 The Equitable Life Assurance Society presents This is your FBI This is your FBI The official broadcast from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation presented as a public service by the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States and the Equitable Society's representative in your community Yesterday or this morning, did you receive a postcard from a representative of the Equitable Life Assurance Society? A postcard suggesting that you listened to the middle commercial on this Equitable Society radio program Equitable Society representatives set out tens of thousands of such postcards because this middle commercial has a very important message It describes the Equitable Society's independent 60s plan a practical workable plan for people who want to be independent in their 60s I'll be back in approximately 14 minutes to give you full information on this special plan offered by the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States Tonight's FBI file, The Gentle Killer is unfortunate but true that the average citizen does not look upon the current crime wave as something which can and does affect him It is part of his mental pattern to hear something about crime, some statistic or observation and to regard it as a fact about another world a world in which he is not a citizen but a rather distant observer He hears, for instance, that more than a million and a half major crimes are committed every year in the United States And if he has any feeling at all about that statement, it is probably one of detached sympathy for the various and sundry victims The greater probability is that he doesn't really feel one way or the other about it The Federal Bureau of Investigation would like to correct that feeling of widespread apathy about the crime wave No one in the nation, wherever he may be, is distant from the activities of the country's army of criminals They operate 12 months a year in every corner of the land and no hamlet is so secluded that it knows no crime Every crime committed anywhere ultimately affects you for it is like a pebble thrown into a lake and unless stopped by some barrier the ripples move outward and ever outward as crime spreads when it is not checked Your FBI urges you, the decent citizen, to stop the ripples from spreading ever further to help fight the crime wave with every weapon at your command For this war against crime is total war There can be no conditional surrender Either decency wins or the criminals take over The important thing to realize is that this war can be won if the forces of law and order receive some needed support Support from you Next file opens in a railroad station in a large eastern city It is early evening and in one corner of the station the telephone operator sits at a switchboard waiting for travelers to place their calls Yes, sir, may I help you? Yes, I want to call Centerville Vermont What number, please? Centerville 734 Seven, three, four You may take this and lose five, sir, pay as you leave Thank you Calling Centerville Vermont Hi Johnny, come from, where have you been? I can't answer any questions now, Mary Oh, but I want it Look, I'm in trouble What? I'm in trouble, sis Can I make a local call here? Yes, madam, booze 20 through 30 are for local calls You have two nickels, please Yes, ma'am Here you are Thank you Johnny, are you in trouble with the police? No You're sure? Yes Then what? I need a place to hide, where are you living? Well, I have an apartment Where? On First Avenue You've got to let me use it, Mary Well You've got to Well, wait a minute, I'll get you the key Calling Centerville Seven, three, four Seven, three, four Thank you Here, Johnny Here's the key Thanks The address is 788 First Avenue And I'll be home about 5.30 Okay Wait, Johnny What? If you're not hiding from the police Who are you hiding from? A man named Al Norman He's going to kill me You didn't see anyone in the lobby? John, what is it all about? I told you before A man named Al Norman wants to kill me Why? Well, he thinks I sent him to jail How? By telling the cops where he was hiding out Did you? Not really You see, we... Well, we grabbed a place down south together Johnny I was in a saloon, I was drunk This fella asked me if I wanted to pick up some easy money I said sure I went to this grocery store And I had a gun, I didn't know it And we were running out, he shot one of the clerks Oh We both got away, I came back up here, Al went out west You came back here and didn't even call me? I stayed up in Franklin Falls, it was safer Well, why does this man Norman think you sent him to jail? Well, I was... Tell me I drank too much one night, talked about the job About how Al shot the clerk A friend of his heard me Al was picked up by the cops a little while after that And figured they picked him up because I talked That wasn't true, Mary, I didn't turn him into the cops Anyway, he was convicted, got 20 years Then how can he be looking for you? He just broke out of jail Why don't you call the police? Will they protect you? Protect me? They'd send me away Then what can they do? I've been sitting here thinking There is a way to get me out of this Oh, what is it? Al Norman knew where I was living in Franklin Halls That's where I'll go I want you to call the police up there Give them the address of the place I lived Tell them that Norman will turn up there Will you do that, Mary? Well... Please, I don't want you to call from here Well, why not? They could trace the call Go down the corner, use the pay phone And don't tell the police who you are If this works, if they get Norman, I'm clear Following afternoon at the local FBI field office Special Agent Jim Taylor is at his desk When Agent Walter Bedford approaches Hello, Jim Oh, hi, Walt I guess you got my note, huh? Uh-huh What's it about? Another escaped prisoner Federal? No, he escaped from the state prison But we had a detainer on it Anybody I might know? His name is Al Norman Dapper Al? Yeah, that's right That was in the San Francisco office When we arrested him out there No He was turned over to local authorities Some place down south And was convicted of farm robbery And attempted murder When did he escape? Years ago As far as I remember his record, Jim This town was never one of his hangouts How come we've got the file? Well, one of Norman's cellmates Who escaped with him was captured He told the prison authorities That Norman was headed here Any idea of where? Probably Franklin Falls Why? Well, the local police at Franklin Falls Called in this morning And said that they got an anonymous tip last night Saying that Al Norman Would come to a certain address there Sometime today What would he be doing there, Jim? Well, according to that same cellmate Norman was sure that his old partner Tipped the police off on his arrest Norman swore that one day He'd break out of jail, find the partner And kill him What was the partner's name? We have no idea So we'd better head off Al Norman And we'll have a murder on our hands That's right Oh, Walt, how clean is your desk? I've got a deposition to take In the Johnson case, then I'm free All right, you take your deposition And get that out of the way first Okay I'll run up to Franklin Falls And see if I can help trap Al Norman How are you doing home? Well, I've been calling you all morning Oh, it was you I let it ring Al Norman wasn't caught by the police In Franklin Falls How do you know? I heard it on the radio during my ten-minute break What happened? They didn't say That's bad He'll come here Well, he doesn't know where I live He knows I've got a sister He knows you work at the railroad station I'll have to get out of here Have you got any money? Well, about ten dollars Let me have it, sis Well, are you leaving right now? No, I'll wait till it gets dark Where are you going? I don't know Well, you can't just... Talk to you now Call me some other time, Freddie What was that? Oh, friend, look, Johnny I've got to go back to work Okay Here's the ten dollars I'll give you the number of the switchboard It's made in 8181 here Now, we're not supposed to get incoming calls But wherever you go, call me Let me know where you are Al Norman, file Walden What do you mean, almost? You've been near the teletype room this morning? No, Jim, I've been working on his deposition Oh, well, Norman showed up in Franklin Falls All right, and just about on schedule And he wasn't captured? No, the police knew that he was coming to a certain address up there so they surrounded the building They spotted him coming out We're about to start shooting when they saw that he had three small children with him They belonged to one of the tenants I guess he spotted the cordon Yeah, he knew we wouldn't fire or follow him as long as he had the kids The police have any idea where he headed? Well, the local police here just gave me the answer to that Oh They just got a report from a man who was heading here down the Franklin Falls highway Norman flashed a gun, commandered his car and made him bring him all the way into the city Then he's here in town right now Yeah, here with a loaded gun That's Al Norman Are you sure? Yeah I'm getting out of here right now Do you know yet where you're going? No, not yet I'll call you when I light some place All right So long Come on To tonight's exciting case from the official files of your FBI Now here's an invitation to all members of this audience an invitation to share in the benefits of the Equitable Society's Independent 60s plan Independent 60s means exactly what it says Financial independence when it's time to retire Members of this equitable group are determined that they'll never have to ask for charity They intend to be self-supporting and self-respecting When they reach retirement age they often move to sections of this country where the climate is mild and pleasant all year round Take me, for instance I've got a little orange grove on the west coast of Florida Boy, what a life People with Equitable Society Independent 60s plans have plenty of opportunity for travel Time for hobbies I've caught more fish in this last year than all the rest of my life put together Naturally everybody wants to join in the Equitable Society's Independent 60s plan Then what holds a man back from joining? He makes the mistake I went on making for years He thinks you have to be rich to belong How did you find out the truth from my Equitable Society representative? He showed me how a comparatively small investment in life insurance would do the job That's right Social security gives the average man a big head start towards independent 60s What's more, your Equitable Society representative will show you how to integrate your present insurance into the plan Only a small amount of additional insurance may be required to put you in the class of men who look forward with complete confidence to independent 60s A few extra dollars a week did it for me In any case, why not see your Equitable representative without delay? Phone him soon Or send a postcard care of this station to the Equitable Society That's E-Q-U-I-T-A-B-L-E The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States And now back to the FBI file The Gentle Killer Tonight's case offers an illustration of an important fact about the various investigations handled by the special agents of your FBI In this case, a vicious killer is loose and stalking his victim The two special agents assigned to the case know that the man he intends to kill is himself a wanted criminal It would be easier for those agents to adopt the attitude that the loss of that criminal would be negligible so far as society was concerned And yet, they do not adopt that attitude They work as hard to protect this man as they would any decent member of the community The reason for this is not as you might suspect that they have the slightest sympathy for the criminal who is being hunted because it is not a part of their job to convict anyone The job of the special agent is to investigate the violations of approximately 120 federal statutes and where possible to make the arrest of the victims and criminals involved Those men arrested are then entitled to their day in court And it is the job of a prosecuting attorney to secure the conviction The only part of aiding in getting that conviction that falls to the lot of the special agent is as a witness at the trial And so in tonight's case these agents do not allow themselves to pre-judge the hunted man but work to protect him Possibly that is why the name of the department under which the Federal Bureau of Investigation functions is called the Department of Justice Tonight's file continues at the local FBI field office Anything come in on that Al Norman Alarm? No, Jim, they haven't located Norman but we did get one new fact Oh, what's that, Walter? The Franklin Falls police called in and said they checked the description of the man Norman came to kill Yes, they found that the name he uses is Johnny White I assume you didn't get anything while you were out No, not much. I spent most of the time interviewing a man named Bert Turner Who's he, Jim? Oh, he's the man whose car was come and did by Al Norman on the highway outside of Franklin Falls He told me Norman kept talking most of the way in What about? Al Norman told him to be sure and see you tomorrow morning's papers Why? He said he was coming here to kill a man and it would be on the front pages tomorrow while he boasted about the fact Tomorrow morning's papers, huh? That's right, Walter That means he's going to try and commit that murder tonight Yes, sir. May I help you? I'd like Central 4245, please That's a local call booths 2230 for local calls, sir Thank you You're welcome Yeah, pardon me Yes, sir, may I help you? Yeah, I'd like a little information Oh, well, if you go to booth 9 I'll connect you with information I mean information from you I'm not trying to get fresh I'm just trying to find out where I can get in touch with him Who are you talking about? The fellow's picture you've got framed there on your switchboard I don't know him You'll keep a picture of a guy you don't know? It belongs to one of the other girls No, it don't That's your brother, Miss White I phoned your place a little while ago I spoke to him there You called my... Then I went to see him But he was gone I'm an old friend of your brother's, Miss White He said in case I couldn't find him when I got to town to see you Pardon me 8181 Mary, this is Johnny We don't give out that information I'm sorry I'm sorry, it's against the rules Listen, I got a room You may speak to the chief operator Do you like, sir? It's a rooming house Yes, sir Thank you, sir, I shall connect you You just disconnected I guess I did New customer What do you mean? You never get incoming calls on these switchboards That is unless it's somebody special you gave the number to Well, that was the wrong number Oh, I see If you're here from Johnny, Miss Will you tell him his friend Al was looking for him? I will And tell him not to worry I won't leave town without seeing Tell him he can count on that We've got some action on that Al Norman alarm, Walter You mean he's been caught, Jim? Not quite, but at least we know where he was Where? They see him this afternoon How long ago? Al Norman, we sent up their arrive One of the railroad policemen recognized him He'd been wandering in and out of those stores Waiting for a train to leave I don't know, but the railroad police have notified every train that left here within the last hour to conduct a car-by-car search for Norman You know, the only thing that bothers me is that if he is on a train leaving here that means he's already committed the murder Well, let's get over to the railroad station Maybe the station master's office will have some word from those outgoing trains Then we can interview the clerks in every store in the concourse If there was any purpose to his wandering in and out of them it might hasten his arrest Yes, sir, may I help you? Yes, ma'am I'm a special agent of the FBI Hear my credentials Yes, sir Will you please take a look at this picture, Miss... Quite Miss White Has that man been around here? I don't think so If you could remember for sure Well, you see, I talked to so many people I understand I'd like to help you, Mr. Taylor Yes, I'm sure you would Well, if this man should come here would you call the FBI office here in town? Oh, yes, sir Oh, by the way Yes? That picture there on your switchboard Who is that? Oh, that belongs to the operator who comes on to relieve me I think it's a... Yes, it's her boyfriend Thank you, Miss White And remember, if the man whose picture I gave you comes around, please call us Johnny, I saw El Norman Where? He came to the station When? An hour ago What did he want? What did you tell him? I said you were out of town Tomorrow you'll be right, I'm leaving I don't know any place but here If I can do anything else Oh, Miss White You're a tough guy to catch up with, Johnny Get out of here Look, I put in a hard day's work finding this guy First I had to locate you And I had to tell you here What do you want? I already told you on the phone, Johnny I'm going to kill you No I won't cut in miles, you kid I can get it over with right now Wait, wait, please Throw the cuffs on the morsel Who are you? Special agents of the FBI Both you and El Norman are under arrest He was returned to prison to serve the remainder of his 20-year term John White was tried and convicted in state court and when the facts developed that his crime was caused largely by the influence of El Norman his sentence was reduced to 10 years Special agents Taylor and Bedford divided the stores on the railroad station concourse so that no time would be lost In questioning Mary White Special agent Taylor recognized the picture of her brother on the side of the switchboard recognized it because your FBI had been given a complete description by the police department down south where the original robbery had taken place Agent Taylor also knew that the intended victim's name was Johnny White thanks to investigation by still another local police department He therefore realized that Miss White was not telling him the truth There was a surveillance on her when she left work that night As he and Agent Bedford started to follow her from the railroad station they saw El Norman and realized that he was doing the same thing Rather than arrest him on the street and so possibly warn her that she was being watched they determined to let both Mary White and El Norman lead them to the hideout As you have seen that is exactly what happened and as a result another FBI file was closed closed with the removal of a dangerous killer from our midst In just a moment we will tell you about next week's exciting case from the files of your FBI Now two final questions on the Equitable Society's independent 60's plan Mr. Keating, I'm 35 years old Is that too young to start one of these plans? No, your equitable representative will show you that the younger you are when you start the lower your yearly cost will be What income can a plan like this give me by 60's? Your Equitable Society representative will give you the exact figure geared to what you can afford to pay now and to your future needs Ask him to drop around for a friendly visit phone him soon or send a postcard care of this station to the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States Next week we will dramatize another case from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation a story revealing the expert workings of a gang of professional swindlers its subject broad its title The Rocking Chair Shakedown The incidents used in tonight's Equitable Life Assurance Society's broadcast are adapted from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation However all names used are fictitious and any similarity thereof to the names of persons living or dead is accidental Tonight the music was composed and conducted by Frederick Steiner the author was Jerry D. Lewis your narrator was William Woodson and special agent Taylor was played by Stacey Harris others in the cast were Alice Bacchus Harry Bartell, Herb Ellis William Hawes, Tom Holland and Charlotte Lawland This is your FBI is a Jerry Divine production This is Larry Keating speaking for the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States and the Equitable Society is representative in your community and inviting you to tune in again next week sometime when the Equitable Life Assurance Society will bring you another thrilling story from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation The Rocking Chair Shakedown on this is your FBI This is ABC the American Broadcasting Company