Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned the burglary details. In
the past two months, a thief has brought it into
eighteen markets. There's no lead to his whereabouts, no clue
to his identity. Your job get him.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Dragnet the documented drama of an actual crime. For the
next thirty minutes, in cooperation of 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 force and action.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
It was money December fourteenth. It was cold in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
We were working the day watch out a burglary detail.
My partners Frank Smith, the boss is Captain Burray.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Fight Friday. We got our way out of the office
with eight o five am when we got.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
The Georgia Street Juvenile Bureau Sargeant Lindsay Simmons office.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Yeah, but did you give it to him? Uh huh yeah,
what he said? Yeah when he come back? Uh huh,
Well did he have it for you?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (01:32):
Well, I don't teach you not to go that route anymore,
all right, Patrick Teller starting to call me when he.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Gets back right.
Speaker 5 (01:39):
Ah, Hi Friday Smith, Oh.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Helen warning target just starting to gen Patrick over Hammond Pike.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
You know yeah, I met him a couple of turns.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
Picked up a youngster a couple of days ago on
suspicion and burglary, brought him into the office and Patrick Cockley.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
You know, well he finally bought it that the kid
didn't have anything to do.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
With the set.
Speaker 5 (01:52):
He told me to go home.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Kid told Geane you didn't have the money to get home.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
So Jane gave him twenty cents. Kids wore come in
and pay it back?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Did he? Yeah, he came in.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
I want to get back to two dimes, told him
fanster believe in the story.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Then Patrick got the kicker.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
Kid really did break into an hour last night to
get the money.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Well, what Patrick got to say about there, says.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
The kids honest in the story of the way, he did
pay him back.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Where's the youngster?
Speaker 5 (02:13):
Now? Cut him over Holland Park you and him.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I better call to you. Maybe I can give him
a hand. I got a couple of street cartos something
won't be using.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Might like to hem.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
I'll hold it allows you. I don't think I'd bring
it up to him for a couple of days. Well,
what can I do for you?
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Do well, Lindsey, We've been working on a string of burglaries.
You maybe got the word on them.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
I don't think so much.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
The story a bunch of store burglaries. Papers attaged him.
The milk bottle job, Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:33):
Seen as hartcro was telling me something about him the
other day. And where we come in.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Well, the way the jobs look.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
We've been thinking that maybe belonging to your department instead
of ours.
Speaker 5 (02:41):
I figure that.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
First off, the milk thing, What do you mean every
job is full? We found an empty milk bottle on
the counter.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
Okay, what that proves?
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Well, milk and kids go together.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
Sure so the milk and ulcers. Maybe your thieves got
the bullhard when he gets into the store.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
No, indeed, there's another thing. Way prowels the place is all.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
He takes his petty cash, get a couple of bucks outside.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Can't cigarettes nothing big.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Some of the places he's gone into, you could open
the safe for the pocket knife and he hasn't even
made a move toward him.
Speaker 5 (03:05):
Maybe he's left.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
The maniac got a lot of them on the books.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
Maybe that's the way he gets his kicked.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Well, it's a nice trying, Lindsay.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
If you know anybody that can climb through a fourteen
by ten inch hold, you trot.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Them up and we'll talk to him.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
Okay, I haven't got the names of my death, but
you take a trip to San Anita, you meet a.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
Lot of jockeys. You guys know we'll go along with
you on this thing. Anything we can do.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
But I'm still very sure that there's a juvenile involved.
Speaker 5 (03:23):
There's nothing we can do. Anything turns up.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
We'll be sure to turn over to you.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
But look, we're not trying to promin this thing off
on your Lindsay. We've had the Stat's office make so
many runs on small adoults of the cars that are
wearing out. It just seems that not the leads we've
been chasing come out anywhere. We'll figured that maybe you
could come.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Up with some answers for us.
Speaker 5 (03:37):
Well, it's a new one on Mede Jorda's milk that
I've heard of.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
A couple of season went for it, but I can't
name your juvenile off man.
Speaker 5 (03:43):
I'll pass the word around the day we see what
they can come up with. I'll leave it out for
heart Grows. They can pass down the night watch.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Well, I appreciate anything to do.
Speaker 5 (03:49):
No trouble, been running your ragged on this.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Huh pretty rough. It's just the way you can't seem
to be able to come up with anything of the ad.
Speaker 5 (03:54):
Yeah, excuse me.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
Yeah, Georgia Street, Juveni's Heart and Simmons. Yeah, yeah, there
which one, Okay, hang on a few Julia Rothie.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Thank you, Friday Tunny, Yeah right away.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
What's the address? Yeah, so I got it. We'll leave
right away.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Who Yeah, call him? Thanks, well, come on, let's go
for the milk bottle kid. He hit again.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
The call had come from Lieutenant Ginder in Burgery. He
told us that he'd just gotten a call from a
store keeper named Maddy Darrel Burtis. The man had called
a reporter a burgery at a store at the corner
of Jackson and Broadway Street. Lieutenant Ginder told us if
the crime lab had been notified and had dispatched the
crew to investigate the.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Premises for physical evidence. Frank and I left Georgia Street, Juvenal.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
We drove over the figure off and then we turned
over on the Broadway. The store that had been broken
into was a smaller Italian delicatessen on the southeast corner.
For the time we got there, the crime lab Drew
had already arrived and was winding up their investigation. We
walked into the place and we met with Ray Pinker, Hi, Joe,
Frank rag Gy.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Ray. How's it got? Usual thing?
Speaker 6 (05:05):
Bottle milk on the counter? He gonna check it over. Yeah,
run back here. He's made his entrance.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Back here, rear of the store, out of the book,
out the window pane. Yeah, not very big, huh and
maysure he's nine and a half or twelve three quartered.
No alarm on the window. Yeah, you can see the
wires here. Take a look. Oh yeah, how come the
alarm didn't go lost? And I talked to the owner.
Speaker 6 (05:27):
He said he's had trouble with the alarm system last
couple of weeks, called the company and ask him to
fix it.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
It was he thought it was okay, cause there's something
wrong some poy it didn't work last night. What kind
of alarm was it? Right, I'll tried them a building,
you know the kind? Yeah? What do he take? This
tigre usual run and stuff?
Speaker 6 (05:41):
According to the ow another about four cart and the cigarettes,
and I thing several boxes of candy. He can't be
absolutely sure, so he's got to check his stock. Be
better if you talk to him on that.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Yeah, we will. We'll catch it later.
Speaker 6 (05:51):
Wanna wait a minute, I'll check and see how the
boys are doing on the print? Had him check the
counter and milk? About fire at tacks?
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Right? Be right back fire? I wonder one we're gonna
blow the whistle on this guy? I don't know. Can't
do it fast enough for me? Was you had Joe
look at this? Yeah, I'd like to get a couple
of those before we leave. What are you talking about, Salani, Joe?
Those out there, the high Italian kind seem back there.
I remember last summer I was out in San Francisco. Yeah,
(06:17):
I went up there to pick up a prisoner. I
remember you were collecting days off. Yeah, I recall I
had one hundred of them comings. Yeah, pretty funny. Anyway,
I met Dan Shelley up there. You mean the Irish Kenner.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Yeah, he and I went down the Cookie's Bar for
lunch because he had some of the salami slips like paper,
it almost reads through it.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
That's the way it's supposed to be, I know, Joe.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Anyway, cookie sliced up a bunch of it, served it
with cold crack crab boor. I never tasted anything so
good in my life. You know, if you ever read
the newspapers, you slice salami? Yeah, I may ask have
you all the time, just the funnies. Well, anyway, they
tried to find them for me, salami like this. Bought
home all kinds of things, but she's.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Never found the right kind. You know, they'd be hard
enough to pound tact with him. She got him home. Oh,
never forget cookie and that's spread.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Well, if you can get your money off food for
a minute, and I know that'll be tough.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Let's get on with these things out. Yeah, sure, I
gotta buy somebody's where we leave. It's like cookie head.
Speaker 6 (07:11):
Yeah the space was tired joke, Yeah nothing, whoever it
was drank the milk. He took the bottle out of
the refrigeration compartment, bottle sweaters and there don't a print
on it.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
We canna lift, Yeah, too bad, not m many places.
Speaker 6 (07:22):
Yeah, we've gone over the place and top to bottom,
so there we can't find him.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
That's what much help is? It came up with one thing.
Maybe you can make something out of it.
Speaker 6 (07:29):
What's that outside the window on the back of parking
lot came up an open package cigarette.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Don't know if it belonged to the sea, anything on it.
No fog last night ruined any prints that were on it.
Boys of God, if you want, Yeah, why would we
take a look at it.
Speaker 6 (07:42):
It's like everything's against us. Huh another blank going envie.
You guys trying to break business most of the time.
It's a leak some point somewhere along the line of
the guy's gonna make a mistake and not cover something.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Yeah, We've been saying that for a weeks.
Speaker 6 (07:53):
This is either the smartest thief I've ever seen or
a lucky it's let's just make for him number nineteen on.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
A chance that to take from them. He's not getting
anything out of the jobs.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Maybe he isn't the we are headaches. Nine thirty eight am.
We talked to the victim. He told us that as
near as he could figure, there was approximately four dollars
stolen from the store.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Went on to.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Say that he'd accertained that five cartons of cigarettes and
several bucks the candy bars were taken. Who was unable
to tell us if any other merchandise was taken until
he made a complete inventory. He went on to tell
us that there was over six hundred dollars in the safe,
but that as far as he could tell, it had
been no attempt to break into it. We made a
canvas of the neighborhood and talked with the neighbors. None
of them we called having seen any suspicious people in
the neighborhood the night before. None of them had seen
(08:38):
any suspicious automobiles in the area. The one thing that
was apparant was that the thief was working in a
definite pattern. He worked only on Friday and Saturday nights,
always between eight pm and twelve midnights. Frank and I
met with Captain Barnard and it was decided that we
would maintain a rolling stakeout in the area in which
the suspect operated.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Four other cars from Metro Reserves were assigned to work
with us. The next five we worked without result. Was
slow and peating considering the lack of information on the thief.
It was the only way we had left.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
We had to be on or near the scene when
the beast struck again Saturday night, December nineteenth, Frank, I
met and drove out to the area.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
The streets were crowded with early Christmas shoppers. Uh. Sure,
be glad when it's over. Why it's a matter how
many rooms in your apartment? Joe three? You know that
you've been there. Yeah, I won't be enough room. What
are you talking about? Say? What's Fay got to do
with this?
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Hacked?
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Joe? Real hack? WHOI it's a mona. I got up this.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Morning, I felt great, saves, got breakfast on the table,
all nice, couple eggs, so it'll take sausages nice, you know.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
I come down to the table. She's got the food
on and I hit her with her what the food?
Speaker 3 (09:46):
You know? Joe? I hit her with what I'm about
to tell her?
Speaker 1 (09:48):
I tell her I'm gonna have to work tonight. You
work every night this week?
Speaker 3 (09:52):
What's wrong with that? That's the way I figured it.
So I got a way out. Yeah, U Today is
Phay's birthday. So you didn't tell me. It's not good
to tell people, Joe, Oh, it isn't. No Oh pays
over thirty. Yeah, I kind of figured that. Don't you
get him?
Speaker 1 (10:11):
I'm sorry, pal, you left me a couple of blocks
back on this one. Look, I may never catch hip
pays over thirty, Joe. She's getting to the point where
she's taken off years. See, how can he give a
person a last birthday present?
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Yeah, I tell you about us.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
They're gonna give her a present only now instead of thirty,
she's twenty nine.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
You understand.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Well, he'll be perfectly honest with you, know, but as
long as you do, it's perfectly all right with me.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Yeah. What about this morning?
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Well, I told her I was gonna have to go
to work. I got this present for her, brand new
deep fat fryer.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Real good. Well, I'll wrapped up deep fat fryer.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
I'll wrap up with a ribbon, beautiful, shiny, beautiful. So
you gave it to hers, it's do any good?
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Not a pound? You know what she does with it? Well,
at this point I wouldn't even want to get I'm serious, Joe.
This made me the end of my home. Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
He doesn't even open it, just puts it in the
closet on the back porch, doesn't even pull the paper apart,
but peeking what's in it?
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Real mad Joe, you may not put me back in
the house tonight. I don't even apologize when you get home.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
I don't know, Joe says, pretty Sorre didn't even open
the present.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
I'm in a piece.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Huh yeah, where's coming time?
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Yeah it sounds like up on seventh, come months.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Yeah right here, pullup, Come on, I'll take the front.
All right, Hey, hold up there, wait off it stop
for all shoots, right, come on your way, Okay, make it.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Easy, go ahead and shoot.
Speaker 7 (11:49):
Come on and kill me, go ahead and kue me,
giv anymore?
Speaker 3 (11:53):
All right, Yeah, got the kids, Joe, we'll see. What
are you doing in the store? Then? What do you
think I'm yeah, he asked your question.
Speaker 7 (12:01):
Son, craze stupid. What do you think that was doing?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
How many stories you're broken into the son?
Speaker 7 (12:06):
Hey, get out for yourself?
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Look what are you gonna chip on your shoulders?
Speaker 7 (12:09):
Big guy? Don't give me a lot of conversations. Do
what you wanna do?
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Right, boy? You call it? Come on? Eleven fifty pm.
We called the office and told them that we had
a subject in custody that we were taking in the
Georgia street. Puberil girls. We put the boy in our
car and we waited until a radio car ride.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
We asked the officers to notify the owner of the
store and stand by until he got there. We also
asked if they make a four to fifty nine report.
Eleven fifty five pm. He started to take.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
The youngster to the juvenile bureau. What's your name?
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Son?
Speaker 7 (12:42):
What difference does it mean?
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Acting like that isn't gonna help you.
Speaker 7 (12:45):
You guys pick me up? Remember, do you worry about it?
I got enohing to be afraid.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Oh, yes, you have. Boy, You could have been shot
back there.
Speaker 7 (12:51):
Maybe you should have pulled a trigger.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Look, son, what's the matter with you? Why are you
acting like this? You just got real lucky back there.
That's the only reason you're alive now. Was die far
as I could tell you were an adult. You didn't
stop when I told you do not. According to the book,
I could have shocked you.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
You know that.
Speaker 7 (13:04):
Don't you killing the kids? That'll make you a big mess.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Oh, I'm just bringing it up to prove a point.
Say my look, son, I'm gonna tell you something. When
you break into a place at night, you're not a
kid anymore. You're asking for trouble. You got both your
pockets full of it. The way you work tonight makes
us think you're mixed up in a lot more affect
than just tonight.
Speaker 7 (13:20):
That right.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
You ever been arrested before, No, never been in.
Speaker 7 (13:23):
Trouble with 'em all Uh sure, I'm a real criminal.
I got a kick it once. We ride my bike
through a bull of hud stop leading your car, stopping
and tagging. Big deal. But they're gonna send me the same,
quintin and you can give me the gashings.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
How old are you?
Speaker 7 (13:38):
What difference does happening?
Speaker 3 (13:39):
How old are you? You figure it all right? You
look like you're about eleven.
Speaker 7 (13:42):
To me, I told everybody thinks least fifteen the next person,
don't kid a sense, it's the truth.
Speaker 5 (13:47):
Fifteen.
Speaker 7 (13:47):
That's what I'll bet fifteen. When when you're born nineteen
thirty nine November second, they're.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Small three age jacket.
Speaker 7 (13:52):
Why do you say that, Anta, It's got nothing to
do with it, nothing at all. I can do anything.
Any other kid can do anything. Don't forget that.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
It's the matter with you. Is that a sorrow point
with you?
Speaker 7 (14:02):
Huh?
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Your size? Is that a sorrow point?
Speaker 7 (14:04):
There's nothing wrong with my side. Doctor says that I'm
all right? Is that some people aren't It to be
as big as others.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
That's all.
Speaker 7 (14:10):
There's nothing wrong with me?
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Yeah not? Come on, So what's your name? Uh? Look,
you know we're gonna find out.
Speaker 7 (14:17):
How are you gonna find out?
Speaker 3 (14:19):
We will? I Why don't you save us all a
lot of time and tell us the truth here? Be
better if you did.
Speaker 7 (14:26):
If I do tell you, you gonna put it in the papers.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Huh.
Speaker 7 (14:29):
I tell you there gonna be a lot of reporters
around My name's gonna get in the papers.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Not from us.
Speaker 7 (14:35):
Can't tell you then?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
You mean if there's no reporters around here, I'm gonna
tell that your name is that it?
Speaker 7 (14:39):
That's the way it is.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
It's kind of funny, isn't it.
Speaker 7 (14:42):
Maybe that's the way it looks to you.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Where do you living?
Speaker 7 (14:46):
Can't tell you that it is?
Speaker 3 (14:48):
You got things all wrong? Son?
Speaker 1 (14:50):
It isn't what you wanna tell us. That's got nothing
to do with it. You're gonna tell us what we
wanna know, sooner or later.
Speaker 7 (14:55):
Where we going Georgia Street, that's where the jail is.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Why do you ask that we can? You don't wanna know? Yeah,
there's a jail there.
Speaker 7 (15:02):
Reporters what they're gonna be? Reporters?
Speaker 3 (15:04):
What is this thing with reporters in you? What's it's
all about?
Speaker 7 (15:06):
Reporters? Put your name in the papers?
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Don't there anytimes?
Speaker 7 (15:09):
Well, you get the reporters all lined up, You get
'em from all the papers. You have him there, and
I'll tell you all about it, the whole story. You
just get the reporters and the photographers. Be sure about them,
cause I want some pictures too.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Oh look, let me get this straight.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
What you say you aren't gonna give us any information
without the press being there?
Speaker 5 (15:26):
Is that right?
Speaker 7 (15:26):
That's the way it's gonna be.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
You got it wrong, boy, What doesn't make any differences there?
You're gonna come around.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yeah, we'll find out. Twelve ten am, we got the
Georgia Street Juvenile Bureau. Frank pulled the kind of the
side alley and we took the subject out of the
back seat.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Out good place.
Speaker 7 (15:51):
Then it's a seedy looking place.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Yeah, well that's been here a long time.
Speaker 7 (15:54):
Looks like I said, out of the picture.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Don't you worry about it?
Speaker 5 (15:57):
Huh?
Speaker 3 (15:58):
You wanna take 'em down the hall? I'll check with
heart grows.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Yeah, come on, buck, Hi, Friday's working kind of late.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Aren't you.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Yeah, we are I got to knock from the Simmons
on the milk burg where he's.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Checked around the night wise nothing not if I didn't
call him. I don't think you have to worry about it.
I think we got the answers. Yeah, we just picked
up a kid. We got him dead to rights to
the market, open bottle of milk right next to cats.
Interest you where is he now? Thanks? Got him down
the hall. Do you think he's your boy? And it
looks like it.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Everything he adds that, the entrance, what he tried to take,
the milk all, A lot of those seems to fit.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
You get that kind of a case. What are you
worrying about? There's two things. Yeah, who he is and
why he is? He won't tell it.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
You know, he's got some big thing working about the
press says he won't give us anything without reporters being there.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
Makes it rupture you know the policy?
Speaker 3 (16:41):
You know I do. He won't let us help him if.
Speaker 5 (16:43):
He wants publicIt.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
He take me down, introduce me as a reporter. No
one might do it. We won't do any I'm to try.
Let's go go ahead. Thanks, What am I gonna be? Well?
Tell him to sit huge from the mirror. Hu, I
might as well be one of the good ones.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Son, you wanted to talk to somebody from the papers.
It's against the policy, but we swelling for you was
the Sid Hughes from the Moor.
Speaker 7 (17:12):
Alright, you toeld the hell that guy in the phone
in Baltimore. Yeah great, I read all about it. You
gonna write me up like that?
Speaker 3 (17:19):
I hope that, Son.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
There were two men killed in that operation.
Speaker 7 (17:21):
Who read all with stories everybody did. That's how I
means for you to light me up with a picture.
Speaker 5 (17:26):
What makes you think you got it coming?
Speaker 3 (17:28):
You break into one store and try.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
To steal a couple of cartons a cigarette that doesn't
make the first page one store.
Speaker 7 (17:33):
I got into nineteen of 'em, nineteen before they catton.
That's important, isn't. That's a story?
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Uh? I might be couple things you better get straightened
down here. First off, what's your name?
Speaker 6 (17:43):
Let it?
Speaker 7 (17:44):
Get your notebook out, be able to take all this down.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Don't worry about it, son, you just answer the questions.
I'll get it.
Speaker 7 (17:49):
Yeah, Okay, my name is Joe right Graham, that's E.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
L ry g R A h A M yep. How
old I am?
Speaker 7 (17:58):
I told you once almost fifteen, you.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Said you broken in the nineteen stores. Is that right?
Speaker 7 (18:02):
Yeah? Nineteen might have made him more. But something went
wrong tonight. Had trouble with the burger alarm said I
had turned it off. Bad mistake. He's still working. It
wasn't for that. If it only takes one.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Though, mister Hughes, Yeah, I guess so you wanna tell
him why you did it?
Speaker 3 (18:17):
What? Yeah, I to have a reason for committing these robberies.
You wanna tell us what it was? Sure?
Speaker 7 (18:21):
Good reasons, real good?
Speaker 3 (18:23):
All right?
Speaker 5 (18:24):
Tell him?
Speaker 7 (18:25):
Well, you see, I always had trouble at school. Never
seemed to quiet make it. All the guys like me
be all did all the girls do too, got girls
calling me almost every night asking me to take him
the dances, stuff like that. I don't go much with
stuff like that. You can understand, kench mister Hughes.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Go ahead, all right.
Speaker 7 (18:41):
Well, they wanted me for all the teams, football, basketball,
all the time, asking me to play. But I SIGI,
if you wanna get head in the world, you gotta
have an aim some place where you wanna get pig
do out that go a fort and you're gonna get there.
Don't you find that true, mister Hughes.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Go ahead.
Speaker 7 (18:57):
That's the way it was with me all the time,
turned down off to be on some team, telling some
girl I couldn't take it to a dance, just didn't
have a time somehow I just couldn't make it. You
can understand it. You've been around you know all the
successful kind of people. You like something, A lot of
people lead it. You know what I mean, don't you?
Speaker 4 (19:18):
Well?
Speaker 7 (19:18):
What's the matter? Something wrong? I'm trying to tell you
what happened. I'm giving it to you straight. What's the matter.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Now? You wanna tell it the truth? Alright? Well, I
don't know why you're trying to sell it this lion boy.
It isn't necessary. I don't know why you did what
you did, but I do know you had a reason
for it. That's all we wanna know, just the reason.
Speaker 7 (19:37):
You don't believe me?
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Afraid not?
Speaker 7 (19:40):
How about you? No, I'm sign of dog, mister Hughes. No,
can't even lie right, can't even tell her right?
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Good?
Speaker 7 (19:50):
All my life I've been trying to be like other
kids all the time, getting beat up, getting left out
of things. You know, what do you know?
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Go ahead?
Speaker 7 (19:59):
Say they greasing me. They just reason in the world
cause I'm almost fifteen years old. 'em four feet seven
inches tall, four feet seven, weight ninety seven pounds. That
ain't very big, not big enough all the time, other
kids shoving around all the time.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
You're the joke.
Speaker 7 (20:22):
Gets the time when the figure. It's easy to laugh too,
cause if you don't, some kids are gonna beat you up.
Get to the point where you don't care anymore. I
used to clip out those coupons and send 'em in.
Get the books back on how to build myself up.
Worked at it didn't do nothing for me. It was
still four feet seven and weight ninety seven pounds. All
(20:43):
the stuff I took didn't do no good. Still came
out four feet seven, ninety seven pounds.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Oh that's good. Do you wanna tell us about the brigery.
I did it to be big.
Speaker 7 (20:55):
That's why I had the things other people wanted, cigarettes, candy,
the other thing kids wanted.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
I had all that.
Speaker 7 (21:02):
Stuff at the other pitch wanted.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Make me important.
Speaker 7 (21:06):
Don't you see that. You gotta understand it, mister Hughes.
That's why I wanted my picture in the papers. That's
why I wanted the story so the kids would know
that I'd done something big, so.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
They know, alright, son, it's gonna be ourb here.
Speaker 6 (21:26):
Know.
Speaker 7 (21:26):
It is like everything else I tried to do.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
I lost it up. Oh.
Speaker 7 (21:30):
I didn't mean to steal, but it was the only
thing to do, the only way I had. It wasn't
for some other No, No, it wasn't all the time,
the other kids laughing all the time talking. I just
couldn't stand it anymore. I just couldn't asl Thanks, you
(21:53):
can understand attention, It makes sense.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
What's that time?
Speaker 7 (21:58):
Wasn't so much of the kids saying I was little? Yeah,
I didn't want to think I was small.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Oh. Twelve thirty six a m. We contacted the parents
of the grand boy and asked him to come down
to the station.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
We talked to him for an hour and tried to
fill him in the view of the fact that the
parents are the subject, were responsible person. The boy would
look for viola in the section fourth fifty nine PC
to Lincoln and he was really to his parents pending
and hearing.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
The juvenile court. Five days past and we heard nothing
from the boy. On December twenty fourth, Frank.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
And I checked into the office Friday year, kid.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
In the back, let's see you.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
It's Bett okay, thank you?
Speaker 7 (22:43):
Min is your Friday?
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Oh well Roy, what can we do for you? Well?
Speaker 7 (22:47):
I guess you think it's kind of fun? What's that
I want to tell you that I should think it's good?
What you're good for me? Something with that durgy thing
the other night.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Well, there isn't over yet. Sign the court still have
to make a decision right now.
Speaker 7 (22:57):
Yeah, what's your good? To make you feel better? As
far as I can share, whatever the jets decides, I'll
go along with it. I'm long top of my folks.
So we got it all talked down, all the way
talk out.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Oh that's a good time. We're glad of the sense.
Speaker 7 (23:12):
Maybe you guys won't like it, I mean, ignoring you
such a short time and all. But but I wanted
to bring you these merry Christmas.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Oh that's awful. Nice to be alright, but it isn't necessary.
I wanna get into them anyway. For what you did
for him. Oh that's mighty nicely all right, Sure appreciate it.
Speaker 7 (23:31):
Couple of packs of cigarettes hope they kind of.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Smokes, yes, then they'll be fine in bank.
Speaker 7 (23:36):
So well, you guys who run hunh. Yeah, I'm sure, son,
just get more things siding. Yeah, I just start your
backing out?
Speaker 3 (23:50):
Yeah? What's that?
Speaker 7 (23:52):
I didn't steal over it?
Speaker 3 (23:54):
All right, all right.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
The story you have just heard is true. The names
were changed to protect the innocent.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
On the twenty first of December, a petition was filed
in Juvenile Court on behalf of the subject. On January
twenty sixth, trial was held in Department fifty two of
Juvenile Court, State of California in and for the County
of Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
In a moment the.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Results of that trial, Elroy Merton Graham appeared before the
Juvenile Court where he admitted the alleged burglaries. At this time,
under the council of the Judge of the Juvenile Court,
the subject was.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Placed under the care of.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
The Probation Department for a period of three years, with
the provision that his parents take into a competent psychiatrist.
(25:04):
You have just heard Dragnet a series of authentic cases
from official files.
Speaker 5 (25:09):
Technical advice comes from the Office of Chief of Police W. H.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Parker, Los Angeles Police Departments Technical advisors Captain Jack Donahoe,
Sergeant Marty Wynn Sergeant Vans Bracer. Third tonight were Ben Alexander,
Jack Brushian Oland Soulet, Samiad.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Script by John.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Robinson, music by Walter Schumann, hel Gibbey speaking.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Transcribed from Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Dragnet is an NBC Radio Network production
You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned the burglary details. In
the past two months, a thief has brought it into
eighteen markets. There's no lead to his whereabouts, no clue
to his identity. Your job get him.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Dragnet the documented drama of an actual crime. For the
next thirty minutes, in cooperation of 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 force and action.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
It was money December fourteenth. It was cold in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
We were working the day watch out a burglary detail.
My partners Frank Smith, the boss is Captain Burray.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Fight Friday. We got our way out of the office
with eight o five am when we got.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
The Georgia Street Juvenile Bureau Sargeant Lindsay Simmons office.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Yeah, but did you give it to him? Uh huh yeah,
what he said? Yeah when he come back? Uh huh,
Well did he have it for you?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (01:32):
Well, I don't teach you not to go that route anymore,
all right, Patrick Teller starting to call me when he.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Gets back right.
Speaker 5 (01:39):
Ah, Hi Friday Smith, Oh.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Helen warning target just starting to gen Patrick over Hammond Pike.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
You know yeah, I met him a couple of turns.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
Picked up a youngster a couple of days ago on
suspicion and burglary, brought him into the office and Patrick Cockley.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
You know, well he finally bought it that the kid
didn't have anything to do.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
With the set.
Speaker 5 (01:52):
He told me to go home.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Kid told Geane you didn't have the money to get home.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
So Jane gave him twenty cents. Kids wore come in
and pay it back?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Did he? Yeah, he came in.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
I want to get back to two dimes, told him
fanster believe in the story.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Then Patrick got the kicker.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
Kid really did break into an hour last night to
get the money.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Well, what Patrick got to say about there, says.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
The kids honest in the story of the way, he did
pay him back.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Where's the youngster?
Speaker 5 (02:13):
Now? Cut him over Holland Park you and him.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I better call to you. Maybe I can give him
a hand. I got a couple of street cartos something
won't be using.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Might like to hem.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
I'll hold it allows you. I don't think I'd bring
it up to him for a couple of days. Well,
what can I do for you?
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Do well, Lindsey, We've been working on a string of burglaries.
You maybe got the word on them.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
I don't think so much.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
The story a bunch of store burglaries. Papers attaged him.
The milk bottle job, Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:33):
Seen as hartcro was telling me something about him the
other day. And where we come in.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Well, the way the jobs look.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
We've been thinking that maybe belonging to your department instead
of ours.
Speaker 5 (02:41):
I figure that.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
First off, the milk thing, What do you mean every
job is full? We found an empty milk bottle on
the counter.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
Okay, what that proves?
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Well, milk and kids go together.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
Sure so the milk and ulcers. Maybe your thieves got
the bullhard when he gets into the store.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
No, indeed, there's another thing. Way prowels the place is all.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
He takes his petty cash, get a couple of bucks outside.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Can't cigarettes nothing big.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Some of the places he's gone into, you could open
the safe for the pocket knife and he hasn't even
made a move toward him.
Speaker 5 (03:05):
Maybe he's left.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
The maniac got a lot of them on the books.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
Maybe that's the way he gets his kicked.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Well, it's a nice trying, Lindsay.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
If you know anybody that can climb through a fourteen
by ten inch hold, you trot.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Them up and we'll talk to him.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
Okay, I haven't got the names of my death, but
you take a trip to San Anita, you meet a.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
Lot of jockeys. You guys know we'll go along with
you on this thing. Anything we can do.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
But I'm still very sure that there's a juvenile involved.
Speaker 5 (03:23):
There's nothing we can do. Anything turns up.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
We'll be sure to turn over to you.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
But look, we're not trying to promin this thing off
on your Lindsay. We've had the Stat's office make so
many runs on small adoults of the cars that are
wearing out. It just seems that not the leads we've
been chasing come out anywhere. We'll figured that maybe you
could come.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Up with some answers for us.
Speaker 5 (03:37):
Well, it's a new one on Mede Jorda's milk that
I've heard of.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
A couple of season went for it, but I can't
name your juvenile off man.
Speaker 5 (03:43):
I'll pass the word around the day we see what
they can come up with. I'll leave it out for
heart Grows. They can pass down the night watch.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Well, I appreciate anything to do.
Speaker 5 (03:49):
No trouble, been running your ragged on this.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Huh pretty rough. It's just the way you can't seem
to be able to come up with anything of the ad.
Speaker 5 (03:54):
Yeah, excuse me.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
Yeah, Georgia Street, Juveni's Heart and Simmons. Yeah, yeah, there
which one, Okay, hang on a few Julia Rothie.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Thank you, Friday Tunny, Yeah right away.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
What's the address? Yeah, so I got it. We'll leave
right away.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Who Yeah, call him? Thanks, well, come on, let's go
for the milk bottle kid. He hit again.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
The call had come from Lieutenant Ginder in Burgery. He
told us that he'd just gotten a call from a
store keeper named Maddy Darrel Burtis. The man had called
a reporter a burgery at a store at the corner
of Jackson and Broadway Street. Lieutenant Ginder told us if
the crime lab had been notified and had dispatched the
crew to investigate the.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Premises for physical evidence. Frank and I left Georgia Street, Juvenal.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
We drove over the figure off and then we turned
over on the Broadway. The store that had been broken
into was a smaller Italian delicatessen on the southeast corner.
For the time we got there, the crime lab Drew
had already arrived and was winding up their investigation. We
walked into the place and we met with Ray Pinker, Hi, Joe,
Frank rag Gy.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Ray. How's it got? Usual thing?
Speaker 6 (05:05):
Bottle milk on the counter? He gonna check it over. Yeah,
run back here. He's made his entrance.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Back here, rear of the store, out of the book,
out the window pane. Yeah, not very big, huh and
maysure he's nine and a half or twelve three quartered.
No alarm on the window. Yeah, you can see the
wires here. Take a look. Oh yeah, how come the
alarm didn't go lost? And I talked to the owner.
Speaker 6 (05:27):
He said he's had trouble with the alarm system last
couple of weeks, called the company and ask him to
fix it.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
It was he thought it was okay, cause there's something
wrong some poy it didn't work last night. What kind
of alarm was it? Right, I'll tried them a building,
you know the kind? Yeah? What do he take? This
tigre usual run and stuff?
Speaker 6 (05:41):
According to the ow another about four cart and the cigarettes,
and I thing several boxes of candy. He can't be
absolutely sure, so he's got to check his stock. Be
better if you talk to him on that.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Yeah, we will. We'll catch it later.
Speaker 6 (05:51):
Wanna wait a minute, I'll check and see how the
boys are doing on the print? Had him check the
counter and milk? About fire at tacks?
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Right? Be right back fire? I wonder one we're gonna
blow the whistle on this guy? I don't know. Can't
do it fast enough for me? Was you had Joe
look at this? Yeah, I'd like to get a couple
of those before we leave. What are you talking about, Salani, Joe?
Those out there, the high Italian kind seem back there.
I remember last summer I was out in San Francisco. Yeah,
(06:17):
I went up there to pick up a prisoner. I
remember you were collecting days off. Yeah, I recall I
had one hundred of them comings. Yeah, pretty funny. Anyway,
I met Dan Shelley up there. You mean the Irish Kenner.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Yeah, he and I went down the Cookie's Bar for
lunch because he had some of the salami slips like paper,
it almost reads through it.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
That's the way it's supposed to be, I know, Joe.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Anyway, cookie sliced up a bunch of it, served it
with cold crack crab boor. I never tasted anything so
good in my life. You know, if you ever read
the newspapers, you slice salami? Yeah, I may ask have
you all the time, just the funnies. Well, anyway, they
tried to find them for me, salami like this. Bought
home all kinds of things, but she's.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Never found the right kind. You know, they'd be hard
enough to pound tact with him. She got him home. Oh,
never forget cookie and that's spread.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Well, if you can get your money off food for
a minute, and I know that'll be tough.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Let's get on with these things out. Yeah, sure, I
gotta buy somebody's where we leave. It's like cookie head.
Speaker 6 (07:11):
Yeah the space was tired joke, Yeah nothing, whoever it
was drank the milk. He took the bottle out of
the refrigeration compartment, bottle sweaters and there don't a print
on it.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
We canna lift, Yeah, too bad, not m many places.
Speaker 6 (07:22):
Yeah, we've gone over the place and top to bottom,
so there we can't find him.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
That's what much help is? It came up with one thing.
Maybe you can make something out of it.
Speaker 6 (07:29):
What's that outside the window on the back of parking
lot came up an open package cigarette.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Don't know if it belonged to the sea, anything on it.
No fog last night ruined any prints that were on it.
Boys of God, if you want, Yeah, why would we
take a look at it.
Speaker 6 (07:42):
It's like everything's against us. Huh another blank going envie.
You guys trying to break business most of the time.
It's a leak some point somewhere along the line of
the guy's gonna make a mistake and not cover something.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Yeah, We've been saying that for a weeks.
Speaker 6 (07:53):
This is either the smartest thief I've ever seen or
a lucky it's let's just make for him number nineteen on.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
A chance that to take from them. He's not getting
anything out of the jobs.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Maybe he isn't the we are headaches. Nine thirty eight am.
We talked to the victim. He told us that as
near as he could figure, there was approximately four dollars
stolen from the store.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Went on to.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Say that he'd accertained that five cartons of cigarettes and
several bucks the candy bars were taken. Who was unable
to tell us if any other merchandise was taken until
he made a complete inventory. He went on to tell
us that there was over six hundred dollars in the safe,
but that as far as he could tell, it had
been no attempt to break into it. We made a
canvas of the neighborhood and talked with the neighbors. None
of them we called having seen any suspicious people in
the neighborhood the night before. None of them had seen
(08:38):
any suspicious automobiles in the area. The one thing that
was apparant was that the thief was working in a
definite pattern. He worked only on Friday and Saturday nights,
always between eight pm and twelve midnights. Frank and I
met with Captain Barnard and it was decided that we
would maintain a rolling stakeout in the area in which
the suspect operated.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Four other cars from Metro Reserves were assigned to work
with us. The next five we worked without result. Was
slow and peating considering the lack of information on the thief.
It was the only way we had left.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
We had to be on or near the scene when
the beast struck again Saturday night, December nineteenth, Frank, I
met and drove out to the area.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
The streets were crowded with early Christmas shoppers. Uh. Sure,
be glad when it's over. Why it's a matter how
many rooms in your apartment? Joe three? You know that
you've been there. Yeah, I won't be enough room. What
are you talking about? Say? What's Fay got to do
with this?
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Hacked?
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Joe? Real hack? WHOI it's a mona. I got up this.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Morning, I felt great, saves, got breakfast on the table,
all nice, couple eggs, so it'll take sausages nice, you know.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
I come down to the table. She's got the food
on and I hit her with her what the food?
Speaker 3 (09:46):
You know? Joe? I hit her with what I'm about
to tell her?
Speaker 1 (09:48):
I tell her I'm gonna have to work tonight. You
work every night this week?
Speaker 3 (09:52):
What's wrong with that? That's the way I figured it.
So I got a way out. Yeah, U Today is
Phay's birthday. So you didn't tell me. It's not good
to tell people, Joe, Oh, it isn't. No Oh pays
over thirty. Yeah, I kind of figured that. Don't you
get him?
Speaker 1 (10:11):
I'm sorry, pal, you left me a couple of blocks
back on this one. Look, I may never catch hip
pays over thirty, Joe. She's getting to the point where
she's taken off years. See, how can he give a
person a last birthday present?
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Yeah, I tell you about us.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
They're gonna give her a present only now instead of thirty,
she's twenty nine.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
You understand.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Well, he'll be perfectly honest with you, know, but as
long as you do, it's perfectly all right with me.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Yeah. What about this morning?
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Well, I told her I was gonna have to go
to work. I got this present for her, brand new
deep fat fryer.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Real good. Well, I'll wrapped up deep fat fryer.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
I'll wrap up with a ribbon, beautiful, shiny, beautiful. So
you gave it to hers, it's do any good?
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Not a pound? You know what she does with it? Well,
at this point I wouldn't even want to get I'm serious, Joe.
This made me the end of my home. Go ahead.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
He doesn't even open it, just puts it in the
closet on the back porch, doesn't even pull the paper apart,
but peeking what's in it?
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Real mad Joe, you may not put me back in
the house tonight. I don't even apologize when you get home.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
I don't know, Joe says, pretty Sorre didn't even open
the present.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
I'm in a piece.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Huh yeah, where's coming time?
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Yeah it sounds like up on seventh, come months.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Yeah right here, pullup, Come on, I'll take the front.
All right, Hey, hold up there, wait off it stop
for all shoots, right, come on your way, Okay, make it.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Easy, go ahead and shoot.
Speaker 7 (11:49):
Come on and kill me, go ahead and kue me,
giv anymore?
Speaker 3 (11:53):
All right, Yeah, got the kids, Joe, we'll see. What
are you doing in the store? Then? What do you
think I'm yeah, he asked your question.
Speaker 7 (12:01):
Son, craze stupid. What do you think that was doing?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
How many stories you're broken into the son?
Speaker 7 (12:06):
Hey, get out for yourself?
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Look what are you gonna chip on your shoulders?
Speaker 7 (12:09):
Big guy? Don't give me a lot of conversations. Do
what you wanna do?
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Right, boy? You call it? Come on? Eleven fifty pm.
We called the office and told them that we had
a subject in custody that we were taking in the
Georgia street. Puberil girls. We put the boy in our
car and we waited until a radio car ride.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
We asked the officers to notify the owner of the
store and stand by until he got there. We also
asked if they make a four to fifty nine report.
Eleven fifty five pm. He started to take.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
The youngster to the juvenile bureau. What's your name?
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Son?
Speaker 7 (12:42):
What difference does it mean?
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Acting like that isn't gonna help you.
Speaker 7 (12:45):
You guys pick me up? Remember, do you worry about it?
I got enohing to be afraid.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Oh, yes, you have. Boy, You could have been shot
back there.
Speaker 7 (12:51):
Maybe you should have pulled a trigger.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Look, son, what's the matter with you? Why are you
acting like this? You just got real lucky back there.
That's the only reason you're alive now. Was die far
as I could tell you were an adult. You didn't
stop when I told you do not. According to the book,
I could have shocked you.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
You know that.
Speaker 7 (13:04):
Don't you killing the kids? That'll make you a big mess.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Oh, I'm just bringing it up to prove a point.
Say my look, son, I'm gonna tell you something. When
you break into a place at night, you're not a
kid anymore. You're asking for trouble. You got both your
pockets full of it. The way you work tonight makes
us think you're mixed up in a lot more affect
than just tonight.
Speaker 7 (13:20):
That right.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
You ever been arrested before, No, never been in.
Speaker 7 (13:23):
Trouble with 'em all Uh sure, I'm a real criminal.
I got a kick it once. We ride my bike
through a bull of hud stop leading your car, stopping
and tagging. Big deal. But they're gonna send me the same,
quintin and you can give me the gashings.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
How old are you?
Speaker 7 (13:38):
What difference does happening?
Speaker 3 (13:39):
How old are you? You figure it all right? You
look like you're about eleven.
Speaker 7 (13:42):
To me, I told everybody thinks least fifteen the next person,
don't kid a sense, it's the truth.
Speaker 5 (13:47):
Fifteen.
Speaker 7 (13:47):
That's what I'll bet fifteen. When when you're born nineteen
thirty nine November second, they're.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
Small three age jacket.
Speaker 7 (13:52):
Why do you say that, Anta, It's got nothing to
do with it, nothing at all. I can do anything.
Any other kid can do anything. Don't forget that.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
It's the matter with you. Is that a sorrow point
with you?
Speaker 7 (14:02):
Huh?
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Your size? Is that a sorrow point?
Speaker 7 (14:04):
There's nothing wrong with my side. Doctor says that I'm
all right? Is that some people aren't It to be
as big as others.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
That's all.
Speaker 7 (14:10):
There's nothing wrong with me?
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Yeah not? Come on, So what's your name? Uh? Look,
you know we're gonna find out.
Speaker 7 (14:17):
How are you gonna find out?
Speaker 3 (14:19):
We will? I Why don't you save us all a
lot of time and tell us the truth here? Be
better if you did.
Speaker 7 (14:26):
If I do tell you, you gonna put it in the papers.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Huh.
Speaker 7 (14:29):
I tell you there gonna be a lot of reporters
around My name's gonna get in the papers.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Not from us.
Speaker 7 (14:35):
Can't tell you then?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
You mean if there's no reporters around here, I'm gonna
tell that your name is that it?
Speaker 7 (14:39):
That's the way it is.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
It's kind of funny, isn't it.
Speaker 7 (14:42):
Maybe that's the way it looks to you.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Where do you living?
Speaker 7 (14:46):
Can't tell you that it is?
Speaker 3 (14:48):
You got things all wrong? Son?
Speaker 1 (14:50):
It isn't what you wanna tell us. That's got nothing
to do with it. You're gonna tell us what we
wanna know, sooner or later.
Speaker 7 (14:55):
Where we going Georgia Street, that's where the jail is.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Why do you ask that we can? You don't wanna know? Yeah,
there's a jail there.
Speaker 7 (15:02):
Reporters what they're gonna be? Reporters?
Speaker 3 (15:04):
What is this thing with reporters in you? What's it's
all about?
Speaker 7 (15:06):
Reporters? Put your name in the papers?
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Don't there anytimes?
Speaker 7 (15:09):
Well, you get the reporters all lined up, You get
'em from all the papers. You have him there, and
I'll tell you all about it, the whole story. You
just get the reporters and the photographers. Be sure about them,
cause I want some pictures too.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Oh look, let me get this straight.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
What you say you aren't gonna give us any information
without the press being there?
Speaker 5 (15:26):
Is that right?
Speaker 7 (15:26):
That's the way it's gonna be.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
You got it wrong, boy, What doesn't make any differences there?
You're gonna come around.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yeah, we'll find out. Twelve ten am, we got the
Georgia Street Juvenile Bureau. Frank pulled the kind of the
side alley and we took the subject out of the
back seat.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Out good place.
Speaker 7 (15:51):
Then it's a seedy looking place.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Yeah, well that's been here a long time.
Speaker 7 (15:54):
Looks like I said, out of the picture.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Don't you worry about it?
Speaker 5 (15:57):
Huh?
Speaker 3 (15:58):
You wanna take 'em down the hall? I'll check with
heart grows.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Yeah, come on, buck, Hi, Friday's working kind of late.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Aren't you.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Yeah, we are I got to knock from the Simmons
on the milk burg where he's.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Checked around the night wise nothing not if I didn't
call him. I don't think you have to worry about it.
I think we got the answers. Yeah, we just picked
up a kid. We got him dead to rights to
the market, open bottle of milk right next to cats.
Interest you where is he now? Thanks? Got him down
the hall. Do you think he's your boy? And it
looks like it.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Everything he adds that, the entrance, what he tried to take,
the milk all, A lot of those seems to fit.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
You get that kind of a case. What are you
worrying about? There's two things. Yeah, who he is and
why he is? He won't tell it.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
You know, he's got some big thing working about the
press says he won't give us anything without reporters being there.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
Makes it rupture you know the policy?
Speaker 3 (16:41):
You know I do. He won't let us help him if.
Speaker 5 (16:43):
He wants publicIt.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
He take me down, introduce me as a reporter. No
one might do it. We won't do any I'm to try.
Let's go go ahead. Thanks, What am I gonna be? Well?
Tell him to sit huge from the mirror. Hu, I
might as well be one of the good ones.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Son, you wanted to talk to somebody from the papers.
It's against the policy, but we swelling for you was
the Sid Hughes from the Moor.
Speaker 7 (17:12):
Alright, you toeld the hell that guy in the phone
in Baltimore. Yeah great, I read all about it. You
gonna write me up like that?
Speaker 3 (17:19):
I hope that, Son.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
There were two men killed in that operation.
Speaker 7 (17:21):
Who read all with stories everybody did. That's how I
means for you to light me up with a picture.
Speaker 5 (17:26):
What makes you think you got it coming?
Speaker 3 (17:28):
You break into one store and try.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
To steal a couple of cartons a cigarette that doesn't
make the first page one store.
Speaker 7 (17:33):
I got into nineteen of 'em, nineteen before they catton.
That's important, isn't. That's a story?
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Uh? I might be couple things you better get straightened
down here. First off, what's your name?
Speaker 6 (17:43):
Let it?
Speaker 7 (17:44):
Get your notebook out, be able to take all this down.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Don't worry about it, son, you just answer the questions.
I'll get it.
Speaker 7 (17:49):
Yeah, Okay, my name is Joe right Graham, that's E.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
L ry g R A h A M yep. How
old I am?
Speaker 7 (17:58):
I told you once almost fifteen, you.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Said you broken in the nineteen stores. Is that right?
Speaker 7 (18:02):
Yeah? Nineteen might have made him more. But something went
wrong tonight. Had trouble with the burger alarm said I
had turned it off. Bad mistake. He's still working. It
wasn't for that. If it only takes one.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Though, mister Hughes, Yeah, I guess so you wanna tell
him why you did it?
Speaker 3 (18:17):
What? Yeah, I to have a reason for committing these robberies.
You wanna tell us what it was? Sure?
Speaker 7 (18:21):
Good reasons, real good?
Speaker 3 (18:23):
All right?
Speaker 5 (18:24):
Tell him?
Speaker 7 (18:25):
Well, you see, I always had trouble at school. Never
seemed to quiet make it. All the guys like me
be all did all the girls do too, got girls
calling me almost every night asking me to take him
the dances, stuff like that. I don't go much with
stuff like that. You can understand, kench mister Hughes.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Go ahead, all right.
Speaker 7 (18:41):
Well, they wanted me for all the teams, football, basketball,
all the time, asking me to play. But I SIGI,
if you wanna get head in the world, you gotta
have an aim some place where you wanna get pig
do out that go a fort and you're gonna get there.
Don't you find that true, mister Hughes.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Go ahead.
Speaker 7 (18:57):
That's the way it was with me all the time,
turned down off to be on some team, telling some
girl I couldn't take it to a dance, just didn't
have a time somehow I just couldn't make it. You
can understand it. You've been around you know all the
successful kind of people. You like something, A lot of
people lead it. You know what I mean, don't you?
Speaker 4 (19:18):
Well?
Speaker 7 (19:18):
What's the matter? Something wrong? I'm trying to tell you
what happened. I'm giving it to you straight. What's the matter.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Now? You wanna tell it the truth? Alright? Well, I
don't know why you're trying to sell it this lion boy.
It isn't necessary. I don't know why you did what
you did, but I do know you had a reason
for it. That's all we wanna know, just the reason.
Speaker 7 (19:37):
You don't believe me?
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Afraid not?
Speaker 7 (19:40):
How about you? No, I'm sign of dog, mister Hughes. No,
can't even lie right, can't even tell her right?
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Good?
Speaker 7 (19:50):
All my life I've been trying to be like other
kids all the time, getting beat up, getting left out
of things. You know, what do you know?
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Go ahead?
Speaker 7 (19:59):
Say they greasing me. They just reason in the world
cause I'm almost fifteen years old. 'em four feet seven
inches tall, four feet seven, weight ninety seven pounds. That
ain't very big, not big enough all the time, other
kids shoving around all the time.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
You're the joke.
Speaker 7 (20:22):
Gets the time when the figure. It's easy to laugh too,
cause if you don't, some kids are gonna beat you up.
Get to the point where you don't care anymore. I
used to clip out those coupons and send 'em in.
Get the books back on how to build myself up.
Worked at it didn't do nothing for me. It was
still four feet seven and weight ninety seven pounds. All
(20:43):
the stuff I took didn't do no good. Still came
out four feet seven, ninety seven pounds.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Oh that's good. Do you wanna tell us about the brigery.
I did it to be big.
Speaker 7 (20:55):
That's why I had the things other people wanted, cigarettes, candy,
the other thing kids wanted.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
I had all that.
Speaker 7 (21:02):
Stuff at the other pitch wanted.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Make me important.
Speaker 7 (21:06):
Don't you see that. You gotta understand it, mister Hughes.
That's why I wanted my picture in the papers. That's
why I wanted the story so the kids would know
that I'd done something big, so.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
They know, alright, son, it's gonna be ourb here.
Speaker 6 (21:26):
Know.
Speaker 7 (21:26):
It is like everything else I tried to do.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
I lost it up. Oh.
Speaker 7 (21:30):
I didn't mean to steal, but it was the only
thing to do, the only way I had. It wasn't
for some other No, No, it wasn't all the time,
the other kids laughing all the time talking. I just
couldn't stand it anymore. I just couldn't asl Thanks, you
(21:53):
can understand attention, It makes sense.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
What's that time?
Speaker 7 (21:58):
Wasn't so much of the kids saying I was little? Yeah,
I didn't want to think I was small.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Oh. Twelve thirty six a m. We contacted the parents
of the grand boy and asked him to come down
to the station.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
We talked to him for an hour and tried to
fill him in the view of the fact that the
parents are the subject, were responsible person. The boy would
look for viola in the section fourth fifty nine PC
to Lincoln and he was really to his parents pending
and hearing.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
The juvenile court. Five days past and we heard nothing
from the boy. On December twenty fourth, Frank.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
And I checked into the office Friday year, kid.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
In the back, let's see you.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
It's Bett okay, thank you?
Speaker 7 (22:43):
Min is your Friday?
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Oh well Roy, what can we do for you? Well?
Speaker 7 (22:47):
I guess you think it's kind of fun? What's that
I want to tell you that I should think it's good?
What you're good for me? Something with that durgy thing
the other night.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Well, there isn't over yet. Sign the court still have
to make a decision right now.
Speaker 7 (22:57):
Yeah, what's your good? To make you feel better? As
far as I can share, whatever the jets decides, I'll
go along with it. I'm long top of my folks.
So we got it all talked down, all the way
talk out.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
Oh that's a good time. We're glad of the sense.
Speaker 7 (23:12):
Maybe you guys won't like it, I mean, ignoring you
such a short time and all. But but I wanted
to bring you these merry Christmas.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Oh that's awful. Nice to be alright, but it isn't necessary.
I wanna get into them anyway. For what you did
for him. Oh that's mighty nicely all right, Sure appreciate it.
Speaker 7 (23:31):
Couple of packs of cigarettes hope they kind of.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Smokes, yes, then they'll be fine in bank.
Speaker 7 (23:36):
So well, you guys who run hunh. Yeah, I'm sure, son,
just get more things siding. Yeah, I just start your
backing out?
Speaker 3 (23:50):
Yeah? What's that?
Speaker 7 (23:52):
I didn't steal over it?
Speaker 3 (23:54):
All right, all right.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
The story you have just heard is true. The names
were changed to protect the innocent.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
On the twenty first of December, a petition was filed
in Juvenile Court on behalf of the subject. On January
twenty sixth, trial was held in Department fifty two of
Juvenile Court, State of California in and for the County
of Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
In a moment the.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Results of that trial, Elroy Merton Graham appeared before the
Juvenile Court where he admitted the alleged burglaries. At this time,
under the council of the Judge of the Juvenile Court,
the subject was.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Placed under the care of.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
The Probation Department for a period of three years, with
the provision that his parents take into a competent psychiatrist.
(25:04):
You have just heard Dragnet a series of authentic cases
from official files.
Speaker 5 (25:09):
Technical advice comes from the Office of Chief of Police W. H.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Parker, Los Angeles Police Departments Technical advisors Captain Jack Donahoe,
Sergeant Marty Wynn Sergeant Vans Bracer. Third tonight were Ben Alexander,
Jack Brushian Oland Soulet, Samiad.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Script by John.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Robinson, music by Walter Schumann, hel Gibbey speaking.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Transcribed from Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Dragnet is an NBC Radio Network production
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