The story you are about to hear is true.
The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Fatima cigarettes.
Best of all, king-size cigarettes brings you dragnet on both radio and television.
You're a detective sergeant.
You're assigned a robbery detail.
Two convicts escaped from the state penitentiary.
They're heading for your city.
They're armed.
They've boasted they won't be taken alive.
Your job, get them.
In Fatima, the difference is quality.
Yes, in Fatima, the difference is quality.
Prove it yourself today.
Compare Fatima with any other king-size cigarette.
One, Fatima's length filters the smoke 85 millimeters for your protection.
Two, Fatima's length cools the smoke for your protection.
Three, Fatima's length gives you those extra puffs, 21 percent longer than standard cigarette
size.
And in Fatima, you get an extra mild and soothing smoke, plus the added protection of Fatima
quality.
Definitely the best quality in its class, but the same price as the cigarette you're
now smoking.
Buy Fatima in the bright, sunny yellow pack.
Best of all, king-size cigarettes.
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 transcribed 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, October 6th.
It was cloudy in Los Angeles.
We were working the day watch out of robbery detail.
My partner's Ed Jacobs, the boss's Captain Didion.
My name's Friday.
We were on the way out from the office and it was 2.40 p.m. when we got to Kesterson
Boulevard, number 1256.
Sounds like she's having a party, huh?
Yeah, try it again, huh?
Maybe they can't hear it inside.
Mm-hmm.
Yes?
Police officers, ma'am.
Are you Ruth Thompson?
Yes, that's right.
What is it?
My name's Friday.
This is my partner, Sergeant Jacobs, Central Robbery.
We'd like to talk to you a few minutes if we could.
Well, I have a party going on right now.
A few of my friends are over.
What do you want, Sergeant?
It's about an Andy Powell, Mr. Thompson.
I understand you know him.
I did know him, yes.
I haven't seen him for a long time, three or four years anyway.
Mind if we ask a few questions about him?
It won't take long.
All right.
Come in, please.
Thank you.
We're sorry to disturb you, ma'am.
It's pretty important or we wouldn't hold you out here.
It's all right.
Down the hall here.
Fine.
We can talk in the kitchen if you don't mind.
It's my girlfriend's birthday today.
I thought it'd be nice to have a little party for her.
Oh, I see.
Chair there, if you like.
Oh, here, let me wipe it off.
He spilled a drink on it.
Probably Danny would spill the drinks.
I suppose you know about Andy Powell, Mr. Thompson.
What happened this morning?
What's that?
About Andy Powell.
You heard about him?
About Andy Powell?
You heard what happened this morning?
Just what I read in the morning paper.
They said he broke out of San Quentin, another man with him.
It's true then, he did break out?
Yes, ma'am.
That's the information we have.
There's an all points bulletin out on him.
Well, I don't want to get involved in it.
It's none of my business.
Andy doesn't mean anything to me.
Well, at the time he was sent up, you were engaged to Powell.
Is that right?
Yes, but that was before he got into trouble, before he went to San Quentin.
I saw him after the trial.
I told him how I felt about it.
I told him it wasn't any use.
You mean you called it off, that is?
It wasn't much else to do.
It was robbery, five years to life, it wasn't the first time either.
Andy knew it would be a long time, so die.
Really I had to tell him, I had to call it off.
We understand you were on Powell's correspondence list while he was up at Quentin.
You wrote to him, did you?
Yes, the first couple of months.
We haven't written lately though.
There wasn't any point to it, no point at all.
Well, when was the last time you heard from Powell, Miss Thompson?
Last time you wrote to him?
Oh, eight or ten months, at least that.
As I say, there wasn't much sense in going on.
Andy knew he was in there for a long time.
He couldn't expect me to wait all that time.
Matter of fact, he said he didn't expect it, he told me that.
You been up to visit Powell recently, Miss Thompson?
No, no, I haven't.
Well, then you haven't seen him since he went up to Quentin, you'll swear to that?
Why do I have to swear to it?
I already told you, Andy doesn't mean anything to me.
It didn't make sense, it's all over.
I'm not even a relative, why do I have to swear to anything?
You haven't seen Powell since he went up to Quentin, is that right?
Miss Thompson, is that right?
What if I saw him or if I didn't see him, what difference does it make?
It's none of my business.
Well, did you see him, Miss Thompson?
What difference does it make?
I don't have anything to do with him.
He doesn't mean anything to me, I told you.
Did you see him?
This morning.
When?
Late this morning, about 10.30.
Was he alone?
No, another man was with him.
Who was the other man you recognized?
Bert Selby, that's the way he introduced him, he didn't try to hide it.
Some fellow he broke out of jail with.
What did they want?
Why were they here?
Clothes, money, looked like the devil, both of them, terrible.
What did you give them?
They asked for them, not that silly.
They didn't trust me anymore and they'd trust you.
Andy had a knife, I tried to tell him I didn't have any money, he didn't believe me.
He met me with that knife, I gave him the money.
How much?
About 17, 18 dollars, some loose change, they emptied my purse, they took it all.
Anything else?
Clothes, a couple of suits of my father's, he died last year.
They took his gun too.
I never thought Andy'd be that way, it was terrible.
What kind of a gun was it, Miss Thompson?
Quote revolver, 38 I think.
They took that and the clothes and the money.
It was about 10.30 this morning.
Malcolm, you didn't report that.
You say you knew about the escape, you knew they were wanted, didn't you?
Why should I?
They warned me about it, they threatened me.
They said they'd come back and get me if I told the police.
Look, I don't want to get mixed up in this.
I'm engaged to a nice fella now, we want to get married.
I don't want to get mixed up in this.
Andy Powell's nothing to me.
Did you watch the two men when they left the house here and you noticed if they drove off
in the car?
No, I didn't, I just shut the door and prayed I was rid of them.
I took my money, food, my dad's clothes.
Don't make it any tougher, huh?
Please.
Well, it's not a question of that, ma'am, we have to find them.
We're gonna need all the cooperation we can get.
I told you everything I could, honestly.
I said they'd come back and kill me if I even talked to you.
I can't do anymore.
I sure hope you don't find him.
How's that?
When Andy went out the door, it's the last thing he said.
He said if the cops ever found him, there was gonna be a fight.
Terrible look on his face.
You know.
He said you'd never take him alive.
The APB had come in a few minutes before eight o'clock that morning.
It was from the warden's office, San Quentin.
The two suspects had been assigned to an early morning work detail at the penitentiary and
they were first reported missing at the 7 a.m. count.
Number one suspect was Andrew A. Powell, WMA, 29 years, 5 foot 9, 175 pounds, brown hair,
blue eyes, tan complexion.
Suspect number two, Bertram O. Selby, WMA, 31 years, 5 foot 11, 160 pounds, blonde hair,
gray eyes, tan complexion.
Both of them had long criminal records.
Both of them had been serving time for armed robbery.
They'd used guns before.
We figured if they had to, they'd use them again.
Before we left Powell's ex-girlfriend, Ruth Thompson, we called the office and arranged
for a 24-hour stakeout on her home in case the escaped prisoners returned.
We also made arrangements for a stakeout at the downtown restaurant where she was employed
as cashier.
We passed along the information which the Thompson girl had given us and a broadcast
and an APB was gotten out on the suspects.
Four o'five p.m.
Ed and I continued making the rounds of all the known friends and associates of the escaped
prisoners.
We failed to come up with any more leads.
By 5.50 p.m., we went back to the city hall.
Clouding up again, huh?
Over there in the east?
Yeah, the paper says rain tonight and tomorrow.
We can sure use it.
Oh, I can't.
What's the matter?
Haven't had a chance to get the shoemakers yet.
Here, look at that.
Hole in my shoe.
I'm meaning to get them half-souled.
I keep forgetting.
Yeah.
Don't tell me that's the only pair of shoes you got.
No, I got another pair at home.
They're not comfortable, though, not broken in.
It's trouble with this job.
What do you mean?
Shoes, you get a new pair, start wearing them around, it happens every time.
No sooner get the tops broken in than the soles wear out.
It's a vicious circle.
Yeah.
Hi.
What's the word?
Oh, hi, Jess.
Anything in the book for us, do you know?
I don't know.
I don't think so.
I'll check it.
How'd you two make out?
Any luck?
Oh, not too bad, Jess.
We know Powell and Selby were in town this morning.
Good chance they're still here.
Any kickback on that last all points we got out?
Nothing so far.
Gaffney and Ricketts are running down a couple of possibles right now.
One of them might pan out.
Nothing in the book, Joe.
We're clear.
We're just saying yet on this Powell and Selby thing, got a couple of possibles we're checking
on.
Both calls came in the last hour.
One was a holdup, Olympic near Vermont.
Mm-hmm.
Pawn shop there, two men pulled it off, slugged the owner, took clothes, money, 12 gauge shotgun.
How about descriptions on the man?
Well, they seem to be fairly close.
When I got over the phone, Gaffney and Ricketts are out talking to the victim.
They took mugs of Powell and Selby along, waiting for their call back now.
I said you had two calls.
What was the other one?
2-11 and slugging out on Hollywood Boulevard just above Western.
A couple of thieves knocked over a dry goods store.
One take, clothes and money.
Descriptions are pretty close there, too.
Hollywood division's covering, waiting for their call back.
Do you want a smoke?
No, thanks.
Here.
Thanks.
Thompson Girl is the only one who had anything, huh?
None of the others could help you out?
Yeah, it's about the size of it.
Apparently, Powell doesn't have too many connections in town.
Selby has even less.
No more than a dozen names on that list.
Were they Joe, friends, relatives?
An even dozen, a couple of bars Powell was known to hang out when he was in town.
Checked them out, too, nothing.
They sure made a beeline here after they broke Quentin.
It's a good 500-mile stretch.
They don't have the connections here to help them, then what's the big attraction?
Yeah.
They could have some help lined up we don't know about.
Somebody to hide them out, keep them in groceries for a while.
It's possible they're making a run for one of the border towns, Tijuana, Mexicali.
Maybe Powell figured on more help from the Thompson Girl.
Clothes and money.
Enough to get him and Selby over into Mexico, huh?
She said all they got was $17.
But cut corners to make it on that.
Robbery Gonzalez.
Oh, yeah, Jack.
Mm-hmm.
Sure?
Yeah, okay, fine, thanks.
Bye.
What do you got?
Jack Ricketts.
He and Gaffney just finished talking to the owner of the pawn shop that was held up, the
one on Olympic.
They gave him a handful of mug shots to check.
He tabbed two of them, Powell and Selby.
At 6.30 p.m., a supplementary broadcast and an APB was gotten out on the two suspects
and the record bureau's photocopy room turned out 2,000 copies of Powell's and Selby's mug
shot for distribution.
At 9 p.m., a theater on Western Avenue was robbed of $192.
Powell and Selby were again identified as the holdup men.
The robbery victim, the manager of the theater, said that both men were armed, one with a
.38 revolver, the other with a sawed-off shotgun.
Neither the manager nor the two witnesses were able to tell us how the thieves got away
from the scene of the crime, if they were on foot or if they had a car.
11.20 p.m., a hotshot call came through on a holdup at a liquor store in Delicatessen
down on South Central Avenue.
For the third time that night, Powell and Selby were identified from their mug shots
as the holdup men.
They'd used the same weapons, the revolver that they'd taken from the Thompson girls'
home and the shotgun that they picked up in the robbery of the Olympic Boulevard pawn
shop.
Again, the victims were unable to tell us how the suspects got away, whether on foot
or by car.
Midnight, 1 a.m., there were still no replies to supplementary broadcasts and bulletins
which had been gotten out.
1.25 a.m., another hotshot call came through, this time on a holdup and a slugging at the
2050 room, a small nightclub on West 9th Street.
Ed and I handled the call.
For the fourth time, the bandits were identified as Powell and Selby, and for the fourth time,
they'd made good their escape.
We interviewed the manager of the 2050 room, a Herman Saunders.
Quite a few people in here at the time of the holdup, Mr. Saunders?
Yeah, good for Thursday night, 30 or 40 anyway.
We sure left in a hurry.
This is the second time this year we've been knocked over.
Insurance company isn't gonna like it too much.
Well, how much money did they take altogether, do you know?
A little less than 600 from the cash register, mostly currency, some rolls of dimes and quarters.
Got another 100 and a half from my wallet.
That's about it.
They didn't take anything from the customers.
Are you sure about that identification, are you?
There's no chance of a mistake there?
I'm positive.
I'd know Andy Powell anywhere.
I should know him.
Like I told you, he worked for me a year and a half.
That was here at 2050?
Yeah, he worked behind the bar.
Good man too.
I don't get it at all.
You mean when I went bad?
Well, yeah, that too.
What I mean is if you're gonna hold up a place, you don't pick a joint where everybody knows
you.
I spotted Andy as soon as I saw him at the bar.
I sold a couple of the waiters.
He wasn't wearing any kind of a mask.
He didn't make any attempt to disguise himself?
No, stood there big as life, him and this other fella.
Didn't waste any time either.
They pulled the guns, lined up everybody in the place and stood them against that wall
over there.
Real wild West Isle.
Took over the whole place.
Acted real wild, Andy and this other fella.
Must be crazy.
Nobody was hurt?
Didn't slug anyone?
I slapped a few of the customers around.
I thought for a while they were really gonna get rough.
They had us lined up against the wall.
Andy was acting tough.
Had this knife with him, good four inch blade.
Went right down the line jabbing people with it, threatening him.
Must be out of his mind.
Now you say he didn't take any money from the customers?
Yeah, that's right.
They worked it pretty fast.
Empty the cash register, then my wallet, then they beat it.
Never so glad to see anybody go in my life.
Well, how'd they get away?
Do you have any idea on that?
Old guy who sells papers down the corner.
He says he thinks he saw a car pull away right after the stick up.
Said it was a blue sedan.
Don't know how much stock you can put in it.
The old man's eyes aren't what they used to be.
Do you know Paul pretty well when he was working here, Mr. Saunders?
I mean, do you know any of his friends, people he used to run with?
No, I didn't know him that well.
He worked for me, that's all.
I still have his old address, the place he was living when he worked for me.
I can get it if you want.
Yeah, if you would, please.
Sure, no trouble.
I just don't get it.
Don't get it at all.
Of all the joints in town he could have held up, he had to pick mine.
The one place he'd be recognized.
You'd think he'd have better sense, wouldn't you?
You'd think so, yeah.
How'd he ever hire a guy as dumb as that Paul holding up the place he worked for?
Biggest mistake he ever made.
No, he made a bigger one yesterday.
Yeah, what was that?
When he broke prison.
2.05 a.m.
Further investigation at the scene of the latest holdup failed to turn up any new leads.
While Ed and I checked on Powell's former address, which we'd gotten from the owner
of the 2050 room, Gonzalez, Ricketts, and Gaffney continued checking the immediate neighborhood.
In addition, a special detail from Metro Division was sent in to cover the entire area.
The suspect's former address turned out to be a rooming house up on West Temple Street.
The landlady remembered Andy Powell, but she had no forwarding address on him and she could
tell us nothing about his former friends and associates.
We checked back with Gonzalez, Ricketts, and Gaffney and they told us that besides the
old newspaper vendor, the counter man at the coffee shop near the 2050 room had also spotted
a blue sedan leaving the vicinity of the nightclub shortly after the holdup.
He was able to give them the make, the model, and a partial license number.
A supplementary all points had been gotten out on it immediately and the information
relayed to DMV in auto theft detail.
3.10 a.m.
Ed and I completed our assignment in the investigation and went back to the office to check for instructions
from Captain Didion.
Can't see how we'd be much use out on the street the way things stand out, can you?
No, I don't.
Everything's covered, I can think of.
Supplementary all points is out, detail from Metro's working in the neighborhood.
It's funny, isn't it?
What's that?
It's a picture of a man named Eddie Powell going back to that place he used to work and
holding it up.
That doesn't make any sense at all, does it?
That's for sure.
Must have known somebody was going to recognize him.
Couldn't have been a coincidence.
There was only one way I can figure it.
They don't care.
Either one of them.
They got their money now, a car, they both got guns, they're out to go as far as they
can.
Oh, hi, Jess.
Hi.
You just get back in?
Yeah.
Hi, Joe.
Hi.
You as tired as you sound?
Worse.
Fair piece of news, though.
Yeah, what's that?
Powell and Selby, they just found their hideout.
After three hours of canvassing the general downtown area, particularly in the vicinity
of the last holdup, a team of men working with a special detail from Metropolitan Division
interviewed a desk clerk in a small hotel on South Broadway who recognized the suspect's
mug shots.
The two of them had registered early the morning before under the names J.E. Dennis and Harold
Thompson, both from Fresno, California.
The hotel room was searched and two San Quentin inmate uniforms were found stuffed under the
mattress of the bed.
After the room was processed for fingerprints, there was no doubt that the recent occupants
were Powell and Selby.
The clerk had no idea when they were supposed to return.
The hotel was staked out immediately and the city-wide search for the escaped prisoners
went on.
The following day, Thursday, October 7th, 1130 a.m., still no sign of the suspects,
no further reports or leads as to their whereabouts.
The search went on.
Ed and I signed back in at the office.
Ten minutes later, a long distance phone call came in for us.
When was that, Mort?
What's that?
Yeah, close enough, right?
We'll let you know, yeah.
Bye.
Mort Gear down to San Diego.
Yeah, what do you want?
One of the traffic officers was checking a car about 8 o'clock this morning, 586 parking.
Blue sedan fits close to the description of the escaped car.
That's a pretty common model, isn't it?
Did he say anything else?
Traffic man checked the inside of the car, glove compartment, found half a dozen rolls
of dimes and quartered the same name stamp on all of them.
Yeah.
2050 room.
You are listening to Dragnet, authentic stories of your police force in action.
Comparison proves Fatima quality.
Prove Fatima quality yourself today.
Compare Fatima with any other king-size cigarette.
One, Fatima's length filters the smoke 85 millimeters for your protection.
Two, Fatima's length cools the smoke for your protection.
Three, Fatima's length gives you those extra puffs, 21% longer than standard cigarette
size.
And in Fatima, you get an extra mild and soothing smoke plus the added protection of Fatima
quality.
Friends, to show our confidence in Fatima, we make this money back guarantee.
Buy a pack of Fatimas.
Enjoy Fatima quality, extra mildness and superbly blended tobacco.
If you're not convinced Fatima is better than the king-size cigarette you're now smoking,
just return the pack and the unsmoked Fatimas by August 1st, 1952 for your money back plus
postage.
Fatima, box 37, New York 1.
Remember, because of its quality, its extra mildness, its better flavor and aroma, more
smokers now insist on Fatima than ever before.
Insist on the best, Fatima, extra mild and soothing plus the added protection of Fatima
quality.
Smoke Fatima.
Best of all, king-size cigarettes.
October 7th, Thursday 1 p.m. after we got the report from Lieutenant Mort Gear that the
escape car along with a few dollars of the stolen money had been located in San Diego
that morning, Ed and I had a meeting with Captain Didion.
It was beginning to look like our first hunch was right.
Powell and Selby's 24-hour campaign of holdups in the Los Angeles area had netted them a
fresh change of clothes and more than enough money to live on for a while.
With the locating of the escape car in San Diego, it looked like the suspects were apparently
taking the next logical step, a fast move over the international border into Mexico.
A distance of less than 20 miles from San Diego.
Probably they figured once over the line they had a good chance of losing themselves.
1.40 p.m. on Captain Didion's orders, Jess Gonzalez, Ed and I got in the car and headed
south for San Diego with a supply of mug shots of the escaped prisoners.
We got there a few minutes after 4 p.m.
We went directly to the San Diego PD where we contacted Sergeant Tony McGuire, a robbery
detail.
Tough week, huh?
Here they've been driving you crazy up there.
Just about, Tony.
Four robberies in 24 hours have given us a run.
How about Mort Gear?
You around?
Yeah, he just went down the hall, Jess.
He ought to be back in a minute.
Why don't you fellas sit down?
Thanks very much.
Thanks.
What's the latest, Tony?
Anything since you picked up that blue sedan?
No, not much.
I got the car and the impound.
Had it dusted for prints.
We made them all right, both sets, Powell and Selby.
No sign of them around town?
No, I got it pretty well covered too, not a trace.
Well, we're in a good spot to make it over into Mexico.
Hate to disappoint you.
What do you mean?
We think they already made it.
At six o'clock that night, Gonzalez, Ed, and I, together with Lieutenant Gear, Tony McGuire,
and Sergeants Gaeton and Schultz, drove south from San Diego to the International Line.
We left mugshots of Powell and Selby with the immigration officers at the entry gate.
Then we drove into the town of Tijuana, contacted the local commandant of police, and he promised
us full cooperation.
He assigned a special detail of his men to work with us in covering the town.
At 8 p.m., the block-by-block canvas of the city began.
Every back alley, every bar, every restaurant, every hotel, they were all checked.
The tourist attractions, the souvenir stands, the night clubs, the highlight pavilion, we
went straight through on it, 8 o'clock that night until 5 o'clock the next morning.
All it got us was sore feet and a mediocre lead from a native taxi driver.
After being shown the mugshots, he told one of the Mexican officers in the detail that
about noon that day, he'd picked up two Americans resembling Powell and Selby and driven them
to the town of Tocate, another Mexican tourist spot about 25 miles to the east.
10.30 a.m.
We drove over and checked with the police at Tocate, and they told us the two Americans
had arrived in the town that morning.
He invited Jess Gonzalez to go along with the three of his men to the hotel where the
men were supposed to be staying.
Ed and I waited in the office.
Hi.
Hi, Jess.
What do you got?
Not much.
Went over to the hotel.
The two men weren't there.
Des clerk says they're told they're driving out to a little village about a mile from here.
Police commandant asked me to come back here and wait.
Said he and his men would drive out to the village and check the men out.
That seems a little funny, doesn't it?
Well, he didn't invite me to come along.
It's not a good idea to push him.
I mean, after all, it's his jurisdiction.
Yeah.
We're supposed to wait here till they get back?
Yeah.
I'm back to him now.
Si, policia?
Uh-huh, yeah.
Si, si.
About half an hour, si.
All right, gracias.
Goodbye, si.
The commandant, he and his men found the two Americans.
No go.
We'll go to Powell and Selby.
Half an hour later, the police commandant of Takati returned to the station along with
his men and the two American tourists in question.
One look at them and we knew we'd made the trip from Tijuana for nothing.
Except for their build and the color of their hair, the two Americans bore little or no
resemblance to Powell and Selby.
2.30 p.m.
We headed back for Tijuana and we checked in with Mort Gear and the rest of the men.
While we'd been gone, they'd chased down half a dozen leads, but none of them had panned
out.
The rest of the afternoon, we covered the racetrack at Agua Caliente and distributed
mug shots of the suspects to all track police officers.
The mutual windows were covered and also the foreign book.
No luck.
The six of us took time out for a bite of supper and we talked it over.
Logically, the next place in line to cover was either the fishing town of Ensenada on
the coast or the city of Mexicali further inland.
We decided to try Ensenada first.
7.30 that night, we checked in at the Ensenada police station where we met with a local sub
commandant, Pedro Martinez.
Like the other commandants in Tijuana and Tecate, he offered full cooperation and gave us a
special detail of men to aid in the search.
We gave him a supply of mug shots of the two convicts to distribute among his men.
Here you are, sir.
These are pictures of one of them, Andrew Powell.
This one here is the other man, Bert Selby.
You all right?
Thank you.
Juan?
Juan!
Si.
Okay, yes.
These pictures, Juan, criminals.
They are for distribution to the men.
One each.
Si, si.
Estos son los hombres?
Si, si, por que?
Un momento, un momento.
Si.
Excuse me, officers.
Yes, all right.
Go ahead.
Joe, what is it?
It's got me, I don't know.
See the look on his face on the chief's shirt and the mug shots?
He's got something on his mind.
Just wait a minute.
Officers, I hope you'll excuse me.
Yes, sir.
Anything wrong?
My assistant, Teniente Sanfilippo, he says he knows the pictures of these men.
Oh, how's that?
He says he saw these men this morning here in Ensenada.
Yeah, he should know.
He's got a gun.
He says he saw these men this morning here in Ensenada.
Yeah, he's sure about that, is he?
Yes, sir, he says he's sure.
He says the two men were here last night, right here in the station.
You mean your men booked them in, they committed some kind of crime?
Oh, no, sir.
They came in to report a crime.
8.20 p.m.
On further questioning, the assistant to the Ensenada Commandant of Police told us that
the night before, two men answering Powell and Selby's description had come in to file
a complaint at the Central Police Station.
They charged that they'd had their pockets picked at a local bar while they were under
the influence of alcohol.
The two complainants, who matched Powell's and Selby's descriptions perfectly, signed
themselves J.E. Dennis and Harold Thompson, both from Fresno, California, the same names
and addresses that had been used by the occupants of the Southside Los Angeles hotel room where
the discarded prison uniforms had been found a day and a half before.
After a brief talk with the police commandant, he dispatched a special detail to go out and
pick up the two men registered as Dennis and Thompson at a motel near the south end of the city.
At the commandant's request, we remained at the office.
9.00 p.m., 9.30.
The detail assigned to the job returned, but with only one of the suspects with him, Andrew Powell.
While resisting arrest, the other suspect, identified as Selby, received a cut forward
and was being taken to a local clinic for treatment.
The commandant briefed us on what had happened.
The rooms were searched, Officer Friday.
The money was found, also two guns, a revolver and a shotgun.
Here they are.
All right, thanks very much, sir.
Well, Powell, how about it? You ready to cop out?
What are you talking about, cop out?
What did you guys come all the way down here for anyway?
You can't touch us.
What makes you think we can't?
You can't, that's all.
You know better.
You can't arrest us down here.
No jurisdiction.
We didn't arrest you, Powell.
The Mexican officers did.
Okay, fine.
Now, how do you expect to get us out of Mexico?
Yes, again, copper, you know you can't do it.
You haven't got the right to.
Maybe.
You want to tell us where you have the loot, the money you took in those holdups?
Why should I? Look, why don't you admit it? We got you beat, we got over the line.
You can't touch us down here.
I don't bet on that, mister.
Comin' down?
Yes, sir.
You want to tell him how it stands?
I will see that the general in charge of the Northern District is notified in the morning of your case.
He will see that you and your partner are deported.
What are you trying to pull? You can't do that. You know it, it's illegal.
So is robbery, Powell. Come off it.
Doesn't make any difference. You can't touch us in Mexico. It's against the law. You can't touch us.
A popular misconception, Mr. Powell.
I'm afraid you have made a mistake. If you like, you can pass the word.
How long would it be for us to receive the prisoners at the line, sir?
I don't know. A long time, I think. Maybe as long as one o'clock tomorrow.
You know you can't do this. You'll never get away with it. I know a lawyer in T-1. I'll get him to straighten that out.
You understand, Sergeant, we can't hand these men over to you now.
But if you will be at the international border at one o'clock tomorrow, I'm sure they'll be crossing over.
You can't do this. It's illegal. You know you can't.
We're gonna try.
Wastin' your time. Why don't you admit it? You can't arrest us. We got over the line. We got you beat.
You can't arrest us and you know it. You know that, don't you?
There's only one thing I know for sure, Powell.
Yeah?
You know, when you got out and you're going back.
The story you have just heard was true.
The names were changed to protect the innocent.
On December 9th, 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.
Now, here is our star, Jack Webb.
Thank you, George Fenomen.
Friends, try a pack of Fatimas tomorrow and compare them yourself.
We're so sure that you'll enjoy Fatima's extra mild and soothing smoke,
that we'll give you your money back if you don't enjoy Fatima more than the king-size cigarettes you've been smoking.
Now, in my opinion, nothing proves our confidence in Fatima more than that.
So buy a pack tomorrow.
I know you'll agree with me that Fatima is the best of all king-size cigarettes.
That in Fatima, the difference is quality.
Andrew Powell and Bertram Selby were deported from Mexico as undesirable aliens and turned over to U.S. authorities at the international border.
They were immediately arrested by police officers on the American side and returned to Los Angeles for trial.
They pled guilty to four counts of first-degree robbery and received sentences as prescribed by law.
First-degree robbery is punishable by a prison sentence of up to $1,000.
The court ruled that the
first-degree robbery is punishable by a prison term of from five years to life.
After being returned to San Quentin, Powell and Selby were filed on, tried, and convicted of escape.
Both of them are now serving life terms in fulsome state penitentiary Represse, California.
For their cooperation in preparing tonight's broadcast,
Dragnet wishes to thank Chief of Police Adam E. Jansen and the San Diego Police Department.
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.
Technical advisors Captain Jack Donahoe, Sergeant Marty Winn, Sergeant Vance Brasher.
Heard tonight were Barney Phillips, Whit Conner, Herb Ellis.
Script by Jim Moser. Music by Walter Shuman. Hal Gibney speaking.
Fatima cigarettes. Best of all, king-size cigarettes is brought to you by Dragnet, transcribed from Los Angeles.
Now it's Counterspy on NBC.