 Ladies and gentlemen, you may now read Dragnet every day on the comic page of your favorite newspaper. Please consult your local daily paper. The story you are about to hear is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. Fatima cigarettes. Best of all, king-size cigarettes brings you Dragnet on both radio and television. You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned a bunco detail. A team of confidence men are taking thousands of dollars from the people of your city. Their method of operation? Posing as solicitors for different charitable causes. There's no lead to their whereabouts. Your job? Stop them. Compare Fatima with any other king-size cigarette. Yes, compare Fatima with any other king-size cigarette. 1. Fatima's length filters the smoke 85 millimeters for your protection. 2. Fatima's length cools the smoke for your protection. 3. Fatima's length gives you those extra puffs, 21 percent longer than standard cigarette size. Fatima gives you more for your money. And in king-size Fatima, you get an extra mild and soothing smoke, plus the added protection of Fatima quality. Buy Fatima in the bright sunny yellow pack. Dragnet, the documented drama of an actual crime. For the next 30 minutes in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department, you will travel step-by-step on the side of the law through an actual case transcribed from official police files. From beginning to end, from crime to punishment, Dragnet is the story of your police force in action. It was Tuesday, February 16th. It was cold in Los Angeles. We were working the day watch out of Bunko detail. My partner's Bill Lockwood. The boss is Captain Steed. My name's Friday. We were on the way out from the office, and it was 2.18 p.m. when we got to First and Valencia. The West Valley Hotel. We're here to the left, Joe. No, you're not. Excuse me? Sorry, we're all filled up. No more rooms. No, we don't want to register. We're police officers. I'd like to check one of your guests. You have a Raymond Seidel registered. S-E-I-D-E-L-L. Let's see, uh... No, there's no Raymond Seidel registered. Small man, about 5'6", 130 pounds, tan complexion, between 35 and 40, wears orange glasses. Well, I don't know. What's the trouble, anyway? Anyone like that registered here? I was just about to say there's no Raymond Seidel. We got a Raymond Singer, though. Oh, small fella, he wears glasses. I'd say he was about 3'4". In his room now? No, matter of fact, he just left a minute ago. He went out for lunch, I think, just before you fellas walked in. Where does he usually eat, you know? Our coffee shop, right next door. He's got a great top coat on, great hat. Okay, thanks. You can use that door right here. It connects to the coffee shop. Right, thank you. Spot him. Yeah, fire under the counter, up on the front door, see him? Yeah, description checks, then. Come on. He spotted us going through the front door. All right, police officers, hold it up there. Make your run for it. All right, come on. This way. Where'd he go? I lost him. Alley up ahead, he ducked in there. Down the ramp, Joe, hotel garage. Ran in there. All right, come on, let's hurry. You spot him, Bill? No. Any other way out beside this ramp? Wait a minute. Yeah, down the far end there, another exit. I'll take that, you cover this end. Right. All right, watch it, Billy. He's coming out, the blue sedan. All right, hold it. Look out, Joe, coming at us. I'll go for his tire. What's the pitch anyway? I wasn't doing anything. Hands behind you. Raymond Seidel, is that right? That's right, I wasn't doing anything. What's this all about? You know as well as we do. Look what you did in my car. Just look at it. You cracked it up, Mr. Weedon. Come on. Come on, where? I haven't done anything. We want to talk to you downtown. I'm not saying anything. You can talk to my lawyer. Get the story from him. We already got it. Come on, let's go. 2.35 p.m. We took the suspect Raymond Seidel back to the hotel with us, where we checked his room thoroughly. Bill got on the phone, made arrangements to have Seidel's car impounded and a stakeout placed at the hotel. Then we drove back to the city hall and took the suspect to the interrogation room. A check through our records and identification bureau earlier in the day had revealed a fair-sized record for Seidel. He'd had four previous local arrests. Two for petty theft, one for second-degree burglary, one for grand theft auto. He'd been convicted on one of the petty thefts and also on the burglary charge for which he'd served time in the state penitentiary at San Quentin. Bill and I started questioning him. The first half hour we got nowhere. I told you, I haven't been doing anything. I've been clean ever since I got out. Where were you last night, Ray? Knocking around town. What'd you do? Had a couple of drinks, went to a show, came out and went to see some bimbo, I know. What's your name? Helen, lives up on South Custer. You can ask her. She'll tell you I was there. What time did you see her? About 10 o'clock. Yeah, just about. You're a liar, Ray. Hmm? You're a liar. What gives you a call to say that? It's a truth. Then four other people must be lying. What do you mean what other people? You know what I mean. Now, how about it, Ray? I don't know what you mean, so help me. I don't. Why don't you give it upside down? You ought to know better. We wouldn't have you down here if we didn't have you pegged. Pegged for what? I don't even know what you're talking about. All right, then. I'll tell you, Ray. About 8.30 last night, you put in a call to a Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Keyes. They live out in East Hollywood. Gladstone, 3962. Mrs. Keyes answered the phone. You told her you were taking contributions for European children war orphans. You knew she was interested in the cause. You asked her for a donation. You're crazy. That wasn't me. You've done Mrs. Keyes, and she agreed to contribute. She offered $50. You talked her up to $150. She asked you where to send the money, and you said never mind. You'd be out to collect it. 45 minutes later, you were out there. You parked your car by a candy store down the street from the Keyes' home. You walked up the block to the Keyes' place, collected the money, and you left. Now, you prove it with me. You prove it. We got her cold, Seidel. Mrs. Keyes' husband got suspicious about the setup. 45 minutes after you phoned you were at the front door with your handout. You had no credentials, nothing. You noticed you parked your car down the street instead of in front of the house. You got the license number of your car when you pulled away, so the owner of the candy store. You parked your car just outside his place. All three of them can describe you and your car. Mr. Keyes, Mrs. Keyes, the man at the candy store. Yeah, that right. Getting over to your ray? Gonna take more than a couple of people to build a case. All right, we got more. You gave Mrs. Keyes a signed receipt for the $150. You signed it, Tom Seidel. Our handwriting man checked the signature with a specimen of your handwriting we got from your package. Now, they both checked, not a doubt in the world. What do you say? I don't know. What would you say? You're a jam. What's the story? Isn't any of it? Why should I dig my grave? Any way you want it. You're gonna stand the load for the last two months, including the one you pulled last night that makes 14 cases. It's a lie. It's a lousy lie. Cigarette ray? What are you trying to do to me anyway? 14 jobs have never hustled that hard in my life. That's how many we've had in the last couple of months. Why load them on me? Every one of them follow the same general MO. Same way you worked at last night. We don't know where you got your list of names, but you contact people who are interested in different charities. You pose as an authorized solicitor. You get their money and then you take off. The last two months, you've been collecting for more than 10 different drives. European orphans, the milk fund, summer camp for underprivileged kids, crippled children's fund. People give their money in good faith and you take off with it. Look, uh... Your MO follows all the way through. It's a sour racket, Ray. We're gonna lean hard on you. I said, will you wait a minute? I know what I'm done. I'll give you the story. Yeah? I'm not taking the whole load on my back. I'll cop out to the one last night, but that's all. You look good for all of them. Look, will you give me a chance? The one last night was the first try for me. It's the only one I ever tried. I'm squaring with you. I was crazy even to make a pass that I shouldn't have known better. I'm not a bunkman. We already told you, Ray. Last night's a close match with the other jobs. You say you'll cop out to one. How do we account for the other 13? Just among us. Whatever I say, I don't want credit for it. All right. What's the pitch? Can I have that cigarette now? Yeah. There you are. Yeah, thanks. Here's a match. Thanks. I got another thing Sunday night. Doing a little drinking at this place on Boyle Avenue. There were a couple of guys at the bar I was talking about it. I didn't know them. Talking about what? The racket. Getting a list of marks and collecting charity money from them. These two guys weren't working it. They just heard it was going on. They were yacking the bartender about it. They figured some out of town grifters were doing it. And you figured you'd get in on the bandwagon, is that it? Well, I thought I'd try a couple of jobs. That's all. Need a few bucks to tide me over. Didn't look like much of a risk. What do you mean? Well, I heard about the MO the grifters were using. Pretty simple to copy. I followed it through just the way I heard they did it. They had a half dozen jobs under their belt already. If you knocked them over and they had to stand the wrap, a couple of jobs of mine wouldn't make any difference. Pre-ride, is that what you figured on? What's the difference? I didn't get it. Figured you'd catch up with them and they'd take the wrap for my jobs along with their own. And it's just my luck. You get me instead and now I'm up to stand the wrap for everything. That's a pretty fair story, Ray. Any way of proving it? Sure, easy. These grifters started working here two months ago, didn't they? They hit pretty hard the first week or so, didn't they? Yeah. Well, I wasn't even in town then. I wasn't here the whole month. I was at Monterey. Any way of proving that? Sure, I asked the sheriff up there. Huh? Ask a sheriff. He'll tell you. Why should he know anything about it? He ought to. He had me in jail the whole month. 3.40 p.m. While Bill continued questioning the suspect, Raymond Seidel, I went down the hall to the squad room and put in a call to the Monterey County Sheriff's Office. They confirmed Seidel's story. He'd been arrested in the town of Monterey December 13th, approximately two months before on charges of vagrancy and suspicion of robbery. He was confined in the county jail there from December 13th to January 15th, the same period of time during which the unidentified Bunko men had started their campaign of falsely soliciting funds for various charities. While the information cleared Seidel of any part in the Bunko charity operations throughout the city that month, he still had to answer for his actions the night before, soliciting contributions falsely from the couple out in East Hollywood, Mr. and Mrs. Keys. After his statement was taken, Bill Lockwood and I drove Seidel to the main jail where we booked him in on suspicion of 48 p.c. petty theft. Further investigation the next day and a half seemed to indicate that the last story we got from Seidel was pretty close to the facts. It was the case of a small-time thief imitating the apparently successful formula of a veteran team of Bunko artists, an imitation which in the criminal world is far from unusual. A week passed, despite the broadcasts, the bulletins and the special notices we'd gotten out on the suspects and their operations, there were three more cases reported. One of them came from a Mrs. Teresa Guilfoyle, the woman in charge of the crippled children's home. Bill and I drove out to talk to her. This is the first thing I want to show you, officers. What's that? This way, please. Go ahead, Bill. Yes, ma'am? Mere sweetheart. There are two gentlemen here I'd like to have you meet. Steven, this is Sergeant Friday, and this is Officer Lockwood, their policeman. This is Steven, officers. He's three years old. Well, how are you, Steven? Hello, son. He'd like to say hello, officers, but he can't. His legs aren't his only trouble. He can't hear. He can't talk, either. Oh, it's too bad. You're learning, though, aren't you, sweetheart? And you bet you are. A little while with us, and you'll be talking a blue streak. All right, honey, you run along and play now. Real sweetheart, isn't he? I wanted you to meet him. So you'd see what this means to us. When I look at children like that, this whole mess just makes my blood boil. Yes, ma'am, we see what you mean. It's hard enough getting people to contribute money to keep this place open, help those poor kids to walk and talk. Thieves have to make it even harder. The way things are, I can't see how we're going to get through the year. Oh, how much he estimate has cost you, Mr. Gelfoyle? I mean, how much in donations are these 40 solicitors taken? Well, I know of at least $700 they've collected from different people, though it knows how much more money they got that was supposed to go to the home. I suppose a lot of people still think they gave their money to the right person. Did you receive the notice we sent out about six weeks ago, ma'am, about how these thieves operated? Yes, I did. I made a special note of it. When we sent out our annual appeal letter to our regular donors, most of your notice was incorporated right in it. I don't know what happened. I guess they didn't pay any attention to it. When did you first find out something was wrong, ma'am? It was yesterday morning. One of our regular donors, Mr. Baxter, called me. He wanted to know if we received his contribution all right. He wondered because he didn't receive his regular thank you note. That's when he told me about this man who came to his house and collected the money. I see. Sometimes I heard that. Two of the other girls and myself got on the phone and called every one of the regular donors. There were ten of them, just like Mr. Baxter, gave their good money to help these tots and we never received a penny of it. I've got all their names and addresses here if you'd like them. Yes, ma'am. Welcome to them if you want them. Yes, that'd be fine. We'd like to check with each one of them. Now, this is the complete list. All the regular donors who contributed and their money wasn't received. Is that right? Yes, sir, all those we know of is probably a lot more, I suppose. You've been in police work for a few years, haven't you, Sergeant? You must have met all kinds. Yes, ma'am, I suppose so. What kind would you say these men are? I mean, going around and stealing the little regular income we have from donations. What kind of persons can they be? Well, there's thousands of them as gilfoil. They walk every city in the world. They want money. They want everything that goes with it. They'll do anything but work for it. But the money these men are stealing, they must know it's for these crippled children. They help them walk again, help them talk. Little kids like Steven. Yes, ma'am. These men call themselves human beings. And they take help away from a child like that. Humans. I couldn't be more ashamed of them. Ashamed of living the same city with them. Yes, ma'am. You'd think God would punish them. You'd think God would come down and punish them right now. Well, maybe he's even ashamed. Before we left, Mrs. Gilfoil gave us a complete list of the names and addresses of donors who contributed annually to the upkeep of the crippled children's home. For the next couple of days, Bill and I contacted each one of them personally. Those people who'd already given their contributions to the thieves unknowingly were unable to help us. Their descriptions of the men who solicited money from them in the name of the crippled children's home generally duplicated the descriptions we'd gotten from the previous victims. None of them were very detailed, but they did seem to confirm our theory that there were two or more men involved in the bunco operation. Receipts for the money they'd given the thieves were signed either by a Fred Wellman or a Norman Archer. The handwriting varied in each case. Those donors on the list who had not yet been contacted were the best hope we had of reaching the suspects. Since the crippled children's home appealed for funds only through the mail, we advised these people to get in touch with us immediately if anyone contacted them by phone and asked for contributions. A few more days passed, Monday, February 27th. We got a callback from one of these donors, a Mr. George Stage of the Consolidated Pool Company out in the valley. We located him supervising work at the site of one of their pool constructions in the Toluca Lake area. Oh, yeah. Glad to see you again, Sergeant. Say, could you hold on just a minute? I want to test that batch of mud and see if a mixture's right. Won't take a minute. Yes, sir. Go right ahead. Andy! Andy, come here a minute, will ya? How's that mixture look for you? Sure nice-looking pool, isn't it, Bill? Ah, big one. Sure me nice to have, wouldn't it? Yeah. Why don't you look into it? It's about all I could afford to do right now. Look into it. Okay, Sergeant. Six-two and even. I'm gonna go over by the truck, lose some of these rickets so we can talk. All right, that's fine. I hope I got something for you. You said on the phone you got a call last night. Well, I didn't. My wife did. They wanted to talk to me, but I wasn't home yet. I'm finishing a pool for some folks in Encina. Have a seat there if you want. Clean off this running board for you. Oh, that's all right. Fine. Well, what was the gist of the phone call, Mr. Stage? Who was it? Well, as I say, the wife answered. A fellow told her his name was Mr. Archer. He said he was collecting for the crippled kids' home. Of course, the wife knew the setup. After you talked to me, I warned her about the phony collectors going around. What'd she tell them, Nancy? Well, she didn't get a chance to tell them anything. She needed most of the talking. She gave her a big spiel about how much the poor crippled kids needed help. The wife asked him if he'd leave a number so I could call him back when I got home. Well, did he leave a number? No. No, he gave some phony excuse. He wouldn't be at the same phone, something like that. How? Went out to ask her if she couldn't make out a check. Said he could come right out to pick it up. The wife said no, she couldn't. Matter of fact, she couldn't. I've got the checkbook. Excuse me. Andy! Andy, get one of the boys to help you down the hole. You can't do that all by yourself. My partner, Andy, is a great worker. Yes, sir. Well, what was the upshot of the phone conversation between Archer and your wife on there? Well, she kept asking for a phone number or an address someplace where I could get back to him when I got home. I guess they got it figured, though. He wouldn't give her a thank. And that's the way it ended, sir? Yes, sir. That's it. Might be I'll have better luck, though. What do you mean? Well, this fellow Archer told the wife he'd call me back tonight. You are listening to Dragnet. Authentic stories of your police force in action. Because of its quality, its extra mildness, its better flavor and aroma, more smokers coast to coast are switching to king-size Fatima's every day. Prove Fatima quality yourself. Compare Fatima with any other king-size cigarette. One, Fatima's length filters the smoke 85 mm for your protection. Two, Fatima's length cools the smoke for your protection. Three, Fatima's length gives you those extra puffs 21% longer than standard cigarette size. Fatima gives you more for your money. And in king-size Fatima, you get an extra mild and soothing smoke, plus the added protection of Fatima quality. Friends, in Fatima, the difference is quality. Fatima contains the finest tobacco superbly blended, and Fatima is extra mild with a much different, much better flavor and aroma. Remember, Fatima gives you more for your money because it's king-size and because you get the added protection of Fatima quality. Look for the bright, sunny yellow pack. Switch to Fatima today. Monday, February 27th, 1.30 p.m. As soon as we found out there was a possibility that one of the Bunko suspects might contact the potential victim, George Stage, that night, Bill and I started making arrangements to be ready for him. At 6.45 p.m., we were at the stage home when the suspect telephoned. He identified himself as Norman Archer. George Stage followed our instructions to the letter. He agreed to make a contribution and asked Archer to call at his home to pick up the check. He set the date for 9 o'clock that night to allow us enough time for preparations. We got in touch with Lieutenant Lee Jones at the crime lab, and he sent out two of his sound technicians with a microphone set up and a tape recorder. By 8 p.m., the installation was complete. The microphone concealed in the living room of the stage home and the tape recorder set up in an adjoining room. Bill and I were stationed at the recorder in the bedroom. 8.30, 8.45, we waited. 9 p.m., 9.05. Somebody at the front door. Yeah, you want to give me that headset, Bill? Here you go. Thank you. Okay, you want to turn on the recorder? Right, John. Hey, sir, glad to know you. Oh, yeah, Archer. Glad to meet you. Come on in. Thank you. All right, just sitting here watching television. Yeah, I see. Well, I don't suppose I have to tell you what a worthy cause it is. I represent Cripple Children's Home. I'm glad to make a donation. It's one of my favorite charity. I'm certainly happy to hear that, sir. Really, do you have any idea how much good your money does? Those little tarts out of the home really need our help. All the help we can give them, as far as they do. Are you one of the officials out of the home? Well, yes, I suppose you'd call it. And I'm one of the authorized collectors for the maintenance fund. I received every donation, all made out in your name. Yeah, here we are. I suppose you know that all donations to the home are deductible from your income tag. Yeah. Well, here we are. See, it's all filled out. Your name and address. This space, yeah, that bank is the amount of your contribution. I'll fill it out right now. All right. How much would you like me to put you down for, sir? Well, I don't know. I don't have too much cash on hand. Would it check me all right? Well, actually, we don't like to be fussy, but it does help our book work. The donations are made in cash. We're handling the funds. Oh, well, I've only got $20 or $30 in cash. I'd like to give more than that. You sure a check wouldn't be all right? Well, as I said, it's simple if a donation is cash, but a check is all right. Check's fine. Company checks are all I have here. Consolidated pool can be like a donation from the company. Oh, fine. Now, how should I make that out now, payable to the government? It's not incorporated. So what's your first name again? No, H.E.R. How much shall I put you down for? Yes, we certainly appreciate it, too. Our maintenance costs have gone up. To give those youngsters nothing but the best. I mean, if you could see your way clear to make it a little more this year, we'd certainly thank you for it. Is that a very good year? Let's make it 250. I appreciate it, Mr. Stege. Really, if it wasn't for such a great cause, I'd be embarrassed asking you for money. Not at all, only that. Yes, sir. We got it. Now, Rotten, can you get it? Yes, sir. Bill, do you want to take a look out the window? All right. Mr. Stege, will you leave that tape recorder right where it is? Don't let anyone touch it. We'll be back. Yeah, all right. He's pulling out, Joe. We're heading down the street. Okay. You see him, Bill? Yeah. Don't pass the next block. All right, let's hurry. Go ahead, slide on my side here. All right, let's keep the lights off for a couple of blocks. Don't get him excited. All right. Can you see him? The one turning left, grace it in. Is that him? Let's see. Yeah, that's it. Pull up close if you can, huh? See if we can make his license. Give it a try. How's that? A little closer. Okay, that's fine. One sugar 16605. All right. I'll check it and see if it's hot. One K80 to control one. One K80 to control one. One K80 to control one. Request rolling make for stolen and DMV on one sugar 16605. Repeat, 1S1 6605 KM8367. I wish we'd gotten a good look at him, Bill. Might've recognized him, huh? Yeah, it couldn't take a chance. Anyway, it's worth more if we get him and his partner together. Wrap it all up in one. Saved us a lot of headaches. Yeah, well, don't lose him. He turned left up to the next corner. Yeah, I saw him. He hasn't made us. Yeah, I think we're in the clear. All right, you can turn your lights on, huh? All right. One sugar 16605, no want. Car is a 1950 Pontiac, two-door sedan. Registered to Charles A. Sutton. 5840 Octavia Street, Los Angeles. Motor number one, Adam 6, Paul 3342. Legal the same, KM8367. One K80 to control one. Would you check records for Charles A. Sutton? Age and description unknown. Rush request. We have suspect under rolling surveillance. Control one to one K80, Roger. Looks like he's slowing down, Joe. All right, don't press him. Yeah, he's pulling up. He stopped there. Better cut the lights. Yeah, pull up right here, huh? Can you see him? Yeah. Going up to that house. Porch light on. Yeah. Must be where he keeps his pad. Acts like he's been there before. There's a man answering the door. He's going in. Control one. One K80 to control one. Go ahead. Five foot nine, 163 pounds. Brown hair, blue eyes. He has a long felony record, suspicion of robbery, suspicion of burglary, grand theft, bunco, also three outstanding traffic warrants. License number one sugar, one 6605. One K80 to control one, Roger. KM8367. What do you think? Let's take him. Right. All right, do you want to take the back bill? I'll go in the front. Okay, give me a second to get around. Right. Yeah? Police officer want to talk. All right, come on. Open it up. Pull it right there. Guess the wall. All right, you're back inside. Police officers. Okay. Come on, up front to you. What are you trying to do? What's this all about? We'll talk downtown. You know what it's all about. All right, over next to your partner. What are you doing anyway? You haven't got anything on us. You want to get the cuffs on him, Bill? Stand still, both of you. Here's mine. What's the pitch here anyway? Harry and I haven't done anything. Ah. Busting in here like this? Private House, you've got no business here. $250 says you're wrong. What? Just checking your right hand pocket. All right, come on. Let's go. The story you've just heard was true. The names were changed to protect the innocent. On May 28, trial was held in Superior Court, Department 88, City and County of Los Angeles, State of California. In a moment, the results of that trial. Now, here is our star, Jack Webb. Thank you, George Phenomenon. Friends, this coming weekend, I'd like to suggest that you put Fatimas at the top of your shopping list. You'll find it's mighty convenient to have enough Fatimas around the house to last into the next week. When you shop, just look for the bright, sunny yellow carton. You'll find Fatima gives you an extra mile in soothing smoke. And remember, Fatima gives you more for your money because it's king size and because you get the added protection of Fatima quality. Get a carton tomorrow. Fatima. Charles A. Sutton and his accomplice, Harold V. Mather, were tried and convicted on three counts of grand theft money and received sentences as prescribed by law. Grand theft is punishable by imprisonment and the state penitentiary for not less than one or more than 10 years. The initial suspect, Seidel, pled guilty to petty theft and received a sentence of one year in the county jail. You have just heard Dragnet, 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. Technical Advisors Captain Jack Donahoe, Sergeant Marty Winn, Sergeant Vance Brasher. Heard tonight were Ken Peters, Virginia Greg, Vic Rodman. Script by Jim Moser. Music by Walter Schumann. Hell, get me speaking. King-sized Fatima, made with the same people who make popular Chesterfield cigarettes, has brought you Dragnet, transcribed from Los Angeles. Each Thursday night, it's Counter Spy on NBC.