Dragnet 1967 (1967) s01e10 Episode Script

1
[Friday Narrating]
This is the city— Los Angeles, California.
On Spring Street, you'll find
the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange
and the big banks.
You can borrow a million dollars
on a few minutes' notice
if your credit's good enough.
The people who make, or get,
the million-dollar loans
usually live a long way from their work,
many of them here in Bel-Air.
Hundred-thousand-dollar homes
are commonplace here.
So are half-million-dollar estates.
The good life of Bel-Air
attracts some of the best lawyers,
doctors, bankers and merchants.
It also attracts
some of the best thieves.
That's where I come in.
I carry a badge.
It was Wednesday, April 14.
It was warm in Los Angeles.
We were working the day watch
out of Burglary Division.
The boss is Captain Mack.
My partner is Bill Gannon.
My name's Friday.
Fine jade is one of the world's
most precious gems.
Imperial jade is one of the most scarce.
Its value is almost limitless.
A jewel thief operating
in the Bel-Air section of the city
had stolen $200,000 worth of it.
We had to try and apprehend him.
[Man Narrating]
The story you are about to see is true.
The names have been changed
to protect the innocent.
Something wrong?
I'm afraid so, Joe.
It's from the army.
Well, how do you know?
I can read, Joe. It says right there
"Department of the Army, Signal Corps."
No, I mean how do you know
something's wrong?
Why else would they
be writing to me?
Why don't you open it and find out?
I'm almost afraid to.
You know how some people
get premonitions? I'm one of 'em.
Open it.
You got a knife
or a letter opener?
That's no way to open a letter, Joe.
Tears the envelope.
What's it say?
- Specky's dead.
- Who?
Specky. Great old bird, Joe.
- He die in action?
- No. Old age.
Sorry. Friend of yours, huh?
Not personally, no.
But all of us in the Valley loft knew him.
He was a late hatch in 1954.
Never trained a mile.
One of the fastest living birds
alive, Joe. Now he's dead.
Right there in the mimeographed letter.
Who are you talking about?
One of the greatest U.S. Army
carrier pigeons ever to fly.
I didn't know you were interested
in homing pigeons.
Ever since that squab deal fell through.
You remember I was gonna raise 'em?
But it's too much work.
I don't have the time to do it right.
So I went into homing pigeons.
Oh, I see.
Got a great bird right now, Joe.
Kids and I took him 50 miles away,
up to Lancaster. Turned him loose.
- Is that right?
- That's what you do, you know.
You start 'em out on short flights.
Work 'em up to longer ones.
- How long did it take your bird to get home?
- We took him up to Lancaster
about three weeks ago.
- Yeah.
- He didn't take off right away.
Kind of walked around and
[Tapping Table]
pecked at the dry grass
in this vacant lot up there.
- Uh-huh.
- Then he hit the air.
Beautiful sight, Joe. Almost straight up.
Then he headed dead west.
When did he get home?
Well, that was three weeks ago Sunday,
and I figure him being a young bird—
Sort of like his first solo flight,
you could say.
- He isn't back yet.
- No, but we expect him anytime now.
- [Chuckles]
- [ Man On Intercom]
Friday, pick up two.
This is Friday.
What's the location?
Yeah. The estimated loss?
Uh-huh. Have you called the lab yet?
Good. Let me have your D.R.
Right. I have it.
Thanks, Lieutenant.
- That was Lieutenant Armstrong, West L.A.
- Yeah?
- House in Bel-Air was just hit. Jewel thief.
- What'd he get?
Two hundred thousand dollars'
worth of imperial jade.
[Friday Narrating]
10:42 a.m. Bill and I drove
to the Bel-Air address.
For the past three weeks,
a series of jewel thefts had occurred
in and around the Bel-Air section.
The burglar had been hitting
during the daylight hours
when no one at home.
We had put out a special bulletin
asking to be notified
of any jewel burglaries
that fitted this M. O.
The reported loss was a sizable one,
and a great deal of time
would be involved in the investigation,
so Lieutenant Grover Armstrong, commander
of the West Los Angeles detectives,
had asked that
Bill and I take the case over.
They certainly send enough
of you people out on a case.
Yes, ma'am. This is
my partner, Bill Gannon.
My name's Friday.
Yes. You'll have to excuse me.
I have to call the insurance company.
Then I'll be back to answer more
of your questions, and I suppose
you have a thousand.
As though any of them will help me
get my jade back, will they?
We'll try, Mrs. Graham.
Yes.
Hi, Mac.
Mac.
Sergeant, you know Frank Adams.
Hello, Frank.
Give us the story, Mac.
We got here at 9:35.
Gardener came to work at 9:00.
Said he heard somebody
running out the back door.
- A few minutes later,
Mrs. Graham returned home.
- From where? Do you know?
Charity breakfast.
She discovered the burglary.
Says the safe contained
$200,000 worth of imperial jade.
- Who's the insurance company?
- National Jewelry Indemnity.
- Full coverage, she says.
- What's the gardener's name?
Henry Morito. He's out in back.
We'll take off now.
Anything else you need?
No. Thanks, Mac. Adams.
Better get Latent Prints and
a safe man out here right away.
I'll call Walmsley and Barr.
Right.
Just look at this room. Whoever did it
didn't have to make such a mess.
No, ma'am. We're gonna need
a complete inventory of your losses.
- The insurance company has it.
- We'll need it too.
Six pieces of fine imperial jade.
You'll never find it.
- How's that, ma'am?
- It's rare. It's priceless.
- It'll be on a plane today for Asia.
- Is that right?
It's practically sacred there.
There are Chinese and Japanese collectors
who will give fortunes
for a single piece of imperial.
Look at this. This is all
I have left of my collection.
This one photo.
This little peach is priceless.
Yes, ma'am. Be all right if we keep this?
It'll be returned after the investigation.
Yes, all right.
Notice the rich green color.
It's the quality of the mineral that counts.
A photo simply doesn't do it justice.
Latent Prints and Ed Barr
are on their way.
Believe me, I know jade, Sergeant.
I was brought up in Hong Kong.
My father was a dealer,
and I married a dealer.
- Where is your husband now, Mrs. Graham?
- He's dead.
He was on a buying trip to Burma.
Chartered a little plane, and it went down.
- Yes, ma'am.
- I don't see what earthly good
all these questions will do.
Anyone can see what happened.
Yes, ma'am.
The robber cut a hole in the screen,
opened the window, searched the room,
pried the hinges off the safe,
took the jade and ran.
Whoever it was, finished up
when the gardener came to work.
- Henry heard the thief leave, you know.
- Is there anyone else in the household?
I have a maid, Mary Carstairs,
but she had the day off.
- Is Wednesday her regular day off?
- No. She asked for it.
Some sick relative
or something like that.
- Would you happen to know where she went?
- No, I have no idea.
Ask her. She'll be back
tomorrow morning.
How many other people knew
you had this jade collection, ma'am?
Everybody. Simply everybody.
I entertain a great deal.
My club, the Benefit League.
You know, the usual.
Everyone who comes here
insists on seeing it.
You're not going
to hound them, are you?
We're not gonna hound
anyone, ma'am.
We're only interested in trying
to get your jade back for you
and pick up whoever stole it.
Yes, well, I'd like
as little publicity as possible.
- I certainly don't want
any of my friends disturbed.
- We'll try not to.
- I suppose this'll be
all over the newspapers.
- They won't get it from us.
Just make certain you don't disturb any
of my friends over this dreadful situation.
- Like I said, Mrs. Graham, we'll try not to.
- I don't want them involved.
- Well, there's only
one way they might be.
- Yes?
If one of them stole your jade.
[Friday Narrating]
1 1:3 1 a.m. Officer Bill Walmsley
of the Scientific Investigation Division
had begun trying to lift latent prints.
All members of the Graham household
would be fingerprinted
for elimination purposes.
Any remaining prints
could be a clue to the burglary.
Sergeant Ed Barr,
the Burglary Division's safe expert,
had finished his examination of the safe.
- This doesn't add, Joe.
- What's that, Ed?
Dust guards have been pried
or knocked off.
Only thing they're good for
is to keep the hinges clean.
They don't have anything to do
with breaking the safe open.
Yeah.
Wasn't a knob knocker. No caps.
No prying. No force of any kind.
- Then how was it opened?
- Easiest thing in the world.
- Yeah?
- Whoever opened it
knew the combination.
[Friday Narrating]
12: 1 7 p.m. Bill and I talked
to Henry Morito, the gardener.
He told us that he had arrived
at the Graham home at about 9:00 a.m.
He was positive of the time
because he'd been listening
to the radio in his truck.
When he arrived, he heard what sounded
like someone running out of the house
and slamming a door.
But he had not seen anyone.
[Gannon] The screen
where it's cut bends out, not in.
Yeah.
If it was cut from the outside,
the ends of the wire would bend in,
wouldn't they?
Looks that way to me.
And this window—
Once you cut the hole in the screen,
you'd have to pry it open.
No jimmy marks. No pry marks.
This window was opened
from the inside.
[Friday Narrating]
3:37 p.m. Bill and I drove
back to the office.
John Benjamin, special agent for
the National Jewelry Indemnity Company,
was waiting for us.
Benjamin was an ex-police officer
and an old friend.
His company had insured
the Graham jade.
Joe, it smells phony
from beginning to end.
- You gonna deny the claim, John?
- We can't without positive evidence.
An insurance company has to pay off
on a loss. That's the contract we make.
The only out is proof
that there wasn't any loss.
[Phone Ringing]
Here's a copy
of what she had insured.
I didn't know any kind of jade
ran this high.
Imperial does. You know her collection
was insured for full value—200,000.
Who evaluated the collection
before you issued the policy?
Would you know?
Lin Fong, over in the Metropolitan Building.
He's the best expert on the coast.
There's no doubt about it.
She had $200,000 worth of jade all right.
People I work for always take a dim view
of paying off on a phony claim.
My bosses ain't gonna like this.
- Neither are ours, John,
and there's a lot more of 'em.
- Huh?
Last census, about three million.
[Friday Narrating]
4:30 p.m. The Metropolitan Building
at 3 15 West Fifth
is the jewelry manufacturing center
for Los Angeles and much of the world.
Every tenant deals in jewelry
in some form or another.
You can order rings
for a high school graduation class
or diamonds for royalty.
Lin Fong was an old, established dealer
with an established reputation.
Yes, of course. I knew
the complete history of every piece.
Mr. Graham—
the late Mr. Graham—
he consulted me
before every purchase.
Not that we always agreed.
He was very headstrong,
very emotional.
Now, uh, this dancing figure—
That's part of the Graham collection?
Yes. I have photos
of all the Graham pieces.
But this is nephrite.
Definitely nephrite.
Then it's not jade?
Oh, yes. Jade.
The best jade, the treasures,
the rich pieces,
true or imperial jade, are jadeite.
They can only come from Upper Burma
or Tibet or the Yunnan Province of China.
- Yes, sir.
- The relatively common nephrite,
which got its name
from the Greek word for "kidney"
because it was once worn
for kidney diseases,
is found in Turkistan,
New Zealand, Siberia, Poland.
You can even find it in Alaska.
I said to him, "My dear friend,
even you can make a mistake."
He refused to listen.
It has since been sold.
- By whom, Mr. Lin?
- His wife.
She's disposed of most of the nephrite
the last couple of years.
The rest of the collection
was considered very good, wasn't it?
Exquisite. There are merchants
in Hong Kong who would give
a great deal for it.
- Is that so?
- She has been selling it off,
piece by piece.
I handled a few minor sales,
but most of it has been going overseas.
[Friday] Yes, sir.
In fact, I was surprised when
the insurance man called me today
to say that she had reported
this big theft.
- Is that right?
- I didn't think she had any jade left.
[Friday Narrating]
Thursday, April 15, 9:35 a.m.
We ran a credit check
on Mrs. Francine Graham.
It indicated her bank balance was low,
and the Bel-Air home was heavily mortgaged.
Her only major asset had been
the $200,000 worth of jade.
We questioned the maid,
Mary Carstairs.
She said that the previous day,
she had gone to the General Hospital
to see her sister who was recuperating
from a minor operation.
She said she didn't know anything
about the burglary until she returned
to the Graham residence.
We asked her if she knew
the combination to the safe.
She told us she did not.
No. No one but my husband and myself
knew the combination to that safe. No one.
Are you sure it was locked?
Absolutely.
Did you ever give the combination
to your maid or your gardener
or anyone else?
Instead of standing around here
casting suspicion on my help and me,
why aren’t you out looking
for the thief?
- Gentlemen, there's a call from your office.
- I'll take it, Joe.
Right this way, sir.
Thank you.
- Sergeant, you realize you're
hindering my insurance claim.
- No, Mrs. Graham, we're not.
It's a sizable one. I've paid
enormous premiums for years.
Sometimes these things can be difficult.
I wouldn't want anything to delay it.
You also wouldn't want them to pay off
on a dishonest claim, would you?
Naturally I want everybody to be sure.
You insist I'm being dishonest!
No, ma'am. But there are
a couple of unusual circumstances
surrounding the burglary.
- Is that so?
- Yes, ma'am. And just like you,
we want to be sure.
- Joe.
- Excuse me, Mrs. Graham.
That was Walmsley, Latent Prints.
Yeah.
He says to hustle back in.
He's come up with something.
[Friday Narrating]
10:20 a.m. Bill and I drove
back to the office
and met with Bill Walmsley in S. I. D.
Remember the goldfish bowl
in the room out there?
Well, that's where they were.
Both sides.
Indicating that the bowl was moved,
or at least picked up.
Yeah.
Look here.
- [Phone Ringing]
- Beautiful set of prints.
Right and left.
I checked 'em through.
Who do they belong to?
Small-time thief,
name of Ben Martin.
[Friday Narrating]
10:35 a.m. Bill and I knew Ben Martin.
We'd handled him before.
We drove out
to his last known address.
He had checked out several days before.
His landlady had no idea where he went.
We returned to the office and put out
an A. P. B. on the suspect, Ben Martin.
1 1:47 a.m. We met with Captain Mack
to review what we had
on the Graham jade burglary.
It doesn't add up
for eight cents, does it?
No, sir. Martin's never been known
to go in for the big-time stuff.
No safe jobs.
Mostly rings, jewelry, clothing.
- Anything else missing from the house?
- No, sir.
- You figure Martin was scared off?
- That's the way it looks.
- Well, one thing's sure.
- What's that?
Martin was in that house before we were.
Maybe he knows something that we don't.
- Yes, sir.
- Find him and ask him.
[Friday Narrating]
Monday, April 19, 9:37 a.m.
Four days went by.
Bill and I checked with our informants
to try and dig up a lead
as to the whereabouts of Ben Martin.
We had no luck.
10:40 a.m. John Benjamin, the special
agent for the insurance company,
said he wanted to talk to us.
You haven't turned him yet, huh?
No so far.
I just had a meeting with my boss.
He's instructed our people
to start settling the Graham claim.
Naturally if it's legit, we want to pay off.
But, Joe, I just don't think it is.
[Man On Intercom]
Friday, take four.
This is Friday.
Yeah, Brown. Where?
Good. We'll be right here.
Yeah. Thanks, Guy.
That was Van Nuys.
They just collared Martin.
They're bringing him right down.
[Friday Narrating]
1 1:32 a.m. The suspect, Ben Martin,
was brought downtown
by Van Nuys Detective Sergeant Brown
and his partner, C. T. Zumell.
We advised him
of his constitutional rights.
You understand it?
Sure do. Don't mean nothin' to me.
What do you wanna know?
- Talk to us, Ben.
- Which job?
How many have you pulled
since you got out of "Q"?
I've been doin' pretty good, Gannon.
Till today.
Eleven jobs, one dud.
That's the one we're interested in.
The Graham place? Why?
I didn't get a thing.
Didn't you?
You know I didn't.
I just picked the wrong day.
That crummy gardener.
- Tell us about it.
- What's to tell? I get inside,
just start to prowl the place,
and he shows up.
Figured maybe he might have a key.
You know, like they sometimes do
to get inside and water the plants.
- So I blew.
- You didn't take anything along with you?
Like what? I seen the safe.
What good would that do me?
I can't bust no safe. No way.
Ben, did you ever hear
of imperial jade?
I heard of jade.
Now, I want you to level with us, Ben.
Did you walk off with any
from the Graham house?
Not me, Sergeant! No way!
I ain't never heard of that imperial stuff.
I wouldn't even know what it looks like.
So how could I heist any?
- Maybe you got some good advice?
- From who? I don't know one Swedish person.
- What's that got to do with it?
- That's where it comes from, ain't it?
Switzerland?
You made a pretty good mess
out of that room, didn't you?
Look, I keep telling you,
and I'm leveling, I didn't touch nothin'.
- You touched the goldfish.
- Well, all right. But that's all.
I walked outta the place empty.
That's the truth.
[ Laughs]
I mean, you know me.
One thing: I don't lie to you.
Yeah?
You and Friday here
sent me up twice.
You know me. I don't even
operate at night. Only daytimes
'cause it's only second-degree.
I don't even carry no tools.
I'm small-time.
Yeah, well, maybe you figure
you're ready for the big time.
No, sir. Not me.
I just ain't smart enough.
Is that right?
- In the last four months,
I've pulled 11 jobs, right?
- If you say so.
I pull all them jobs, and I walk off
with a pretty fair haul each time.
- You don't grab me for one of 'em.
- Yeah.
I just walk through a house in Bel-Air,
and you put the arm on me.
[Friday Narrating]
12:34 p.m. Bill and I drove out to Bel-Air
to see Mrs. Francine Graham.
[Gannon]
We picked up the man who entered your
house Wednesday morning, Mrs. Graham.
- Then you got my jade back.
- No, ma'am.
Then it was as I told you.
He shipped it out of the country.
- No, ma'am. He didn't do
anything with it. He didn't take it.
- Of course he did. He's lying to you!
We've handled this man before, Mrs. Graham.
We've sent him to prison twice.
He doesn't operate in rare items
like imperial jade.
- He does now.
- Afraid not, Mrs. Graham.
This is a small-time burglar, and they
don't change their way of operating.
He didn't take your jade, unless someone
gave him the combination to your safe.
- Maybe someone did.
- You told us you were the only one
that had that combination.
- Maybe he got it somehow.
- Not unless you gave it to him.
- You know better than to say
a thing like that, Sergeant.
- Do I?
Perhaps I should telephone my attorney.
You seem to be accusing me
of taking my own jade.
- That's entirely up to you, ma'am.
- You really believe that, don't you?
What we believe doesn't matter.
All we know is $200,000
worth of jade is missing.
We know that someone who knew
the combination to that safe
took the jade.
And you'd like me to say that I did
and make your job easier for you.
Help you close a case you can't solve.
Isn't that what you want?
- We want the truth, Mrs. Graham.
- Really?
Then why don't you insist that man
you picked up tell you where he got
the combination to my safe?
- Because we don't think he ever got it.
- Then how did he get into my safe?
He didn't.
- Sergeant—
- Yes, ma'am?
When my husband died, he left
no personal insurance of any kind.
He had it all in his jade collection.
That was covered, but nothing else.
He'd borrowed against
the mortgage on this house,
against my insurance, everything.
Oh, he had a good business,
but when he passed away, everything went.
- Everything except his collection.
- Yes, ma'am.
I tried to make ends meet.
I sold some of the pieces.
I thought for a while,
I might be able to work it out.
Then it just seemed that bills mounted up,
and there was no money to cover them.
Then when the gardener reported to me
what had happened Wednesday,
I decided to do it.
- Yes, ma'am, go on.
- I decided to use that man being
in my house as an excuse for a robbery.
It seemed like such a perfect series
of coincidental events.
The man breaking in.
My maid asking for the day off.
Yes, ma'am.
I cut the hole in the screen,
fiddled with the safe, mussed up
the room and called you people.
- Where is the jade, Mrs. Graham?
- Sold. All of it.
Over six months now.
I had to sell it off piece by piece.
- I just had to have the money.
- Who did you sell it to?
This man from Hong Kong. A man
my husband bought some pieces from.
He would come to the house,
bring the cash and pick up the jade.
You have no idea what it was like
trying to keep the house
and my car,
the good things that I'd grown
used to having most of my life.
- Yes, ma'am.
- And my friends, the clubs,
the women's leagues.
Some of the money the jade brought
I gave to charity, Sergeant.
Yes, ma'am.
A great deal more
than you might imagine.
My charities are important to me.
The pride of being able
to give so much to them.
Almost $100,000
in the last nine months.
Yes, ma'am. We'll have to ask you
to come downtown with us, Mrs. Graham.
- I understand. Sergeant, tell me—
- Yes, ma'am?
Do you think I really did wrong?
I mean, after all, it was my jade.
Mrs. Graham, you were trying to collect
insurance on a fraudulent claim.
- I don't think I ever
would have taken that check.
- Is that right?
Not when it came right down to it.
I don't believe
I ever would have taken it.
Well, we'll never really know, will we?
[Narrator]
The story you have just seen is true.
The names were changed
to protect the innocent.
On November 1, trial was held
in Department 187,
Superior Court of the State of California,
in and for the County of Los Angeles.
In a moment, the results of that trial.
The suspect was found guilty
on seven counts of burglary
in the second degree.
Each count of burglary
in the second degree
is punishable by imprisonment
in the county jail not exceeding one year
or in the state prison for not less
than one year or more than 15 years.
The attorney for Francine Graham
wrote to the insurance company
withdrawing her claim
for the jade that was insured.
The company decided not to prosecute.
Mrs. Graham has since moved
to another city.