Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to hear is true.
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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 Tuesday, August 10th.
It was warm in Los Angeles.
We were working the day watch out of Bunko Fugitive Detail.
My partner's Frank Smith.
The boss is Captain Didion.
My name's Friday.
I spent the morning in court and it was 1145 AM when I got back to room 38, Bunko Division.
Well, I'm telling you, you better do something about it.
Getting terrible when a citizen has a thing like this happening.
All right, Mr. Mathur.
If you'll take it easy, tell me what happened.
I got a lot of friends in this town.
I happen to know one of the councilmen real well.
If you don't clean this thing up, you're going to be walking a beat out in a plum thicker.
Just a minute, Mr. Mathur.
Here's my partner.
If you'll tell us what happened, maybe we can help you out.
You don't need no partner.
Just go out and arrest them fellas.
Go get them.
What's the matter here?
This is Mr. Keith Mathur, Joe.
This is my partner, Sergeant Friday.
How are you, sir?
I don't want you to come around here trying to smooth things over.
I'm not going to be happy until them hoodlums end jail where they belong.
I'm telling you the same as I told this fella.
You do something about this.
I'm going to take it to the mayor.
What's the matter here, Frank?
I don't know.
Been trying to find out?
Well, what you going to do about it?
How about a cigarette, huh?
Thank you.
Here, I have a match.
Here you are.
How about it?
Sir?
Well, how about it?
What you going to do?
You start right at the beginning and tell us what this is all about.
Maybe we can give you a hand.
Well, here's the shoeshine in the world.
It's worth five dollars.
I don't care what kind of wax they use.
Not for five dollars, no sir.
Shoeshine?
Yes.
They call it imported wax.
Where they charge for it must be brought in from Timbuktu.
Ridiculous.
I'll get the report.
All right.
Take a match and light it and they burn the edges of your shoe soles.
Don't do nothing but smoke up your shoes.
That's all.
Just smoke up your shoes.
A five dollar hot foot.
You want to give us your full name, sir?
Keith Jefferson Mathur.
Right down the street to threaten me.
Where'd this happen, sir?
Shoeshine stand in the corner of Main and Colon.
A little place with pinup pictures all over the walls.
Never seen so many pinups.
Do you know if they had a card showing the prices of the shines?
Well, I didn't see one.
Only them pictures are hard to tell.
Well, if you'd just tell us in your own words exactly what happened, will you please?
I was on my way to work.
Had a very busy day.
A lot of important appointments.
I just parked my car and I was walking along and went by this place.
A fellow standing there asked me if I wanted a shine.
Just so happened I did, so I climbed up in the chair.
Well, I was sitting there reading the paper and the man asked me if I wanted imported
wax.
I wasn't paying a lot of attention.
I guess I said yes.
Next thing I know, I think he's trying to give me a hot foot.
I looked down, he's got this big kitchen match out.
He's burning the edges of my soles.
Smoke coming up.
I told him to stop it.
I got down from the chair.
I was plenty sore.
You can just bet I was sore.
Plenty.
Yes, sir, we can understand.
Well, I had him a half a dollar.
Figured that'd take care of the tip, too.
Wasn't a very good shine.
Come right down to it, a half dollar was too much.
All that smoke.
Next thing I know, he said the shine was five dollars.
Five dollars!
Almost climbed right down top of the place.
Couldn't believe my ears.
$25 for shine.
That's when the men got out of the car, did they?
That's right.
Them three fellas got right at me.
Say, how'd you know about that?
Well, sir, this isn't a new operation.
You mean tell me this happened before?
Yes, sir, we get a couple dozen complaints a week.
We'll finish up this report, and then if you'll point out the place, we'll have a look.
Then you can just start writing.
I told you I had a lot of important appointments.
I can't spend all day here.
Can I see someone here, please?
Yes, sir.
You want to go ahead with this, Frank?
I'll see what he wants.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir, could I help you?
I want to give myself up.
Sir?
This is Bunko Fugitive, isn't it?
That's what it says on the door.
Yes, sir, that's right.
I want to give myself up.
I'm tired of running.
I haven't got any place to go.
Would you like to tell me what this is all about?
I gave him every nickel I had.
I didn't even got enough money to go home.
All I want is enough to eat on and get back home.
I gave him everything.
I don't believe I understand you, sir.
I gave him all the money I had.
He said it'd be all right.
I'm broke, and I want a bar enough to get home.
Who are you talking about?
Who'd you give the money to?
Policeman.
The man who walked into the office identified himself as Martin Dietrich.
From the story he gave us, it appeared that he'd been the victim of a shakedown by a person
or persons representing themselves as police officers.
We turned the shoeshine parlor complaint over to one of the other officers for investigation,
and then we took Dietrich across the street to the Federal Cafe.
We sat down in a booth and ordered coffee while the victim had breakfast.
He acted as if he hadn't eaten in several days.
Frank and I waited until he finished, and then we started to question him.
Now, if you'll just tell us what happened, Dietrich.
Sure.
I'm from Chicago.
I worked for a wholesale drug company back there, and I had to come out here on business.
I got in last Saturday.
That'd be August 7th, would it?
Yeah, yeah, the 7th.
I got in at 8.45 on the Super Chief.
Well, I didn't have any business to do until yesterday, so I thought I'd look the town
over, get settled, you know?
Yes, sir.
I didn't even have a hotel reservation, so after I got off the train, I was waiting for
my baggage to be checked through, and I went over to the coffee shop for some coffee.
Sat down, started to read the paper.
I must have been there for about 15, 20 minutes when this guy came in and sat down next to
me.
Go ahead.
He just sat there for a couple of minutes.
I didn't pay any attention to him.
Busy reading the paper, you know?
Mm-hmm.
Then he asked me for a match.
I gave him one, told him to keep the pack.
I remember telling him that.
Next thing I know, we're in a big conversation.
Turns out he's from Chicago, too.
Did he tell you his name?
No.
He said it was Gabriel Bush.
He told me he was in the wholesale liquor business, said he was out here on a selling
trip, checking up on the branch office.
I went right along with him.
He seemed like such a nice fellow, well-dressed, cultured.
Even knowing it, you sure wouldn't figure him for what he was.
What was that, sir?
A narcotic addict.
Are you sure about that?
Well, I should be.
It cost me over $3,000 to find out.
You want to go on, sir?
We got a cab and went out to a big hotel on Wilshire.
He had reservations there.
He signed the card and we went up the room.
The way he acted, you'd never know anything was wrong, never even suspected.
I see.
Well, we no sooner got in the room that Gabe started to unpack his suitcase.
Gabe?
Yeah, Gabriel Bush.
Oh, yeah.
He told me to call him Gabe.
Said he was named after a great uncle or something.
Didn't care much for the name.
I see.
Go ahead, please.
Well, he unpacked his bag and I guess I should have noticed something then, the way he acted.
How do you mean?
When he took the stuff out of his bag, he acted like he didn't want me to see what he was
doing.
But he did it in a funny way so I couldn't miss noticing it.
You know what I mean?
I think I do, yeah.
Well, he went into the bathroom, stayed in there a couple of minutes, and then when he
came out, he had his sleeve rolled up, had a piece of cotton on his arm like when they
give you a transfusion.
You know here?
He had this little leather case, and when he went to put it away, he dropped it.
Spilled his stuff in it all over the floor.
I should have gotten out right then, right there.
If I'd had any brains, I would have gotten out.
What was in the case, do you know?
All this stuff for taking narcotics, hypodermic needle, all that stuff.
Well, what did he say when he dropped this?
He just tried to laugh it off.
Then he told me that he was a diabetic, said that he had to take insulin shots.
About that time, the other two guys came in.
What did these two men want?
Said Gabe was a narcotic addict, said they'd been after him for a long time and that they'd
gotten word from the Chicago police that he was coming out here.
Yeah.
And told me that they'd been following us since we got off the train.
Been following us all the time.
What'd they do then?
Took us downstairs and put us in a car, said they were going to take us to jail.
Tried to talk to them, tell them I didn't have any part in what Gabe was doing.
I didn't even know about the narcotics.
One of them said they knew that.
That you weren't involved in it?
Yeah.
Then the other one opened up the glove compartment of the car and took out a microphone, called
in here to police headquarters.
Gave him Gabe's name and mine.
Said they had us in custody and were bringing us in.
I kept asking the one guy in the back with me to let me go, let me get out of the car.
What'd he say?
Oh, he told me that they'd like to, but it was too late.
That they'd already called in my name, said they couldn't do anything about it now.
I told him how it had ruined me if the story got out.
How could I explain it to my bosses?
That's when they told me there was a way.
Yeah.
The one fellow said that if I could afford to take care of all the policemen who knew
that I'd been picked up, maybe they could fix it.
The other one, the one in the front seat, said that wasn't a good idea, that they should
book me.
Well, they got in a discussion about it, the one guy wanted to let me go, the other one
said not to.
Finally, the one with me, the one in the back seat, won out.
I gave him all the money I had.
Thirty-three hundred and fifty dollars.
How much?
Thirty-three hundred and fifty dollars.
I see.
Then they pulled a car over the curb and told me to get out.
The badge these two men showed you.
Did it look like this one?
I think so.
I was so worried I didn't get a real close look at it.
I think it was the same.
I see.
You want them to tell you their names?
The one in the front seat, the one who wanted to let me go, said his name was Lang, said
he was a sergeant.
Did he tell you where he worked?
Just narcotics, that's all he said.
You gave him this money all in cash, did you?
Yeah, all of it.
I say, do you know him?
You know these two officers?
No, sir, we don't.
He said they were policemen, the badges, the police car, even the radio.
Did you hear anyone talk back to him on that radio?
I don't remember.
I was so upset about what was happening, I didn't pay any attention to what was going
on.
All I could think about was that I was going to jail for something I didn't know anything
about.
No, I don't remember.
What kind of a car was it?
A Chevrolet.
What color?
Sort of a light gray.
Will you show us the hotel where all this happened?
Sure, but I don't understand all this.
The other two policemen said that if I gave them the money, everything would be all right.
They said they could fix it up.
I don't want any trouble.
All I want is enough money to get home.
They said they'd fix the whole thing up.
They told me there wouldn't be any trouble.
No trouble.
Yes, sir.
You think they're really cops?
I don't know, but they're wrong about one thing.
What's that?
There's going to be trouble.
I don't know.
1252 p.m.
We took the victim, Martin Dietrich, back to the city hall.
We got in touch with Lieutenant Iannone, Internal Affairs Division.
We filled him in on what had happened.
He started an immediate check of all police officers in the city and the county.
Working from the description we'd gotten from the victim, we notified the narcotics detail.
They went to work on it.
A local and an APB were gotten out on the suspects.
We checked the name Gabriel Bush through R&I, but when the mug shots from the packages that
we came up with were shown to Dietrich, he was unable to give us an identification.
315 p.m.
We drove the victim out to the hotel where he told us the shakedown had occurred.
In the company of the manager, we went upstairs.
Come right in.
This is the room.
How about it, Dietrich?
Yeah.
This is where he brought me.
Mr. Alden, do you know anything about the man who took this room?
You mean Mr. Bush?
Yes, sir.
No, I don't.
I do remember when he came in, registered with this gentleman here.
He had a reservation.
I had the boy bring him up to the room.
Yes, sir.
Well, all the time Mr. Bush was signing the card, he was telling Mr. Dietrich here that
there was a convention in town.
How all the hotels were full up, well, that's not right.
We haven't had a really big convention in a couple of months.
Why, right here in this place, we've got several rooms we could have let Mr. Dietrich have.
Not that we're not doing a good business, you understand.
Not at all.
Yes, sir.
But we do have a few very nice rooms.
Have you ever seen us, Mr. Bush, before?
No.
No, I don't think I ever have.
All right, sir.
If we could take a look at the registration card and then we'd like to talk the cashier.
Sure.
Do you know if their bill was paid when they checked out?
I imagine so.
I don't collect the money.
Cashier does that.
We can ask her.
All right, sir.
Do you think you might get a clue from her?
Well, we'd like to talk to her if we could.
She won't be able to tell you anything that I haven't filled you in on already.
Sir?
Well, it follows.
I'm the manager here.
Anything goes on, I'm going to know about it.
Not only that, but I've worked a lot with our security officer.
How's that, sir?
House detective.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yes.
I help him out all the time.
We're always trying to get away with hotel property, but we stop them.
Come right down to it, I could almost be a policeman myself.
All I need is a badge and a gun.
I'm afraid you're a little wrong there, mister.
Just a badge and a gun.
They don't make you a cop.
438 p.m.
We talked to the cashier at the hotel.
She told us that the bill for the room had been paid by Gabriel Bush at 2.15 the afternoon
of the shakedown, three hours after Martin Dietrich had turned over all his money to
the thieves.
She told us that the bill had been paid with cash and that she could give us no further
information on the man.
We obtained the registration card the suspect had signed when he checked into the hotel.
In the usual processing of the card by hotel employees, it had been handled so much that
lifting fingerprints from it was impossible.
The card was turned over to Don Myers and handwriting to be checked.
520 p.m.
The victim started to look through the photographs of police officers.
Lieutenant Ionone's preliminary investigation had failed to turn up any police officers
who matched the description of the shakedown men.
A check with the officers from narcotics detail meant it as nothing.
They were still checking their sources of information to help us in coming up with a
lead.
1116 p.m.
We took the victim out for dinner and then we came back to the city hall and continued
to go through the pictures.
At 1.26 a.m. he finished the last book without finding the men who claimed that they were
police officers.
We checked out of the office and Dietrich spent the night at Frank's house.
The following morning, Wednesday, August 11th, 8.04 a.m., Frank and I met with Captain Didion
in his office.
Well, where are you, Ionone?
Not too far, Skipper.
What have you got?
We checked the files.
We're pretty sure that they aren't policemen.
How about narcotics?
They come up with anything?
Not yet.
They're still working on it.
You need any extra men?
No, not right now.
We might later.
I got Johnny DeBetter standing by.
You can use anybody else you need, but clean this thing up.
Where do you go from here?
Well, we're getting descriptions out to all the hotels.
Wanting them about the racket.
Asking them to call us if this Bush guy registers again.
Doesn't seem like you'll use the same name again.
No reason not to, Skipper.
He doesn't know we're on to him.
I suppose so.
I got an idea last night.
Might work.
Could be something to start on.
All right.
Well, it figures that the only men who'll go for this dodge have got responsible positions
in their hometowns.
If they didn't have, they wouldn't care about being brought down here along with Bush.
Is that right?
Yeah, that follows.
They gotta be from out of town so the con men can get rid of them fast.
Yeah.
Now, this Dietrich, he was picked up in the Union Station, right?
Yeah, that's right.
And if you're gonna pick your men up, that's the place to do it.
Try to nail them while they're setting the mark.
Yeah, it might work.
It'd be better if one of us was the mark, though.
That's what I had in mind.
You got any good luggage, Joe?
Expensive looking?
Well, I got a set my mother gave me last Christmas.
Looks pretty good to me.
Well, try it then.
Smith, you'll work with DeBette.
Keep a tail on Friday from the time he gets into Union Depot.
Joe.
Yeah?
Here's the timetable.
What?
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The following morning, Thursday, August 12th, I drove out to Pasadena.
At 812 a.m., I caught the train on its last stop before it reached the Union Depot in
Los Angeles.
At 845 a.m., the train pulled into the station.
I got off, walked up the ramp into the terminal.
From there, I walked over to the coffee shop and waited for over an hour.
Where I sat, I could see Frank and Sergeant John DeBetta further down the counter.
At the end of the hour, no attempt had been made to approach me and we called off the
operation for the day.
While I was in the coffee shop, I watched for anybody matching the description of the
suspect Bush, but if he was there, we didn't see him.
The operation was staged again for the next two days without results.
On Sunday, August 15th, I went through the same procedure.
After the waitress brought my coffee, I waited.
9.02 a.m.
Mind if I sit down here?
No, go right ahead.
Here, I'll move my coat.
I'll get it for you.
You're not going to need an overcoat out here.
Sure is hot.
Yeah, I guess so.
This is my first trip.
I thought I'd bring one with me anyway.
California weather, you know.
Yeah, you never know.
Where are you from?
Chicago.
Where, take the chief in?
Yeah.
Just thought I'd have a cup of coffee before I start out to find a hotel.
Yeah, guess I ought to introduce myself.
I'm Gabriel Bush.
My friends call me Gabe.
Well, my name's Friday.
Did you just get into?
Yeah.
I work for a wholesale liquor company in Chicago.
It's a small world.
Where are your offices?
On State Street.
I'm in real trouble with our West Coast office, so the boss sent me out to see if I can straighten
it out.
What are you doing here?
Oh, just kind of business and pleasure.
Mm-hmm.
What line you're in?
Machine tools.
How long are you going to be in town?
Well, as a matter of fact, I'm leaving Tuesday.
That doesn't give you a lot of time here.
You know anybody in town?
No, sir, I don't.
Not a soul.
Where'd you say you're staying?
Well, I'm not staying any place.
I haven't got a place yet.
Thought I'd go over to the Statler.
Oh, you're not going to get in there.
As a matter of fact, you're going to have a rough time getting in any place.
Oh, is that so?
Well, I was at a big convention in town, no rooms to be had.
I made my reservation a couple of weeks ago, and the office out here took care of it.
I didn't know it would be that crowded.
I'll tell you what.
Yeah?
Come on over to my hotel.
You can park your luggage there, and I'll get in touch with a couple of friends here
and see what they can do.
Well, that's sure nice of you, but I don't want you to go to a lot of trouble.
I'll find a place somewhere.
There's no trouble at all.
Can't let a fellow Chicagoan stand out in the cold.
I'm sure the boys can find you a place.
Now, you know, I sure appreciate all this.
I don't think anything about it.
Who knows?
Maybe you'll be able to do something for me someday.
Yeah, maybe I can.
We walked out of the terminal and we got into a cab.
I could see Frank and DeBetta following us.
The address Bush gave the cab driver was out on Wilshire.
We pulled up in front of the place we went in.
The suspect signed the registration card and we went upstairs.
All the time he kept up a running conversation about how difficult it was to get a hotel
room.
The bellboy left our bags in the room and asked us if we wanted them opened.
Bush made it apparent to both the boy and to me that he was the only one who was going
to open his own suitcase.
After the bellboy left the room, Bush laid his bag on the bed and snapped it open.
He took out a small leather case, trying to keep me from seeing it and at the same time
making sure that I did.
He went into the bathroom and after about two minutes he came out.
He'd taken off his coat and his left shirt sleeve was rolled back.
He had a small piece of cotton on his arm.
I feel a lot better now.
What's the matter?
Something wrong?
Oh, no, nothing at all.
You see, I'm a diabetic.
I have to take insulin shots every so often.
Oh, that's too bad.
I'll get this back in my suitcase and we can start looking for a room for you.
That's nice of you.
Oh, here, let me give you a hand.
I'll help you pick it up.
Oh, no, it's all right.
Don't worry about it.
I can get it.
I'll be here in just a minute.
I guess this spoon's part of it, isn't it?
Oh, yeah.
I didn't know you used a spoon for insulin.
I'll get it.
Wait a minute.
Let me put this stuff away.
Well, I'll open the door and see who it is anyway, huh?
Yeah, what do you want?
Police officers.
You're under arrest.
What for?
Narcotics.
What are you doing breaking in here like this?
You got no right coming in a room like this.
I'd knock it off, Bush.
We've been after you for a long time, we finally nailed you, not all ball about it.
This other fella a cop, too?
Yeah, this is my partner, Roger Silvey.
Now, listen, I had no part in this.
I just met this guy.
If you want him, OK, but don't tie me in with him, please.
Too bad, mister.
Get your coat.
And where are we going?
Downtown.
We gotta book you.
But I had no part in this.
I tell you, I just met the guy just this morning down at the depot.
I just met him.
I'm not mixed up on anything.
My company finds out about this.
It's gonna cost me my job.
Now, you guys gotta give me a break, please.
You should have thought of that before, mister.
A little late now.
Yeah, but if my boss hears about this, he's gonna kill me.
Come on, why don't you give the guy a break?
He's telling the truth.
I just met him.
He's got no piece of the action.
That's rough.
Maybe next time he'd be more careful of who he bums around with.
Let's go.
Oh, please, give him a break.
You guys are all alike.
You cry when you get tagged.
Yeah, but this isn't right.
Let's go.
We're taking you in.
What's the chart?
We'll tell you in jail.
The two men had shown us badges when they came in, but they'd flashed them by so fast,
there was no way of taking a good look at them.
They made Bush and I get our things together, and then they took us downstairs.
As we walked through the lobby, I nodded to Frank and Johnny DeBetta.
They followed us at a distance.
The plan was that I'd get in the car with the suspects and then give them the money.
After that, they'd be taken into custody.
Until they'd actually taken the money, all we could prosecute them on was the charge
of impersonating an officer.
Once the currency was in their possession, we could prove extortion, a felony.
After we left the hotel, we walked up Wilshire Boulevard and we stopped by a gray Chevrolet.
All right, get in.
Is this a police car?
That's right.
I'll take this one in front with me.
All right, get in.
You're making a mistake.
Well, let the judge worry about that.
I'll call in and tell them we're coming in.
Right.
This is car 12-7, car 12-7.
We have two prisoners in custody.
We're taking them downtown for booking.
Repeat, we have two prisoners in custody.
We're taking them downtown for booking.
All right, just sit back, mister.
You got a long ride.
What are they gonna do to me?
We just booked you after that.
It's up to the court.
Yeah, but they're gonna let me go, aren't they?
I don't know.
I got a big drive on now about narcotics.
Court's getting pretty rough.
I had a guy up just last week.
They caught him in a car with another fellow who was smoking marijuana.
This one guy didn't even know it was tea.
They really nailed him.
Hey, how long did they give Jansen?
You mean on that tea wrap last week?
Yeah, five years.
Well, you see, they're really getting rough.
Yeah, but you know I didn't have anything to do with this.
You said that yourself.
You know that.
Listen, isn't there some way?
There's gotta be a way.
I don't know.
We don't like to see guys like you nailed, but the pressure's on us, too.
We'd like to just let you out of the car, forget we ever saw you.
We can't do it.
Why not?
Why can't you?
Too many people know we picked you up.
Well, who?
Who knows it?
Well, our office, for one.
Soon as we spotted you and Bush at the hotel, we called them.
Told them we were gonna take you into custody.
My partner just called in and told them we had you.
People on the radio know it.
Must be a couple of dozen.
I'm sorry.
There's nothing we can do.
I'm sorry.
It's a lousy deal.
It's gonna ruin me.
You guys know that.
I'll lose my job.
I'll be through.
I don't know.
We'd like to help you out, but you can see there just isn't any way.
But there's gotta be.
Shelby?
Yeah?
How about it?
Can't we just let him out?
You tell me how we're gonna get away with it.
How are we gonna explain when he isn't there to be booked?
Oh, look, he's a nice guy.
I don't want to see him get into trouble for something he didn't do.
Neither do I, but how do you figure to square it?
You're bright, Cots.
Come on, give the guy a break.
Suppose we could take care of the warts, Commander.
Maybe he'd forget we called in.
Taking care of him is expensive.
Yeah.
How much money you got on you?
Well, about $2,500.
That's not too much.
Can you raise any more?
No, not without sending home.
I can't do that.
How about it, Sylvie?
$2,500 enough?
Won't go very far.
A lot of people to take care of.
That's all he's got.
Ain't enough.
Let's book him.
Oh, come on.
We've been riding together a long time, Sylvie.
This is the loziest deal we've ever had to pull.
If we take the $2,500 and explain it to the Commander, it'll work.
Come on, let's give the guy a chance.
If it goes wrong, it's on your neck.
All right, all right.
I'll take the beef.
Okay, shove him out.
We've got to take Bush in, though.
All right.
Come on, give me the money.
Sure.
Here you are.
It's all there.
Okay.
Sylvie?
Pull over.
Let's let him out.
Where are we?
Fourth and Spring.
Would you mind dropping me off a couple of blocks up the street?
This isn't a taxi service, mister.
You're coming out of this smelling like a rose.
Don't press your luck.
Just a couple of blocks up there near First.
What's over there?
City Hall.
You're under arrest.
The three men were taken into custody and then the Mark money was booked as evidence.
We got in touch with the victim, Martin Dietrich, and asked him to come down to the City Hall
and give us an identification.
He looked at the suspects and then stated positively that they were the men who'd shaken
him down.
That's them.
He'll sign a complaint?
You bet I will.
I want to see him get there.
Oh, it's all a beef, a little con game, that's all.
So we took the mark.
Shut up, Lang.
I've still got to prove it.
That ain't going to be hard with the help your friend Gabe handed out to them.
Imagine being so dumb you pick a cop as a mark.
You know, both of you went along with it.
Oh, you're dumb, Gabe.
Face it.
All right, let's go.
Come on, mister.
Don't give me no orders, cop.
You got me in custody, that's enough.
Now don't order me around.
I'll go when I'm ready.
Come on, Lang.
Hey, you know something, cop?
I think I play the part better than you do.
Now I'm going to tell you something, mister.
I want you to remember it.
As a con man, you're a flop.
You wouldn't know a mark if he came up and hit you right in the mouth.
Besides being bad at that, you're a liar.
The worst kind of liar.
You go around telling people that you're a cop.
You flash a tin badge and write off, you're the law.
You don't care what you do or who you hurt.
I've been in this business a long time.
I've seen a lot of five tens come across the desk here.
Guys who take old women cheap crumbs with a handkerchief switch and the smack game.
But at least they don't try to hide behind a phony badge.
We don't know how many people you pull this cheap deal on, but we're going to find out.
We'll get every name there is and then we'll make you on all of them.
I live in this town.
I work here and I like it.
There are 4,500 men in this city who feel the same way, all cops.
Men are trying to prove that the law is here to protect people, not to cut them down.
They spend every day of the year making up a good score and you come along and tilt
it.
Every one of those people you hit thinks he's been taken by a cop now.
A cop whose hand was reaching for money that wasn't his.
You keep wearing that grin, Lang.
See if you can still make it when we turn the key on you.
Now let's go.
You want to take him outside, Frank?
I'll be right with you.
Yeah, come on.
That all you need me for?
Yeah, Martin, we'll be in touch with you.
Right.
Too bad about all this, isn't it?
Yeah.
Those people that bunch took, they're always going to think those guys were real cops.
Yeah, that's right.
They were going to know.
Of course, you can't blame them, not really.
Look how they got to me.
I guess there just ain't any way to tell.
If a guy flashes a badge, you know, how are you going to tell?
Yeah, there's one way.
How are you going to know he's a fake?
When he asks you for money.
The story you have just heard is true.
The names were changed to protect the innocent.
On December 17th, trial was held in Department 92, Superior Court of the State of California
in and for the County of Los Angeles.
In a moment, the results of that trial.
Now here is our star, Jack Webb.
Thank you, George Fenomen.
Friends, we'd like to express our appreciation to all of you who made our dragnet theme song
so popular.
Whenever or wherever you hear it, we hope it'll remind you to try our Chesterfields,
to join the thousands who are changing to Chesterfields and getting the one cigarette
that's low in nicotine, highest in quality.
Chesterfield, best for me, best for you.
Gerald Richard Lang, Richard Harris Silbey, and Gabriel Norris Bush were tried and convicted
of violation of Section 518 P.C. extortion.
They received sentences prescribed by law.
Violation of Section 518 P.C. is punishable by imprisonment in the State Penitentiary
for a period of not less than one, nor more than ten 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.
Technical advisors, Captain Jack Donahoe, Sergeant Marty Wins, Sergeant France Brasher.
Heard tonight were Ben Alexander, Vic Perrin, Herb Ellis, Paul Richards.
Script by John Robinson.
Music by Walter Schuman.
Hal Gibney speaking.
Watch an entirely new dragnet case history each week on your local NBC television station.
Please check your newspapers for the day and time.
This has brought you dragnet transcribed from Los Angeles.
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