.
The search was intensified.
It got us nothing.
The following night and early morning, without even slowing their pace, the suspects added
four more holed ups and sluggings to their credit.
One of the victims was Fred Lerner, proprietor of a small lunch counter near 18th and Olive.
I've been held up before, officer, half a dozen times.
Never saw a punk as hard looking as this guy, though.
You're sure about the description, Mr. Lerner?
Well, he stood just as close as you're standing to me now.
Wild look in his eye, waving that gun around.
I wasn't taking any chances.
I gave him everything.
Well, how much was that?
$18.50.
Well, how about the getaway car?
You're pretty sure of the make and the color?
I ran to the door there as soon as they left.
Saw them drive off.
There's a license just as I wrote it down.
It's 5P389.
I saw the whole thing.
Sure surprised Lois would tie up with a punk like him.
Lois?
Who's that?
Well, you know, the blonde who drives the car for him, Lois Hagen?
Well, how do you know that's her name?
She used to be a waitress, worked for my brother.
Lois Hagen, blonde.
I spotted her right away in that car.
Yeah?
Yeah, sure, Lois.
Didn't you know it was her?
7.30 a.m.
We put in a call to the record bureau and had them check on the name and description
of Lois Hagen.
No make, no previous record.
With the help of Fred Lerner and his brother, we traced the Hagen girl to a drive-in where
she used to work.
There we checked the employment records and got an address on her.
1800 Norwich Drive.
Turned out to be a small apartment house in West Hollywood.
Ben checked with the landlady while I waited in the car.
Transfer point two.
One cable transfer point two, at unit nine thirty-five.
And that's it.
What'd you get?
Talked to the landlady.
She's managed the apartment for sixteen years.
Yeah.
She never heard of Lois Hagen.
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Tuesday, March 13th.
That night and the one following, the rattlesnake bandit and his blonde girlfriend, supposedly
Lois Hagan, continued their campaign of holdups and sluggings.
They robbed two liquor stores, an all-night cafe, a cigar shop, and two more service stations.
In each case, the descriptions of the suspects and their getaway car was the same.
Routine investigations got nowhere.
Ben and I went to work checking out the thin lead that we had on the girl known as Lois
Hagan.
After three days of pounding the pavement and asking questions, we found two former
waitresses at drive-in restaurants who had worked with Lois Hagan.
Both of them gave us addresses where they thought the Hagan girl had lived at one time.
One of them was a phony, it was a vacant lot.
The other panned out, was a rooming house out in the Boyle Heights district.
The manager told us that the Hagan girl lived there two years before.
He told us that as far as she knew, the girl's mother, a Mrs. Ernestine Hagan, still ran
a small French laundry on South Hobart Boulevard.
We found Mrs. Hagan working in her shop.
She was a small, thin woman with gray hair.
Yes, I have a daughter, Lois.
What's the matter?
I'd like to talk to her, Mrs. Hagan.
Do you know where we can locate her?
Probably sounds funny to you.
I haven't seen my daughter in two years.
Well, do you have any idea where she's living, ma'am?
No, she's not much of a daughter.
We didn't get along, as I say, two years ago we had an argument.
She left me, never wrote a letter.
I just don't know.
I see.
I heard she was living in Detroit for a while.
I guess she's back here now.
One of my lady friends, Mrs. McCormick, saw Lois shopping out in Hollywood.
That was about a month ago.
How old is your daughter, Mrs. Hagan?
She'll be 20 next month.
She looks older than she really is.
Won't you excuse me, please, my flat iron back here.
I have it heating.
Certainly, ma'am.
Do you have a copy of the composite picture of the girl?
Yeah, it's right here.
I didn't realize it was getting so late.
I have this rush order to get ready by four o'clock, officers.
If you want, you can come back here.
We can talk while I get it out.
All right, ma'am.
Thank you.
Come on.
There's a chair there.
We can sit down.
There's a chair there if you like.
Oh, thank you.
It seems I'm always so busy lately.
I used to have some fine help.
It's not so easy to find anymore.
This iron seems awful hot.
It's all right.
I wonder if you'd mind looking at this picture, ma'am, this one here.
Yeah, all right.
It looks something like Lois.
You're looking for her, is that it?
Has she done something again?
Well, we're not sure, ma'am.
Has she been in trouble before?
I can't be more ashamed of her than I already am.
Yeah?
She's been in trouble before.
She was nothing but trouble, my only child.
Her father died when she was a baby, but I guess she needed a father.
I couldn't do anything with her.
Was your daughter ever in any serious trouble with the police, honey?
I don't know, maybe.
She was.
I didn't hear about it.
And I tried to understand, and we never got along.
I don't know.
This makes me sick to think about it.
Well, how about her friends, Mrs. Hagan?
I mean her recent friends.
Do you happen to know any of them?
No.
Lois never brought them home.
I knew they were tramps.
I heard the way the neighbors were talking.
Trampy fellas, trampy girls, drinking, doing things.
You know, she didn't learn those things at home.
Well, what was Lois' last known address?
Do you have any idea at all?
Place in Boyle Heights, in the boarding house.
That's the last I heard of Lois.
She never wrote a letter.
That's another thing.
Yes, ma'am?
She could have had the best education any girl could want.
I worked 12 years in the laundry here to give it to her.
I sent it to the convent.
Even the nuns couldn't do anything with it.
She only sassed them back.
She finally quit altogether.
I don't know.
Can you think of anybody who might know where your daughter is?
Maybe one of your relatives?
Yeah, we don't have any relatives here.
I have a brother in Ohio, that's all.
His lace blouse is in an awful lot of trouble.
Would you pull out that plum, Sergeant, please?
Mm, I smell it.
I wonder if you have a picture of your daughter that we could borrow.
We'll see that it's returned to you.
Yeah, all right.
I got lots of pictures of Lois.
She's a pretty girl, you know.
She was quite a bit like me when I was young.
Yes, ma'am.
Well, thanks very much for your time.
Even the nurses at the hospital said it when Lois was born.
Beautiful child.
Certainly strange, isn't it?
How's that?
When they're babies, they all look so clean and so good.
Yes, ma'am.
What happens to them?
Before we left Mrs. Hagen, we got a photograph of her daughter, Lois, and then we drove
back to the office.
We spent the rest of the afternoon showing the picture to several of the robbery victims.
All of them identified the Hagen girl as the bandit's accomplice.
We got out a supplementary broadcast.
That night, the holed up couple failed to put in an appearance.
The following night, the same.
Not a sign of them.
Still, no sign of the escape car either.
Where they might be hiding out, we had no idea.
The search went on.
Repeated checks through the stats office and the record bureau failed to turn up any new
leads.
We stayed on it.
Four nights later, the still unidentified holed up man and Lois Hagen started in all
over again.
Two drug store holed ups, two robberies of couples in parked cars.
All of the victims were beaten senseless.
Monday, March 19th, 8 a.m.
Joe.
Hi.
Did they turn up anything last night?
Two more jobs.
Both victims identified the Hagen girl as the accomplice.
Anything else?
Still using the same escape car.
That's about it.
Yeah.
We're closer than we were a week ago.
I checked the hospital on the drug use this time.
How's he doing?
I don't know yet.
Still unconscious.
I get it.
Homicide, Friday.
Yeah, Mike.
Where?
Yeah, right away.
What have you got?
32R.
They're out on 18th and Hill.
Yeah.
The holed up car.
They just spotted it.
820 a.m.
Together with Cummings and McCready, we drove out to 18th and Hill where the officers in
Unit 32R had the holed up car staked out.
It was parked in the back of a large service station on Hill Street near the corner of 18th.
We talked with the manager and he told us that a blonde girl answering Lois Hagen's
description had left the car there earlier that morning just to have the distributor
fixed and the battery recharged.
She told him that she'd called for the car early that night.
Because of the way that the service station was situated, it would have been impossible
to stake out on the blue coupe without making it look obvious.
We expected the police to be there by the time we got there.
We explained the setup to the manager and made arrangements for Ben and I to pose as
employees.
That way we could keep a close watch on the car until the suspects called for it.
Cummings and McCready holed up in a coffee shop directly across the street.
Two teams of men from Rob recovered from their vantage points.
Ben and I took up our post as supervisors of the station's 10 minute car wash.
They sure do a great business here, huh?
Yeah.
You mentioned to the manager about keeping the area clear around that car, didn't you?
Yeah, it's all set up.
We're not going to have an excuse in the world if we miss those two.
Yeah, if they show up.
What are we supposed to do now?
Pull these tickets off the cars as they move off the wash line?
Yeah, that's all.
Just slip the tickets in that box over there, see?
Mm-hmm.
Must have run them a few dollars, huh, installing all this equipment.
Used to be paying off, didn't it?
What time you got now?
A few minutes past four.
Want a smoke?
No, I just put one out.
One a.m.
Ben spotted a young blonde girl turn the corner onto Hill and start up the street toward the
service station.
As she came closer, she looked to the right and the left.
She paused in front of the station, looked on both sides of the street, and then she
turned completely around and walked on past.
It's Lois Hagan.
She's going right down to the corner.
How about it?
Yeah, I'll put in with you.
How about her tail?
We can't just let her walk away from us.
No, just a minute.
Take a look.
She's turning around, coming back this way.
She's coming in.
Yeah, we better get back to our car.
It looks like it.
Come on.
Right.
The young blonde entered the garage office, paid the repair bill, and drove off in the
holdup car.
Ben and I followed in 80K, Cummings and McCready tailed us.
The blue coupe moved two blocks downhill street and then turned into an apartment garage.
We parked on the street, went in and got the manager out of bed.
We showed him Lois Hagan's picture.
He told us that she was registered alone in apartment 16.
He failed to recognize the description of the holdup man.
McCready and three men from Rob recovered the front and back exits.
Cummings, Ben, and I climbed the stairs to the third floor.
Apartment 16.
Joe?
You want to ring it?
Yeah?
Sorry, ma'am.
Bedroom, Bill.
Right.
I'll take the kitchen.
Wait a minute.
What is this?
Police officers.
You, Lois Hagan.
You get out of here.
Let me out.
Bedroom's empty.
Nothing back here.
All right.
Where is he?
Come on, let's have it.
Frank, get out!
Cops, Frank, get out!
Upstairs, you.
Watch your belt.
I got it.
Come on, Ben.
Yeah.
Stairs, Joe.
Give it up, mister.
You haven't got a chance.
Get in the room.
I'm coming down.
We got the building covered, mister.
Give it up!
Look out, Joe.
I'll get his gun.
How is he?
Dead.
Joe, Ben, you all right?
Yeah, Bill.
You want to take the girl downstairs?
Let me see him, please.
Frank.
All right, lady.
It didn't have to happen.
I tried to tell him, get away.
He wouldn't listen, never listen.
Let's go.
We were married yesterday.
You didn't know that, did you?
Just married.
Yeah.
Married two days.
Yeah, well, the honeymoon's over.
Come on, lady.
The story you have just heard was true.
Only the names were changed to protect the innocent.
On August 5th, a 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.
Now, here's our star, Jack Webb.
Thank you.
Here's an invitation we just received from New York's famous Stork Club.
Host Sherman Billingsley asked us to pass it on to you, Dragnet listeners who have television
sets.
It reads, Fatima, best of all long cigarettes, cordially invite you to see the Stork Club
on television beginning this week.
Well, Dragnet welcomes the Stork Club to the Fatima family.
a fine television show. You know the Stork Club recommends only the best and as Sherman
Billingsley says, in long cigarettes that means extra-mild Fatima. You can judge that
yourself just as I have by comparing Fatima with other long cigarettes. Buy a pack of
Fatimas. You'll find they now cost the same, but in Fatima the difference is quality.
The body of the dead holdup man was identified as that of Frank Ralston Killbride. His accomplice,
Lois Hagan, was tried and convicted on six counts of armed robbery and assault with a
deadly weapon. She received sentences as prescribed by law and is now serving her term in the
state penitentiary for women. You have just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases
from official files. Technical advice for Dragnet comes from the office of chief of
police, W.H. Parker. Fatima cigarettes has brought you Dragnet portions transcribed from
Los Angeles. We the people is next on NBC.