The Big Joke

Originally Aired: May 10, 1953

Dragnet #203, "The Big Joke," Friday and Smith receive an unusual early morning call from Johnny Bronson, a bartender they know from 6th Street. Johnny tells them about a mysterious phone call he received the night before, in which an unidentified man offered him $5,000 to kill someone named Wilhelm Ulrich. At first, Johnny thought it was a prank, but when a special delivery letter arrives containing five hundred-dollar bills and detailed instructions about the victim's address on Vine Street in Hollywood, he realizes the threat is serious and immediately contacts the detectives.

Friday and Smith investigate the typewritten letter and discover that Wilhelm Ulrich is an elderly German man who was previously the victim of a poisoning attempt involving tainted wine the previous year. With no clear motive, no suspect, and an unwitting hit man who has turned informant, the detectives must race against time to identify who wants Ulrich dead and why. Johnny has no idea who contacted him or why he was chosen for the job, leaving Friday and Smith to piece together the connection between a seemingly harmless bartender and a plot to murder an old man.

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