The story you are about to hear is true.
Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
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You're a detective sergeant.
You're assigned to robbery detail.
A doctor is severely beaten, robbed, and left in critical condition.
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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 Monday, August 7th.
It was warm in Los Angeles.
We were working the day watch out of robbery detail.
My partner's Ben Romero, the boss is Thad Brown, chief of detectives.
My name's Friday.
It was 1.15 p.m. when I got to 4656 Collis Avenue.
The front door.
Is that you, Joseph?
Yeah, Ma, it's me.
I didn't expect you so soon.
Well, I'm off for lunch and Ben and I were in the neighborhood, so.
Oh, well, I'll get the telegram.
Thank you.
I must say, I'm glad you couldn't get home.
Telegrams always make me nervous.
Nobody ever sends a telegram unless it's important here, son.
Thank you.
Yes, they do, Ma.
Some people send wires to invite you to lunch or to a reception or something like that.
Is that so?
Sure, you just forgot, haven't you?
I've gotten them before like that.
It's no way to do anyhow.
Why not?
People always associate frightening things with telegrams.
Well, aren't you going to open it?
Oh, yeah, sure.
Well, if you were worried, you could open it, Ma.
I've been all right.
You know I never open anything addressed to you, Joseph.
Anything important?
It's from Belmont, my old high school.
Oh, yeah.
They want me to come up next week, they're having some sort of assembly up there.
They want me to talk to the student body.
Oh, that's nice.
You going to go?
Yeah, I think I better, don't you?
I'll have to clear it through Captain Sheldon, though.
I think it's awfully nice for them to remember you.
What are you going to talk on, does it say?
Yeah, police work, it says here.
I'll have to think of something to base it on, though, won't I?
You'll have to memorize it, Joseph.
It doesn't look well for a man to stand up on a platform and read a prepared talk.
Yeah, I know.
Well, that's Ben.
I've got to go, Ma.
Would you and Ben like some lunch?
I can fix you something in about a minute.
No, we haven't got time, dear.
I'll see you later.
I don't know why they couldn't have written a letter instead.
What's that, Ma?
I said they could have written you a letter, besides it's much cheaper than a telegram.
Yeah, Ma, I'll see you later.
Bye, Joseph.
Bye.
Just got a call, Joe.
They want us to call the office.
Oh, well, I might as well do it from the house, huh?
Yeah.
All right, I'll be right back.
Right.
It's just me again, Ma.
Came back to use the phone.
2511 please.
2511.
This is Friday, Glen.
Got one for you, Joe.
What?
I can't hear you, Glen.
Got one for you.
Wait a minute, I can't hear you.
Hey, Ma, would you hold that vacuum for a minute, please?
I can't hear.
Oh, all right, Chris.
Thank you.
I'm sorry, Glen.
What did you say again?
That young kid hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
He hit again.
Toy, mother, what's that guy shooting?
It.
Almost.
fairly heavy hit.
Oscar.
Anything?
Yeah.
That young hype hit again.
Doctor's office beat him up pretty bad.
He's down at Georgia.
Great combination, isn't it, Joe?
What's that?
Arm full of narcotics and a loaded gun.
Monday, August 7th.
Since June 27th, Ben and I had been assigned to a case involving a young narcotics thief.
For seven weeks now, he'd been robbing every possible source of drugs.
For seven weeks now, he'd been robbing every possible source available to him of narcotics.
Since the inception of the investigation, we'd seen this young criminal develop from a small-time sneak thief
to a full-fledged armed and vicious thug.
The descriptions of the young thief taken from his various victims tallied almost to the letter.
Blonde, light complexion, small stature, 5'7 to 5'10, nervous and unusually juvenile in appearance.
Everything possible was being done for his quick apprehension.
Hundreds of mug shots were screened and shown to victims.
No identification.
3.30 p.m. We checked back in at the office.
Went to see Sergeant Ed Hall, Narcotics Division.
Chandler said you went over to Georgia Street to see that doctor.
Yeah, that's right, Ed.
Short visit, poor guy.
Pretty bad, huh?
The guy's really a mess.
Kid must have worked overtime on him.
And what's his condition?
Still critical, and we laugh.
They wouldn't let us stay long.
We got a description. It's the same kid.
Doctor's name was Gannon, huh? 55 years old.
Yeah, pistol whipped him.
Knocked out seven of his teeth, fractured his jaw.
Doctor was wearing glasses.
They don't know if he'll see out of his right eye anymore.
Well, this puts Junior in the big leagues now.
Yeah, it sure does.
We got out of supplementary all points on him.
Here's a list of the junk that he got. It's quite a haul here.
Yeah.
Hmm.
Morphine quarter grain, 30 vials.
Five vials, half grain coating.
Dolophine quarter grain, six vials.
Hmm.
Yeah, he did all right. Long list here.
We got that from the nurse.
She was out to lunch when it happened.
It's a small office out there, and the doctor closes up at noon.
Nurse goes out to lunch, and he eats in the office.
That's when the kid got to him.
He knew when to hit, didn't he?
Yeah.
My boys haven't been able to turn up a thing for you.
Nobody seems to know the kid.
Well, the amount of stuff he hauled out of that doctor's office
something ought to show, shouldn't it?
Should, yeah, with a haul like that.
You got anything at all to work on?
Yeah, that car that was used on the job still got it staked out.
Well, we'll just pick this up from the report counter.
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
Car was reported stolen two hours after the robbery.
It's a little bit of a break, huh?
The report was taken out at the Wilshire station.
Mrs. Irving Adams states that her husband had notified her
that the car was stolen from him while he was at work today.
Said he always parks it out in front on the street.
We haven't checked it out yet,
but we figured it was a good place to start, Mamie.
Wait a minute. What did you say that name was?
Irving Adams.
Well, let me see that report.
Well, this Adams is a user.
He's up in county now waiting trial.
Are you sure about that?
Yeah, Walker and I picked him up.
I just talked to Adams up in the county jail this morning.
How long has he been in?
Well, let's see, uh...
It was last Tuesday, July 30th.
The car couldn't have been stolen from Adams today
if he's been in jail for a week.
There's one guy can figure it out for you, Adams.
4.05 p.m.
We went up to the 10th floor of the county jail, the interview room.
We talked to Irving Adams for an hour.
He said he wanted to cooperate,
but he couldn't explain his wife's action
in reporting the car stolen from him.
He kept repeating that he knew his wife was not involved in anything,
that she was innocent of any complicity
in the case of the youthful gunman.
He could give us no information on anyone
fitting the gunman's description.
He insisted that the entire matter was a mistake
and that his wife could clear everything up
if we just talked to her.
5.20 p.m.
Ben and I drove out to 239 West 92nd Street, the Adams residence.
It was a small white bungalow trimmed in red.
The front lawn needed cutting and care.
There were four bottles of soured milk on the front porch
along with several old newspapers.
The front blinds were down.
Although it was still early, the front porch light was burning.
The other homes in the neighborhood
appeared to be neat and well-kept.
The screen door was ajar and supported by one rusty hinge.
5.21 p.m.
Looks like nobody's home.
Well, let's give it a try, huh?
Give me a minute, I'll cover the back.
Right.
Come on.
Yes?
Police officer, my name's Friday. You're Mrs. Irving Adams?
Yes, that's right.
Well, I'd like to talk to you about your stolen car.
Have you found it?
Yes, we have. Can I come in?
The place is in such a mess. Can't we talk here?
Well, if you don't mind, I'd rather come inside.
All right. Don't look at the house.
I've been kind of sick.
Haven't felt much like cleaning up.
All right.
You alone here, are you?
Right now, my husband's at work.
Mind if I go through the house?
You mean search it? You got a warrant?
No, I just want to go to the back door.
What for?
Well, my partner's around back there.
This is the way to the back door here?
That's right.
This is?
It's locked. Keys in the door.
All right.
Hey, Ben?
Yeah, everything all right?
Yeah, fine.
Is he a police officer too?
Yeah, that's right.
Is this all there is to the house here?
What do you mean?
Well, just these three rooms here.
Yes, that's all.
I thought you said you were alone here.
I am.
Who's that woman lying down in the other room?
That's Katherine.
I didn't want you bothering her.
She's been sick too.
She sleeps most of the time.
I just forgot about her.
Anybody else around?
No, nobody.
No, I mean anybody sick or otherwise.
Anyone besides you and this girl in there?
Well, you've been in every room in the house except the bathroom.
This it here?
Yes.
Okay.
I don't understand all this.
I reported my car stolen and you come out here and search my house.
If I did steal my car, I wouldn't hide it in here.
Yeah.
Ben, want to come in?
Yeah.
Could you tell me something?
Yeah.
Why are you here?
Well, I told you we'd find your car.
This is Sergeant Romero.
How do you do?
What's the trouble?
Anything wrong?
Who did you say your car was stolen from?
From me.
It was my car.
Is that the way you made the report, Mrs. Adams, it was stolen from you?
I think so, yes.
Mrs. Adams, according to the report that you made out this morning,
you stated that the car was stolen from your husband, isn't that right?
Is that what I said?
Yes, ma'am, that's right.
I don't remember.
We both used the car so much.
I forgot.
Well, now, which is it, you or your husband?
I'm not sure.
You been drinking, Havey?
A little bit, just ease my nerves.
I haven't been feeling well.
It's obvious you're not drunk, Mrs. Adams.
Why don't you keep your story straight?
Well, officers, I am telling the truth.
Your husband's in the county jail. He's been there for a week.
The car couldn't have been stolen from him, now, could it?
I didn't say it was stolen from him.
Is this your signature, Mrs. Adams?
Yes, sir.
This is a copy of the auto theft report that you made at the Wilshire division.
Yes.
Well, now, is this report a true one or a false one?
There's a penalty for making a false report, Mrs. Adams.
I'm sure you're aware of that.
I only want my car back.
Who was it stolen from?
Whatever it says there, my husband.
We just told you that he's in jail. He's still in there.
We just talked to him.
The car couldn't have been stolen from him.
Have you got anything to say to that?
No.
Well, I think we'd better go downtown where you can sit and straighten yourself out
and give us some right answers.
I don't want to go to jail.
That's just where you're going if you don't snap out of it and come up with the truth.
I know who you want.
It's Rex Burley, isn't it?
Who's Rex Burley?
Young kid, blond, small.
He told me he was in some kind of trouble with the car.
He said if I tell the police it was stolen, it'd be all right that way.
Do you know where he is now?
No, I don't.
Are you sure about that?
That's the truth.
Yeah? Come on.
Yeah.
Catherine's awful sick.
She always sleep this heavy?
Only when she's sick.
She's really out, isn't she?
Yeah.
Look at her leg.
Yeah. She's a user.
Say, this girl's on narcotics, Mrs. Adams. Are you a user?
No, I'm not.
I don't know where Catherine gets it.
How about Rex Burley?
He's on it, too.
Maybe she gets it from him.
Is there any stuff in the house now?
Not that I know of.
You want to tell us where Rex Burley is?
I don't know.
He called here about an hour ago.
Catherine talked to him.
Did he tell her where he was?
Yes, he did.
She wrote it down on a piece of paper.
Where's that paper?
Under her pillow.
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Monday, August 7th, 6.30 p.m.
The young girl who was identified as Catherine Dorrance was awakened
and she produced Rex Burley's address.
She stated that she'd known him for the past year.
She had just graduated from high school and gave her age as 18.
And talking further with both Iris Adams and Catherine Dorrance,
we found that the description of Rex Burley checked out with that given us
from the suspect's victims.
They both stated that as far as they knew, it was his true name,
that he had no friends or associates known to them.
A check with RNI showed no record on the name Rex Burley.
At 6.37 p.m. Sergeants Hall and Walker from Narcotics Division arrived
and continued the investigation of the two female suspects.
A stakeout was placed on the house at 239 West 92nd Street.
The address we got from Catherine Dorrance was a hotel on Washington Boulevard.
We drove out and checked with the clerk.
We asked if he had anyone registered under the name of Rex Burley
and he told us no.
We gave him Burley's description.
He said that a young man similar to that had registered and was in room 210.
We got a passkey from the clerk.
We walked up to the second floor.
This is it.
Lights on under the door.
Yeah. Careful, huh?
Yeah.
Who is it?
Open up. We want to talk to you.
What about?
There's the key in the door.
Yeah. Passkey's no good.
All right. Come on. Open up. Police officers.
He's not gonna open.
All right. Let's hit it.
All right. Again.
Once more. Yeah.
The window's open.
Up the fire escape, Joe.
Police officers. Hold it up. Watch it.
You all right? Yeah. All right. Come on. Let's go.
All right. Hold it up there.
He doesn't want to stop. He's over the side, under the roof.
All right. Come on.
All right. Easy.
Seem? No. It's pretty dark.
All right. Come on. Easy now.
All right. Easy.
Over there. On that side. Can you see him?
No. It's too dark.
Watch that skyline. He's over there in that corner.
See him?
Yeah. Now he's gone.
Must've ducked back down.
Well, he's in that corner.
All right. Let's take him. Now, keep down.
You circle around from that side. I'll go around this way.
All right. Be careful. Keep down.
Don't shoot. Don't shoot. I said, please don't shoot.
All right. Throw that gun out. Get your hands in the air.
Walk toward the middle of the roof.
All right. All right. Here's the gun.
I see him, Joe. I got him covered.
You all right? Yeah. All right. Keep those hands up.
All right. Stand still.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
All right. Get your hands behind you. Ben.
Let's go, Burleigh.
I didn't mean to do it. I was wrong. I know I was wrong.
You should've thought about that a long time ago.
How old are you, Burleigh?
Twenty.
You're living pretty high, aren't you?
I had to have this stuff. I needed it.
How else could I get it? I didn't have the money to buy it.
You didn't have to get started on it. Come on. Let's go.
I didn't want to get started.
All of a sudden, I was just on it. I couldn't do anything about it.
You don't understand. There was just somebody else to explain it to.
There is, but they won't understand it either.
Monday, August 7th, 840 p.m.
Rex Burleigh was taken downtown to the robbery division for further interrogation.
He told us that he was in his senior year in high school when he got started on narcotics.
He kept repeating that he didn't mean to get started.
He readily admitted his participation in six narcotics robberies.
He told us that he got Catherine Dorrance, his 18-year-old girlfriend, started on dope.
Gene Bechdel took his statement and a complete report was made.
A partial recovery of the stolen narcotics was made from his hotel room.
The remainder had been found at Irving Adams residence on 92nd Street.
Both female suspects, Iris Adams and Catherine Dorrance, were filed on for violation of the State Narcotics Act.
A show-up was scheduled for August 8th to allow a positive identification from Rex Burleigh's victims.
We received word from Georgia Street that Dr. Gannon's condition was improved.
The suspect was transported to the main jail where he was booked.
It was 10.38 p.m. when I got to 1456 Collis Avenue, the front door.
Joseph, is that you?
Yeah, Ma.
Have you had your dinner?
I'll have to eat. I'll fix you something.
I'm kind of tired. I'd just like to sit down for a minute.
All right. There's evening paper.
Oh, thank you.
What did you do to the sleeve of your coat?
Oh, well, I guess I must have ripped it, huh?
You'll slip it off. I'll mend it after I fix you some dinner.
Why don't you sit down and work on it now if you want to?
I've got something I'd kind of like to go over with you.
All right.
You remember that telegram from Belmont this morning?
Yeah, your old high school.
Well, I think I got an idea for a speech, maybe.
I just made a few notes here, wrote down some of it.
You think you'd feel like listening to it, see if it's okay?
All right. Direct speech today?
Well, just parts of it. I hadn't written it clear out yet.
I just got a few notes. I want to see what you thought of it.
All right. Well, let me have your coat, son.
Yeah.
There you go.
Thank you.
Now let's hear you talk.
Well, remember, it's not written down yet.
It's just kind of hit and miss as I go along,
but I think I can get the thought across,
and then I'll put it all down on paper.
All right.
Um, Mr. Fisher, that's the principal up there, you know?
Yes.
Mr. Fisher, members of the faculty and students.
I'd like to tell you about a young boy who started out in high school
and ended up on the roof of a downtown hotel
dodging police bullets.
I'd like to tell you about his girlfriend,
18 years old and a dope addict.
This young fellow started out on narcotics
in search of a new thrill,
something new that he hadn't experienced in his young life.
He was still in high school
when a group of the more high-living youngsters
used to congregate at the local malt shop.
That's not so good, is it?
Well, maybe it's not better this way.
There was a malt shop on the corner
where some of the youngsters used to get together after school,
kind of a place where if you had the right connections,
and our young boy and girl did,
you could get a drink of liquor in the back room.
Well, the high school faculty knows all about this local malt shop,
and they inform the authorities, and pressure is brought to bear,
but the man who operates the place is clever.
If you can call the operations of a man like this clever,
he knows how to cover up,
how to keep the front room legitimate
and the back room a spawning place for juvenile delinquency.
And the students don't help much.
There seems to be something during the formation of a juvenile mind
that when his teachers or his parents catch him doing wrong,
or they try to tell him it's bad,
he prides himself in seeing how long he can get away with it under covers.
It seems to be the stylish thing to do to outwit your parents and teachers.
As the youngsters grow older,
they invariably find out how infantile and stupid this is,
but sometimes it's too late.
That sounds kind of stuffy, Ma. What do you think?
Sounds like the truth. Let me hear the rest of it.
You know how kids are.
Sometimes they resent it if they think you're lecturing them.
They could have been with Ben and I tonight.
It might make a difference.
Why don't I make this too long?
I don't want to make a mess of something like this.
From this malt shop on the corner, in that back room,
our young boy gets a good shove down the road of self-degradation.
He has the right connections.
It isn't too long before he graduates the liquor in the back room
for something he thinks is far better, narcotics.
He's heard that, unlike liquor, you can't smell it on his breath.
He's a real veteran now. He has hangovers.
He's heard that narcotics doesn't leave you with a hangover.
It doesn't take too long before, in our police parlance, he's hooked.
Living in this day and age, he thought that they taught him well
in his economics and civics classes.
He thought he knew what post-war inflation was all about.
He didn't have the vaguest notion of the cost of his daily supply of narcotics
once he was hooked on it.
He found that before long he had to have his daily dosage.
In no time at all, he found that it was all he could do to get by on $30 a day.
That's what it cost him.
$30 each and every day, or he became violently ill,
so sick that he couldn't seem to function properly.
Well, in order to maintain his daily needs, he got a gun, and he robbed,
and he beat people, and he stole.
He shared with his girlfriend, and he dragged her down with him.
He ended up on the roof of a hotel trying to shoot his way out.
When the boy was 20 years old, his girlfriend was 18.
Two years ago, they both sat out there in a high school auditorium
during an assembly.
He went a long way, didn't he, in his two years out of high school?
He was taken into custody on the night of August 7th.
He was crying when we put the handcuffs on him.
He was crying when we left him in his cell at the county jail.
I guess he's still crying.
Now, what do you think, Mom?
That's just rough, I haven't...
Oh, will they believe it?
You think it'll do any good?
Well, I don't know, Ma. It's up to them.
The story you have just heard was true.
Only the names were changed to protect the innocent.
On November 9th, trial was held in Superior Court, Department 83,
sitting in the county of Los Angeles, state of California.
In a moment, the results of that trial.
And now, here is our star, Jack Webb.
Thank you.
Friends, there are many cases on record of two people not related,
looking so much alike, it's hard to tell them apart.
A quick check of fingerprints, however, easily proves who's who.
Now, at first sight, you could just as easily be fooled by king-sized cigarettes.
If you were to place a Fatima and any other king-sized cigarettes side by side,
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[♪jazz music playing on radio and radio station
Rex Martin Burleigh was found guilty of three counts of robbery in the first degree
and was sentenced to the state penitentiary where he is now serving his term.
First degree robbery is punishable by imprisonment from five years to life.
The Federal Civil Defense Administration will send you an air raid instruction sheet
if you will write the superintendent of documents, Washington, D.C.,
enclosing five cents in coin or stamps.
[♪jazz music playing on radio and radio station
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.
Fatima cigarettes, best of all long cigarettes,
has brought you Dragnet, portions transcribed from Los Angeles.
Stay tuned for Counter Spy, next over many NBC stations.
[♪jazz music playing on radio and radio station
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.