The Big Walk

Originally Aired: November 16, 1952

Dragnet #178, "The Big Walk," Sergeants Joe Friday and Frank Smith head to the main jail to interrogate Fred J. Anderson, a narcotics suspect who's been booked on drug charges. Anderson is suffering through withdrawal, desperately sick and begging for relief, but Friday and Smith need information first. High-grade heroin has been flooding Los Angeles for three months, and Anderson is their only lead to the key men running the operation. As they methodically work through booking details—his car, his ex-wife Adelaide, his estranged brother in St. Paul—Anderson becomes increasingly desperate, his physical agony mounting with each passing minute.

The interrogation becomes a tense waiting game as Anderson's withdrawal symptoms worsen. He refuses to give up his friends, drawing the line at cooperation, but Friday warns him that waiting will only make things worse—the stomach cramps, the shakes, the unbearable pain. Finally, as Anderson realizes he can't endure the "iron cure" of cold turkey withdrawal in jail, he begins to crack, offering a deal: help him first, and he'll cooperate. He admits getting his supply from someone named Paul, meeting at various Hollywood locations.

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