 The story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. Fatima cigarettes. Best of all, long cigarettes brings you... dragnet. You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned to burglary detail. Unidentified thieves start a campaign of burglaries in your city. Homes are broken into and stripped of their furnishings. There's no lead on the criminals. Your job. Get them. When you compare Fatima with other long cigarettes, the difference is quality. Yes, in Fatima, the difference is quality. If you want a long cigarette, smoke that best of all long cigarettes. Smoke extra mild Fatima. Fatima is the quality king-size cigarette because it contains the finest Turkish and domestic tobaccos, superbly blended, and Fatima is extra mild, with a much different, much better flavor and aroma than any other long cigarette. Because of its quality, its extra mildness, its better flavor and aroma, Fatima has more than doubled its smokers coast to coast. Enjoy extra mild Fatima yourself. It's wise to smoke extra mild Fatima. Because in Fatima, the difference is quality. Yes, in Fatima, the difference is quality. Smoke Fatima, the quality king-size cigarette. Best of all, long cigarettes. 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 from official police files. From beginning to end, from crime to punishment, Dragnet is the story of your police force in action. It was Monday, August 3rd. It was warm in Los Angeles. We were working the day watch out of burglary detail. My partner's Ben Romero, the boss's thad brown chief of detectives. My name's Friday. I was on the way back from the business office and it was 9.25 a.m. when I got to room 45, burglary detail. Did they get all the money together, Joe? Yeah, a dollar from each man in the detail. We got to buy the gift. When's Austin gonna get married? Next Sunday. We haven't got too much time. We always have to pick out the gift. Somebody has to do it. You got any ideas what we got to get him? Talked to my wife over the weekend. She thinks it'd be nice to get him something to start housekeeping with. Maybe some nice kitchenware, a table lamp. I don't know if we have enough dough for a good lamp. But maybe they might like a bedspread. You can always use them. Or maybe a nice wool blanket, huh? I don't know. Got to be careful about those personal things. What do you mean, what's personal about a blanket? Well, we don't know much about the girl Austin's gonna marry. She might not need it. What's that? Sir, could you tell me something? What'd you want to know, little girl? Is this where you come to report about stolen things? Well, no, that all depends. Why don't you come on in and tell us all about it, huh? Like to sit down, little girl? I'm 12 years old. I'll stand if it's all right. All right. Now, would you like to tell us what's been stolen? Everything. Everything's been stolen. We came back this morning and found it that way. Grandpa's awful mad. Maybe we better get the facts to start with. What's your name? Ruth Emery Jeanette. Jeanette, such a nice name. No, Snyder. Ruth Emery Jeanette Snyder. Did you come down here alone, Ruth? Yes, Grandpa sent me. He's awful mad. Where do you live? With Grandpa. Where's that? Over on College Avenue. Grandpa's legs bothering him. Arthritis. So he told me to come down and tell you about it. About what, man? Everything. We came back this morning on the train and when we got home, we found everything was stolen. It's terrible. What do you mean by everything? I walked all the way over here to tell you. Once there's two, sir, drinking fountain in the hall. We've got a cooler over here. Let me get you a cup, huh? Thank you. Would you like to drink, man? Oh, no thanks. Here you are. Thank you very much. Yeah. Looks like tell us what it's all about. Grandpa and I got back to Los Angeles on the train this morning. We've been on a trip back to Indiana. Uh-huh. We took a taxi cab home from the station. When we got there, everything was gone. Everything but the rug and the dining room. Yeah. All the furniture, every single bit. The sofa, the chairs, my desk upstairs, the stone. Everything's been stolen. I want you to find it. I mean someone broke in while you were gone and took all your furniture. Is that what you think? We know they did. The lock on the back door, it was broken. They took everything but the dining room rug. That's why Grandpa's home now. Hmm? He thinks the crooks will be back. He's sitting on the rug. Because he says if they take that, they'll have to take him too. We better hurry. Yeah? Grandpa's not very big. 9.45 a.m. Met and I drove little Ruth Ann Snyder back to her home on College Avenue. It was an old-fashioned wooden frame structure. A few doors up from College Avenue and ever it way. Ruth Ann showed us inside and introduced us to her grandfather. Mr. John H. Snyder, aged 78. He told us that a year ago, he and his wife, Ruth Ann's grandmother had come to California from Indiana and rented the house on College Avenue. The grandmother had fallen ill and passed away suddenly three weeks ago. He and Ruth Ann closed the house and took the body back to Indiana on the train for burial. On the return that morning, they found the house stripped of every piece of furniture. We checked room by room and listed the missing articles. We put in a call to latent fingerprints. Do you happen to know the serial numbers of your home appliances, Mr. Snyder? No, sir. I've lived with most of the furniture for 40 years. You get to know the things you own in 40 years. I know it was in my room, Sergeant. My desk, my table, and chair, the bed, the curtains. They took everything. Well, how about the estimated value of the furniture, sir? What would you say it was worth? Dollars and cents? I don't know. What's the household of furniture worth to anyone? Does everybody put their own value on their things? Yes, they do. A solid walnut dining set, a wedding present, mahogany front room table, a solid two. They cost money in their day. All gone. Are there any liens against the furniture, sir? How's that? Did you owe anything on the furniture? I mean, there was no trouble with the finance company or anything like that. Oh, we didn't even know what a finance company was when the wife and I was married. It was sad enough to piss it off. And Ruthie and me get here this morning and everything's gone. All we own. Ruthie. Yes, Grandpa? The way the thieves broke in. Would you show the offices, please? It's back this way. Okay. How are you and your grandfather going to make out here, Ruth? Grandpa says we'll buy two cots for tonight, Army surplus. There's no stove to cook on. We'll have to eat out. Maybe we'll have to go back to Indiana. Grandpa doesn't have much money. He's on a pension. Where's the back door? We'll see what they get to get in. Must use the hammer and the crowbar. Smash the clean's room. You'll find the crooks, won't you, Sergeant? We're going to try, Ruth. Better have the crime lab check this, huh? Yeah. How about your neighbor's, Ruth? You know any of them well? I know who they are. I don't know any of them good. They're not very friendly. We'd like to ask you and your grandfather a few more questions, Ruth. All right. I'm going to do when school starts. I stole all my stuff, even my composition tablets. I'm going to have to take those. What's greatie in, Ruthie? I was NA7, I'll be in the B8. Why would they take my school things? I don't know. You see how they got in back there? Yes, sir, we did. By any chance did any of your neighbors know that you and Ruth here were going away? Well, I didn't mention it, no. Then no one kept an eye on your house while you were going? No, I didn't think it was necessary. Mind of help? I just remembered, Grandpa. Mrs. Merton. I told her we were going away. Who's that, Ruth? She runs the store down at the corner's bird store. She sells canaries, other kinds of birds, too. Mrs. Merton's her name stores right down the corner. You figure she's the only one who knew you'd be gone from the house for some time. Must have been the only one. All right, Mr. Snyder. We'll be back to see you later on. Here's our card. We'll see if we can't do something to help you out here. Let's see here. Friday, Romero, burglary detail. All right, thank you, boy. Ruth, he'll show you to the door. Yes, Grandpa. I'm listening. Goodbye, sir. Oh, oh, say there. Yes, sir. I guess you understand, but I'd like to apologize anyway. I just couldn't do it. What's that, sir? Offer your chair. 10.30 a.m., Ben and I called the Salvation Army and told them the Snyder situation. And then we went down the street to the store at the corner of Cooley Javanoo and Everett Way. The sign on the window said, Mrs. Merton's Birdland. Manager, Agnes Merton. We tried the door. It was locked. The cardboard clock hanging on the glass door read, be back at 1 p.m. So we went back up to College Avenue and we started ringing doorbells. Some of the residents on the block didn't even know the Snyders. Of those that did, only two had noticed anybody at the house during the three weeks Mr. Snyder and his granddaughter had been away. They told us that they'd seen a moving van parked in front of the house about a week before. They also saw a man moving furniture from the house into the van. Neither of the two could describe the vehicle or remember its license number. 12.45 p.m., we had a cup of coffee and a hamburger and then we headed back for Mrs. Merton's Bird Store. Yes, ma'am, police officers. I have a few questions for you. No, ma'am, about one of your neighbors. Oh. The Snyders? I live just up the street from here. That's old couple. Poor Mr. Snyder passed away, you know, a few weeks ago. Yes, ma'am, we know. They have a wonderful granddaughter, Ruthie. She and I are getting to be great friends. Are the Snyders having some kind of trouble? We're investigating a burglary at their house. Oh, is that so? Now you'll be quiet, Mary. You heard what I told Blackie. Just eat your food and be quiet. I guess you knew the Snyders had been away for the last few weeks. Yes, I did, but they're back. I saw Ruthie pass the window this morning. You noticed any activity around the Snyder's house since you've been gone? Yes, I did. Well, just what did you notice, Miss Merton? Well, it was seven or eight days ago, I think. Some white moving truck stopped in front of their place and two men started moving up Snyder's furniture. I thought it was a little strange because Ruthie hadn't told me anything about moving. In fact, she said definitely she and her grandpa were coming back after poor Mrs. Snyder's funeral in Indiana. Did you investigate it all, ma'am? Excuse me. Was that you, Fred? Yes, you ought to be ashamed. You can see I'm busy. I'm not about this like that. And all three of you, Fred, Blackie, Mary, I'll take care of you. Well, where was I? You saw the moving van in front of the Snyder's. Oh, yes. And I went up to the moving men and asked them if the Snyders were going back to Indiana. Well, of course they didn't know anything about it. Did you inquire at the Snyder's house? Well, no, it so happened I didn't. I was on my way to one of the big aviaries in the valley and I just didn't have time to stop. How about the moving van? Do you happen to notice the license? I don't remember the numbers. Any identifying marks about the truck you might remember, maybe a sign on the side? Yes, the side of the truck was painted white and there was large blue lettering on it then and storage it said I remember that much. Was that all? Well, yes. As I said, I was in a hurry. I had to pick up three sick canaries out in the valley. Is there anything else about the incident that you can remember? Anything at all? No, I'm afraid not. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Merton. Here's our card if you happen to come across any further information. Yes, all right. I'll have to go see the snipers. Maybe I can help. All right. Goodbye, ma'am. Thank you very much. Yes, goodbye. All right. Fred, now you shut up. Not much help there. Not much. Give me an idea, though. Hmm? Wedding present for the Austins. Yeah? Maybe a couple of canaries? In a nice cage? Five p.m. We went back to the office. Reports had come in from two more victims. That night, Ben and I drove out to interview them. The circumstances of the theft and the MO of the criminals matched identically with the Snyder case. Both of the families victimized had gone off on vacations and neglected to notify either the neighbors or the patrolmen in their area. Both had allowed daily newspapers to collect on their doorsteps in their absence and otherwise left signs that their homes were vacant. In both cases, the thieves had forced an entrance through a back door or a window, stripped the house of every last piece of furniture and either hauled it away themselves or hired somebody to do it for them. We started canvassing the two areas where the crimes had been reported. Again, the neighbors saw the moving vans, but none were able to definitely identify the vehicles or their license numbers. Captain Fulton called us into his office. You're going to have to try harder. I know they're hard to get, but get them. Get them fast. Is that about everything we can so far, Skipper? Only one small lead. The thieves seemed to be using a different moving van on each job. We started to check the movers around town to transfer companies. Layton Prince, come up with anything yet? No, no luck there. Well, it allows us rackets we've had since I came on this detail. A whole house full of the furniture. Everything a family owns. Well, we'll stay on top of it. The stats office may come up with something. How about an outlet for all that stuff that's been stolen? The thieves can't be sitting on it. Foreign shop and secondhand details have been alerted. They're checking regular outlets, auction houses, secondhand places. Nothing yet. What about some kind of preventive idea? At least slow them down. Good dose of publicity on the whole thing would help. If only people wouldn't give it a secret when they're going away. The neighbors aren't alerted. That's why a lot of them didn't think much of it when they saw the moving vans parked those houses. And drawing blinds and the newspapers on the doorsteps didn't help much either. It's an open invitation. Well, I'll see what we can do on the publicity and we've had one campaign on this already. No, excuse me. Regularly, Captain Foden. Hmm. What's the address? Okay, I got it. Thank you. Here you go, another one. Hmm? 63R just called it in. Family back from vacation. Furniture all gone. Here's your address here. Thank you. Better get on it right away. Let's go. I'll have a little more help for you on this tomorrow. Crowley and Barnes will be free. They can work with you. Okay, Skipper. We'll check you later. All right. Sergeant Friday. Oh, yes, ma'am. Do you remember me? Don't you, Mrs. Merton? Oh, sure. The bird store. Yes, ma'am. How are you? They told me to wait here. I guess everything will be all right now. Yeah? I saw it today on Olive Street. Here. Hmm? The truck that came to Snyder's house. That's the license number. You are listening to Dragnet, the case history of a police investigation presented in the public interest by Fatima Cigarettes. It's amazing how many long cigarette smokers are changing to extra mild Fatima. Here is the actual report. From coast to coast, Fatima has more than doubled its smokers. Here is the reason why. When you compare Fatima with other long cigarettes, the difference is quality. Yes, in Fatima, the difference is quality. Fatima is the quality king-size cigarette because it contains the finest Turkish and domestic tobaccos, superbly blended, and Fatima is extra mild, with a much different, much better flavor and aroma than any other long cigarette. And because of its quality, its extra mildness, its better flavor and aroma, more and more smokers say it's wise to smoke extra mild Fatima. I agree, says Dick Highland, sports columnist. I agree, says Mrs. Deems Taylor, painter and theatrical designer. I agree, says Frank Fenton, author. Yes, all agree. It's wise to smoke extra mild Fatima. Best of all, long cigarettes. Because in Fatima, the difference is quality. Yes, in Fatima, the difference is quality. Smoke Fatima, the quality king-size cigarette. Tuesday, August 11th, 6 p.m. The license number which Mrs. Merton had given us was checked through DMV. We found that the truck was registered in the name of a local second-hand furniture dealer by the name of Ralph Grismore. We checked his name through the police commission and in the iBureau. He had a good reputation, no criminal record. Early the next morning, we picked up Mr. Snyder and his granddaughter Ruth and we drove to Grismore's second-hand furniture store. We identified ourselves and asked to look at his buy book. Under the date of July 27th, we recorded the purchase of more than three dozen articles of furniture from a house on College Avenue. The address was that of the Snyder's. The man and the woman's sizes, they said they sold their house and they're going east. The man said the company worked for it, transferred them to Boston, told me he had to get back to take over his new job. Would you recognize the people if you saw them again, Grismore? Sure, I think so. The woman's a great talker. She said they figured on selling the stuff piece by piece. They'd get more of it. Since they had to leave town the next day, she decided to sell the whole lot to a dealer. You got the furniture for a pretty low price, didn't you? Pretty good price, yeah. That's why I went along in the fast deal. I wasn't going to talk myself out of a bargain. They wanted to sell fast, so I wanted to buy it. I don't think anything was wrong. Sergeant. Yeah, Mrs. Snyder? I'm all in the dining room, sir. That's it right over there. You sure, Mrs. Snyder? The cigar burned on top just above one of the legs. Know it anyway. It seems to me that's our mahogany table. I'll look. Sergeant, my table and my desk here, they are right here. My school stuff, too. Yeah, they sure stuck me, all right. That's the last fast deal I ever make. How did they contact you, Chris Moore? What kind of approach did they use? They called me on the phone, and I came out and gave them an appraisal under stuff. Nothing suspicious about either the man or the woman. That's all. She was in a house dress, bandana around her head. The guy was in old clothes, just as homey as you please. Looked like he was doing a little repair work around the house, you know. You notice that they had a car parked by the house? No. Matter of fact, I didn't. There wasn't any in the driveway. No argument over the price you offered them for the furniture. No, they seemed to hesitate a little, but they took my first offer. I thought I had a good deal. How'd they react after you agreed on a price? In a hurry? They said they had to borrow the train that night for Boston. They asked me to get the furniture out right away. The woman said they had other business to wind up, so if they weren't at the house when I came back with the van, why she'd leave the back door open for me? I guess you realized you were going to have to place a hold on this furniture that you bought? Yeah, I know. I got nowhere to blame but myself. You gave this man and woman a check for the full amount of the sale. Is that right, Grismar? $550 down the drain. Do you have the cancel check? No, not yet. If you like, you can probably get it from the bank. Don't imagine those crooks would waste any time cashing it. We'd appreciate it if you'd run down the bank with us now. No case, sir. Sergeant, could I speak with Mr. Grismar? Sure, Mr. Snider. And Mr. Grismar? Yes, sir. I'm sorry about all this. I didn't know. Oh, I understand, sir. You buy furniture, don't you? Yes, sir. What could you give me for two Army surplus cuts? Grismar made arrangements to round up Mr. Snider's furniture and ship it back to his home. Then we took him down to his bank where he recovered the cancel check for $550. The endorsement read, Mr. Thomas Butterworth, according to the bank teller who waited on them, the suspects had cast the check shortly after the sale of the Snider's furniture. From the second hand dealer and the clerk at the bank, we got a complete description of the man and woman known as Mr. and Mrs. Butterworth. We also had photostatic copies made of the check and specimens of the handwriting from the endorsement. From the descriptions, we checked the suspects through the stats office. We got nowhere. During the next two weeks, we found six more second hand dealers who had been taken in on the same furniture deal. The description of the man and woman matched and so did the handwriting and the endorsements on each check. There was only one variation. The couple went under a different name on each occasion. Wednesday, August 26th, 9 a.m. Well, the case is like this today, right? That's it, Captain. Got the description, M-O handwriting. Still can't reach it. These have been free-wheeling for a month now. What's going to take us stopping? Ben came up with a pretty good idea this morning. We'd like to talk it over with you. What's that? Kind of a system of decoy skipper. We were thinking it might be a good idea to contact all the division captains and have them ask their men if they have any neighbors going on vacation. Yeah, I'll go ahead. Well, we've got a few dozen houses partying around the city. We could plant a few things, make them look obviously vacant. We'd keep the houses covered at all times. They ought to make pretty good bait for those thieves. Uh-huh. How would you set it up? We could make arrangements to get a key to each home, keep the milk and paper deliveries coming, let them pile up on the doorstep. We could reimburse the people for whatever it cost. We're not making any headway. We could run this for a couple of weeks and see what happens. What do you think? Try it. At 9.30 a.m., we contacted all division commanders requesting them to ask their men to contact burglary detail if they knew of any of their neighbors about to leave on a vacation. During the next two days, the response came in and the plan went into effect. 40 homes throughout the city were spotted as decoys. They were kept under surveillance at all times. In the week that followed, two more burglaries of the same type were reported, but the suspects failed to try any of the decoy homes. The men in the pawn shop and secondhand details continued to work right along with us. The stolen furniture kept turning up, but not the thieves. Again, the homes that had been broken into displayed all the usual signs that the occupants were away. Old circulars and newspapers scattered on the lawn. Milk bottles lined up at the door, all the blinds drawn. The decoy plan continued, no results. August 31st, we had a report of another burglary involving a theft of furniture. We made our investigation. 2 p.m., we went back to the office to get out a list of stolen articles. Hi, Ben, Joe. Hi, Austin. When did you get back from your honeymoon? Late last night. So you tell them I'd sure like to thank all you fellas for that wedding present you sent us. They are nice of you. Well, we're glad you liked it, Austin. Sure are beauty. I'd like to ask you a question about it, though. I hope you won't take it wrong. No, go ahead. Well, what is it? You've got an early American house, haven't you? Yeah, that's right. It's an antique. Yeah? Oh, Peter, one of the first-ever bills. Oh, sure. Thanks a lot. I get it. Burgary Friday. Yeah? Where? Right away. Thanks. One of the decoy houses. Yeah? We got a bite. Together with sergeants Crowley and Austin, we drove out to the decoy house where an unidentified man and a woman had been seen forcing entry through a back door. They'd been spotted by a police officer's wife who lived next door and who had called in the report. We parked down the street from the decoy home and waited. Five minutes passed. We saw a woman dressed in a house coat come out onto the porch of the house, look up and down the street, and then go back inside. A few minutes after that, a gray Chevrolet sedan pulled up in front of the house. A man in a dark suit got out and entered through the front door. Ben called communications for a make on the car. 80K to control 4. 80K to control 4. Request DMV on 6th, Mary, 6, 7, 7, 8. Repeat, 6M, 6, 7, 7, 8. Information urgent. Roger, 80K. KM, 867. We waited. There were no signs of activity from the decoy house. Two minutes after Ben put in the call, we got our make on the gray sedan. 80K, go ahead. 6, 7, 7, 8 is registered to the Donahoe Furniture Company, legal the same. 7, 8, 1, 1, Harvard Boulevard. It is a Chevrolet Deluxe two-door sedan, 1941 model. Engine number, C6BA4414. 80K, Roger. KM, 867. A few minutes after the call back, a moving van drove down the street and backed into the driveway of the decoy house. The sign on the side of the van read Donahoe Furniture Company. Two men got out, went up to the front door and were let in. They came out in a couple of minutes and loaded a sofa into the moving van. Okay, Joe. Crowley and Austin get the sign. Hey, you and Crowley want to cover the back, Austin. Right, let's go, Crowley. Yeah. Come on, Ben. Mm-hmm. See you want something? Police officers like... Come on, the cops! Run him! Stand still, you! Austin and Crowley got her. All right, hold still, mister. What's this all about? You cops? That's right. You? Thanks, Donahoe. I'm buying this lot of furniture. Something the matter? You're buying from the wrong people and not the owners. You better have your men move that stuff back in the house. Okay, if you say so. All right, let me relax. Take it easy, Helen. There's no use fighting. They got us. Who's fault is it? I told you luck doesn't last forever. Okay, all right. Don't make it worse. All right, let's go. I'll take her, Austin. You better fix your shirt. Yeah. Come on, Ben. Get your hands. Hey, what's the matter with your shirt, Austin? Look, it used to happen that she tried to get away. Yeah, lipstick all over the collar there. Doesn't look very good. No, it doesn't. What are you going to tell your new bride? I've got nothing to hide. I'll tell her the truth. Yeah? She'll believe me. Won't she? The story you've just heard was true. Only the names were changed to protect the innocent. On November 25th, trial was held in Superior Court, Department 87, city and county of Los Angeles, state of California. In a moment, the results of that trial. And now, here is our star, Jack Webb. Thank you. Under our system of law, the jury selected to hear a case is accorded complete freedom. The jury's decision is the final result of the testimony and evidence presented in the course of the trial. And so, with Fatima, they are the final result of carefully selecting and blending only the finest Turkish and domestic tobaccos to make Fatima extra mild. If you're a long cigarette smoker like I am, buy a pack of Fatimas and compare them with other long cigarettes, and you'll see the difference is quality. Yes, in Fatima, the difference is quality. So, smoke Fatima. The suspects were identified as Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Dunbar. They were arraigned on 15 counts of burglary and tried and found guilty on all counts. They are now serving their terms in the state penitentiary. You have just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases from official files. Technical advice came from the Office of Chief of Police, W.H. Parker, Los Angeles Police Department. Fatima Cigarettes, the best of all long cigarettes, has brought you Dragnet from Los Angeles. Coming up, Duffy's Tavern. Bob Hope returns October 3rd on NBC.