 The Equitable Life Assurance Society presents, this is your FBI, this is your FBI, the official broadcast from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, transcribed and presented as a public service by the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States and the Equitable Society's representatives in your community, a representative of our sponsor, the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. Being a life insurance man with the Equitable Society is a mighty fine way to earn a living. For instance, take the Equitable Education Fund I've worked out. I can name you a dozen boys and girls who wouldn't have had the advantage of a college education if their fathers hadn't talked to me about an Equitable Education Fund. In approximately 14 minutes I'll be back with full information on the Equitable Education Fund, an important contribution to American education made by the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. Tonight's FBI file, The Hapeless Hijackers. The Federal Bureau of Investigation cooperates in bringing this series of official radio programs to you because it feels that progress in a democracy is made in only one way, through the increased knowledge of the citizens. These dramatizations are intended to increase your knowledge about crime and its effect on you, the average decent citizen. Tonight's case concerns auto theft. Too often dismissed as a minor and unimportant crime. The truth is that auto theft today is one of the prime problems facing every law enforcement agency in the nation. In records compiled by your FBI, covering crime in every one of the 48 states, it was shown that in the past 12 months more than 169,000 cars were stolen, an average of better than 450 a day, every day throughout the year. It is true that in almost every instance, the single theft meant a loss that could be measured in terms of under a thousand dollars. But when added together, the value of those stolen cars amounted to more than 65 million dollars. That makes auto theft more than a mere petty crime. It makes it a big and successful business, a business with but one objective, money, your money. Tonight's file opens late at night in front of a large empty lot located in a midwestern city. A huge sign in front announces Park your car 25 cents. A man stands in the street in front of the lot, soliciting business. Park your car. Park your one quarter. Park your car here you are. Hey, Mr. Davis. Did you call me? Yeah, remember me, Mr. Davis? Well, I... Good Sheriff. Used to fight at the arena. Oh, yeah. What are you doing around here? Taking a walk? No, I mean here in town. Ain't you still located in Forest City? Yeah, I'm here on business. Oh. Is this your parking lot? No, but I'm running it. Are you the manager? No, the guy who owns it just keeps it open in the daytime. I take over at night. You mean just take over? That's right. Oh, that's pretty cute. What can you steal here? Sometimes 10 bucks a night. Hey, people come in here and leave their keys in the lock, don't they? You're giving yourself the worst of it, kid. Oh, what do you mean? That's a chicken face. Look, you need a partner. A partner? Yeah. Someone who can make keys can make you a bundle. A thermometer in your push. I was taking my temperature. No, my stomach is killing me. I always run my fever when it's upset. I'll be with you in a minute. I just want to take one of these powders. Go ahead. This is the last time I go on the road. The minute I start eating that restaurant food, plan goes the other way. Did you talk to the home office today? Will you please forget business till I take this powder? Do you think the home office can handle five cars a night? Oh, we'd have to have more trailers. I made a contact. Who? Remember a punchy fighter named Kid Sheridan? No. He used to fight at the arena every week. I run in overnight. He's working a racket for himself that we could make use of. What is it? He found a parking lot. It closes up at eight every night. The kid goes in after that, turns on the lights, and runs the chain himself. Uh-huh. I talked to him, made a deal. He nails the key from the car, turns them over to us, and we get duplicates made. You have a locksmith right near by. That's it. Then we find out from the registration where the car owner lives, tastes the house, and takes the car. Did you make a deal with this kid, director? Yeah. Twenty bucks a car. That's cheap enough. Go ahead, Artie. Start getting the keys, mate. Some weeks later, at the local FBI field office, Special Agent Jim Taylor approaches the desk of Agent Howard Marshall. Oh, hi. Oh, hi, Jim. I see we're around a new case together. What's it about? A couple of days ago, a trailer truck with five new cars skidded on Highway 76 near Newton Falls went off the road and over the cliff. That's about a hundred-foot drop there. Yeah. Well, the driver was killed and every one of the cars smashed beyond repair. Well, how do we get him on that, Jim? Well, when the local police examined the wreckage, they found that not only the trailer, but every one of the new cars have been stolen. Where? Well, the trailer was grabbed back east about two or three months ago. The five cars were all stolen right here this past week. Well, any ident on the driver, Jim? No, not yet. The police at Newton Falls sent his prints to Washington only yesterday. There wasn't any bill of lading found that and tell us where the truck is headed for, I suppose. No. I have my own theory on that, but no proof, of course. Well, what's your guess? Well, these cars obviously weren't stolen by amateurs. I think they were probably armed routes to our headquarters for repainting and other changes. That sounds logical. Well, when Washington finds out who that driver was, maybe we can locate headquarters. Howard, why don't you wait here and see if any word comes in from Washington, huh? Okay. I'll go out and interview the owners of those five stolen cars. I'm in here. What's with the lying down? I'm a sick man. I stomach again, everything. Look at this. It's a memo from headquarters. Just came. They blame me for losing the trailer. How can they do that? You wasn't driving it. You didn't know the guy would be speeding. I know, I know, but try and explain that to headquarters. I'd like to see some of those guys go on the road once. Put up with what we have to put up with. You know what they say here? They're going to charge my account for the loss of the trailer. Hand me one of those powders. Oh, sure, phone. Here. To my youth. How glamorous it was going to be to be a thief. It'll be nightclub, beautiful women, long-sleeved cars. Man, look at me. Twenty years of stealing. I'm in a crumb hotel with outers. I'll get it. Well, whoever it is, get rid of them. Okay. Yeah, who's this? The kid. Oh, hello, kid. Look, I can't talk to you now. I'm busy. It's important. Look, the man who owns the lot came around last night. He was real, man. Look, kid, I can't be bothered now. Call me later. But I... What did he want? The guy who owns the lot came around last night and kicked him out. Then he's no good to us anymore. Hand me the phone, Artie. Who are you calling? Headquarters. I'm sending for a new trailer and a new stomach. Have you seen those car owners, huh? Any luck with them? Nothing specific. No, but I did discover a pattern. What kind? Well, every one of the robberies have been committed at night, sometime after they went to bed. Then the cars were all in a owner's garage. All but one. That was parked in front of his house. Did any of them report hearing the car pull away? Yes, they all did, but they didn't realize the car was their own. Well, what about ignition keys, Jimmy? Did any of them leave them in their cars? No, none of them did, and they were all positive on that point. I think it'd be rather foolish to steal a car that brazenly, unless he had duplicate keys. Yeah, I was thinking about that myself. Oh, uh, anything come in from Washington on that driver of the trailer? Yes, he has a report right here. The Prince for Identified is belonging to a petty larceny thief from the West named Al Brown. Have you ever arrested on a stolen car, George? No. He's never been arrested east of the Rockies. Yeah. Well, it doesn't look like we'll get any of the other thieves through him. All right, let's go back and re-interview the owners of those five cars. Okay. Let's find out where each of the owners left his car with a key, and it's long enough for somebody to make a copy. Right. Here, will you interview the two over on the west side? Okay. That's their names and addresses. Thanks. Now, let's find out every place that those cars were the day before they were stolen. Can I see you a minute? Well, I won't take long, already, honest. I tried to tell you on the phone, the guy who owns the lot came down and found me. He kicked me off. You already told me that, kid. Is that why you come here? Oh, no. I mean, well, I'd like to get back into action. Oh, who's stopping? Oh, I mean, with you. Look, kid, when the guy kicked you off the lot, that closed ideal, too. Well, ain't you got something else for me? Like, like driving a car, maybe? I drive good. We've got plenty of jockeys. Well, look, Artie, you've got to do something for me. Why? Well, I'm broken. Well, it's kind of your fault, my fault. Well, huh? Wow. Well, before you came along, things were different with me. I was only grinding out 10 bucks a night, but I was living like a guy on 10 bucks a night. Then you made a deal. First thing you know, I'm making a hundred a night. That's a lot of money, Artie. This is your complaint? Yeah, I guess maybe it is. Well, when you're making a hundred a night, you live like a hundred a night. Well, you know what I mean. You bet horses, you go to night clubs, you get a nice place to live, and then all of a sudden you ain't making no more. That's what we call life. Yeah, but you don't understand. Something's happened. With horses, I used to bet deuces, but I don't get a kick out of deuces anymore. Now, I can't eat the food in them cheap joints anymore either. I can't sleep at all in a crummy room. This is what you come here to tell me? Yeah. Then get out. Huh? Get out of here. I got work to do. But you can't get rid of me that easy. I'm desperate. I'll go to the cops, Artie. You what? Well, I don't want to honest I don't, but I'm desperate. Wait a minute. Paul. What is it? Can you come here a minute? This is important. Uh, this is the guy that was working with us, the guy from the parking lot. Oh, hiya. Did I understand? He's through with that lot? That's right, but he still wants to be in the act. What do you mean? Well, it ain't something I want to do, but I'm desperate. Let me talk. He wants a piece of our touch, Paul. What? If we don't cut him in, he says he's going to the cops. I see. Well, you know the answer to give him. Fine. Same one you gave to that lad in Pittsburgh. Okay. I'm going back and finish my math. A nice exciting FBI file in just a moment. In a few weeks, the college football season will open again. Already you're beginning to look forward to Saturday afternoons at your radio. Prilling to announcements like this. Evans takes the ball on the lateral. He's in the open, a clear field ahead of him. There he goes, crossing the ten-wide line. The five. He's over. Touchdowns on the football field aren't the only ones scored by college men. In almost every other field, the college-trained man or woman stands a far better chance of reaching his goal. Let's look at the record. Did you know that a college graduate is nearly 15 times as likely to make $10,000 a year or over as a non-college man? Yes, the odds are 15 to 1 in favor of college education. And that's why the Equitable Life Assurance Society created its famous Equitable Education Fund for parents who want to make certain that their children get the higher education that means so much. First and foremost, an equitable education fund is sure right. This fund combines planned regular saving with life insurance. So if the father dies or becomes permanently disabled, this plan makes certain that his children will still be able to get the education he was ambitious for them to have. Second advantage, an equitable education fund is easy. You'll be amazed how quickly a comparatively small monthly payment builds up. Remember, higher education and higher salary go hand in hand. So the more truly you love your children, the more determined you will be to give them a head start toward future success and happiness with an equitable education fund. Get in touch with your Equitable Society representative soon or send a postcard care of this station to the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. And now back to the FBI file, the hapless hijackers. Night's case from the files of your FBI serves to illustrate a point the federal bureau of investigation would like to bring home to you. The stolen car ring in this evening's dramatization is this year's counterpart of the old-time gang. As we came to know the word in the late 1920s, most of those old-time gangs have long since banished. Of late, however, new ones have sprung up to take their place. It has once again become the criminal fashion to have a private army of hoodlums and to conduct all phases of an illegal operation within the same framework as witnessed the racket shown to you tonight. A racket in which one gang not only steals cars but also repaints them, changes the body styles and then sells them. Yes, 1949 America, despite the hard work of undermanned law enforcement agencies, has again seen a return of the gang and of the gangster. One thing has changed with that return. The man in charge is no longer a capone, a dillinger, a carpus, no longer an illiterate uncouth hoodlum who got to be the boss because he had bigger muscles or a more itchy trigger finger. Today's man in charge is an executive who attempts to run a criminal empire as smoothly as possible, who delegates authority and who has a weekly payroll to meet. He takes as few chances as he can and he tries never to do anything that any other businessman isn't called upon to do except of course that when necessary he is a throwback to his predecessors or when necessary he will kill. Tonight's file continues at the local FBI field office. Hi Jim, hope you have better luck than I did. Why, what happened? Both the people I went to see were out. Now my luck was better Howard, I saw all three of the car owners on my list. I found that each of their three cars have been put into the same parking lot downtown. Where was that? 11th and Bedford. Did you go over there? Yeah. Get anything? Well I found the man who warns the police. He seemed to be flabbergasted when I told him what I was there for. Think he's part of the outfit? No Howard, I doubt it. What was his story? Well all three of the cars have been parked at the lot at night. This man said that he closes up at eight o'clock and goes home. Well then how could anybody use the lot after him? I explained that to me. It seems that he befriended a homeless ex-fighter and let him sleep in the little office. Well then a couple of nights ago he found that this man was running the lot at night so he kicked him out. Sounds like that ex-fighter could have been mixed up in the rancor Jim. Yeah, I asked for his name but no one knew him. Is anything but just a kid. Could you get any description of him? As soon as I got it I called the police and had them send out a broadcast. Let's hope this one works. Howard, will you wait here and see if anything comes in? I'm going back to my desk and get the file room to send me every picture they have on anybody nicknamed kid. Who's that? It's me, Paul. Oh. I thought maybe you were still taking a nap. No, I woke up ten minutes ago. Look, I want you to do a narrowing for me. Well, go to the grocery store and get me a couple jars of yogurt. A what? Yogurt, yogurt. I just heard about it. It's supposed to be great for the stomach. Sounds like that thing where a guy stands on his head. It's Bulgarian culture milk. What's it made of? I don't know, just get me a couple jars of it. Okay. Oh, by the way, I've been thinking about you a friend, the price fighter. And what about him? I believe it'll be better to give him some money. Keep him on the payroll till we get out of town. Well, it's a little late for that. You mean he stepped the police? No, he's dead. Dead? Well, why didn't you tell me? That's what I come in here to do. Oh, that's fine. You want me to take him out and dump him someplace? No, we can't just... We're getting out of here. Where are we going? Home. But we ain't filled our quarter cars. We've filled our quarter of everything else. There's an eight o'clock train to Forest City. If we hurry, we can just make it. Well, what about that yogurt stuff? Give it back to the Bulgarian. That parking lot where the kid used to sleep nights. What are you doing there? I went through our nickname file last night before I left the office. I got pictures of everybody whose nickname is kid. I showed them to the man who warns the parking lot. He couldn't identify any of them as the one we want. Well, that was a good try. So, on my way back to the office this morning, I decided to go through the picture files of the Daily Bulletin. The Daily Bulletin? Yeah. They found one in their sports files of a man who answered the description. I brought it out here for the lot owner to identify if he could. Did he? Yeah. It's the same man. Who is he? Well, his real name, according to the caption on the picture, is George Sheridan. He fought here a few times, oh, five or six years ago. Have they got anything else on him? No, not very much. The sports editor told me he came from Forrest City, but he didn't know anything else about him. Pardon me, Jim. The other phone's ringing. Oh, sure not. I'm kid Sheridan. Yeah. Body's still there? Yes. I'll meet you over there right away. I took the body out. They left everything else undisturbed. Come on. I talked to the superintendent of the building. Sure. He gave me a pretty good description of the man who rented the place. That should help. Super, tell you what the tenant's name was. Yeah, Wheeler. Also gave me a good description of a man who... Nothing in this chest. Find anything over there? Huh? What do you got? Now, there's a sheet of paper. What's on it? Some numbers. Here. Take a look. You've got those same numbers here. Here in my pocket. Look. Well, they are the same numbers. Jim, what are they? These are the motor numbers and those five cars that were wrecked when that trailer turned over. Definitely links them with the ring. Yeah. Now our job is to find out where they went. Well, what have you got there? Oh, that's a phone number. I found it over there on the desk. I know it's the number for Western Union, but... Hey, Howard, let's use that phone. What's top about this thing? How can he? Well, this trip wasn't exactly what you'd call a big success. It wasn't our fault. I covered that very thoroughly in my report. Well, it still won't square us. You're going to have to wait for that promotion. I'll guarantee you that. I don't see why. Howard's going to hit for a raise. You can kiss that off, too. Well, let's wait and see. Go ahead, Jim. Isn't nobody working on these cars? Maybe the boss is having a meeting. Oh, yeah. I kind of hate to make my report in front of everybody. Well, when the meeting is over. You know him. The minute we get into the office, he'll stop everything and I'll be on. Can't you say your report ain't ready? In front of the whole meeting? Meeting is over, Jim. Who are you guys? We're special agents at the FBI and you're both under arrest. Come on, we're going down to headquarters and you can join the rest of your gang there. General prison for violation of the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act. All wheeler and Auti Davis were found guilty of the murder of Kid Sheridan and sentenced by state court to be executed. Who, which led special agents Taylor and Bedford to the headquarters of the Auto Theft Ring, was the Western Union telephone number. Upon checking at that office, it was learned that a Paul wheeler at the address where Kid Sheridan's body was found had been sent two wires and three money orders in the past month. A quick check revealed where they had been sent from and when that address proved to be in Forest City, the two special agents took a plane and got there before Paul and Auti arrived. With the cooperation of the local police, the two special agents were able to have everyone in the gang arrested and taken away. They then waited for the last two members to show up. The result you have already witnessed. And so another file was closed successfully by two special agents of your FBI in cooperation with two local police departments. And it was closed in the only manner that fully ensures the cessation of operations for a criminal machine with the arrest and conviction of every member of the gang. In just a moment, we will tell you about next week's exciting case from the files of your FBI. But first let's hear briefly from an equitable society representative on the subject of an equitable education fund. Fathers and mothers, the sooner you start an equitable education fund, the lower each monthly payment will be. As a matter of fact, that's the fine thing about this equitable plan. It enables you to spread the cost of your boy or girl's college education over 10 or 15 years instead of taking a financial beating in four. With an equitable education fund, the money is ready and waiting when your boy or girl is ready for college. The man whose word you have just heard speaks for 6,000 equitable society representatives from coast to coast who are always ready to give you friendly help and counsel. If you do not know the name of the equitable man in your community, send a postcard care of this station to the Equitable Life Assuring Society of the United States. We will dramatize another case from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A dramatic story of big city rackets. It's subject. Kidnappy. It's titled The Delinquent Father. The incidents used in tonight's equitable life assurance societies broadcast are adapted from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. However, all names used are fictitious and any similarity thereof to the names of persons living or dead is accidental. Tonight's program was transcribed and the music was composed and conducted by Frederick Steiner. The author was Jerry D. Lewis. Your narrator was William Woodson and special agent Taylor was played by Stacey Harris. Others in the cast were Ed Begley, Rye Billsbury, Ted D'Corsia and George Offerman Jr. This is Your FBI is a Jerry Divine production. This is Larry Keating speaking for the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States and the Equitable Society is representative in your community and inviting you to tune in again next week at the same time when the Equitable Life Assurance Society will bring you another thrilling story from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Delinquent Father on This Is Your FBI. This is ABC the American Broadcasting Company.