 The story you're about to hear is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned a burglary detail. A dozen churches in your city are victimized by a team of experienced safe burglars. You track the suspects for weeks. You finally apprehend three men. Your job? Convict them. 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. This Sunday, March 5th, was cloudy in Los Angeles. We were working a day watch out of burglary detail. My partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Captain Wisdom. My name's Friday. I was on the way back from the record bureau, and it was 11.30 p.m. when I got to room 25A. The interrogation room. Excuse me, Ben? Yeah, Joe? Got a minute? Yeah, sure. Wait here, Bryson. Yeah? Let's go out in the hall. How are you doing with Bryson? Are you telling anyone? No, he wasn't medicine. How about the other two months? No, nothing. They're sitting tight, waiting for their lawyer to show up. Had all three of them checked through R&I. Bryson's a two-time loser. They're a three-GTA. His two partners serve time for robbery. We shouldn't have too much trouble putting them away. We've got a good enough collection of physical evidence. Well, maybe. Heard from the crime lab? No, that's yeah. I'd feel a lot better about it if we'd get Bryson the cop out. Let's call him again. That's all right, Joe. Nothing to lose. Go ahead. Keep it safe, Bryson. Got a few more questions for you. Excuse me. I thought you had it all squared away by now. I thought you were going to sack and leave by now. Well, afraid not, Bryson. You haven't even given us a story yet. I told you I didn't have anything to do with it. It seems pretty obvious I didn't. I thought you'd take my word for it. Do you think of any reason why we shared? You lied to us once already, didn't you? I didn't lie to you. I told you the truth. I didn't break into that church. I didn't have anything to do with it. When we were in here, we asked you if you'd ever been arrested before, and you told us no. I reckon you're a two-time loser. Well, I'm sorry about that, Sergeant. I really am. When you picked me up, I guess I got a little nervous. Yeah, I didn't mean to lie to you. I was just a little mixed up, I guess. You had a little time to settle down. You ought to be able to tell us your story now. Just relax and take your time, huh? Right. Well, what did the other two fellas tell you? Well, what difference did that make to you? Well, it might make a lot of difference, sir. No, you just tell us your story. That's all we ask. What were you doing at the scene of the burglary? What business did you have there? You weren't mixed up, and you got nothing to hide. I haven't got anything to hide. I just don't want to involve a lot of innocent people. Anything you tell us is going to help you, you know that? All right, Sergeant. Strictly confidential, huh? Well, one of those other fellas you picked up tonight, the dark-headed fellow, his amazing miller, Tony Miller, he's engaged in marrying my sister. No, thank you. Well, please, give me a chance. I'd like to lay it all out. Go ahead. Well, ever since my sister got engaged, I've been worried about it. I never liked him to begin with. Likely, I've been keeping an eye on Miller, him and that friend to his end of school. I knew they were up to something, and then I read in the paper about that string of church burglaries that guy's breaking into churches, noting it to say. Well, I had an idea of the miller and his friend. How do you mean, boy? I couldn't make you make it with them. I had an idea. That's all. I couldn't prove anything. It was just a hunch. You must have had some reason to expect this. Nothing definite? No. I just knew something was wrong that they were up to something. Well, then, earlier than that, I saw a friend of Tony Miller. They were on the bars in my neighborhood. I talked to him awhile, and finally told me that Miller and Henderson were out working a deal. Said they were going to break into a church over on 8th Street and knock over the city. Well, how come this friend of Miller is like you were on it? Oh, I guess he thought I was a pretty close friend of Tony's. He knew Tony was going to marry my sister. Anyway, when I found out about it, I got over to that church as fast as I could. I wanted to find Miller and Henderson and try and talk him out of it. I didn't want any guy who was going to marry my sister getting in that trouble like that. You know, maybe going to jail for burglaries. No, Miller's been in jail before. I suppose you knew that. Yeah, I knew it, but that was before he was engaged to my sister. You met Miller and Henderson. Not sad to church date? No, I was too late. They'd already broken into a place. I went around the back of the church, and I saw one of the stained glass windows was broken when they'd gotten in. I climbed up on the sill, and I could see him working inside. Some kind of a small back room. They work on the safe both on Miller and Henderson. What'd you do there? Well, I tried to talk him out of it, but they wouldn't listen. I suppose you can prove your story. I mean, that friend you met in the bar, the one who picked you up about the burglar, and you knew it on the back of his story. Well, I'm not sure, Sergeant. He might lie. He might not want to get involved. How about Miller and Henderson? I'd back you up. Well, if you weren't involved in the deal, there wouldn't be any reason for them to implicate you. Well, Tony Miller thinks it's my fault. He's in jail. He hates me. You can't take his word for anything. You're probably the first thing he'd do is lie about it. And Henderson, too, will he let you get to who I break your story? Well, maybe nobody, but it's the truth. I swear to you, it's the truth. I'll tell the same thing in court if I have to. They've got to believe me. You're asking the Latin, isn't it? But that's the way it happens, so help me. Yeah. I'll tell me the truth, Sergeant. You know I didn't have a hand in it. If it goes to court, they couldn't convict me, could they? Come on, what do you think you're a liar? To the working detective, the one logical way to appraise a known criminal is by his record. You estimate him the same way you check a particular make-up automobile, a racehorse, or a radio set by past performance. By refusing to buy his trumped-up story, we didn't figure that we were doing a suspect child, Bryson, and injustice. Bryson was 37 years old. He'd spent 13 of those 37 years in prison. Either the county jail or the state penitentiary. His criminal record dated back to the time he was 20 years old. Besides serving numerous shorter terms for lesser offenses in the county jail, Bryson had spent two terms in the state penitentiary for burglary. Despite the efforts of the probation officers, the adult authority, and the rehabilitation officials to help him, he seemed content to go along in his criminal career. In this particular case, the series of church burglary. We had good reason to believe that Bryson and his two accomplices, Nora and Henderson, were the guilty men. All three of them were booked at the main jail in suspicion of 459 PC. The next morning, Ben and I checked in at the crime lab. Lady Jones, you around? Yeah, I'm here. Come on back. Well, about that. They gave the place a new coat of paint. Yeah, sure needed it. All right, fellas. How you doing, ma'am? Got a ton of burglary tools. Those thieves were using that church last night. Just finished checking them over. Might have two or three things for you. Well, you got this. Have a look over here. You find a ton of tools. I take it the thieves had a lot of practice. All three of them had records. How about some of the other physical evidence you got there? One thing at a time, ma'am. The rest of all these tools here are for you. Small sleds. These three genies. Pinched by them from the school driver. I think we can tie them in with at least six of those church burglars. I think we can do it for certain. Couldn't that for three convicts? I think so. The jury's listening. Oh, you got it worked out, Lee. Tool markings. That's part of it, yeah. I want you to take a look at this pinched by here. They did a lot of their work with this. I guess I don't have to tell you there aren't two identical pinched by's in the world at least. The same exact markings on a piece of woodwork are on a safe. Yeah. There are two of them in the world that leave the same markings on anything. Yeah, we know that's me. Sure. The jury probably told me that the thieves used this pinched by here on six of the jobs they pulled. That's the idea. I compared special markings of every one of these tools against the markings made at the point of entry on six of the churches these thieves broke into. In every case, the markings match perfectly. These are the tools that I had no doubt about. The screw driver, the set of windows, and the pinched by. I'm sure you won't hurt our case, any. Anything else, Lee? I assume the end of the pinched by was a microscope. Check the screw driver and Jimmy's tool. The tips of each one of them are contaminated with particles of paint. Different kinds of paint. I've already compared these paint transfers with samples of paint taken from the exterior of those churches that were broken into. Each one of them, they match all the way. The color of the paint, the age, the degree of oxidation, the lead content compares perfectly. Now come over here, something else. Once you get up here. These are the shoes that too many found inside the church were wearing. These are the foot impressions. The boys from Lincoln Prince lifted off the floor in front of the faith inside the church. You know, the knowing on that church floor shot up the dust impressions of the feet pretty good. Did you make the print? The boys from Lincoln Prince did, yeah. Good impressions. See here? The general size of the shoe. The main heel impressions. The wear cover on the sole here. The whole general characteristics of both bare shoes matches up to a T. How much is that going to mean to the jury, Lee? I mean a lot. It's the truth. The same thing I've been telling you. The same thing. I'd like to tell every cop in the department. If you can find an object at the scene of a crime beyond the reasonable doubt, then don't go thrashing around looking for an object that's an exact duplicate. Don't play offshoots. Any microscope will tell you. There are no two things in this world exactly and identically alike. I don't care if it's a bare shoe. They're down the crowbar. You're at two front teeth. Now that's all right. That's for me. This is going to have trouble? I don't know, Lee. We shouldn't know. You've got the three of them at the scene of the crime. Is that all it'd be enough for the court? I hope so. I don't sound sure. Well, Lee, there's only one time I'm sure about things like Bryson. Yeah? When they check him in at San Quentin. Two days later, Charles Bryson and his two accomplices, Henderson and Miller, were arraigned in municipal court on a date set for their preliminary hearing. Four days later, the preliminary hearing was held and the three of them were bound over for arraignment in Superior Court. In the weeks that followed before their arraignment and Superior Court trial, Ben and I worked along with the district attorney's office, preparing the case against the three men, taking statements, running down additional evidence, checking and rechecking, piecing together the facts which we hoped would earn a conviction for each of the criminals. We weren't positive that it happened. The strongest part of our case was going to come out of the crime lab, the testimony of Lee Jones. And we knew as well as Lee did that, generally speaking, juries are not too much in sympathy with scientific facts when it has to do with physical evidence. Generally, they don't follow technical cases too well. We also knew that the three defendants had a good lawyer, a clever one. Getting convictions wasn't going to be easy. The trial opened in Superior Court June 2nd. Ben and I testified when we were called on. On the morning of June 9th, the jury retired to deliberate. Late that afternoon, we got a call from the Hall of Justice. Yes, Mitty. Yeah, both of them, huh? I see, huh? Well, that's life, I guess. Yes, ma'am. Juries back there that came up with the verdict. What's the story? In Henderson and Miller, they found them both killed the 30-grade burglar here. What about Bryson? They let him go. Well, maybe it was no great shock to us, but after the time and effort we put in on the case, it was a disappointment. The worst of the three criminals had been set free. At the trial, Bryson had taken the stand and told the court the same cock-and-bowl story he told Ben and I, that he'd gone to the church to see one of the burglaries, to plead with Henderson and Miller not to commit the crime. Bryson had a good personality and a fast line of thought. It wasn't hard to see how he could convince a jury that he was only an innocent bystander. The biggest obstacle that stood in the way of convicting Bryson was that the prosecution, the district attorney, according to law, could not call to the attention of the jury Bryson's previous criminal record, especially his two prior convictions for burglary. To them, because of the limitations of the law, it was presented as a private citizen with as much integrity and as clean of any previous guilt as you and your neighbor. Henderson and Miller were committed to the state penitentiary to serve sentences as prescribed by law, and Charles Bryson, shortly after the trial, left the city. Two months passed. Saturday, August 8th, I started on my vacation. Two weeks later, on August 22nd, I checked back in for work. Hi, Joe. Good to see you. Hi, Jim. What's been doing? Oh, not too much. How's the vacation, Joe? Well, pretty good, thanks. I'm letting that up north to visit Tereldo in something more than the county. It was a nice trip for her. She had an feeling she was, you know. Oh, it's too bad. Getting a fishin' done? A little, yeah. That's your beautiful country up here. Is it better, Ralph? No, I'm not. I took off today. I've been puttin' in some full days while you've been gone. Yeah, that's so. Really special, though? Oh, nothing too big. String of chain store burglaries, south end of town. I've been workin' along with Ben. Yeah, givin' you much trouble? He's been goin' a couple of weeks. Might gettin' any better. I'll begin to feel the pressure a little. How's it stand? Any leads on the suspect? Just one, yeah. The guy by the name of Charles Bryson. When our suspect, Charles Bryson, left Los Angeles after his trial some three months before, we had reports that he was headed east for the city of Memphis, Tennessee. In subsequent leaks, we had word that he was also seen in St. Louis, Missouri, where police officers had him under surveillance as a possible suspect in a robbery there. On or about August 10th, the St. Louis police lost track of Bryson. A week later, the newest series of burglaries began throughout Los Angeles. The thief's M.O. matched that of Bryson down to the last detail. The places burglarized were chain stores, supermarkets generally. The method of entry was the same, prying open a back window with a pinch bar of similar tool. The manner in which the safes were opened in the various business places that matched, too. So did five sets of foot impressions found at the scene of five different burglaries, each of them made by a man wearing tennis shoes. The operation corresponded exactly to the way Bryson worked. But there was one big hit in the investigation. Nobody could be sure Bryson was back in town. No one had seen him. No one had heard from him. Monday, August 24th, 80 a.m. Glad it was running in circles so far, Joe. I can't figure it. I bet Bryson's running with Bryson, but we can't even start to prove. How about the people in town Bryson runs with? They all been checked out? The one we know about, yeah, his friends, relatives, all his long hangouts. We've been over it every inch of the way. If anybody knows, they're not saying. There's no trace of him. Yeah, that's a possibility. Maybe we're wrong. Go ahead. What do you mean maybe we're wrong? The only lead we've got is the M.R.O. Bryson isn't the only thief who operates that way. It could be another man using the same system. Yeah, we've thought about that. You ran a check through the stats office? Yeah. The only known burglaries in our record who operate like Bryson or even in jail are out of town and are dead. We check it through a couple of times. Keeps coming out the same way. Bryson's the only strong lead we've got. Yeah, but I got it. Burglary Friday? Yes, sir. You know if you're starting the tables out right now, is there any message? Well, I guess about 10 minutes. Yes, sir. Right. I'll tell them. Thank you. You should have been more on all these jobs than just Bryson, huh? All the way. That's what's got me stumped. If the guy is pulling these jobs and he isn't in town, somebody should have spotted him. He's changed stores. He's hitting. We've had to take off on him for 10 days. I've got every informant we know watching for Bryson and not a sign. Hopefully he'll go to jail so they call back. Oh, thanks. I just told that this morning a bit better since it's an acquaintance. It might be a line on Bryson. The answer on that mail watch we asked him for. What angle's this, man? You remember Church Burglary's Miller and Henderson? Oh, yeah. You asked Clayton for a mail watch on both of them, did you? I figured there was a chance Bryson might watch him. Looks like it got us a lead. What have they got there? That's from the warden's office. So it says regarding your request on information concerning Charles Bryson, on August 22nd, Anthony Miller, our number 172156J, received letter from person signing himself George Cameron, contents of letters suspicious. Cameron, does that mean anything to you? Just check Bryson's package again down R and I. Cameron was his mother's maiden name. Bryson used it as an alias before. Quite a few times. How about the return address on the letter, Pam, Los Angeles? Morning Post Office, Gen. 11. Monday, 10 a.m. The Post Office detail in the range for a mail watch on all incoming letters through General Delivery addressed to Charles Bryson, George Cameron, or to another of the suspect's known aliases. A week pass. No sign of Bryson, no trace of any of his correspondence through General Delivery. Another week went by. Two more chains to our burglaries. The M.O. in each case was the same, that matched closely to Bryson's known working habit. But despite our precautions and the close check we maintained on his friends and his known hangouts, the suspect still remained unseen and unheard from. On September 9th, an informant of Ben's called us at the office and told us he thought he'd seen Bryson the night before. Yeah, Marty, where was that? Uh-huh, yeah, right, we'll check it, thanks. Bryson's supposed to have been seen there every month in Beverly Boulevard last night, drinking in a bar up here. So pretty sure it was Bryson? He thinks so, yeah. Got the names of the place. You ever can check with a bartender to see if he can identify Bryson's mug, sir. Right, I'll get my top coat, huh? I get it. Hungry, frightened? Yes, sir. When was that? You know, it's a long time. Uh-huh, I got it. Yes, sir, right away. Post office detail. Bryson called for a meal at the general delivery half an hour ago. Who is he? Are they following? 280 Glenmore, apartment 6, he's there now. You are listening to DRAGNET, authentic stories of your police force in action. I'm sorry. September 9th, Tuesday, 11.30 a.m. The burglary suspect, Charles Bryson, was placed under surveillance at the apartment where he'd gone immediately after calling for his mail at the general delivery window in the main post office. Three teams of men were assigned the job of following Bryson alternately, 24 hours a day. We waited for a chance to get into his apartment and search it while it was empty, but it never occurred. Somebody was always there. Either Bryson or a tall, dark-haired woman, his common law wife. During the week that followed, the suspect was watched everywhere he went. He attempted no burglaries. On the eighth day, the stakeout was removed. Three nights later, two burglaries were committed. Both jobs bore the marks of the suspect's MO, but we could improve a thing against him. We knew the setup we had was going nowhere. If we wanted to get Bryson red-handed, if we wanted a case against him that'd stand up in any court, we had to find a new approach. There's a jar of stuff right here. The technical name for its ampersine. I guess you heard it? I think I've heard you mention it mainly. It's kind of luminous powder, isn't it? It glows in the dark. No, not exactly. Take a look at some. There you see. Colorless, odorless. No smell at all to it. It's a coal-powered product. We call it crystalline hydrocarbon. Now, here's the point of the thing. When you take this ampersine powder and rub it into the surface of an object, it's completely invisible as naked eye. Never know it's there. Here, let me show you. There you go. Just a powder all over it. Some in your hand, too. Rub it in, like so. Now, can you feel any of the powder while I put it on? No, nothing there. Now, let me switch on this lamp here. This is an ultraviolet light. Now, watch when I turn it on your arm while we rub down the powder. Look at your arm, Joe. Like it's lighting up. Oh, my coat sleeve feels glowing. How about it? Will this stuff rub off like? Can't. You're spreading it all over yourself. Everything will test. Anything harm, permanently? No. Now, watch when I turn the lamp off. You see? Gone. Never even know you had it on. Only time it shows up is under ultraviolet light. Well, does it stay on you indefinitely? No, the maximum is generally about, I won't say, 24 hours. Uh-huh. You guarantee it'll work. Well, all physics, Joe. Under the proper conditions, it's got to. That's what I tell my classes up at the Academy. Crooks and corals feel like one thing in common. They show up better when you put them on in the right kind of light. When we left Lee Jones at the crime lab, we figured we had the potential solution in our hands, but there was still a lot to be done before we could go into any court of law with a case that we were positive. It was strong enough to convict Charles Bryson. Number one, we had to get into his apartment when it was unoccupied. Find the set of burglary tools he was using, and douse them thoroughly with anthracine, the same for the clothes he worked in. Number two, we had to get Bryson into custody within 24 hours after he moved on the burglary job or the anthracine wouldn't work. Number three, we had to find the loot taken in the burglary in his possession. 10 days passed before we got a chance to make good on the first step. I get it, Joe. Right. Burglar and Meryl. Yeah, Jim. It was real good. Fine, we'll be right out. Good break, Joe. And Bryson, what's that? They hold him in on the traffic bar and speed him. Bucking him into main jail right now. Good chance to go through his apartment. What about his wife? She's still up there. She's on her way to put up bail for him here. The apartment's empty. By the time Bryson was bailed out, Ben and I, along with Jim Caber and Lee Jones, had combed through Bryson's apartment and finally uncovered a set of burglary tools and work clothes carefully hidden beneath the floorboards under a kitchen cabinet directly below the sink. Lee Jones contaminated each of the tools with the invisible anthracine powder and also the work clothes. We checked the apartment for any possible loot taken in the burglary, but we found nothing. We put everything back exactly the way we found it, and then we left and went back to the office. We stood by until 4 a.m., waiting for a call that had indicated that Bryson might be out on another burglary job. Nothing happened. The next night, up until 10 o'clock, it was the same routine. At a few minutes past 10, we got a 459 call on a teen drugstore out on Alvarado Street. Lee Jones had his portable ultraviolet light all ready to go. Ben and I picked him up at the crime lab, and the three of us drove to the scene of the burglary. Great back here, Lee. Can I help you with the light? I can handle it, thank you. I have the wonder they figured you got in. Stay standing there calling. Yeah, there's not too much of it left. You all set, Lee? You got the extension cut for the light, will you? Yeah, right here. I'm just plugging it in. Yeah, okay. Okay. All right, switch it on, will you? Right. Well? Yeah. Seems like it. It's way done in the window there, Joe. Look at that. Anthracite tracks all over, foot impressions there, tool marks on the safe, plus prints on the floor, on the wall. No questions, I mean, that's plenty of training. All right, let's get him. Lee Jones put in a call to the crime lab and ordered a photographer out to take pictures at the scene of the burglary. Lee and the photographer had stayed at the scene to gather physical evidence and take pictures of the Anthracite and Princeton markings for presentation in court, 10.52 p.m. Jones packed up the ultraviolet lamp and Ben and I took it along with us. We drove directly to Bryson's apartment. Nobody was there. No. Nobody in the bedroom either. How about that? I don't know. I don't get it. Bryson's had plenty of time to get back here over an hour. Well, the better is what. The only time we know she's left was when she had to go bail him out in that traffic warrant. Doesn't look like they pulled out. There's a closet full of clothes in there, a lot of their personal things around. Yeah. She looks like they were expecting to come back. We might check with the apartment house manager. He could tell us if they gave notice to Moon. Yeah. Oh, let's see here. What do you got? I don't know if you're on the desk. See, he says, Charlie, I'm sorry, but I told you it just hasn't worked out with us. When you read this, I'll be on my way east. I don't want to be mean with you. I just think it'll work better if we forget each other, that's all. Thanks for everything so long. Sign Ruth. She doesn't like him much either. No. Wait a minute. What are you doing? Please stop here for Bryson. I'll talk to you for a minute. Oh, yeah. I remember. What do you want? Man, do you want to plug in that light? Yeah. Put that right over here. What is all this? I said you wanted to talk to me. What's it all about? You all set, Ben? Yes, man. All right, OK. Turn it off. What are you doing? What are you trying to do to me? You've done it all to yourself, Mr. Let it up like a Christmas tree. Joe, it's all over in here. There you go. The clothes and hands. What is it? There's light growing all of them. What are you doing? It's a chemical, Bryson. Harmless, same stuff you left all over the drugstore tonight. Pack up, Ben. Come on. Let's go, Bryson. I don't understand. What's this whole thing all about? Here. What do you understand? Here. What? A note for you. Oh. I'll set, Joe. Let's go, Mr. I guess I didn't know her. That's a tramp. I guess I should have been smart about it. Yeah, I guess so. Come on. How could I know? She said she was in love with me. I believed it. Well, I'm not going to say when they ask me. All our friends are all going to ask me. They'll say, what happened to Ruth? They'll say, what happened this time? What am I going to say after, mister? What are you going to say to the jury this time? Protect the innocent. On December 10th, trial was held in Superior Court, Department 86, City and County of Los Angeles, State of California, in a moment the results of that trial. Trial's Lang Bryson was tried and convicted on three counts of first-degree burglary. This is punishable by imprisonment in the state penitentiary for not less than five years. However, due to his previous convictions on this and other felony counts, Bryson was judged and habitual criminal. He was sentenced to spend the rest of his natural life in the state penitentiary. You have just heard dragnet, a series of authentic cases from official files. Technical advice comes from the Office of Chief of Police W.A. Parker, Los Angeles, State of California, Los Angeles Police Department.