 The story you're about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. Fatima cigarettes. Best of all, long cigarettes brings you dragnet. You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned a homicide detail. A police officer is shot down on the front steps of his home. There's no apparent motive for the shooting. The assailant escapes in a blue sedan. Your job. Get him. It's amazing how many long cigarette smokers are changing to Fatima. Here is the actual report. From coast to coast, King-sized Fatima has more than doubled its smokers. Yes, more and more smokers every day are discovering that Fatima is the best of all long cigarettes. Long cigarette smokers find Fatima has a much different, much better flavor and aroma. Long cigarette smokers find that Fatima is extra mild because it's the long cigarette which contains the finest. Turkish and domestic tobaccos, superbly blended to make it extra mild. So enjoy extra mild Fatima. Best of all, long cigarettes. It's wise to smoke extra mild Fatima. 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 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, May 23rd. It was warm in Los Angeles. We were working the day watch out of homicide. My partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Thad Brown, chief of detectives. My name's Friday. I was off-duty reporting back in on an emergency call. It was five minutes past 3 a.m. when I got to room 42. Homicide. All right, Joe. Hi. How is he? He's dead. Oh, went kind of fast. I just got the call a couple of minutes ago. We didn't went to the hospital. Friday, Ben. Let's call Thad Brown's office. All right. How did it happen, Skipper? I haven't got all of the details. The guy used a shotgun. I find blank. Fillmore didn't have a chance. Chief of detectives, obviously. Crime lab, yeah. Right there now. Right. Chief Brown-Egan. Down the hall with Captain Ryan, intelligence always. He said to have you wait. Okay, we'll be inside. You want to fill us in, Skipper? Not much to tell. Fillmore was working the day watch out of robbery. Left work at six o'clock last night, drove home. Yeah. He had dinner, then he and his wife went to a show. He got home about 11.30, went to bed. Yeah. About 1.30 this morning, the front doorbell rang, and Fillmore answered it. His wife said she heard him open the door, and there was a gunshot. He was around the front door, and time to see a guy jumping a car and drive away. Fillmore was lying on a porch, chest gripped open. You see the guy used a shotgun? Yeah. No other information on the car he used? The blue sedan, that's all the wife could tell us. She didn't get the license number. She said it looked like a new model car. No physical evidence. I haven't found anything. Here's the boss, Chief. Elliot, can you brief Friday in Romero? Told him much as I know. Any idea what the guy's motive was? Revenge. Any leads? Just one. Then white intelligence came up with it, grabbing the name of Jake Carver. Carver? Not familiar. He got out of Folson three days ago, served seven years armed robbery. Fillmore was the man who got Carver and sent him up. The time he was sentenced, Carver swore up and down he'd get Fillmore when he got out. Hot headed punk. What do we look for, Carver? Already checked where he's supposed to be staying. Not there. The list of guys he used to run with before he went to Folson. Thanks. Let's see, Joe. It is Ralph, Danton, Ernie, Travis, Jaime, Flores. Carver been seen around town since he got out? Once that we know of in a bar out on Sunset Boulevard. Flores was with him. How about Travis and Danton? They still around? Let's see. Travis, when he's two years ago, Danton's around. Still runs with Flores. That's where you start. Flores? Yeah. Okay. Any reason? Flores' sister used to go with Carver. Flores owns a blue sedan. At 3.20 a.m. we checked Jaime Flores' last known address, the old 76 Hotel down on South Alameda. Flores had moved. His formatting address was his mother's house, 1232 Alabama Street out in Boyle Heights. His mother told us Jaime was living on County View Avenue in Highland Park. At 4.30 a.m. we located the address. No garage here. Wonder where Jaime keeps his car. Not parked on the street. Yeah? What do you want? Police officers. Oh. Like talk to Jaime, Flores? Jaime? It's late. We're in bed. It's important. We'd like to talk to him. All right. Wait. I'll go get him up. Come on, get up. Yeah? Come on, Jaime. Talk to the door. I want to talk to you. What did you say? You want to talk to you. Okay, baby. Officers. What can I do for you? You, Jaime, Flores? That's right. You're looking for Jake Carver. You know where he is? I wish I did. I'm through with that guy. Why? What's the matter? He borrowed my car a day before yesterday. So he'd only be gone a couple hours. I'm still waiting. You own a blue sedan. Is that right? Yeah. 48 Chevy. Why, do you crack it up? Couldn't tell you. Do you have any idea where we can look for Carver? If I did, I'd be looking myself. Do you know if Carver's got a gun? Why? That punk puller job? Does he have a gun? No, trunk of the car. I use it on hunting trips. What kind? Shotgun. 4.45 a.m. We got out a broadcast and an APV on Jake Carver, containing a complete description of the car and its license number. Road blocks were set up on all main roads leading out of the city and police details at the airport's busty poles and the railroad terminals were alerted. All of the people whom Carver was known to have run with before he was sent to Folsom Penitentiary were rounded up and brought in for questioning. While Captain Elliott from Homicide supervised the interrogation, Ben went across the street to check with a coroner at the morgue. I contacted Lee Jones at the crime lab. 6 a.m., we met in Chief of Detective Stad Brown's office. Crime lab, plan anything? Single footprint, that's all. Jones found it in one of the flower beds in front of Fillmore's home. Is it tie-in? Size 10, that's Carver's size. How little help? Is there any indication Carver might still be in the city? No, there was a good three hours between the time Fillmore was shot and the road blocks went up. What about Carver's pals? Do they help any? Well, Flores is the only one I've met seeing him since he got out. What about Flores' sister, Dorothy? She lives out in Long Beach and seen us in Burton to bring her in now. That guy Flores, did you question him again, Eddie? Yeah. Satisfied with everything he told her that he knows? That's right. He doesn't seem to be too close to Carver, no record of any correspondence with him while he was in Folsom. What about the coroner's report? Shot gun close range, hit him hard. Well, there's mug shots of Carver, they are. Photocopies still working on it, turning out 2,000. Excuse me. Brown speaking. Albert. Right. They got Dorothy Flores in the interrogation room. You want to talk to her, Elliot? Ben, you and Joe talk to her. Tell them to see us in Burton to check in here. I got another wrangle of one of them to start on. Right. Let's go, Joe. He must be as mad as a hatter. Three days out of Folsom and he kills a cop. Yeah, if it was him. You've got any other idea? You need more than a footprint. We've got to find a gun and we've got to prove that he used it. All right. You two going to take over? Yeah, Lloyd. You and Gil check in at the chief's office. Captain wants to see you. OK. You want the police woman to stand by? It's fine. Let's go, Gil. See you guys later. All right. You're Dorothy Flores? Yeah. You know why you're here? Jake Carver. That's what they told me. That's right. You know where he is? No. Have you seen Carver in the past three days? Look, I don't want any part of the guy. He's nothing to me. He never was. You used to go around with him, didn't you? Seven years ago. Before he went to Folsom. What happened to your eye, Miss Flores? Those bruises there on your arm. We had a party. I saw them bump myself. Looks like a pretty new black eye. Did you have the party last night? I told you, Jake's nothing to me. He's a crazy hothead. I don't want any part of him. Was he around to see you last night? I used to go with him. That's all. I don't care what happened to him. You saw him last night? I didn't. This is on a murder rap, Miss Flores. I didn't want to see him. He came to my room. He forced his way in. I didn't want any part of him. When was it? Early this morning. What time? About two o'clock. Maybe 10 after. He wanted money. I acted like a crazy man. I told him I didn't have any money. He slogged me. That's how I got his mouse. What do you want the money for? He said he got the cop who set him up. He had to get out of town. He took my purse. $48 in it. Was he driving your brother's car? Yeah. I didn't want any part of him. I got nothing in this. Did he tell you where he was headed? Mexico. He's got friends across the border. Tier one. All right. Stay with her, Ben. And get us to Naga for two, will you? Yeah. Ready? The floor is girl skipper. Car vasar this morning. Admitted shooting Fillmore. She says he's headed south for Tijuana. Maybe he stopped off on the way. What do you mean? Drugstore in San Pedro just held up. The owner was shot and killed. Yeah. The guy was driving a blue sedan. An immediate alert was teletyped to the coastal town south of Los Angeles in the vicinity of San Pedro. The San Diego police were alerted as were the Mexican authorities in Tijuana and other designated points of entry along the California-Mexico border. 7.50 a.m. Ben and I together with Lloyd Barton and Al Shamber of Homicide drove down to San Pedro and checked in with Lieutenant Maxwell at San Pedro Homicide. What kind of a gun did the guy use, Lieutenant? I checked the body. It looks like it could have been a 45. No chance it might have been a shotgun. No, not that kind of a wound. Who saw the guy make his getaway? My wife did. We live right across the street from the drugstore. My wife heard the shooting ran to the window. She says it was a blue sedan. She didn't see the license plate? No. I got a look at the car before it disappeared. It looked like a Chevy to me. There's been no sign of it since the roadblocks went up? Not yet. It's pretty hard to understand. How do you mean? Take a look at the map here. Here's Palace Verdes and Clifton to the west. Roadblocks, eh? Yeah. Here's the roadblock to the north, just this side of the city. Another one northeast near Wilmingham. Yeah. This one here outside of Long Beach. Had four roads to pick from. They're all blocked off, huh? No turnoffs, no detours. All the roads are under patrol. You think you got south beyond Long Beach before the roadblocks went up? Not a chance. It's hard to figure. You could be hiding out somewhere along the way. Excuse me. This is Lieutenant Maxwell. Well, okay. Be right there. Anything? I found the car off the coast highway, blue Chevy sedan. How about carpet? Blood stains in the front seat. That's all they found. You are listening to Dragnet for the step-by-step solution to an actual police case. Here, step-by-step are the reasons why Fatima has more than doubled its smokers from coast to coast. Step one. The name Fatima has always stood for the best in cigarette quality. Step two. Long cigarette smokers discover Fatima has a much different, much better flavor and aroma. Step three. Long cigarette smokers find Fatima extra mild. Fatima is the long cigarette which contains the finest Turkish and domestic tobaccos, superbly blended to make Fatima extra mild. And that's why more and more smokers every day agree. It's wise to smoke extra mild Fatima. It's wise to smoke extra mild Fatima. Yes, the name Fatima on that golden yellow package is your insurance of an extra mild smoke. So enjoy King Size Fatima, the best of all long cigarettes. 8.45 a.m., we found the blue Chevrolet sedan. It was lying overturned in a ditch just off a dead-end road on the edge of a grove of eucalyptus trees. Oil was still dripping from the crankcase. There were blood stains on the upholstery in the front seat. In the glove compartment, we found two empty shotgun shells. Ben marked them with his initials for evidence and wrapped them in a handkerchief. The fingerprint men were called. We fanned out and started the search of the general area. See if we can't pick up a trail in this eucalyptus grove here. Sure has got me big. The car all smashed up back there, blood all over. The guy must have been hurt. How'd he get this far away from the car? What makes you think he did get far? Either that or he's hiding right under our nose. No sign of a trail through here? No, there's nothing. There's a clearing up ahead. Come on, let's cut through this brush here. Ben, come here. Yeah. Take a look at the trunk of this tree. Brown smears on it. Blood? Maybe. Look, higher up on the trunk there is the same thing. Wait a minute. Up in the tree. Can you see anything up there? No, the branches are pretty thick. Trees go pretty high up. Good 60 feet up there. Come here, Joe. Yeah? Follow my hand. No, just over at the left when I'm pointing. Oh, yeah. Cover, Ben. You all right, Joe? Yeah, can you see him? Yeah, up near the top. Right. Stay off, Burton. Don't come in the clearing. He's up in one of the trees. Throw that gun down. Then come down yourself. All right, Ben. Shotgun's over there. You alive? Yeah. It's a hard tree to climb. I wonder how he got up there. I don't know. But this was the only way to get him down. We called an ambulance and had Jake Carver taken back to Los Angeles to the county hospital, the prison ward. We took the shotgun and the empty shells and booked them as evidence with a property clerk. The wrecked blue sedan was impounded. Two counts of murder were filed against Carver with a district attorney. There was still one important piece of evidence missing. 35 pistol used in the robbery and murder of the San Pedro drugist. A month passed. While Carver recuperated in the prison ward of the county hospital, we were busy building a case for his conviction. We still had only enough evidence to convict him for one of the murders. Another two months went by. On August 30th, Jake Carver was brought to trial for the shotgun murder of police officer Robert Fillmore. Ten days later, the jury found him guilty of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to a life-term in fulsome penitentiary. Knowing that we didn't have enough evidence to convict his client for the murder of the drugist, Carver's lawyer demanded an immediate trial on the second charge. Wednesday, September 12th, 10 a.m., I was called to Chief of Detective's office. Roddy? Good on. Thank you. Elliot and I have been talking about this Jake Carver thing. They set the trial date yet? It starts next Tuesday, bringing Carver down from Fulsome Mara. It's bum luck. We're not going to convict him on the evidence we've got. We don't even have the gun. We've got to get a conviction. He beat the death rap for killing Fillmore. He gets over this one. It means he's still eligible for parole. So he serves 10 years, maybe. Good behavior. He gets out and he's ready to start in all over again. If we could just sew him up for killing that drugist, we could put him away for good. I don't know how, Skipper. It's a pretty good bet that no jury will convict him unless we find that gun. We've got another hour. Just one. What's that? If we can get Carver to admit he killed that drugist. It's a neat trick. Anyone been got him last May? Did he see you at all? You think he could recognize you again? Well, couldn't have gotten a very good look from where he was up in that tree. Ben did all the testifying at the trial. I wasn't even there. No, you wouldn't know me. Why? When they bring Carver down from Fulsome Mara, they'll put him in county jail while he's waiting trial. Chief figures that we could plant you in the same cell with him is a chance he might talk if you play it right. Well, I don't know. He's no beginner. Neither are you. You've carved enough of the right bait at the right time and there's a chance he'll put his foot in it. Maybe. All right, will you set it up with the county jail? Yeah, and remember, he's a killer. Don't take any chances. I suppose he gets wise. We'll know you tried. The following day at 2 p.m. I was booked at Central Jail as Joe Ramus, a robbery suspect. Ramus was the actual name of an eastern team whom we knew was not acquainted with Jake Carver. After being mugged and fingerprinted, transportation officers took me to the 12th floor of the Hall of Justice where I was booked into the county jail. After that, I was taken down to a cell block on the 10th floor known as the High Power Tank, where prisoners charged with major crimes are held. During the day, the individual cells are left open and the prisoners are allowed to visit with one another. I was taken back and shown the cell I was assigned to. Jake Carver was already there. He was playing two-handed poker with another inmate on the lower bunk. Hey, yeah, Ramus, this cell here. You can take the top bunk. All right. How many cards you want? Make it two, Jake. Hey, yeah. Move, will you? I want to get in my bunk. Come on, make your bed. It says two cigarettes. Your two, bunk you six. I said I'd like to get in my bunk. Go on, Sam, play the game. Okay, I'll see you. Maybe you didn't hear me, Sam. I said I want to get in my bunk. I heard you, Mac. I don't like shoving around like this. All right, now, sit down. What's your complaint? Didn't they tell you when you came through the door? They bury you in the hole for beefing in here. Man, as long as I'm in here with you, let's get it straight right now. Don't bother me. While you're at it, keep your rum-dumb pals out of here. You understand? I don't think I do. You'll be around for quite a while, smart guy. I won't forget this. Oh, yeah. Chow time. Come on, here it is. What are you doing down there, Dominic? Nothing. I always sit on the floor. Get back to yourself. Chow. Yeah. See you, Jake. It's this junk they feed you. Boiled beef, boiled potatoes. It's a habit with them here. Junker. Can you buy from the outside? Candy. Sometimes pie. A guy comes around in the morning. Who are you? Joe Ramis. Ramis, huh? Chicago? I've been there. So why? I'm Jake Carver. All right. What are you up for? Talk to my lawyer. You got a smart mind. You got a big one. You take care of your own worries, huh? I'll take care of mine. I ain't got any worries. I got a maid. Hey, you want that piece of bread? I don't want any of it. Take it. Tell the truth. I never had it so good. No witnesses, no evidence. You can't touch me. Sure. That's why you're in here. Three days passed. By playing the part of the tough gunman from Chicago, I succeeded in getting close to Carver. Because of the close confinement, I was with him almost constantly, but he still refused to confide. In a roundabout way, I pressed him as much as I could for the answer without making him suspicious. No results. 855 p.m. Sunday. Two days before the trial opened. Sam, Jake Carver and I were playing blackjack in the aisle just outside our cell. All right, Sam, hit me. There you are. Okay, I'm good. Remus? I'll stay in. 18. Pay 19. That's all for me. Me too. I'm going to hit the side. Yeah, just when I start you come back. Always crying. Hey, Remus, it seems to me I remember you. Haven't I seen you around City Hall? Sure. I live there. All right, it's time. Lock up. Remus, what's he talking about? I don't know. Don't get a headache. It's killing me. Yeah? Let me crack your neck. It'll help it. No, it's not good. You got any of them brown pills? Come on, I'll crack your neck. Loosen up those nerves. Always helps me. Yeah? Yeah, here, let me show you. Come on, turn around. Take it easy. Just relax. Let yourself go. Come on, get my hands around the back of your neck. Come on. You got this one, don't you? All right. You've got to be careful with this, though. You could break a guy's neck, you know? Take it easy, huh? What's the matter? Come on, relax. All right. Let me get a better grip on your neck. Have it easy, huh? All right, now. All right. All right, let's do it. How's that? That's not bad. It feels a little better. It works, okay? Sure. Hey, I noticed you had a visitor today. One of the boys in the east? No. A friend of mine out here. He just got in town. The coppers are trying to pin a killing on him. No? Who is he? Max Wesley, a good man. Tried to say he pulled a job down in San Pedro. Pedro? What kind of job? Stick up. Drug store a couple months ago. Yeah? That's what they got me on, you know? It's funny. I don't think I'll get some shut-eye. What about this job that's trying to hang on him? You tell you? I don't remember. The guy around the store was shot up. I died. Max wasn't even in town when it happened. Happened in May? Last May? I don't know. I'll see you in the morning. Yeah. Hard bed. They didn't have nothing on Max, huh? They let him go. No, I tell you, he's out on bail. No, I mean, no evidence on him. No gun, huh? Yeah, he's not a gun. I think that's what Max said. Where'd they find it, you see? I don't know where they found it. Go to sleep, will you? You mentioned anything else about Pedro, like San Pedro Hills? Yeah. Maybe that's where they found it. I think Max said that. That couldn't be. All right. I understand that. Hey, uh, Remus, it wasn't a hardware drug store, was it? What's he eating you anyway? Wouldn't you go to sleep? Look, Remus. Remus, I gotta know. It's important. What are you talking about? I gotta get some sleep. Will you listen a minute? I ditched the gun down there in the San Pedro Hills. All right. What are you worrying about? They don't send you up for hiding guns? Listen, I'm hot on that shop. They got me on one murder rep. They tagged me in another one. It's for keeps. What do you want me to do? Talk to the governor. Are you sure this guy, Max, said that they found a gun? Now, look, Carver. Max said they found a gun in the San Pedro Hills. Now, you get on down in your bunk and talk about it in the morning, huh? What kind? Did he say what kind? I don't know. I don't remember. Was it a 45? Something like that. Yeah, a 45, I guess. That was it. I guess. Let's get that jailer barking down here. Quiet down in there. All right. Can you go to sleep now? It's not the same one. They couldn't have found it. They haven't talked to me. When did they find the gun? Did Max tell you that? When did they find the gun? Wait. I don't know. He didn't say where. San Pedro Hills. Remus, I gotta know. It wasn't by a covert. Was it on the Hill Road? I don't know. I'll ask, Max. The next time I see him, is that where you ditched yours? They couldn't have found it. Nobody could have. This covert, see, back on the road, there was a piece of cement broken off the bottom edge of the covert, kind of a hollowed-out space inside. I pushed the dirt all around it. You gotta ask, Max. Ask him where they found that gun. Yeah. I'll see him Wednesday. I'll ask. You gotta find out. They were good. What are you worrying about? They haven't paired you up yet with the gun they found. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. Maybe they didn't figure it. Maybe they forgot. Maybe. Cops are dumb. They forget. That's what everybody says, isn't it? Yeah. That's what everybody says. The story you have just heard was true. Only the names were changed to protect the innocent. On September 18th, trial was held in Superior Court, Department 91, City and County of Los Angeles, State of California, in a moment the results of that trial. It's amazing how many long cigarette smokers are changing to Fatima. Here is the actual report. King-sized Fatima has more than doubled its smokers. Yes, more and more smokers every day are discovering that Fatima is the best of all long cigarettes. Long cigarette smokers find Fatima has a much different, much better flavor and aroma. Long cigarette smokers find that Fatima is extra mild because it's the long cigarette which contains the finest Turkish and domestic tobaccos superbly blended to make it extra mild. So enjoy extra mild Fatima. Best of all long cigarettes. It's wise to smoke extra mild Fatima. It's wise to smoke extra mild Fatima. The murder gun, the .45 caliber automatic pistol was recovered from the San Pedro Hills and Jacob John Carver was brought to trial. He was tried and convicted of murder in the first degree. The jury again refused to recommend the death penalty. Carver is now serving a life term in the state penitentiary without possibility of parole. You have just heard Dragnet. Authentic cases from official files. Technical advice for Dragnet comes from the office of chief of police W.A. Wharton, Los Angeles Police Department. Dragnet wishes to thank the editors of Radio Best magazine for their considerate appraisal of this program. For those of you who may be interested, a novelized version of Dragnet appears in the April issue of Radio Best. Fatima Cigarette, the best of all long cigarettes has brought you Dragnet from Los Angeles. Tomorrow here Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Coleman in the halls of Ivy on NBC.