Dragnet - Police Academy-Mario Koski

0:00There's an NBC's great parade of new shows. Ladies and gentlemen, the story you're about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. NBC brings you dragnet. You're a detective sergeant, you're assigned to robbery detail. An armed gang of blitz bandits has started to work in your city. Their pace is fast, four and five robberies each night. The criminals are not amateurs. They're well armed, dangerous. Your job...get them. Dragnet, the documented drama of an actual crime. Investigated and solved by the men who unrelentingly stand watch on the security of your home, your family and your life.

1:03For the next 30 minutes in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department, you will travel step by step on the side of the law through an actual case from official police files. From beginning to end, from crime to punishment, dragnet is the story of your police force in action. Before Thursday, October 23rd was windy in Los Angeles. We were working the day watch out of robbery. My partner's been Romero. The boss is at backstrand chief of detectives. My name's Friday. I was on my way back from the statistician's office. It was 11.42 am when I got to room 27A. Robbery details. How did it work out, Joe? Any good prospects? I don't know how good they are, but I got a handful. How many did you get? Let me see. 15. 18. 22. Half-old down on the stats office ran him on the IBM army. There they are. Let's see. It's a gang of three men working on foot. Let's robberies. They only take cash.

2:03M.O. is tie-ups. Work from 8 to 10 at night. One of the gang's tall. The other two short. These are the men. The machine's ordered out. Under that heading, you know. If our information's wrong, then so is the machine. Got a good bunch of Canada's here. Descriptions match up with what we got. They seem to. Check the names on that list, Ben. Some of the smartest thieves in the country. They take me out. Tommy Willis. Red Grandpa. Kempste Telling. Many Roberts. George Cross. Mario Cusky. He's like June graduation in San Quentin. Yeah. George Cross and Tommy Willis are in town. We know that. Tom Cusky, he's running a couple of weeks ago. What about the rest? It's a big field. After checking mine, I guess. Well, let's start at the beginning. Did you go through the overnight report yet? Yeah. No restaurants, no liquor stores. That makes five days of gangs laid off. They can afford you, can't they? 18 robberies in 2048. That's a pretty good haul. Stop and go strategy. There's you. It's got me. Yeah. They work hard for a week in one area and then they lay low. They just keep going. We might have a better trial.

3:03Hey, Joe. Yeah, Chandler. I saw out there to see you, Joe. Name's Decker. Decker. Henry Decker. Didn't say. Want to see him? Yeah, send him in. Try it. All right, Mr. Decker. This way. How are you, Joe? You're looking good. Well, Hank Decker. How are you? I'm fine. What are you waiting for, applause? Come on in and shut the door. Hank, this is my partner, Ben Romero. Ben, Hank Decker. All right, Hank. How are you, Ben? Hank and I are in service together. Yeah, I just dropped in for a visit, Joe. Are you busy? No more unusual. So. Thanks. I remember you telling me you were on the PD, so I figured I'd drop around and get an inside track. How do you mean? I just filed with civil service to take the exam next month. I'd like to work at being a cop. He sells you out, Joe. Great pep talk, your boy's head out. You sure you want to be a cop? Oh, look, I'm 30 years old, Joe. I married high school education by the year of junior college. What's your wife think? She's not sold. Well, that's why I dropped in.

4:03How about coming out to the house for dinner tonight? You want me to sell her? Just talk to her. Seven, okay? Well, seven's okay. All right. Glad to met you, Ben. Thank you, Decker. See you again. Bye, Joe. Good night, Hank. Well, what do you think, Ben? Oh, to make a good cup. We had a list of 22 possible suspects. By five o'clock, Ben and I had checked out two of them, who might possibly have had a hand in the blitz robberies of the 18 liquor stores and restaurants in the past 24 days. Number one man was Thomas Willis, Caucasian, age 29, five feet 11 inches, 175 pounds, dark hair, blue eyes. Number two man was Mario Koski, Caucasian, five feet six inches, 170 pounds, dark hair, dark eyes, large scar under his chin, running across his throat up to and behind his left ear. According to our informants, and after questioning some of their associates, either Willis or Koski or both could have taken part in the blitz holdups.

5:05We showed their mugs to the victims, but none of them could give us definite assurance that either Willis or Koski were in the holdup gang. At seven that night, I went out to Hank Decker's house for supper, met his wife Linda, his four-year-old twin boys. We talked about the army, played with the kids for a while. Before we sat out to eat, we put the boys in bed. Hank was in the kitchen carving the roast. His wife closed the door to the kids' room and we started downstairs for the kitchen. What do you think of our two atom bombs? Fine kids, Ms. Decker. Hank told me that you were worried about him wanting to join the force. I was 12 years old when my father was shut down. He was a policeman in Des Moines. He was only 37 when he died. I wouldn't know what to do if anything like that happened, Hank. What do you want me to say? But Des Hank really wanted it. Can't you talk him out of it? You're his wife, can you?

6:06No, I think it's his choice, Ms. Decker. He's going to have to make up his own mind. I'm sorry. It's what Hank wants. I guess they're worried too much. A lot of women marry cops they have, and they will, and they all worry. Hank will be all right. Will you guarantee it, Joe? During the next month, I heard from Hank Decker only once. He was studying hard. During the same month, Ben and I were working hard. Trying to find some kind of a concrete lead to break the blitz gang. There had been no subsequent holdups which seemed to tie in directly with the gang or its operations. From the list of possible suspects which Ben and I made up, 18 names had been eliminated for one reason or another. Either they were in jail at the time of the robberies, out of the Los Angeles area, or out of the state. But four names remained. George Cross, Tommy Willis, Mario Kosky, Julian Brock. During a latter part of the month, George Cross was booked on a minor charge and we questioned him at that time.

7:07He showed no knowledge of the holdups. Nearly two months after the robberies were committed, Ben and I were still without a solution as to the whereabouts of the gang. Never known the blitz gang back this way before, Joe. Once they get wound up, they usually go into the court. Yeah. Did you get out those telegram checks of the East yet? That's not for one home. Send out all three. Willis Kosky and Brock. I'd like to find just one of them. You've got to go ahead or something. That's Kosky's old hangout. Willis too. What about Brock? We can't just sit here any. Yeah. I ain't got to ride too. I might have an answer from one of them tomorrow. That's a slow job. I'm going to have to wait it out. I guess so. No follow-ups from the victims we told too. I'll get it. Robbery Friday. Hi, it's Joe Hank Deck. I congratulate me. What for? Just passed my written exam. Got the letter this morning. How about that? That's fine. Why do you take your physical? Until the end of the month. Next week, I take the oral and agility test. Then the physical. If I get by, then what am I meant? You're going to have a full month of the police academy

8:07after the test. There's a lot of work in. I can't be any worse than these tests. It's a tough 30 days out there on the hill. Law, court procedure, evidence, combat, fighting, target practice. You have to wait through all of them. You're ever going to have anything encouraging to say? Yeah. When you graduate. I won't count on it. How's your job going? Slow. How's your wife feel now? About taking the job. A little better. She said to say hello. Okay. Keep us posted, huh? I'll do that, Joe. Right. Bye. Hank passed his written test. Hmm. Sure, anxious. Run in. Romero. Got a minute? Yes, Gaper. Come on, Joe. You got something, Ed? Yeah. Those bitch robberies you're handling. Not having much luck. We were. Gangs disappeared. Not a trace of them, so far. They leave town? Oh, we're not sure, Ed. We don't even have a good description. We're guessing most of the way. What are your guesses? You've had a couple of months to make them. Twelve of the hold-up victims we talked to told us, definitely, that there were three men in the gang. Two of them short, one of them tall. We've just been working from there. All three of them have dark complexions.

9:07Started with 22 parts of the bill. It didn't gutted weeded down to four. No, wait a minute, three. Yeah. Tommy Willis, Marriol Kosky, Julian Brock. Willis and Kosky are eastern hoods, Brock's from the middle west. And where are they now? Haven't showed their faces around town. Checking some of the cities in the east. It's about over in God's giver. Yeah. Not much for two months' work. They just can't be that smart. Right now they are. They've sold it out every lead we had, Ed. We're doing our best. Either of you ever hear of a man by the aim of Val, Michigan? No, I don't think so. Chicago gunman, no days, wouldn't he? That's right. I thought he was doing time in Julia. Bro, last year. Got a tip he was spotted on East Broadway night before last. You figured my time with our job? I don't know. Find out. If I remember right, Michigan's brother used to be pretty friendly with Marriol Kosky. I helped send both of them up 13 years ago. Same rap, robbery. Was that all you heard, Ed? Somebody spotted Michigan? That's all. If you can track him down, you might get some kind of a lead. That's more than you got now.

10:07That night, and for the next two nights following, Ben and I had dinner downtown instead of going home, and then we spent the rest of the night covering a lower end of the city in search of our Michigan. We got more than a dozen leads on where to find him from some of our informants, but none of the leads paid off. We kept missing him. No one knew where he was staying. No one knew or no one would tell us. Worst thing about this job, Joe? They were? There must be averaging 10 miles a night. My feet say 20. Yeah, almost midnight. Here's McCarthy's place. Let's try it, right? Let's go down to the end of the barbed. Yeah. Hey, Ben. Let me see if you're in. Let's know. Oh, no, much, Bert. Meet my partner, Joe Friday. Hi, Friday. How do you feel this time? Yeah. Looking for a guy, Bert. His name's Alan Mischikov. Chicago. You heard anything? He was in here earlier tonight. A couple of guys with him. Are you sure? What do you look like? Six feet. I'll follow five against Big Bill. Sounds like him, all right, Joe?

11:07Is he standing in neighborhood, Bert? He's down here. I don't think so. Most of those big times stay uptown someplace. You're looking for Mischikov? I'd like to talk to him. How long go was he in? About eight or a couple of guys with him. We're talking about driving out to the airport. Something about Las Vegas. There's an 840 point for Vegas, isn't it, Ben? Thanks, all 840, 850. I can't recall who. Bert, do you remember the exact time they left? You're exactly the same. That's one of the fellows that was with Mischikov. Down there, the middle of the bar. Which one, Bert? Yeah. One with a sandy head. Big chin. See him? Yeah. Want to talk to you? Come on. I don't know what he said. He said he was in Vegas last week. Pardon me. Yeah, that's why. Pardon me. Yeah, who are you? Police Sergeant Friday. Oh. I have a drink, Sergeant. No thanks. I said I wanted to talk to you. Uh, square, John. Wait a minute, George. Square, John. What's the talk to me? Come on outside. We can talk better out there. I ain't done nothing. What's the pitch?

12:07I got a right to know. Let's go outside. Maybe I don't want to go outside. I think you better. Come on. All right. All right. Quit shoving you. Don't stop shoving people around. What are you trying to do, man? Oh, shit. All right. Down this way. Of course, parked up the next alley, Jim. Hey, look. What's this all about? I got a right to know. You were seen without Michikov tonight. Where is he? Who? Alan Michikov. You want us to spell it? I don't think you can spell your own name. Nobody's asking you to play smart. Where's Michikov? Out of town. What do you care? Music on. All right. Inside you. Look, you got me wrong. I ain't done nothing. Where's Michikov? You and some other guy drove to the airport with him tonight. Let's have him. I'm clear, I tell you. I just drove out with him. That's all. Where'd Michikov go? Vegas. Took the plane for Vegas. When? About 8.30, quarter to nine. What's up, anyway? Who's the guy traveling with Michikov? Nobody. Who's the guy traveling with Michikov? Kosky. I just met him tonight.

13:07Mario Kosky, is that the guy? Yeah. I'm leveling. I ain't done nothing. Then get you a phone call. We office contact Las Vegas police. Ask them to pick up Kosky and Michikov. When we got back to the office, we questioned the man we'd picked up for almost two hours. His name was John Delmaugh, an ex-convict. He'd been paroled from Folsom Prison two months before after serving three and a half years for burglary. He said Michikov was looking for a man to work with him and Kosky. He didn't specify the work. Delmaugh said he refused the offer, but they parted on friendly terms. He said Kosky and Michikov told him that they were going to Las Vegas for a few days and returned to Los Angeles. But when Ben and I checked back with Las Vegas police the next morning, they reported that nobody answering the description of either Kosky or Michikov was seen arriving or leaving the airport. We checked with the airlines and sent inquiries to law enforcement agencies throughout the entire area. No sign. Three weeks went by. Still, no sign. Nothing in the overnight, Jill. No, nothing.

14:08Oh, yeah, same here. Reno, Sacramento, San Francisco. Nobody's seen him. We've come out sometime. We can wait. Yeah, we can wait. It gets on your nerves. Let's check with Backspin. Maybe he's got a job for us in the meantime. You're getting as eager as your friend Hank Decker, Jill. And then they have things turn out for him. They passed all his exams, putting in his month's training at the Academy, you know. You should do all right. Oh, yeah. All right, Mike. Keep it busy. Not in his office. Won't be until afternoon. What's the matter? He's got a lecture at the police academy this morning. Thanks, Mike. Come on, Ben. Ben and I drove out to the police academy near Elysian Park. We went out to check with that backstrand on the blitzer ovaries. Not to listen to his lecture. When we walked into the classroom, he was just finishing up. So we sat in the back of the Roman listened. It was a pretty good speech. Because of the alertness of the arresting officer, his talent for memorizing detail and his knowledge of how a criminal accent or a given set of circumstances, the arrest was made.

15:08All right, the body, gentlemen. Thank you for your attention. Now, when I ran this speech over at home, my wife said it wasn't a very good talk, but at least it came out on time. Now, it seems I'm two minutes short. So I guess I failed on both counts. If I may, I'd like to use the few minutes that are left to tell you what I think of being a cop after 24 years. For one reason or other, you men have chosen the career of a police officer. Let me tell you right now, without any qualifications, it's a thankless job. Maybe you can't see it now. Maybe you think I'm exaggerating. But when you graduate next week and get that uniform on, your whole lives are going to change. You're going to lose friends. A lot of them. They'll want parking tickets fixed, some other favors. You'll have to turn them down. So you'll be a heel, a fat head. When you're on the beach, you're going to meet the creamest society and the scum, the lowest. Sometimes you won't be able to tell the difference.

16:09Some of you will have to work with thugs, stupid gangsters, dope addicts, cheap women, all human garbage you can find in a big city. You'll come home at night and take a shower to wash off the dirt but you still won't feel clean. That's a job. You buy a box of candy and bring it home for your anniversary. The neighbors will say you chiseled it. When you save up a few dollars and buy a new car or some furniture for the house, that's graph. People are going to want favors. They'll offer you things, a free beer or a new dress for your wife. If you take it, you're a chiseler. If you don't, you're a tough cop. Well, here's a piece of advice. Take nothing from anyone, no matter how good a friend he is. Pay for everything you get and don't ask favors. Treat everybody alike. No matter what they look like or what they believe in. You don't play favorites. There are going to be times when a few men in the department get out of line. The newspapers will play it up because it makes good reading

17:10and the average John public will love it. Because that's the only way he can pay you back for that traffic ticket you gave him. Being a good cop is a hard job. But it's a good one. Let me warn you, it just wants more. It's one of the most thankfulest jobs on earth. That's all, gentlemen. The following week, Hank Decker graduated from the police academy and hit the transfer list for a regular assignment. He drew a job of teaching combat, firing, and boxing at the academy. He didn't like it, so he put in a request for a transfer and waited. For the next six weeks, Ben and I waited, too, for some sign of the blitz bandits. There wasn't any. The only possible suspects, Mario Kosky and Al Mishikov had disappeared completely. We kept a close check on every possible avenue of information. Still, no sign. Ben and I were transferred to the night watch on robbery for a few weeks. That gave Hank Decker a chance to drop in and visit with us a couple of hours when he went off duty at the academy.

18:11He was still as eager as ever. Hi, Ben. Is y'all anything new? Hi, Hank. Nothing here. What about the academy? Oh, big news. What's up? Getting the transfer, starting next Monday. I'm gonna start on a beat. Thought you were all tied up with that boys club you started out there. Oh, I was. Hanson's gonna take over when I leave. Not a kid sure. Love it. Free swimming and the pool, boxing lessons. We teach him everything. Where's your beat going to be, huh? Central, right in the downtown district. Might learn something though. You learn a lot. You want to forget most of it. Look, it's a quarter after seven. Don't you ever go home for dinner, Hank? Getting a wife used to it. It's no shit. It's gonna be night work, you know. They'll wait here on it for a year. And then you tell us how you like it. A year. I want to be in the detective euro after a year. Well, you're not even gonna last a year. You don't get home to dinner. Your wife's called twice this week already. She calls me. Okay, when did she call the night? She hasn't, yeah. I guess I better head off. Let me know if anything breaks. I enjoy it. I'd like to tag along. Okay, Hank. Well, on your way. Okay, good night. It's all over. Good night. Yeah. How eager can you get where we like that when we started?

19:11Not me. I never had that much energy at one time. The whole life. What shot, Joe? I'll get it. At seven, six, seven, eight, Broadway. A liquor store. Two-eleven and sluggy. At seven, six, seven, eight, Broadway. A liquor store. Two-eleven, man. Seven, six, seven, eight, Broadway. Two-eleven liquor store. Let's go. Seven, six, seven, eight, Broadway. King's liquor store. We pushed our way through the small crowd outside the door and into the shop. Two patrolmen in uniform were already interviewing a proprietor. He had two large gashes on his head just above the right temple. He was trembling and badly shaken, but he managed because a good description of the hold-up, man. Yeah, I can tell you what they looked like. Three of them. One short, one tall, husky, another short, fat. Remember what they were wearing? Coats, all three dark coats.

20:11One of the shortmen had a big scar here on the throat, like this. After the three men run this store, they slugged me and tied me up. Turner, this man's hurt. You call an ambulance? On the way, Sergeant. That's fine. We have just one more question, Mr. King. Here's a handful of pictures. We'd like you to tell us if any one of these men were in the gang that held you up tonight. Let me look. Hey, yeah. Take your time. No. No, not him. No. No. Oh, this one. Here. He took the money from the register. Would you look through the rasp, please? Any more? Let me see again. No. No. Oh, here. Another one. The fat one with the scar. This is him. I think he's the one that slugged me. Thanks, Mr. King. Here's our card. We'll be contacting you later. Turner, will you and your partner take the crime report? We've got some checking to do. All right, Sergeant. Thanks. Come on, Ben.

21:11Yeah. Kaskin, Mexico. You picked out both of them, Joe. Yeah. Certainly they're doing it. Attention, all units. Attention, all units. Wait a minute. The southeast corner of Broadway and East Third, a liquor store and restaurant, 213. All units, the southeast corner of Broadway. Come on, Ben. Let's roll. When we got to the liquor store and restaurant at Broadway and East Third, I knew for certain that Kaskin and Michikoff were back in city and working hard. Their M.O. match down to almost the smallest detail. We put a call through to communications and the entire Central Division was alerted. Then we called Chief Backstrand and told him the news. He assigned a special detail from the Metropolitan Unit to patrol the area until further notice. But at 9.23 p.m. before they pulled out of the police garage, the blitz band had set at two more liquor stores and one more restaurant to their list of victims. Early the next morning, Ben and I met with Chief Backstrand in his office. You've got to make on that third man yet.

22:12We ran his descriptions through R&I early this morning, Ed. The closest candidate to the guy that named a Julian Brock, done time here in New York. Any tie up with Kaskin or Michikoff? Mama Sheets says he knows Kaskin pretty well. And that's good enough. Now, how do you think you're going to get these thieves? We've got the alert out, Chief. Special detail from Metropolitan Division's been brief. Communication is all set. All right. Here's a tip for you. Tell them in if there's a hold-up call that only the car in the area of the hold-up will handle it. These thieves are no amateurs. Let me try some decoy trick. Tell them in to stay in the area. They're assigned to until they receive a call. Jake? What take you, Ed? You're going to be on the hand tonight. And when do you figure out in starting? I'm going to have the full detail out for 6.30. Well, Ed's safe and started for my chance missing him. At 3.30 that afternoon, we left the police garage with a special detail from Metropolitan Division and we started to cruise the central area. We weren't looking for any action the first few hours and we didn't get any. The five o'clock traffic in the downtown area was heavy as usual.

23:16Hope that gang holds off to left to 6. We couldn't get out of this traffic if our lives had been annoying. We'd probably do better on foot if it wasn't for radio content. Control 4 to 8K. Control 4 to 8K. Your location. Get it, will you? Yeah, we're like at the mic. 8K to control 4. 8K to control 4. Our location on Spring Street between 2nd and 3rd. 8K standby. 8K call your office code 2. Call your office code 2. 8K to control 4. Roger, cam 8367. Yeah. Now what do I do for a parking space? You know you're lucky. I've got half a head there. He's pulling out. And that hasn't happened to me in six months. OK, hold on, Ben. I'll be back in a minute. Yeah.

24:21Ready, hold. 2511. 2511. 2511. Robbery, Chandler. This is Friday, Bill. You want us? Yeah, just a minute, Joe. A cheap one. Talk to you. Hello, I'm Friday. Yeah, yeah. Cruiser car just brought in a guy answering the description of Mario Kosky. Yeah. Get over here right away and question the guy. If it is Kosky, wait and I'll go home early. Ben and I went back to the office and questioned the man who gave his name as Conrad Larkin. It was Kosky's approximate height and weight, same color hair, same color eyes. The resemblance to Kosky's picture was evident. We questioned him thoroughly about the blitz robberies. And then we checked out his fingerprints. The coincidence was hard to overlook, but we were satisfied. The man was not Mario Kosky. There was a phone message on my desk to call Hank's wife, I called her. And then we checked with Chief Backstrand again and started for the police garage. It was ten minutes past six. Hey, Ben, Joe. Wait a minute, will you?

25:21Oh, hi, Hank. What's all the excitement? I heard about those jobs last night. The blitz gang. How about tagging along tonight? What's the staring? You suit yourself, Hank. Why don't you do home for dinner? I told the wife I'd eat out tonight. Are you sure you're not doing home for dinner? No, not tonight, Joe. Have you ever been lucky? Not so far, Hank. Maybe later on tonight. Come on, here's the garage. How close did you come to the gang last night? Not close enough. Two steps ahead of us all the way. I'm going to show my sword fast. Five jobs in a row. All right, Hank, let's don't rub it in now. Hey, Ben, watch it, will you? Yeah. A woman. Private? How about it, Joe? Do you think I can make you happy? You talked to Ed Backstrand. He might get you a transfer after a while. Yeah, I might try it. Joe, look across the street. There's a guy coming out of the bar. Where? In front of the bar. He's standing there. The guy in the dark road, you see? Yeah. Two other guys behind him. Who is it? I can't be sure. Ben, you better pull up. I ask you. It's just like his picture.

26:21All right. Come on. All right, hold it, mister. We want to talk to you. I'm for an out cover. Watch it, Joe. Hey, get down. Get down. Two of them down, Ben. But then, when I finally, let's go. Did they get Hank? Yeah. All right, Husky. We're out of your gun. Come on with your hands up. All right, let's return the fire. Come on. All right, he had his chance. Yeah. Grab his gun. Let's get back to home. Did you get the guns from the other two? Yeah. And dead. I ain't got them more. All right, one side, please. Officer, did you call an ambulance? Yeah, they're on their way. Come on, Ben. One side, please. Will you let us through? All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. So? Hey. How are you doing? I'm so good.

27:21Ben, will you get the cloud black. Give them some air. All right. All right, easy. Yeah. Hey. How's it going, Joel? Gone? Yeah. Come on. What have you got, you know? Phone message from Hank's wife. For you? You know, you returned the call before we left the office. Who was it? She wanted me to remind Hank he was due home for dinner at seven o'clock. The story you have just heard is true. Only the names were changed to protect the innocent.

28:23You have just heard the twelfth in a new series of authentic cases from official files. Technical advice for Dragnetti is furnished by the Los Angeles Police Department. Tonight's program is dedicated to patrolman James Frank Goggin of the Cleveland Police Department. Who on the morning of January 13, 1939 gave his life so that yours might be more secure. Dragnett came to you from Los Angeles. If you enjoyed tonight's production of Dragnet, you'll want to listen to Richard Diamond, private detective, as played by the screen's romantic tough guy Dick Powell, heard Saturday on most of these NBC stations. This is NBC, the national broadcasting company. This is NBC.