Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to hear is true.
The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Dragnet.
You're a detective sergeant.
You're assigned a juvenile detail.
A narcotic ring has been supplying drugs to the teenagers in your city.
There's no lead to the identity of the key people in the operation.
Your job, find them.
It was Monday, February 9th.
It was cold in Los Angeles.
We were working the day watch out of juvenile detail.
My partner's Frank Smith.
The boss is Captain Powers.
My name's Friday.
I was on my way into the office and it was 8.01 a.m. when I got to Georgia Street Juvenile.
The squad room.
How's it going?
Hi, how are you?
Hi, buddy.
Been in long?
Since about 7.30.
How come?
I couldn't sleep.
What's the matter?
Anything wrong?
A family had a beef.
One of the kids was sick.
We were up with him most of the night.
What's the matter?
I took him over the rides yesterday.
The rides?
You know, the place over there without the merry-go-round.
Got him carried away, I guess.
He sure had a good time, though.
Took in everything, roller coaster, airplanes, all works.
She can't expect us to do it on an empty stomach.
We had a little something beef.
Guess maybe we overdid it.
Anyway, the youngster got sick last night.
Faye says I'm to blame.
One thing led to something else and the beef was on.
So you just got up and came into work, huh?
Yeah.
Stopped and had some breakfast, read the paper, come on in.
How's the kid now?
Okay, it was nothing serious.
A little too much cotton candy, though.
Faye's got a tendency to make too much of those things, but, you know, she always does.
Yeah.
Something we can do for you, young fella?
I'd like to talk to somebody.
All right, come on in.
Maybe we can help you.
You're a cop?
That's right.
Frank Smith, my name's Friday.
Hi.
Hello, son.
What do you want to see us about?
Kind of private.
Is there someplace else we can go to talk?
Oh, we can, yeah.
There's a room down in the hall.
Well, that might be better.
All right, we can go down there.
Come on.
Down this way.
Yeah.
Just a minute.
This is it right here.
Go ahead.
Yeah.
All right, you want to take a chair right there, son?
Okay.
All right, now what can we do for you?
I want you to put me in jail.
Why?
Because it's the only way I'll stop.
I know it.
I've got to be in the cell or I'll do it again.
What do you mean, son?
I'm hooked bad.
I want to stop.
It was a nice looking boy, well dressed and clean.
He looked like he was in his late teens.
He asked us to put him in a cell.
There was an intenseness in his eyes that showed that he was serious.
Frank and I questioned him further.
What's your name, son?
John Coulter.
Spell the last name for me.
C-O-L-T-E-R.
How old are you?
Seventeen.
What do you love, son?
Do you have to have that?
Hasn't got anything to do with why I'm here.
Well, we'll have to have it, son.
1896 Dillon Street.
Is that in L.A.?
Yeah.
How big a habit do you have, son?
I'm using four a day.
How long you been hooked?
A year, a day before yesterday.
Want to let us see your arms?
Yeah.
You got a lot of marks there, haven't you?
Yeah, I guess so.
A couple of them there.
We better have the doctor look at them.
All right.
I don't care anymore.
How long since you had a fix?
Last night.
You must be feeling a little rough by now, then, aren't you?
Not easy.
I don't guess it is.
Hey, you mind pulling those blinds?
They're awful bright in here.
Yeah, I'll get it.
You live with your folks?
My mother.
My father died when I was five.
Your mother know about this?
No.
She's going to have to, you know.
Then you're going to tell her I'm not.
All right.
We'll take care of that.
Is life better now, son?
Yeah, thanks.
When did you eat last?
Yesterday.
You hungry now?
No.
How about a cup of coffee?
No, thanks.
How'd you get started on this stuff?
It probably runs like all the rest of the stories you've heard.
Well, why don't you tell us yours, anyway?
All right.
I'm sure we can't get you something.
Only one thing of doing any good, and you can't give that to me.
All right, go ahead.
How'd you get started?
A couple of years ago, it was Halloween.
Kids had a party.
We all went to this house.
Kid that owned it had the rooms all decorated up, you know, paper streamers and those cardboard
skeletons.
Had the whole place done up like that.
We got there and found out they were figuring to play games.
We went the game route for a while, and a bunch of us decided to leave.
Things were dull, so we left.
Where'd you go?
We just drove around for a while, tried to figure something to do.
Whose car did you have?
One of the kids had his father's.
All right, go ahead.
Well, we drove around for a while, and one of the kids said for us to go up to Mulholland.
Go up and scare the lovers up there.
Yeah.
Wasn't anything else to do, so we drove up.
When we got there, one of the guys, a fellow I didn't know too good, said he had some tea.
Said we should have a blast party.
This boy was at the other party, was he?
Yeah, but I didn't know him.
Didn't meet him until we were out on the ride.
Did he go to your school?
No.
All right, son, go ahead.
Well, we parked, and he took out these cigarettes.
They had them in a tobacco can.
You know, like you buy pipe tobacco in there.
Had them in one of them.
Then we lit up and started to smoke.
At first it made me sick. I didn't like it much.
Come right down to it, I didn't think the whole thing was such a good idea.
Why'd you do it then?
All the kids there had to, or they'd have said I was chicken.
All right. How'd you get started on the hard stuff?
Oh, I just got to the point where there wasn't much kick in tea.
You know, same thing all the time.
I wanted to go up a step.
Who set you up?
One of the kids I met.
Wasn't the same boy who had the marijuana, was it?
No.
You see, once in a while we'd go to a big blast party at somebody's house.
The other kids there. New ones. I met Jerry there.
Jerry, that's the boy's name?
Yeah, Jerry Rowe.
How old is he?
Nineteen.
See who?
Yeah.
Was he when you met him?
I guess so.
How do you spell his last name, son?
R-O-A-T-H.
How'd he turn you on?
We were talking about tea. How the kick wore off.
And he said there was something else. Something that had a real jolt.
Yeah.
Ah! Boy, it's rough. I'm starting to get cramps.
You better have that cup of coffee now.
All right.
Feel pretty rough, don't you, son?
Yeah. It's a good thing I'm here or I'd start looking for a connection.
Did you take your first shot of heroin the night you met this Rowe kid?
Yeah. We went outside to his car. He had a fit there and he cooked up a fix.
He took one, then I tried it.
What happened?
Never got so sick in my life. Thought I was gonna die.
Figure what's happened since then might have been a good thing.
How you been supporting your habit?
Only a couple of ways. You steal or you start pushing yourself.
Which way do you go?
Both.
What'd you steal?
Anything I could sell. Never took anything from anybody else, though. All from my own house.
Most of the stuff was given to me. Rings, my watch, whatever I could raise a buck on.
Where'd you get rid of it?
Around the school. Couldn't go near a pawn shop, but the kids didn't care as long as they got a bargain.
Sold my old man's watch for three bucks. 17 jewels, solid gold, three bucks.
What were you pushing?
Tea, H, anything. I'd buy the H and then cut it myself.
You don't have to do that many times until you got a couple of extra caps. That took care of me for a while.
Yeah.
Pretty soon there was never enough. Got so as I was always looking forward to the next fix.
When'd you start maiming him?
I chipped with the stuff for a couple of months. Skin pops. Then that wasn't enough. Started in the arm.
When'd you find out that you were hooked, son? Do you remember?
About a year.
Took a while, huh?
I figured it would never happen. Thought I could beat it. Turn it off when I wanted to. Didn't work out that way.
Didn't you know you had it bad when the charge went up?
Not really. I still thought I could quit when I wanted to. Just never seemed to get that far. Kept putting it off.
Guess if I figured I could start the next day, didn't matter much.
Time I decided to quit, I couldn't.
Here's your coffee, John. Brought one for you too, Joe.
Thanks.
Hot.
Try to get it down. It'll make you feel a little better.
Yeah.
Cramp's getting worse. You got a doctor here?
Yeah, there's one upstairs.
I'd better see him. Might be something he can do.
Is your mother at home?
No, she works. She there now?
What time is it?
Quarter nine.
It'll be about ten minutes.
Better give us the number, huh?
Yeah. You're gonna call her, huh?
That's right.
Gonna tell her about it?
Yeah.
Gonna take it pretty hard. I don't think she knows anything about it.
Well, we have to do it.
I guess so. Tell her how there's a cure, though, huh? She's gonna be pretty scared.
How do you mean?
She read where only two percent come out of it.
Well, there's less than that who want to be helped. There's a lot less.
Yeah?
Maybe you got a piece of that two percent.
Eight fifty-seven a.m.
The boy was taken up to see the doctor on duty at the receiving hospital.
At a couple of minutes after nine, we put in a call to the firm where his mother was employed.
We talked to the personnel manager and he said he'd have Mrs. Coulter call us.
A few minutes later, the phone rang and we talked to the woman.
We told her briefly what had happened and asked her to come right over to the office.
At nine twenty-five a.m., the door to the squad room opened
and a tired-looking woman who looked to be in her late forties or early fifties entered.
She identified herself as Nora Coulter and asked us what had happened to her son.
He's upstairs right now, Mrs. Coulter. The doctor's looking at him.
You tell me he's been using narcotics.
That's right.
You know what he says?
Well, he's admitted it to us.
He'll be all right.
Well, we think so. He's got an infection on his arm caused by a bad needle.
But it's gonna be all right.
That's right.
You have a cigarette, Sergeant?
Yeah. Hang on.
Thanks.
Help yourself.
Here's a light.
I guess I should have known it'd be something like this.
May I pardon?
I should have known. I had to show up someplace.
I don't think I understand, Mrs. Coulter.
There's a trouble spot in the mall, Sergeant, all of them.
This is Johnny's.
If you don't think I'm saying this personal to you,
it's just what I've seen in the years I've gone around.
Trouble spot in all men.
Did you know your son was using heroin?
No, I didn't have any idea.
According to what he told us, he's been hooked for over a year.
You must have noticed something, didn't you?
When you use the word hooked, I'm afraid I don't understand that kind of talk.
I'm sorry. I mean, he's been an addict for that long.
Sergeant, I've been working for a long time.
Ever since Johnny's father died. I worked before then.
When I get home after standing on my feet all day,
I got a few more important things to do than wonder what he's doing.
All I can do to just drag myself down to the factory every morning.
Yes, ma'am.
Always something bills to go over,
decide who's going to have to wait this month, clothes to wash and iron.
The time I just get the things done that have to be taken care of.
That's all I can do to climb into bed before I pass out.
All right, Mr. Coulter, we understand.
I wonder if you do.
How's that?
I said I wonder if you do understand.
Have you ever raised a boy by yourself?
No, ma'am.
I have.
Believe me, it isn't easy.
Since 11 years ago, I've been a mother and a father both to Johnny.
I always knew there'd be something that'd blow up.
I knew it because he's just like his father, exactly like him.
I'm 35 years old.
35, and for the past 17 years I haven't had a minute of happiness.
Yes, ma'am.
Anything we can get for you, Mrs. Coulter?
No.
Only thing I want is a little happiness.
It seems like there just isn't going to be any of that while I'm on this earth.
I'm sick, Sergeant.
I'm old and I'm sick and I can't go through any more of this.
Your boy's pretty sick, too, yeah?
Yes.
I know all about that, too.
I read how none of them cured work.
What'd they say, 2%?
There's something else I gotta carry.
Might be a little different with John.
I don't see why.
No reason for him to be something special.
No reason for him to be cured.
Yes, there is.
He wants it, Mrs. Coulter.
What's going to happen to him?
We'll file a petition on him.
After that?
No, they'll have to make an appearance in juvenile court.
They'll decide what treatment's going to be best for him.
Can I see him?
Yes, ma'am.
We can take care of that.
Frank, you want to see if the doctor's through them?
Yeah.
You have another cigarette, Sergeant.
Yes, there you are.
Here's a match.
Thanks, Sergeant.
It's all right.
I'll tell you something, Mrs. Coulter.
Your son's pretty sick.
He's not going to look too good when you see him.
He been hurt?
Not so it shows, but he's going through a great deal of pain.
There's going to be a lot more.
For both of us, Sergeant.
I guess you're right at that.
It might be better if you remember that he's just a youngster.
He's only 17.
I won't forget.
He's mine.
All right.
He's made a mistake, but he knows it.
And he's taking it on himself to try and do something about it.
I'll tell you something, Sergeant.
All right.
I've had a lot of trouble with Johnny.
When he was little, he was always running away from home.
By the time he got to school, he played hooky a couple of times a week.
High school, it was the same thing, but that's not the worst of it.
Ma'am?
He's been stealing.
From his own mother, he's been stealing.
Yes, ma'am.
He told us.
He admitted it?
Yes, he did.
Well, there you are.
Not bad enough.
He's a dope fiend.
He's a thief, too.
I wasn't sure about the stealer, and I just thought so.
A few things have been missing around the house, and I've asked Johnny about him.
He'd offered some half-baked story, and now I know.
He's a thief.
I haven't got enough.
Try to take it easy with the boy.
Take it easy?
That's a laugh.
All I've done for him, nice home.
Not real big or fancy, but it's clean.
We've got a kind of closet, sort of, nice and big with a window.
Got that all fixed up for Johnny.
Airplane pictures on the walls.
The best I could do.
We eat good.
Never gotten hungry.
Lord knows I have, but he hasn't.
No reason for him to do a thing like this.
No reason at all.
Yes, ma'am.
Hello, Mother.
I know all about it, Johnny.
These men told me all the time I've been telling you it'd end up like this.
You in trouble with the police, you just wouldn't listen.
You thought you knew better than me.
Well, you found out how much you know.
Yeah.
I'm sorry about it.
It's a little late for that.
How am I going to go home with all the neighbors knowing about what's happened?
I'm sorry.
Well, with that lot of good that's going to do.
I had you home right now.
I'd show you and don't think you're too big for me to do it.
You want to take me upstairs, Mr. Smith?
Yeah.
Just a minute.
I got some more things to say to you.
Don't you go walking out on me like that.
I don't feel so good.
I'd like to be by myself.
I'll talk to you later.
You'll talk to me now.
I've got a lot of things I want to tell you, all the trouble you've caused.
I'm sorry.
Please, Mr. Smith, it's tough enough.
All right, let's go.
You bring him back here.
You bring him back!
Well, that's it.
Now they're both gone.
Now there isn't anybody.
Anything we can get for you, Miss Coulter?
Yeah.
Get me a reason why this had to happen.
Give me one.
Do you know one?
Well, I can't be sure.
What do you mean by that?
Just like you said before.
What?
He's your son.
We made arrangements for Mrs. Coulter to be taken to her home.
That night, John Coulter was kept at Georgia Street Jail.
The next morning, we filed a petition on him.
We had one of the doctors at the county hospital talk to Mrs. Coulter,
and he finally convinced her that her son would get proper treatment at one of the state hospitals,
and she signed the necessary papers.
For the next three days, the boy had it pretty rough.
If the novice drug user had the opportunity to witness a patient going through withdrawal pains,
the majority of drug traffic would be brought to a halt.
Because of the sincerity of the Coulter boy, Frank and I spent as much time as we could spare with him
while he was going through the symptoms.
He complained of violent headaches and stomach cramps, the usual things.
He was unable to keep any food down.
His eyes watered constantly, and for 72 hours, he was in a state of constant violent pain.
On the fourth day, he began to recover.
He was able to take some warm beef broth, and apparently was on his way to being physically well.
On Saturday, February 15th, we talked to him at the hospital.
Rough go.
Yeah.
I think we've got the worst of it behind you now.
Best thing I've heard for a week.
Don't think I could go through any more of it.
Well, you got a maiden, huh, John?
From here on in, you'll get all the help we can give you.
Well, you guys have done a lot already.
Couple of times there, I think I would have gone off my rocker if I hadn't been able to talk to you.
Well, that's what we're here for.
Hey, either one of you got any gum?
Yeah, sure. Here's some.
Jumpy.
I gotta do something to calm down.
You seen my mother?
She called us yesterday, yeah.
How's she getting along?
A lot better. One of the doctors here at the hospital talked to her.
Said she wants to see you.
What's that gonna prove?
Be the same thing?
Her telling me how tired she is, how I'm a goofball.
I don't think so this time.
It hasn't been easy for her either, you know.
Maybe not, I don't know.
I want to give her a chance to make it up.
She wants to.
Yeah.
I guess there isn't much more I can do.
All right, now there's a couple of things we want to ask you.
What?
We want the man who kept you supplied.
Names?
That's right.
You figure I'll tell you?
Don't you figure you will?
Wrong base.
I'm a bum in a lot of ways, but I ain't gonna get anybody else in trouble.
You told us about this Jerry Roke, didn't you?
Yeah.
We got a want out on him now.
Only be a matter of time before we pick him up.
Then let him tell you.
Do you think you got it a little wrong here?
Yeah.
What these people do for you?
They're friends.
Check the books.
Go over what they've done for you against what you've done for them.
What do you mean?
You're a big boy.
Figure it out for yourself.
You know they tell us there's an estimated 25,000 narcotic users right here in Los Angeles,
and a big part of them are kids.
Read's good.
Figures always help.
I know, you remember something else, youngster.
You came to us and you asked for help, didn't you?
You walked into the office, you said you were in trouble.
We're not trying to steal a plea or sound like big men,
but when you said you wanted help, we didn't ask if you could afford it.
We didn't care.
Now, these people are such good friends, why didn't you go to them?
I'll tell you why you didn't.
Because you were scared.
You knew what would happen if you walked up to them with empty pockets.
You knew they'd spit right in your face.
They're your buddy as long as you can pay for it.
As soon as you're broke, they never met you today.
Loyalty's fine. It's a good thing.
People could use a lot more of it, but turn it around, son.
You've stolen things from your own family to support this habit.
Now, how loyal have your friends been when you haven't had the price of a cap?
How quick did they come through for you then?
You know what it's like in here. You've had it bad.
Any of your friends been around to see you?
Any of them been willing to hold your head while your insides fell out?
Now, we asked you a question.
We don't really need the answer from you.
We'll pick up the people who did this.
We'll reach every one of them from the mule that sold you that first cap
to the guy who's been bringing the stuff right into the country.
We just figured you'd like the chance to help out the other 25,000.
I guess we had it wrong, didn't we?
There's the phone.
Put in a call to one of your high-powered friends.
See how fast they come through for you now.
You don't need us, and we don't need you.
Let's go, Frank. Yeah.
Wait a minute. Yeah.
I'll give you the names.
We talked to the boy for another hour and a half.
During that time, he gave us as much information as he could
on the operation of the narcotics ring.
He supplied us with the names, dates, times, and places.
However, he could only go so high in the organization.
Frank and I went back to the office, and we called narcotics detail.
We talked to Sergeant Roxy Luccarelli and his partner, Steve Broadhurst.
We filled him in on what had happened and gave them a list of the names we had.
The roundup of narcotics salesmen started.
Inside the next 24-hour period, 14 men and women had been taken into custody.
Each one of them was interrogated, but they either didn't know the name
of the key man in the operation or they refused to speak.
They were all booked on various sections of the state narcotics code.
On Wednesday, February 18th, we received word that Jerry Rhoades had been
picked up in a washroom in Pershing Square.
Frank and I went over to the main jail to talk to him.
All right, get it over with.
We want one thing from you, Rhoades. Yeah?
The name of the wheel. I don't know what you're talking about.
Roll up your sleeves, boy. What for?
Roll them up.
Let's see the other one. They're both the same.
Let's see it.
Mark, what's that proof?
That you're left-handed. When'd you have your last fix?
Who says I use this stuff at all?
I'll come off it, Rhoades. We got you and you know it.
I don't see where it says that. How old are you?
You got the record. Look it up.
You're a big talker, aren't you, son? I live that way, too.
Well, you're just taking a little drop, kid.
You won't keep me here for more than 12 hours.
Don't make book on this. Well, I got a lot of friends in this town.
They'll get me out. You keep believing that.
We put a hold on you when we came in. What's that mean?
It means you'll be dropped into an ISO cell.
We'll talk to you without us knowing about it.
Everybody comes near you is gonna be checked back to the time they were born.
And what's that gonna prove? We'll get to the wheel.
You talk loud, cop, but I got trouble with my ears.
All right, you sit right where the kid.
You'll be screaming for us to talk with you. Yeah, sure.
Keep believing it, because I'll give you one thing free.
Yeah? Next time we're here, it'll be to listen.
Jerry Rhoades was returned to his cell,
and Frank and I went back to the investigation.
For the next two days, we kept a constant check on the suspect.
During that time, nobody had attempted to see him or talk to him.
Saturday, February 21st, we got back to the office from lunch.
Want to check the book? Yeah.
Anything? Yeah, we're supposed to call him in jail.
Rhoades probably wants to talk.
Well, we might have tried to spring him. Yeah.
This Friday, juvenile.
When? We'll be right over.
Rhoades? Yeah.
Want to talk? Well, maybe we can ask him.
They just cut him down. He tried to hang himself.
Frank and I left the office and drove over to the jail.
The boy had torn his trousers into strips and braided them into a rope.
He'd attempted to take his own life.
He'd been found on a routine check and had been cut down.
The accident had been discovered almost immediately,
and by the time we got there, he was almost fully recovered.
We talked to him in the interrogation room.
Kind of lousy way out, isn't it, kid?
It looked good at the time. How's it seem to you now?
I made a mistake. How do you feel?
Pretty lousy. You want to give us the name?
What kind of protection do I get?
How do you mean? Well, if I tell you, I got it.
No one's going to get me.
Well, we'll try to build some kind of a wall for you.
You won't note to me? No, not from us.
Hi. Name's Pollard Zern.
Want to spell that? Yeah.
Z-E-R-N-E.
He the top man? Yeah, I built the whole thing.
Did he bring the stuff into the country?
Yeah, Sergeant, he's got a boat.
He tells people he's going fishing for Albuquerque.
Where's he bringing it, from Mexico?
Yeah, I've been with him a couple of times.
He lands the boat at a beach down there,
makes the contact, and then comes home, hides the stuff and fish.
Got the idea from an old movie.
That way, if they looked the boat over, chances are they won't find it.
Nice setup, huh? Yeah, it sure worked good for him.
Yeah. He made a mint, got a big house,
drives a new car, got everything he wants.
Just sits back and pulls a handle, jackpot, every time.
No, not this time. Huh?
He just turned a lemon.
HONKING
Pollard Harris Zern and the other members of the narcotics gang
were tried and convicted of violation of the State Narcotics Act,
a felony, and received sentence as prescribed by law.
A petition was filed on John Keith Coulter,
and he was made a ward of the juvenile court.
After treatment, he was pronounced cured
and returned to the custody of his mother.
You have just heard Dragnet,
the authentic story of your police force in action,
and starring Jack Webb,
a presentation of the United States Armed Forces Radio Service.
HONKING