Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to hear is true.
The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Tragmint.
You're a detective sergeant.
You're assigned the burglary detail.
A jewelry store has been robbed.
This amounting to $5,000 has been stolen.
The thief made good his escape.
Your job, find him.
Tragmint.
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 Sunday, September 8th.
It was warm in Los Angeles.
We were working the day watch out of burglary detail.
My partner is Frank Smith, the boss of Chief of Detectives Thad Brown.
My name is Friday.
We're on our way out to the scene and it was 10.18 a.m. when we got to 6247 28th Street,
the jewelry store.
I'll be right there.
Yes, sir.
It's not a very big place.
Probably more room behind that partition there.
I'm coming.
You're the police?
Yes, sir, that's right.
This is my partner, Frank Smith.
My name's Friday.
I'm glad to meet you.
Hi, Aido, sir.
My name's Hemp, Ray Hemp.
This is my store.
Yes, sir.
Sorry I kept you waiting.
I was back in the kitchen making some tea.
I was a little nervous, you know.
I thought it might help.
You gentlemen care for some?
No, sir.
No, thanks, sir.
When did you discover the theft?
Well, I got back to the store about 40 minutes ago.
Saw what had happened and I called the police right away.
I'm sorry.
About 40 minutes ago, saw what had happened and I called the police right away.
Is everything like you found it?
Yes, sir.
Are these cases open?
That's right.
I haven't touched anything in here.
Didn't want a chance messing anything up.
Yes, sir.
Didn't leave very much, huh?
A couple of watch bands is about all.
Really cleaned out the place.
Now, about the watches, what kind were they?
Mostly wrist models.
A couple of pocket size.
All different brands, but I just got a bunch of long jeans in.
Took every one of them.
Yes, sir.
Cleaned me out.
Can you tell us how they got into the store?
Yes.
I'll show you how they chopped a hole right through the wall.
All right, sir.
Right through the wall.
In the back.
Came right through.
You can see there.
Goes right into the store room of the barbershop next door.
Sure made a mess of the place.
Plaster all over the floor.
Yes, sir.
Pretty much ruined the wall, too.
Yeah.
Wanted to make sure they'd have enough room.
See, the hole must be about three feet across, Joe.
You can see there.
Right into the store room.
Yes, sir.
Better check over there, huh?
Oh, I forgot to tell you.
The back door to the barbershop is open.
Before you officers arrived, I checked out in the alley and I saw it wide open.
I guess that's how they got in.
Who owns the barbershop, Mr. Hemp?
Ed Justin.
Had the place over 15 years.
You know where he lives?
Yes.
He isn't home, though.
As soon as I saw that hole, I tried to call him.
You can give us his address and phone number, can you?
Yes.
We'll want to talk to him.
I've got one of his cars up front.
All right, sir.
We'll check next door.
Look at that hole.
Must be a good three feet across, wouldn't you say?
Yes, sir.
Here.
Let me get that door for you.
Look at that.
What's that?
The size of that door.
Heavy, double locked.
Burglar alarm system out in front.
On the skylight up there.
Doesn't stop him.
Yes, sir.
Well, we'll check next door.
He seems like kind of a nice little guy, huh?
Yeah.
I wonder why the thief didn't close the door when he finished.
Probably nothing left to steal.
Yeah.
Take a look at the door here.
Doesn't look like it was forced.
Justin might have left it unlocked.
They sure made a mess in here, too.
Yeah, looks like they had a head start.
Perfect.
The place must use a lot of hair oil.
Yeah, only that's liquid soap there.
Oh, yeah.
Doesn't look like there's any tools around.
No.
How you doing?
Take a look.
Want me to find something?
Come here.
What?
In the dust here, can you see it?
Yeah.
Impressions?
Huh.
Looks like a stocking foot, huh?
Yeah.
That guy must have worked with his shoes off.
That's the way I'd call it.
You notice right here, right in the middle of the print, the stains?
Yeah, looks like it could be blood.
Possibly meant to cut his foot, would you think?
Uh-huh.
Well, let's call the crime lab, have them send a crew out to go over both places.
Yeah.
Joe?
Yeah?
Take a look at the skylight up there.
Uh-huh.
It's broken.
You better check the roof, huh?
All right.
Sure looks like hair, Tony.
Yeah, it's green.
Yeah.
There's the drain pipe there.
Might have used that to get up.
We'll let the crew check it.
Let's go back in.
Yeah.
Mr. Ham?
Yes?
Find out anything?
Well, we're not sure yet, sir.
I wonder if you could tell us, is there some way to get to the roof of the building here?
Oh, yes, yes.
Come on, I'll show you.
There, there.
You see, up in the corner, trapped door.
Uh-huh.
Hinged.
Swings right up.
Been a while since I've used it.
You have something we can use to get up there?
Uh-huh.
I've got a ladder, I'll get it.
All right, sir.
Want me to give you a hand with that?
Oh, I can get it.
All right.
Here, you better let me help you with that.
I'll swing my hand over and you can walk it right up under the trapped door.
All right, careful now.
All right.
How's that?
That's fine, I'll get it.
I'm going to steady the ladder, Frank.
Yeah.
Can you get it?
No, this bolt's stuck, just a minute.
It's probably rusty.
I told you I didn't use it very often.
Yes, sir.
Okay, that's got it.
Good.
Okay, now hang on, will you, while I boost myself up.
I got it.
Okay.
All right, you want to come up, Frank?
Yeah.
All right, let me give you a hand.
Yeah.
Wait till I get my foot on the ledge.
All right, come on.
Oh, okay.
You've got to lose some weight.
Let's take a look at that skyline, huh?
Yeah.
I'm glad we didn't hit this tire rough at noon.
It was still pretty warm.
You can see all the hamp's place through this one.
Mm-hmm.
Good spot to case it from, isn't it?
Yeah.
Let's check that broken skyline.
Yeah.
Take a look.
Yeah, more smears.
Not much doubt about these.
Looks like blood all right, doesn't it?
Yeah.
Maybe they did case the stores from here.
Uh-huh.
Could have cut his foot on a piece of glass, couldn't he?
Hmm, figures.
Still not much to go on.
No.
It would take a pretty big cut to make these smears.
Well, that would be something in our favor.
How do you mean?
It won't heal overnight.
The crime lab crew arrived and started their investigation.
Photographs were taken of the interiors of both stores,
and samples of the plaster and lath materials were held as evidence.
Layton fingerprints went over both the jewelry store and the barber shop.
Frank and I checked with the people in the neighborhood,
but none of them could recall seeing any automobiles
or strangers loitering in the vicinity.
At 7.20 p.m., the barber, Ed Justin, returned.
We questioned him.
He said he didn't recall locking the back door to the shop,
and he said it was more than possible that he did leave it open.
We got a complete list of the stolen merchandise from Rayhemp,
along with the case and movement numbers of the watches.
These were distributed to pawn shops throughout the city.
Frank and I went back to the city hall
and had the stats office start a run on the M.O. used in the burglary.
9.47 p.m., Lieutenant Lee Jones from the crime lab called
to say that they'd finished their examination of the physical evidence.
He told us that the stains we'd found were blood
and that he'd have the grouping test finished for us in the morning.
He wanted to say that the suspect should have particles of plaster dust
and other debris in his clothing.
Also, if we were able to find the socks that the thief had worn,
the pattern of the material would identify them.
At 10.15 p.m., Frank and I finished the log
and we checked out of the office.
The next morning, we started to run down the list
that the stats office had furnished us.
It took two full days to question all of the men named.
At the end of that time, we had what we'd started with, nothing.
We talked to informants. None of them could tell us anything.
Wednesday, 11.40 a.m., Frank and I checked into the office.
Let's have a check of the book, huh? Yeah.
What do you got?
We got a call from Luccarelli over at Narcotics. Yeah?
He says they picked up a guy this morning.
Luke talked to him and figured maybe we'd want to see him.
He say why? No, he didn't spell it out.
He saw our teletype on the jewelry store thing. Yeah.
It's about some watches.
We put in a call to Sergeant Roxy Luccarelli at Narcotics Division.
Five minutes later, the suspect was brought to our office.
He was identified as Frederick Gabriel Garth.
He had a record listing several arrests for burglary and narcotics.
He was put one term at the county jail on the narcotics charge.
He was brought into the interrogation room where Frank and I questioned him.
What are you giving me trouble for? I'm clean. They found nothing on me.
Is that so? Sure. The marks are old.
Been a long time since I had a fix. Ah.
Well, what do you want from me? Information. On what?
You've been around a while, haven't you, Garth?
Sure. I'm a native son. And you must have a lot of friends.
A couple. Any of them selling wristwatches?
What do you mean?
Well, you don't need a drawing for this now.
Any of your friends selling watches cheap? No.
You sure about that? What are you trying to build?
I don't know why it came to us. You can steer us to a cheap watch.
Well, you got it all wrong. I don't even own a watch.
If I could buy one cheap, I'd have one. Is that right?
Well, sure. I always wanted a good one.
You know anybody who can lead us to a good buy?
Well, what's in it for me? What do you got now?
Nothing. Well, you're going to leave the same way.
No reason for me to give you a hand, then, is there?
Then put it down that we're going to have you in here again.
The way you act now will go on the books.
How about it, Garth? Who's going to know?
You, Smith, and me. For real?
Won't do us any good to spread it around town, will it?
Okay. I met a guy last night, showed him your watch he bought for five dollars.
What did it look like? Gold. Pretty good watch.
Is this fellow a friend of yours? I know him, that's all.
You got a name? Yeah, Victor Gordon.
Where did you see him? Hot Dog Stand.
Where's that? Out on Western.
Western's a long street.
Corner St. Andrews.
What does Gordon do for a living?
I don't know. I just see him around the Hot Dog Stand once in a while.
You live around there? Yeah, I got a room there, 39th and Western.
I don't know the number. It's a big green place.
Got those kind of plastic shingles on the roof. Red ones.
You show it to us?
Yeah, a friend of mine has a car. We drove him home a couple of times.
Did you get a good look at the watch last night? Yeah.
What kind was it? Longing.
You're pretty sure about that, are you? Sure. I looked at it pretty good.
He took it off his wrist, asked me if I thought it was worth five bucks.
Well, I told him it was. At least I'd pay that for it. It was a real beauty.
Can you give us the description of this Gordon fellow?
Yeah. We want you to show us where he lives.
Well, I've ridden this far. No reason to get off now.
You got any more on him? You're going to find out anyway.
This Gordon? He's an ex-convict.
We checked the name and description of Victor Gordon through R&I.
We found that he'd served one term for armed robbery in an Eastern penitentiary
and was not on parole at the time.
A check of the ex-convict registration gave us his present address.
We also found that he was employed at the Belden Aircraft Corporation in San Fernando.
We took Fred Garth out to the address on Western Avenue to verify it for us.
They pointed out the house and asked that we drop him off near a street car line.
After that, Frank and I returned to the rooming house and we went up to the third floor.
We knocked on the door to Gordon's room and he asked us in.
I know what you're climbing on me for. A while of questions.
You ask them to get answers, don't you? We'd like a few.
Look, you tell me what all this is about and maybe it'll shake up my memory.
All right, the way we heard it, you were wearing a new watch last night.
Well, you got it wrong. Is that so?
Yeah, I haven't got a watch. We got it different.
Look here, you see one? If I had a watch, you'd be wearing it, wouldn't I?
You had one last night, Mr.
Oh, you're crazy. I haven't got a watch.
We are different. Somebody lied to you. I showed you I'm not wearing one.
You don't mind if we look around the place.
Go ahead. You won't find anything.
All right.
I'll check the closet.
Okay.
You're wasting your time. You're not going to find anything.
Well, then you haven't got anything to worry about, have you?
Go ahead and mess up my room. Tear it apart. You're not going to find anything.
Why don't you just simmer down there?
I just don't want to have to put all that stuff back.
Go. Yeah.
What do you got?
Take a look. I found one of the shoes there.
38 Colt.
Yeah.
How about it? You satisfied now?
This gun yours, Gordon?
Never saw it before.
Found it in your closet.
It isn't mine.
It won't hold.
You want to tell us about it?
All right. So you found a gun. Is something wrong?
You got a short memory, haven't you?
Maybe I got it wrong. I thought you guys were looking for a watch.
There's a law that says an ex-con can't have a gun. You want to know that?
How about it, Gordon?
All right. Get your coat.
Can I take me downtown?
You called it.
What charge?
We'll let you know when we write it up.
It's a bad beef.
Oh, yeah. Sure.
Well, it is. I don't know what you're after, but I had no piece of it.
You want to get the watch?
It's in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom.
All right. You sit the bill. I'll get it.
I bought it. I paid five bucks.
We'll get to that.
How about it, Joe?
Yeah.
You got a pen, then?
Yeah. Give it here all over.
All right. You want to give me the number?
I'll check it against the list.
Yeah.
Wait a minute.
It's kind of hard to see.
One, six, seven, five, eight.
I think the next one's a nine.
Let me see that.
Yeah, that's a nine.
Is it on the list?
Wait a minute.
Look, I didn't steal it. I was wrong about the gun, but I didn't steal the watch.
Look, just sit still.
How about it?
No, it's not here.
Wait a minute. Try the other side.
Gordon, you're in trouble.
Yeah, I know. The gun.
No, that's only half of it, this watch.
Yeah?
It's listed as stolen.
You are listening to Dragnet, the authentic story of your police force in action.
The suspect was taken downtown and questioned.
He continued to deny any part in the theft.
We put in a call to the place where he worked and we verified that he'd been there on the night of the burglary.
After a half hour of questioning, Victor Gordon told us about the man he'd bought the watch from.
He said he didn't know his full name, but he knew him only as Kermit.
He went on to say that his girlfriend had been with him when he bought the watch and could verify the story.
We contacted the girl, Celia Kirk, and we talked to her.
She told us the same story we'd gotten from Gordon.
She volunteered the information that Kermit lived in the 3800 block on Gramercy Place.
She also told us that his girlfriend lived in the 2900 block on Ninth Avenue.
We got a complete description of the man and we checked it through R&I.
We came up with a package for a Kermit J. Wayne.
When the mugshot was shown to Gordon and Celia Kirk, we got a positive identification.
Wayne's arrest record went back to the time he was 15.
He was listed as an expert safe burger and had used a tunneling M.O. on several occasions.
Gordon was booked in at the main jail on a charge of violation of the dangerous weapons control law of 1923, section two.
5.40 p.m. Frank and I left the office and drove out to the address on Gramercy Place.
Wayne lived on the second floor rear. He wasn't there.
In the company of the landlord, we went through his room.
Pretty dirty.
I'm going to check the dresser. I'll get the trunk.
Yeah.
Hey, Joe, look. I guess everybody's got this calendar, huh?
Yeah, it's real popular.
Good.
Hey, look at this.
Should I turn something?
Yeah, a drawer full of dirty T-shirts.
You've got to put them someplace.
I have gloves for this job.
How are you doing with the trunk?
There's nothing much in it.
More of those calendars.
Wayne must be a fine arts patron.
Dirty shirts and this one.
I don't know, maybe the guy hasn't heard of laundry. What do you think?
No.
Well, the trunk checks out.
Well, how do you like that? I should have known.
Dirty socks, old drawer full of them.
Well, he's neat anyhow.
Huh?
I'll check the closet.
A lot of hangers, not many clothes.
Maybe the guy's broke, but that's no reason to be so dirty.
How about that bundle there?
I haven't looked at it yet.
It might be his clean shirt.
No, a pair of pants.
Figures. They're dirty too.
Put them in the pocket here.
A pair of socks.
That makes you wrong.
If he was so neat, they'd be with the others.
Maybe he had a reason for keeping them here.
Why?
Take a look.
He had a reason.
Blood on this one.
We checked out the rest of the laundry.
We checked out the rest of Wayne's room, but we turned up nothing to further tie him in with a burglary.
We got a description of his car from the landlord, and before we left, we made arrangements for a stakeout to be set up on his room.
We took the pair of pants and the blood-stained socks down to the crime lab for examination.
8.20 p.m.
Frank and I drove over to 9th Street to try to find Kermit Wayne's girlfriend.
We checked the 2900 block and we found a car that matched the description of the one owned by the suspect.
We checked the white slip and found the car was registered to Wayne.
Frank pulled two of the leads to the spark plugs and we went back to our car to wait for Wayne to show up.
The night dragged on.
4.29 a.m.
It's been almost eight hours, huh?
Yeah.
At least something had happened, don't you?
Go down with you.
Joe?
Roof?
You ever notice around the city all the clocks that are stopped?
No, I can't say that I have.
You know, on business places, storefronts, walls, all over.
Well, what brought that on?
Oh, I was just thinking a little while ago.
You know, some smart fellow, they've got a lot of work fixing them.
All the clocks don't run.
Mm-hmm.
They're only right two times a day.
What?
Clocks that are broke.
And if it's twice a day, they're right.
How'd you like to be right only twice a day?
Some fellows would be all right.
Like who?
Guys that bet on the horses.
Oh, yeah, probably would have never thought of that.
Wouldn't be so good if you worked in a chicken hatchery, though.
Where?
Chicken hatchery.
What do you mean?
Well, those guys up there, they look at baby chicks their day or so old,
and they tell what they're going to be.
You know, men and women.
What?
Whether they're going to be roosters or hens.
Oh, yeah.
Pretty good money in it.
Well, that's a new one on me.
Yeah, but you've got to be right.
None of this twice a day stuff.
You know, say a guy about a hundred little baby chicks
expecting to get, you know, 98 hens and two roosters.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, finds out he got just the opposite, 98 roosters and two hens.
How do you think you'd feel?
Disappointed?
You bet he wouldn't.
That guy would be looking for a new job, too.
Well, maybe he could fix those clocks, huh?
Well, sure would be a lot of money in it for somebody, huh?
Across the street?
Yeah.
I see him.
Talking to somebody inside there.
I can't see him too good.
About the right height, though.
Yeah, he's coming this way now.
Notice the walk?
Checks out all the way.
Yeah.
That's him.
All right, wait till he gets in the car.
Yeah, let's go.
All right.
Hey.
Hey, fella.
You Kermit Wayne?
Hey, what is this?
Police officers.
Are you Kermit Wayne?
Yeah, why?
Get out of the car.
Come on.
Keep those hands where you can see them.
Why do you want to talk to me?
Come on, get out.
Just put it down the way you walk, huh?
This don't make sense.
What do you mean?
You're limp.
The suspect was taken down at Georgia Street Receiving Hospital.
An examination showed that he had a bad cut on his right foot.
We contacted the office and another team of men were sent out to the apartment of Wayne's girlfriend to go over the place.
Frank and I took the suspect back to the office, 8.25 a.m.
No guess we can expect much from Wayne's girlfriend if she's anything like him.
No, he's a clam, that's for sure.
We're going to need something strong to open him up.
Righty?
Yeah, Mac.
How'd you do out there?
Maybe we got something for you.
Yeah?
Where is the guy?
The next office.
Here.
You taking a trip, Mac?
Uh-uh.
Suitcases for you.
Watches, rings.
Huh.
Wayne's girlfriend didn't know it, but she was in the jewelry business.
Look at this.
All long jeans.
How about serial numbers?
Haven't checked them yet.
As soon as we found this, we came right over.
All right.
Well, then, do you have any trouble?
No, really.
She was pretty cooperative.
Didn't see what was going on.
Uh-huh.
We told her Wayne was in custody, gave her a big story.
Tells easier than it was.
How'd you locate the stuff?
When we told her about Wayne, she remembered the suitcase he wanted her to keep for him.
Uh-huh.
He told her it was some war souvenirs.
Didn't like to leave them in his room.
Uh-huh.
Real surprised when she saw the contents.
Then she got mad.
Said he'd always promised to buy her a good watch.
Never had.
Well, she can start looking for a new Santa Claus, huh?
Yeah.
Wayne won't be shopping for some time.
We checked the serial numbers on the watches, and we found that they were the ones taken
in the burglary of the jewelry store.
All of the other merchandise matched the description that we'd gotten from Ray Hemp.
918 A.M.
All right, you want to tell us how you cut your foot?
I'm giving you nothing.
You did it on the skylight over the barbershop, didn't you?
You tell me. I don't know.
Maybe I cut it at the beach.
We don't think so.
I want to see a lawyer. I'll talk to him, but I got nothing for you guys.
All right, we got something here we want you to see, Wayne.
How about it, Wayne?
Look familiar?
Oh, you kidding?
Bunch of watches. I seen watches before. Who hasn't?
Well, these are a little different.
Look at the suitcase.
Is that ringing any bells?
Don't mean nothing to me. You guys are trying to trap me.
I know how you are.
Won't work this time.
I learned all about you cops a long time ago.
I get it.
Burglary Friday.
Yeah, Ray.
Hmm?
Both of them, huh?
Oh, good.
Okay. We'll check with you.
Want to give us a story now, Wayne?
I'll talk to a lawyer.
That phone call there.
It just called the third strike on you, mister.
You're in more blood.
All right, I'll give it to you straight.
When you went into that jewelry store, you cut your foot.
You left blood smears all over the place.
You got to stay away from comic books.
We got pictures of the smears.
Our crime lab matched them up with a pair of socks that we found in your room.
The pants we found are loaded with debris that you picked up when you went through that wall.
Now we can prove it came from the same place.
Sound like we're bluffing?
You want to tell us about it now?
Don't think you're so smart, you ain't.
You just got the brakes. That's all. Just the brakes.
That's all.
Yeah, your cops ain't smart. I learned it real young.
Once in a while, the brakes fall on your side.
Something else you should have learned real young.
You wouldn't be worrying about the brakes now.
What, sir?
The Eighth Commandment.
The story you've just heard is true.
The names were changed to protect the innocent.
Kermit J. Wayne was tried and convicted of burglary in the first degree.
Victor Cavell Gordon was found guilty of violation of the Dangerous Weapons Control Act
and received sentence as prescribed by law.
Burglary in the first degree is punishable by imprisonment in the state penitentiary
for a period of not less than five years.
Violation of the Dangerous Weapons Control Act is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail
for a period of not more than one year, or a fine of $500, or both such fine and imprisonment.
You have just heard Dragnet, the authentic story of your police force in action
and starring Jack Webb, a presentation of the United States Armed Forces Radio Service.