The story you are about to hear is true.
Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Fatima cigarettes, best of all long cigarettes, brings you Dragnet.
You're a detective sergeant.
You're assigned to forgery detail.
An accomplished check forger resumes operations in your city.
The suspect is described as a middle-aged woman.
She's written more than $20,000 in bad checks.
Your job, get her.
In a moment, an authentic case from official files.
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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.
Was Monday, April 17th, was warm in Los Angeles.
We were working a day watch out of forgery detail.
My partner's Ben Romero, the boss is Captain Elliott.
My name's Friday.
I was on the way back into work and it was 7.53 a.m. when I got to room 29.
Forgery detail.
Morning, Joe.
Hi, how'd the weekend go?
Oh, pretty slow.
Stayed home, did some gardening.
How about that new lawn you put in?
How's it doing?
If we want a lawn, we're going to have to move.
What's the matter now?
Same old thing.
Gophers?
Must be hundreds of them.
So many holes at the top of the lawn, looks like an old punch board.
No, that's too bad.
Can't you try some kind of poison on them?
How about those new things they got out?
What do they call them?
Gopher bombs?
I use them with a dozen.
They eat anything.
Joe, Ben?
Yeah, Ferguson.
Good morning, Captain.
Let's see you.
Okay.
What's up, Fergie?
You ain't going to like it.
Skipper will brief you.
Morning, Skipper.
Hi, have a seat.
Yeah, thanks.
You two finished up with the Benson case yesterday, that right?
Yeah, it's all washed up.
We're clear.
Good.
Then you can start on this one right away.
You'll work with Frank Besser and Ferguson here.
What is it?
Grandma.
I had a hunch, Joe.
What have we done to deserve this?
It's nothing any of us have done.
It's what we haven't done.
Now, we're stopped once and for all.
Are we any closer to her than we have been, Fergie?
Just about the same, Joe.
That's why I'm putting two more of you on it.
How well do you know the case?
Just what we've heard around the office.
Same here.
I could stand some briefing.
Ferguson?
Well, you must have heard how she operates.
Three months out of the year, April, October, and December, that's all.
She never been known to change that schedule?
Not as far as I know.
She's been doing it the same for nine years.
All the phony checks she cashes are personal checks.
That's right.
She never writes in less than $2 and never more than $100.
Nine years.
She been going that long?
Nine and a half.
It'll be an even 10 this October.
You want to check them out on the totals, Ferguson?
Mm-hmm.
Up to and including the first of this month, she's cashed 1,273 checks.
The total's a little over $22,000.
Anything special about the way she writes the checks?
Nothing but the signatures.
There's an alias list on her that'll knock your eye out more than 200 different names.
Her description's still the same, about 50 years old, kind of plump, nice face.
A few minor changes.
Last year she had gray hair, dressed very plain.
This year she dyed her hair black, dressed a little more expensively.
Nine years.
That's a long streak of luck for any paper hanger.
That's just it.
This old gal's not just an ordinary paper hanger.
She's no amateur, don't get me wrong,
but she doesn't operate like any check forger I've ever known.
She contradicts part of her M.O., part of it she doesn't.
She takes chances an ordinary paper hanger would never take, and she gets away with them.
Take a look at just one of these exhibits.
Yeah?
This one here.
28 checks passed on the same chain of grocery stores, same company.
She passed them all in one month?
No, that's just the point.
Two years ago she passed 14 of them, spread them out over a period of a month.
Last year she passed another batch of 14 all within three days.
One year she used a different name on each check.
On this batch she used the same name.
Well, does she have any identification when she passes these checks?
Always.
Phony driver's license, Social Security cards, it works.
And she's got that sweet grandmother smile to hers.
Clerks rarely turn her down when she shows up with a check.
You can get used to different descriptions of her too.
Give the file a look.
Hardly three of the check victims can get together on what she looks like exactly.
Well, where are they getting stung most, downtown or out in the neighborhoods?
The neighborhoods, anywhere from the beach area to the valley.
This whole file skipper, that's not just her work, is it?
Every last bit of it.
We can't fit it in a six-foot shelf.
In nine years I've had five teams of men work this thing.
None of them reached her.
You and Friday make the sixth.
It's April 17th. How's she doing so far this month, Freddie?
Cash $624 in checks we know of since the first of the month.
Same general description, same general MO.
No fresh leads?
She's been operating nine years, Joe.
Just as good as ever.
To the working detective, there's no tougher job than tracking a lawbreaker who's half professional and half amateur.
You can expect a criminal who's entirely professional to react generally the same in a given set of circumstances.
The same with the amateur.
But take the two, the professional and the amateur, and intermingle their possible and probable reactions.
You'll likely have a sound reason why and how an elderly woman could victimize merchants with $20,000 in bad checks over a period of nine years without being caught.
Grandma, as she'd come to be known, worked only three months out of each year, April, October, and December.
Her apparent fine sense of timing and her knowledge of psychology was far and away superior to that of the ordinary paper hanger.
If the file on Grandma was any indication, she apparently had been born to be a successful check forger.
After Ben and I spent three days on the case with Sergeant Ferguson and Besser, we were almost convinced that there was only one way we could reach the suspect.
She had to make a mistake.
Bergen, how'd you do?
Pretty sour. Four checks in two days. What'd you fellas get?
Two. Don Meyer checked the signatures. They're all hers.
Here's our list if you're interested.
Meet market out in Pico, $25. Grocery in West Hollywood, $48. Two department stores downtown, $100 apiece.
How do they describe the woman?
Same old yarn. She was a nice, charming little lady, about 55 or 60, small, dark hair, graying, dark eyes, nice smile.
Clerk told me she reminded him of his mother.
Yeah.
Now how'd you make out on those two of yours?
All about the same, even the story about her looking like somebody's mother.
One thing's sure. Her timing's just as good as it was nine years ago.
Downtown Merchants Association screaming again. They're looking for action.
So are we.
Did you talk to the captain today?
Yeah, he's looking for action too. I don't know what we can do unless we get some kind of cooperation from the merchants.
Every time the old gal pushes a bum check, it's three or four days before it gets to the bank and we hear about it.
The trail's pretty cold by then.
Joe and I were talking just before you came in, Fergie. We can't expect too much to happen the way we're going.
Any ideas?
More men and more stakeouts. The captain says he'll buy that. That's about all we can do.
Another ten days in April will be over. Grandma'll be through pushing checks till October again.
I don't know, Joe. Her formula's too perfect for me. There's gotta be a flaw in it someplace.
Yeah. You got out a bulletin of that revised description of her, Fergie?
Yeah, it's all taken care of. Special notices were mailed out to the merchants too. Again?
Yeah.
Forge River Mail. Yes, sir.
Is that... That's it.
Yeah, right away. Thank you.
Supermarket on Temple Street. Grandma. Hit him with two checks.
Any lead?
Clerk says she'd remind him of his money.
A week passed. The number of stakeouts on business places throughout the city was doubled.
The M.O. and description of the suspect was circulated among the merchants in the downtown and suburban shopping centers.
Clerks were especially warned to be on the lookout for.
The precautions went for nothing. Grandma's checks kept showing up at the rate of two and three a day.
On April 27th, she passed a check for $50 at the Delicatessen on Hollywood Boulevard.
We drove out to interview the owner, Mr. Hemerson.
Do you have one of those circulars we send out on this woman?
Well, I'm ashamed to say it, Sergeant, but I have, hanging right back there in the store room.
The thing of it is, I never connected the two, the woman and the notice.
It's the way she looks at you, you know? Like it'd be a heel to even question her.
How was she dressed the last time she was in? Do you remember that?
Well, she had kind of a plain black coat on.
Say, would you excuse me a minute? I don't like to keep customers waiting.
Oh, sure. Go ahead. Yes, sir.
How are you, Mrs. Lyons?
I need some cold meat for kids' lunches. What have you got nice and fresh?
You see right there in the case, head cheese is very fresh. Good for the kidneys.
Pimento loaf's nice, too.
Oh, kids don't like either one, Bussy.
You better give me 35 cents of that small baloney, would you?
Yes, ma'am.
Kids are so fussy nowadays.
They ought to be in Europe, that's what I tell them.
I know what it is to go hungry.
Oh, you better give me a couple of those large kosher pickles, too.
Husband's crazy for them.
Yes, ma'am.
And a loaf of the rye, too. Would you know, see?
Yes, ma'am.
How are the kiddies doing in school, Mrs. Lyons?
Oh, just fine, fine.
Marilyn's in the school pageant next month. She's going to be the queen.
Oh, that's nice.
Well, I don't know how nice it is. More work, that's all.
I have to make her costume.
There you are, Mrs. Lyons. Put it on the bill?
Yeah, would you do that? I'll see you the 15th of the month.
Yes, ma'am. Good-bye.
Uh-huh, good-bye.
Sorry to keep you waiting, officer.
Not at all.
I see now. Where was I?
Well, we asked you how the woman was doing.
Oh, yeah, had a black coat on, I told you that.
Yes, sir.
Very plain-looking clothes, like any other housewife,
print dress, some kind of a scarf around the neck.
That's about all I noticed.
How about that description of her in the bulletin we sent you?
That fit her pretty well?
Yeah, I guess so. She didn't exactly seem plump to me, though.
Kind of a nice figure for a woman of her age.
Do you know if any of your customers were acquainted with her?
I wouldn't know that. She acted as though she was a woman of her age.
She acted as though she knew some of them,
but now that this has happened, I can see she was just putting on.
She was a great disappointment to me.
Yes, yes, she is to a lot of people.
I used to josh with her all the time.
I'm a widower, you know.
Thought once or twice I might even date her up.
Is that so?
Yeah, she seemed like a real good sport, joshing all the time,
fine personality, just as homey as you please.
That fits in with the other descriptions.
How are you ever going to catch somebody like that?
Two days later, on April 30th, right on schedule,
the flow of bogus checks and grandma's handwriting suddenly stopped.
If she continued to work by the same timetable she'd been using for the last nine years,
she wouldn't start operations again until the 1st of October.
During the next five months that followed, from May to the end of September,
Besser, Ferguson, Ben, and I handled the usual run of check cases.
At the same time, we used up every spare hour we had
making preparations for the suspect's next appearance.
Every businessman throughout the city who might be a possible victim was alerted.
A revised description of the suspect, together with her MO,
was printed up and given wide distribution.
Every possible precaution was taken.
October came.
Grandma started on the 10th year of her forgery career without a hitch.
On October 1st, she casted a check for $75 at a large downtown women's shop.
As soon as we got the report, we went to the department where the check had been received.
A fashion show was in progress.
...ladice wood. She's wearing an even wide velvet dinner suit.
The newest shades are easy to wear.
You will notice the pencil-thin skirt and the doll with three-quarters sleeves.
Excuse me. Are you Mr. Montrose?
Yes. What is it?
Police officers, sir. Forgery detail.
Oh, yes, that check. I wonder if you could hold on for just a moment.
Yes, sir.
Mrs. Janice Morgan next. She wears a gown of striking originality with rich but simple lines.
A black dress with satin skirt with handmade points.
A sculptured silk and latex sweater top with an oval neckline punctuated with ball fringes.
Hey, Joe. What kind of outfit is that that the model's wearing?
I don't know.
How much do it?
All right, officers. Would you like to step this way, please?
Okay.
This is my office here.
Well, I don't know what I can do for you, gentlemen.
The check was passed. Very unfortunate occurrence.
You okayed the check for cash, is that correct?
Yes. The sales girl handled the transaction.
She showed me the check. I knew the signature, so I okayed it.
Mary Walker?
Yes. That's how this check was signed.
What kind of identification did the woman have?
Her charge account plate. You know, the small metal card charge plates we call them.
I recognized that and the signature immediately.
You know this Mary Walker pretty well.
She's one of our best customers.
You are listening to Dragnet. Authentic stories of your police force in action.
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Friday, October 4th, 2 p.m.
Before we left the store, we found that another worthless check bearing the signature Mary Walker had been cashed in a different department of the store the same day.
The woman had used the same means of identification, a metal charge account plate stamped with the name Mary Walker.
We took the two checks back to the office and had Don Meyer and handwriting compare the signatures.
There wasn't any doubt in his mind. The writing on both checks was Grandma's.
Well, it was only a hunch, but it was beginning to look as though the suspect had finally done what we'd been waiting nine years for her to do.
She'd made a mistake. Ben and I drove out to an address in the Wilshire District to interview Mrs. Mary Walker.
She fit the same general description of the suspect, but she denied writing either one of the checks which bore her signature.
It's out of the question, Sergeant. I couldn't have written the checks. I haven't even been in the city for the past five days.
Then the signatures on these two checks here, Mrs. Walker, they're not yours.
It looks like my handwriting, but it's not. I didn't write those checks. They're forgeries.
Yes, ma'am. You do have a charge account at the store, don't you, ma'am?
Oh, yes. I've had an account there for years. Nothing like this has ever happened, though.
You have one of those charge account plates?
Well, yes. I did have one.
You lent it to someone in your family?
No. As a matter of fact, I lost it. I meant to report it to the store, but it slipped my mind.
Do you have any idea of where and when you might have lost it?
Well, I think it was last Sunday night. I'm not sure. Oh, well, just a minute. I know who would remember.
I nestled in, but she was there. I'm sure she'll remember.
Who's she, ma'am?
Girlfriend's mind. She lives in the neighborhood.
Hello, Inez. Mary Walker, Inez. Oh, just fine. And you? Oh, good.
Say, Inez, which night was it we went to the Boosters Club meeting Sunday?
Yes, I thought that it was. Oh, nothing. Just some silly misunderstanding.
Well, all right, Inez. Thanks for remembering for me. Yes, goodbye.
It was Sunday night, Sergeant. Inez Lambert and I went to the neighborhood Boosters Club meeting.
I'm sure that's where I must have lost it.
Well, you think the charge account plate fell out of your purse, is that it?
Well, either that or it was taken.
Why do you say that, ma'am? Well, it's a serious thing. I didn't want to mention it.
What's that?
I left my purse on the chair next to me a part of the evening.
When I got home, I thought I was missing a five dollar bill for my change purse.
I didn't notice at the time my charge plate was gone.
Do you remember who was at that meeting, Miss Walker?
Oh, 40 or 50 people at least.
How many women would you say?
Hmm, a dozen or so, I suppose. I'm not accusing anybody of robbery, Sergeant.
I know it's a serious charge to make.
Do you know if one of the club officers might have taken a list of those present?
Oh, they didn't have to. We do the same thing at every meeting.
What's that mean?
We all sign the attendance book when we leave.
Three p.m. Ben and I contacted the secretary of the neighborhood Boosters Club.
He gave us a list of those present at the Sunday night meeting of the club.
As Mary Walker had told us, each person present had signed his or her name and address in the attendance book.
We took the record downtown with us and had Don Meyer compare each signature on the list with samples of Grandma's handwriting.
Number 32 on the list, fellas. That's it.
Positive, Mike?
No doubt in my mind. That's Grandma's handwriting.
How'd she sign it?
Mrs. Inez Lambert.
We went down the hall to R&I and had them check the name Inez Lambert through the files.
She had no criminal record. Together with Besser and Ferguson, Ben and I spent the next day and a half trailing Inez Lambert wherever she went.
She fitted the description of the suspect perfectly. We questioned her friends and her neighbors.
We dug back into every corner of her life for the past ten years.
The results were pretty amazing. We found that she was highly respected by everybody she knew.
She was active in a dozen civic and church organizations. Her reputation was spotless.
It was only one hitch. Mrs. Lambert's hobby was charities.
By checking back, we found that during the past ten years, she donated an average of $3,000 annually to various charitable organizations.
Her husband's total annual income was $7,000.
From her bank, we obtained specimens of Inez Lambert's handwriting.
It matched almost perfectly with every signature in the Grandma file.
Monday, October 7th, Ben and I called on Mrs. Lambert.
Oh yes, officers, won't you come in? Mary Walker was telling me about you. Come in, please.
Thank you, ma'am.
Thank you.
Mary told me about the things missing from her purse at the meeting. Is that what you're inquiring about?
Yes, ma'am. We've got a few other questions to ask you besides that.
Well, you sort of caught me at a bad time. Just getting ready to put some baking in the oven for dinner tonight.
Would you mind very much if we talked back in the kitchen? I've got to get this done.
No, not at all, ma'am.
It's back this way.
Oh, there goes my cream sauce again, boiled over.
Just take a chair there, officers. I'll be right with you.
Thank you. Thanks.
This cream sauce is so temperamental, can't take your eye off it for a minute.
There, shouldn't boil over now.
Would either of you officers care for a cup of cocoa? Chilly out today.
No, thank you, ma'am. We only have a few questions for you. It won't take long.
Yes, all right. Would you mind holding this bowl just a minute, sergeant?
Oh, oh, yes.
I just have to get this in the oven for dinner. My husband's favorite dessert. It's called pinch pie.
It's kind of a meringue tart.
Let me see. Take two eggs, I guess.
There we are. Get these egg whites beaten up nice and light.
That cup of sugar on the sink, sergeant, would you be so kind?
Yeah, all right.
Here's your sugar, ma'am.
Thank you. Now, what is it you wanted to know?
Mrs. Walker had her charge account plate stolen that night at the booster club meeting.
Somebody's been using it to cash bad checks in her name.
Is that so? Mary didn't tell me that.
The same person who's using that charge account plate has been cashing bad checks all over the city.
He's been doing it for some time.
Oh, my. Well, I don't think I can help you, sergeant. I went to that meeting with Mary.
She says somebody must have been in her purse, but I didn't see them.
Do you have that charge account plate, Mrs. Lambert?
Me? Oh, no, I have my own.
Now, let me see. Teaspoon vanilla, teaspoon vinegar, teaspoon water.
Combine in a small pitcher or cup.
We've got good reason to believe you have that charge account plate, ma'am.
Did you take it from Mrs. Walker?
That's a silly thing for you to say, sergeant. I told you I have my own charge plate.
I never borrow anyone else's. No reason to.
Add a few drops of combined liquids. Be constantly.
Did you cash two checks last week and sign them with Mrs. Walker's name?
Of course not. Why should I do such a thing?
Mary Walker's one of my best friends. I wouldn't do that to her, even as a joke.
Well, our handwriting man compared the signatures on those two checks, Mrs. Lambert.
Both of them match your handwriting.
And all the ingredients have been added.
Continue to beat the meringue for several minutes.
Oh, I'm sorry. What was that you said, sergeant?
I said that the signatures on those two forged checks,
our handwriting man compared them with specimens of your signature. They both match.
Well, then your handwriting man certainly made a mistake.
There's a large white platter up in that cupboard there. Would you reach it for me, please?
All right.
There you are, ma'am. Thank you.
Now, you deny that you wrote those two forged checks last week.
You deny that you've written and cashed about 1,500 worthless checks in the last nine years.
Of course I deny it. You're sure you haven't made a mistake?
We're sure, ma'am. I'm sorry. You'll have to come downtown with us for questioning.
What's that? Oh, my. It's the cream sauce again.
Sergeant, I can't leave the house now. Right in the middle of getting dinner ready.
My husband will be furious. If you want to talk, couldn't we do it later on?
I'm sorry, ma'am. Afraid not.
But you certainly can't accuse me of doing anything wrong.
The folks at the church will vouch for me.
We've got just as many people who say you've cheated them, and people who cash those checks for you.
Quite a few of them, ma'am. Nine years' worth.
But that silly nine years cashing checks, I'm sure you must mean somebody else, Sergeant.
I've got to get this platter green.
Let's see. Heat meringue upon lightly greased platter here.
Look, we have a record downtown on every single check that you passed since you started, ma'am.
We've got specimens of your handwriting and people to identify you.
We know what your income is. We know how much that you've given to charities.
Money's got to come from someplace. Is that what the checks were for?
Excuse me. I've got to get this meringue in the oven.
Let me see.
275 degrees.
I hope I put in enough vanilla.
You want to tell us about it?
I never thought about anyone finding out.
I guess I should have expected it, shouldn't I?
Yes, ma'am.
I mean, it was all for charity.
There were so many of them. Orphanages, old people's home, Christmas poor fund,
and then the overseas relief charities. They all need money.
Somebody has to take care of them.
Your husband knew nothing about this for ten years?
Nothing at all. They were my charities.
I had to have money for them.
I took money from people who had it and gave it to those who didn't.
What do you think, Sergeant?
Was I wrong? Do you think the good Lord will say I was wrong?
I wouldn't know, ma'am.
I only wanted to help the poor like he did. I came to help the poor.
Well, there's a big difference, ma'am.
Yes?
He didn't use a checkbook.
The story you have just heard was true.
Only the names were changed to protect the innocent.
On December 18th, trial was held in Superior Court, Department 91,
City and County of Los Angeles, State of California.
In a moment, the results of that trial.
Now, here is our star, Jack Webb.
Thank you.
The efficiency of any local police department depends on the quality of its personnel.
Each and every man is carefully selected and thoroughly trained.
Whether in uniform or plain clothes, your police officer knows his job.
And so with a cigarette.
The men who make Fatima cigarettes know their job.
They carefully select and blend the finest Turkish and domestic tobaccos to make Fatima extra mild,
different from other long cigarettes.
They cost the same, but in Fatima, the difference is quality.
If you're a long cigarette smoker like I am, I'm sure you'll like Fatima best.
Start enjoying Fatima tomorrow.
Music
Inez Lorraine Lambert entered a plea of guilty to two counts of forgery,
and the remaining charges were set off calendar.
She was sentenced by the court for the term prescribed by law.
Music
You have just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases from official files.
Technical advice comes from the Office of Chief of Police, W.H. Parker, Los Angeles Police Department.
Fatima cigarettes, the best of all long cigarettes, has brought you Dragnet, portions transcribed from Los Angeles.
This is Robert Young. Here, We the People, next on NBC.
Music