The Big Roll

Originally Aired: June 26, 1952

Dragnet #159, "The Big Roll," opens with Sergeants Joe Friday and Frank Smith investigating a violent abduction on a downtown Los Angeles street. At the corner of 11th and South Pierce, bar owner Leon Morley describes the terrifying scene he witnessed around 6 p.m.: two men dragging a screaming, bloodied victim into a gray sedan. The victim pleaded with his attackers, offering them money and his car, but the men forced him into the vehicle and sped away. Morley noticed blood on the victim's clothes and staining the sidewalk, suggesting this was more than a simple robbery.

As Friday and Smith piece together witness statements and examine the crime scene, a troubling question emerges: if the assailants only wanted money, why take the victim with them? The detectives fear the worst - that if the victim can identify his abductors, they may never release him alive. When a call comes in reporting the abandoned gray sedan found at Third and Bixel with bloodstains in the back seat, Friday and Smith rush to the scene, hoping for leads that will help them locate the missing man before it's too late.

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