Dragnet - Big Stand

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1:29Ladies and gentlemen, the story you're about to hear is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. Drag men. You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned to homicide detail. A man has been shot down on a street corner of your city. There's no apparent motive. No lead to the assailant. Your job, find him. It was Tuesday, May 8th. It was cooler in Los Angeles. We were working the night watch out homicide detail. My partner's Frank Smith, the boss is Captain Warren. My name's Frank. I got my way over from the office and it was 10-13 pm when I got to Georgia Street receiving hospital. The waiting room. All right Frank. Joe? How's he doing? I don't know. I talked about Sebastian. I said, look. I don't know. Too good. Slugs embedded in his lung caused a hemorrhage.

2:29He's getting a transfusion. What do you got on with? I just talked to the guys who came in with him for a minute. I didn't have a lot. You know. Call came in from a man who owns a newsstand at the corner of Normandy and Willowbrook. See the witness? Yeah. Anything here? I don't know. I'll have to talk to him. What do you got on the victim? Wait a minute. And you got it here. The name's Matthew Denton. Address given is 1897 Old Tath Street, New Hollywood. Did you get in touch with anybody? No. I tried the house, but nobody was there. Anything else? Anyone over the personal property? The usual stuff, cigarette slider, comb room. Out of diamond ring on a small finger left hand, looks expensive. Go arrest watch. $140 in cash. $1300 in American Express checks. Doesn't spell robbery, doesn't it? No. I know the stuff was disturbed. Maybe you can tell us something, huh? Yeah. Good girl. Frank. My doctor, wait. How's it look? What time you got? 10, 16. Make it 10, 13. Hmm. Close night for the report. What? Time of death. Matthew Trevor Denton, WMA.

3:3431 years, 5 foot 9, 164 pounds, and stopped living at 10, 13 p.m. on May. We didn't know who he was or why he died. Before we left the hospital, we put in a call to Denton's address, but we got no answer. We checked the name and description through our eye. There was no record on the dead man. At 10, 48 p.m. we left Georgia Street and drove over to the scene of the shooting where we talked to the witness Andrew Kate. Right over there is where it happened. The bus stop, huh? I was standing right here. Right here. I saw the whole thing happen. Yes, sir. By what time was that, Mr. Kate? Oh, I guess it was 9, 30 years old, I say. I was just standing here and banging, banging two shots. Did you see what led up to the shooting? What do you mean, led up? What do you mean, led up? What do you mean, led up? Oh, yeah, full of things. Fine. Would you tell us about it? Sure. Fine. Go ahead. Well, one of those nights where just nothing went right, you know what I mean? Uh-huh. I started off my wife burning the coffee. I wouldn't think a person could do that.

4:35Would you? Burning the coffee? It's like, go ahead. I had a big argument before I left home. I just started off, that boy. Yes, sir. Cut out of here and took over. By what time, J.O.P. was standing there? Oh, I'm 730 in the morning. I try to get breakfast business. You know, people on the way to eat, stop off early paper. I think. I try to get them. All right. I open it up in the morning and then there's a school kid takes over for me about three in the afternoon. And he's here around 631, come back from supper. I see. That's when you burn the coffee. And I have supper. All right. Do you want to talk about shooting? Oh, sure. They're kind of hard, you know. This is the first time for me. How's that? Well, it's the first time I've ever been a witness. First. I see. What time did you first see the victim? Man, it was shot. Yes, sir. Well, I told you. It was about 930. The car pulled up to the curb and the spoiler got out. He kind of stood there for a minute. And he talked to the other fella in the car. He just stood there a minute and told him. Kind of the lean in the winders. Mm-hmm. Car pulled away and the one man, one who got out.

5:37Yeah. He walked over and sat down on the bench. I just waitin' for the bus. Okay, so you got a good look at the car, you got out of? No, I saw it. If that's what you mean. What'd you describe before? It was a black Chevy. I'd say maybe a 52 or 53. So the owner could pick. No, or just see the owner in the four door. And nothing special about it. Did you get a look at the man that was driving? No, no. The lights kind of bad over there. You can see for yourself. The one fella lean in the car. I couldn't get a good look. I didn't pay a lot of attention to it anyway. I didn't see anything to get all concerned about. All right, Tric, you want to go ahead? Well, the fella sat there for a minute. Not doing nothing. Just waiting. And this other car pulled up right up the curb. Mm-hmm. One guy got out of the car. I got right out and walked over the fella sitting on the bench. All right, Tric. Oh, excuse me a minute. The customer. All right, Tric. What do you think? What other? Oh, Bert always stops by at the same time.

6:37He gets one of each, you know, same time every night. To the old Bert, you know, sick. I wonder if you'd go ahead with your story. Oh, well, this guy pulled up and the fella got out. He walked over the bench, started talking to the first man. And he got an argument. How do you know that? What? Well, how do you know they were arguing? Well, I could see you standing over there, waving their arms around. I could even hear some of the yelling. It wasn't a ticket all to see that there were having some kind of trouble. Mm-hmm. Could you hear what the trouble was about? No, just a lot of yelling and waving. He had no wild-price word. You want to go ahead, please? Well, the next thing I knew was when the fella got out of the car, started swinging at the other one. That was the victim? Yeah, one of the shots. All right. Well, you just bet the guy tackled more than he could have. The victim's fella started to clean up on himself. He just started to mop his feet with it. I see. That's when the guy who was waiting in the car got out and went over to help his friend, you see? Mm-hmm. Fear of whom kind of struggled around for a while, and the one from the car pulled the gun, bang, bang.

7:39Two shots. First drive dropped right down on the sidewalk. The other two got the car and took off, went roaring down normally. Is that way? Can he describe the second car? Well, not too good. I just got a glance at it. I wasn't paying a lot of the attention. The first time I figured I should take a good look at the... It was going. I see. How about the men driving it? Well, what do you want to know? Can you describe them? Not good. Well, they tell us just what you can, Mr. K. K. To help. Sure. The first one was a pole length. If I didn't weigh much, sort of a string beam. How tall would you say? I don't know close to six-free, maybe six-two-round. And there he's a pole. About a hole. Twenty-three, twenty-five. I couldn't tell that too good. Let me see. What about his coloring? Was he lighter, Doctor? I remember. Why? He was wrong. How about his clothes? Well, then Jack, it's made out of the same kind of material. Ribbons like on them. Mm-hmm. Well, real tight jeans. Both of them were wearing them.

8:39Anything else you can tell us about the Tom and? No. Was he the driver of the car? Oh, yeah. He was the one who did the shoot and the tall fella. Could you see the gun? Yeah, but not good. Do you remember where it was a revolver or an automatic? Oh, it looked like a revolver to me. All right, now what about the other men? It was shorter than the first one. No run, but, you know, shorter. Guess anybody looks small next to him. About how tall was he? Always about five, nine, five, ten. Give a cup of paper cup. How was he built? Sort of light, maybe 140. Anything else about the two men? Either I'm wearing glasses, do you remember? No. Not so as I could see. Might have taken them off, you know, before they got out of the car. Might have, but I didn't see him when the fight started. Did either of them use a name or trick it here? I told you before I couldn't hear anything to say. They're just a lot of yelling. The fight started. All right. Wasn't anything special about the two fellas and make them stand out one tall, the other short, no big reason to remember them.

9:39Where'd you got it wrong, mister? Huh? We got a reason. We made arrangements for Andrew Kate to come down to the office and look through the mud books. The rest of the neighborhood was checked again, but we were unable to find anyone else who'd witnessed the shooting. While we'd been talking to Kate, the team of detectives from homicide detail had gone out to the victim's house. They didn't find anyone at home, but when they spoke to the neighbors, they were told that Matthew Denton's wife was in the hospital. Frank and I checked with their doctor and filed out that she was in the maternity ward. He recommended that we delay talking to the woman as long as possible since she was in a weakened condition. From the hospital record, we found that Denton was employed by an advertising agency. We checked with an nurse's arm duty and found that he left the hospital with another man. They gave us a description of him, but they weren't able to identify him for us. We asked if they called the office in the event the man returned to the hospital. Frank and I went back to the office and checked out. The next morning, when is the 8.40 a.m. we were back in the squad room.

10:40Yes, sir, you're looking for somebody? I'd like to see somebody about their story in the paper. Which one is that, sir? It's about to shoot in the last night corner, Norm and the Willough Brook. All right, what is Joanne talking about? Are you the officers having the case? Yes, sir. My name is Sterling Hall. I think Maybach can help you out. All right. We'll have a seat, Mr. Hall. Sure, thank you. I have your fine. Thank you. My partner Frank Smith, my name is Friday. How to do, Mr. Smith? All right. What do you got? Well, it says here on the paper where Denton left the hospital with the man, it says you're looking for him. That's right. Well, you don't have to look no further on him. You were with Denton last night, weren't you? Just said that. All right. How long will you get it? Till about 9.30. It dropped him off the bus stand right where he was shot. I don't want to be the start of the beginning and tell us the whole story. Sure thing. Well, you see, I got a lady friend, same hospital as Denton's wife. I was over that last night to say hello. I brought her a box of caramel and said hello. Uh-huh. Well, I was on the way out the place and I stopped off for a cup of coffee and that little old shop they got there. You know, where they have the gifts? Books on what to name the baby? Yeah, I know it. Well, I was having a cup of coffee and this here Denton come in.

11:41He wanted to buy a little plant for his wife. They just had a baby, wanted to send her something, I see. Now, we got to talk and I had a cup of coffee and turned out he didn't have his car. So I asked him if I could give him a ride home. He was kind of nervous and all new father. That's it. We left the hospital and he said it wasn't necessary for me to take him all the way home. Said for me to just drop him off the bus stand. Told me there was one when right near his house. All right. But on the way, we was following his car and all of a sudden it stopped. No signal, nothing just lambs on the brakes and we rammed into it. Well, didn't hardly do no damage to the other car. I broke one of my headlights. It's all but didn't hurt the other car at all. I see. Now, two fellas got out and they walked back and they started a little ruckus. Said we was speeding and driving reckless, all that kind of stuff. Real loud. This Denton, he'd tell him to shove off. Said their car wasn't hurt at all and said not to make a big thing out of it. He told him was there a fault anyway. Were you still in the car? No, we got out to see what damage had occurred. I think. Now, these two guys started to get rugged now. Like they wanted to start some real trouble and Denton said if they wanted to make a problem out of it,

12:42they'd do us to call the cops to make a complaint. What did they say to that? Nothing just said to forget it and then they got in the car and shoved off. Now, I didn't see him again but I got to think about it this morning when I saw the story in the paper. You think it might have been one of them two who shot them? Well, we don't know, sir. Can you give us a description of the man? Sure thing. Now, one of them was real tall. The other one was about my height. It'd be about five, eight and three quarters. All right. Can you give us a description of the car? Yes, sir. It was a light blue forward. One of them knew it was a plastic on top. That's it. I took a good look at it. Matter of fact, I kind of thought there might be some trouble about the action and I didn't want to be out on a limb with my insurance company. So I made sure. Yeah. I got the license number. Well, I got a complete description of the two men. Frank checked the MV on the license number. Five minutes later, he came back to the office. Joe? Yeah, you got it? If you find out who the car belongs to, shouldn't anything pick up them two sellers?

13:42It's not going to be that easy. Mm-hmm. The car was stolen. Before Frank and I left the office, we made arrangements for sterling hall to check the mud books and the hope that he might be able to identify the suspects. At 11.20 a.m., we drove over to talk to the registered owner of the stolen car. He told us that the vehicle had been taken from a parking lot the day before and that he made an immediate report on it to the police. Additional broadcasts were gotten out on the automobile and on the suspect. That afternoon, we drove over and talked to the victim. McDonald's is putting value back on the menu. Whether you're craving a big Mac, McNuggets or sausage egg and cheese, MacGridels, make it a meal and save. Your favorite is now your wallet's favorite, too. Extra value meals are back. Get a big something extra with a big Mac or 10-piece McNuggets, fries and a medium Coke all for just $9. Limited time only, promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing.

14:43Ba-da-ba-ba-ba! Mike, she told us that the money and the express check's dent had been carrying work for the payment of the hospital and the doctor bills. We questioned her about her husband's friends and associates. Although we had the story given us by sterling haul, it seemed unlikely that the man was killed as the result of an argument over a minor traffic accident. We spent the rest of the day interviewing people who knew the victim. From then, we learned that dent was well-liked and was respected. We took an active interest in neighborhood clubs and events. The more we went into his background, the more convinced we became that he'd been killed by the men in the stolen Ford. Two days passed. On Saturday, May 12, the vehicle was found abandoned. A stakeout was placed on it, and when no one approached it, the crew from Lincoln Prince went over the car. They found several partial fingerprints, but not enough for classification. The Prince photographed and held forever. Frank and I continued to work on the killing. A month went by without additional information turning up. On Tuesday, June 19th, we got a call from Bergerie Detail. Yeah. No, nothing.

15:44Where'd he come from? That one might check, huh? No, we'll pick him up. Yeah. Okay, right, thanks. Mac over in Bergerie. Yeah. He says he just picked up a guy for receiving. He said if he got a break, he might be able to help us clean up something. Say what it was? Yeah, he did. The dent was killing. We left the office. We went over to room 45. We picked up the suspect. They told us that they found a large quantity of stolen automobile supplies in this possession. We took him to the interrogation room for questioning. We're almost an hour, you remain silent. How about it, Caneley? Gonna give us a hand? Caneley? I can stand up. Nice call. Give it up, huh? No, we'll be back. What are you taking me? Back to Bergerie, make me book you. Mangio? Yep.

16:44But you guys are all through with me, huh? Yeah, for now. Tell me something, will you? What? A little while ago you said you knew something about a killing. Now you shut up and we'll give us a time of day. Why? I told you another cop if I got a break, you get one. You know we can't make deals. No, it's gonna cost you. You're gonna take an installment. How do you figure that? You said you knew something about Matthew Denton's murder, is that right? I don't remember that far back. We don't improve you, did. You're up on a receiving wrap now. That's bad enough. But if we can tag you with holding information, we'll make you as an accessory after the fact. You mean you'll try? I think we'll make it. From here, it's got another color. We'll see how it comes out, huh? Come on, let's go. Down its way. I know. What's a tab for being an accessory? Five years. Okay, let's go back. Huh? I'll tell you all about it. We returned here all canylie to the interrogation room. We put out a call to Gene Bechtel to come and take a statement. Canylie asked that we send out for some coffee for him. Frank went down the hall and brought back three cups. After he finished his canylie lean back.

17:44Huh. It's good coffee. It's strong. I like it that way. Yeah, well, now that you've had the class, let's start the story. What do you say? Sure. What do you want to know? Who are the two men? I don't know. Are you going to start this all over again, I mean? I'm given a t-on the line. I don't know who they are. What do you know about them? Not much. Couple of guys are doing pretty good with radios. You want their customers? Yeah. Me and a half a dozen others. You know who they are? You're not going to get the names. All right, let's get back to the two men. What do you think they had something to do with Denton? About three weeks ago, there was in my place, had five new radios. I kind of with the bar to pick the stations, you know, like the new cats. Yeah, I know. I had five of them, wanted to turn them over. Yeah. The price they were asking was way out. I told them so, so they had to find some places to drop them. Tell me there was a beep. They had to get out of town so they needed the money to swing it. I still don't know if the Denton's killer does it. Well, all right, come on, tell us. Well, I went out the office for a couple minutes. Told them I had to make a phone call. Yeah. I got a mic hidden in the room, found out it helps in business once in a while. I turned it on. Listen to the guy's talk. Go ahead. They were yapping about some guy that got shot. The big fellow was saying I wasn't aware of the way to handle it, so that he didn't like it either, but there just wasn't any other way.

18:46The big thing then was to get some money and just be town. I waited outside for a couple more minutes, but it didn't say anything, so I went back in. I told them I couldn't swing the radio deal. What did they do then? They said they had to dump them someplace if I couldn't take them. They'd find somebody who wouldn't. Told them to go ahead. What do these guys look like? A couple of bombs, one tall, the other short, one those jeans with the coats made out of the same cloth. You had dealings with them before? Yeah, a couple of times. You know their name? No. All I know is the big one's called Dusty. I don't know the last part. How about the other one? Nothing there. Anything else about them? They're both luscious. The big one is Dusty always got a flash on his hip. I mean the bottle. No, metal flash. Like they used to pull a vision. This one's all beat up, dented. It's all dirty. But I never seen Dusty without it. Both of them all the time nippin' at it. You know where these guys live? No, some place downtown. They got a pad there. I don't know where it is though. How do you know it's downtown? Well, I don't know for sure. Just to guess. Do you ever hear either one of them say anything about a job? Not those two. They never done a day's work in their lives. So, I think they're good at it. They're good at it. They wouldn't work steady if stealing was legal. That all they take, radios. All I've ever seen. I guess they got a gimmick.

19:46I guess they can make a living with them while I change. I guess they do pretty good. I don't know. I paid them enough times. All right. Anything else you can tell us? No. They work with anybody else, do you know? Not that I've ever heard. How about close friends? None. They say when they'd be back to your place? No, they don't have a regular route. When they pick up some things, they come in. They got nothing to sell. I don't see them. When did you see them last? The time I told you about. They still around? Well, I don't know. Rumble says they are. I haven't seen them myself. You know where we can reach them? No. You don't make an appointment with them? You know if these guys have ever been arrested. We never talked about it. Where they seem to feel about cops though. You sure figure they feel. They're from LA, do you know? I don't think so. Never heard them say only done business with them a couple of times. We never got real buddy, buddy. They don't call that chummy set much. All right, can you leave? Any more you want to toss? I guess that's it. All right, come on. Want to check the box? Yeah. Hey, can you spring out a couple of that coffee? It's your good about the best they ever tasted. Hey, wait a minute. Yeah. There's one more thing about the guys you're after. All right. Take it easy with them.

20:46Like I told you, they're both luscious. I think they're off their rockers. Yeah, we'll watch it. You better, they're packin' heavy. Yeah. Any way you slice it, they're loaded. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Carol Cannelli went through the mud books, but he was unable to find a picture of the two suspects. The name Dusty was checked to the Monika file without result. Information was forwarded to George Braden, up at CII Sacramento, and a supplemental APB was gotten out. We spent the rest of the day with officers from burgery detail going over reports. We found that they'd been working on a string of car radio thefts for the past several weeks. When we compared notes to them, it seemed more than possible. If they're two suspects, we're the same men we wanted for the killing of Matthew Demme. However, they were no closer to the men than we were. From the report, we were able to figure that the pair was still in Los Angeles. That evening, we met with Captain Norman, Captain Bernard, and Chibity Tech is that brown. We worked out a system of rolling stakeouts that would cover most of the territory where the thieves had been working.

21:46Three additional teams of men from burgery were assigned to help us, and on Wednesday, June 20th, the operation was started. For three days, there was no action. The thefts from auto's continued, but when they were checked out, the method of operation used eliminated any suspects that we were looking for. On Sunday, June 24th, we got a call that a man answering the descriptions of one of the thieves had been seen in the vicinity of Beverly Boulevard and Elmwood Avenue. Frank and I left our position in the stakeout, and we drove out to the area. Could be a couple of more blocks. Yeah, we just passed Ridgewood Place. You better take it easy next block when you start cruising. Yeah. See anything? No. Want to take a left here? All right. I'll go see the stand there. Doesn't look like it. Let's go up a couple more blocks. All right. It could be a break if we nail them tonight. Yeah. A little rough on the study time. How's it going? No, I don't know, Joe. The times I don't think I'm ever going to make sergeant. What are you doing now? Me and studying? Yeah. Legal procedure. Well, you should know that. What practical stuff?

22:46I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I should know that. Well, practical stuff. Yeah. Putting it into legal language, it makes it rough on me. Yeah. I had the same trouble. I'm going to be able to hit the books for the past week. Wait a minute. Yeah. No, nothing. Keep going. What'd you say? I said I had to hit the books and missed a couple lectures too. You're never going to make it that way. That's what faith says. Wait a minute. Slow down. What you got? Up there. See? Next block on the left. About 50 feet on the other side of the street line. I don't see anything. Look to me like somebody trying to get into a car. I'm not sure. Oh, a second. No. Just up ahead there. Yeah. See anything? No. Looks like somebody on the other side. Better pull up. We'll take a look. Okay. All right. Let's go. All right. All right. Talk to me the other side. Take it easy if it's the one we want. They're heavy. All right. All right, Mr. Let's hold it right there. Stand where you are. You talking to me? That's right. What are you causing me trouble for?

23:46I didn't know. We didn't say you didn't. How about a Mr. Mr. Chircutto? I'm just my car. What did you think about? They got the white slip. The machine's right out in plain sight. Where I supposed to be. You've been drinking, haven't you? Small one of you officers don't do better at solving crimes. I had a couple. Yeah. What's your name? I'm a little bit of a guy. I'm a little bit of a guy. I'm a little bit of a guy. I'm a little bit of a guy. I'm a little bit of a guy. I'm a little bit of a guy. I had a couple. What's your name? I don't see how it's any business he years, all I'm trying to do is get into my car. I'm not causing any trouble. What's your name? It's Kyle Peter Cron. You got the keys this car. Matter of fact, I have and that's why I'm having so much trouble getting in. If I had the keys, I could just flip the door open and drive off. Right. What are you doing? This Schnewrite you with Vadraj. Watch the joke. All right, Mr. Come on on your seat. Get up. All right. I'm doing like a sail. I'm doing. Try it again, Frank. Yeah. Come on. Damn it, back here. He's clean, John.

24:46All right. Turn around. I didn't mean that. I didn't mean that. Yeah, sure. It's honest you got to believe me. It's me. Come on down here under the light. I know Stan's still. Yeah, I imagine the script's been pretty good. What's your partner? I didn't mean it. It was an accident. I just hit the guy. I just got in the fight with him. Dusty did the shoot. And he did it. I didn't like just got in the fight. I ain't a calm down. Where is he? I knew you'd catch us and knew it all the time. I kept telling him Dusty. We had to get out of town. We got to go. I kept telling him all the time. I was telling him. Where is he? Oh, where's that? He's the one who did it. I just got in the fight. That's the one who shoted on me. What do you live with? Down on four. That's where old Dusty is. Old, safe dust. And we didn't have to leave. Said you'd never catch us. All right, let's go. Old Dusty is always right. Always knows what he's doing all the time. Never makes a mistake. Not old Dusty. Yeah, only made one this time, didn't he?

25:56Peter Gregory Kyle and Jesse Haywood Pool were tried and convicted of murder in the second degree and Petty Theth 18 counts. They received punishment as prescribed by law. Petty Theth is punishable by imprisonment for a period of not more than one year in the county jail. Second degree murder is punishable by imprisonment for a period of from five years to life. Dragnet is a presentation of the United States Armed Forces Radio Service. The United States Radio Service.

27:01The United States Radio Service.