# Dragnet: The Big Market (EP4894)

An episode of [The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio| Daily Mystery Dramas](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/335549005), 22 Jan 2026, 33 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pdrl.fm/997ffb/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/69421604/gd4894.mp3

Todays Mystery: A string of supermarket robberies rocks Los Angeles. Original Radio Broadcast Date: October 25, 1951 Originating from Hollywood Starred: Jack Webb as Sergeant Joe Friday, Barton Yarborough as Sergeant Ben Romero, Herb Butterfield Support the show monthly at patreon.greatdetectives.net Patreon Supporter of the Day:John, Patreon supporter since September 2015 Support the show on a one-time basis at http://support.greatdetectives.net. Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715 Take the listener survey…http://survey.greatdetectives.net Give us a call 208-991-4783Become one of our friends on Facebook. Follow us on Instagram at http://instagram.com/greatdetectives Follow us on Twitter@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 Graham. In a moment, we're
[0:39] Speaker 1: going to bring you this week's episode of Dragnat. But first, guy,
[0:43] Speaker 1: I do want to encourage you. If you're enjoying the podcast,
[0:46] Speaker 1: please follow us using your favorite podcast software. Today's program
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[0:56] Speaker 1: one time basis at support dot Great Detective Net, and
[1:01] Speaker 1: I want to thank Robert for supporting the show that way.
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[1:11] Speaker 1: ass two dollars for months. Just go to Patreon dot
[1:14] Speaker 1: Great Detectives dot net. But now, from October twenty fifth,
[1:20] Speaker 1: nineteen fifty one, here is the Big Market.
[1:34] Speaker 2: The story you were about to hear is true. The
[1:37] Speaker 2: names have been changed to protect the innocent. You're a
[1:49] Speaker 2: detective sergeant. You're assigned a robbery detail. A pair of
[1:53] Speaker 2: bandits are staging a rapid fire campaign of holdups in
[1:56] Speaker 2: your city. In twenty one days, eleven food markets have
[1:59] Speaker 2: been robbed. The hold ups go on the suspects are
[2:03] Speaker 2: still unidentified.
[2:05] Speaker 3: Your job get.
[2:06] Speaker 4: Them Dragnet the documented drama of an actual crime. Well
[2:16] Speaker 4: the next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles
[2:19] Speaker 4: Police Department, you will travel step by step on the
[2:22] Speaker 4: side of the law through an actual case transcribed from
[2:25] Speaker 4: official police buyers, from beginning to end, from crime to punishment.
[2:30] Speaker 3: Drag Net is the story of your police force and action.
[2:38] Speaker 5: It was Tuesday, September twenty sixth, was hot in Los Angeles.
[2:42] Speaker 5: We were working the day Watch out of robbery detail.
[2:44] Speaker 5: My partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Captain Didions. My
[2:47] Speaker 5: name is Friday.
[2:48] Speaker 3: Was nine to eighteen am.
[2:49] Speaker 5: When I got to the record Bureau that's in in
[2:51] Speaker 5: Cunningham's office.
[2:54] Speaker 3: Joh, what's doing? Not too much?
[2:56] Speaker 5: Got a job you can do for us? Frank like
[2:58] Speaker 5: to have it as soon as you can get it out. Oh,
[3:00] Speaker 5: it's about on these market bandits. We've already gotten out
[3:03] Speaker 5: a dozen teletypes and bulletins on them. I like to
[3:05] Speaker 5: get out some mimiographs too. If we can general distribution,
[3:07] Speaker 5: then what do you want on them?
[3:09] Speaker 3: Well, I better lay out the whole thing for you.
[3:12] Speaker 5: A lot of the copies are going to the Retail
[3:14] Speaker 5: Grossers Association all their members.
[3:16] Speaker 3: No luck with those two fives so far. No, I
[3:19] Speaker 3: know closer than we weren't three weeks ago. Figure this
[3:22] Speaker 3: ought to plug another loophole. How many copies you figure
[3:24] Speaker 3: you want on this? By a thousand? Yeah, let's find
[3:26] Speaker 3: that how to do it? All? Right? Okay? Now what
[3:31] Speaker 3: do you want to go in at? Joe?
[3:32] Speaker 5: And you better lead off with the first job they pulled.
[3:34] Speaker 5: That was on the third of this month. Makes a
[3:36] Speaker 5: little better than three weeks now. They hit a supermarket
[3:38] Speaker 5: out on Pico Okay, got it. Ever since, they've averaged
[3:43] Speaker 5: about three jobs a week. We know they're hitting nothing
[3:46] Speaker 5: but supermarkets. All of them are main thoroughfares, No small
[3:49] Speaker 5: neighborhood stuff.
[3:50] Speaker 3: You got it.
[3:51] Speaker 5: So far, they've confined their operations to the seventy seventh
[3:54] Speaker 5: Street division in the county territories, generally the south end
[3:57] Speaker 5: of town.
[3:58] Speaker 3: There are two men, and they got a pretty well
[4:00] Speaker 3: established them all. I've established them. Okay.
[4:04] Speaker 5: They're hitting in the morning hours, usually from the time
[4:07] Speaker 5: the market's open up until around noontime. They use a
[4:10] Speaker 5: stolen car ninety five percent of the time, a car
[4:14] Speaker 5: stolen from the industrial area. Cars they steal for the
[4:17] Speaker 5: jobs are always either a Pontiac or Nash. We also
[4:21] Speaker 5: know they're dropping the stolen cars within a short radius
[4:24] Speaker 5: of the hold up scene, about a half a dozen
[4:26] Speaker 5: blocks or so.
[4:27] Speaker 3: In some instances, they use.
[4:29] Speaker 5: A second automobile or a public transportation some kind buster
[4:32] Speaker 5: street car, you know, to make their getaway after they.
[4:34] Speaker 3: Drop out over kind. I'm sorry, I went a little faster.
[4:37] Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, I got it.
[4:39] Speaker 3: Okay, Well go ahead.
[4:43] Speaker 2: Now.
[4:44] Speaker 3: They usually pull up and park directly.
[4:45] Speaker 5: In front of the market that they're going to hold up.
[4:48] Speaker 5: One of the men always remains in the car behind
[4:50] Speaker 5: the wheel. Apparently it's always the same man. There's a
[4:52] Speaker 5: description meager. We know he's good size, MWA, fairly large build.
[4:58] Speaker 5: Here's about the best description we been able to piece
[5:00] Speaker 5: together on the second man, picked up a little bit
[5:02] Speaker 5: from each victim. Second man described as MWA, also about
[5:09] Speaker 5: five foot eight inches, medium bill, one hundred and fifty
[5:11] Speaker 5: five one hundred and sixty pounds. Always wears a hat,
[5:14] Speaker 5: brown suit, rough material of some kind, maybe tweed.
[5:18] Speaker 3: Want a smoke, Frank, huh smoke? Oh no.
[5:24] Speaker 5: When he enters the market for the hold up, the
[5:26] Speaker 5: second man always holds a white handkerchief, holds a white
[5:30] Speaker 5: handkerchief to his face as if he's wiping his eyes,
[5:33] Speaker 5: keeps most of his face covered with it. During the robbery,
[5:35] Speaker 5: he's armed with a nickel plated revolver, possibly thirty eight caliber.
[5:38] Speaker 3: We know the jobs are well.
[5:39] Speaker 5: Cased because in almost every instance, the suspect goes directly to.
[5:42] Speaker 3: The manager of the market.
[5:43] Speaker 5: Directly the manager, he hands the manager of brown paper sack,
[5:48] Speaker 5: tells him to put the money in it, and then
[5:49] Speaker 5: he takes off.
[5:50] Speaker 3: So far, he's never attempted any rough stuff, no gun play.
[5:54] Speaker 5: On three occasions, when the suspects got only small amounts
[5:57] Speaker 5: of money at one market, they hit again in fifteen
[5:59] Speaker 5: or twenty minutes at another store in the same general area.
[6:02] Speaker 5: They never make any attempt to disguise or conceal a
[6:05] Speaker 5: license number, run and get away car, as I say,
[6:07] Speaker 5: they always abandoned the car a short distance from the
[6:09] Speaker 5: whole up scene.
[6:10] Speaker 3: Let's see. Yeah, okay, I got it.
[6:15] Speaker 5: Well that's about all of it, Frank, I guess you
[6:16] Speaker 5: can boil it down into some kind of shape her.
[6:18] Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, I'll have it typed up in the form.
[6:20] Speaker 3: I'll get your copy before we make the rod and
[6:22] Speaker 3: see if it's okay with you find things now go
[6:26] Speaker 3: it's a good huh, No, it isn't.
[6:27] Speaker 5: Frank, pretty slow. I've been on top of the thing
[6:29] Speaker 5: for a couple of weeks. Now we're still looking for
[6:31] Speaker 5: some kind of a break.
[6:32] Speaker 3: See.
[6:33] Speaker 6: I understand, Ben Chandler from your office to go for
[6:35] Speaker 6: some fishing down in Mexico.
[6:36] Speaker 5: Huh yeah, not doing bad. But I hear I got
[6:39] Speaker 5: a cat from yesterday. He's down by ken o'bay. He
[6:42] Speaker 5: put the bite on me to send him a dozen
[6:43] Speaker 5: mount and plugs.
[6:44] Speaker 3: Yeah. Fish must be hitting pretty good down there, that's
[6:46] Speaker 3: what he says.
[6:47] Speaker 5: Yeah, it's a big brown sea bass especially. I wouldn't
[6:49] Speaker 5: mind getting in a couple of days down there myself.
[6:51] Speaker 3: Excoose me. Yeah, I give view a cunt again. Yes
[6:56] Speaker 3: a minute, you're Joe, thanks man? Yeah, oh yeah, Man?
[7:02] Speaker 3: When all right? Yeah, okay, right away?
[7:05] Speaker 5: Yeah, fine, check that formul later. Frank might be a
[7:09] Speaker 5: little change market Bandits they hit again.
[7:15] Speaker 3: At nine eight.
[7:16] Speaker 5: Am, Ben and I got in the car and drove
[7:18] Speaker 5: to the scene of the Bandit's latest hold up, a
[7:20] Speaker 5: new supermarket out on Swason near the intersection of South Broadway.
[7:24] Speaker 3: After interviewing the.
[7:25] Speaker 5: Manager of the store and all available witnesses to the robbery,
[7:28] Speaker 5: there wasn't much doubt about the identity of the suspects.
[7:30] Speaker 5: The description and m O fitted perfectly with that of
[7:32] Speaker 5: the two men who'd been staging the whirlwind campaign of
[7:35] Speaker 5: market robberies throughout the south end of the city for
[7:37] Speaker 5: the past three weeks. The approach and execution of the
[7:40] Speaker 5: hold up was the same in every detail, even to
[7:43] Speaker 5: the stolen car they'd used, which was found abandoned a
[7:45] Speaker 5: short distance from the robbery scene. There was only one deviation,
[7:49] Speaker 5: and that was the first break we'd had in the
[7:50] Speaker 5: case since it started. A woman customer at the market
[7:53] Speaker 5: and Missus Thomas Swanson, saw the hold up man as
[7:56] Speaker 5: he left the store and ran to the getaway car.
[7:58] Speaker 5: She told us that the car door apparently stuck when
[8:00] Speaker 5: he tried to pull it open, but he took away
[8:02] Speaker 5: the handkerchief which he'd held to his face in order
[8:04] Speaker 5: to pull the door open with both hands.
[8:07] Speaker 3: During those few seconds. She got a good look at him.
[8:09] Speaker 5: After taking the crime report and making our preliminary investigation,
[8:13] Speaker 5: we brought Missus Swanson downtown.
[8:15] Speaker 3: We had her check through mug.
[8:16] Speaker 5: Books of all recent parolis from the state penitentiary, all
[8:19] Speaker 5: ex convicts with robbery records.
[8:21] Speaker 3: After a couple of hours.
[8:22] Speaker 5: Of checking mugshots, she couldn't seem to make positive identification.
[8:26] Speaker 7: Very sorry, off, sir, just gets a little confusing after
[8:28] Speaker 7: a while looking at all these pictures. I did get a
[8:31] Speaker 7: good look at the man's face. I just can't settle
[8:33] Speaker 7: on one of these pictures, though.
[8:35] Speaker 8: Well, from what you did see of missus Swanson, the
[8:37] Speaker 8: lower part of the man's face especially, Can you find
[8:40] Speaker 8: a good likeness in any of these Well.
[8:42] Speaker 7: Yes, I can find good likenesses for some of his features,
[8:45] Speaker 7: but none of them are altogether in any one of
[8:47] Speaker 7: these pictures here, Like the mouth and chin on this
[8:49] Speaker 7: man here, yes, ma'am, is that pretty close most exactly,
[8:52] Speaker 7: i'd say, And then the nose on this one here,
[8:55] Speaker 7: it's the very same. I just hadn't seen any picture
[8:58] Speaker 7: that fits them all together, you know what I mean.
[9:00] Speaker 3: That's right, I understand.
[9:01] Speaker 5: Now these five pictures here that you've picked out, you'd
[9:03] Speaker 5: pretty much say that they incorporate all the features of
[9:05] Speaker 5: the man that you saw getting there.
[9:08] Speaker 7: This man here, and this one too, i'd say, the
[9:11] Speaker 7: lower part of his face was exactly like that. The
[9:14] Speaker 7: small mouth mustache just like that, and the chin pointed
[9:17] Speaker 7: like on this man, and the.
[9:18] Speaker 8: Upper part of his face. Would you say it resembles
[9:20] Speaker 8: these others yet?
[9:21] Speaker 7: Yes, these three here, just the upper part you see
[9:25] Speaker 7: around the eyes beforehead, I'd say that was very close.
[9:30] Speaker 7: I'll just put the two sets of pictures together. I
[9:32] Speaker 7: think you'd have the man perfectly. Sorry, I can't be
[9:35] Speaker 7: more help to you, as I say, looking at all
[9:37] Speaker 7: these books of pictures, it kept.
[9:38] Speaker 3: A little confusing. Well, you've given us quite a bit
[9:40] Speaker 3: of help, man, Thank you very much, not at all.
[9:42] Speaker 7: Is there anything else?
[9:43] Speaker 3: No, thank you? Not right now.
[9:44] Speaker 5: We've got your address and telephone. We'll probably be contacting
[9:47] Speaker 5: you in a day or two. If you'd like to
[9:48] Speaker 5: wait right here, we'll make arrangements to have one of
[9:50] Speaker 5: the officers drive you back your home.
[9:51] Speaker 3: All right, Thank you very much, by man, we'll be
[9:54] Speaker 3: talking to you. Yeah, yes, buyout. What do you think, Joe?
[10:00] Speaker 5: You know what's more than we had yesterday? Her description
[10:02] Speaker 5: is the best we've got him the guy so far.
[10:04] Speaker 8: How about getting a composite picture made up from the
[10:06] Speaker 8: mug shots you picked up?
[10:07] Speaker 5: That's what I was thinking. Do you want to duck
[10:08] Speaker 5: in and get somebody to drive him Swanson home. I
[10:11] Speaker 5: want to go in here in the captain's office.
[10:12] Speaker 3: Filmy. Oh okay, thanks man Friday. How'd you make that?
[10:18] Speaker 3: Could have been worse, Captain.
[10:19] Speaker 9: I wouldn't find anything in the mug books.
[10:21] Speaker 3: No positive identification.
[10:23] Speaker 5: She picked out five of them she thought were close.
[10:25] Speaker 5: I think maybe put off over the crime, about to
[10:27] Speaker 5: be able to make up a pretty good composite from him.
[10:29] Speaker 3: Mm hm.
[10:29] Speaker 9: She fairly positive about the man's description.
[10:31] Speaker 3: Yeah, it seems to have a clear idea good composite.
[10:34] Speaker 3: Ought to help us quite a bit.
[10:35] Speaker 9: You get this new description, that memi graph you haven't
[10:37] Speaker 9: made up?
[10:37] Speaker 3: No, not yet. I want to see Frank about it.
[10:39] Speaker 8: Then, Hi, s camper Man got a hold of just
[10:42] Speaker 8: guns out hez Joey's gonna drive miss Swanson home?
[10:44] Speaker 3: Fine? Did you ask her if he checked on that
[10:46] Speaker 3: last run we made through the stats office? Yeah, he
[10:47] Speaker 3: picked it up.
[10:48] Speaker 8: He and Frankistrater gonna start checking the names this morning.
[10:51] Speaker 8: It's not much of a list and pretty well picked
[10:53] Speaker 8: over already.
[10:53] Speaker 9: So you got from the witnesses out there this morning
[10:56] Speaker 9: description from this missus Swanson.
[10:57] Speaker 3: Yeah, it's about it. The rest of it was there.
[11:00] Speaker 3: He usual remo.
[11:01] Speaker 5: Swanson woman was the only one who got a good
[11:02] Speaker 5: look at the guy when he took the handkerchief away
[11:04] Speaker 5: from his face.
[11:05] Speaker 3: I'm about to get away.
[11:06] Speaker 8: Are they find same as Yeah, there's Leyton prints checked
[11:08] Speaker 8: it over clean.
[11:09] Speaker 9: Well, two thieves had their share luck. When we get odds.
[11:12] Speaker 5: How about Metro division Captain? Can we get any help
[11:15] Speaker 5: out there?
[11:15] Speaker 3: What do you got in mind?
[11:16] Speaker 5: Well, we know the take that the two thieves got
[11:19] Speaker 5: in that job this morning was pretty small for him.
[11:22] Speaker 3: Three hundred and forty dollars. Yeah, from their.
[11:24] Speaker 5: Remo in the past, we know whenever they get a
[11:26] Speaker 5: small take on a job, they usually hit another place fast.
[11:29] Speaker 5: They work in a fairly concentrated area down the South end.
[11:33] Speaker 5: They only go after big markets on the main thoroughfares. Well,
[11:36] Speaker 5: I was thinking if we could get some help from Metro,
[11:38] Speaker 5: put maybe fifteen or twenty crews down in the area
[11:41] Speaker 5: for the next couple of days, might stand a good
[11:42] Speaker 5: chance of grabbing him.
[11:43] Speaker 8: When we're talking to Dick Tiern and O what the
[11:45] Speaker 8: Sheriff's office kipper, he says he could put some of
[11:47] Speaker 8: his men down that area too, cover the county on
[11:49] Speaker 8: the on the fringe's the territory around there?
[11:51] Speaker 3: What do you think? I'm fine?
[11:54] Speaker 9: Frankon gets Stevens at Metro right now, said it up.
[11:57] Speaker 9: So you've got twenty crews right just about?
[11:59] Speaker 3: Yeah, with any kind of luck at all. We ought
[12:01] Speaker 3: to lend him.
[12:02] Speaker 9: Sure worth trying, lieuten Stevens. Please, Yeah, Joe, it's Harry Dideon.
[12:08] Speaker 3: Fine.
[12:09] Speaker 9: Fine, we got a little stickout problem here. How about
[12:11] Speaker 9: using some of your men about thirty all right, I'll
[12:14] Speaker 9: settle for twenty five okay, yeah, and south end of
[12:18] Speaker 9: town those market bandage.
[12:21] Speaker 3: Fine.
[12:21] Speaker 9: Do you haven't report here at robbery seven o'clock tomorrow morning?
[12:25] Speaker 9: All right, thanks a lot, and I'll set you got
[12:28] Speaker 9: twenty five men seven o'clock tomorrow morning. Oh case, we'll
[12:31] Speaker 9: give you a dozen teams to start with, and Dalas
[12:33] Speaker 9: and the strata one more. I mean you figure working
[12:35] Speaker 9: from the Sheriff's.
[12:36] Speaker 3: Office, about four or five teams I mentioned.
[12:38] Speaker 9: All right, it's your operation, you too, me in charge
[12:40] Speaker 9: on our end. You run the show. You'll brief them
[12:42] Speaker 9: in if you need anything, call me right.
[12:45] Speaker 8: How about the overall plans, gip you've got any special
[12:47] Speaker 8: ideas on it?
[12:48] Speaker 3: Just one you know, get.
[12:49] Speaker 5: Them one to eighteen pm. We got the revised description
[12:55] Speaker 5: of one of the hold up men into Lieutenant.
[12:57] Speaker 3: Point Cunningham at the Record Bureau.
[12:59] Speaker 5: He told us a thousand copies of the special mimiograph
[13:01] Speaker 5: form containing all available information on the two market bandits
[13:04] Speaker 5: would be ready for us.
[13:05] Speaker 3: That night.
[13:07] Speaker 5: We met with Sergeant Putoff, the artist at the Crime Lab,
[13:09] Speaker 5: and he went to work making up a composite picture
[13:12] Speaker 5: of one of the suspects from the mugshots selected by
[13:14] Speaker 5: the robbery witnessed Missus Swanson. When the picture was completed,
[13:18] Speaker 5: we had Missus Swanson check it for similarity to the
[13:20] Speaker 5: actual hold up man, and then we brought it back
[13:22] Speaker 5: to the Record Bureau where a thousand copies were.
[13:24] Speaker 3: Made of it.
[13:25] Speaker 5: The pictures, along with the mimiograph forms, were sent immediately
[13:28] Speaker 5: to the Retail Grocers Association for distribution to all market
[13:31] Speaker 5: operators throughout the city. Additional copies of the picture and
[13:35] Speaker 5: the information sheet were given to each man who was
[13:37] Speaker 5: to work the stakeoff when we met in the squadron
[13:39] Speaker 5: at seven o'clock the next morning. Besides the men from
[13:42] Speaker 5: Metropolitan Division and the men from Robbery who are going
[13:45] Speaker 5: to work with US. Lieutenant Dick Tiernan and Sergeant Dave
[13:48] Speaker 5: Terry from.
[13:48] Speaker 3: The Sheriff's Office were also there for the briefing.
[13:51] Speaker 8: Well, briefly, that's a rundown on the two saspects and
[13:54] Speaker 8: the molda follom.
[13:55] Speaker 3: It's the same information and description on them. You will
[13:57] Speaker 3: find those memio forms we handed out. Joey, let's take
[14:01] Speaker 3: over give them their sign. Yeah. Well, if you just
[14:04] Speaker 3: take a look at this spin.
[14:05] Speaker 5: Up map here for a minute, I'll try and brief
[14:08] Speaker 5: you on how the steak out's going to go the
[14:10] Speaker 5: way we got it figured anyway. Well, we've worked out
[14:13] Speaker 5: a plan we think ought to be the easiest and
[14:14] Speaker 5: the best way to work it. If any of you
[14:16] Speaker 5: have any suggestions as we go along, which you'd like
[14:18] Speaker 5: to have them all right now, as you can see
[14:22] Speaker 5: from the map here, the steakout areas in the south end.
[14:26] Speaker 3: It runs from can y'all see it from there? Okay?
[14:29] Speaker 5: It runs from Santa fe Avenue over here on the east,
[14:32] Speaker 5: the Vermont Avenue on the west, running north and south.
[14:37] Speaker 5: Now we'll have to cover from Santa Barbara Avenue on
[14:39] Speaker 5: the north down of Manchester. That'll be the southern boundary.
[14:44] Speaker 5: I said, that's the area the thieves have been working,
[14:47] Speaker 5: and we're going to have fourteen of our own crews
[14:49] Speaker 5: covering that area, and Dick tenn And and Dave Terry from
[14:51] Speaker 5: the Sheriff's office, we'll have their men covering and joining
[14:54] Speaker 5: county territory. Now we've broken a map down into equal units.
[14:59] Speaker 5: As you can see here, each unit will be covered
[15:01] Speaker 5: by one car, and each of you will be assigned
[15:04] Speaker 5: a unit number Romal and myself will be an eighty K.
[15:08] Speaker 3: We'll have a roving unit. We'll cover the entire area.
[15:11] Speaker 5: You'll have three way radios in your car, so you'll
[15:13] Speaker 5: be able to contact us directly if you have to. Now,
[15:16] Speaker 5: if you'll check the map again, you can see these
[15:19] Speaker 5: green pins we've placed here in well. Each one of
[15:22] Speaker 5: them represents a market robbery. Now notice that every one
[15:24] Speaker 5: of them is on a main thoroughfare. Hey, Manchester Golf Broadway,
[15:30] Speaker 5: Vernon South Hoover. Now I don't have to tell you
[15:33] Speaker 5: that that's where you'll have to keep a sharp watch
[15:35] Speaker 5: on the main street.
[15:36] Speaker 3: Each of the individual units here on the.
[15:38] Speaker 5: Map will be covered by one car. As is said,
[15:41] Speaker 5: each one's roughly nine blocks square. Now you'll be responsible
[15:45] Speaker 5: for the area assigned to you. We haven't got too
[15:47] Speaker 5: much time, So before we go down the list to
[15:49] Speaker 5: assign the areas, have you got any questions, any questions
[15:52] Speaker 5: at all? Ah?
[15:53] Speaker 10: Yeah, suppose there's a two to eleven call in somebody
[15:56] Speaker 10: else's area, I mean, other than the.
[15:58] Speaker 3: One you're assigned to. Do we leave our area and
[16:00] Speaker 3: head over there. No, Jess, I meant to bring that out.
[16:03] Speaker 5: If there's a robbery call in somebody else's area, stay
[16:05] Speaker 5: put soul you get a call.
[16:07] Speaker 3: In the hand, anything else?
[16:09] Speaker 11: Yeah, how about the managers of these markets, they've been
[16:12] Speaker 11: briefed on a steak off.
[16:13] Speaker 3: I know we're going to be covering the area. Yeah,
[16:15] Speaker 3: they've all been alerted.
[16:16] Speaker 5: Now in case of a hold up, they might try
[16:18] Speaker 5: to contact you directly.
[16:19] Speaker 3: They'll be looking for you. You'll be looking for them. Bet it,
[16:23] Speaker 3: Bob's I've covered for you. Yeah.
[16:25] Speaker 9: Well, I'm just wondering about this Number two suspect, the
[16:27] Speaker 9: want of drives to get away car.
[16:29] Speaker 3: Yeah, well it says you have a dope sheet.
[16:31] Speaker 5: Number one suspect carries a nickel play at a revolver.
[16:34] Speaker 3: How about number two he carry a gun? Well, I
[16:37] Speaker 3: wish I could answer that we don't know all the
[16:39] Speaker 3: information we got on Amazon the sheet right there.
[16:42] Speaker 9: I see.
[16:43] Speaker 3: Well, they're never try any rough stuff anyway, do they?
[16:45] Speaker 3: No gun player? They've never heard anyone. No, not yet.
[16:49] Speaker 3: Don't let them make you. The first.
[16:53] Speaker 5: Seven thirty am we finished handing out the assignments and
[16:57] Speaker 5: the men left to take up their stakeout positions in
[16:59] Speaker 5: the south end of the city, two men to a team,
[17:02] Speaker 5: each team in a three way radio car, each car
[17:04] Speaker 5: to patrol a designated nine square block unit. There were
[17:08] Speaker 5: twenty such units within the frame of the overall stakeout area.
[17:12] Speaker 5: At the same time, cruiser cars from the Sheriff's Office,
[17:15] Speaker 5: operating on their own radio setup, began patrolling the fringe positions,
[17:18] Speaker 5: which fell in county territory. Through Control one at our
[17:22] Speaker 5: Communications division. We kept in continual contact rhythm. Eight am,
[17:28] Speaker 5: all the cars were in position, each of them patrolling
[17:30] Speaker 5: their individual nine square block unit. The first two hours
[17:34] Speaker 5: passed no reports, no sign of the mockt bandits.
[17:37] Speaker 3: Between ten am and noon, half a dozen.
[17:40] Speaker 5: Possible suspects were stopped and questioned by different teams, and
[17:43] Speaker 5: then brought to the seventy seventh Street Division for processing.
[17:46] Speaker 5: All of them were eliminated. The afternoon of the first
[17:49] Speaker 5: day went pretty much the same. We had shakedowns on
[17:52] Speaker 5: four parked cars in the area and more shakedowns on
[17:55] Speaker 5: possible suspects. Nothing materialized. The next morning, Ben and I,
[17:59] Speaker 5: along with the other thirty two men in the Steakhoup,
[18:01] Speaker 5: picked up where we left off again, no sign of
[18:03] Speaker 5: the suspects, no reports. The morning of the third day,
[18:07] Speaker 5: the Steakhout detail met in the squad room as usual
[18:09] Speaker 5: and then left to take up their regular assigned positions.
[18:12] Speaker 3: Seven thirty five am. How about it, Joey ready to go? Yeah,
[18:15] Speaker 3: just a minute, Okay, let's go. I'll get it. Okay.
[18:21] Speaker 3: Robbery Friday? Yeah, where when was that? Yeah? By the way, Oh,
[18:27] Speaker 3: come on, we got a hurry. What is market bandits?
[18:29] Speaker 3: Maybe we got him. Seven fifty am.
[18:34] Speaker 5: Ben and I arrived at the intersection of fifty eighth
[18:36] Speaker 5: in San Pedro Streets. Two of our Steakhout Cruiser cars
[18:39] Speaker 5: were pulled up at the southwest corner. One of the
[18:42] Speaker 5: teams was Jess Gonzalez and his partner Frank Estrada. Gonzalez
[18:46] Speaker 5: briefed us on what had happened.
[18:47] Speaker 10: Victims, the owner of the supermarket down the block in
[18:49] Speaker 10: San Pedro was walking from his house to the store.
[18:52] Speaker 3: He passed the corner here about seven thirty five am.
[18:54] Speaker 10: Had three hundred and forty dollars on him party yesterday's
[18:57] Speaker 10: receipts from the store. They got him right at the street,
[19:00] Speaker 10: took every dollar of it. He sure it was in
[19:01] Speaker 10: market band memo description. They check out all the way.
[19:04] Speaker 10: We had two teams on as soon as we got
[19:06] Speaker 10: the word located to hold up car a minute ago?
[19:08] Speaker 10: Where is it Donna avalon Boulevard?
[19:09] Speaker 3: How about the Steve's chest? Car was empty? No trace.
[19:30] Speaker 5: Saturday, eight o five am, the latest victim of the
[19:33] Speaker 5: market Bandit's the owner of the supermarket on San Pedro Street,
[19:37] Speaker 5: was taken to the seventy seventh Street Division, where the
[19:39] Speaker 5: crime report was made. He told us that one of
[19:41] Speaker 5: the men who robbed him bore a very close resemblance
[19:44] Speaker 5: to the composite picture which we'd had drawn.
[19:46] Speaker 3: Up of one of the suspects.
[19:48] Speaker 5: We figured we missed grabbing the holdup men by a
[19:50] Speaker 5: matter of minutes, even though some of our units were
[19:53] Speaker 5: in the general area at the time of the robbery.
[19:55] Speaker 3: It did little good.
[19:57] Speaker 5: The victim had delayed reporting the hold up five minutes
[20:00] Speaker 5: because the bandits had threatened to find him and kill
[20:02] Speaker 5: him if we did. Despite the fact that they'd changed
[20:05] Speaker 5: their mo to the extent of robbing the store owner
[20:08] Speaker 5: on the street instead of in the market proper, we
[20:11] Speaker 5: had no doubt that the same two men we were
[20:12] Speaker 5: looking for had committed to hold up. The abandoned car,
[20:15] Speaker 5: which they'd used in the robbery, was gone over.
[20:17] Speaker 3: For fingerprints, but it was clean.
[20:19] Speaker 5: Meantime, the steakout went on Saturday, passed Sunday, Monday, nothing,
[20:25] Speaker 5: no leads on the suspects, not a trace of them. Tuesday,
[20:28] Speaker 5: the same thing all over again. The operations settled down
[20:31] Speaker 5: to a dull routine. Tuesday night we checked the closing
[20:35] Speaker 5: of the last market in our steakout area ten forty
[20:37] Speaker 5: five pm. Ben and I drove back the seventy seven
[20:40] Speaker 5: Street Division.
[20:41] Speaker 8: Every day seems to get a little longer. These lousy
[20:44] Speaker 8: steak cutsure don't wear very well on me.
[20:46] Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know what the setup is going to be.
[20:47] Speaker 5: If we don't get a break pretty soon, we can't
[20:49] Speaker 5: hang onto the gang from Metro Division forever.
[20:51] Speaker 3: Joe has been a bad month. All I need now
[20:53] Speaker 3: is a visit from the in law and do it
[20:55] Speaker 3: at fine.
[20:56] Speaker 5: You talked to Jesse dinner, didn't jail. What do you
[21:00] Speaker 5: say about those two men they picked up on South
[21:02] Speaker 5: Maine this afternoon.
[21:03] Speaker 3: They brought him in for processing, checked him out. I
[21:05] Speaker 3: couldn't find anything wrong. Both of them came gold. Yeah.
[21:13] Speaker 3: How about grabbing some lead after we check on? Okay,
[21:16] Speaker 3: I want to stop by Johnny Cokins. What about uh
[21:18] Speaker 3: frank dip sandwich? How's that sound? I haven't had one
[21:21] Speaker 3: for a long time. It suits me.
[21:23] Speaker 2: How was that? Oh?
[21:26] Speaker 3: Sorry, I know. Oh wait a minute, he just came in.
[21:30] Speaker 3: It's for you.
[21:30] Speaker 5: Friday turned in from the Sheriff's off. Oh yeah, thanks
[21:32] Speaker 5: Bob Friday talking. Got Dick just now. Yeah, we'll be
[21:40] Speaker 5: over right away. Ain't got anything market bandits pulled a
[21:43] Speaker 5: hold up a couple of minutes ago and store on
[21:45] Speaker 5: Graham Avenue. It's out in County Territory. Yeah, one of
[21:48] Speaker 5: the sheriffs. You gonna took the call. Chase the hold
[21:49] Speaker 5: up car two miles They get the themes while you're
[21:51] Speaker 5: half right, huh they got one of them. Ten fifty
[21:56] Speaker 5: two pm, Ben and I drove to the Sheriff's Firestone Substate,
[22:00] Speaker 5: where the market bandit suspect was taken after his apprehension.
[22:03] Speaker 3: When we got there, we talked to Deputy.
[22:05] Speaker 5: Sheriff's sergeants Eddie Jones and Mel Viney, who had made
[22:08] Speaker 5: the arrest. They said they arrived at the scene of
[22:10] Speaker 5: the hold up the market on Graham Avenue a few
[22:13] Speaker 5: moments after the bandits pulled away and they're stolen Nash Sedan.
[22:16] Speaker 5: Jones and Viney gave chase, but when they finally forced
[22:19] Speaker 5: the hold up card to a halt, the driver was
[22:21] Speaker 5: the only one in the car. Somewhere along the route
[22:24] Speaker 5: of the two mile chase, the second robbery suspect had
[22:27] Speaker 5: succeeded in jumping out along with the loot taken in
[22:29] Speaker 5: the robbery and making good his escape. A broadcast and
[22:32] Speaker 5: the bulletin was gotten out immediately. The hold up suspect
[22:35] Speaker 5: they'd apprehended had been fingerprinted and they were checking on
[22:38] Speaker 5: his identification Downtown. Ben and I went in to talk
[22:41] Speaker 5: to him. Jones and Viney stood by while we questioned him.
[22:44] Speaker 3: I still don't know what it's all about.
[22:46] Speaker 8: Property clerk could give you an itemizer sipt for everything
[22:48] Speaker 8: you have on you take everything out of your wallet.
[22:50] Speaker 3: Now put it out in tailor.
[22:53] Speaker 6: Making a pretty big thing out of nothing, aren't you.
[22:56] Speaker 6: I haven't done anything. You want to check those things
[22:58] Speaker 6: from his wallet? Band, the cards, some of those papers?
[23:00] Speaker 6: I mean, yeah, that's your true name on this card here,
[23:08] Speaker 6: Grant B. Jameson, All right, that's right. This is your
[23:11] Speaker 6: present address.
[23:13] Speaker 3: Yeah. Have you ever been arrested before? Oh? You asked
[23:16] Speaker 3: that it's not gonna take too much time to find out.
[23:18] Speaker 6: You might as well tell us. We still don't know
[23:20] Speaker 6: what this is all about. I was speeding a little,
[23:22] Speaker 6: that's all. I haven't done anything.
[23:23] Speaker 3: You know.
[23:24] Speaker 5: You're kidding yourself, James, And we got everything on you
[23:26] Speaker 5: that we need. What do you think you're gonna gain
[23:29] Speaker 5: my stallings? You must have me mixed up with somebody else.
[23:32] Speaker 5: I don't know what you're getting at this card here
[23:35] Speaker 5: you took out of your wallets. You recognize why these
[23:38] Speaker 5: names and addresses you've got jotted down on the back
[23:40] Speaker 5: of it? Mind checking them out for I don't know
[23:43] Speaker 5: what you mean. Take a look he's here? Whose addresses
[23:47] Speaker 5: are they?
[23:48] Speaker 3: Who are the people?
[23:49] Speaker 6: Let's see? No, I don't think I even remember 'em.
[23:55] Speaker 6: Just something I scribbled.
[23:56] Speaker 3: Down, that's all. You don't even remember one of 'em. No,
[23:58] Speaker 3: I don't think so how do you ask? Why don't
[24:02] Speaker 3: you come off with? Mister? What are you talking? You
[24:04] Speaker 3: know what we're talking about. You know it as well
[24:06] Speaker 3: as you know your own name.
[24:07] Speaker 5: Fourteen robberies down here in twenty eight days you had
[24:10] Speaker 5: picked up in the hold up car. After the last
[24:11] Speaker 5: try tonight your partner gets away. Now you go right
[24:13] Speaker 5: on kidding yourself, Jamison, play it real close. You see
[24:16] Speaker 5: how far it gets you. I sure wish I know
[24:19] Speaker 5: what you're talking about. I don't know a thing about
[24:21] Speaker 5: any robberies. All right, then you stand by mister. You're
[24:24] Speaker 5: going to know a lot more about him. You're gonna
[24:26] Speaker 5: know a lot in the hurry. Yeah, just as soon
[24:28] Speaker 5: as we pick up your partner.
[24:32] Speaker 3: Twelve twenty am.
[24:33] Speaker 5: We continued to question the suspect, Grant Jamison, but he
[24:36] Speaker 5: refused to admit anything, even the fact that he'd stolen
[24:39] Speaker 5: the car that he'd been apprehended in.
[24:41] Speaker 3: The only strong lead.
[24:42] Speaker 5: We could pick out from the articles found on his
[24:44] Speaker 5: person was the list of Foreig names and addresses jotted
[24:46] Speaker 5: on the back of a.
[24:47] Speaker 3: Car found on his wallet.
[24:49] Speaker 5: Twelve thirty am, Ben and I left the sub station
[24:52] Speaker 5: and drove to the address Jamison that told us was
[24:54] Speaker 5: his present residence, an apartment house on Vernnon Avenue. The
[24:58] Speaker 5: manager told us he'd moved least a year ago without
[25:01] Speaker 5: leaving a forwarding address. One am, we began checking out
[25:04] Speaker 5: the list of four names and addresses which we'd found
[25:06] Speaker 5: in the suspect's wallet. The first was a Jack Williams.
[25:10] Speaker 5: His address a Spring Street roaming house. The land lady
[25:13] Speaker 5: told us he'd moved to Cleveland, Ohio, three months before.
[25:16] Speaker 5: The second was a John Gallagher. His address a third
[25:19] Speaker 5: rate hotel in East Hollywood. He hadn't been registered there
[25:22] Speaker 5: in the past two months. The third was a Matthew Sandford.
[25:25] Speaker 5: His address turned out to be an apartment house in
[25:27] Speaker 5: the Crenshaw District.
[25:32] Speaker 3: One. A place to light on the mail box is
[25:34] Speaker 3: over here, Joe. Yeah, here you go. You see the
[25:38] Speaker 3: name there? Mm yeah, here.
[25:40] Speaker 8: Here it is mL Sandford. That out of be a
[25:42] Speaker 8: apartment five. Right, let's try.
[25:46] Speaker 3: Front door open, Saint yeah, let's company number five should
[25:54] Speaker 3: be done this way? I guess number five. Okay, give
[26:00] Speaker 3: it a try. Go ahead. That you police officers, you
[26:15] Speaker 3: Matthew Sam get up here, all right, get it all right?
[26:20] Speaker 3: Come on, I've a gun down alright, got it? Joe?
[26:25] Speaker 3: All right, get your hands, I'll cover him. Look around.
[26:28] Speaker 3: Huh right, what is this anyway? What's the idea you
[26:31] Speaker 3: tell us you pulled the gun. You've got no business
[26:33] Speaker 3: in here, You got no right? All right?
[26:35] Speaker 8: You just stand still. We'll explain it. Downtown money sacks.
[26:38] Speaker 8: Joe found him in the desk, same market they hit tonight.
[26:41] Speaker 8: All right, Samford, you've got nothing from me. I don't
[26:43] Speaker 8: know what you're talking about it yet his coat?
[26:44] Speaker 3: What have you been?
[26:45] Speaker 10: Yeah?
[26:46] Speaker 3: What are you trying to build anyway? You haven't got
[26:48] Speaker 3: anything on me. Fourteen robberies, mister, that's what we got
[26:50] Speaker 3: on you. Do you think you got proof? We got it? Yeah,
[26:53] Speaker 3: fourteen victims. Come on, let's go.
[27:03] Speaker 2: The story you have just heard was true. The names
[27:07] Speaker 2: were changed to protect the innocent.
[27:09] Speaker 4: The two Market bandit suspects, Grant Burton Jamison and Matthew
[27:12] Speaker 4: Roy Sanford were tried and convicted on fourteen counts of
[27:16] Speaker 4: first degree robbery and received sentences as prescribed by law.
[27:20] Speaker 4: First degree robbery is punishable by imprisonment in the state
[27:23] Speaker 4: penitentiary from five years to life. You have just heard
[27:35] Speaker 4: Dragnet a series of authentic cases from official files. Technical
[27:40] Speaker 4: advice comes from the Office of Chief of Police W. H. Parker,
[27:43] Speaker 4: Los Angeles Police Department.
[27:50] Speaker 1: Welcome back. Well a good case and one of those
[27:54] Speaker 1: episodes where the capture comes from a partnership with Los
[28:00] Speaker 1: Angeles County, which is really important in real life to
[28:06] Speaker 1: so many LAPD operations. I also did like the scene
[28:11] Speaker 1: of making the composite picture. It was a bit different
[28:17] Speaker 1: other scenes that I had seen. For example, in He
[28:23] Speaker 1: Walked By Nine, they had kind of like pre cut
[28:29] Speaker 1: images of different features to determine how the person looked,
[28:38] Speaker 1: and they had multiple witnesses. Here you just had one witness,
[28:43] Speaker 1: but she was able to say it looked a little
[28:45] Speaker 1: bit like this top of the face and that bottom
[28:49] Speaker 1: of the face, and that was a way they produced
[28:52] Speaker 1: the composite. And of course there is the secret star
[28:56] Speaker 1: of the episode, the mimeograph. It's not something that people
[29:01] Speaker 1: are as familiar with, but it was really important before
[29:07] Speaker 1: you had photo copiers come along. Starting in the latter
[29:13] Speaker 1: part of the sixties and then into the seventies, these
[29:17] Speaker 1: were a huge step ahead for printing and running off copies.
[29:22] Speaker 1: And certainly would be a vital tool in trying to
[29:26] Speaker 1: get multiple copies of anything out to the police force.
[29:31] Speaker 1: And I actually know of the mimeograph. My first time
[29:37] Speaker 1: hearing of it wasn't in this episode of Dragon That
[29:40] Speaker 1: or any other episode or movie from the era, or
[29:46] Speaker 1: even radio program. You don't hear those mentioned a lot.
[29:50] Speaker 1: It was actually from a nineteen eighty sitcom. My favorite
[29:55] Speaker 1: comedy show when I was growing up was Perfect Strangers,
[29:59] Speaker 1: and it featured a mimeograph machine. They made it believable.
[30:03] Speaker 1: It was the first episode where they were working in
[30:08] Speaker 1: the newspaper, and the writers recognized the mimeograph machine would
[30:14] Speaker 1: be a great set piece for the sort of physical
[30:18] Speaker 1: comedy they did on that show, And so the writers
[30:21] Speaker 1: had the copy machine breakdown, and so Balki had to
[30:27] Speaker 1: use the mimeograph machine. Cousin Larry tried to help him,
[30:32] Speaker 1: and hilarity in suit believable in nineteen eighty seven that
[30:37] Speaker 1: a venerable Chicago newspaper would have one of those machines
[30:41] Speaker 1: still around, But these days I don't think you would
[30:44] Speaker 1: find one outside of a museum or a private collection. Perhaps, Well,
[30:49] Speaker 1: now it's time to then call our Patreon supporter of
[30:52] Speaker 1: the day, Thank you song on Spend twenty fifteen, currently
[30:55] Speaker 1: supporting the podcast at the much level of four dollars
[31:01] Speaker 1: or more promont Thanks so much for your support, John.
[31:03] Speaker 1: That will do it for today. If you're enjoying the podcast,
[31:06] Speaker 1: please follow us using your favorite podcast software and be
[31:11] Speaker 1: sure to rate and review the podcast wherever you download
[31:13] Speaker 1: it from. We'll be back next Thursday with another episode
[31:17] Speaker 1: of drag Nap. But join us back here tomorrow for
[31:21] Speaker 1: yours truly, Johnny Dollar.
[31:23] Speaker 11: Where, hey, Marian, having trouble? Yeah, some kids been monking
[31:29] Speaker 11: just a lot.
[31:30] Speaker 3: You want some bait?
[31:31] Speaker 2: No, this is one trip I didn't come to fish.
[31:34] Speaker 11: How is it by the way fish?
[31:36] Speaker 3: Yeah? Fine, just my lot.
[31:38] Speaker 11: No, I'm supposed to meet somebody there.
[31:40] Speaker 3: Oh, it must be that fellow out there. He was
[31:43] Speaker 3: already there when I got here.
[31:45] Speaker 11: Oh you see that boat the bottom side up on
[31:48] Speaker 11: the pier in.
[31:48] Speaker 3: Near the end.
[31:49] Speaker 11: I mean the man sitting beside her, Yeah, and himself
[31:53] Speaker 11: a fishing rod. Looks like could be on some bait.
[31:56] Speaker 11: I'll walk out with you and see if you go mine.
[31:59] Speaker 5: Not at all.
[32:00] Speaker 11: So their fishing has been good?
[32:01] Speaker 3: Huh? What have they been catching?
[32:04] Speaker 11: Quite a few bass last couple of days off the pier. Yeah,
[32:07] Speaker 11: there's some kelp beds and close brings me in around here.
[32:12] Speaker 3: Funny and your friend there. You don't see it.
[32:15] Speaker 12: Hey sleep, I guess, Hey, watch out, he's living. Got
[32:21] Speaker 12: but hm, hey, mister, mister, he isn't sleeping.
[32:27] Speaker 3: That's right, he's dead.
[32:29] Speaker 1: I hope you'll be with us then in the meantime.
[32:32] Speaker 1: Send your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot ne.
[32:37] Speaker 1: Follow us on Twitter, Radio Detectives. Check us out on Instagram,
[32:41] Speaker 1: Instagram dot com, slash Great Detactives from Boise, Idaho. This
[32:47] Speaker 1: is your host, Adam Graham signing off.

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