 Ladies and gentlemen, the story you're about to hear is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. Dragnet. You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned a burglary detail. For the past several weeks, a gang has been breaking into neighborhood stores. Routine investigation fails to turn up any kind of a lead. Your job, find one. Drama of an actual crime. For the next 30 minutes in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department, you will travel step on the side of the law through an actual case transcribed from official police violence. From beginning to end, from crime to punishment, Dragnet is the story of your police force in action. Tuesday, March 20th, it was cold in Los Angeles. We were working the day watch out a burglary detail. My partner's Frank Smith. The boss is Captain Bernard. My name's Friday. We're on our way out from the office, and it was 947 AM when we got to the third floor of the Bell Arms Hotel, room 314. Sure dark. I'm going to try it again. Yeah. Sounds like somebody's moving around. You're Jedenagle? Yeah, why? Police officers would like to talk to you. I ain't done nothing wrong. There's no reason to rouse me. You want to open the door? All right. Come on in. I just got up. Yeah, you alone? Yeah, there's nobody else. Frank, yeah. That's the bathroom. I told you that there wasn't anybody else here. Well, you don't mind if we look around, do you? I do, too, mind. I don't like you cops coming around. They're going to ruin my reputation. People are building good things for your friends. Well, now I'll tell you, we won't tell them if you don't. What do you want, anyway? We got a report that you were down on East Fifth last night. Is that right? Well, I don't know. All last night's kind of foggy. I don't remember where I was, exactly. Do you remember being downtown? I told you I didn't. Why? What are you trying to lay off on me now? Place is clean, Joe. Well, I told you it was. Now you want to fill me in on what this is all about. All right. We'd like to know what you were doing downtown last night. Well, I know. I had it rough last night. Anybody else along with you? No, not that I remember. Remember being near the Palace liquor store? No, not right off. I might have checked in, though. I threw a lot of business there away. Well, the question is, is there something wrong? We'd like to have you tell us. Well, I'd like to help out, but there ain't nothing I can do. We got a field interrogation report that you were in the area. Police cars stopped to chuck you down. Is that right? Ain't nothing new. I'm always getting stopped. You ever been arrested? A couple of times. What charge? Go. At all? Yes. Never stood anything heavy, even drunk. Ever do any big time? No. A couple of months at the gas station. Went up to, you know, take the cure. Didn't hold on, did it? Well, you know, all right. You don't have to have an aspirin, do you? No, we don't. How about your friend here? He said we didn't. Oh, that's too bad. You know, I sure could use one. Mind if I take a look in the bathroom, there might be something in there to take care of my head. Sure, go ahead. We checked your record before we came up here. That right? Yeah. Mind out of anything? Enough to know there's a warrant on you. For what? Seems you got two wives back in Texas. They're both looking for you. All right, now come on. Get your clothes on. Yeah. You want to tell me what this is really about? What? They didn't send two plain clothes cops down here to take me in on a bigger recharge. What's the real pitch? It was a burglary last night. I wondered if you had anything to do with it. Burglary? That's right. Not me? I haven't got the guts to get into something like that. That's what caused all the trouble with my women. What's that? Oh, I'm all the time telling me I should get off a dime and do something morning, noon, and night. All the time running off at the mouth about how I was lazy. I can't expect a man to take much of that. Come on, get your clothes on. Send her back to Texas. We don't know what's going to happen. We just have to take you in. Gee, I sure hope I don't go back. Woman's nothing but trouble, Mr. Nothing else. You remember it. Must not bother you much. Huh? You're married to him. Jed Nagle was taken to the main jail and held for the Texas authorities. A check of his actions on the previous night showed that he couldn't have committed the burglary. 1130 AM, Frank and I checked for the office and then we went over to the crime lab. Ray Pinker was just finishing up his investigation. Come on in, Joe. All right. How's it going, Ray? Yeah, just wrapping it up. You got anything for us? Same as you had on the last three jobs. Here, pictures are there. Take a look. Oh. Oh, there's still a little damp. Yeah. This is the entrance, huh? Yeah. He went through the wall from the barbershop into the bar. How'd they get in there? Barbershop? Yeah. Used a Jimmy on the back window. Aligned in, went to work on the wall. I wonder why they didn't go right into the bar. Place is covered by the alarm system, Joe. Here, this is the box inside. Yeah. Just turned it off after they got into the place. You got any prints? No. Went over all the windows, safe, barred cell. Didn't turn up anything he used. What about the men themselves? Can you give us anything on them? Must have been at least two of them. Might have been three. Why'd you come up with that? Foot prints. Oh. Kicked up a lot of plaster when they went into the place. A lot of dust around. One on more size nine, shoe, and the other one had a size seven and a half foot. Where'd you get the third man? A lot more on the smaller impressions. Either the little guy jumped around more or else it was someone to help make the prints. Anything else, Ray? We got some good pictures of Jimmy Marks and the barber shop. If you come up with a tool, we'll be able to match it for you. What about the safe, Ray? Punch job. No class there. Anything on it? Mm-hmm. How much they take this time? Order guesses at about 5,000, wouldn't it, Ray? Yeah. Gives them a total of what? Well, according to our figures, a little over 12 since they started working. It's going good. Better than they think. Huh? We've just about run out of leads. Frank and I've been all over town trying to scratch something up. None of them work out. Got to be one some place. Yeah, Skipper keeps telling us that. Corner pocket's on his back. Bound to be. Yeah, I guess so. Doesn't make it any easier on us, though. You signed the application. Yeah, well, thanks, Ray. I think he turns up to give us a call, will you? Sure, Joe. It isn't likely, though, you've had it. Mm-hmm. You going back to the office? Yeah, stats office should have those cards for us by now. OK, I hope they point somewhere. Yeah, you better get in the line, huh? Take it easy, Ray. Yeah, drop around sometime. I'll pop for a lunch. Now we get this and cleaned up, we'll buy. You got a deal, my wife will go for that. Huh? She's been after me losing some weight. Huh? Looks like it'll be a long diet. Frank and I went back to the city hall and checked with the stats office. In the runs they'd made, they came up with cards on seven men who were known to have used the same method of operation in committing burglaries. We checked the list through R&I. Three of the possibles were still serving sentences in San Quentin. One of them had died, the two were in Eastern jails. The seventh, honoris poly, had a record listing four arrests and one conviction. His address was given as 4622 50th Street. We left the office and went out to check on him. The registered list of them is living in apartment 12. We walked upstairs. Should be on the left, huh? Yeah. Yeah, here it is. Let me try it again. Yeah. Don't see where that's any business of yours. Police officers. What do you want to see Noree about? Better if we talk to him about that. It's yourself. Don't make any difference to me. You mind if we come in? You can talk right out there in the hall. All right, Miss Polly, open that door. Take a jump. Sadie, what's all the noise? Lady, do you open that door or we will? She is, ma'am. Get out of the way, lady. All right, Polly, hold her right there. You get out of here. You've got no right to break in here like this. Oh, will you shut up, Sadie? I'm trying to do you a favor and look up thanks again. Well, who asked? You know, go on, get out of here. This time I try to do anything for you last time. Yeah, yeah, sure. Bye. Harpy, always trying to take care of me. Real Harpy. You know, she means good, but she doesn't know how to carry it off. Always trying to protect me. Yeah. What do you want to see me about? Want to ask you a couple of questions? Sure, I'll go along with you. No reason for me not to. What do you want to know? I'll come to your home. What would you expect to find me? You're on parole, aren't you? Well, you knew that before you asked the question. Supposed to have a job? Yeah, I got one. I'll come here not working the day. I see what you're getting at. I've got a cold kind of virus infection. Figured I'd take the day off, get it all cleared up. I was in bed when you got here. That's the reason you had all the trouble. Your employer know where you are? Well, sure, I called him and told him. I'm not trying to pull any deals. I've been punching the clock since I got out. I want to keep it that way. Where do you work? Park and lot downtown. Not killing the world, but I'm paying the rent. I got no beef. How do you spend your off time? What do you mean? When you're not working, what do you do? Hustley, sit around the house. Watch the TV. You go out, mate? No, not much. Maybe every couple of weeks, Sadie and me go down to the Mexican place on the corner, have dinner, take any show. That's about it. You've been out this week? What night? Tell us about all of them, will you? No, go. I've been home every night. Can you prove that? What do I have to? That'll make you look better. Well, last Sadie should tell you we've been home together every night. Just sitting here watching the TV. What time are you going to work? I check in about 7. When you quit? 4.30. Once in a while, if it's crowded, I stay over. You work late this week? No, you can check that with the boss. He'll tell you. All right, we will. Well, what's this all about, huh? You guys are after something, aren't you? That's right. Well, why don't you tell me what it is? I hear stuff once in a while. I might be able to help you out. You see the old crowd anymore, Norf? Well, once in a while, they walk down the street. They nod, I nod. Nothing more. Now, what are you after? Tunnel jobs. You figured I might have a piece of that action, huh? Matches the way you work? No, it doesn't fit. I told you, I've been with the bucket since I got out. Even with taxes, I make more. You heard anything about who's working? Doesn't go out of this room? We won't take it. OK. The boys found out I was giving you information. My insurance premiums sure go up real fast. Then don't you worry about it. I know what you know. I was around with this two guys. We had that going in. They pulled three jobs. Well, they made it four. No, I didn't know about the other one. It'll be in the papers now. You got a name? No, just heard that they were working. Where'd you hear? A fellow down on 7th. He sells papers down there. We have a cup of coffee once in a while, he told me. You know where you can get in touch with him? Yeah, but it'd be better if you didn't, though. He'd right back to me. Sadie? Hey, wait a minute. Where you going with the suitcase? I'm leaving you. Oh, come on. Isn't that thing serious? You don't have a talk to me. Sadie, do you feel when you take their side? I've had it from you, bum. Oh, come on, Sadie. Don't be sore. Take your hand off of me. Baby, please. Don't be sore. I'm going to tell you once more. Take your hand off of me. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, Sadie. What you going hit me for? Because you're a bum. Don't go trying to get me to come back to you. I'm true this time. It's too bad, Paulie. No, it isn't. I've been trying to figure some way to get her to walk out since I got out of jail. I've never been able to do it. I sure ain't sorry. I ought to buy you guys a drink for taking care of it for me. Only one thing that worries me is her big mouth. She's always talking. She might have heard me say I'd give you a hand. She blabs that around. I'm in real trouble. You didn't give us any names. That doesn't make any difference. She gets to talk it. She'll have me telling you the name of every hootlem in town. Whether that gets around, I'm a gone duck. I got to get after her. Sadie, no big mouse. You're going to get me in trouble. Well, it can even end, doesn't it? Huh? Yours kept you out of it. Before we left the apartment, we checked Paulie's story and verified the fact that he was not implicated in the burglaries. We drove down to the corner of Seventh and Wilde. We found the newsman, Norris Paulie had told us about. We talked to him for about 15 minutes before we were able to convince him that he wouldn't get into trouble by giving us the information that he had. He told us what he knew about the tunnel burglaries. He was unable to give us a name of the suspect that he had in mind, but he did give us a description in the nickname Kiko. With this information, we returned to the city hall and checked the moniker file. There were several Kikos listed, but only two that meant the description. The first one checked out clean. The second of Franklin James Swig, WMA, 33 years old, had done time in the state penitentiary as a cat burglar. We contacted the state authority and found that Swig was on active parole. From then, we got his address, and we went out to see him. It was a small one-story modern house built in the early 30s. The chrome railing up the front stairs was rusty, and the paint on the front of the building was peeled. We rang the bell and waited. Yep. Your name's Wig? Yeah, that's right. Police officers. This is Sergeant Joe Friday. My name's Smith. What do you want me to do? Why don't you ask us in? That's all I'm saying to you. I don't want to get the carpet sturdy. Let's talk about it. Come on, Mr. Get Your Coke. What for? I want to talk to you. About what? I'll tell you about it downtown. You make a charge, or I ain't leaving the house. All right, suspicion and burglary. You're going to drag that up again. We don't make the rules. Good time once in your life, and the cops never get off your back. You should have thought of that going in. What good would it do? You cops never learn? Well, you're not much of an example, are you? What's that mean? You're probably going back for another course. Before we took the suspect downtown, we made a thorough search of his home. We found nothing to time in with the burglary. He was taken to the squad room in question for over an hour. During that time, he'd say nothing. He was booked in at the main jail, and Frank and I checked out of the office. The next day, Wednesday, March 21st, we had him brought from the cell. We talked to him in the interrogation room in the main jail. How long you guys think you're going to be able to hold me? Depends on when you decide to talk. Tell you what, cop. I'll make a deal with you. No deals. What do you mean? We don't want you. We want the guy who engineered the burglary. Well, then why don't you let me go now? I want to make sure the story gets a plane of papers. Well, what's that going to prove? Your friend will get worried. We'll figure you're going to talk. Look, if I was mixed up in anything, I'm not one way or the other. But if I was, why should he get worried? Words out that he's the brains. Well, where's that from? All over town? That's not true. The way we got our stories around, you went along for the ride. I'll tell him that all the brain work. Who said that? Everybody who's talked to. Well, and if everybody's talking about him, why ain't he here instead of me? Because he's a smart one of the pair. Somebody who's got to fall might as well be you. People pick up another partner. You telling me the real scam? That's the way we get it. Not true. Oh, he only got your word for that. All I know is if I ever get in trouble, I'd want to make sure I had a pigeon waiting to take the beef. You're here. He's out. And you tell me who's smart. How'd you get to me? It was in the books. Not like this. I fell for cat burglary. Nothing to do with tunnel jobs. Somebody had to blow the whistle. That's all. Sure. He had no call to pick me up. Just right out of left field, you walk in. Who did it? Who made the call? Somebody did, huh? Somebody pointed me out. Come on, I know who it was. You ain't going to get him in trouble telling me. Somebody told you, didn't they? That's right. No, it fits real good. Well, I tell you this, cop, I ain't that dumb. A lot of things I've done that I don't want anybody to know about, but I never blew the whistle on a friend. That's one thing I didn't do. All that stuff about him being the brain that's a lot of coconuts. He can't get into a phone booth without help. I figured the whole deal. Well, it was me who said we'd had it and ought to stop. He wanted to keep going. That's why I left. When was this? Night before last. After we got through, he was sore because there was only a little over $4,000 in the box. We heard there was around 10. Yeah. Said he wanted to make a big score before we quit. Said to go together on one more. Told me what he wanted to do. I wanted no part of it. The guy's off his rocker. I left. What's he got in mind, you know? Once a tunnel into a bank. We're listening to Dragnet, the authentic story of your police force in action. We continue to talk to Franklin's weed. From him, we got a complete description of the second suspect and the name Lester Kroll. We checked the name through R and I, and we came up with a record for him. Listed were several arrests for purse snatching and suspicion of assault. In spite of the arrests, Kroll hadn't served any time in jail. We showed the mugshot in the package to Zwig, and we got a positive identification. We asked the suspect in custody where Kroll lived. He gave us an address on South Figaro, but when we checked there, we found that Kroll had left without giving a forwarding address. We talked to all the people listed in this package having known the suspect. None of them could or would tell us where the man was. We questioned Franklin's weed further, but he was unable to tell us what bank Kroll had in mind. We contacted Burn Arm of the Bank of America, Frank Stumpf of the Security First National, and other special agents of Southern California banks. They in turn notified the branch managers to be on the lookout for evidence of Kroll working in their neighborhoods. Special MO bulletins were put out to all officers in the city giving particulars on the methods the suspect was known to use. In addition to these, local broadcasts and APBs were gotten out on all suspects. For a week, the search dragged on. During that time, there were no further reports of attempted tunnelings and no sign of Lester Kroll. Friday, March 30th, 8.01 a.m. I checked into the office. Frank was waiting for me. Morning, old buddy. Hi, Frank. Beautiful day, huh? Now it's a little cold out. Yeah, but it doesn't make any difference to you, huh, old buddy? No, no, it doesn't. You feel any different? Hmm? You feel any different today than you did yesterday. Are you all right? Never felt better. How about you, old buddy? Yeah, I'm fine. Hey, just a minute. I know what's wrong. You do, huh? Yeah, you didn't think I'd forget, did you? Listen, I don't even know what you're talking about. Ah, come on, old buddy. Just a minute. I'll get it. Got it right over here, right up on the top shelf. And I'm putting it in myself. There you are, Joe. Wrapped it myself, too. Looks pretty good, huh? Yeah, I guess it does. I didn't have nothing to put on the top, so I found a couple of Christmas tree ornaments. Put them on with a ribbon. Yeah, it's nice. Come on, dig down in there. Well, what is it? Go ahead, open it up. Got him yesterday after lunch. Thought I wasn't ever going to get you out of the way. Remember when I told you I was going out to buy a new hat? Remember? You know, Frank, I think maybe you made a little mistake. Oh, just take the top right off the box, Joe. Open it right up. All right. There. What do you think? Very nice, Frank. Hey, you bet. Police line slippers. Got a pair of myself. Greatest thing in the world, a cold morning. Keep your feet warm, Joe. Police is warm, you know. Yeah. I got a pair of myself. See the card? There's a card there. Open it up. Go on, read it. Go ahead. Out loud. Sure. This is the day that comes once a year. The day your face does shine. A happy day for one and all. Because today you're nine. Doesn't match too good, I guess. It's all I had at the shoe store. Happy birthday, Joe. You know, I just don't know what to say, Frank. Well, I know how you feel, old buddy. I understand you all kind of choked up, huh? Mm-hmm. Yes, I am. This isn't my birthday, you know. How you choked up, huh? This is not my birthday, Frank. Well, it's the 30th, isn't it? March 30th? Yeah. My birthday's August 30th. Now, wait a minute, buddy. It can't be. I got it right here in my little book. Wait a minute. See? See right here? March 30th, Joe's birthday. I wrote that myself. You know my handwriting. March 30th. Yeah, you get the date right, but it's not mine. You kidding me? Frank, I know my own birthday. Huh. It must be somebody. Who do I know named Joe? I got it. Burgary Friday. Yes, sir? March 30th. That's right. Where is that? I see. All right, sir. We'll be right out. Yes, sir, right away. Come on, old buddy, we got one to roll on. August 30th. Huh? I say we got to roll. Let's go. Barry over at the street department. They got a call this morning. Yeah. Looks like somebody's trying to dig a tunnel in the storm drain. Frank and I left the office and we drove over to the corner of Silver Lake Boulevard in McCollum Street. We met with Barry Falcon of the street department. He led us to a manhole in the middle of the intersection. He told us there had been numerous complaints from citizens in the area that the cover on the outlet kept rattling. When the street department checked it, they found that the cushioning material around the metal plate had been removed. It was replaced, but the next day, there were several more calls. When the neighbors were questioned, they told of a man who arrived in the pickup truck about 2.30 in the morning. He'd lift the cover and enter the storm drain. Before the daylight hours, he'd leave and he'd drive away. From the description they gave, it was possible that the repairman was from the street maintenance department, but a check of their record showed that no crews were working in that area. After talking with Falcon, Frank and I climbed down the ladder into the drain. We walked about 20 feet up the tunnel and we found the reason that we'd been called. Barry, tell you what's over us? Well, as we can figure, it's the vault in the bank, isn't it? Sure is, a kid. Think we'll go over here. All the equipment, lamps, a couple of drills. Yeah, but he's not going to be able to use them unless he ties into an electric line someplace. We'll probably figure he'd run into one. What's that over there in the corner? Don't take a look. Can you see it? No, but it'll leave it alone. What do you got? He's got it all figured. What do you mean? What's over there? Yeah. Looks like nectar glycerin. The people in the immediate vicinity were shown the mud shots of Lester Crowell. He was positively identified as the man who had worked in the storm drain. We asked about the truck, but none of the people could give us a good description of it. The employees in the bank were cautioned and Frank and I arranged for a 24-hour surveillance to be set up on the storm drain outlet. Two days passed without activity and then on Monday, April 3rd, we waited in our car down the street from the intersection. It was about 2.20 a.m. Another cup of coffee, Joe? Yeah, wouldn't be bad. Oh, I sure it gets cold this time of the morning. See, I finally figured it out. What do you mean? Who Joe was. What's that? Here. That's hot. Thank you. Joe, you know the name of my book, The Birthday? Oh, yeah, yeah. It's our mailman. It's our mailman. It was his birthday. I got him one of those cards that says, we're sorry we forgot. You know the kind. We gave him the card and the card and the cigarettes. Oh, Joe, sure we got a kick out of it. Cool. Sure gets cold this time of the morning. Take a look. Yeah, I see it. Park in there. You see his face? Not from here. Well, he gets hot. You even got a hook for the manhole cover. How do you like that? Watch it now. He's going under the light. It's him. All right, let's let him get down in the storm drain. That way we'll be able to get him while he's working. All right. Let him get in there. OK, let's go. You want to give me a hand with the cover? Yeah. I probably figure I'm making a break this morning. Uh-huh. It'll be easy, though. Right. You seem good now. Sure going after. All right, come on, let's take him. All right. See up there? He ran into one of the power lines into the bank. Yeah, he almost made it, Joe. A couple of more inches he'd have gotten in. Yeah. He must have figured wrong someplace. Made a mistake somewhere. Yeah, when he bought that drill. The story you have just heard is true. The names were changed to protect the innocent. On August 16th, trial was held in Department 97 Superior Court of the State of California in and for the County of Los Angeles. In a moment, the results of that trial. James Wieg was tried and convicted of burglary in the second degree, three counts, and received sentence as prescribed by law. Burglary in the second degree is punishable by imprisonment for a period of not less than one, nor more than 15 years in the state penitentiary. At a coroner's inquest, the death of Lester Bruce Crowell was found to be accidental, occurring while in the commission of a felony. 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.