 The story you're 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 robbery detail. Vicious gunmen have committed assaults, robberies, attempted murders. They're victims, army officers stationed in your city. Your job. Get them. If you want a long cigarette, smoke the best of all long cigarettes. Smoke king-size Fatima. Fatima is the long cigarette which contains the finest Turkish and domestic tobaccos, superbly blended to make Fatima extra mild. And that's why Fatima has 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. So enjoy Fatima. The best of all long cigarettes. It's wise to smoke extra mild Fatima. It's wise to smoke extra mild Fatima. 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 Wednesday, February 3rd. It was cold in Los Angeles. We were working the night watch out of robbery detail. My partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Thad Brown, chief of detectives. My name's Friday. It was 1.45 a.m. when we got to Highland Park Division. Booking desk. Hi, Shepherd. Hi, Friday, Ben. Hi. Brings you out here. We've got one to book, Chef. You want to do the honor? No, OK. Just a minute. I only sharpen this pencil. Right. All right, Jackson. Take it easy. Yeah. Relax, huh? Jerks. OK. Yeah, let me get a new form of the machine. All right, what's your name? All right, Jackson. Address? 414 Alabama Street. Age? 23. Location of arrest? 1730 West Hill. The old Ranger Tavern. Ranger Tavern. Time of arrest? 11.25 p.m. Charge? Suspicion to 11 PC. PC. Come on. Come on. Let's get this over with. You got lots of time. Let's check your property. All right, Jackson. Everything out of your pockets. Put them on the desk. What about my kids? You won't need them for a while. Put them on the desk. All right. Oh, you forgot your watch. Take it off. All right. Yeah, that ring, too. Yeah. Is that everything? I'll shake them down. Yeah, that's everything. OK, let me list it here. One brown man's wallet. Contents. I'll call them off. OK. One black pocket comb. Got that. One key chain and ring with two, five keys. Good luck charm on it. Five keys. Good luck charm me up. Let's see, is that 10? 11. $11.63 in cash. 11.63. One man's wrist watch. Waltham. One man's ring. You got that? Yeah, no more. Yellow metal. A ring. A white stone. It's a diamond ring. That's gold. One man's fountain pen. Fountain pen? That's it. Yeah, OK. Just put all the stuff in the envelope. Get me a bookie number, will you, Jimmy? Here's a receipt for your stuff, Jackson. Itemized? Yeah. Here's your coffee, fella. Thank you, champ. Murdoch. Yes, Hunter? Got one for you. You got a slip on? Yeah, here. Thanks. Let's go. Give me a minute. You got nothing else to say, huh, Jackson? You've been yapping at me for two hours. I told you all I'm gonna tell you. Six robbery, six assaults, three attempted murders. It's a tough rap to stand alone. What about your pals? You got my story. OK, take them. Stubborn. Yeah. We better get the arrest on the teleta. All right. 2 a.m. is a long day. Oh, it's that brown coming in the door. Hi, Chief. Hi. What are you doing out here this time of the morning? I thought I'd drop by and call the office. I forgot something about Jackson. You any good? Not much. He's got a story. He's taken to it. Where'd you pick him up? Bar on Hill Street. We booked him here. It's out of the way. Jackson Finger, any of the gang? No. Question him two hours. Hm. You got a smoke? No. Yeah. Here you go. Well, let's go in his office for that a minute. It's a good idea. My feet are killing me. It'll be hard to figure this thing. All right. All right. Yeah. Thanks. Gang of cheap hoods. Armed with the teeth. Slugging. Shooting their way around town. Coming from all directions. We got it fairly well narrowed down. And nine out of the 10 jobs they pulled, they operated either in San Pedro, the Central Area, or Hollenbeck. Still haven't any idea where they pick army officers for their victims. Jackson wouldn't tell us why. Am I still the same? Yeah, a bit. The hold up men still dress as army enlisted men. They steal a car, offer rights to officers, slug them, rob them, and shoot them. Same thing. 10 times over. The army checked their personnel out of the fort. Keeping tabs on as close as possible. I don't think it's the work of any bona fide enlisted men, though. We'll haul out Jackson and talk to him again in the morning. Maybe he'd be ready to tell us something by then. I'll stay after him. If you need any more men from Metropolitan, they'll help out on the same let me know. Okay, skipper. You better make that call on your home late. Yeah. What was it called three, chef? The 31st and Stafford 211 shooting. Chief Brown, Ben and I got to the scene at 2.20 a.m. An ambulance was already there along with two cruiser cars and a half a dozen curious onlookers. Lying face down on the dirt road about 15 feet off Stanford Avenue was a man dressed in an army officer's uniform. He wore first lieutenant bars. His blouse had been half ripped off and the side of his face was bruised and swollen. Back of his head showed the results of a vicious beating. There were two bullet wounds in his left shoulder. A few feet away, he sprawled out on his back as a major. He'd been brutally beaten, but he was still conscious. While the ambulance attendants gave first aid, we questioned him briefly. Both bodies were lying 30 feet from the interurban railway tracks. Philip, are you telling us how it happened? Hit me on the wall. I can't talk too well. No, don't try to get up, mate. How was the lieutenant? Kelly, he was with me. Are you okay? They're getting him in the ambulance. We were hitchhiking downtown, Kelly and me. Two men in the Grace of Dan picked us up and said they were going back to the fort. How were the men dressed, you remember? Too much noise, what do you say? Just a minute. What was that? The piggy train going by. Now can you tell us about it? Listed men. One is a tech sergeant, another private. He said they'd drive us back to the fort in the Grace of Dan Pontiac. Excuse me, Sergeant. Just take care of those face wounds. You can go ahead. Okay. Did you see the license number on their car? Too dark, no. Grace of Dan pulled guns to stop the car here. Took our money, everything. I'm so stingy. Yeah? It's good. You think you'd recognize the men if you saw them again? One was tall, six-two, I guess, I think I know. They shot Kelly, he tried her on, they shot him. How is he? Is there anything else you can tell us about the men? Ambulance is ready. I'll take him, we can talk to him later. All right, Rob. Yeah. Easy. Okay, let's go. He's not getting any better. I sure like to cut him up, don't they? Pretty good set of footprints over there. Tire impressions. Better call the crime lab. Yeah. Two men in a Grace of Dan. How does that matter? I saw them all, Army officers. So the gunman was tall. Anything to you? Most of the other victims gave us that description. Either the same tall guy works most of the jobs or he's got a twin brother. Stats office, make a run on the description for you? Four different times, nothing yet. I better get this new information on the air right away. Yeah. And steal a different car for every job in the morning after we find the car. Usually clean, no prints. This thing doesn't add up in my book. Army officers aren't loaded with dough. I said Army officers aren't loaded with dough, these punks are after something else besides money. What do you mean? Well, for every dollar they steal, they break a bone. How does that shape up to you? You think they like to draw blood? I think so. I think they're pointing for murder. What's the motive, Chief? I forgot the motives. I don't care what their reason is. Somebody's robbing and shooting. It's our job to stop them. It's a trouble with motives. How do you mean? They always show up after the murder. 2.40 a.m. The crime lab crew arrived and went to work searching the area for evidence and taking casts of the footprints and tire impressions. The chief of detectives, Ben and I, drove back to Georgia Street receiving hospital in time to watch the doctor remove two 38 caliber slugs from the shoulder of one of the victims. From his ID bracelet, it was identified as Harold Kelly, First Lieutenant Signal Corps, U.S. Army. The other victim was Major Richard Farmer, Signal Corps. I initialed the slugs for evidence and then we drove back to the crime lab and dropped them off. The next morning, before they were transferred to a military hospital for further treatment, we talked with Lieutenant Kelly and Major Farmer and filled out a robbery report and won for a crime against person. Five minutes past 10, we checked back into robbery detail. I'd better see if we can get us to Naga for in here. There's a lot of paperwork to get you for. Yeah, I'm going to have to learn shortly. Maro, Joe. Yeah, yes? Come in a minute, will you? Right. They picked up the gray sedan using that job last night. Where? Out on Laguna, about a block from Echo Park. They finding me? Nothing. The boys from Layton Fingerprint's call just before you came in. They dusted the car inside out. No luck. We got Roy Jackson we picked up last night. There's almost like got the stake out on his partner. Yeah. Fremont and T-Trick, nothing yet. What did you find out at the hospital this morning? Well, we talked to Lieutenant Kelly and that Major Farmer again. They're still in bad shape. You have anything to add? No. We got their crime reports and a list of the property taken, gave it to a pawn shop detail to put on the stolen property list. What are the whole up men doing with all the stuff they grab? Watches, cigarette cases, men's jewelry. It's all on the stolen property list. Pawn shops have been alerted. It's not showing up. It's probably Walker. Yeah, just a minute. You, Joe. Thank you. Friday. Kelly. Mm-hmm. Yeah. We'll meet it. Bye. Lee Jones just ran a make on the two slugs they took out of the Lieutenant's shoulder. Yeah. They came from the same gun that wounded four of the other victims. Figures? How about the footprint cast they took out there last night? No, it didn't work out. Lee said he tried matching them up with that set of prints we came across on that job Sunday. There's no match. Oh, hi, gee. Bad. Sit down. Thanks. Fellow man, are you at Walker? Not yet. Just getting over last night's case. What do you got? Walker and I were talking over this morning before you two checked in about these hitchhike bandit jobs. Yeah. We tried everything short of a blockade to grab the hold of men. It's obvious it's not working. How about the Army brass? They're doing all they can already. It's up to us. We're going to need more men and better coverage. What are you figuring out? System decoys planted around the city in every area of these hitchhike bandits have been operating in. There's a lot of men in there. It'd be worth it if it pays off. About 50 or 60 men should do it. They'll be dressed as second lieutenants all the way up to colonels. They'll travel in pairs. Are they going to bunk out at the fort? If we can arrange it, yeah. They'll be instructed to hitchhike their way around town. Walker will operate between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. What kind of support they're going to have? Human and robbery and homicide. I'll have a special detailed car as metropolitan units to help cover the unprotected spots. When is it stuck? Tonight. No use waiting. Fellowes might as well pass the word down the line. No time off till the gang's locked up. Okay. We've got to get those punks and get them fast. We've got the men in the machinery so there's no reason for not stopping them. No excuses. Understood? Yes, sir. Excuse me. Robbery Walker. Oh, hello, dear. Yeah, I know. But I can't make it. Let's go, Joe. A little happy. We're going to go right ahead and we'll have to explain to them. Here. What's that? A nickel. Call yours. 8 p.m. Thursday. With the permission of the commanding general, 6th Army, 35 men dressed as army officers spread out over the city to serve as decoys for the Hitchhike bandits. They were well armed and they traveled in pairs. For the first night it was the plan to concentrate in the central area, Holland Beck and San Pedro. We started cruising in the central area at eight o'clock along with the rest of the detail. The time went slow. Midnight came. Still no sign. We waited out the rest of the night in the early morning. Nothing happened. We figured out some action on the weekend. Sunday, nothing happened. It seemed like the holdup men somehow had sensed the decoys and were staying under cover. Monday night, February the 8th, same thing all over again. 3 a.m. came and went. No sign. I'm kind of hungry. You want a hot dog? We can eat them in the car. No, you go ahead. Maybe a bag of potato chips. You want to see if I've got them? Okay. I'll be right back. Yes, or want a hot dog? One. And give me a bag of those potato chips here, too. Okay. You want everything on that hot dog? That's a relish. Press them out. You don't like relish? No. Okay. Yo, come on. Awesome. You can skip that hot dog, Mac. What is it? Just came in. Catch the repeat. Okay, hit the siren. Let's move. When we got to the scene, neither of the two victims were identified as police decoys. One of them had already been placed in the ambulance. Ben went over to talk to him. The second victim was still lying in the street. His chest riddled with bullet wounds. Two figures bent over him. An ambulance attendant and a priest. And a Jerusalem where God shall wipe away the tears from your eyes. Where there shall be no more sorrow, no more sickness, no more death. Where you will live forever in possession of that happiness which the eye has not seen, nor the ear has heard. Neither hath it entered into the heart of man what things God hath prepared for them that love him. Same as that after Joe. H.I. game. Yeah. Another victim came and helped us much. How about this man? Wait a minute. In the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Ghost, our man. You are listening to Dragnet, the case history of a police investigation presented in the public interest by Fatima Cigarettes. 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The best of all long cigarettes. Wednesday, February 10th at the inquest the murder victim was identified as Marine Corps Lieutenant Robert Paul Lawrence, age 24. The bullets removed from the body at autopsy were taken to the crime lab where the ballistics men ran them through. They were fired from the same gun used in the previous hold-up shootings by the Hitchhike bandits. The companion of the victim at the time of his murder could add little to what we already knew as far as the descriptions of the gun were concerned. The following morning Ben and I drove out to the home of the murdered man to interview his father, a colonel, Marine Corps, you know, the big house, isn't it? Yes, sir. Police officers and this is Sergeant Prie and I'm Sergeant Amaro. Oh, yes. I saw you the other day at the inquest. Yes, sir. We hate to bother you again but we'd like to ask a few questions. Yes. All right. Will you step in? Thank you. This way. It was a small man well built with thick snow, white hair, comb straight back and a neat white moustache well trimmed. He walked deliberately with his shoulders thrown back as he showed us into a large living room richly furnished. A picture of the battle of bellow woods hung over the large fireplace. The rest of the pictures in the room were of famous Marine Corps officers. Now gentlemen, how can I help you? It's about your son, Robert. We didn't want to bother you at the inquest. Yes. I guess I don't have to tell you Bob's death was a blow. Yes. He's been staying here with me from time to time since my wife came here. How's this big neat people? Just myself, the wife gone. Yes, sir. We'll only take a minute. You see, everything had been taken from your son and we'd like to find out if you know what personal property was carrying at the time. Well, I don't know. I guess he had the usual things, few dollars, his wallet, St. Christopher metal, silver, his watch. Was the same Christopher model valuable? Not too much. No, not monetarily. And that watch? Well, yes, I gave it to Robert when he was commissioned at Quantico. That's his graduation picture on the mantle. Here. This is Robert. Yes, sir. Fine boy sight. Robert was a good marine. You think you could describe the watch force? Gold pocket watch caught quite a bit when I bought it for him. There's some engraving on the inside of the cover. What is it? It says, from an old marine penguin, signed dad. Anything else about it, sir? Very fine jewel, a friend of mine made the watch. It has small chimes inside. When you push the lever on the side, it chimes the hour and nearest quarter hour. Very clever. Yes, sir. I see. And as far as you know, then those are all the valuables he had with him. Yeah. All right, Colonel Lawrence, thanks very much. You don't have to rush out. Can I fix a couple of cars? You stay a while, won't you? I'm sorry, I hope I've been of some help to you. Not feeling too well. It helped a lot, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Goodbye. Nice home. Beautiful furniture. Everything a man could want. Except his son. For the next six days, we got nowhere. Both robbery and homicide details stated work on the case. The city-wide decoy plan continued along with the extra night patrol of cruiser cars from the Metropolitan Division. Dozens of leads were received and tracked down. None of them paid off. We stayed on it, but despite all our work in one week, the Hitchhike bandits were credited with 16 car thefts, eight actual hold-ups, and three more assaults with intent to commit murder, February 18th, 2 p.m. Ben and I were called to Captain Walker's office. Close the door, will you, Ben? Oh, yeah. What is it, Ed? Both of you know Burdick here, theft detail? Oh, sure. You want to tell them what you just told me, Burdick? Yeah, just telling the captain I was on night watch last night with Resnick and theft auto. Got him out in a bowling alley on Vermont. Yeah. Well, Resnick and I didn't think too much about it. We took him into Central and had him booked. Gave his name as Clyde Black. Mm-hmm. As I say, I didn't think too much about it. But on the way into work, I got the thinking. This fella comes pretty close to the description of one of your Hitchhike bandits. Yeah. Yeah, he's pretty tall. 6'2", dark hair, dark eyes. Pretty tough. He's still in jail? Still there. Anybody else talk to him besides you? Let me see. Mm-hmm. It seems pretty close. You got a home address on him? Yeah, a place out on South Flower. Here's a number. Thanks. Oh, yeah, there was something else. It struck me kind of funny. What's that? When we booked the guy in last night. Yeah. In his back pocket, he had a St. Christopher medal. Ben, Ed, Bertie, and I drove out to the address on South Flower Street, which the prisoner Clyde Black had listed as his home address. It was a rooming house and the landlord remembered Black, for two months. He gave us Black's forwarding address and apartment on MacArthur Drive. There, the manager told us he hadn't lived in the building for at least a month. He had moved and left no forwarding address. We put tracers through on him with DMV, our business office, and with local merchants in the neighborhoods where he had lived. By 6.30 p.m., we had an answer. An apartment on Pico Boulevard just east of Alvarado. At 7 o'clock, we're on our way up in the elevator to the third floor of the apartment house. It's number 307. We run down the place. Musty. Yeah. This is it. 307. Somebody's in there. The apartments have backdoor. Joe, you want me to cover it? Yeah, you better hustle. Right. Okay. Stop talking. What is it? Mailman. Registered letter. Police officer. Move, you guys! Stop, Joe! They're going on the back. Ben, watch it. Got them stopped out back. All right, you now. Cut it. That's one of them. That's all of them. Watch them, will you, Bertie? All right, let's look around, huh? Yes. Take a look. Yeah, enough uniforms for an army. Before we left the apartment, we searched it thoroughly and found dozens of personal valuables, watches, rings, and wallets. There was also a 38-caliber colt. We took the three men downtown and booked them at Central Jail. And we dropped off the gun that we found at the crime lab for a ballistic check. 8.35 p.m., we brought suspect Clyde Black to the interrogation room. Captain Walker, Ben and I confronted him with the evidence. All right, Black. Take a look at these. They're not mine. We know that. I never saw them before. Watches, jewelry, wallets that were found in your apartment, all of them. They weren't. Take a close look. Auto, Seth. That's all you got me on. Yeah. I want them. I want the stuff in the crap game. You must be lucky. Crap game. I'll tell you that's how I got it in the crap game. Why not do it easy, Black? Let's call a stenographer and get it over with. How much evidence do you want? I didn't do it. I get it. The interrogation room Friday. Yeah. All of them? Fine. Thank you. The gun, Black. They checked it. I didn't do it. Your gun killed that Marine. Your prints are all over it. It was one of the other guys. Max. Max was him. Him and Johnny. You ready to dictate a statement? Put them on the file. Why me? You talk to Max. Talk to Johnny. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. We got this watch out of your apartment, too, Black. Where'd you get this? Which? This one right here. The pocket watch. I don't know. I'll tell us you won it but it's not mine. I never saw it before. It's beautiful. Watch. It's engraving on the inside cover. Yeah. Look here. From an old Marine to a young one. It's not mine. Let me show you how it works. Push this lever here. See on the side? How about it? I hate it. I hate it. All of them. Everything about them. That little tenant. I had to kill him. He was going to get away. I had to kill him. I had to. Why did you pick out officers? They had it coming. Pushing guys around. I hated him. I hated a very lousy bum in their bodies. Did you get the stenographer? Yeah. Then knock off and go home. You too, Ben. I had to kill him. I hated him. I'll tell them that. I'll tell them like I told you. Just like I told you. Yeah. They'll believe you, mister. The story you have just heard was true. Only the names were changed to protect the innocent. On June 17th, 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. It's amazing how many long cigarette smokers are changing to Fatima. Here is the actual report. From coast to coast, king size Fatima has more than double its smokers. Yes. More and more smokers every day are discovering that Fatima is the best of all long cigarettes. Long cigarette smokers find Fatima has a much different, much better flavor and aroma. Long cigarette smokers find that Fatima is extra mild because it's the long cigarette which contains the finest Turkish and domestic tobaccos superbly blended to make it extra mild. So enjoy extra mild Fatima. Best of all long cigarettes. It's wise to smoke extra mild Fatima. It's wise to smoke extra mild Fatima. Clyde Black and the other four members of the Hitchhike Bandit Gang were tried and convicted in Superior Court on one count of murder and several counts of robbery and assault with intent to commit murder. All five are now serving life terms in the state penitentiary. You have just heard Dragnet, the series of authentic cases from official files. Technical advice for Dragnet comes from the office of Chief of Police W.A. Wharton, Los Angeles Police Department. Fatima cigarettes, the best of all long cigarettes has brought you Dragnet from Los Angeles. You're tuned for the stars on NBC.