 Ladies and gentlemen the story you are about to hear is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent Dragnet is brought to you by Chesterfield made by Liggett and Myers First major tobacco company to give you a complete line of quality cigarettes Your detective sergeant you're assigned a robbery detail a gang of truck hijackers has been working in your city They've stolen 14 loaded trucks They've kidnapped and beaten one of the drivers. There's no clue to their identity your job get them With the winter season coming on young America and all of us will be concentrating on our favorite winter sports Ice skating bowling basketball ski One thing you'll notice whatever young America does wherever it goes Chesterfield goes along Yes, Chesterfield is the choice of young America Chesterfield is the choice of more thousands of smokers everywhere People are learning the facts about Chesterfield Learning that Chesterfield is highest in quality low in nicotine Learning that Chesterfield is really mild Really satisfied How about it friends change to Chesterfield yourself? Smoke America's most popular two-way cigarette regular and king-sized Chesterfield Best for you 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 Wednesday June 4th was warm in Los Angeles We were working the day watch out a robbery detail my partners Frank Smith the boss achieve a detective stad Brown My name's Friday. We were on the way out from the office. It was 947 a.m. We got to the county hospital Ward 419 Mr. Gilmore. Yeah, I know you guys. No, sir. We're police officers. This is my partner Frank Smith. My name's Friday I just a couple stools over there drag him up sit down. I'll get him Here you go. Thanks How do you feel Mr. Gilmore rough real rough feel like I've ridden 50 miles in the back of a ready-mix cement truck Weren't for the pills it be given me. I think I'd go out my rocker You won't tell us what happened. Yeah, as much as I can remember Only goes so far then there's a room full of black if you'll tell us what you can please. Yeah Yesterday that's when it was yes yesterday morning. I checked in for work had a load I was going to take over to phoenix supposed to shut off about 10 10 15. Did you know what you were carrying? Yeah, I saw the way bill Some of the stuff they were loading it Used furniture didn't make any difference to me. They load the truck and I'll drive it I want to cross the street little coffee place over there and got my back and bottle filled and came back By that time they had the truck loaded I signed the way bill on the office and went out and got into the truck the two guys were waiting for me They were in the cab of the truck. Yeah, I'm sitting there kind of scrunched down so you couldn't even see it from the outside Soon as I opened the door one of them had a gun pointed at me told me to get into the truck like there was nothing wrong Just start the motor and get the truck away from me. Did they get out of the truck at that time? No, no, they were waiting for me when I got there. They told me to drive away And I did wasn't going to mess around with them having a gun Yeah, go ahead and we drove about three blocks They told me to pull into an alley just off of Santa Fe Santa Fe and what do you remember? By Porter Street between Porter and Enterprise. I see like to go ahead Then they told me to pull into the alley and When I did they made me get out of the truck took me around back and broke the seal and told me to get inside And that's what you did Officer if they had told me to jump off the city hall out of gun I hadn't done it with that gun pointed at me. Now I'm a coward Followways a gun around and I'm gonna do just like he tells me. Yes Those guys remain you could tell. How's that? Oh, I'm a kind of a student of phonology I could tell about those fellas real plane Student of what? Phonology, you know bumps on the head They all mean something of course I didn't get a chance to make a good examination of these guys But I could see it real criminal heads bumps told me so one fella had a head that was one of the worst I'd ever seen yes, it was mean to his mother. I could tell I had a bumper right here Yeah, you see yeah, he's mean to his mother Yes, you well what happened after they tied you up just left me there. I see you want to go on yeah They must have drove for about 20 minutes when they stopped pulled in some sort of a driveway I figured that well right after they stopped they made a half you turn them backed up backed up this ramp steep And they stopped and took me out of the truck blindfolded me and made me get out of the truck Now this place where they stopped that's where they unloaded the furniture. Did they yeah, I must have taken it out Of there heard them something around the truck sound like they're unloading it Well now what they do after they got all the furniture out put me back in drove out to where you found the truck after the Both climbed into the back beat me up. Don't remember much after that Both of them worked you over huh? Yeah, both of them got in their licks especially the one who was mean to his mother He was vicious mean they kept hitting me with their fist until I just passed out Don't remember anything after that till I came to in the back of the truck That's when I call the cops and the guys in uniform came out. I Guess they're the ones who called you yes, sir There's any way that you might be able to tell us where they took you you mean when they unloaded the furniture. Yes, sir Well, I think maybe I got an idea I tried to figure out how fast they was driving and after you've been a driver for a while you get to know I'd say they were going about 20 miles an hour. We were still in town. My own guess is that they went out Alameda Must have gone outside of favor and then turned on the Alameda Remember here in kids yelling Probably be Santa Fe high school. Yeah, I guess we went out Alameda to maybe 43rd or 44th and they turned right kind of hard to figure it then the truck got tied up and traffic It was hard to tell if they were stopping for that or they're just a delight But I'd say that they went out to about Avalon. Yeah, maybe they went up to San Pedro. I don't think so I'd say Abelon then they turned left and headed for Hawthorne. I'm not sure how far they went But I figure maybe around Rosa Cranes and then they turned a couple more times and they stopped and drove up that steep ramp Mm-hmm. Now you figure they ended up around Rose Cranes and Avalon. Yeah Guess that's not much help though. Well, it gives us an idea where to start looking a couple other things that might help you What's that? Well, it seems that when we started to back up the ramp I heard a bump like they're backed into a car. They didn't hit it hard, but I bet they did hit a car Yeah After that they pulled the truck forward and stopped and backed up again this time. They scraped into the side of a house I could feel it run along the side of the truck Sound like they might have torn up some of the wood on the house. Yeah Will that help any? Yeah, sir We'll have our crime lab check the truck and see if they can come up with anything. Sure. Hope you can Oh You talked to my boss yet. No, sir, but he's been notified. We understand that he's plenty sore about it Well, we wouldn't know about that, but he should understand that it wasn't your fault. He should but he won't I know that right? Yeah, he doesn't understand anything that doesn't go on his way Spotted a mile off. What's that sir? His head all kinds of bumps 1006 a.m. We continued to question the victim Russell Gilmore He gave us descriptions of the two men who kidnapped him He also told us that at one time he heard one of the men call the other by the name Leo Further he told us that when the two bandits had taken him from the truck they placed him in a garage He was able to feel the wall. He said that he was sure it was a plaster wall and as much as he could feel the studs and the wire holding the plaster He said that at one time he heard a woman come out of a house and say something to the thieves while they unloaded the truck He told us that the garage wasn't very large because there was no echo on the sounds that were made in the building We called the office and got out a supplementary broadcast on the thieves carrying their descriptions 1040 a.m. Frank and I left the county hospital and drove over to central station We went up the crime lab and talked to Ray Pinker on the right rear fender. We found evidence of the truck had hit a car Lifted some paint chips Looks like a blue car, huh? Yeah I checked the paint with a ditch of production color book here. I'll show you You got all the paints cataloged by color Here This is the one Yeah, but Ray, there are a lot of blues there. How can you be sure this is it? We're here. You see they got a color patch on each page in the book hole in the patch Oh, this little hole here, huh? Mm-hmm. We just put this chip we lift it from the truck in the hole Now let down Get this lamp There color matches get in the same light you can see the same paint. Huh, look at that Joe same. Yeah, see Well, what do we got out of it, Ray car the truck hit was a 1953 Hudson jet There's a single tone car, you know the top color matches the body color. Yeah, you only use this on one color cars Unless you got a special order. Mm-hmm. Did you find any house paint on the side of the truck? Yeah over here Might be able to do a little better on that for you. Mm-hmm house truck ran who's about 36 years old Might be a little more than that, but it's right around there How could you come up with that been painted 18 times figure once every two years you come out with 36 Yeah, how we know it's been painted every two years We don't Francis guessing but the layers of painted pretty even might indicate they did it regularly You know didn't let the faint go too far for they redid it. Oh, yeah Here are the chips of the house paint here. I put one up under the microscope Gonna take a look Joe. Okay You see, okay Notice the first coat was a cream white Mm-hmm, and they stuck pretty much to that for the next half dozen paint jobs and they changed to a barn red Into a green then back to cream white That goes on for three layers and then to the blue that's on it now Yeah, we're a if we find the house. Can you tell us if it's the same one? Shouldn't be too hard aren't many of them around the harmony Well, 18 coats would be 18 factorial. That's multiplying 18 times 17 times 16 times 15 So on the times one I got it worked out for you. I hope you have I'm not with you at all here Well, look works out to one and six quadrillion four hundred and two trillion three hundred and seventy three billion seven hundred and five million seven hundred and twenty eight thousand chances of finding its twin It's pretty long odds Well, if every man woman and child on the face of the earth own ten houses a piece there wouldn't be another one like it 1137 a.m. We put in a call to Layton Prince Harlan Stahl told us that his crew had gone over the truck thoroughly But it failed to come up with anything We contacted the stats office and asked them to make a run on the MO that the thieves had used They told us that the results would be ready for us late in the afternoon We contacted hit-and-run detail, but there'd been no report that could have been the car that the truck had hit We went to the office and got a large map of the city Then we drove out to the county hospital to talk to the victim again We asked him to trace his movements while he'd been held prisoner in the back of the truck He drew a line down Santa Fe Avenue up to Alameda then over to Avalon Boulevard on 43rd Street From there he traced the streets down to Rose Cranes Avenue He drew a circle on the map centered on the intersection of Rose Cranes Avenue and Avalon Boulevard He told us that we'd find the house we were looking for inside the circle Before we left him we made arrangements for the mug shots to be taken to the hospital for him to check for a possible identification of the suspects 1240 p.m. We contacted records and identification division and asked them if they'd had any luck on running the name Leo We were told that they had three possibles for us the addresses on the packages were not in the area that had been circled by the victim Russell Gilmore We got in touch with Lieutenant Jack Smires and filled him in on the developments He called Metro Division and made arrangements for three additional teams of men to work with us in a search of the streets within the circle drawn by the victim He also contacted the divisional commanders and asked for their cooperation The men were instructed to find a residence with a steep driveway leading to a detached garage The house would have a wooden porch on the right side of the house as it faced the street It would be damaged to the wood on the porch Also, there was a possibility that a Hudson automobile would be parked either in the driveway or on the street right next to it The car would have some damage done to it 515 p.m. Frank and I got back to the office from the search area. I'm sure tired. I'm with you a lot of streets out there Yeah, a lot of houses on the streets. What are other guys from Metro doing? I got it robbery Friday Yeah Just a minute. Let me get there Yeah, okay. Hang on to it. We'll be right out right All the Metro boys did some good. Huh the house they found it The address given us on the phone was 1486 Cedar Street down in Compton took us 35 minutes to get out there from the city hall The officers from Metro Division reserves stood by until we got there We found the house located on Cedar between Dwight Street and Tawata Avenue It was a one-story frame building with a stucco garage in the rear of the lot On the left front side of the house was a wooden porch which had been scraped by some large object Several of the pickets in the railing were broken On the street in front of the house next door. We found a 1953 Hudson jet painted a light blue There was a dent in the left rear fender We couldn't tell for certain but the color of the car and the color of the paint on the porch seemed to match the chips That we'd seen in the crime lab While the officers from Metro covered the rear of the building Frank and I rang the front doorbell There was no answer we checked the garage But we found nothing that would tie the house owners in with the robbery kidnapping The interior walls of the garage were rough wooden studs between them We could see chicken wire embedded in plaster The physical description of the house the ramp leading to the garage the garage itself and the car parked on the street Matched in every detail the picture that we've been given by the victim 610 p.m. We got the name Conrad Lewis from the mailbox in front of the house and while the officers from Metro checked it with our office Frank and I went next door to talk with the neighbors Yeah, what if we could talk to you ma'am sure? Who are you? Well, it might be better if we got in off the porch You ain't coming in here unless I know who and what you are for police officers. Oh Yes, ma'am. Here's our identification. Oh Yeah Welcome on in thank you, ma'am. I'm Myrtle Richards. This is my partner sergeant Friday. I'm Frank Smith. Oh, how do you do? How are you, ma'am? You just sit down? I'll turn off the television. Thank you Comedy I've seen it before a couple of times always laugh at him again. No, they're funny It's a great bone to the people of television. This is only 12 inch But I think maybe next year I'll get a bigger one maybe even color. They got it now, you know It's true color. It's beautiful. Yes, ma'am. Of course. I ain't actually seen it myself. I just read about it You know beautiful Oh, I'm great fan. I got it on all day right from the early show to the late late show I understand next week one of them stations gonna start early early shoulder. That'll be nice moment That's ma'am. Sure. I wonder if we could ask you a few questions. My certainty You just go right ahead that car out front does that belong to you the blue one? Yes, ma'am. Yeah, that's mine I just got it a few months ago. That's what you're here about, huh? I beg your pardon about how somebody hit my car Big dent Isn't that what you're here for? No, not exactly. Do you know who hit your car? No, I wish I did if I knew I'd sue him Imagine hitting the car this park right at the curb not leaving a note or something to say who did it Person ran into me must be insured wouldn't cost him nothing all he had to do is leave a card Yes, ma'am. When was the automobile hit yesterday morning? I walked down to the market to do some shopping get some things for dinner pretzels potato chips things to eat While I watched the TV when I got back the dent was there did it while I was gone did it and didn't even leave a card Yes, ma'am. Could you tell us who lives next door to you, please which side the left side over there? Well, that's Lewis's house. Why are you asking about them? How long they live there? Do you know? Yeah, I guess it's been About 10 years they moved in right after Conrad that's mr. Lewis right after he opened up the new store What line of business is he in? Well, he got some kind of a shipping business as deals with different stores all over the state Did you see mr. Lewis yesterday? Yes matter of fact, I did he come over like usual 5 30 usually come over at that time Does it Tuesday 3rd and Saturday? Yeah, you see there's TV show. He likes to see I watch it But his wife don't care for it. She watches something else. So Conrad comes over here He was here last night. You see him during the day at all. No, I didn't you know where they are tonight I'm not sure but I think they went to the movie seems to me. Mrs. Lewis said that her and Conrad was going to a show Over in town. That's probably for us. I'll get him. I'm mad and so Isn't anybody come calling on me this time of night? Oh, it's Anderson Joe. I'll be right back. All right Have you noticed any trucks in the neighborhood lately Mrs. Richards? Oh? Well, I Have to think about that for a minute. Mm-hmm. You don't mean like the garbage you can truck be no man large moving bands See the others quite a bit. Yeah Well, let me see Well, there were some people who just moved into a new house down the street. That was about a month ago that and help Thank you, Mr. Yeah, excuse me, please miss Richard. Yeah, you go right ahead Yeah, Anderson ran the name Conrad Lewis through the files. He's been convicted for armed robbery You are listening to drag knit the authentic story of your police force in action smokers by the thousands are now Changing to Chesterfield because they're learning the facts about Chesterfield Facts like these a doctor has been examining Chesterfield smokers for 20 months almost two full years now We've just received his latest report and it confirms again No adverse effects to the nose throat and sinuses from smoking Chesterfield That's a matter of record and so is this Chesterfield is the only cigarette proved highest in quality low in nicotine Those are the facts about Chesterfield More good reasons why Chesterfield's tastes so good Smoke so much milder How about it friends smoke America's most popular two-way cigarette Chesterfield regular and king size Best for you The record showed that Conrad Lewis had been arrested for suspicion of armed robbery 10 years before he'd been brought to trial Convicted and sent to Sam Quentin. He'd served six years and then he'd been released He was not on parole at the time Frank and I parked our car down the street from Lewis's house And we waited for him to return at 10 57 p.m We saw a dark colored Lincoln sedan turn on to the street and swing into the driveway of the Lewis residence a man and a woman Got out of the car and ended the house Frank and I waited a few minutes, and then we walked up the front door and rang the bell Yeah, you can't read Lewis. Yeah, that's right. Who are you police officers like talk to you sure come on in What's this all about something wrong do you own a truck hmm a truck do you own one? No You're mind telling me what this is all about. Can you account for your time since Monday night? Why can't you look? I don't know what this is all about, and I'm not gonna tell you a thing until you let me know what you want Now what do you want the answers to those two questions? 12 15 a.m. It had been only a little over 48 hours since Russell Gilmore had been kidnapped and beaten and we had a suspect in custody However Lewis refused to admit any complicity in the crime We talked to him for several hours, but he told us nothing He admitted that he'd been arrested before and that he'd served time in San Quentin However, he stuck to his statement that since his release he had done his best to live by the law With the evidence at hand he was booked at the main jail on a charge of suspicion of violation of section 211 PC We obtained the keys to his place of business and Frank, and I went out to check it It was a large wholesale store selling used furniture The search the premises failed to turn up any of the stolen merchandise While Frank went through the stock rooms. I checked the business ledgers Nothing back there either Joe, how'd you do well according to these Lewis does a big shipping business That's what the woman next door told it been making shipments up to Oakland regular books tell what they were yeah right here He's been sending large lots of used stuff to a place on MacArthur Boulevard There's a whole list of it here tables living room sets TV sets better get in touch with the police up there and have them check This place out huh yeah without that stolen property. We're not gonna have a very good case against them You got the address of the place up north. Yeah, let's go back to the office and get a call in right Sure, they come up with the answers. I don't they don't we might be in trouble. Yeah, the DA's offices level to throw the whole thing out Thursday June 5th 820 a.m We put in a call to captain of inspectors Tony Bolger in Oakland and asked him to check on the recipient of the furniture shipping from Lewis We also gave him as detailed a description of the stolen merchandise as we were able to obtain in the meantime Lewis had been admitted to bail and was released Thursday 1115 p.m. Frank and I got back to the office from checking a lead on one of the suspects who'd driven the truck I got it Robbery Friday. Yeah, yes, it is. All right, Tony Bolger from Oakland. Let's hope we called it. Yeah. Yeah, Tony Yeah What'd he say? Well, that's the way it looked from here. What yeah, right? Okay. Thank you How about it when you talk to the man who bought this stuff? He's clean. How about the merchandise itself? It's all stolen 1120 p.m. We got in touch with lieutenant Smires and filled him in on the new developments after we talked to him We contacted officers max Herman and Ed Benson made arrangements to meet them at the house on Cedar Street It took us less than half an hour to get out to Compton The other officers were there by the time we arrived while they covered the back door Frank and I went up to the front I think he knows it's us Cars in the driveway we know he's in there wait a minute sounds like somebody's coming now. Yeah What are you doing out here? Aren't you guys ever going to get all my back and talk? I got a choice Oh, you haven't let come on in you want to go through the house again. It won't be necessary. Yeah I'm glad of that. What's it about this time same as before maybe you better spell it from we can go that route If that's the way you want it go ahead. I like fairy tale. All right We got a report from the victim who was robbing kidnapped He was able to give us a description of this house of your garage into the whole setup You've been on a spike again. You're seeing we took a sample of the paint from your front porch It matches paint found on a truck that was hijacked a lot of houses Nellie not painted like this one You think you're gonna send me to the joint with a batch of paints gonna help look cop You know I've been the rounds. I've seen enough trouble to know it's rough to get a conviction with circumstantial evidence That's all you've got with me nothing more now. Why don't you go home and I'll just forget you were here tonight We got the plant What we got the plant they moved in on it and then you saw the stolen furniture too is willing to test you know We got your code now. Why not cop out? That's the way it hangs so that's the way All right, I'll get my coat and just point it out. We'll get it for you in the closet never mind Outside he's in his car. Yeah, come on. He's heading down toward rosecrans Better hit the sound right Better not tell any people around to close in on him ambulance the motors in his lap. He's still alive. It looks like it Can you help me here? Yeah? Yeah, I take it easy loose. I'll call the ambulance right take it easy loose. We've sent for a doctor Didn't see this time. I Didn't know a streak didn't go through lousy break Lousy break I'd have made it if I stayed off the street You'd never got me if I'd stayed off the street. I Just turned the car and all of a sudden I was on a dead end afraid you're wrong there, mister. Huh? You've been there a long time Story you have just heard is true The names were changed to protect the innocent on October 14th 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 Now here is our star Jack Webb. Well here it is the most talked about Christmas gift of the year the Chesterfield Christmas Carton now featured in nearly a million three hundred thousand retail tobacco stores from coast to coast The famous covered bridge has been honored this week by a new Christmas tune the kissing bridge You'll be hearing a lot of it between now and Christmas So give the gift that everybody's talking about America's most popular two-way cigarette regular and king-sized Chesterfield premium quality Chesterfield Best to give best to get for Christmas Conrad Austin Lewis and his Confederates were apprehended and brought to trial on 11 counts of Grand Theft Auto and one count of Kidnapping they were found guilty and sentenced as prescribed by law Grand Theft Auto is punishable by imprisonment in the state penitentiary for a period of not less than one nor more than 10 years Kidnapping is punishable by imprisonment for a term of from one to 25 years in the state penitentiary You have just heard dragnet the series of authentic cases from official files Technical advice comes from the Office of Chief Police W.H. Parker Los Angeles Police Department Technical Advisors Captain Jack Donahoe Sgt. Marty wins Sgt. Vance Brasher heard tonight where Ben Alexander big parent Virginia Greg Jim Griffith Script by John Robinson music by Walter Schumann. Hell give me speaking Watch an entirely new dragnet case history each week on your local NBC television station Please check your newspapers for the day and time Chesterfield has brought you dragnet transcribed from Los Angeles Buy new Fatima the smooth smoke with Fatima tips of perfect cork King size for longer filtering and Fatima quality for a much better flavor and aroma This Christmas give Fatima in the special Christmas carton cork tip and plain ends to Merle Muller and the news next on the NBC radio network