The Big Shakedown

Originally Aired: May 22, 1952

Dragnet #154, "The Big Shakedown," finds Sergeant Joe Friday and Officer Frank Smith called to the main jail interview room to meet with Lawrence Holmes, a small-time bookmaker they arrested the day before. Holmes, nervous and chain-smoking, has something weighing heavily on his conscience. He explains that after being pinched for bookmaking a year and a half earlier, he went straight until medical bills for his injured son and his wife's gallbladder operation forced him back into taking bets on the side. That's when a man claiming to be a vice officer named Ray Williams came into his store.

Holmes reveals that Williams flashed a badge, admitted knowing all about Holmes's illegal operation, then made a shocking proposition: for a hundred dollars a week in protection money, Holmes could continue making book without fear of arrest. Williams claimed the payoff had to cover himself, his partner, and a couple of higher-ups. When Holmes protested he couldn't afford that much, Williams gave him two weeks to expand his operation and generate the cash. Now Friday and Smith face a deeply troubling case: investigating one of their own for extortion and corruption.

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