The story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the
innocent.
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You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned to Narcotics Bureau. For seven months you've
been working with federal and state agents and breaking a narcotics ring. You've apprehended
the small fry. Next in the line, the big man. Your job, get him.
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Fatima.
Dragnet, the documented drama of an actual crime. For 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.
It was Wednesday, July 9th. It was warm in Los Angeles. We were working the night watch
out at Narcotics Bureau. My partner is Ben Romero. The boss is Thad Brown, Chief of Detectives.
My name is Friday. I was on the way into work and it was 3.58 p.m. when I got to room 24,
Narcotics Bureau.
Hi Joe, feel better?
Oh, not quite as tired, Ben. In Costello, it was a long haul.
Narcotics Romero. Okay, Big'em. I'll tell him. Meeting's in five minutes. Chief Brown
drove in.
Okay, I want to pick up my stuff from the captain first. Hi, Skipper.
Come on in. You look a little better Friday. Get some rest.
Yeah, a couple of good meals. What's the trouble with the Flats gang? They never know where
to eat.
Sit down, Joe. I want to talk to you. We got a couple of minutes before the meeting. You'll
probably be getting this all up and down the line from here in. Just want to let you know
that we think you and all the men in the operation did a fine job.
My part wasn't much. You did more than I did.
Oh, we all worked, but you had the dirty end of it. Good job. Here's your equipment. You'll
need it now.
Oh, yeah, thanks.
And your ID card. You got six shells. That's all of it.
Mm-hmm. That's it. Thank you.
You're back at it.
Yep.
Here's one for you. Look at this.
What's that you got?
Mugshot of a girl picked up in a narcotics raid last night.
Oh, pretty girl.
Long blonde hair, beautiful eye.
She looks young. High school girl.
She was when that picture was taken, 1947. She was 16. Here, look at this one.
Yeah. Same girl.
Yeah. That's the way she looked at 1130 last night when we picked her up.
She looks 50.
19 years old. Three years on heroin.
She might as well be dead.
She is. Eight o'clock this morning. Let's go. It's time for the meeting.
You just looked at the best reason I know of for getting Belmont.
Did she get her stuff from Belmont?
Costello was pushing to her. He got his stuff from Belmont. They all do.
Now let's go.
Bye, William.
Anybody brief you on the Costello interview, Joe?
No, no, not yet.
Chief Brown will fill you in.
Chief?
Gentlemen, come on in.
You men all know each other.
Hiya, Craig.
Captain White, I think you and your men know Policewoman Caswell.
Yes, sir. How are you, Florence?
Hello.
Ms. Caswell, Inspector Virgil Beckman, State Narcotics.
How do you do?
Bill Craig, AIDS and Charge Federal Narcotics.
Hello.
I'm a doctor.
How do you do?
Before we get into Velmat procedure, let's see how we stand on the Costello case.
Why do you want to fill everybody in on information we got from Ralph Costello?
Yes, sir.
After his arrest on Monday night, we interrogated Costello for about four hours.
We confronted him with the package he sold Friday here.
How'd the stuff test go?
Crime lab ran it through.
About a third of an ounce of heroin.
Fair quality Mexican stuff.
The man we picked up with Costello, Tony Morse, was questioned as well.
He corroborated Costello's story.
What did you get from him?
Well, he told us he had a great deal of information on the big man in the operation, Belmont,
but he wouldn't tell us a thing unless we made a deal with him.
What kind of a deal?
He wanted everything.
But we finally agreed that the only thing we might possibly work out was his prison
term.
We called in the U.S. district attorney and we talked another four hours.
How'd it work out?
District attorney told Costello the only thing he'd do for him was to have his prison terms
run concurrently rather than consecutively.
Not much to pay for what we got.
Costello gave us enough to enable us to start moving on Belmont right away.
We've had his M.O. confirmed.
We've got a list of most of his pushers.
Now we can get to him.
Any definite plan, G?
White and I have been talking over here with Craig and Beck.
It worked out what we think might be a pretty good plan.
Craig, do you want to lay out how your men are going to handle it from the federal end?
We'll work from out of town to the center here.
We'll check his contacts across the state lines.
We've already traced his connections to the east, New York, Centicat.
We'll keep working that end.
Beck, how about your state narcotics man?
We'll work inside the state line here.
We've already checked out part of his operations.
We've located sources in San Francisco, Bakersfield, Fresno, as far south as San Diego, lower California.
We'll draw all those ends up tight.
Keep moving.
You fellows can both give us a hand if we need assistance.
You bet.
That's right.
Fine.
White, what are we going to do locally?
It's going to be a case of taking what we know and finding out what we don't know, putting
the two together.
It seems to me to be a case of watching the man at all times.
Belmont shouldn't be able to blow his nose without one of our men knowing him.
It's going to be a tremendous undertaking.
You all know the tough job of those shadowing narcotics men.
They're fidgety, hypersensitive.
They recognize anything out of the ordinary at once.
For that reason, it can't be a one-man operation.
Everybody's got to work.
Our undercover won't work this time.
They're no doubt alerted.
So we'll work it from another angle.
When do we start?
We've already started.
Belmont lives in Manhattan Beach.
His house is under surveillance.
It has been since yesterday.
I can't impress upon all of you the importance of not letting Belmont out of your sight for
an instant.
If we don't get him out of the narcotics, by could be made in 30 seconds.
If we're not there at the instant, we lose him.
Do we have anything in total as to when he might be ready to deal again?
Nothing.
Nobody seems to know Belmont's exact operating time.
Could be any time.
And in order to prosecute him, we've got to be there when the narcotics are in his possession
or under his control.
So we start to live with him and stay as close as we can without being tapped until there's
a by.
That's it.
Captain White has all the assignments for our local men.
Okay.
We'll watch him.
Stay close to him.
The meeting lasted four hours.
During that four hours, a plan was formulated which we hoped would end in the successful
apprehension of the number one man in Pacific Coast narcotics traffic, Arthur Z. Belmont.
How do you watch a man is every move for 24 hours, day in, day out, without his knowing
it.
How do you watch a man whose very existence depends upon not being watched, who is expertly
schooled in every trick and device of police surveillance, whose method of operation will
change with the slightest disturbance of his daily routine.
And if that MO changes, you've lost him.
Thursday, July 10th, in the small Los Angeles suburb of Manhattan Beach, population 10,172.
Three very ordinary events took place.
A public nurse began a house-to-house survey.
She asked the simple question, have you ever been vaccinated for smallpox?
She started canvassing 27 blocks from the home of Belmont.
Policewoman Florence Caswell.
Two Japanese gardeners new to the city of Manhattan Beach began soliciting work.
They started asking for jobs 38 blocks from the home of Belmont.
Sergeant 10 Fujikuni and Patrolman John Kagawa.
A team of surveyors driving a station wagon marked with the seal of Los Angeles County
began taking linear measurements for the proposed enlargement of storm drains in the area.
They started 14 blocks from the home of Belmont.
Lieutenant John Bigam, Central Narcotics Sergeant Ben Romero and myself.
Okay Ben, bring in the rod.
Let's knock off for lunch.
What do you want to eat John?
The wagon.
Better take the transfer with us, kids might pick it up.
Okay, I got it.
I can't keep the sand out of my shoes.
Might as well get used to it, we're a long ways from home.
Nine years on the job, it's the first time I ever brought my lunch in a paper sack.
Who knows Joe, this might change your whole way of living.
Want to sit in the front?
No, I'm getting back.
So let's have a look at the local paper.
No, why?
It had Beach Sentinel down the bottom of page one in the box.
Read it.
Yeah, let me see.
It's good.
What is it Joe?
Read it out loud.
Well, it says preliminary work on storm drains started.
Surveyors, well it goes on to say that surveyors have started taking measurements for the new
drains.
On the right side, do you have the story planned?
Even got a release from the planning commission.
Won't hurt us a bit.
Well, you said lunch time.
I've got enough here for the whole department.
Four hard boiled eggs.
See what kind of sandwiches I drew.
Devil egg.
Look here, she even put them on egg bread.
I hate eggs.
Looks like the captain driving up the street.
No, not him.
Driving a city car, chief engineer.
How's it going, Viggen?
Fine.
Slow.
How's your lunch?
What do you got?
Devil egg sandwiches, got plenty.
Can't stand them.
How about a ham and cheese?
Yeah, thanks.
There you go.
How's everybody else doing?
Very slow.
Takes time.
Got to keep taking our time.
We tip it before we get close enough.
Belmont's on his way.
How long are we going to have to keep our distance?
Not much longer.
We can't take the chance of starting everybody out right on top of Belmont.
It might look funny to him.
Anybody else would be okay.
The average person, your operations might look normal, but we can't afford to try to
get it by Belmont that way.
With a hop cutter, you never know.
It's not so much that we don't know.
We just can't take any kind of a chance.
That's what I mean.
He might have died right on Belmont's front lawn, and he'd never got wise, but we wouldn't
want to risk it.
Belmont been out of his house today?
He's on the go quite a bit.
Left his house at 9.13 a.m., went out of his shop, right market, bought a half pound of
bacon, two dozen eggs, loaf of bread, over wheat.
Sergeant Hodges waited on him.
He's clerking in the grocery department.
Then he drove over to his neighborhood gas station, got a full tank of ethanol and two
quarts of oil, 30 weight, drove home, got back at 9.42.
Are he still there?
Yeah.
About time you guys were back at it.
Right.
Okay, Ben.
You want to grab some of the gear?
Yeah.
Hey, Joe.
Give me a leftover bread crust, will you?
I'll give them to Seco.
Yeah, sure.
Here you go.
Well, foot by foot, we're getting closer to Belmont.
Hope nobody tips it.
They should unless you don't trust those girls.
We surveyed the city of Manhattan Beach for five weeks.
Policewoman Caswell, posing as a nurse, continued canvassing.
Everybody concerned with a job of standing watch over Arthur Z. Belmont carried out their
routine day by day.
Daily reports came in from everyone in the operation.
These reports would be sifted at central narcotics and progress reports compiled for the use of
those in the field on the Belmont case.
All police cars as well as city cars such as we were employing were equipped with three-way
radio communication.
All personnel were in constant contact with one another.
Wednesday, August 12th, it was the decision of Captain Lynn White that the idea of our
posing as city surveyors had been exhausted.
Further use of this could possibly arouse suspicion.
Belmont lived at 1227 Ocean Avenue.
Two days before we were called off the surveying job, the city leased the private residence
at 1216 Ocean Avenue.
A van load of furniture was moved in.
Drapes and curtains were hung.
Further deliveries of daily newspapers and milk were made to the house.
To all outward appearances, the house was occupied by an average family.
Actually, it provided another blind from which we could continue to observe Belmont.
Shortwave radio equipment was installed in an upstairs room.
Ben and I were assigned the night watch.
Now the car just stopped in front of Belmont's house.
How many does that make?
Three cars.
Just a minute.
Yeah.
A couple of guys getting out.
One up the front door.
Where?
Let me see, huh?
There's a lot.
Watch curtain.
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
Belmont answers the door.
He's letting them in.
Something's doing.
What do you think?
I don't know.
You called Captain White, didn't you?
An hour ago.
Just after the first car pulled up.
He'll park in the alley and come up the back way.
I better check with everybody again.
This portable seemed to warm up slower than our car radio.
I'm about to say.
Here we go.
Unit 140K to unit 145K.
145K, go ahead.
Just checking.
Your location the same?
That's right.
Motion and clever.
We got three cars to cover now.
Stand by.
Roger.
Unit 140K to 143K.
143K, we got it.
Standing by.
Location still good?
Same.
Be talking to each other.
Stand by.
140K to 149K.
149K, go ahead.
Stay put.
We got three cars now.
Yeah, we heard.
Still the same spot.
Stand by.
Roger.
Captain just pulled in the alley, Joe.
Good.
Belmont's porch light just went out.
Let's see.
Three guys came in the first car.
Two in the second, two in the third.
Is that right?
Yeah.
Seven all in total.
Maybe he's running for office.
Joe, Ben, any changes since you called me?
Another car.
Anybody you know?
Too dark to see their faces.
Yeah.
Dodge Coupe, gray, black packet sedan, green cherry.
That might be for me.
I told the office they could reach me.
Yeah.
White.
Yeah, Bingham.
You must be wrong.
You sure he's not lying?
All right, thanks.
Yeah.
You sure Belmont hasn't left his house since you came on duty?
Couldn't possibly.
Not without somebody in the details, partner.
He got out somehow.
He made a bye.
Captain White called the office and talked to Benny Arradondo, our narcotics undercover
man.
He confirmed the fact that somehow Belmont had a meat and successfully completed a narcotics
transaction.
None of us could figure how and we didn't know when the meat took place.
Arradondo told us that the bye had been made sometime in the past 10 hours.
The arresting officers had recovered a portion of the narcotics, two bindles of heroin.
They were found in the possession of one of Belmont's runners, Archie Scott.
I can't figure him.
What do we do now, Skipper?
Sit tight and watch those three cars in front of Belmont's house over there.
Maybe he didn't have to leave the house to make a bye.
That's the way I got it, Peg.
Those cars down there, those are the first visitors he's had in the past 24 hours.
As far as anybody knows, we've watched it close.
Sometimes it's like that.
It looks like somebody's coming out over there.
Two guys.
How many in there?
Eight, Captain Belmont.
All right, Friday, get to the cars.
Yeah.
They start to move out yet?
No.
Five, six, seven.
That's all of them.
They're heading to the car.
Yeah.
Looks like a three-way switch.
We'll see when they start to move out.
Attention all units in special detail, stand by.
Here's the license numbers, Joe.
Oh, good.
I need those.
Green Chevy's headed south.
Black Packet's going north.
So's the Dodge Coupe.
Uh-huh.
Dodge turned left at the corner.
It's headed east now.
Got it.
140K to all units in special detail.
Unit 149K.
149K, go ahead.
1946 Green Chevrolet sedan, license 6-1 William 852, headed south on Ocean.
Roger.
Unit 145K.
145K, go ahead.
1947 Gray Dodge Coupe, license 1X-Ray 1898, headed east on Clipper Street.
Roger.
143K, come in.
143K, yep.
1939 Black Packet sedan, license 6 Mary 6778, headed north on Ocean.
Roger.
Downspotted.
Could be a dry run, couldn't afford to chance it either way.
Nothing to do now but wait it out.
That's right and pray for rain.
It was eight minutes past 8 p.m.
We sat back and waited for the reports to come in from the cars.
At 8.25 p.m., 17 minutes after the alert was broadcast, unit 149K reported in on the Gray
Chevrolet sedan.
The car and its occupants were thoroughly searched.
No trace of narcotics was found.
8.42 p.m., 34 minutes after the alert.
Unit 143K to 140K.
143K, go ahead.
On that 1939 Packet sedan, license 6 Mary 6778, shook them down.
Nothing.
They're clean.
8.50 p.m., 42 minutes after the alert.
The report on the third and final car came in, the 1947 Gray Dodge Coupe.
That's it.
No trace of narcotics in any of those three cars.
Belmont beat us.
It's tough, huh?
It's going to be tougher.
Now he knows we're after him.
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The three car switch, three cars arrive at a given point at different times.
The meet takes place.
The drivers of the various cars leave the given point at the same time.
Each drives away from the point in a different direction making it three times as difficult to follow them.
The practice was not new to the Narcotics Bureau or the dealers in narcotics.
It usually includes the dry run in which the actual mechanics of the narcotics are carried out.
But neither the merchandise nor the money is on hand.
This practice forces the narcotics officer into pure guesswork.
If the officer doesn't follow up, the buy could be successful.
If he chooses to follow up, he takes the chance of exposing himself and tipping his hand on a rehearsal.
In the case of this particular car switch, we lost.
But taken in the car roundup were seven of Belmont's trusted runners.
Six of these men refused to talk, but the seventh, Clifford Bissell, gave us a lead to one of
Arthur Belmont's most trusted friends.
His name was Floyd Ketchel.
He and his wife lived at 357 Evergreen Drive, Linwood.
It's a nice house.
Yeah.
Yes?
Police officers would like to ask you a few questions.
What about?
Well, as you probably know, there's been a series of burglaries here in your neighborhood.
No, I didn't, though.
Oh, yes, quite a few. Would you mind if we came in and talked to you about it?
I don't know anything about any robberies around here. Everything's okay.
This is just a routine check, Mr. Ketchel. Everybody else in the neighborhood's cooperating.
I'm going to take just a minute.
All right, you can come in, but I have to leave in about 15 minutes.
Thank you.
You have a nice place here, Mr. Ketchel.
Yes. Now, what was it you wanted me to help you with?
You know a man by the name of Clifford Bissell?
No.
How about Arthur Z. Belmont?
Who?
Arthur Z. Belmont. Bissell says you and Belmont are good friends.
I don't understand this. I thought you wanted to ask me about some robberies.
I wonder if you'd mind rolling up your left sleeve and I could look at your arm. What for?
You're a user, aren't you?
No, I'm not.
Then you know what we're talking about, don't you?
No, I don't.
Do you have any narcotics here in the house?
Certainly not.
Mind if we look around?
Why do you want to search the house?
Why won't you show us your left arm?
Floyd Ketchel would admit nothing, but he allowed us to search his home and grounds.
An extra detail of men was called out to aid us in the search.
We covered every foot of the acre of ground. This took two days. We found nothing.
On the third day, under the flooring of an upper bedroom of the Ketchel home, we found Ketchel's plant.
He was using heroin.
You want me to call Belmont, is that the idea?
That's right. We want you to set up a meet with him.
I'm not going to rat on Artie. He's a friend of mine.
Search yourself. We found your plant there. We've got you. You'll be the fall guy.
You mean I take all the heat?
Why not?
Bissell put the finger on you. We've got to have somebody. Why pick on me?
We just told you. We found the stuff here. Bissell fingered you. You're it.
All you have to do is make a phone call.
You won't have a clean slate, but it's going to sound a lot better in court.
All right. It makes sense.
You know what to tell him. We've already been over all that. Call him now.
Friday, listen in on the extension. If Ketchel changes his mind in the middle of the conversation, I'll see that he hangs up.
Yeah.
Hello?
Hi, Art. Floyd Ketchel.
How are you, Ketch?
Fine.
How's Edna?
She's fine, Art. Say, I got a friend on his way to Honolulu.
Uh-huh.
He wants to take a little package along. Got to have it.
You know him? Is he okay?
Yeah. Old friend.
You sure?
Yeah.
You have to be pretty careful. He got hit Wednesday night down the beach.
Yeah? Who'd they get?
Bissell and six guys from New York. Got off easy. It was a dry run.
I didn't know that. Nothing in the papers.
He hasn't hit yet. It will. How much did your friend need?
Going to be in the islands for quite a while. There's a couple ounces you do it.
You got the money now?
He's good. Can you swing it tonight? Boat leaves from San Francisco day after tomorrow.
He hasn't got much time, has he? Okay, you want to pick it up?
Yeah. All right, if I bring him along, I want you to meet him. Good customer.
Are you sure about him? Yeah. Eight-thirty at the store.
We'll be there, Art.
He's 1100 cash?
Yeah.
Better be okay, Ketch?
He is.
Better be. I had one dry run this week. I can have another.
322 p.m. We took Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Ketchel back to Central Division where they were booked on suspicion of violation of the State Narcotics Act.
4 p.m. We met in the office of Chief of Detective Stad Brown.
You need $1100, is that right? Yeah, that's right.
How much was in the Secret Service Fund? $223. Allotment for this month's all gone.
Where'd you get the rest of it?
Haven't got it all yet. Romero's the banker. How you got it figured, Ben?
Well, let's see. I've got it all written down here.
First off, we got $223 cash. These fellows all gave us their personal checks. Jack Donahoe and Robert gave us 200.
Johnny Begum put up 100. Captain White's in for 150.
Joe Pinnum, 35 bucks and 22's all I could swine.
That's $720. You need 380, right?
Yeah, that's the way I got it figured.
Okay, I think I can make up the rest.
How about Wynn's Cadillac, he loaned it to you?
He's out getting it washed.
It's 41, isn't it?
Yeah, sedan. A little old, but it looks good when it's washed. Flashy.
Oh, that's what you need. You gonna make the buy-away?
Yeah. Ketchel will be with me.
Okay, so here, $1100.
Yeah, we only got one hitch. It's 5 o'clock and the banks are closed.
Not much time to run around getting checks cashed.
It was 5 p.m. We had 3 hours to cash $720 in personal checks.
We split up and covered every possible place in the city where we were known and where we knew they would cash them.
By 7.45 p.m. we had the $1100 in cash.
The serial number on each bill was listed and the money turned over to Captain White.
The scene of the meet was a hardware store on East 9th Street, which Belmont used as a front.
Belmont's hardware was located in a small neighborhood shopping district.
On Friday nights, the stores remained open until 9 p.m.
Promptly at 8.30, Captain White and Floyd Ketchel pulled up in front of the store and went in.
Ben and I waited in our car a half a block down the street.
It was 8.35.
There they are. They're coming out.
It was too late to buy.
Starting the car.
Here they come. Watch for the skipper signal, huh?
Yeah.
There it is.
Let's go.
Okay, pull over here.
Come on.
There's a clerk back there. You see Belmont?
No.
Yes, sir. Can I help you?
Is Mr. Belmont around?
No, sir. He just stepped out.
You sure?
Yeah, sir. He went out the back door not a minute ago.
Bigam and Castor are out there, aren't they?
Yeah, he won't go for it.
Oh, there's Mr. Belmont.
Mr. Belmont, these gentlemen want to see you.
He's running up the stairs to my house, isn't he?
Come on.
All right, Belmont. Wait a minute.
Watch that barrel. Watch it. Look out.
Pushing that barrel down the stairs.
Go on, Mike. Let's go. Come on.
There he is. He's trying to reach that skylight.
Belmont, get down. You'll never make it.
I'm slipping, Joe. Belmont!
Come on.
He didn't do that showcase any good.
Yeah, he's through.
Piece of that glass. Right through him.
Yeah, it's a rough way to go.
Yeah. At least narcotics didn't kill him.
The story you have just heard was true.
Only the names were changed to protect the innocent.
On December 10, 1948, trial was held in Superior Court,
Department 87, City and County of Los Angeles, State of California,
in a moment, the results of that trial.
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Twelve members of Arthur Z. Belmont's Narcotics Gang were finally rounded up by federal, state and local authorities.
All twelve were tried and convicted of violating the Harrison Act and the State Narcotics Act.
They received sentences as prescribed by law and are now serving their terms in state and federal penitentiaries.
You have just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases from official files.
Technical advice for Dragnet comes from the Office of Chief of Police, W.A. Wharton, Los Angeles Police Department.
Fatima cigarettes, best of all long cigarettes, has brought you Dragnet from Los Angeles.
Be sure to hear Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Coleman in Halls of Ivy tomorrow on NBC.