Dragnet - Big Saw

0:00Ladies and gentlemen, the story of your laboratory here is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned a robbery detail. Two masked gunmen have held up a bank in your city. The victims can't give you a lead to their identity. Your job find them. It was Tuesday June 3rd. The warmen lost hands. We were working a day watch out a robbery detail. My partner's frank smith, the boss of TV detective stabbed Brown. My name's Friday. I was on my way back from the street and it was 8.47 a.m. when I got to the rear of the bank, the manager's office. I'm not a young woman anymore. I can't take this kind of excitement. Yes, ma'am. You track with them? Yeah. They got the broad cast out right away. Long shot of it pays off. Yeah, how much of a description? I hope you're not saying that for my benefit young man. I gave you all I could. It was hard to see their faces with those scarves on. Maybe you could have done better, but I couldn't.

1:12We're not trying to say that you didn't do good, ma'am. We understand the handicapped that you were under. I should hope so. Terrible thing. I'm not a young woman anymore. That's right. Now would you tell us just exactly what happened now right from the beginning? You mean starting when I come in this morning? That's right. Hey, to clock. Just like always. That's when I got here. Open the door with my key and came right on in. Little suspecting what was waiting for me. I tell you I was pretty surprised when they popped out at me. You didn't see them at first then. Of course not. You think I would have come in if I had seen them? No, ma'am. Certainly not. Never would have come in. When did you first see the two of them? I came in and locked the door behind me. I told you you got locked the door. I did and then I went back to the clothes cause it to hang up my coat and umbrella. I say go ahead. Kind of silly. I guess carrying umbrella on a day like this, but I always do never know. People always kind of smirk at me for carrying one, but whenever it rains out of a clear sky, they don't smirk them. I'm always the center of a crowd. You just bet you. Yes, ma'am. Would you go ahead with what happened, please? Well, I hung up my umbrella and my coat and then I came out the main part of the bank right out where those two assassins were. And that's when you saw them. Is that right? Oh no, they were KG. They waited until I was away from the alarm system. They were real.

2:23I walked out the tables, you know, where the deposit slips are out in center out there. I walked out straight now. Really is my job, but I didn't have anything else to do. So I thought I'd maybe just check and see if any of the points needed new nips. I like a neat place. You know, all the slips in the right place. Lotters all clean and new neat, when did you see the thing as I was straightening up the counter. That's when they stepped out the open. Over and the escrow department hiding behind the desk. I guess that's the direction they came from. I see what they said. The big one he looked at me with his silly eyes and told me to be quiet. Nothing would happen. Said to be just quiet. Not young anymore, Sergeant, a thing like that can be a tremendous shock. We're both of the men together at that time. I don't understand. Well, they both come out from behind the counter. Oh, yeah, the big one had a machine gun. And the other, a little scrum one had a pistol. And your positive, the big one had a machine gun. Listen, young man. I've seen enough movies and television that no machine gun.

3:27When I see it, don't you think I don't about the pistol was it a revolver and automatic? What? Well, look here. Did it look like this? This gun of mine? No, no, it wasn't like that. It was more the kind to see in movies more mean looking than that. Real mean looking kind of flat like. I see it was an automatic. Well, I don't know what it was, but it was real mean. And furthermore, I wouldn't be surprised. There were real bullets in it, not Lalise. I have to think him off behind the counter. What happened? They asked me what time the rest of the staff came in. I told them anytime. That seemed to make them happy. Boy, say that. Because one of them, the big one turned a little around and said just like clockwork. That's what he said. Just like clockwork. I'm going to tell you something sort of a clue. This man was saying these fellas been planning this a long time. They knew all about how the bank works. What time everybody comes in and all. They even knew about the keys. What key? The ones to the bank door. They knew who had them. First thing they wanted to know after they asked about the staff was where my key was. You have a key to the wall? No, not to the vault itself, just to the doors in front of it. You know the bar doors in front of the vault door to those. Did you give the man your key? I didn't.

4:45I didn't have much to say about it. I told you I think they might have had real bullets in those guns and I wasn't about to make sure. After all I pay my taxes. Catching those fellas is your job, not mine. If you want to cash a check, I can take care of you. But I'm not about to go out and have a hand. No fees. What happened there? You mean after I gave them the key? They made me get off to one side of the front doors and wait for the rest of the staff. As they come in, the holdup men would make them get into the closet and the rear of the bank. Where I hung my own money. I was going to tell you. I was going to tell you. I was going to tell you. I was going to tell you. I was going to tell you. I was going to tell you. I was going to tell you. I was going to tell you. I was going to tell you. I was going to tell you. I was going to tell you. I was going to tell you. I was going to tell you. That was my money. I was going to tell you. I was going to tell you.

5:45Mr. Blanton. Poor Mr. Blanton. He's not well. You know, he's not well at all. Yes, man, we saw him upfront. Is he all right? He had an awful attack, bad heart. Well, they've taken him to Georgia Street receiving her a spell. Did they find his pills? What's that? His pills. Mr. Blanton had a special kind of pill he takes when he has an attack. Some kind of explosive always has them with him. Did the man find him? Well, I guess they do. They had an necessarily medication with him. He's going to be all right. Just need some rest. I'm glad of that. Sweet man. Mm-hmm. What happened when he came in? Mr. Blanton? Yes, ma'am. Well, he was just about pulled right in off the streets. He just got his key in the door, and they practically just yanked him right in. Right away, one disked to the vault door. You have to have both of them in order to open it. Both of them have to be turned at the same time. They asked him for his key. At first, he didn't want to give it to him. Told him to get out of his bank and to stop the foolishness. Just like that, he told him. I thought they were going to shoot him, but they didn't. I think that hadn't been for the big one they would have.

6:47The scrawny one wanted to. Wanted to kill Mr. Blanton right in cold blood. But the big one stopped him. Said to just get on with the job and get out of there. That's what he said. To get out of there. That's when Mr. Blanton passed out. Cold. Right on the floor. Attack. You want to go ahead? Well, I guess they just about had a fight between themselves over that. Oh, how do you mean? The big one really read the run-off. Told him he was stupid for making poor Mr. Blanton pass out. Said that now they have to wait for the combination of the safe. But I stopped that. I gave him the combination. You told him I'd open the safe to... Certainly. With poor Mr. Blanton laying there on the floor, all I could think about was them getting out of there. That's all it was important. That's when they opened the safe to them. Yeah. Went right over to Mr. Blanton and got his key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. By then, the lock had switched off and they just opened up the vault and went in. They leaned it right out. Just scooped up the money and put it in the black bag and left. First off, of course, they locked me up in the closet with the others and then they left.

7:49Who turned in the alarm? I guess it was Mr. Blanton. He was laying on the floor where he'd fell. I guess he came too and not to get the alarm system and turn it on. Must've been him. Was anybody else who could have done it? During the time the men were in the bank, did you hear them using me names? I don't think I understand what you mean. Well, although they call each other by name at any time. Now that I heard, is it important? Well, it is help. I didn't hear a new denny, but if worse comes to worse, I can do something about it. This man. I've got a couple of longs. I've obtained a complete description of the hold-up pair and a supplemental barge gas was put out. The crime lab crew came after the scene and went over the premises for physical evidence. From their investigation, we found that the bandits had made their entrance through a rear window. They'd sought through the steel bars and broken the glass. From there, they'd come in and apparently had waited for the employees to arrive. We'd ascertain from the cashier that both men had worn gloves so there was no chance of getting any fingerprints.

8:49In the dirt on the alley pavement, Lee Jones was able to find several good impressions of footprints. These were photographed and booked as evidence. Because of their placement, it was more than likely that they belonged to the thieves. Also in the alley, he found several broken hacksaw blades. They were not allowed to be found in the basement. They were not allowed to be found in the basement. The police were booked. There are numbers noted and a request sent to the manufacturer for the name of the store that it sold them. The other employees of the bank were questioned and they verified the story and the description that we got from the cashier. The stats office started to run on the MOU and the victims were taken downtown and asked to go through the mud books. They were not able to give us an identification of the things. I mean, I'm good. A couple. Skip around? No. You went over to the inspectors office. Anything special? I wanted to check with them and who's going to work with us on this thing. Lee left word. Murph and Gaffney were with us. We can use Prinky and Strombwell if we need them. There's Murph around? No, I went down to R&I. He had a hunch that it's Mike Cyan with a heist that worked on last month.

9:49Same MO. I'll get him out as well. Check it out. Well, as soon as he gets back, maybe he'll give us a hand or this list. Yeah. How about the bank manager anywhere there? I call Georgia Street, talk with Dr. Sebastian. He said, Blanda has been released to his own doctor. What kind of conditions, Ian? Should be able to talk to him tonight. Guess it was a pretty bad attack. Sebastian said he was in rough shape. Well, let's check out. We can tag Murph on the hall. Gaffney with him? He was. I must go. You want to sign us out? Yeah. I got it. Robbery Friday. Yeah, he's here. Just a minute. For you, Prinky. Okay. Want to take care of the book? Yeah. Who is it? You didn't say you just want to talk to you. Special speaking. Hey, I'll try. Huh? Yeah, sure we can. Yes, we can right away. Mm-hmm. Do you want to give me that address? Uh-huh. Yes, sir. Okay, thank you. I have it. Yeah, right away. Goodbye. Blanton Stockton. Yeah. Says he wants to see us right away.

10:49You know what I'm about? Well, Blanton says he remembers that when the thieves' life put back, his customer came up to the door. Yeah. He heard the big one tell the other one to take off his mask. The customer got a good look at both of them. We left the office immediately and drove over to the bank manager's home. We talked with his doctor and we obtained commission to ask a few questions. Blanton told us that as the two thieves have left the bank, a woman passed her by, had noticed the bank manager's keys still in the front door lock. She'd stopped and knocked at the door to notify someone in the bank about the keys. As she did, the two hold-up men had taken off their masks and passed directly in front of her. We asked Blanton if he knew the woman, but he said that he'd never seen her before. We asked if it was possible that she might be a customer of his bank. He said it was possible that he'd just never seen her before. He gave us a description and we started to check with the bank employees and the hopes that one of them could identify her. None of them could. We got out of supplemental bulletin asking that the woman be picked up. In the meantime, officers murky and rafferty have checked out the list of possible

11:50that the staff officer would come up with. All of the names on the list either had alibis or could establish that they were not near the bank when it was robbed. We checked all FI cards filed in the area without results. Frank and I checked out of the officer 1218 AM when one of them got some sleep. The next day, Wednesday, June 3rd, Frank was waiting for me when I got to work. Don't sit down, we got a call to make. You know, Marie Logan called. You remember the rental car agent out in the valley? Oh, yeah. She gave us a hand on the identity of young fellow that knocked over the liquor store out of shoulder mimephal. That's the one. Or what she got. It might be nothing but we ought to check it out. It says that the woman who hangs around the local bar's mooch and drinks never got a dime. She came to see Marie yesterday afternoon, wanted a round of cards, a drive to New York. Or do we finish? She wanted to pay in advance. Well, offered Marie brand new $100 bill. From the statement we got from the bank, we knew that in the $34,000 the thieves had taken. There were several thousand dollars in $100 bill.

12:51Frank and I signed out of the office and go back to the San Fernando Valley. At the corner of Valley, Hart's full of art and dickens, we found Marie Logan's rental agency. There was a line of late model cars in front of a lot. And at the rear, we found a small wooden building. Frank and I got the door unruited. Yeah. Oh, hi, Sue. Hello, Miss Logan. Hi, Sergeant. Mrs. Mice, come on in. Thank you. Thank you very much. Sure, I hope I can butt you guys out here in a while, Goose Chase. Hope it works out. All right, do you want to fill it in? Uh, this woman named Betty Gallagher hangs on the bars in the neighborhood spend the time, cash and drinks, real bum. Why do you figure we might be interested? A couple of times she's coming to rent a car just for you as a round-pound. First two times, I was stuck. How do you mean? Checks. You'd pay the deposit with a cheque, then when she's brought the car back, she'd pay the bill by cheque. Checks at bum. Then why'd Carla, she'd come in and take it up and give me the cash to cover it. That's the only reason I didn't turn it over to you. She always paid up. Now this time she had the cash, though. Yeah. Came in wanted a new link in the drive of New York.

13:51She's just like always. She's cop and dress, cloth, coat, even had the imitation leather purse. Kind of supposed to look like real leather, but soon as you get inside, ten feet, you know what it is, you know what I mean? That's fine. Well, anyway, when she asked for the car, I thought I couldn't let her have it, so I'd been sung too many times before. So right off, she said she wanted to pay cash. That's when she opened this Cromy purse, and the door almost fell out. Much had had a couple of thousand dollars in there, maybe more. Well, you said something on the phone about a hundred dollar bill. Yeah. She pulled out a couple of them to show me she could pay cash. I asked her what she got him. What'd you say to that? That it wasn't any of my business. So many as long as she had the money and the driver's license, I should not run out of the car. I thought I ought to check with you first. You got an address on this guy like woman? Yeah. After I called this morning, I checked through the records. Got a home address and the driver's license. She got any friends, you know her? Just about an every bar, still with the young house. I mean, anyone special. Oh, I don't know. I saw a couple of times with the same guy in the place down in the corner. Hot days, I think, some nice good on a full beer team.

14:51Well, I've seen her there with this one guy a couple of times. You know who he is? No, not his name. I've seen the two of them drive away together a couple of times. He's got a flashy, convertible. Guess he drove it out here. What do you mean? Of course, I have a New York license plate. Oh, excuse me. That's not. Go ahead. Logan Randall service. Yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah, I know her. Yeah. Is she about that? Sure. Okay. Thanks. Goodbye. That chair is it. What's wrong? There was a rental agency in Hollywood called asking about Betty Gallick. I think she gave me as a reference. Yeah. Came into their place and went to the car for them. They cashed for it. Was she there now? No. She left for New York this morning. We contacted the rental agency that at least the car had a Betty Gallick.

15:51From them, we got a description of the car and the license number. To put out a local and an all-points bullet in the vehicle. We got in touch with the New York authorities and asked them to be on the lookout for the car. We got the Gallic Woman's address from the rental agency and we checked out her house. We found nothing to give us any indications to where she might have gone, but we did find a silk scarf similar to the one described by the victims as having been worn by the hold-up men. We checked with the neighbors, but none of them could tell us where Betty Gallick had gone. Two days went by while we followed down every lead that turned up. The information from the crime lab was checked out, but it let us know where. The serial numbers on the hacksaw blades had come back, but when we talked to the store owner, he was unable to tell us who would bought them. Saturday at 12 noon, a meeting was held in the office as a fat brown. Members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation were there. They had agents working on the case, but they hadn't been able to come up with any more information than we'd gotten. 2.14 PM. Frank and I got back to the office. That chief was your man. Well, do you blame him? We haven't got very much.

16:51Well, it seems like every time we do get a lead worth anything, it goes to nothing. It's got to end in some place. I got it. Probably, Freddie. Yeah. We did? No, it went. Yeah, right. No, I'll be right down the pick it up. Yeah, thanks. Bye. Now it's communication. They just got a wire from Chicago. Yeah. They picked up the Gallick woman. Betty Gallick had been picked up software Chicago and held an answer to our communication. However, when she was picked up, she was in the company of two other women. They were identified as her sisters. We made arrangements to talk to her by long-distance telephone. As soon as we started to ask her questions regarding the bank robbery, she admitted being the driver of the Getaway Co. She told us that the theft had been planned by a man she knew only as dean. She was unable to tell us any more about it. She went on to say that she'd met him in a bar in the valley along with the other two men. She identified these two men as Richard and Matt.

17:52She was unable to give us their last names or tell us any more about them. She did say, however, that Matt was from New York and that as far as she knew, he was there at the time. She went on to say that he was not with the trio when the bank was held up. We questioned her further, but she was unable to give us any additional information on the three men. She did, however, tell us that they had stated a motel located on Sepulveda Boulevard. She gave us the name in the approximate location. She was detained pending extradition in Chicago. Saturday evening, Frank and I drove out to the motel with the Gallic woman had mentioned. We rang the bell and waited. Yeah? Light's on. We got no vacancies. Police officers. We want to ask you some questions. What about a couple of men who stayed here? Anybody in this place who's got trouble with the cops has to get out. You tell me who they are and off-dome right at you. I don't want no trouble. Now, how are you looking for? One of them is tall, the other is short. Name Dean and Richard. What about the last name? We haven't got that. I don't need it. I know who you mean. Yeah. Sure. Dean Franklin, Dick Norton, a couple of no good. They ain't here anymore. You know where they are? I'm not sure. I think maybe I got an address in my desk. Come on in. Thank you.

18:52I'm Jim Allison. Oh, it's Frank Smith. My name is Friday. And what have the boys done? Just routine we want to talk to him. You won't tell me, huh? Don't be better if we talk to them about it. I have it your own way. I don't want to get mixed up in anything. Those boys got themselves a bucket of trouble. I want no part of it. While they were here, they paid their rent and didn't cause much trouble. That's all I was interested in. Long as they didn't cause any trouble. Yes, sir. How long go they leave? I guess about a week ago. I got it in the books. I can check it for you, if you want. Yes, sir. We'd like to have the information. Sure I'll get it for you. How many visitors while they were here? A couple of guys come around the morning. That's about it. They'll look like bill collectors. The boys never let them inside. They used to talk on the porch. Three out and move out at the same time. No. Matt left a couple of days before. He was going back east. I think he had some kind of a job back there. It wasn't real chummy. You know, kind of kept it themselves. All right, sure. Would you see if you got that address? What it might be? Always sure. Forgot all about it. It's in the desk, I think. Always running is this kind of thing with a motel. That's her. What's that? Wrong people, rent and rooms. We got no way of checking on them. It seems like whenever somebody's got trouble, they pick a motel to have it and never ends.

19:52Let's see. Yeah, here it is. They left this in case I got any mail form. So just to send it on. Here you are. Thank you. It's a place out in West Los Angeles. Thank you very much, sir. Glad to help out. You can't tell me what this is about, huh? No, sir. It's police business. You think you're going to have any trouble with him? Well, it's hard to say. Look at how they want it. If I was you, I'd take it easy picking a mug. What? But if I know Franklin's got a gun. We obtained the license number and description of the cars of the Suspects of Driven, with a late model convertible with New York license plate. Before we left the motel, we called our and I and checked the name's Dean Franklin and Richard Norton. We found that both of them had long felony records. We talked to Captain Donahoe and had two more teams of men sent out from the office to meet us if the address that we've gotten from the motel manager. And what we knew was the two men taking them into custody would be difficult. Franklin, I left the motel and drove out to the address in West Los Angeles. It was a one-story wooden building set well back on a weed-dilled lot.

20:53A late model car was in the driveway. Ten minutes after we got there, officers Murphy, Rafferty, Mead, and Light and Her Metas. Murphy had brought two sawdoc shotguns loaded with double-ought buck and several tear gas grenades. The only chance we had of taking them in without bloodshed was to use the one element on our side. Murphy and Rafferty went around to the street at the back of the house and Light and Her Metas took the other. When all of us were in position, Franklin, I prepared to move up to the front door. You all say? Just a minute. Let's go. I don't think anything. I only mind seeing if you'd better take it easy. Right. Let's make it for the porch. There. Come on. You okay? Yeah. Right now I'll take the door. I'll only get inside. You go to the left. I'll handle the right side. Right. Don't say it. Yeah.

22:04How about it? Nothing. Place is empty. We searched the house but we found no trace of the suspect. From the clothing and the closets we figured they had not moved out. And going over the house we found a machine gun hidden in one of the bedrooms. The cartridge clip was loaded and the gun was ready for use. We pulled the clip, called the office and told him where we were and then we settled down to wait for the suspect to return. Murphy and Rafferty covered the rear approaches to the house. Me, the lightener, were in cars parked down the street and Frank and I waited in the front room. At 10.46 pm the phone in the house rang three times and then it stopped. We waited for Franklin and Norton to come back. 11 pm. 11.30. It's a cold in the house. Midnight. 12.30 the phone rang again. 12.45 from down the street rear to car approach. Sure. Huh. Is there anything? I just a minute. Pull up, couldn't I? Yeah.

23:04It's a fort today and coming down this way. Pulled into the driveway. Right? Man, it's there. Just the two of them. The mirrors I can tell you. They're getting out of the car. Yeah. A lot of light there in me. Yeah, at least see them. They're starting to get out of the car down here. Better cover the door at the coming. Police officer, stand still. Frank, get me a little drink. All of them. Frank, there's no action. No, all of them. Are you out of Frank? Frank, let's run around. How'd you get to us who told you? What you're saying? Who told you where we're here? Somebody had to tell you. You never got us without somebody tipping you. It was that lush Betty wasn't it? It was her that told you. Followed outside. Come on, move. Had to be her. She was the only one that knew. Had to be her. You never made it without her. You're wrong. We don't made it. Come on. The story you have just heard is true.

24:05The names were changed to protect the innocent. On November 14th, trial was held in Department 92, superior court of the state of California, in and for the county of Los Angeles. Dean Roger Franklin, Richard Henry Norton, and Betty Elaine Gallic were tried and convicted of robbery in the first degree. Robbery in the first degree is punishable by imprisonment in the state penitentiary for a period of from five years to life. Further investigation showed that Matthew Arthur Ross had no part or knowledge of the crime. You have just heard dragnet. The authentic story of your police force in action and starring Jack Webb, a presentation of the United States armed forces radio service.