April 18, 2025 • 25 mins
Please enjoy Big Brink a great episode of the OTR legend Dragnet
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
The story you're about to hear is true. The names
have been changed to protect the innocent rat. You're a
detective sergeant. Here signed a robbery detail. A gang is
hijacked and robbed a bank truck. They are stolen over
(00:23):
one hundred thousand dollars. There's no leed to their identity.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Your job get them. Drag Net is the documented drama
of an actual crime.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
For the next thirty 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, transcribed
from official police files, from beginning to end, from crime
to punishment, Dragnet is the story of your police.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Force and action. It's Thursday, June fifth, was warm in
Los Angeles. We were working the night Watch out of
robbery details. My partners Frank Smith, the boss was chief,
the detective Staff Brown. My name was Friday. I was
on my way back from the business office and it
was ten fifty two pm when I got to Room
twenty seven eight. Robbery. It's a gun, Yeah, here's a gun.
(01:17):
You got the devil ud buck? Yeah, Jack, there you go.
Don't any word yet. No, we ought to be hearing
pretty quick. Nothing from Herman and Benson. Huh.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Last we got from they were over on the whole buck.
No action there, nothing, Oh, I got a.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Robbery Friday, Yes, ma'am, that's right. Well when was this? No, No,
that's a burglary. If you'll hold on just a minute,
I'll just switched them. Yes, ma'am, hold on just one minute.
Where'd you get this called a two five two fourth place?
That's right burgery? Thank you. Woman who wants somebody to
(01:55):
come out and talk to her about her husband's work
pants being taken from the clothes line. You should have
gone out. Man, you got a cigarette from fresh out? Yeah?
Got men poor things.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
Well, he might as well sit down and take it easy.
We got no idea how long we're gonna be here.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Just so you know, I'm still not real sure about
how this tip came in. You want to fill me in.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Call came through this afternoon. Man refused to give his name,
just said he had some information.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
He thought we'd like to have no idea who it was.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
I know, said it wasn't important. Went on to say
that he could tell us where to pick up the
men who held up the bank.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Truff.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
Well, well, I figured it might be a crank. So
I asked him how we could be sure the story
was true. How he answer that? He said he could
prove it. Said he had some of the serial numbers
and the stolen bills, but check out.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah, gave me the numbers from ten to the twenties.
I checked the serial numbers. They're good. And that's when
he said he'd called back.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Huh, yeah, said he called a night around ten and
give us the address where we can pick up them in.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
That's wait now about an hour and he knows what
he's talking about. We got to be here when the
phone ring. No way of getting an idea out of her? None.
What do you say about the man? They have you?
And the way he tells it? They're lorded? Get all
the guns and ammunition they need to hold out for
a week. Who knows that? Why couldn't give us the
address this afternoon? He said he wanted to put a
lot of distance between him and the rest of him.
Say how I neither were not ride out where he talked?
Speaker 4 (03:07):
Though, we figured there's three any names now? Said he
tell us where to pick him up? Said, when we
blew the whistle, lead. Tell us i'd be a little
tight taking him.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Then, huh, it's the.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Way they handle the guards on the truck. Is any
indication that isn't going to be a picnic? How many
men we got Herman and Benson?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
We can call them in. Murph and Rafferty, Stuart and Creasy.
Where then? Now? Well, I saw murphin raft out the
business office just a minute ago, said they'd be right in.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Oh, I get it.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Probably Friday, Yes it is where? Yeah? Put them through.
Call from San Francisco.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
Operator says the station to station might be our boy,
you'd have to fly up north to get there this fast.
Airlines don't ask for recommendations when they sell a ticket.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
It's just a minute. It's fidy. Who's this? Okay? If
that's the way you wanted, Yeah, give me that address,
all right, let me read that back to you. One
sixty five seven Garfield Plice, Apartment four eight. Is that right? Okay?
Why do you tell us your name? It won't join it? Hello?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Hello, hung up high at the business office.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Get out. I'd see if they can come up with
a number. He got the idea I got to ask
here from the way he put a job might be differently, figured,
What do you mean? While I asked him his name,
I told h wouldn't make any difference if he told us. Yeah,
he said, make a lot of difference. So they'd kill
him if they find out that he thinked on him.
That figures said that when he reads in the papers
that they're dead, then he'll come in when they're dead. Yeah,
he says, we won't take him alive. Ten days previously,
(04:32):
on Thursday May twenty six, three men had stopped an
armored truck on its way to the Federal Reserve Bank.
The truck had stopped for collection on Wilshire Boulevard. The
three hold up men hate approached the truck and produced
sawed off twelve gage shotguns at gunpoint. Two of the
men forced the drivers to go out to the San
Fernando Valley. The third followed in another car on a
side road south of Ventura Boulevard. The suspects had tied
(04:53):
and then beaten the driver and the guard. The two
men were placed in the back of the truck, and
after stealing all of the cash in the vehicle, the
thieves had driven off. As soon as the theft was discovered,
men from the Federal Bureau of Investigation were notified. Together
with them, Frank and I followed down every league. The
crime lab went over the truck but found nothing that
would help us in getting to the thieves. Light and
finger prints were able to come up with nothing. The
(05:13):
driver of the truck and the guard had been shown
the mud books, but they were unable to make an identification.
The method of operation was checked through the Stat's office,
but when the leads that developed were checked out, we
were in the same position as when we first got
the call. We had no idea who the thieves might be.
Descriptions obtained from the two victims were broadcast to the
entire nation, but there were no kick backs. The FBI
weighed and sifted all evidence in its Washington headquarters, but
(05:35):
they came up with the same results. We had nothing.
The phone call from the informant was the first concrete
lead that we'd gotten. There were nine men from Robbery
Division and three teams from the FBI in the operation.
From the information we had, we knew the suspects were
armed and they were dangerous. The people in the building
were gotten out of their apartments. The building itself was
completely surrounded. One thirty six a m we moved in
(05:57):
boys and the streets said, let's go all right to
check them out? Yeah, descriptions that the men in the apartment.
MAT's the one we got from the driver. The checks
out to be the same guy. The managers say, how
many of there were three? She's not sure they're all
in sounds like somebody's moving around in there. Are you ready? Yeah,
(06:21):
let's go. A police officer stand still? What are you
doing in here? You hear? Alone? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Alone?
Speaker 1 (06:27):
What are you looking for? Convention? Where the other two? What? Two?
Speaker 5 (06:30):
Nobody else?
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Joe closet over there looks.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
Like an arsenal loaded with guns, a couple of sort
off shotguns. And guy's got the right to come in
here like this. I don't know what you're looking for,
but you can.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Find your name, Thank Peterson. You read this apartment with
two other guys. Manager tells us that the Harvey fitz
Jail and Louke Colton? Is that right? Yeah? They live here?
Where are they now? I don't know how? Maybe it
a movie.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
I don't know when they expect them back. Look, they're
big fellas now. They don't have to get me to
sign a report card.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
They do what they want. They went out, I don't
know where they didn't tell me.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Also didn't tell me when they'd be back.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
And what's it all about?
Speaker 4 (06:57):
What you get those guns in the closet that don't
belong to me? Who do they belong to? One of
the guys?
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Which one?
Speaker 4 (07:02):
Why are you coming in here and asking all these questions?
I ain't done nothing. You've got no beat with me.
I know anything about the guns. Maybe Little likes to hunt.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
I don't know they belonging to Colton Man. Yeah, he
brought him. You don't know where he is now.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
I told you if I knew where he was, I
tell you I don't want any trouble. I don't like
to have people pointing guns at me. Would you just
put that one away?
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Turn around? Well, I said, turn around, get up over
the wall, put your hands up on it. Big deal.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
What happens now? You take my feet out? I fall down,
and still I get a job.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
They gotta find nothing on me. I tell you I'm clean.
Nice try Peterson. Here's a thirty eight colt Joe had
it in his belt. You go around pretty heavy for
a fella that doesn't want in trouble, don't you? I
carry a lot of money.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Sometimes I think some guys are trying to take it
away from They gotta protect myself.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Anybody's got the right to protect themself. Yeah, you got
a permit for this gain. No, I didn't get around
to it yet. I'm going through it all right away.
I'll get one. You know how it is.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
You mean to do something, but you forget they can
I stand up straight now?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Yeah, go on, Peters and get your hands behind you.
Maybe you guys will tell me what this is for.
What are you looking for?
Speaker 1 (07:58):
We'll tell you downtown.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
You know you're making a big mistake. I'm sure you
really call this when wrong. You're dragging in innocent man.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
I'm clean. I made a mistake when I didn't register
the gun or cop to that. But that's the edge.
I don't go past there. You got it wrong, Peterson.
Read me how we got you going in for the
bank truck robbery. You're and your two friends, you're gonna
stand for it? Keep talking about my two friends. I
got no friends.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
I'm moving with a couple of fellas. All of a
sudden I got a piece of some action there. Shove
and you got it wrong.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Cop, You aren't gonna tell us you happened to be
here at the wrong time, are you look? I'm from Chicago.
I got a lead on a job out here.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
It gets cold in Chicago in the winter time. I
don't like the cold. Get a lead on a job
out here in California. So I put an ad in
the paper telling how i'd like to drive out with
the guy, share expenses fellow. The answers the ad wants
to leave. When I got to go, as Louke Colton,
I took a third of the tab driving out. We
got into town. He's got this apartment line off this
one right here.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
I got no place to stay. So he says for
me to pad down with him.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
That's it, the beginning, the middle of the end. Anything
outside of that, I don't know. If you got trouble
with lou then take it up with him, but don't
make me fit in. I got no part of the action.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
I don't want any What about the gun, the gun
you had on you.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
I tried to explain that I meant to get a
permit for it. I didn't get around to it yet.
What about the ones in the class, So I'll talk
to lou they belong to him. Maybe he's going to
open a museum. All right, let's get out of here.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Come on, let's go.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
What you did to the door, breaking it up like that,
no reason. All you had to do was knock. Lanley
is gonna be pretty sore about it.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
I'da let you know.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
If you're a knock breaking up a door like that,
she's gonna be a real sore. Probably won't talk to
me now.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
It's gonna be a while before she's got the chance.
While Frank and I took Henry Peterson downtown, the other
officers from robb Re maintained the surveillance on the apartment.
Because of the construction of the building, it was impossible
to wait inside of the room. However, all of the
entrances were covered. Two forty am we checked the suspect
(09:36):
through our and I, but we found that he had
no record in Los Angeles. His fingerprints were taken and
forwarded to Washington for checking. It was printed in mud
and then placed in a cell in the felony section
at the main jail. The rest of that night, the
watch in the apartment continued without results. The following morning,
Frank and I met with Lieutenant Smeiers at a special
show off of the suspect for the driver and the
guard of the armored car. Without hesitation, they both stated
(09:58):
positively that Peterson was one of the men held him up.
The kickback arrived from Washington with the information that Peterson
was wanted for escape from the state penitentiary in New Jersey.
He'd been convicted on a charge of murder and robbery
and given a life sentence. The record showed that he'd
escaped from the prison on Friday May night, two weeks
before the truck had been robbed. Four fifteen pm. We
had him brought from his cell and Frank and I
(10:19):
talked to him in the interrogation room with the main jail.
You guys cigarette, yeah, yeah, facts, here's a match. What
do we got going? Same thing. We want to know
about the robbery of that armored car. He figured there's
something I could tell you on it. Huh, it wouldn't
be here otherwise. I'll make you a deal. We don't
(10:39):
make them. No, I'll hear me out. You might go
for this. We can't promise anything.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
You're asking me to come over to your side. Seems
like you'd be willing to come a little closer to
the line.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
What do you get to say? How bad you got me?
Nailed steep as it can go for real? That's right,
lay it out, all of it. Yeah, we got the
kickback from Washington. We know you're wanted for escape. We
checked the guns from the apartment, found out they were
taking a number during in Chicago Tuesday, May thirteen. Go ahead,
we check with the Chicago papers the ad you told
us about asking for a ride out here. It was
never run. Guys are shot through. The victims of the
(11:08):
robbery identified your picture.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
They sure, they're sure. No chance for a mistake, no
chance if I cop out? Where am I gonna do
at the time, We don't decide that. You think they'll
send be back to Jersey. I told you we got
no sing in there. It's so cold back there. It's
nice here in California. I'd like to stay here often.
You guys can do it so I can take the
fall in Clinton. Huh, nothing anyway, you hear it. I'm
nail If that's right. Okay, maybe it's marked down that
(11:31):
I copped out. They'll let me stay in California. They'll
be put down that way. Okay, where do you want
me to start? Try at the beginning good at places.
Any you're with all of huh yeah, how about the
other two? You picked them up yet? No, they haven't
come back to the apartment. Might be good if they didn't.
When you come up with that heavy, real heavy. One
of their names Litu, Colton, Harvey, Fitzgeral, those the names
in the mailbox. They're real as far as I know.
(11:53):
You're not sure, Uh no, part of what I told
you it's true. I broke out of a jail in Jersey,
then beat it to Chicago, played around for a couple
of days, and started to look for some action. I
was broke and needed a score to set me up.
Sitting in a bar down a state street one night
and I met Loewen Harvey. I tipped me to the
job out here.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
You mean they came all the way on here to
pull the one job. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
They got a rumble about how it'd be a cinch,
came out to run it off. Then they figured on
going back leave and you comps with nothing.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
What were they figured on leaving? I don't know.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
This was their part of the deal. I told him
going in I wanted to stay out here. Didn't make
any difference to them. We all figured that if we
cut up one hundred thousand dollars score, none of us.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Was gonna look bad. For all I know, they might
be on the way back now. Our clothes are still
in the apartment. You know how many suits you can
buy with a third of one hundred thousand dollars? Go ahead? Yeah, Well,
after the job, we made.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
The split, talk it over and decided to dig in
for a few days and then take off. At least
they decided to leave. Didn't say when I told you
now they might be on the way back. Now, who
else knows you're in on the job? Huh?
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Outside of you three, Colton Fitzgerald, who else knows about it?
Isn't anybody? Where's your part of the money? Got it down?
Speaker 4 (12:50):
The bus people got up in the locker down there?
How long has it been there since day before yesterday?
How often did they clean out thewn lockers?
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Every twenty four hours? And then there's thirty three thousand
dollars voting around in the check room. You got the
key to the locker? Yeah, where is it in my shoe?
I gotta take the sole inside. You want to give it this? No,
but I don't guess it's any other way.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
No, okay, you spend any of the money he made
the stuff we stole, that's right, No, not a dime.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Why he asked that? Who else might know the cereal
numbers on the bills? Nobody? Nobody but us? And I
guess the guys at the bank they got a record
of my guess. How about Coltland, Fitzgerald, they spend any
of their part? I don't know. You got to ask them.
There the car you drove out after the armand truck?
Who that belonged to Coltland? That's the one we drove
out here. What kind of car is it? Plymouth nineteen
fifty two? What model? Sit down? Color? Uh? Light blue?
You know the license number? No, I never paid any
(13:38):
attention to it. What states it? Out of Illinois? Who
drove the car? When you want him to hold up?
Harvey Fitzgerald? Uh?
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Yeah, he drove the car and Lou and I went
in the truck. Either of hadn't been arrested before. I'm
not sure, but I think Lou fell in New York.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
I'm not sure though.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
How about Fitzgerald? No, at least he never said anything
about it. The only way I knew about Louis that
he talked about the food and sing, sing. That's the
way I knew about him. You know what he fell
for arm dropped.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
I was thinking there was a kidnapp rap too, but
he beat it. He out clean. I don't know. Seems
like you played a job with two guys that you
didn't know very well, don't it. I was hungry and
I was cold.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
I wasn't about to ask for a life story when
they offered me a part of the action.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
How'd they pick you? I told you. I was in
a bar in State. Low and Harvey came in. Both
of them were carrying a load.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
I was sitting there drinking beer, just the three of
us in the place, and Low was drinking pretty heavy.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
He gets in a.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
Beef with the bar keep, and I saw the road
he was carrying, so I figured that if I could
take his side in the ball, maybe I could.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Make a touch. They walked out of the bar. He
offered to buy me a meal. Next thing I know
him on the way to California, I'm a partner and
a piece of goods that looks safe.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
All that time in the car and you didn't find
out anything about your two partners he drove straight through,
and we weren't driving, we were sleeping anyway.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
I wasn't a solid member of the club.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
I wasn't about to get my nose mashed in for
having it someplace where it didn't belong. I figured if
they wanted me to know something, they tell me.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Did you go with him for the guns? No, they're
what he got.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
Knows when I fell in, he knew they were stolen.
Guys turn up with that kind of muscle and can
come from anywhere else. Sure I knew it was stolen.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Coltman Fitzgerald have any friends out here, No, not in
La anywhere on the coast.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
And I hear Lou's got some people up north where
maybe San Francisco and Marin County, I don't know, might
even be Oakland, somewhere around the Bay area.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
They say anything about going up there. No, First they
might have where Lou likes to eat. Coming out here,
you go ten miles out of the way because he
knew a place they had a good chili size.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Think nothing of it. I never saw anybody who liked
to eat so much real gourmet. Only with him it
was glutton.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
You mentioned any names of people who knew up north. No,
just said he had people anything about the car they're
driving that would make it easy to spot. What do
you mean we hat like a dened fender or scratch,
anything to identify it.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Yeah, yeah, it might be something. There's a kind of
scratch and a back left fender. I think woman backed into.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Us in the way out here, cut right through the metal.
Do you think of any reason why they might ditch
the car?
Speaker 4 (15:36):
You know, we kept the close tab in the papers
right after the job and look to see how much
you had on it. When we didn't see anything, we
figured the car was all right. I don't think they
ditch It'd be pretty easy to trace. Lou owns it outright.
I said, you want to try to grab cold plates?
He'd drive it like it wise.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Okay, we'll get your things and you can come over
to the city hall and make a statement. I'm about
the key to the locker.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Oh yeah, here, there's probably some money do on the
package I'll have to owe you, let's say thirty three thousand.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
I haven't got the door to bailout the package on
the work set of even clack, you'd have no place
to spend it. An immediate APB was gotten off, carrying
the names and descriptions of the two suspects, also a
description of the car. A radiogram was sent to DMV
at Illinois requesting the license and description of any car
(16:22):
registered to A Lewis Coltland. While elin Our east Lack
took Peterson's statement, Frank got in touch with the telephone company.
They'd finished checking the phone call we'd gotten from San Francisco,
but the information they gave let us no farther chard
apprehending the suspects. The call had been made from a
pay booth in the Ferry Terminal building. We got in
touch with the FBI and filled them in on the developments.
As a result of Peterson's statement, the number of men
(16:44):
maintaining the surveillance at the apartment on Garfield Place was
cut to one team working days and one team working
the night watch. We put a call into San Francisco
and talked the chief of Inspector's, James English. We filled
him in on what had happened. He assigned Inspectors Sutton
and Zimmerland to work with us on the case. Five
forty six pm we checked out a trip car. We
left for San Francisco. Took us a little under ten
(17:05):
hours to drive the four hundred and five miles between
the two cities. At four h three am, we stopped
and open and put in a call to the San
Francisco Police Department. How much? Yeah, just a minute, Frank,
you got a quarter? Yeah? Thanks? Here you are two
six four place. Hello, it's Joe Friday. Yeah, you got
(17:28):
a message there for me from Charlie Septon or Juwel Zimmerlin.
M M yeah, no, no, we just got in. Yeah, open,
what just a minute? You see that street sign up there, Yeah,
Clay and Sift and Poplar, Fifth and Poplar. Yeah, no,
we're coming right over. When was this? I see? Well,
(17:52):
if Charlie calls in, tell him we're on the way
with you right, thank you. You know we're almost too late.
What do you mean the Sutton and Zimbelin called in
thirty minutes ago. They got the car waiting for the suspects.
Speaker 5 (18:04):
Now you are listening to Dragnet, the authentic story of
your police force elections.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
The address the business office had given me on the
phone was a large garage located at the corner of
Union Avenue and Lynch Streets. When Frank and I got there.
We met with Inspectors Sutton and Zimmeralin. They told us
that when they got in the APB, a call had
gone out immediately to the officers in the city to
be on the lookout for a nineteen fifty two blue
Plymouth with a dent and the left rear fender and
carrying Illinois license plates. The suspects had parked the car
(18:47):
in a no parking zone on O'Farrell Street between Taylor
and Mason Streets at the peak hour of traffic. The
car had been towed away from the parking place and
left in the garage. While it was in the garage,
the information on it had been received from our department,
and an immediate stakeout was placed on it. They felt
reasonably sure that the suspects would return for the automobile.
They had no reason to think that there might be
anything wrong. The address of the garage had been left
(19:09):
so that they might find the car. All it would
be necessary to release it would be the payment of
the fine for overtime parking, along with the towing and
garage speed. The garage itself was a large building and
provided four stories for parking. The suspects car was on
the basement level. We were able to keep watch on
it from a small office near the exit ramp. The
attendants were instructed to act as if nothing was wrong
when the suspects came in. Once we knew that they
(19:31):
were in the building, the entrances and exits would be
blocked and they would be taken into custody. Was nothing
to do but wait. Five thirty a m. No sign
of Coltman Fitzgerald. Six fifteen a m. Frank went out
and brought back some hot coffee. Six forty five seven
a m. People began to come into the garage to
get their cars, but not the two suspects. But later
it became the more difficult it would be for us
to take the two men into custody. There was going
(19:52):
to be any shooting. We'd be in a bad position
with civilians in the range of fire. Seven thirty eight
eight o four a m. Somebody coming down there. Yeah,
you see who it is? You know, Jewels? Yeah, you
and Charlie wanna come to the other side, rank and
watch it. We should be able to get a pretty
(20:13):
good look of him. Yeah, lots you.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Deal you like?
Speaker 1 (20:18):
The cone towed off the street. What kind of time
is it? They gotta sign? You should have put him
the garage day. You want your smart ideas. You read
white and you see the sign. What could do of
you when you it's coltman Fitzgerald? Yeah? Who things? Do
you see? Jewels and Charlie playing at Yeah? I member
by the gray market. Looks like they're all said, hind
Le's go.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
Uh, let's get this strayed out and you have a
nation gas might get open. You thought there the cost
of the pat I'm sure of it. Get why you
don't know good of the right thing to do? Uh,
you don't have to think. If I wanted somebody.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
For that, you'd still be up. And you know, one
of these days you're gonna open that mountains for live
into white. You know what do you guys wanted? Police
officer's heart the arrest right? Put 'em off doing a ramp, Joe, Oh,
get 'em, Colton, this isn't the way out. The doors
(21:06):
are black, Colt. You're in here for good now. Look
we got your for robbery. You don't make it anymore, Joe, Yeah,
it's over in the corner. How about Fitzgerald satting on
the Zimmeron gun shoot their guns in that laugh. Want
no part of trouble. Colton doesn't figure it. That money.
I'll try to get around him. Try to watch yourself.
(21:27):
Keep those people back out of the doorway.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
One Frank, I'll cover you.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
There's three more. Colton. You aren't going to get by
all of us. Your partner quit might not be smart
like him. All right, Colton, I'm coming to you. Go
down down, No take it easy of Colton, allot it
(22:03):
yet you can't tell how bad you still got the gun.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Colton, you gonna hear me throw that gun out here.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Nothing gotta call it ambulance. Right. Never should have taken
us better, kid, Easy Colton here hit work shows. Never
should have taken us two of you, two of us,
(22:32):
and you got it wrong this year. Huh, you were
out numbered going in.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
The story you have just heard is true. The names
were changed to protect the innocent.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
Harvey ned Fitzgerald and Louis Jeffrey Colton were te and
convicted of kidnapping, robbery in the first degree, and violation
of the Dangerous Weapons Control Act. They were found guilty
and sentenced as prescribed by law. Kidnapping is punishable by
imprisonment for a period of from one to twenty five
years in the state penitentiary. Robbery in the first degree
by imprisonment for a term.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Of not less than five years.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Violation of the Dangerous Weapons Control Act by imprisonment in
the State prison for a period of not less than
five years. Henry Vincent Peterson was remanded to the authorities
of New Jersey for completion of his sentence. A hold
was placed on him by the State of California in
the event he is paroled.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
You have just heard Dragnet, The Authentic Story of your
Police Force in Action and starring Jack Webb. A presentation
of the United States Armed Forces Radio Services
Ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
The story you're about to hear is true. The names
have been changed to protect the innocent rat. You're a
detective sergeant. Here signed a robbery detail. A gang is
hijacked and robbed a bank truck. They are stolen over
(00:23):
one hundred thousand dollars. There's no leed to their identity.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Your job get them. Drag Net is the documented drama
of an actual crime.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
For the next thirty 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, transcribed
from official police files, from beginning to end, from crime
to punishment, Dragnet is the story of your police.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Force and action. It's Thursday, June fifth, was warm in
Los Angeles. We were working the night Watch out of
robbery details. My partners Frank Smith, the boss was chief,
the detective Staff Brown. My name was Friday. I was
on my way back from the business office and it
was ten fifty two pm when I got to Room
twenty seven eight. Robbery. It's a gun, Yeah, here's a gun.
(01:17):
You got the devil ud buck? Yeah, Jack, there you go.
Don't any word yet. No, we ought to be hearing
pretty quick. Nothing from Herman and Benson. Huh.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Last we got from they were over on the whole buck.
No action there, nothing, Oh, I got a.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Robbery Friday, Yes, ma'am, that's right. Well when was this? No, No,
that's a burglary. If you'll hold on just a minute,
I'll just switched them. Yes, ma'am, hold on just one minute.
Where'd you get this called a two five two fourth place?
That's right burgery? Thank you. Woman who wants somebody to
(01:55):
come out and talk to her about her husband's work
pants being taken from the clothes line. You should have
gone out. Man, you got a cigarette from fresh out? Yeah?
Got men poor things.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
Well, he might as well sit down and take it easy.
We got no idea how long we're gonna be here.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Just so you know, I'm still not real sure about
how this tip came in. You want to fill me in.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Call came through this afternoon. Man refused to give his name,
just said he had some information.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
He thought we'd like to have no idea who it was.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
I know, said it wasn't important. Went on to say
that he could tell us where to pick up the
men who held up the bank.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Truff.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
Well, well, I figured it might be a crank. So
I asked him how we could be sure the story
was true. How he answer that? He said he could
prove it. Said he had some of the serial numbers
and the stolen bills, but check out.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah, gave me the numbers from ten to the twenties.
I checked the serial numbers. They're good. And that's when
he said he'd called back.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Huh, yeah, said he called a night around ten and
give us the address where we can pick up them in.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
That's wait now about an hour and he knows what
he's talking about. We got to be here when the
phone ring. No way of getting an idea out of her? None.
What do you say about the man? They have you?
And the way he tells it? They're lorded? Get all
the guns and ammunition they need to hold out for
a week. Who knows that? Why couldn't give us the
address this afternoon? He said he wanted to put a
lot of distance between him and the rest of him.
Say how I neither were not ride out where he talked?
Speaker 4 (03:07):
Though, we figured there's three any names now? Said he
tell us where to pick him up? Said, when we
blew the whistle, lead. Tell us i'd be a little
tight taking him.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Then, huh, it's the.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Way they handle the guards on the truck. Is any
indication that isn't going to be a picnic? How many
men we got Herman and Benson?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
We can call them in. Murph and Rafferty, Stuart and Creasy.
Where then? Now? Well, I saw murphin raft out the
business office just a minute ago, said they'd be right in.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Oh, I get it.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Probably Friday, Yes it is where? Yeah? Put them through.
Call from San Francisco.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
Operator says the station to station might be our boy,
you'd have to fly up north to get there this fast.
Airlines don't ask for recommendations when they sell a ticket.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
It's just a minute. It's fidy. Who's this? Okay? If
that's the way you wanted, Yeah, give me that address,
all right, let me read that back to you. One
sixty five seven Garfield Plice, Apartment four eight. Is that right? Okay?
Why do you tell us your name? It won't join it? Hello?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Hello, hung up high at the business office.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Get out. I'd see if they can come up with
a number. He got the idea I got to ask
here from the way he put a job might be differently, figured,
What do you mean? While I asked him his name,
I told h wouldn't make any difference if he told us. Yeah,
he said, make a lot of difference. So they'd kill
him if they find out that he thinked on him.
That figures said that when he reads in the papers
that they're dead, then he'll come in when they're dead. Yeah,
he says, we won't take him alive. Ten days previously,
(04:32):
on Thursday May twenty six, three men had stopped an
armored truck on its way to the Federal Reserve Bank.
The truck had stopped for collection on Wilshire Boulevard. The
three hold up men hate approached the truck and produced
sawed off twelve gage shotguns at gunpoint. Two of the
men forced the drivers to go out to the San
Fernando Valley. The third followed in another car on a
side road south of Ventura Boulevard. The suspects had tied
(04:53):
and then beaten the driver and the guard. The two
men were placed in the back of the truck, and
after stealing all of the cash in the vehicle, the
thieves had driven off. As soon as the theft was discovered,
men from the Federal Bureau of Investigation were notified. Together
with them, Frank and I followed down every league. The
crime lab went over the truck but found nothing that
would help us in getting to the thieves. Light and
finger prints were able to come up with nothing. The
(05:13):
driver of the truck and the guard had been shown
the mud books, but they were unable to make an identification.
The method of operation was checked through the Stat's office,
but when the leads that developed were checked out, we
were in the same position as when we first got
the call. We had no idea who the thieves might be.
Descriptions obtained from the two victims were broadcast to the
entire nation, but there were no kick backs. The FBI
weighed and sifted all evidence in its Washington headquarters, but
(05:35):
they came up with the same results. We had nothing.
The phone call from the informant was the first concrete
lead that we'd gotten. There were nine men from Robbery
Division and three teams from the FBI in the operation.
From the information we had, we knew the suspects were
armed and they were dangerous. The people in the building
were gotten out of their apartments. The building itself was
completely surrounded. One thirty six a m we moved in
(05:57):
boys and the streets said, let's go all right to
check them out? Yeah, descriptions that the men in the apartment.
MAT's the one we got from the driver. The checks
out to be the same guy. The managers say, how
many of there were three? She's not sure they're all
in sounds like somebody's moving around in there. Are you ready? Yeah,
(06:21):
let's go. A police officer stand still? What are you
doing in here? You hear? Alone? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Alone?
Speaker 1 (06:27):
What are you looking for? Convention? Where the other two? What? Two?
Speaker 5 (06:30):
Nobody else?
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Joe closet over there looks.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
Like an arsenal loaded with guns, a couple of sort
off shotguns. And guy's got the right to come in
here like this. I don't know what you're looking for,
but you can.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Find your name, Thank Peterson. You read this apartment with
two other guys. Manager tells us that the Harvey fitz
Jail and Louke Colton? Is that right? Yeah? They live here?
Where are they now? I don't know how? Maybe it
a movie.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
I don't know when they expect them back. Look, they're
big fellas now. They don't have to get me to
sign a report card.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
They do what they want. They went out, I don't
know where they didn't tell me.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Also didn't tell me when they'd be back.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
And what's it all about?
Speaker 4 (06:57):
What you get those guns in the closet that don't
belong to me? Who do they belong to? One of
the guys?
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Which one?
Speaker 4 (07:02):
Why are you coming in here and asking all these questions?
I ain't done nothing. You've got no beat with me.
I know anything about the guns. Maybe Little likes to hunt.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
I don't know they belonging to Colton Man. Yeah, he
brought him. You don't know where he is now.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
I told you if I knew where he was, I
tell you I don't want any trouble. I don't like
to have people pointing guns at me. Would you just
put that one away?
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Turn around? Well, I said, turn around, get up over
the wall, put your hands up on it. Big deal.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
What happens now? You take my feet out? I fall down,
and still I get a job.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
They gotta find nothing on me. I tell you I'm clean.
Nice try Peterson. Here's a thirty eight colt Joe had
it in his belt. You go around pretty heavy for
a fella that doesn't want in trouble, don't you? I
carry a lot of money.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Sometimes I think some guys are trying to take it
away from They gotta protect myself.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Anybody's got the right to protect themself. Yeah, you got
a permit for this gain. No, I didn't get around
to it yet. I'm going through it all right away.
I'll get one. You know how it is.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
You mean to do something, but you forget they can
I stand up straight now?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Yeah, go on, Peters and get your hands behind you.
Maybe you guys will tell me what this is for.
What are you looking for?
Speaker 1 (07:58):
We'll tell you downtown.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
You know you're making a big mistake. I'm sure you
really call this when wrong. You're dragging in innocent man.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
I'm clean. I made a mistake when I didn't register
the gun or cop to that. But that's the edge.
I don't go past there. You got it wrong, Peterson.
Read me how we got you going in for the
bank truck robbery. You're and your two friends, you're gonna
stand for it? Keep talking about my two friends. I
got no friends.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
I'm moving with a couple of fellas. All of a
sudden I got a piece of some action there. Shove
and you got it wrong.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Cop, You aren't gonna tell us you happened to be
here at the wrong time, are you look? I'm from Chicago.
I got a lead on a job out here.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
It gets cold in Chicago in the winter time. I
don't like the cold. Get a lead on a job
out here in California. So I put an ad in
the paper telling how i'd like to drive out with
the guy, share expenses fellow. The answers the ad wants
to leave. When I got to go, as Louke Colton,
I took a third of the tab driving out. We
got into town. He's got this apartment line off this
one right here.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
I got no place to stay. So he says for
me to pad down with him.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
That's it, the beginning, the middle of the end. Anything
outside of that, I don't know. If you got trouble
with lou then take it up with him, but don't
make me fit in. I got no part of the action.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
I don't want any What about the gun, the gun
you had on you.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
I tried to explain that I meant to get a
permit for it. I didn't get around to it yet.
What about the ones in the class, So I'll talk
to lou they belong to him. Maybe he's going to
open a museum. All right, let's get out of here.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Come on, let's go.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
What you did to the door, breaking it up like that,
no reason. All you had to do was knock. Lanley
is gonna be pretty sore about it.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
I'da let you know.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
If you're a knock breaking up a door like that,
she's gonna be a real sore. Probably won't talk to
me now.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
It's gonna be a while before she's got the chance.
While Frank and I took Henry Peterson downtown, the other
officers from robb Re maintained the surveillance on the apartment.
Because of the construction of the building, it was impossible
to wait inside of the room. However, all of the
entrances were covered. Two forty am we checked the suspect
(09:36):
through our and I, but we found that he had
no record in Los Angeles. His fingerprints were taken and
forwarded to Washington for checking. It was printed in mud
and then placed in a cell in the felony section
at the main jail. The rest of that night, the
watch in the apartment continued without results. The following morning,
Frank and I met with Lieutenant Smeiers at a special
show off of the suspect for the driver and the
guard of the armored car. Without hesitation, they both stated
(09:58):
positively that Peterson was one of the men held him up.
The kickback arrived from Washington with the information that Peterson
was wanted for escape from the state penitentiary in New Jersey.
He'd been convicted on a charge of murder and robbery
and given a life sentence. The record showed that he'd
escaped from the prison on Friday May night, two weeks
before the truck had been robbed. Four fifteen pm. We
had him brought from his cell and Frank and I
(10:19):
talked to him in the interrogation room with the main jail.
You guys cigarette, yeah, yeah, facts, here's a match. What
do we got going? Same thing. We want to know
about the robbery of that armored car. He figured there's
something I could tell you on it. Huh, it wouldn't
be here otherwise. I'll make you a deal. We don't
(10:39):
make them. No, I'll hear me out. You might go
for this. We can't promise anything.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
You're asking me to come over to your side. Seems
like you'd be willing to come a little closer to
the line.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
What do you get to say? How bad you got me?
Nailed steep as it can go for real? That's right,
lay it out, all of it. Yeah, we got the
kickback from Washington. We know you're wanted for escape. We
checked the guns from the apartment, found out they were
taking a number during in Chicago Tuesday, May thirteen. Go ahead,
we check with the Chicago papers the ad you told
us about asking for a ride out here. It was
never run. Guys are shot through. The victims of the
(11:08):
robbery identified your picture.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
They sure, they're sure. No chance for a mistake, no
chance if I cop out? Where am I gonna do
at the time, We don't decide that. You think they'll
send be back to Jersey. I told you we got
no sing in there. It's so cold back there. It's
nice here in California. I'd like to stay here often.
You guys can do it so I can take the
fall in Clinton. Huh, nothing anyway, you hear it. I'm
nail If that's right. Okay, maybe it's marked down that
(11:31):
I copped out. They'll let me stay in California. They'll
be put down that way. Okay, where do you want
me to start? Try at the beginning good at places.
Any you're with all of huh yeah, how about the
other two? You picked them up yet? No, they haven't
come back to the apartment. Might be good if they didn't.
When you come up with that heavy, real heavy. One
of their names Litu, Colton, Harvey, Fitzgeral, those the names
in the mailbox. They're real as far as I know.
(11:53):
You're not sure, Uh no, part of what I told
you it's true. I broke out of a jail in Jersey,
then beat it to Chicago, played around for a couple
of days, and started to look for some action. I
was broke and needed a score to set me up.
Sitting in a bar down a state street one night
and I met Loewen Harvey. I tipped me to the
job out here.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
You mean they came all the way on here to
pull the one job. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
They got a rumble about how it'd be a cinch,
came out to run it off. Then they figured on
going back leave and you comps with nothing.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
What were they figured on leaving? I don't know.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
This was their part of the deal. I told him
going in I wanted to stay out here. Didn't make
any difference to them. We all figured that if we
cut up one hundred thousand dollars score, none of us.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Was gonna look bad. For all I know, they might
be on the way back now. Our clothes are still
in the apartment. You know how many suits you can
buy with a third of one hundred thousand dollars? Go ahead? Yeah, Well,
after the job, we made.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
The split, talk it over and decided to dig in
for a few days and then take off. At least
they decided to leave. Didn't say when I told you
now they might be on the way back. Now, who
else knows you're in on the job? Huh?
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Outside of you three, Colton Fitzgerald, who else knows about it?
Isn't anybody? Where's your part of the money? Got it down?
Speaker 4 (12:50):
The bus people got up in the locker down there?
How long has it been there since day before yesterday?
How often did they clean out thewn lockers?
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Every twenty four hours? And then there's thirty three thousand
dollars voting around in the check room. You got the
key to the locker? Yeah, where is it in my shoe?
I gotta take the sole inside. You want to give it this? No,
but I don't guess it's any other way.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
No, okay, you spend any of the money he made
the stuff we stole, that's right, No, not a dime.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Why he asked that? Who else might know the cereal
numbers on the bills? Nobody? Nobody but us? And I
guess the guys at the bank they got a record
of my guess. How about Coltland, Fitzgerald, they spend any
of their part? I don't know. You got to ask them.
There the car you drove out after the armand truck?
Who that belonged to Coltland? That's the one we drove
out here. What kind of car is it? Plymouth nineteen
fifty two? What model? Sit down? Color? Uh? Light blue?
You know the license number? No, I never paid any
(13:38):
attention to it. What states it? Out of Illinois? Who
drove the car? When you want him to hold up?
Harvey Fitzgerald? Uh?
Speaker 4 (13:44):
Yeah, he drove the car and Lou and I went
in the truck. Either of hadn't been arrested before. I'm
not sure, but I think Lou fell in New York.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
I'm not sure though.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
How about Fitzgerald? No, at least he never said anything
about it. The only way I knew about Louis that
he talked about the food and sing, sing. That's the
way I knew about him. You know what he fell
for arm dropped.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
I was thinking there was a kidnapp rap too, but
he beat it. He out clean. I don't know. Seems
like you played a job with two guys that you
didn't know very well, don't it. I was hungry and
I was cold.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
I wasn't about to ask for a life story when
they offered me a part of the action.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
How'd they pick you? I told you. I was in
a bar in State. Low and Harvey came in. Both
of them were carrying a load.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
I was sitting there drinking beer, just the three of
us in the place, and Low was drinking pretty heavy.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
He gets in a.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
Beef with the bar keep, and I saw the road
he was carrying, so I figured that if I could
take his side in the ball, maybe I could.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Make a touch. They walked out of the bar. He
offered to buy me a meal. Next thing I know
him on the way to California, I'm a partner and
a piece of goods that looks safe.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
All that time in the car and you didn't find
out anything about your two partners he drove straight through,
and we weren't driving, we were sleeping anyway.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
I wasn't a solid member of the club.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
I wasn't about to get my nose mashed in for
having it someplace where it didn't belong. I figured if
they wanted me to know something, they tell me.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Did you go with him for the guns? No, they're
what he got.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
Knows when I fell in, he knew they were stolen.
Guys turn up with that kind of muscle and can
come from anywhere else. Sure I knew it was stolen.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Coltman Fitzgerald have any friends out here, No, not in
La anywhere on the coast.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
And I hear Lou's got some people up north where
maybe San Francisco and Marin County, I don't know, might
even be Oakland, somewhere around the Bay area.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
They say anything about going up there. No, First they
might have where Lou likes to eat. Coming out here,
you go ten miles out of the way because he
knew a place they had a good chili size.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Think nothing of it. I never saw anybody who liked
to eat so much real gourmet. Only with him it
was glutton.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
You mentioned any names of people who knew up north. No,
just said he had people anything about the car they're
driving that would make it easy to spot. What do
you mean we hat like a dened fender or scratch,
anything to identify it.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Yeah, yeah, it might be something. There's a kind of
scratch and a back left fender. I think woman backed into.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Us in the way out here, cut right through the metal.
Do you think of any reason why they might ditch
the car?
Speaker 4 (15:36):
You know, we kept the close tab in the papers
right after the job and look to see how much
you had on it. When we didn't see anything, we
figured the car was all right. I don't think they
ditch It'd be pretty easy to trace. Lou owns it outright.
I said, you want to try to grab cold plates?
He'd drive it like it wise.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Okay, we'll get your things and you can come over
to the city hall and make a statement. I'm about
the key to the locker.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Oh yeah, here, there's probably some money do on the
package I'll have to owe you, let's say thirty three thousand.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
I haven't got the door to bailout the package on
the work set of even clack, you'd have no place
to spend it. An immediate APB was gotten off, carrying
the names and descriptions of the two suspects, also a
description of the car. A radiogram was sent to DMV
at Illinois requesting the license and description of any car
(16:22):
registered to A Lewis Coltland. While elin Our east Lack
took Peterson's statement, Frank got in touch with the telephone company.
They'd finished checking the phone call we'd gotten from San Francisco,
but the information they gave let us no farther chard
apprehending the suspects. The call had been made from a
pay booth in the Ferry Terminal building. We got in
touch with the FBI and filled them in on the developments.
As a result of Peterson's statement, the number of men
(16:44):
maintaining the surveillance at the apartment on Garfield Place was
cut to one team working days and one team working
the night watch. We put a call into San Francisco
and talked the chief of Inspector's, James English. We filled
him in on what had happened. He assigned Inspectors Sutton
and Zimmerland to work with us on the case. Five
forty six pm we checked out a trip car. We
left for San Francisco. Took us a little under ten
(17:05):
hours to drive the four hundred and five miles between
the two cities. At four h three am, we stopped
and open and put in a call to the San
Francisco Police Department. How much? Yeah, just a minute, Frank,
you got a quarter? Yeah? Thanks? Here you are two
six four place. Hello, it's Joe Friday. Yeah, you got
(17:28):
a message there for me from Charlie Septon or Juwel Zimmerlin.
M M yeah, no, no, we just got in. Yeah, open,
what just a minute? You see that street sign up there, Yeah,
Clay and Sift and Poplar, Fifth and Poplar. Yeah, no,
we're coming right over. When was this? I see? Well,
(17:52):
if Charlie calls in, tell him we're on the way
with you right, thank you. You know we're almost too late.
What do you mean the Sutton and Zimbelin called in
thirty minutes ago. They got the car waiting for the suspects.
Speaker 5 (18:04):
Now you are listening to Dragnet, the authentic story of
your police force elections.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
The address the business office had given me on the
phone was a large garage located at the corner of
Union Avenue and Lynch Streets. When Frank and I got there.
We met with Inspectors Sutton and Zimmeralin. They told us
that when they got in the APB, a call had
gone out immediately to the officers in the city to
be on the lookout for a nineteen fifty two blue
Plymouth with a dent and the left rear fender and
carrying Illinois license plates. The suspects had parked the car
(18:47):
in a no parking zone on O'Farrell Street between Taylor
and Mason Streets at the peak hour of traffic. The
car had been towed away from the parking place and
left in the garage. While it was in the garage,
the information on it had been received from our department,
and an immediate stakeout was placed on it. They felt
reasonably sure that the suspects would return for the automobile.
They had no reason to think that there might be
anything wrong. The address of the garage had been left
(19:09):
so that they might find the car. All it would
be necessary to release it would be the payment of
the fine for overtime parking, along with the towing and
garage speed. The garage itself was a large building and
provided four stories for parking. The suspects car was on
the basement level. We were able to keep watch on
it from a small office near the exit ramp. The
attendants were instructed to act as if nothing was wrong
when the suspects came in. Once we knew that they
(19:31):
were in the building, the entrances and exits would be
blocked and they would be taken into custody. Was nothing
to do but wait. Five thirty a m. No sign
of Coltman Fitzgerald. Six fifteen a m. Frank went out
and brought back some hot coffee. Six forty five seven
a m. People began to come into the garage to
get their cars, but not the two suspects. But later
it became the more difficult it would be for us
to take the two men into custody. There was going
(19:52):
to be any shooting. We'd be in a bad position
with civilians in the range of fire. Seven thirty eight
eight o four a m. Somebody coming down there. Yeah,
you see who it is? You know, Jewels? Yeah, you
and Charlie wanna come to the other side, rank and
watch it. We should be able to get a pretty
(20:13):
good look of him. Yeah, lots you.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Deal you like?
Speaker 1 (20:18):
The cone towed off the street. What kind of time
is it? They gotta sign? You should have put him
the garage day. You want your smart ideas. You read
white and you see the sign. What could do of
you when you it's coltman Fitzgerald? Yeah? Who things? Do
you see? Jewels and Charlie playing at Yeah? I member
by the gray market. Looks like they're all said, hind
Le's go.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
Uh, let's get this strayed out and you have a
nation gas might get open. You thought there the cost
of the pat I'm sure of it. Get why you
don't know good of the right thing to do? Uh,
you don't have to think. If I wanted somebody.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
For that, you'd still be up. And you know, one
of these days you're gonna open that mountains for live
into white. You know what do you guys wanted? Police
officer's heart the arrest right? Put 'em off doing a ramp, Joe, Oh,
get 'em, Colton, this isn't the way out. The doors
(21:06):
are black, Colt. You're in here for good now. Look
we got your for robbery. You don't make it anymore, Joe, Yeah,
it's over in the corner. How about Fitzgerald satting on
the Zimmeron gun shoot their guns in that laugh. Want
no part of trouble. Colton doesn't figure it. That money.
I'll try to get around him. Try to watch yourself.
(21:27):
Keep those people back out of the doorway.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
One Frank, I'll cover you.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
There's three more. Colton. You aren't going to get by
all of us. Your partner quit might not be smart
like him. All right, Colton, I'm coming to you. Go
down down, No take it easy of Colton, allot it
(22:03):
yet you can't tell how bad you still got the gun.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Colton, you gonna hear me throw that gun out here.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Nothing gotta call it ambulance. Right. Never should have taken
us better, kid, Easy Colton here hit work shows. Never
should have taken us two of you, two of us,
(22:32):
and you got it wrong this year. Huh, you were
out numbered going in.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
The story you have just heard is true. The names
were changed to protect the innocent.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
Harvey ned Fitzgerald and Louis Jeffrey Colton were te and
convicted of kidnapping, robbery in the first degree, and violation
of the Dangerous Weapons Control Act. They were found guilty
and sentenced as prescribed by law. Kidnapping is punishable by
imprisonment for a period of from one to twenty five
years in the state penitentiary. Robbery in the first degree
by imprisonment for a term.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Of not less than five years.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Violation of the Dangerous Weapons Control Act by imprisonment in
the State prison for a period of not less than
five years. Henry Vincent Peterson was remanded to the authorities
of New Jersey for completion of his sentence. A hold
was placed on him by the State of California in
the event he is paroled.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
You have just heard Dragnet, The Authentic Story of your
Police Force in Action and starring Jack Webb. A presentation
of the United States Armed Forces Radio Services
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