 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 drag net. You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned to robbery detail. A small bakery shop in your city is held up. A man and his daughter are shot down without reason. Your job. Get him. If you want a long cigarette, smoke the best of all long cigarettes. Smoke extra mild Fatima. Yes, Fatima is the king size cigarette, which contains the finest Turkish and domestic tobaccos, superbly blended to make it extra mild. To give Fatima a much different, much better flavor and aroma than any other long cigarette. That's why Fatima has more than doubled its smokers coast to coast. Enjoy extra mild Fatima yourself. Best of all, long cigarettes. It's wise to smoke extra mild Fatima. It's wise to smoke extra mild Fatima. Drag net. 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, drag net is the story of your police force in action. It was Tuesday, November 3rd. It was chilly in Los Angeles. We were working the night watch out of robbery detail. My partner's been Romero. The boss is Captain Ed Walker. My name's Friday. It was five minutes to midnight when we got to 318 Silver Avenue. Stendles Bakery Shop. Romero and Friday sent for robbery. I'm Jacob's unit, 16R. My partner Olson's back there in the shop talking to the owner. You answered the call, did you? Now must have been a crazy man shot two of them down cold blood. There they go in the ambulance now. Shot up pretty bad. Who runs the place? Swedish family named Stendall. Father, mother, two daughters. All four of them work in the bakery here. They all here at the time of the robbery? Yeah, the whole old man shot the father and the oldest daughter. The mother and the younger girl are in the back straight through that door. Okay, thanks, Jacob. Joe, on the side of the door here, looks like a bullet hole. Hey, Jacob. Yes, Sergeant? You want to call into the crime lab and ask them to send somebody out? Right. Thank you. Hi, you Olson? That's right. Romero and Friday sent for robbery. Oh, how are you? These are two of the victims, Mrs. Cygney Stendall. The girls are daughter names Jennifer. Any other witnesses? Not so far. Neighborhood around here is pretty deserted this time of night. A whole old man made a fast getaway. And two people who were shot, what kind of shape are they in? Father, Mr. Stendall. He's got a bullet wound on the right shoulder. Older daughter's a lot worse. Her name's June. 19 years old. Shot four or five times through the stomach. Mm-hmm. You want to stand by? Right, yeah. Okay. Mrs. Stendall, we're from robbery detail. Yeah, how do you do? How do you do? Jenny. I'm sitting here in two chairs. Yes, ma'am. I will excuse me for not getting up, officer. I don't feel so bad. That's perfectly all right, ma'am. Chair for you, officer. Well, thank you. I'll get it. Thank you very much. You and the daughter here were in the front of the bakery shop at the time of the robbery. Is that right, Mrs. Stendall? No. Jenny was back here with her father. That's Lars, my husband. You and me and I were in the shop in front. Oh, who were you with, ma'am? You and me and I. You? Mama means June. My older sister, she calls her June. Yeah, June. Oh, well. Mm-hmm. You mind telling us what happened? Well, June and I were scrubbing the floor of the shop. It was Tuesday night we scrubbed the floor of the shop. Then this man came in and pointed a gun. He wanted our money. About what time did he come in? 11.40 and 11.20. I don't remember for certain. He wanted our money and I gave it to him. How much was that, ma'am? Jenny, you know. How much was that? $24. Yeah, $24. He used the paper money. He took it and put it in his pocket. June, my daughter, she started to cry. The man hit her. She cried some more. Then Lars and Jenny came running from the back. Yes, ma'am. The man pointed a gun. He made Lars and me and Jenny stand against that wall. But not June. He took hold of her. Jenny, who said today? Then we again did man and hand the gun. It was getting fresh with her, ma'am. The man tried to get fresh with June officers. June hit him. He tried to drag her up the door with... Yeah, June hit him. Hit him good. He went like that, threw her against the counter and pushed June down. Crazy man. Crazy look. He kicked her. Then Lars, my husband, he ran at the man. He heard the gun. Loud. And Lars fell down. And I screamed. Yeah. He then screamed. He turned and I saw the man standing over June. He pointed a gun down at her. Yes, ma'am. Crazy look on him. He kept shooting her. Four, maybe five times. June screamed. She kept screaming. Then men ran out the door. It's all right now, Miss Linda. Hadn't either one of you ever seen this man before? No, no. Neither did I. Would you know him if you saw him again? Yeah, I think so. I would, officer. I got a good look at him. He was wearing a blue cap like a baseball player wears. How'd he get away? Was he on foot or did he have a car? Nobody followed him, but after he left I heard a car start up down the block and then it drove away. Do you have anything else to add, Miss Easton? I hope you catch the man. He's bad. Please catch him. Yes, ma'am. We're going to try. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Here, officer. Then you find the man. Please call me. You keep the nickels. We'll call you. Before we left the scene of the robbery and shooting, Mrs. Stendhal and her daughter gave us their description of the holdup man together with the clothing he wore. The suspect had no outstanding physical characteristics that they'd noticed. The only thing unusual about his clothing was that he wore what appeared to be a baseball cap at the time of the holdup. She described the cap as light blue with a visor. Together with officers Bechtel and Lopez from Central Robbery, we canvassed the immediate neighborhood for other possible witnesses. We found none. The next morning we went out to the hospital. The scene of the older daughter, June, was critical. We interviewed the father. He could tell us nothing. At 10 a.m., Mrs. Stendhal and her younger girl, Jenny, were brought to the office and we started them looking through mug books of parolees previously convicted of armed robbery. Within two hours, both of them positively identified the picture of a recent San Quentin release as that of the holdup man. His name was Harold Best. We started a quick rundown. Pull the package on. Here's the dope, Harold Best. Alias Harold Norris. Alias Harold Thompson. Alias Tom Norris. One term for armed robbery in Q. We got out four months ago, ammo and description both match. How about the ex-con files you're checking? He's registered. Did you get a hold of his parole officer? Yeah, 2440 Excelsior Avenue's rooming house. Well, that checks for the ex-con files. Prool officer says Best went to work two weeks ago at a filling station over on Vermont. Doesn't seem to be able to hold a job. Quarrel some, run himself into daddy. A guy. Robbery Romero. That's all, huh? Yeah. Right, bud. Ray Pinker at the crime lab. They checked the slugs taken from the two victims. They came up with a .32 caliber revolver. Probably a Colt. Anything else? That's it. Not too bad a start. We've had worse. Yeah. Maybe we can make that phone call pretty quick. 2 p.m. Wednesday. Ben and I drove out to his rooming house at 2440 Excelsior Avenue and we found that Herbert Best was still living there. We had the landlady show us his room. Besides the usual personal belongings, we came across nothing of consequence. After questioning the landlady, we drove to the service station on Vermont Avenue where Best was supposed to be employed. I don't see anyone around. There's a fellow over there greasing a car in the right. Oh, yeah. That looks like Best. Hey, fella. You. Can you tell us if there's a Herbert Best working here? Police officers would like to talk to you. Well, what's the matter? Routine investigation. Got a few questions for you. Supposed to have this car greased up in my quarter to four. What am I supposed to do, please? You or the boss? No, I'll find him, Joe. You got any heat on you? No. What's it all about? How long is this going to be? A couple of minutes. I'll take more on a greased job. Put this thing in shape. We'll wait for you. How'd you find me? Oh, routine channels. They're fettin' on us. Trap is frozen. Piece of junk. Well, what's it all about? Got a few things that's straightened out, Best. How long you been working here? Well, you didn't drive out here for that. That's not your game. What's the pitch? Routine investigation. We'd like to know where you've been spending your nights. For instance? Sunday night? Where were you? Well, I don't know. I went to a show. Yeah, I saw Mickey Rooney's picture. Where? Downtown. I had a beer after the show. Come home. How about Monday night? Well, I went home after work. I was pooped. Went to bed early. Can you approve it? Well, Aunt Lady saw me come in while I was snooping around. She oughta know if I was there or not. How about last night, Tuesday? Played some cars with a friend of mine. Him and his wife. Penny Annie Booker. Where? Down on Pico, near the park. You can ask them. What time did you get there? I'm not sure about... 8 o'clock, I guess. What time did you leave? What's it all about? What time did you leave? Around midnight. Must have been around midnight. What'd you play with your friend and his wife? Booker. Booker, lost as usual. Took a streetcar home, went to bed. It was around midnight, I remember. How do you remember? I looked at my watch. Puttin' off for ya. What time did you get home? It takes about half an hour on a trolley. Must've been about 12, 30. Did Aunt Lady say you'd come in? I don't know if she saw me or not. Always snooped around, probably did. You're not sure? No, of course I'm not sure. She looks for me, I don't look for her. You want a gun best? You know better than that copper ex. Cons can't have a gun. Your friend and his wife, now they're gonna back you up if you were playing cards with them till midnight? Why not? I was. Say that there's a boss lookin' for me. I better let him know I'm here. Just a minute, best. What's that you got in your back pocket there? Your back pocket, the right one there. Oh, this? Yeah. Baseball cap, why? 4 p.m. We checked the suspect's locker at the service station and drove him back to the office at the interrogation room. We continued questioning him. He denied any knowledge of the holdup and shooting at Stendhal's Bakery Shop the night before. We asked him again about the friends he was supposed to be playing cards with at the time of the robbery. He told us that they lived over on Pico but he couldn't remember the address. He volunteered to direct us there but he said they wouldn't be home. He told us their names were Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Mitchell and that they were in charge of the food concessions at the time. Best was held for suspicion of robbery. That night we drove out and interviewed the landlady at his boarding house. She knew nothing of Best's whereabouts the previous night. She didn't know what time he left or what time he returned. Ben and I went over his room again. There was no sign of a gun. Friday, 2 p.m. Officers Bechtel and Lopez went out to the hospital to see if Mr. Stendhal and his daughter June could identify Best's mug shots. Ben and I drove out to the stadium to locate Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Mitchell. High school kids sure have a lot of fun nowadays. Best years of your life, Joe. You sound like you're 85. Some nights I feel like it. The way those kids turned out for these things you'd think USC and Notre Dame were playing. You see the number on that gate over there? Yeah, it's 23. That the number the gatekeeper gave him? Yeah, must be the Mitchell stand over there. Come on. Can you tell us where to find Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell? Y'all round back to the stand. You're knocking the door. Thank you. It's all right. What is it? Police officers. I'd like to talk to you a few minutes. All right. I'm having a bite of lunch. Come on in. Shut the door. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Lazy food business. You never get a chance to feed yourself. Yes, ma'am. Hey, care for some of these? New kind of potato chips. Revolutionary, it says. Mother Thompson's puff chips flavored. Get all kinds, see. These here are a combination, see. Garlic and eggplant. See, we're inquiring about a friend of yours, Mrs. Mitchell. Maybe you can tell us something about him. Oh, who's that? Ma'am, by the name of Herbert Vest. Herbert, yeah. Old time friend of my husband's. What do you want to know? Do you see him quite often, do you, Mrs. Mitchell? Mm-hmm. Once, twice a month. Chloe and I play cards or go out bowling with him. Herb pretty got me. When's the last time you saw him? Early this week. Tuesday, I think, was. Sure it was Tuesday. Yeah, it was. We played cards, was. That's your play? That's where I load poker. Clyde and Herb and me. What time did Vest get to your place, Mrs. Mitchell? Right after I finished up with the dinner dishes, around 7.45, I'd say. How long did he stay? A couple hours. We sat around, had a few drinks, played poker, nickel limit. What time did he leave, do you remember that? A little before 10, I think. I'm sure that man was important. Sure as I can be. Must have left before 10 because Clyde and I listened to the 10 o'clock news alone. Then we went to bed right after. Mr. Vest tells us he didn't leave your place until midnight. Oh, that's not right. He must be mixed up. He left before 10, I'm sure of that. All right, Mrs. Mitchell, thank you. Say, I hope I haven't said anything I shouldn't have. I know Herb's neck's gone. He likes to gamble. I'm not checking up on him for Tuesday night. Let's try. You're playing too much poker? They're not playing enough. 3.30 p.m. We located Mr. Mitchell, corroborated his wife's story, and then we went back to the city hall. Officers Bechtel and Lopez were waiting for us. They told us that they had seen Mr. Stendall and his daughter, June, at the hospital. Both of them had identified Herbert Best's mugshot as that of the holdup man. At a show-up, Mrs. Stendall and her daughter identified Best. We checked auto records for all stolen cars that might tie in. There were none. We then started to work on the theory that he had taken a bus from his friend's place where he had been playing cards to the Stendall bakery where the shooting took place. Lopez and Bechtel rode the bus over the same route. It took 43 minutes. We had plenty of time for Best to have gotten from one place to the other, even on a slow run. We interviewed the bus driver who had been on duty that particular line Tuesday night between 10 p.m. and midnight. He identified Best as one of his passengers, but he didn't remember where he got off. The next morning, Ben and I met with Ed Walker, Captain of the robbery. Just saw the deputy DA made out the case for him. Yeah, we got the complaint. He'll be around this afternoon. Well, each one of the Stendall family identified Best. His alibi didn't stand up for Tuesday night. And we got that bus driver. He tapped Best, too, in that blue baseball camp. All we need now is the holdup gun. I hate to spoil it for you. Hmm? This letter just came through the mail. Have a look. What do you think? I read in the paper this morning about Herbert Best. You've got the wrong guy. I'm the one who held up that paper. Every detail about that robbery is written down in that letter. The information wasn't in the newspaper's story. The holdup man had no all those details. Yeah, women, isn't it? If you don't believe I'm the right man, I'll shoot up a couple of more jerks. Next time I'll kill them. It's no crank, bloody. No, it isn't. You got the wrong man. You are listening to Dragnet, the case history of a police investigation presented in the public interest by Fatima Cigarettes. If you smoke a long cigarette, it will be in your interest to listen to this case history recorded by a typical Fatima smoker. Hi there. My name is Bab Beckwith. Bab, that's short for Bethany Ann Beckwith. I live in New York City and I'm a fashion stylist. The other day at a showing of the new fall styles, I ran out of cigarettes. A friend of mine, designer, introduced me to the new long Fatima. I really wish someone had told me about them sooner. Fatimas are a lot milder than the cigarettes I've been smoking. And they have a delightful flavor, too. I'm very glad to recommend them to you. Because I know from experience it's wise to smoke extra mild Fatimas. And more and more smokers every day are finding that out. Actual figures show extra mild Fatima has more than doubled its smokers coast to coast. So enjoy extra mild Fatima yourself. The king size cigarette which contains the finest Turkish and domestic tobaccos superbly blended to make it extra mild. You will prefer Fatima much different, much better flavor and aroma. You will agree. It's wise to smoke extra mild Fatima. It's wise to smoke extra mild Fatima. The best of all long cigarettes. After we received the anonymous letter in the mail confessing to the Stendhal Bakery holdup we met with the deputy district attorney. We acquainted him with the new facts in the case. That afternoon the charges against Herbert Best were dropped. We started again at the beginning. 10 a.m. Monday, November 9th the members of the Stendhal family were again shown mug books of ex-cons with robbery records. This time they picked out eight mug shots of known robbery men each with a mark resemblance to the original suspect Herbert Best. Together with officers Bechtel and Lopez we started checking them out. The first two days we tracked down four of the eight. All of the four were in the clear. 5.15 p.m. we got back to the city hall in the car pool. Any empty spots, Joe? No, but don't park it in any one of the city councilman stalls. Why don't you pull up here? A boy will take care of it. That's good right here. Oh, Garnett. I knew there was something I forgot to do. What's that? They had an underwear sale today. It had a place down in Southfake, shorts, t-shirts. My wife told me to be sure and get down there. That'll be another one. What's that? It sells all the time, don't they? Only twice a year on underwear. Stuff I've got's not going to last until the next time. Friday, man, wait a minute. I'm changing back to here. Hi, Beck. Hi. Yeah, how'd you make out? Two men we checked were clean. We picked up something 77th Street station. Now go ahead, Ben. What's that elevator door? Oh, I'm sorry. You're going to get a gun run. One of our traffic cars saw the collision and took out after the guy, chasing 10 blocks. While they were chasing him, they thought they saw the driver throw something out of the car window. What? I'm coming to that. They finally pulled the car over, great coup. The driver told him his shoulder was wrenched in the accident. He was on his way to his own doctor. Our men took him to 77th Street, had the doctor look at him. While the doctor was treating the guy, only one of the officers was in the room. When he turned to get a drink of water, we found him, and then the doctor jumped out of the window, got away. Teletypes out on him. He went to an awful lot of trouble to beat a traffic ramp. That's the way, impressed the boys out there. They got out of broadcast, and the guy went back to the spot where they thought they saw the guy toss this thing out of his car when they were chasing him. And they found a 32-coat revolver. Our rest camp's checking it now in the crime lab. What'd they say the man looked like? The description measure's pretty close to our holdup guy. I'll get it. Robbery Friday. Yeah, just a minute. See you back. Oh, thanks. Yeah. Oh, yeah, Russ. Yeah. Okay, fine, right? Russ Camp checked the 32 revolver with the slugs in the Stendhal case. Yeah. Positive make. The gray coupe, which the unidentified suspect had been driving, had been checked out by traffic officers at 77th Street Division. They had found that the owner and driver of the car was a man named Bruno Stock, with a page full of major and minor crimes to his credit. We checked his mama's sheet, and we got out of broadcast on him in an APB. A stakeout had been placed at his last known address. We picked up a sandwich and a cup of coffee for dinner, and then we started checking out Bruno Stock's relatives and friends. By six o'clock the following night, we still had no idea where he was. A little after 9 p.m., we got a call from an informant who told us that Tommy Josephson, a small-time thief and reputedly a friend of Bruno's stocks, wanted to talk to us. We got a call apartment over on West 6th. One thing I want to set you straight on. Bruno's no friend of mine. He's in on the heavy rackets. No heavy rackets, man. He's a friend of mine. All right, we got it. Now where's Bruno? He came here the night, quarter after six, moved right in on me, didn't even ask me. What do you want with you? Now you remember, Bruno's no friend of mine. Yeah, we got that. Now what do you want? A gun. He knew I had one. I keep it for self-protection. You can't trust these heavy men. That rat made me go out and buy dinner for him. My own dog had to bring it back here from. Yeah. Bruno's no friend of mine. What he does with that gun is his grief. It's out of my hands. When did he leave here? An hour ago. I think maybe a little less. Shucked me down like a rat, real heavy guy. Where was Bruno going? I don't know. He's crazy. All them heavy guys are crazy. Talked like somebody with a paper head. Did he tell you where he was going? See a friend of his over in Darktown. He said he was going to borrow his car. He's heavy, I tell you. Said he was going out on a heist tonight. Did he ever write you guys a letter? Why? Well, he told me he was going to prove what he wrote to you. Crazy. I didn't get it at all. Said he was going out to kill a couple of jerks. 9.30 p.m. We got the address of the bowling alley run by Bruno's stock's friend and we called the office. An alert for the suspect was broadcast immediately. Together with Gene Bechtel and Lopez, we drove to the bowling alley. Ben and I went in. Bechtel and Lopez covered the outside. It's a good product. I wonder where they do business. I don't see any counter. No, neither do I. There it is. Way over in front. There's nobody behind the cash register. How about that fellow in the white T-shirt standing by the cigarette machine? Yeah, it looks like he works here. Let's go. Joe, I'm a guy with him. Just turn towards you. Bruno, come on. He ducked in there to the right, Joe. Down behind the alley. Hold it up, Stock. Don't wind it, Joe. I'll invite you through it. Come on. There he is. Get out. Joe, he's in there. Becht. Cover the front. Over the fence, Joe. There he is. I'll give it back. Come on. You see? No. Got to be in the yard somewhere. Yeah. Where'd it come from? I can't see. Keep down. Get upstairs of that house. There he is. Give it up, Stock! All right, mister. Give tag. Come on. What's it look like? It's a shoulder wound. You want to shake him down? Yeah. Joe, Ben, you all right? Yeah. Get an ambulance with you back. Right. I'll throw the cuffs on him. Yeah. That's it, Joe. Yeah. Where you going? I got a phone call to make. Only the names were changed to protect the innocent. The 18th trial was held in Superior Court, Department 84, 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. In the record bureau of all metropolitan police departments, there's a special file in which all known criminals are catalogued and cross-indexed according to identifying marks. Marks which help the working detective. And so, with a cigarette. The outstanding identifying mark of Fatima is quality. The careful selection and blending of only the finest Turkish and domestic tobaccos to make Fatima extra mild. If you're a long cigarette smoker, you'll find like I did, that every pack is extra mild. You'll find it's the best of long cigarettes. Smoke Fatima. Bruno Alfred Stock was tried and convicted of first-degree robbery and assault with intent to commit murder, two counts. Because of his prior convictions, he was a judged and habitual criminal and sentenced to a life imprisonment. He is now serving his term in the state penitentiary. You have just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases from official files. Technical advice for Dragnet comes 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 next Tuesday, it's Fibre McGee on NBC. Thanks for watching.