 Stand by for crime Chuck Morgan KOP newscaster speaking You know there are a few of us who realize the tragedy of the displaced person To appreciate just how tough it really is Imagine yourself having to leave the place of your birth Separate connections with all relatives and friends and being set down in a new and strange land where no one even speaks your language It's not pleasant to think about is it? So here in Los Angeles, we have our quota of DPs It just happens that my blonde secretary Carol Curtis goes on frequent welfare kicks Which is why when I arrived at my office last Wednesday morning. I was given some first-hand information about our local DPs You're like 90% of the people in this town Chuck Morgan. You just haven't a sense of responsibility I haven't oh by the way that typewriter guy fix my machine Chuck. You aren't listening sure I am grammar. Let's go ahead and talk To be running all right, I see a Year ago you made a hero out of yourself raving about how we should bring the DPs over here and give them a new start in life And now that we've got them here. You don't care that they're being blackmailed, you know glamour for sometimes What do you mean blackmailed just what I said? It's the most disgraceful thing that was ever done the name of American democracy There are five families of displaced persons living in a tenement house on bulletin Street and every one of them is paying So-called protection money to a gangster named Igor Petroff are you kidding? What's he protecting them against against Tom being done to their relatives who are still behind the iron curtain? No, it's terrible Those poor people don't understand They think that Petroff actually has a pipeline to Joe Starleen Not one of them makes more than a bare living wage and to have to turn half of it over to a dirt Yes, half of it and what's being done to stop such an outrage? Nothing because people like you all right wait a minute grandma. Let's take it easy If such conditions exist someone would have heard about it before now. I haven't gone to the police the police Oh Chuck, don't you know what the word police means to those people? What does it mean? It means beatings and being thrown into a concentration camp and being tortured It means everything, but what it should mean justice So this small-time gangster has got him coming and going, huh? He knows they won't go to the police and he's got them scared into paying off to him or else That's about the laziest racket in the book Hello patty come in. Hello Chuck morning Carol. Hi patty. Say Chuck You've got anything hot for your first broadcast tonight because if you haven't I have yeah, what's that a murder? You see another routine murder patty look Carol's come up with something that's really nothing routine about this murder The victim's name is Jan Darvis. He is or was a displaced person living down on bulletin Street It seems he went to the police to complain about some kind of a holdup being pulled on him and he was liquidated Happy Mansfield is owner of k.o.p Usually lets me alone regarding the nature of the stuff I use on my broadcast But occasionally he gets into a sweat about a particular story and demand that I give it the full treatment Only got into a sweat about this one Which accounts for the fact that five minutes after he denounced the murder of jan darvis Carol and I were on our way to bulletin Street We found bill megs of police headquarters and a couple of uniform cops at the scene of the murder Which was an alley behind a pool hall Hello bill. Oh hi chuck. Hello Carol. Hello bill. I wonder when you two would be along pappy tell you I called Yeah, he told us this is where they found the body here. Yes only it wasn't a body when they found it Darvis was still alive. He didn't die till they got him to the hospital Did he say anything before he died he told us he'd gone to a policeman about the protection money He'd been forced to pay and that's why he was beaten up. Did they tell you the policeman's name? Nope, but we'll find out Bill you don't think this policeman. Sure I do And don't give me that shocked look. We cops aren't all lily wide any more than everybody in every other businesses So far we've a pretty clean record It's going to be cleaner when I get my hands on this particular cop any clues bill Well, yes a set of brass knuckles for one Blood on them too. Oh, what horrible looking things Not pleasant. That's for sure. You got any theories worked out though. Yeah, I have In the looks of Darvis's body, I figured that whoever beat him up didn't intend to kill him I'm just going to use him as an example for the rest of the dps That's why whoever called emergency hospital and reported the thing wasn't interfered with again. They wanted someone to call the hospital. That's right This petroff character is too small time to risk getting mixed up with murder. Have you had petroff picked up? Not yet Most we could do is hold them for 24 hours for questioning Yeah, I don't suppose any of the other dps will talk. Oh the same old story. They're scared stiff They don't want the same thing to happen to them or their families a rotten mess Bill, what are you going to do about it? I'm just watching you and every other representative american would expect me to do carol I'm going to find the murderer of jan darvis and send him to the gas chamber It's going to be a tough job bill anything we can do to help. I know something we can do to help right now Yeah, what's that? Have you talked to anna darvis yet? She's jan's mother No, that's where I plan to go from here. Don't Let chuck and me see her first She's frightened of the police. She has another child a 12 year old girl and she's terrified of what might happen to her And but look if she won't talk to me. I know her bill I've been calling on her once a month for almost a year. She trusts me Maybe I can persuade her that the police in america are different, but they actually want to help her That sounds like a good deal bill at least you can't lose anything man. Yeah, maybe you're right Okay, you two go up and have a talk with the lady and report your findings to me at headquarters Bulletin street is one of those crummy district that few of our respected citizens are aware exist As caro and I walked along that dirty noisy pavement I marveled at the fact that she'd been making trips down here all by herself once a month just to check on our dps another unfortunate families Now we came to a two-story adobe tenement house that was sandwiched in between two larger but equally disreputable looking frame buildings We went inside We walked up a flight of dusty stairs Down a short hall And stopped in front of a door that was hanging on one hinge with a latch sprung What happened here looks as though someone broke the door down. It wasn't like this when I was here yesterday This Great santa poor thing. Let's go in We pushed open what remained of the door and entered the tiniest living room I've ever been in A single window opened onto an air shaft The room itself was spotless The furniture though old was neat and in good taste Snowy white curtains were at the window To the right it ordered to the kitchen But we could see if it was as meticulously clean as the living room It was in this room that we heard the sobbing that had stopped now. It was an ominous silence It crossed to the kitchen and entered A woman perhaps 50 years old was seated at the table Her face was bruised and bloody one eye was blackened The look she gave us was wild and terrified Go in what happened Were you poor thing go away, please do not stay here But we want to help you. That's why we came. No Everyone is evil in this wicked America. Do you think that I am evil Anna? I'm sorry. I didn't I cannot say anything. What happened to your face Anna? Nothing. It is nothing. Oh Anna This is Chuck Morgan. He's a radio newscaster He wants to help you and so do the police The police now we understand why you feel the way you do Anna, but if we're going to help you you must tell us what happened No Telling would not bring back my jan My jan is dead Now I have only little maria Poor little maria. She's so frightened It is like in the concentration camps But then we always had the dream of coming to america It was a beautiful dream America If it were not for that dream most of us would have died and now No Please Anna, please. Where is maria now, Anna? No, I will not tell The evil man will not have my little maria They can kill me and I will not tell Anna. Perhaps. Oh wait, machak Anna You trust me, don't you? You have been kind miss curfews of all the people You have been kind and if I were to make you a promise You know, I'd keep it. I will not tell I will not Anna the only way we can help you as we want to do Is to have your cooperation. We understand how you feel how much afraid you are We don't want anything to happen to maria either That's why I suggest that you let us take you away from here you and maria both Take us away Away from them. Yes away from them. I have an apartment up in wilshire boulevard. You can stay there Miss curtis will stay with you We'll have a half a dozen policemen guarding the place until this rock mess is cleaned up then I'll not have to stay here alone It's a promise Anna You have my word for it. But first you must tell us what happened. Yes, then I will tell you It was last night About nine o'clock. I think I was alone here in our home Is someone knocked on the door? Who is it, please? Never mind who it is Open up this door before I break it down. No, this is my home. You cannot come in. I can't Don't tell me what I can't do. Oh lady This district Igor Petrov goes where he pleases and no one stops him. See then you Are Igor Petrov you heard me Earth that yellow liver kid of yours if you mean jan here's not here now you must go now go when I get ready You must not break our current here. We have so little here Well, you're gonna have a lot less when I get through Where's the kid? I do not know Where is he? No, please my boy is not he's hiding where I will not tell you I will not Listen you old buzzer lane got much time and red-faced brady yours went to the cops. He squealed Don't tell me you didn't know about that Yes My boy did go to the police I am proud of him for doing that He is brave my chan He wants what is right and no more He he does not think that here in america It is right for evil men to take any part of money that is hard earned by honest people This america is to us a wonderful land and we believe the police will protect us if we tell them the truth Yeah Well, let me tell you something old lady The cop your kid squealed to is on my payroll get that he does what Igor Petrov says So does everybody else in this district. I'm boss here. Nobody crosses me nobody and that goes for that punk kid of yours Now where is he I will never tell never no When I get through with you, you'll tell or you'll think that Concentration camp you were in was a bed of roses Where is he? No Where is he? It was horrible Yes, it was horrible First I think then the camps Did you tell me your son was Anna? No Jan came home while Petrov is still here He's a little man my jan he was no match for the man who was beating me how awful Did Petrov take jan away? Yes, he took jan away And now my jan is dead Anna no one can blame you for your present opinions of americans Except for caro are people haven't been very well represented among those you've met That's going to change beginning right now Caro, I want you to pick up maria wherever she is and take both her and Anna out to my apartment I'll phone bill megs tell him the story and ask him to send some cops out. All right, but chuck. Yeah, what are you going to do? I'm going to make a call Yeah, that's it. I'm going to make a call I want to demonstrate to a certain district gang boss that here in america. We don't tolerate gutter rats Vision of stand by for crying News people learn to get hard-boiled about human suffering and human weaknesses. They have to if they didn't it wouldn't last long But every once in a while you run across something that hits you personally and it's different Then you cease to be a newsman for a little while and become yourself That's what happened to me after listening to Anna Darvis's story It affected me personally because I was an american And Igor Petrov was representing himself as an american And when I thought of it, I thought unclean It was a fighting desire inside of me to correct the situation So I wouldn't be ashamed of being a citizen of these united states All right, maybe I wasn't using my head, but that's all right, too I was boiling mad when I opened the door of the joint that Igor Petrov called his headquarters The place seemed deserted Then a human rat came shuffling out of the gloom and layered up at me Hello Morgan You're looking for somebody Well, there isn't little benny k-peck sand quintons latest contribution to the scum of society lay off morgan You can't talk to me like that Ain't easy push over I was two years ago. Oh, yeah, ain't ain't you from my money k-peck You always be a cross between a whiz on a warfrat. What have you done tied in with petrov? Yeah Yeah, I've tied in with petro Which means that neither you nor the cops can touch me No, wouldn't you be surprised if you found you bought yourself another ticket to san quentin? Where is that tinhorn boss of yours? I want to see him. What did I tell him you Want to see in the back? I want to remind him how to act when he talks to a lady Out of my waistline face before I start in on you. You come back here You can't go in there. Okay, peck. This is all I needed for an excuse Hello petrov morgan Who let you in here? I invited myself Rat to come from behind that desk brother. This is something I'm going to enjoy K-peck spider, I call your rats, but first I want to give you a little lesson in good Am I getting my point across the trust boys? K-peck calling yourself an america why you weren't fit to lick the boots of those people Who boys who boss coming come on boys get him get me But bill chuck's been gone almost three hours that means he's either in trouble or dead How can you and pappy calmly sit here smoking cigarettes and not even worry about him? I am worried about him when he called me on the phone He asked me if I give him until six o'clock before I picked up petroff said he had a plan Chuck's plans usually pay off carol. Oh not always Boy, I've seen him so beaten up. He looked as though he had been run through a meat grinder I didn't say he didn't get himself worked over occasionally. He's a glutton for it But he usually gets what he goes after oh you men We have mrs. Darvas's story Isn't that enough to arrest petroff on for heaven's sake? She was an eyewitness not that jan darvas's murder That's why chuck wanted some time. He thinks he can get the information that will pin the murder rap on petroff My guess is he'll do it too mine do oh for heaven's sakes carol Why don't you quit saying for heaven's sakes and just sit down and relax relax? How would you feel if your boyfriend were in the danger of being murdered? I haven't got a boyfriend That's not very funny pappy. Sorry. Oh forget I tell you what I'll do carol If we don't hear from chuck within the next 15 minutes all three of us will take a run down to bulletin street and have a look around Okay, do I have a choice of answers 15 minutes isn't long to wait the chances are right now chuck is on his way back here with petroff as his prisoner And a full confession in his pocket Take it easy morgan you live Oh kpk. Yeah. Yeah kpk only now the situation's a little different ain't it morgan You dirty rat on time I had yeah, I'm apt and tired Having fun kpk. Yeah Yeah, I'm having me a dandy time boss Petroff if you had a brain in your head, you know you couldn't get away with it I've got a brain in my head and I am getting away with this You ready to talk morgan about what you know about what? I hit the old lady and the kid. I've already told you they're in my apartment on wilshire There are seven cops guarding the place and I say there ain't no one in your apartment on wilshire And I say there is and why don't they answer the phone? Maybe they don't want to if they're not in my apartment There are police headquarters. Why don't you call the chief? Okay morgan suit yourself Ready to play some more kpk boss Ain't nothing I'd rather do all right. You got 15 minutes Make him talk in that time or you and me is gonna have an understanding I'll make him talk Just leave me alone with him. I got my own particular methods So petroff went out of there and kpk began having his fun Only this time I wasn't as cooperative as before I passed out almost at once or pretended to This made kpk mad there wasn't any fun beating an unconscious man But it also gave me time to think I told bill neggs I had a plan That was partly to keep bill away from bulletin street until I had a goal to steal myself And partly because there had been an idea in the back of my head But what was it? At the time I've been too mad to analyze its worth Then I remembered The brass knuckles that bill had found But what about them? They've been dried blood in those knuckles sure sure that was it dried blood When it wasn't much of a plan but in my present situation who was I to be choosy I cautiously opened one eye And saw kpk sitting two feet away watching me Okay Morgan You ready for some more hold it kpk. I've got something to say you better head Go on talk What about the brass knuckles? Huh? What about the brass knuckles? They're going to prove that you murdered jan davis They're going to send you back to sang quintin this time with a reserved seat in the gas chamber. He ain't gonna prove nothing Now cut out wait a minute. There was blood on those knuckles kpk your blood So how's anybody gonna prove that easy the cops will take a sample of your blood compare it with the blood on the brass knuckles And you'll be charged with murder. You're crazy. Anyway, they want my knuckles. I didn't have nothing to do it with what kpk Any of your business Now you're going to see so far you've been nothing but a small time operator kpk Murders out of your line The only way you can save yourself from the gas chambers to tell me who owns those brass knuckles Turn me loose. Shut up. I won't do it. I can save you from the gas chamber kpk. I'm the only one who can Petroth would double cross you in a minute The cops are on their way here right now. You haven't got much time You kidding me mogul? I'm giving it to you straight. Mrs. Davies has already told a story to the police The only reason you and petroth haven't been picked up yet is because they didn't have proof of the murder Now they've got it with the blood on those brass knuckles. You'll see that I don't get no murder back Yes, I don't want to take no rap for nothing. I didn't do then you won't it's a promise. Okay, mogul I'll take a chance and if you pull across on me, I never pulled across in anybody in my life. Now hurry up. We haven't got much time I held my breath while kpk worked on the ropes so very changes mind One hand came free the little weasel was working on the last knot at the second hand when the door opened kpk what the devil take it easy petroth kpk and I have made a deal He's going to turn state's evidence on you and I'm going to see that he doesn't take a rap for a murder you committed Come on kpk let's get them You're a lousy shot too bad because you won't get a chance for another Well, pappy bill meds glam repose Fancy meeting you here Anna Darvis and her daughter maria are back in their tiny apartment on bulletin street. They like it there To them it's heaven compared to what they've been used to They like america too The american way of life Their dream has really come true They'll make good citizens Petroth is a waiting trial for murder There's no longer any district gang boss on bulletin street There never will be again if bill makes us anything to do with it and bill has a lot to do with such things Speaking of bill after my seven o'clock broadcast that night he and carol pappy and I went over to mike laments for dinner Say chuck before we leave here. I've got just one question. I'd like to ask yeah And after you answer that one I've got a question too and at the risk of sounding parrot like I have a question also Shoot pappy About this dried blood gimmick comparing it with a sample of blood taken from a person who told you that a comparison Will establish identity nobody then how'd you know I didn't does it You see you don't know either so how could kpk be expected to know you mean you just made that one up out of thin There because it sounded like a good idea where sure now. What's your question bill? How about that deal you made with kpk? What right did you to promise him he wouldn't have to take a murder rap if he turned states evidence Because I have a friend on the police force was a very nice guy and who I knew would stand behind me His name is bill mags Oh, you see you can't win with this man. He talks his way out of everything And now at last but not least we come to your question grab me first. What is it? Oh, never mind. I just answered it myself When I said you can't win with this man Or can I who I am of course as far as I'm concerned you won three years ago the day I hired you remember Oh chucky boy, you say the nicest thing