# Dragnet: The Big Bunco (EP5024)

An episode of [The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio| Daily Mystery Dramas](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/335549005), 23 Jul 2026, 40 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pdrl.fm/997ffb/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/73082002/gd5024.mp3

Today's Mystery: An experienced confidence man returns to Los Angeles with the same polished investment scam, cheating trusting victims out of thousands of dollars. As Sergeant Joe Friday begins breaking in a new partner, the detectives race to stop the swindler before he can disappear with another fortune. Original Radio Broadcast: April 17, 1952 Originating in Hollywood Starring Jack Webb as Sergeant Joe Friday.Also featuring Martin Milner as Officer Bill Lockwood, Marian Richman, and Vic Rodman. Script by Jim Moser. Music by Walter Schumann. Support the show monthly at patreon.greatdetectives.net Patreon Supporter of the Day: Pam, Patreon supporter since February 2024. Support the show on a one-time basis at support.greatdetectives.net Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715 Take the listener survey at survey.greatdetectives.net Give us a call: 208-991-4783 Become one of our friends on Facebook at facebook.com/radiodetectives Follow us on Instagram at instagram.com/greatdetectives Follow us on Twitter/X at twitter.com/radiodetectives Join us again tomorrow for another detective drama from the Golden Age of Radio.

## Transcript

[0:28] Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
[0:35] Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Brahm. In a moment, we're
[0:38] Speaker 1: going to bring you this week's episode of dragnapp. But
[0:43] Speaker 1: first I want to encourage you. If you're enjoying the podcast,
[0:47] Speaker 1: please follow us using your favorite podcast software. Today's program
[0:52] Speaker 1: is brought you a part by the financial support of
[0:55] Speaker 1: our listeners. You can become one of our ongoing Patreon
[0:58] Speaker 1: supporters for as little last two dollars per month at
[1:02] Speaker 1: Patreon dot Great Detectives dot net. Now we have the
[1:08] Speaker 1: first of many casting changes in terms of Joe Friday's partner.
[1:15] Speaker 1: This is a decision that played out on radio, but
[1:20] Speaker 1: really had its root in the television program Ed Jacobs
[1:25] Speaker 1: was meant primarily as a stop get and the network
[1:30] Speaker 1: really thought that Barney Phillips looked too much like Jack Webb,
[1:36] Speaker 1: and throughout Dragging its first season, they tried a lot
[1:40] Speaker 1: of things in order to make this less apparent. They
[1:44] Speaker 1: use glasses, they dyed Barney Phillips hair, and they also
[1:52] Speaker 1: for one episode gave him this amazing leather rain jacket,
[1:56] Speaker 1: which I really wish had gotten more airtime. Yeah, if
[2:00] Speaker 1: they had to. They could just say it was raining
[2:03] Speaker 1: all the time in Los Angeles, but apparently they were
[2:06] Speaker 1: not satisfied, and so they began the search for a
[2:11] Speaker 1: permanent partner. This mostly doesn't play out very much on TV,
[2:15] Speaker 1: as Barney Phillips would play at Jacobs throughout the entirety
[2:21] Speaker 1: of the first season, and then in the second season
[2:24] Speaker 1: it wouldn't be long before Ben Alexander would take over
[2:27] Speaker 1: as Frank Smith. But over radio it was different, and
[2:31] Speaker 1: they tried a few different things. This may have been
[2:36] Speaker 1: the best idea they had, and if it had worked,
[2:39] Speaker 1: it would have been a big shift in the series.
[2:43] Speaker 1: The new partner, unlike Friday's other partners, was a younger man,
[2:50] Speaker 1: and so was the actor who played him, Martin Milner,
[2:54] Speaker 1: who had just turned twenty one and would go on
[2:57] Speaker 1: to success on television, most notably in Route sixty six
[3:03] Speaker 1: and then later for Web again in Adam twelve. Now
[3:08] Speaker 1: from April seventeenth, nineteen fifty two, Here is the Big Bunco.
[3:21] Speaker 2: The story you were about to hear is true. The
[3:24] Speaker 2: names have been changed to protect the innocence. You're a
[3:35] Speaker 2: detective sergeant. You're assigned the Bunco detail. An experienced confidence.
[3:40] Speaker 2: Man is set up up. From his first two victims,
[3:42] Speaker 2: he gets more than eight thousand dollars. You've got one
[3:45] Speaker 2: good lead on the suspect, his method of operation, Your
[3:48] Speaker 2: job get him.
[4:00] Speaker 3: Drag Met the documented drama of an actual crime. All
[4:04] Speaker 3: the next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles
[4:06] Speaker 3: Police Department, you will travel step by step on the
[4:09] Speaker 3: side of the law through an actual case transcribed from
[4:12] Speaker 3: official police files, from beginning to end, from crime to punishment.
[4:17] Speaker 3: Drag Net is the story of your police force and action.
[4:24] Speaker 4: It was Tuesday, December ninth. It was Wendy in Los Angeles.
[4:27] Speaker 4: We were working the day watch out of Bunco Detail.
[4:29] Speaker 4: My partner's said Jacob's the bosses Captain Steve. My name
[4:32] Speaker 4: is Friday. I was on the way into the office
[4:34] Speaker 4: and it was seven p fifty am when I got
[4:35] Speaker 4: your room, thirty eight Bunco detail. All right, Joe, All right, Charlie,
[4:41] Speaker 4: how'd you make out yesterday? Nothing?
[4:43] Speaker 5: The luck?
[4:44] Speaker 6: It all?
[4:44] Speaker 7: Nothing's going to help with my same description on the guy,
[4:47] Speaker 7: he used the same name, Samemo. Didn't get anything we
[4:50] Speaker 7: don't already know about him. How about you?
[4:52] Speaker 4: You're luck?
[4:52] Speaker 6: Anybody ooh, about the same.
[4:55] Speaker 4: Checked out the building with a suspect, rented office space,
[4:57] Speaker 4: he moved out three days ago. No forwarding address. Check
[5:00] Speaker 4: the hotel he was supposed to be stopping at didn't pan.
[5:02] Speaker 6: Out, didn't time. Let's take his neck out again. Now,
[5:04] Speaker 6: it doesn't guarantee we'll reach him too late to start.
[5:07] Speaker 4: When the complaints come in, we're gonna have to take
[5:08] Speaker 4: up a faster way of getting to him.
[5:10] Speaker 6: Hey, you gott imagine? Yeah, sure, yeah, thanks.
[5:17] Speaker 7: Oh, by the way, I just heard about your partner
[5:20] Speaker 7: at Jacob's understand.
[5:21] Speaker 4: You're losing Oh yeah, temporarily anyway to do well. He's
[5:24] Speaker 4: going on a loan out up at the academy. It's
[5:26] Speaker 4: going to be an instructor up there. Two months anyway,
[5:27] Speaker 4: maybe more. When does this happen tomorrow? For tenth What.
[5:30] Speaker 6: Are you gonna do for a partner? You and Ken'
[5:32] Speaker 6: gonna work again?
[5:32] Speaker 4: No, the Captain's bringing in the new man. Young fellow's
[5:35] Speaker 4: been working in the business office.
[5:36] Speaker 6: I mean the big Irish kid works the early morning.
[5:38] Speaker 4: No, No, this boy's been working days names Bill Lockwood.
[5:41] Speaker 4: I asked for him so as I found I was
[5:42] Speaker 4: going to lose it. You know well a little bit.
[5:44] Speaker 4: Yeah you remember Ben ro Meryl. Yeah, sure, well Lockwood's
[5:47] Speaker 4: a nephew of Ben's sister's boy tall right here.
[5:50] Speaker 7: Oh yeah, I've seen him round it seems to be
[5:52] Speaker 7: a nice new kid and a good record hit or
[5:54] Speaker 7: the captain thinks.
[5:54] Speaker 4: So figures he got to work in pretty well.
[5:56] Speaker 6: And by the way, have you seen Ben's wife?
[5:58] Speaker 4: Wait? Yeah, I did a couple of weeks ago. Seems
[6:00] Speaker 4: to be doing all right still missus Ben, of course.
[6:02] Speaker 8: Yeah.
[6:02] Speaker 6: I imagine the little boys shirt getting big. Looks a
[6:05] Speaker 6: lot like his dad too, miss him quite a bit yourself. Yeah, Charlie,
[6:09] Speaker 6: I guess I do. Well, I'm better get on my horse.
[6:12] Speaker 6: You get some check in to do. Now op the lock.
[6:14] Speaker 7: When boy works out for you, Well, I think you'll
[6:16] Speaker 7: do all right, And say I'd be crazy about the
[6:18] Speaker 7: idea myself behind me breaking in a new man, no
[6:21] Speaker 7: detective experience, I go out.
[6:23] Speaker 6: To pick up a thief.
[6:24] Speaker 7: I like to figure I've got some good backing. I mean,
[6:26] Speaker 7: I'm a partner. I'm used to it. It's tough enough
[6:28] Speaker 7: watching out for yourself, let alone at green youngster.
[6:30] Speaker 4: Well, somebody had to do it for us. That's the
[6:32] Speaker 4: way it goes. Yeah, I remember when I first studied.
[6:35] Speaker 4: It didn't come much greener in me. Partner did all
[6:37] Speaker 4: the work, took all the chances, helped me every further way.
[6:40] Speaker 6: You never mentioned it once.
[6:42] Speaker 4: I never forgot that it's a good cop.
[6:44] Speaker 6: What was his name? Ben Romo.
[6:55] Speaker 4: In a particular setup, before a man's eligible to apply
[6:57] Speaker 4: for duty and the detective girl, he has to have
[7:00] Speaker 4: a minimum or five years experience as a police officer,
[7:03] Speaker 4: either assigned to radio patrol, traffic duty, or some other
[7:06] Speaker 4: general assignment. After the initial five years of service, the
[7:10] Speaker 4: men go through a screening process to determine which department
[7:13] Speaker 4: of which job they'll put and do best some positions
[7:15] Speaker 4: that they seem to show a natural aptitude corps. If
[7:18] Speaker 4: a man applies for duty and a division of the
[7:20] Speaker 4: Detective Bureau, and if he's accepted, he's assigned a partner
[7:23] Speaker 4: to work with the day he goes on the job,
[7:25] Speaker 4: generally a working detective with some experience. In the case
[7:29] Speaker 4: of Ben's nephew, Bill Lockwood, he put in his first
[7:32] Speaker 4: five years working wheelshair traffic and also doing radio patrol
[7:35] Speaker 4: in Holland beck in seventy seven street divisions. After spending
[7:38] Speaker 4: another eleven months in our business office. Captain Steed put
[7:41] Speaker 4: in a request for him and he was transferred. When
[7:44] Speaker 4: I heard ed Jacobs was going to be loaned to
[7:46] Speaker 4: the Police Academy as an instructor, I talked to Captain
[7:49] Speaker 4: Steed about Lockwood and he assigned him as my new partner.
[7:52] Speaker 4: The changeover happened in the middle of one of the
[7:54] Speaker 4: toughest investigations we'd had in months, a bunco artist who
[7:57] Speaker 4: was working hard at the Business Opportunities Racket. The following morning,
[8:01] Speaker 4: December tenth, Bill Lockwood reported in for work. When we
[8:04] Speaker 4: grow about to check a potential lead on the suspect
[8:07] Speaker 4: on the way I laid out the case for him.
[8:09] Speaker 4: Nothing on the men in r and I huh, no
[8:11] Speaker 4: record at all. No, no, as far as me know,
[8:12] Speaker 4: Bill check Brett up at Sacramento CII nothing doing there.
[8:15] Speaker 4: He couldn't help it. And what have you been growing on?
[8:17] Speaker 4: His description? Yeah? That and his mo and his name.
[8:20] Speaker 4: He uses a different alias on each job. Russell Pressed
[8:23] Speaker 4: and that was the last name in Youth.
[8:24] Speaker 6: I see.
[8:25] Speaker 4: He usually starts by putting a want ad in the paper.
[8:27] Speaker 5: Is that well?
[8:28] Speaker 4: He rents himself an office first, usually pretty expensive when
[8:30] Speaker 4: well furnished. Then he hires a good looking secretary, has
[8:32] Speaker 4: her put a want ad in the daily papers for him,
[8:34] Speaker 4: and he's in business. And how do the ads are?
[8:36] Speaker 4: As usual? Yeah, typical thing you see in the daily paper.
[8:39] Speaker 4: Business opportunity for people with vision, good investment, high profits
[8:42] Speaker 4: applying out, you know. And then he gives his address
[8:44] Speaker 4: and phone numbers. There's nothing clever about it, but people
[8:46] Speaker 4: still go for it. Can give them many replies.
[8:48] Speaker 1: Do you know?
[8:49] Speaker 4: Well, we figured he got between twenty and thirty on
[8:51] Speaker 4: that last daily pulled. Seems all he has to do
[8:53] Speaker 4: is land run victim out of the bunch with enough money,
[8:55] Speaker 4: and he's got it made. Took his first victim here
[8:57] Speaker 4: for five thousand, second one for thirty two hundred. The
[9:00] Speaker 4: Lively women took him for their last dollar.
[9:02] Speaker 7: About the way he sets up the deal with these
[9:04] Speaker 7: different businessmen, Joe, I don't think I got it quite straight,
[9:07] Speaker 7: you know what I mean? Well, I'll say the owner
[9:08] Speaker 7: of that manufacturing plant is Russell Preston.
[9:10] Speaker 4: Lined up, you know, you say. Preston went to the plant.
[9:13] Speaker 7: Introduced himself as a business advisor, told the owner of
[9:16] Speaker 7: the plant he had some people with money to invest.
[9:18] Speaker 4: He convinced the owner who's legitimate.
[9:20] Speaker 7: The other time and Preston had his two victims shown
[9:22] Speaker 7: through the plant and convinced him they ought to invest
[9:24] Speaker 7: their money in the business. You know it's do you
[9:26] Speaker 7: mean to say the plant owners were acting in good faith?
[9:28] Speaker 4: Well, they were all checked out Bill everything about him.
[9:31] Speaker 4: They all have good business reputation. They didn't know any
[9:34] Speaker 4: more about the deal and the victim. They needed more
[9:36] Speaker 4: capital for their business, and they figured this was it.
[9:38] Speaker 7: There's Preston or whatever his name is. Sure must have
[9:41] Speaker 7: a line that won't stop.
[9:42] Speaker 4: It's got everything that goes with it. Nice clothes, well mannered,
[9:45] Speaker 4: good looking. He doesn't try to high pressure. Anybody tells
[9:48] Speaker 4: him if they have confidence in him, he'd be glad
[9:49] Speaker 4: to invest their money if they had it all. He
[9:51] Speaker 4: shows him right through the office. Pretty good pitch.
[9:54] Speaker 6: Once they're sold on him, he's got him over a barrel.
[9:56] Speaker 4: It's about the size of it.
[9:57] Speaker 7: You know, money, there's no record on him. Sure sounds
[9:59] Speaker 7: like he's had a lot of experience.
[10:01] Speaker 6: What are the other names he's used, you remember?
[10:03] Speaker 4: Well, just two of them we know of Russell R.
[10:05] Speaker 4: Preston and George a fairchild. I guess the newspapers have
[10:08] Speaker 4: been checked out. Huh ones he ran on? What ends did? Yeah,
[10:11] Speaker 4: we've all been talked to, all their personal beant notified
[10:13] Speaker 4: to have watch for ads of that type. Be one
[10:16] Speaker 4: way to get a lead on him if he try
[10:17] Speaker 4: it again.
[10:18] Speaker 7: Well, what about the buildings where we rented office space?
[10:20] Speaker 7: Isn't the people their help any Well?
[10:22] Speaker 4: They confirmed his description. We picked up samples of his handwriting.
[10:25] Speaker 4: It's about it. He only rented the officers long enough
[10:27] Speaker 4: to cover his deal about two weeks. See one hundred
[10:31] Speaker 4: block is just built.
[10:31] Speaker 6: And see over there, let's see you.
[10:33] Speaker 4: Yeah, seventeen hundred. We want the next on eighteen eleven.
[10:36] Speaker 4: Who's this woman we're gonna talk to? Vivian Castle?
[10:39] Speaker 6: All right?
[10:39] Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm not sure if she's the right girl or not.
[10:42] Speaker 4: Got the lead from the employment agency. Chance she might
[10:44] Speaker 4: be the girl Preston hired to be a secretary. I
[10:46] Speaker 4: don't know a good parting place up there ahead?
[10:49] Speaker 5: Huh yeah, that's good.
[10:50] Speaker 4: Pull up anywhere along here, it's fine. Two hours down
[11:01] Speaker 4: Joe Real Estate Office, eighteen Elevean.
[11:03] Speaker 6: Sea, Good morning, good morning.
[11:14] Speaker 8: Can I help him?
[11:14] Speaker 4: Police officers? Man? We'd like to talk to him, Miss Castle,
[11:17] Speaker 4: Vivian Castle.
[11:18] Speaker 8: Well, I'm Vivian Castle.
[11:19] Speaker 4: Where's our identification? This is my partner, Officer Lockwood. My
[11:22] Speaker 4: name is Friday.
[11:22] Speaker 8: How do you do? What is it you want? Officer?
[11:25] Speaker 4: We'd like to find out a few known George Fairchild Man.
[11:28] Speaker 8: Fairchild, No, I don't know anyone by that name.
[11:30] Speaker 7: How about a Russell Preston, Miss that I mean.
[11:32] Speaker 6: Anything to you?
[11:33] Speaker 8: Oh? I used to work for mister Preston.
[11:34] Speaker 4: Russell Preston about how long ago was that?
[11:37] Speaker 8: One's a month and a half ago?
[11:39] Speaker 4: Where does he have his offices?
[11:41] Speaker 8: He did have him on South Grand near eight, the
[11:43] Speaker 8: old Bill Montes Harris building.
[11:44] Speaker 4: Would you mind describing mister Preston for ust, ma'am? Just
[11:47] Speaker 4: the general description?
[11:48] Speaker 8: Might he was about forty forty five years old, brown here,
[11:51] Speaker 8: a little gray, nice build, seem to be very nice
[11:53] Speaker 8: man at first, always dressed so nice word dark tousu
[11:57] Speaker 8: seemed to be very nice.
[11:58] Speaker 6: Checks out so far, y'all now telling me what it's about.
[12:01] Speaker 4: Well, we'd like to locate mister Preston man. You only
[12:03] Speaker 4: idea where he is now?
[12:04] Speaker 8: I wish I did. I'd call a State Labor commission.
[12:06] Speaker 8: It seemed like such a nice man. I've never been
[12:08] Speaker 8: so disappointed in my life. What do you mean he
[12:10] Speaker 8: owes me two weeks to pay sixty five dollars a week?
[12:14] Speaker 8: I need's a private secretary. Good jobs aren't hard to
[12:16] Speaker 8: get now either. He can't say he's giving me a
[12:18] Speaker 8: break when he hired And are you from the labor Commissions?
[12:21] Speaker 4: No, ma'am or not? Would you tell us how long
[12:23] Speaker 4: you work for this mister Preston?
[12:25] Speaker 8: Just three weeks? He said, I was going to get
[12:26] Speaker 8: paid every Friday. Give me the money for the first
[12:29] Speaker 8: week and that's all. Kept waiting for my pay, but
[12:31] Speaker 8: he kept putting me off. Last week and a half,
[12:34] Speaker 8: he didn't even show up at the office. I was
[12:35] Speaker 8: there all alone, eight hours a day. The building manager
[12:38] Speaker 8: shut up and told me he was all over. The
[12:40] Speaker 8: person closed the office didn't mean you have the decency
[12:43] Speaker 8: to come in and say thank you goodbry. I just left.
[12:46] Speaker 4: And you have no idea at oh where mister Preston
[12:48] Speaker 4: is now?
[12:48] Speaker 8: No, sir, I wish I did.
[12:50] Speaker 7: Were there any office files, mail files anywhere to get
[12:52] Speaker 7: a possible line on him?
[12:54] Speaker 8: As far as I know, I didn't keep any files
[12:55] Speaker 8: for him, and in fact, I didn't do any work
[12:57] Speaker 8: at all. It's the show piece. I guess that's all
[12:59] Speaker 8: he can't me. Therefore no reason why I shouldn't pay me, though,
[13:03] Speaker 8: Are you sure you're not from the Labor Commission?
[13:04] Speaker 4: Did mister Preston ever? Have you place any want adds
[13:07] Speaker 4: in the daily papers missus Castle?
[13:08] Speaker 8: M Yeah, he did a couple of times ads for
[13:11] Speaker 8: business opportunities. You know, he was in the investment business,
[13:13] Speaker 8: helped people invest in money.
[13:15] Speaker 4: Would you have to know anyone who invested money with him?
[13:17] Speaker 4: I mean, would you know him by name?
[13:18] Speaker 8: No? Not by name. Quite a few people came through
[13:20] Speaker 8: the office. I know a few of them made deals
[13:22] Speaker 8: with mister Preston. I wouldn't remember their names, though.
[13:25] Speaker 7: And you don't know any friends he might have had
[13:26] Speaker 7: in town, any of his business associates.
[13:28] Speaker 8: No, they're not a one. I didn't know he had
[13:30] Speaker 8: any associates.
[13:31] Speaker 4: How about where he was staying in this castle? You
[13:32] Speaker 4: must have known that.
[13:33] Speaker 8: Yeah, the first weeks I was there, I did the
[13:35] Speaker 8: only week I got paid for him. He was staying
[13:37] Speaker 8: at a small hotel on South far The next week though,
[13:41] Speaker 8: I don't know where he went after that, neither just
[13:43] Speaker 8: the hotel.
[13:43] Speaker 4: I asked him, well, during the time you worked for him, man,
[13:46] Speaker 4: did you ever have anything to do with mister Preston socially?
[13:48] Speaker 4: I mean, was it part of your job? You bought
[13:50] Speaker 4: to dinner with him? Things like that? Yeah?
[13:52] Speaker 8: I did once or twice. When he asked him, I
[13:53] Speaker 8: didn't think he was part of my job. So the
[13:56] Speaker 8: Preston didn't mention it either. Once we went out to
[13:58] Speaker 8: dinner just the tourists. Now, the time he went out
[14:00] Speaker 8: with my girlfriend, Norma, I had a terrible kind mister
[14:02] Speaker 8: Preston was awful.
[14:03] Speaker 4: How do you mean?
[14:04] Speaker 8: Well, he thanked too much and was throwing his way around,
[14:06] Speaker 8: you know, the bus, making a play for my girlfriend Norma.
[14:09] Speaker 8: I think he liked her quite a bit. She was embarrassing, though. Look,
[14:13] Speaker 8: would you mind telling me what's the matter. Is mister
[14:15] Speaker 8: Preston in trouble with the police.
[14:16] Speaker 4: Yes, Ma'a'm afraid so she did some people out of
[14:18] Speaker 4: quite a bit of money. It's not the first time.
[14:20] Speaker 8: Either, Hey, what was it? Would you do?
[14:22] Speaker 4: Confidence scheme? Selling interest in the company he had no
[14:24] Speaker 4: connection with?
[14:25] Speaker 8: That is a no limits. I guess it's my own thought.
[14:27] Speaker 8: I shouldn't nun where it's happened before. Well, they hire you,
[14:30] Speaker 8: they give you a beautiful office and I soft chair
[14:32] Speaker 8: to sit on, and never give you any work to do.
[14:34] Speaker 8: Don't have to live to finger. I finally got the j.
[14:37] Speaker 4: Yeah, this is the kind you have to watch out for,
[14:42] Speaker 4: Bill Lockwood and't. I continued questioning the former secretary of
[14:45] Speaker 4: Russell Preston alias George Fairchild, but she was unable to
[14:48] Speaker 4: come up with any kind of a definite lead as
[14:50] Speaker 4: to the suspects. Whereabout We left our card with a
[14:53] Speaker 4: girl and she promised to contact us in the event
[14:55] Speaker 4: she came across any information regarding Preston. For the rest
[14:58] Speaker 4: of the day, we ran down three more possible leads.
[15:01] Speaker 4: They came from an informant, a head waiter in the
[15:03] Speaker 4: second rate nightclub, a small time drifter with an extra grind,
[15:06] Speaker 4: and they all figured they had the right answer where
[15:08] Speaker 4: to find Preston.
[15:10] Speaker 6: We checked out the three.
[15:11] Speaker 4: Locations they gave us a motel out near Santa Monica,
[15:14] Speaker 4: a rooming house in Hollywood, a cocktail lounge, and Highland Park.
[15:17] Speaker 4: Not one of the three paid off. Russell Preston alias
[15:20] Speaker 4: George Fairchild wasn't known at any of the places. Either
[15:22] Speaker 4: by name, dress, or physical description. During the next three weeks,
[15:26] Speaker 4: along with Sergeants Charlie Riblet and Ken Scarce of Bunco Detail,
[15:29] Speaker 4: Bill Lockwood and I ran down every possible lead on
[15:32] Speaker 4: the suspect hotels, the want ed departments of the daily papers,
[15:35] Speaker 4: managers of downtown office buildings, secretarial employment agencies, small businesses,
[15:40] Speaker 4: advertising stock for sale. They got us nothing, despite all
[15:43] Speaker 4: the precautions in all the lake work. On January sixth,
[15:46] Speaker 4: we got a call from a missus Marie Barrett in
[15:48] Speaker 4: the West Lake Park area. She owned and managed the
[15:51] Speaker 4: toy shop just off Wiltshire Boulevard. Bill Lockwood and I
[15:54] Speaker 4: drove out to talk to her.
[15:57] Speaker 9: Yeah, they told me it was the opportunity of a lifetime,
[15:59] Speaker 9: a big opportunity, and I just can't believe it.
[16:01] Speaker 4: I can't understand it.
[16:02] Speaker 9: Why even took me out and showed me the fast tree,
[16:04] Speaker 9: get him the man around the place they're making plastics.
[16:06] Speaker 6: Showed me the whole plant.
[16:07] Speaker 4: Said the plant was out in Glendale.
[16:09] Speaker 9: Now what about It was right along with fan Cananda Road,
[16:12] Speaker 9: maybe a mile or two before you get to the
[16:13] Speaker 9: Air Force.
[16:14] Speaker 8: They showed me to the whole plant.
[16:16] Speaker 4: Who showed your films there owner of.
[16:18] Speaker 9: The place in this, mister Fairchild, a big place making
[16:20] Speaker 9: plastics of all kinds.
[16:22] Speaker 8: There was a new prince.
[16:23] Speaker 4: What was mister Fairchild's first name? Do you remember?
[16:26] Speaker 9: George? George Fairchild an associates. That was the name of
[16:28] Speaker 9: the door of the office when I went up to
[16:30] Speaker 9: see him. Of course, I really didn't have a notion
[16:32] Speaker 9: to invest any money.
[16:33] Speaker 4: When I first went up.
[16:34] Speaker 9: It was a newspaper edge, you know, And I answered
[16:35] Speaker 9: lots of kind of a hobby with me.
[16:37] Speaker 8: Yes.
[16:38] Speaker 9: So when it to see him, and we talked, and
[16:40] Speaker 9: as I say, I wasn't thinking of investing any money,
[16:42] Speaker 9: but mister Fairchild seemed like such a nice man, seemed
[16:46] Speaker 9: to have a good business head on his shoulders. Well
[16:48] Speaker 9: ended up with me putting my whole seatingsoccown into the
[16:50] Speaker 9: plastics plant six thousand.
[16:52] Speaker 4: Four hundred dollars, every tenny of us. I hadn't heard
[16:55] Speaker 4: from mister Fairchild, sink.
[16:56] Speaker 6: I just don't know what to think.
[16:57] Speaker 4: I can't understand it. Do you have any idea where
[16:59] Speaker 4: to contact this Fairchild now? And he address telephone number?
[17:03] Speaker 9: Well, I called his office. It's in the Oxford Exchange building.
[17:06] Speaker 9: There's no answer though they fas is connected. I've been
[17:08] Speaker 9: trying for a week to contact mister Fairchild. I mean,
[17:11] Speaker 9: six thousand and four hundred dollars. I just don't know
[17:13] Speaker 9: what to do. All my savings, I don't know what
[17:15] Speaker 9: to do. M excuse me, please, customer, I can't afford.
[17:18] Speaker 6: It, mister sale. Now, yes, ma'am, you've right ahead.
[17:20] Speaker 9: Hell and you've help that lady.
[17:21] Speaker 4: Please. Looks like he scored again.
[17:23] Speaker 6: Huh.
[17:23] Speaker 4: I wouldn't die it.
[17:25] Speaker 6: She seems to do a fair business here, huh.
[17:27] Speaker 4: I mean after Christmas and all. Yeah, I suppose of
[17:30] Speaker 4: course the women go for it. You hang up a
[17:31] Speaker 4: sales sign. You can't beat them off with a club.
[17:33] Speaker 4: See this gadget here? Pretty clever?
[17:36] Speaker 6: Huh yeah, minister Sherman tank?
[17:39] Speaker 4: What's it due?
[17:39] Speaker 6: Watch? Don't know?
[17:44] Speaker 4: Well? How about that?
[17:45] Speaker 6: Pretty cute, isn't it.
[17:46] Speaker 7: Cannon's on the side, Spark's coming out, and after you've
[17:48] Speaker 7: got one for Christmas, you.
[17:50] Speaker 6: Got a lot of power.
[17:51] Speaker 4: Try to climb over just about anything.
[17:52] Speaker 6: Uh huh?
[17:53] Speaker 8: Alright, to keep you waiting if there's customer's after.
[17:56] Speaker 4: You tenant to surely we understand now about this money
[17:58] Speaker 4: you gave Fairchild and this bad the sixty four hundred dollars.
[18:01] Speaker 4: How'd you work that? I mean, did you give him
[18:03] Speaker 4: a check or how'd you do it?
[18:04] Speaker 8: Yes?
[18:04] Speaker 9: I gave him a check, let's cash. The same day
[18:05] Speaker 9: I gave it to him. I found that out from
[18:07] Speaker 9: the bank.
[18:07] Speaker 4: What was he was supposed to get for your money? Man?
[18:09] Speaker 9: Interest in the plastics company?
[18:11] Speaker 4: One fifth interest?
[18:12] Speaker 9: Seemed like such a good idea at the time.
[18:14] Speaker 4: Did you ever discuss the deal with the owners of
[18:16] Speaker 4: the plastics company? I mean when mister Fairchild wasn't around.
[18:19] Speaker 9: No, I guess I never did. Mister Fairchild didn't think
[18:21] Speaker 9: it was a good idea. Said he wanted me to
[18:23] Speaker 9: get the most for my money. Said he was afraid
[18:25] Speaker 9: of the company owners. Talked to him alone, he might
[18:27] Speaker 9: argue me to take him this profit.
[18:28] Speaker 4: He didn't want me to talk to him at all.
[18:29] Speaker 4: If he wasn't around, and you weren't suspicious of him
[18:32] Speaker 4: at all.
[18:32] Speaker 9: Huh, mister fairy Child, Oh, very nice man. There are
[18:36] Speaker 9: few things he did. It made me a little uncertain.
[18:38] Speaker 9: But he always explained everything to him. He always had
[18:40] Speaker 9: a good reason for everything he did. Nice man, clean cut,
[18:43] Speaker 9: well addressed, beautiful manners. They never take him for anything
[18:46] Speaker 9: but a gentleman.
[18:47] Speaker 8: You see what I mean?
[18:48] Speaker 6: What do you mean him?
[18:48] Speaker 4: Yes?
[18:49] Speaker 9: Not just a perfect gentleman.
[18:50] Speaker 4: I don't know what to think.
[18:51] Speaker 9: I can't call him a crook. He just isn't the kind.
[18:53] Speaker 6: Well, they took your money, was there?
[18:55] Speaker 4: What else would you call him? Two eighteen PM, when
[19:01] Speaker 4: we got through interviewing the latest victim, Marie Barrett, Bill
[19:04] Speaker 4: Lockwood and I drove out to the plastics company on
[19:06] Speaker 4: San Fernando Road, where we talked to the owner and manager.
[19:09] Speaker 4: The story was pretty much the same. The suspect, using
[19:11] Speaker 4: the name of George Fairchild, had called on them three
[19:14] Speaker 4: weeks before, introducing himself as an investment counselor. He told
[19:17] Speaker 4: them he had clients with money to invest in the
[19:19] Speaker 4: growing industry, such as theirs, and they went for the story.
[19:23] Speaker 4: They told us Fairchild had come back to her three
[19:25] Speaker 4: times with different persons whom he introduced as his clients.
[19:28] Speaker 4: They'd been shown through the plastics plant and given a
[19:30] Speaker 4: sales talk. That's about all the company owners could tell us.
[19:33] Speaker 4: When we got back to the office, we checked their
[19:35] Speaker 4: names through the regular business channels and found out they
[19:37] Speaker 4: were reputable businessmen. It was nothing to indicate that they
[19:40] Speaker 4: had anything to do with the suspects bunco Operations four
[19:44] Speaker 4: thirty pm. Joe, Yeah, girl out.
[19:48] Speaker 7: Here to see us and when he used to be
[19:49] Speaker 7: Preston's secretary of Vivian Castle Again she said what she wanted.
[19:53] Speaker 4: No, seems a little anxious.
[19:54] Speaker 8: Oh sir, I'm glad I found Gene.
[19:56] Speaker 6: Oh are you miss Castle?
[19:57] Speaker 8: Mr? I was going to phone you, but I couldn't
[19:59] Speaker 8: even do your number, lost the card you game, so
[20:01] Speaker 8: I decided to come down. You remember talking to me,
[20:03] Speaker 8: don't you about mister Preston my over Have you heard
[20:06] Speaker 8: from Heim? No? I haven't. But you remember me telling
[20:08] Speaker 8: me about my girlfriend Norma. I mean the time mister
[20:11] Speaker 8: Preston took me up. Norman and our boyfriend were wizuses,
[20:14] Speaker 8: the way mister Preston kept making a play for Norma. Well,
[20:17] Speaker 8: I saw Norma at lunchtime today, first time in week.
[20:20] Speaker 8: She told me she got a call from mister Preston.
[20:22] Speaker 8: I told her I'd tell you all about it. She's
[20:24] Speaker 8: got a date with him dinner Friday night.
[20:37] Speaker 3: You are listening to drag met authentic stories of your
[20:40] Speaker 3: police force and action.
[20:49] Speaker 4: Wednesday, January sixth, four fifty PM. We called Vivian Castle's girlfriend,
[20:54] Speaker 4: Norma Cummings, and then we drove out to talk to her.
[20:57] Speaker 4: The Commings girl told us that Russell Preston the telephone
[20:59] Speaker 4: that morning and made the date with her for Friday
[21:02] Speaker 4: night at seven point thirty. He said they were to
[21:04] Speaker 4: have dinner at a nightclub out in the Wiltshire district.
[21:06] Speaker 4: He also mentioned to her that he was staying in
[21:08] Speaker 4: a hotel, but she didn't know the name of the location.
[21:11] Speaker 4: We made arrangements for a stake out at Norma cummings apartment.
[21:14] Speaker 4: The girl agreed to cooperate with us. Thursday, January seventh,
[21:18] Speaker 4: we checked with a personnel at the different restaurants, bars,
[21:21] Speaker 4: and nightclubs which Preston and the Commings girl were to visit.
[21:24] Speaker 4: Some of them remembered Preston, but as far as they knew,
[21:26] Speaker 4: he hadn't been back. We left our cards with each
[21:29] Speaker 4: one of them and we asked him to contact us
[21:31] Speaker 4: if he should return. Just after lunch on Friday, we
[21:34] Speaker 4: got a phone call from Norma Cummings.
[21:36] Speaker 6: When was that miss? Did you find out where he was?
[21:42] Speaker 4: I see?
[21:43] Speaker 6: Will you be there for the rest of the day?
[21:45] Speaker 8: No?
[21:46] Speaker 4: I fine, Yeah, we'll call you back goodbye.
[21:49] Speaker 7: Yeah, Cummings girl, she's at work. She just had a
[21:51] Speaker 7: phone call from Preston. She tried to find out where
[21:54] Speaker 7: he was. No girl, what he had to say dinner day?
[21:56] Speaker 7: He had with her at night?
[21:57] Speaker 6: Now he call it off.
[22:00] Speaker 4: Later that afternoon we went out and talked to the
[22:02] Speaker 4: Cummings girl. She told us Pressed and explained on the
[22:05] Speaker 4: phone that he had to cancel a date that night
[22:07] Speaker 4: because of some business deal it had come up. He
[22:09] Speaker 4: told her he'd get in touch with her over the weekend.
[22:11] Speaker 4: He didn't. By Thursday of the following week, she still
[22:14] Speaker 4: hadn't heard from him. Two days later, on a Saturday afternoon,
[22:18] Speaker 4: we got a call from one of the cocktail lounges.
[22:20] Speaker 4: Pressed and had visited. The bartender remembered us being in
[22:22] Speaker 4: there to inquire about the suspect, and he'd saved our card.
[22:26] Speaker 4: He said Preston was there now with another man drinking
[22:28] Speaker 4: at the bar. We asked the bartender to try and
[22:30] Speaker 4: delay the suspect as long as possible, and we got
[22:33] Speaker 4: in the car and drove to the location. It was
[22:35] Speaker 4: too late. The bartender explained that he tried to delay
[22:38] Speaker 4: the man that he thought was Preston, but he didn't
[22:40] Speaker 4: have much luck. The suspect had left a few minutes
[22:42] Speaker 4: after the bartender had called us. He'd been drinking heavily.
[22:45] Speaker 4: The man Presston had been with was still there. He
[22:48] Speaker 4: was sitting at an old upright piano in the back
[22:50] Speaker 4: of the place, trying to pick out a tune with
[22:51] Speaker 4: one finger. Hill and I went back and talked to him.
[22:55] Speaker 4: He gave his name as Fred Sandel.
[23:00] Speaker 6: Yeah, that's right. I was drinking of a fellow. Why smile.
[23:04] Speaker 6: You never seen a man before? Yeah, once or twice
[23:08] Speaker 6: I place up the streets seven eight.
[23:11] Speaker 5: I had a couple of.
[23:11] Speaker 6: Drinks with him. Man, you know his name? What's the
[23:15] Speaker 6: angle you want him for?
[23:16] Speaker 9: Something?
[23:17] Speaker 4: Was just a routine check.
[23:18] Speaker 6: We'd like to talk to him. Oh, I don't know.
[23:21] Speaker 6: I might know his name. Yeah, well, well, what's the
[23:25] Speaker 6: angle on the thing you want him for?
[23:26] Speaker 4: Something?
[23:26] Speaker 6: Vague?
[23:27] Speaker 4: They want to talk to him?
[23:27] Speaker 6: That's eyes something like that. Hey, he didn't look like
[23:31] Speaker 6: that kind of guy. I was he thinking that we
[23:34] Speaker 6: couldn't get that name.
[23:37] Speaker 5: How about it?
[23:38] Speaker 6: You say you might know the man's name, what was it? Well,
[23:41] Speaker 6: I don't know. I'm not sure if I'm the one
[23:44] Speaker 6: that I intended.
[23:44] Speaker 5: What do you mean?
[23:46] Speaker 10: Well, I don't want to get anybody in trouble. I
[23:48] Speaker 10: want to give out names. What's the angle on him?
[23:51] Speaker 4: You want him for something? Biger make enough you?
[23:53] Speaker 6: Oh?
[23:55] Speaker 10: Well, his name's prest him. I think if that's the
[23:57] Speaker 10: name he gave me. Anyway, I went on bars in
[24:00] Speaker 10: the neighborhood that once in a while.
[24:02] Speaker 4: How much you know about it?
[24:04] Speaker 6: Much? I have a few drinks so that now, then
[24:06] Speaker 6: talk a little bit. That's about all.
[24:08] Speaker 10: Where'd you say your name was Samdell? Fred Samdell? Well,
[24:12] Speaker 10: what's the angle on this Preston? We want to get
[24:14] Speaker 10: in touch with him?
[24:14] Speaker 4: You know?
[24:16] Speaker 6: I know I might I go on for something big
[24:19] Speaker 6: in them?
[24:20] Speaker 10: Or what's the difference we want him? Well, there could
[24:23] Speaker 10: be a lot of difference. I mean, what's the angle.
[24:26] Speaker 10: If it's important to you and I helped you, you
[24:29] Speaker 10: probably won't do the right thing.
[24:30] Speaker 6: Huh.
[24:30] Speaker 4: I don't know if I got you right?
[24:32] Speaker 10: Well, I mean, if you if you really want the guy,
[24:34] Speaker 10: you know I it's important to you and I helped
[24:37] Speaker 10: you reaching you, you'd want to make it square with me,
[24:39] Speaker 10: would't you?
[24:42] Speaker 8: Not?
[24:42] Speaker 6: That I'm asked for payoff? You understand that.
[24:44] Speaker 10: Yeah, we understand where's Preston lived. Well, I didn't say
[24:48] Speaker 10: I knew where the guy lives. I didn't say that.
[24:55] Speaker 6: I'm not sure, am I? I don't know if I'll
[24:59] Speaker 6: tell you?
[25:00] Speaker 4: Do you want to stand by here? Bill? I better
[25:01] Speaker 4: check yet?
[25:02] Speaker 5: Yeah?
[25:02] Speaker 6: Fine, okay.
[25:29] Speaker 11: Any two six, two five five, I could be.
[25:37] Speaker 4: Ron and yeah, John, This is Joe Friday bunco. Yeah Friday,
[25:40] Speaker 4: I to check on the suspect. John. He gives the
[25:43] Speaker 4: name of Fred Sandel. He's a wm A, about forty
[25:46] Speaker 4: five five f ten hundred and seventy pounds, brown hair,
[25:49] Speaker 4: brown eyes, ready complexion, small scar just below the left ear.
[25:53] Speaker 2: Okay, I'll go to call you.
[25:55] Speaker 4: Back on that. Yeah, would you please? I'm a Dunkirk
[25:58] Speaker 4: three five oh one six right, I'll call you. Thanks, well,
[26:01] Speaker 4: say John, you switch me over the bunkle please, I'm
[26:03] Speaker 4: part from outside.
[26:04] Speaker 6: Yeah, sure, hang on, thank you?
[26:09] Speaker 4: Would you want to.
[26:10] Speaker 6: Switch this call over the bunk on detail? Please?
[26:15] Speaker 2: Unco rilin?
[26:15] Speaker 4: Joe Friday, Jobby anything doing? Oh yeah, Joe quite a bit.
[26:18] Speaker 4: And that suspect of yours wrestled Preston.
[26:20] Speaker 5: Been picked up?
[26:21] Speaker 4: Yeah, how'd that happen? Radio car picking up?
[26:23] Speaker 2: Eight in South Grand drunk charge.
[26:25] Speaker 7: I understand it's pretty well plastered, running around the middle
[26:28] Speaker 7: of the street, had quite a bit of money on
[26:29] Speaker 7: him and brought him into Robert good question.
[26:31] Speaker 4: Well you're sure as Preston.
[26:32] Speaker 7: Description checks a couple of sets of identification owning too,
[26:35] Speaker 7: one for Russell Preston, one.
[26:36] Speaker 11: For George fairchow where they got him out next door
[26:38] Speaker 11: interrogation room.
[26:40] Speaker 6: Ken scarcely talking to him.
[26:41] Speaker 2: He's dropping iron to the jobs.
[26:43] Speaker 4: Key Chowie, thanks a lot, we'll be right here it well,
[26:52] Speaker 4: see a minute, Yeah, you might as well check in.
[26:55] Speaker 4: Preston has been picked up when probably just after you
[26:58] Speaker 4: left this bar, radio car spotted him.
[27:00] Speaker 6: Man, how about that?
[27:01] Speaker 7: You know, you work two months in a case and
[27:03] Speaker 7: just when we start to get close, somebody else picks
[27:05] Speaker 7: the guy up.
[27:06] Speaker 10: You know, it's right, it's not very exciting, you know.
[27:09] Speaker 10: I was just thinking, Oh, I don't want to be
[27:11] Speaker 10: a hoardhead about this thing, you know. I mean, if
[27:13] Speaker 10: you want this guy presson, i'd be glad I help
[27:16] Speaker 10: you find I don't want to be a hot head.
[27:18] Speaker 11: Excuse me a minute, Yeah, John, Yeah, I gotta make
[27:30] Speaker 11: on that name you asked for friend sent down there's
[27:33] Speaker 11: a on him.
[27:34] Speaker 6: And theft, all though, got to put a long record.
[27:36] Speaker 6: You want me to read it?
[27:37] Speaker 4: All though? That's all right, John, right, right, right, thank you?
[27:45] Speaker 6: Why do you say so?
[27:46] Speaker 10: I don't suppose to sit down and have a drink
[27:48] Speaker 10: and talk things over, and I'll show you where I.
[27:51] Speaker 6: Think this person hangs out.
[27:52] Speaker 4: I mean, if we make make the right deal. Well,
[27:55] Speaker 4: it's already been made. Do you want to grab your
[27:56] Speaker 4: top coat? There? We'd like to talk to you downtown me.
[27:58] Speaker 6: What what are you talking about?
[28:00] Speaker 10: Grand theft auto? They want you a mystery? Wait a minute,
[28:03] Speaker 10: you made a mistake. You didn't come in here looking
[28:05] Speaker 10: for me. You know the even the side of my
[28:07] Speaker 10: case for this ain't fair.
[28:09] Speaker 4: Get your code.
[28:09] Speaker 6: Let's go. Oh but the same thing. You're coming here
[28:11] Speaker 6: look for Preston. You didn't want me. We do know
[28:13] Speaker 6: what kind of deals you call that you're looking for Preston.
[28:16] Speaker 4: You picked me up.
[28:18] Speaker 6: What's the angle?
[28:18] Speaker 4: There's no angle. Some days you got to settle for less.
[28:20] Speaker 4: That's all, Come on, let's go. The story you have
[28:30] Speaker 4: just heard was true. The names were changed to protect
[28:33] Speaker 4: the innocent.
[28:34] Speaker 3: On April fifth, trial was held in Superior Court Department
[28:37] Speaker 3: eighty nine city in County of Los Angeles, State of California.
[28:40] Speaker 5: In a moment the results of that trial. Russell R.
[28:52] Speaker 3: Preston alias George Fairchild alias Robert Fairchild was tried and
[28:56] Speaker 3: convicted on three counts of grand theft. Fred Sandel was
[28:59] Speaker 3: tried convicted of grand theft one count. Both men received
[29:03] Speaker 3: sentences as prescribed by law. They are now serving their
[29:06] Speaker 3: terms in the State Penitentiary San Quentin, California. Grand theft
[29:10] Speaker 3: is punishable by imprisonment for not less than one nor
[29:13] Speaker 3: more than ten years. You have just heard Dragnet a
[29:25] Speaker 3: series of authentic cases from official files. Technical advice comes
[29:29] Speaker 3: from the Office of Chief of Police W. H. Parker,
[29:31] Speaker 3: Los Angeles Police Department Technical advisors Captain Jack Donahoe, Sergeant
[29:36] Speaker 3: Marty Wynn, Sergeant Vans Braser. Heard tonight were Martin Milner, Marion,
[29:40] Speaker 3: Richmond Bick Rodman. Script by Jim Mosy, music by Walter Schumann,
[29:45] Speaker 3: hel Gidney speaking.
[30:09] Speaker 5: Now It's counter Spy on NBC.
[30:18] Speaker 1: Welcome Back. The idea of Bill Lockwood as Friday's partner
[30:24] Speaker 1: is probably the one of the more dramatic character ideas
[30:29] Speaker 1: that Dragnet ever had for one of their place characters,
[30:35] Speaker 1: with Friday shifting into being a mentor and helping bring
[30:41] Speaker 1: up a new generation of detectives, passing on what had
[30:49] Speaker 1: been given to him, and have kept the spirit of
[30:53] Speaker 1: Ben Romero alive. It would have been an ongoing nod
[30:57] Speaker 1: to the show's Jenneson and its first partner. Looking even
[31:04] Speaker 1: further down the line, it also might have provided Jack
[31:08] Speaker 1: Webb with an exit route from the series Web wanted
[31:13] Speaker 1: to in the TV version of Dragnet after one hundred episodes.
[31:18] Speaker 1: He had the idea of Friday being promoted and serving
[31:23] Speaker 1: as a mentor figure to younger officers. Now, the network
[31:28] Speaker 1: was at that point not particularly interested in replacing the
[31:35] Speaker 1: star of one of its biggest hits with young, unknown actors. However,
[31:41] Speaker 1: if Martin Milner had two or three seasons under his
[31:45] Speaker 1: belt playing Friday's partner, and Milner was a very solid
[31:51] Speaker 1: actor capable of carrying a television series himself, it might
[31:56] Speaker 1: have been easier to pitch the network on having Friday
[32:00] Speaker 1: promoted and Bill Lockwood becoming the main character with a
[32:05] Speaker 1: new partner. It's a case where it would have, one
[32:10] Speaker 1: way or another changed the history of American television. I'm
[32:16] Speaker 1: not saying it would be better or worse, but it
[32:19] Speaker 1: would definitely have been different. But this is a case
[32:23] Speaker 1: where America's military efforts interfered as Milner was drafted. Now,
[32:30] Speaker 1: Milner would actually continue to make mostly uncredited appearances on radio.
[32:38] Speaker 1: In Dragnet Web ran a tot schedule with them also
[32:44] Speaker 1: having to get television done at the same time, and
[32:48] Speaker 1: they recorded two episodes per day on Sundays, and when
[32:54] Speaker 1: Milner could, he got a pass, came down and would
[32:58] Speaker 1: actually earn a month's pay in playing in both episodes
[33:04] Speaker 1: that ended up being released. Those who knew Milner considered
[33:09] Speaker 1: him really a working actor. He had some important parts
[33:14] Speaker 1: of those two big television series that I mentioned already,
[33:18] Speaker 1: as well as Swiss Family Robinson, which only lasted a season.
[33:23] Speaker 1: He was a dedicated, hard working performer, loved his family,
[33:28] Speaker 1: and he also really truly loved fishing. He pretty much
[33:33] Speaker 1: had retired from acting by the mid nineteen nineties, but
[33:37] Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety three he began hosting a radio program
[33:43] Speaker 1: in San Diego on the weekends called Let's Talk Hookup,
[33:49] Speaker 1: a fishing talk show, and was very active in the
[33:53] Speaker 1: fishing community and by all accounts for those who met
[33:56] Speaker 1: him He was a very good guy to go fishing
[34:00] Speaker 1: with by all accounts, an outstanding individual, very good actor,
[34:05] Speaker 1: who would play a major role in the sort of
[34:10] Speaker 1: tried net extended universe. I guess with Adam twelve, but
[34:15] Speaker 1: might have had a different future on the main series
[34:18] Speaker 1: had some other things gone differently. Then I do want
[34:23] Speaker 1: to go ahead and talk a little bit about Fred Sandel.
[34:27] Speaker 1: He might be even more foolish than guys in the
[34:33] Speaker 1: Big Border. At least they believed a common myth about
[34:38] Speaker 1: border crossing and being home free in Mexico. Fred was
[34:43] Speaker 1: such a genius that he essentially called attention to himself
[34:50] Speaker 1: and affected his own imprisonment for grand theft. Whereas had
[34:57] Speaker 1: he given a generic answer like oh, I could help
[35:00] Speaker 1: you out, but honestly, we were just having a drink.
[35:05] Speaker 1: I've never met him before. All he managed to do
[35:08] Speaker 1: was to get Friday to call R and I, because
[35:13] Speaker 1: apparently he was operating under the supposition that if Friday
[35:20] Speaker 1: was investigating this bunk o caase, that was pretty much
[35:23] Speaker 1: all he was concerned with. And of course you'll hear
[35:27] Speaker 1: on various dramatic shows that police officers saying I'm not
[35:32] Speaker 1: really concerned about whatever minor crime you're doing as I'm
[35:37] Speaker 1: investigating this other crime, and that may happen in real life,
[35:44] Speaker 1: but in this case, Sandell found himself a very nice
[35:48] Speaker 1: consolation prize. And of course this episode was also a
[35:52] Speaker 1: bit of a lesson for Bill Lockwood, and it suggests
[35:57] Speaker 1: some of the things that the series might have done
[36:01] Speaker 1: in terms of him learning on their job and learning
[36:04] Speaker 1: what it's like, and the simple lesson that just because
[36:08] Speaker 1: you put in the like working you did all of
[36:11] Speaker 1: this doesn't guarantee that you're going to be in on
[36:15] Speaker 1: the capture. You're part of a tame and sometimes you
[36:20] Speaker 1: put months into an investigation and have very little to
[36:25] Speaker 1: do with the way that it ends up. Concluding all right, well,
[36:30] Speaker 1: now it's time to think our Patreon supporter of the
[36:33] Speaker 1: day and I want to thank Pam, Patreon supporter since
[36:37] Speaker 1: February twenty twenty four, currently supporting the podcast at the
[36:41] Speaker 1: Detective Sergeant level of seven dollars and fourteen cents or
[36:45] Speaker 1: more per month. Thanks so much for your support, Pam,
[36:48] Speaker 1: and that will do it for today. If you're enjoying
[36:51] Speaker 1: the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software
[36:56] Speaker 1: and be sure to rate and review the podcast. Wherever
[36:58] Speaker 1: you download it from. We will be back next Thursday
[37:02] Speaker 1: with another episode of Dragging Net, but join us on
[37:06] Speaker 1: Friday for yours truly Johnny, it all our where will mister?
[37:12] Speaker 6: Yes, sir, that's very interesting.
[37:16] Speaker 2: I beg your pardon.
[37:17] Speaker 8: What's the matter?
[37:17] Speaker 7: Don't you good? I said, that's very interesting.
[37:20] Speaker 8: You see, my name is.
[37:22] Speaker 6: Carsh No, no, you miss?
[37:24] Speaker 8: What can I do for you?
[37:25] Speaker 4: Mister cash? No, listen with you?
[37:28] Speaker 2: This is Johnny Dollar.
[37:30] Speaker 8: Oh now, what's the.
[37:31] Speaker 7: Idea of trying to confuse me that way?
[37:33] Speaker 4: I'm Carshwright, you remember, Yes, sir, and Johnny, how did
[37:39] Speaker 4: you do it?
[37:40] Speaker 8: Do? What?
[37:41] Speaker 4: Get out here so fast? I only put in that
[37:44] Speaker 4: called a Hartford about and here you are?
[37:47] Speaker 7: I mean, how did you manage it?
[37:49] Speaker 10: Oh?
[37:49] Speaker 6: Well, you see, mister, I know these new jet.
[37:52] Speaker 10: Flights are pretty fast.
[37:53] Speaker 4: But Johnny, you haven't been fooling around with some of
[37:57] Speaker 4: those rocket ships.
[37:59] Speaker 3: No, no, no, I'm afraid not.
[38:01] Speaker 2: I I just happened to be here already.
[38:03] Speaker 6: You see.
[38:04] Speaker 5: I was working on a case of at Marrow Bay.
[38:07] Speaker 4: And did you talk? Yeah? It came out all right.
[38:09] Speaker 7: Well, congratulations, Johnny, you are a one day and I
[38:14] Speaker 7: think you deserve some kind of a reward for it,
[38:17] Speaker 7: So maybe I'll think of something.
[38:19] Speaker 6: Oh well, thanks, but that won't be necessary what you say.
[38:23] Speaker 4: I know that I'm deeply indebted to you for the
[38:25] Speaker 4: things you've done for me. Johnny, Well, I don't worry.
[38:27] Speaker 8: About it whatever you say.
[38:30] Speaker 7: Guys, you've talked to you.
[38:32] Speaker 1: Goodbye.
[38:32] Speaker 4: Yeah, now, wait a minute, what weas a minute?
[38:36] Speaker 1: Can't you see?
[38:37] Speaker 4: I'm busy? But you sent for me I did.
[38:40] Speaker 2: Yeah, you called Hartford said you wanted to see me
[38:42] Speaker 2: right away.
[38:43] Speaker 4: Oh, of course, what's the matter with you?
[38:47] Speaker 1: Anyway?
[38:47] Speaker 10: Of course I want to see you.
[38:49] Speaker 4: Jonathan Peebles too, right away. Who is Jonathan Peebles. He's
[38:54] Speaker 4: an old friend of mine.
[38:54] Speaker 1: He lives out here.
[38:56] Speaker 4: I telephoned him to come running too. Oh well, what's
[38:58] Speaker 4: it all about, mister guid Right, Just you get yourself
[39:01] Speaker 4: on over here to my house and I'll tell you.
[39:04] Speaker 4: I don't you waste any time. You're just pretty important.
[39:06] Speaker 6: Huh important.
[39:08] Speaker 1: I hope you'll be with us then in the meantime.
[39:11] Speaker 1: Send your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot ne,
[39:17] Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and check us
[39:21] Speaker 1: out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com, slash great detectives from Boise, Idaho.
[39:28] Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham, Sign and off.

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