 Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. NBC brings you dragnet. You're a detective sergeant. You've been off duty two hours. You receive an emergency call from the chief of detectives. An entire block in the heart of your city is threatened with complete destruction. Your job? Report it once. Dragnet, the documented drama of an actual crime, investigated and solved by the men who unrelentingly stand watch on the security of your home, your family and your life. 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 Tuesday, November 15th. It was raining in Los Angeles. We were off duty reporting in on an emergency call. My partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Ed Backstrand, chief of detectives. My name's Friday. It was 8.32 a.m. when I walked in the Spring Street entrance to the city hall. You a sergeant, Friday? Yeah, that's right. Take my elevator, sergeant. It's the only one in service. All right. I'll run you up to 16. The chief's waiting for you up there. What's the pitch? Only one elevator in service out of 10? The place looks deserted. What's going on? Nobody in the building. Only office people have been sent home. Lots of trouble. Somebody declare a holiday? No joke, sergeant. Big trouble. All right. You convinced me. What is it? Here we are. 16th floor. Over here, fronty. Hi, Joe. Hello, Ben. You made good time. Came as soon as I got the call, Ed. Sorry to have to bring you back in. You worked last night, didn't you? Yeah, midnight to eight this morning. Sorry. Come on. What is it, Skipper? Why all the hush, uh... Wait till we get inside. In here. Okay. Number one, let's keep our voices down. You all right? I'll make it as brief as I can every minute counts. What time you got, fronty? 8.33. All right, here it is. 55 minutes ago, a man walked into this building with a homemade bomb under his arm. If we don't release his brother from the county jail by nine o'clock this morning, he says he'll pull the trigger on the bomb and blow up the whole building. He's kidding, Skipper. Who is the guy? Name's Vernon Carney. Here's his package. He and his brother have been in and out of jail since 1937. Small-time thieves. Yeah. Where's the FBI kickback? We had them once before, both of them. Brother's name is Elwood, serving a year for car stripping. And this two-bit thief is sitting here in a city hall with a bomb on his lap? That's right. In the next room. What kind of a bomb is it, Ed? You think he's bluffing? Could be bluffing, but the crime lab says no. Lee Jones from the lab, get a look at it. Been in there twice. One under the box is glass. He says you can't see much without a closer look, but you can't get near the guy. What do you want us to do? It's a volunteer job. You can take it or leave it. I won't order you to do it. How do you want to handle it? You sure you want a piece of this one, Romero? No, he doesn't, Ed. He's got a family. Get me another single, man. We'll give it a try. Wait a minute, Joe. What makes this job so different? Anytime we kick a door in, we never know what's on the other side. That's what makes it different. This time we do. No, you're not going to cut me out. Not the only time I know what I'm getting into. All right. Chandler's tried. Hannon, Davis, Watson, they've all tried. This guy, Kearney, knows what he's doing. He's no pushover. But somebody's got to get that bomb away from him. Friday, Romero, it's your baby now. I looked at my watch. It was 8.36. We left Backstrand and started down the hall. If Kearney was going to make good his threat to blow up the building by 9 o'clock, we had exactly 24 minutes to talk him out of it. Ben and I figured we'd better look him over first and then work out some kind of a plan. Maybe just talking to him would do it. Vernon Kearney was sitting in a straight back chair against the firewall facing the door. He was seated between two windows that looked out over the city. Along the left wall was a row of six wooden chairs. In the center of the right wall was a connecting door leading to the office where Backstrand had briefed us. The door was locked on both sides. Just off center and favoring the left of the room was a small filing table. The other furniture in the office was a desk just forward of the connecting door on the right. There was a dictaphone on the desk. In the near left corner, shielded by a white screen, was a small wash basin. The faucet leaked. Vernon Kearney was middle-aged. He sat erect holding a black box on his lap. He held his right hand inside one end of the box. Ben and I stood there for a minute and looked at him. Then we walked in the room. What do you say to a man with a bomb? That's close enough. Cigarette, Kearney? I'm not smoking right now. What are you trying to prove? You know what I want. We're not going to let your brother out of jail. You've got until nine o'clock to change your mind. According to that clock on the wall, you've got 24 minutes. If we go, you're going with us, Kearney. Don't take much of a brain to figure that, copper. What made you think you could get away with it? Haven't yet. It ain't nine o'clock. Unless that clock's slow. I guess my pocket watch lately. That's the one that's running this show. Have you given any thought to all the innocent people that are going to go up with that thing of yours there? My brother's innocent. I want him out of jail. The court says he's guilty. He'll get out when he serves his time. That's where you're wrong, copper. He gets out at nine o'clock this morning. All right, come on, Kearney. Get your hand out of that box. Put the box on the table. You think I'm bluffing, don't you? I'm going to let you get within five feet before I make a liar out of you. Okay, Kearney. I guess you mean business. You can take three more steps and find out for sure. Most we did let your brother out. We'd just come out and pick him up again, you along with him. If you could find this. Let's get this straight. If we let your brother Elwood out, how do we know you're going to keep your promise? What promise? I ain't made any promises. You just get Elwood down here first, and then you'll talk about it. There's only one thing I can't figure, Kearney. Yeah, what's that? If we don't let your brother out, you say you'll pull the trigger on that bomb. You're going to kill a lot of innocent people. What are you going to prove by that? It's 8.37. You've got 23 minutes left. I wish you'd answer that one for me. Why do you want to kill a lot of innocent people? Don't cry that, con me, copper. I know they cleared everybody out of this building 45 minutes ago. I know they cleaned out the whole block. Let me get you information. I got a couple of windows here to look out of. Don't you think it's about time to send somebody over to get Elwood? You know, con me, we've got a way out of this. We don't have to let your brother out neither. I've heard that before. What's to stop us from leaving the building along with the other few officers and let you sit here and touch off that bomb? Go ahead. It won't be a long wait without you. Who are you trying to kid? You let me blow up $10 million with a taxpayer's money? Oh, no. You're going to let Elwood out. You'll wait till the last minute to do it. But you'll let him out. Ed, I'm still not convinced Karnick can back up what he says. Then why didn't you take the box away from him? Yeah. We're in a spot. Let's face it. How about an eye for an eye, Skipper? What do you mean? If he pulls the trigger on that machine, he kills us. How about us getting him first? I thought I could wing him. And then he hands the box to you? Or maybe he falls and his reflex action pulls the trigger. Okay, I don't wing him. I stop him for Keith. You just can't walk in there and shoot him down. Why not? You do the same thing with armed criminals? Yeah, but you warn him first. I warn him. After you shoot him, you'll find out it's a harmless gadget. Couldn't have gone off in a million years. No, no, a gun's not the answer. We can't shoot him until we're positive. It'll be positive but nine o'clock and there might not be anybody around to shoot him. I don't have any ideas at all. Anything we could try. That's why I called you in. None of us have gotten any further than you did just now. There's just one thing I want to know for sure. Yeah, Friday. Is it or isn't it? We all want to know. Either way, we've got to get that box away from him. Backstrand. Yeah. You did? Yeah? Now stay out there till I call you. All right, here's half the answer. That was Pachele. They found 28 sticks of dynamite in Carney's apartment. We knew Carney wasn't kidding now. We could see into the bomb through that glass window in one end. It looked like dynamite inside and there was dynamite in Carney's room. We didn't know if he had the nerve to pull the trigger. We didn't know if it would go off when he did. But with only minutes remaining, nobody wanted to take the chance. From here on in, all of us agreed that Vernon Carney sat in the next room holding in his two hands a force powerful enough to destroy us all. We had to get that box away from him and to get that dynamite in Carney's room. We didn't know if he had the nerve to pull the trigger. We had to get that box away from him and to get that box, we had to have a plan. I looked at my watch. It was 8.40, 20 minutes till 9 o'clock. How do we get it away from him? I got an idea. It might work. Carney's sitting against the far wall between two windows. They're both open. If we could get a man through one of those windows, we might get Carney from behind. Whoever gets through the window could slug him. Somebody grabs the box. The crime lab can tell us what to do with it. How do we get a man through one of those windows? There's a ledge that runs around the building on each story. Wide enough for a man to walk on? Let's take a look. Looks pretty narrow, Joe. That's a good 18 inches. Could be done. Too risky. It's raining out. That ledge is slippery. Strong wind out there, Joe. Tear a man right off the building. I guess you're right. There's still a way. How about a ladder? 16-floor skipper. It might be a way. The fire department would know that. I'll get Battalion Chief Erickson. Now, look. It's going to take a couple of minutes to set this up. We've got to know what Carney's doing every second of that time. Well, how about the dictaphone in there a day? Good. Get it on without him seeing you. We'll try. The dictaphone in there is connected to this one in here. This room is 16-14. You got that? Yeah. All right. Push down key 16-14 on that machine in there and leave it down. Get the receiver off the hook and leave it off. Leave the receiver off? That's right. You know, if it isn't off the hook, we won't be able to hear a thing in here. All right. Come on, Ben. Where's my brother? Still in his cell. You coppers are long on talk, but short on time. Yeah, we know. I'm telling you, for your own good, you'd better get Elwood over here. Carney, I'll bet if we get your brother on the phone here, he'll tell you he doesn't want any part of this. You mean Elwood don't want out? Since when? Sure he wants out, but not your way. He's only got a year to serve. Why don't you leave him alone? I told him. I told him I'd get him out. You didn't think I could do it. But I'm doing it. I'll make you bet, Carney. Let us get your brother on the phone. He won't walk out of here with you. All right. Get him on the pipe. Where you going? The phone's over here. Have to use the dictaphone. Got to get an okay from the chief. Elwood's still a prisoner. What's the matter with the phone? No, Operators. You know the building's been cleared. Oh, yeah. That's right. Almost forgot. Okay. You can use the dictaphone. This Friday, Ed, Carney wants to talk to his brother. Yeah, I know you'll have to send somebody over. Have them put the call on extension. Wait a minute. What's that extension number, Ben? Two-three-five-one. Two-three-five-one, Ed. Right. It'll take a minute. Yeah. I'd kind of like to talk to El. Been a couple of months since I've seen him. We've always been together, me and El, most of the time. Joe, let's go and see if we can hurry that call. Good idea, boy. Sixteen minutes to nine. Hey, Kaft. Yeah? Forgot to hang up the dictaphone, didn't you? I put the receiver back on the dictaphone. Ben and I had failed to make good on the first step of the plan. When we got outside the door, we briefed Davis and Watson. They went in to sit with Carney. It would be their job to keep us posted on Carney's movements. The dictaphone was out. We went back into the office next week, and we had to wait for him to come in. We had to wait for him to come in. We went back into the office next door. Chief Sam Erickson of the fire department and Lieutenant Lee Jones from the crime lab were already there. We told Backstrand what happened. It would have been a help. We haven't got time to cry over it. Carney's wide awake skipper. He doesn't miss a thing. Backstrand told us the plan Friday. We can't run a ladder up from the street. Too high, Chief? Best we got us a hundred foot aerial. You figure 12 foot to the story, that'll take you up 96 feet, eight floors. And we've got the latest equipment. What's the idea you had, Jones? Sam, can you get a hold of a pump here in a hurry? We've got a lot of scaling ladders, but you've got nothing up there to hook them on. You figure I'm dropping down from the floor above? That's right, and I figure a pump here would do it. Sure it would. You could make it fast to the windowsill up there, but you've got a foot and a half ledge in the way. Know what you want as a lifeline. You mean lower a man on a rope, Chief? Yeah, Romero. That's the quickest and the quietest. Could you rig it so one of my boys could do it? Sure, Ed. What's the risk? None, if you work it right. We'll strap on a life belt, give the man heavy leather gloves. Two of my men lower him down. Pick your lightest man. What do you think, Lee? What do we do with the bomb when we get it? I figure that box Connie's holding is about a foot squared. Here's what we'll all do. I'll get you a bucket with a foot and a half mouth. It'll be full of water. I'll have it right outside the door of that office. When you get that box, place it in the water. We'll get the bucket out of the building as fast as we can. Once we get the bomb on the water, we're in and clear. I can't promise you that, but it's the safest way to handle it under the circumstances. All right, that's the procedure. Sam, you take care of your end. Right away. I'll get a detail to give me a hand down on the street. We'll have a car ready to take the bomb to a safe area to decommission it. Work as fast as you can. Come on, Sam. It's our baby, Joe. That's right. Which part of it you want, the rope or the bomb? You call it. Fire Chief Erickson says the lightest man on the rope. That's me, Joe. All right, I'll get the bomb out of the building. Okay, that's the routine, but carry this with you. The man that comes down on that rope has one chance to make good. You slug him and make it count because there's no second try. Yeah. And Joe, when you grab that box, you've got to get it away from Connie before he can squeeze the trigger. Then you've got to get it down into the street. The elevator. You know how to operate it? That's pretty simple, but I'll double check with the operator. You better do it right now. Okay. Ed, we better get Connie's brother on the phone for him. He seemed anxious. Might be a pretty good stall. All right, Rowan. Oh, that's the outside phone. Get the city jail. That's careful. Let's go on Friday. Okay. Hey, you. Elevator man. Yes, Sergeant. Let me see if I know how to work that thing. You taking over the elevator? I'm on the couple of minutes. You want to check me out? Nothing to it, Sergeant. All right. Now, here's the control, see? You push this lever right to go up, left to go down. You see this little trigger on the underside of the handle? Yeah. That's the safety lock. Be sure you squeeze it or you can't move the lever. Let me try it. That's it. Right to go up, left to go down. Right to go up, left to go down. How do you operate the doors? Automatic. They work off the control lever. When the control lever is locked in the up or down position, the doors will close. I get it. Now, in case they jam, this red emergency button up here. Yeah. Push it. If that doesn't close them, we call the repairman. Okay. I think I got it. You sure now? I've had my orders to get out of the building. I'll just leave the elevator right here and take the stairs down. All right. Thanks a lot. Sergeant, just curious. You going to take the bomb down in this car? We're going to try. You won't have any trouble. We haven't had an elevator failure in 18 months. The elevator man turned and went down the stairs. Outside of a handful of volunteers and a man with a bomb, the city hall was now cleared. I started down the corridor and met Ben outside the office. He told me that Lee Jones and Chief Erickson were on their way up in the freight elevator at the rear of the building with the necessary equipment. The two fire department volunteers were with him. The phone call had been put through to the city jail, and in a moment, L. Wood Carney would be ready at the other end of the line. We went in to tell Carney. I told him over to jail to put the calls through on extension 2351. Yeah. When's it coming through? Right now. You got L. Wood, will you? No. What, Carney? We told you we'd get him on the phone for you. The call will be through in a minute. A minute's a long time, cop. You only got 12 of them left. L. Wood's going to talk you out of this. I'm sure. I'm sure everybody's going to talk me out of this. First it was them other two cops, the little porky guy and that other monkey. Then you and this Dixie Doehead here, and now it's L. Wood. Come off it, will you, and get my brother over here. That's him. It's your brother, Carney. I'll get him. Stay put, you. Just going to get the phone. You want to talk to your brother, don't you? I'll take care of the phone. We'll disconnect you for a while. Now, get that straight copper. I'm through with your stinkin' rotten lying. I want L. Wood here, and I want him now. Bring him here before I blow you all the pieces. What's going on? Who threw that phone out in the hall? I did. You want me to go out and pick it up? Carney, that's not going to get you any place. You the big boss around here? Maybe. Why you, aren't you? I answered you. All right, big boy. I've got a piece of advice for you. Take your rookie cops here and get it through their heads. I mean what I say. I want my brother over here in this room. And you've got just 11 minutes to get it done. Tell them that, will you, boy? All right, Carney. It's your show. All right, we've got to work fast now. Jones, everything set for you? Put the bucket with the water right here. The car's wedging down in the street. Right. Eric's and your boys ready? Upstairs, waiting. And we all know what to do. Ed, I've got to have somebody to give me a hand with Carney when he falls. I'll be in there with you, Freddie. Freddie, go upstairs, gee. Any time. Oh, one thing you ought to know. What's that? A strong wind coming up about 20 miles an hour out there right now. That's going to louse his head? No, it is going to increase the sway. Got to allow for it. How do you mean? Wind's coming from the south. We'll lower you just to the right of the window. If I figure it correctly, the wind will do the rest. Big a risk, but we don't control the weather. How are you going to do it, Ben? As soon as I get in position, I'll reach in through the window on his right. I'll use the belly. Try to catch him on the right side of his head. One good hit should put him away. Let's make it two and be sure, huh? Right. You ready, gee? Now let's go. Ben? Yeah? Nothing. I'll be careful. You too, huh? What's the time, Freddie? 8.50. Shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes for a mirror to get down to that window. So wind gives him trouble. Jones, no use you sticking around. I'll give Freddie a hand. That's my job. We've got to keep you alive to decommission the bomb. Bomb joke. See you downstairs. You ready, Ed? Yeah. Scared, Freddie? Yeah. That makes us even. Come on. Ed Baxter and I went into the next room with Vernon Kearney. Our job was to keep him occupied until Ben was lowered to the window sill from the floor above. Ben was going to make a try from the window on Kearney's right. Somehow we had to keep Kearney's attention on us and away from that window. If anything went wrong and Kearney got out of position, the plan would fail. If Ben was spotted, the plan would fail. If Chief Erickson didn't estimate the force of the wind correctly, the plan would fail. After Ben slugged Kearney, my timing had to be perfect. If it wasn't, the plan would fail. I looked at my watch. It was eight minutes to nine. Kearney, anything we can say that'll make you change your mind? I've asked you a hundred times. Now I'm ordering you. You're going to get to a phone and have somebody send Elwood over here right now. I'm through waiting. Now move. You ripped out the phone, Kearney. Well, find another one. I told you I'm sick of your two-bit stalling. We've got until nine o'clock to make up our mind about this. We've had until nine. But you wouldn't do what I told you. Now I'm cutting you short. You guys have got exactly one minute to get a phone in this room for I can hear you call the jail and have them send Elwood over here. You said nine, Kearney. All right, Joe. We'll give him what he wants. Davis, unlock the connecting door to this office. I'll get the phone, Ed. Will the cord reach? Yeah. Your brother's a prisoner. He's in our custody and he's under our protection. We can't place his life in jeopardy. Why not leave it up to El? Here's the phone, Ed. Yeah. Ken Willey. This is Baxter and the one Elwood Kearney over here at City Hall. His brother wants to see him. Explain the situation if he wants to come get him over here. Leave it up to him. Room 1614. You'll have to use the freight elevator. And tell him to hurry. Yeah. Tell him to hurry. That's the only smart thing you've done today. Now why don't you go next door and figure out another angle? We'll wait for Elwood, too. You don't think I'd let you get out now, do you? We're all going to wait right here for my brother. In case he don't show up, you're going to see me pull the plug. Just sit down. Not so close. Right where you are, sit down. Loud clock, ain't it? Getting cold in here. Maybe I ought to close the windows. Don't want to catch me a cold. Turn on the heat. Stay put, cop. Hey, what's that? What's going on? It's just a wind, honey. There's somebody out there. I can see his feet. You stupid cops. Pull him up. Get back there. You pull him up. Friday, tell him to pull him up. All right, Charney. You win. You bet I win, you dumb coppers. You didn't think I'd miss a trick like that? We'll just close these windows, boys. There's one. Lock it. Here's your brother, Charney. You did it. I told you. I told you I'd do it, didn't I? That's far enough for the rest of you. Elle, come on over here. You're crazy, Vern. You're crazy. That's what they've been trying to tell me. We're going home, Elle. How are you going to do it? There's a million cops outside. People all over town heard about this. They're holding the crowd back. They ain't going to stop us now, Elle. You'll never make it. Either one of you. That's far, didn't I? We'll make it. Vern, you think we could do it? Hey, you. Yeah? You're going to get a car ready for us, a fast one. Have it in front of the building. Boom. All right, Franny. Do what he tells you. Right. Hold it. Yeah. If you ain't back by nine o'clock, the deal still holds. I told him I'd pull a pin at nine, Elle, if they didn't let you out. You ain't foolin' now, you Vern. Will that gadget really blow? Four miles high. You know what that means, Elle? Yeah. But they won't let you pull it. We're getting out. All right, Copper. Get the car. You've got four minutes. Hey, have any spot me? Yeah. There's no time to explain that. Listen, we've got to work fast. Yeah? We had to bring Carney's brother over from the jail. I don't think he cares if they get out or not. He just wants to use that bomb. And for some crazy reason, he's waiting until nine. How much time will go? I mean, look. Less than four minutes. How about the ledge? You think you can do it? Strong wind. You'll have to hang on like a fly. I don't know. I can give it a try. Okay. Same plan. Every second counts. Now, I can't brief Ed. He's in the room with the guy. It's up to you and me. I'll get on the ledge from one of these offices. I hope I'll make it. If you don't want to know, you try it. Hurry. Hey, Ben! Wait a minute! Yeah? I forgot. The windows. The one on his right. He locked it. You'll have to crawl around at the one on the left. Carl, be ready in two minutes. Up front. Fine. Eleanor, I'll just sit here and wait. It's going to be good being back together, Heil. We always worry you're good together, Vern. Yeah, that's the way brothers ought to be together all the time. Together. Vern, I'd feel better with a gun. We don't need no gun, El. We got the bomb. We'll need a gun when we get out, when we get on the road. Okay. Take your pick. They all got him. Hey, you, give him yours. I'm not carrying a gun. I left it in the other room. A cop without a gun? Who's kiddin' who? I left it in the other room. First the big boy, El. He's got one. About time for the car, ain't it? Two minutes to nine. Yeah, this feels like it. Right on his hip. Hey, Vern, look out! Grab him, Joe. I got him. Get the box. Leave that gun alone. I got him, Ben. I gotta get his hand out of it. Run, Joe. Get it in the water. Run! In the past elevator, 16 floors isn't very much. But I've never shared an elevator with a live bomb. It seemed like minutes between floors. I kept watching the bucket. The bomb was completely underwater. A small stream of bubbles was kissing to the surface. I waited. Main floor. I picked up the bucket and ran for the street. I missed the first step. I fell forward. The bucket spun out of my hand. I sprawled flat on the sidewalk. I waited for the explosion. It didn't go off, Friday. I gave it a good chance, Lee. It was all there. Look, at least a dozen sticks of dynamite. Snyder, bring that over here. Here you are, Lieutenant. Thanks. Here's why it didn't go off. Had it rigged for a hard trigger pull. Would have taken a good yank to set this one off. Yeah. Hi, Joe. Hi, man. You have just heard is true. Only the names were changed to protect the innocent. Vernon Carney was examined by five different psychiatrists appointed by the Superior Court and was found to be incompetent. He is now confined in the state mental institution for the criminally insane. L. Wood Carney is now serving the balance of his sentence with no time off for good behavior. You have just heard the seventh in a new series of authentic cases from official files. Technical advice for Dragnet is furnished by the Los Angeles Police Department. Tonight's program is dedicated to town marshal Lon T. Larson of the Mount Pleasant, Utah, Force, who, on the night of October 15th, 1945, gave his life until that yours might be more secure. Dragnet came to you from Los Angeles. This is NBC, the national broadcasting company.