Friday - The Dragnet Podcast

Originally Aired: June 14, 1951

Dragnet #105, "The Big Building," Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero investigate the puzzling disappearance of Louise Marston, a wealthy society woman who vanished over two months ago. Her husband, Dr. Marston, a dentist, filed the missing person report only after her regular letters from New York suddenly stopped arriving. As Friday and Romero interview the doctor in his office while he works on a dental crown, they learn that Louise left following an argument at their country club. Dr. Marston explains he wasn't initially concerned since she sent letters twice weekly to both him and their son Stanley at military school, but now those letters have ceased entirely.

The case takes a darker turn when Dr. Marston reveals that Louise inherited a fortune from her aunt and that he had recently signed over eighty thousand dollars in bonds to her just before her disappearance. He hints at possible involvement by Louise's stepfather, who has always coveted her money. As Friday and Romero dig deeper into the circumstances surrounding the missing woman and those valuable bonds, they must determine whether this is simply a domestic dispute or something far more sinister.

Originally Aired: June 7, 1951

Dragnet #104, "The Big Imposter," Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero are assigned to missing persons detail when 10-year-old Jimmy Sherman vanishes from his home in a remote section of Los Angeles. The boy was last seen Monday evening hiking up the hill behind his house by neighbor Mrs. Keller, and now two days and two nights have passed without a trace. Jimmy lives with his 68-year-old grandfather Oscar Sherman, a wheelchair-bound man suffering from arthritis who is Jimmy's only living relative after the boy's parents were killed in an auto wreck years earlier.

As Friday and Romero interview the desperate grandfather in his backyard, Oscar insists something terrible has happened to his grandson. Jimmy had no reason to run away - he just bought two collie puppies with his savings and was devoted to his grandfather. The case takes an ominous turn when the search party discovers a pair of blue jeans near the upper reservoir in Allegian Park, exactly where Jimmy was known to hike. With dragging equipment being prepared to search the water for a body, Friday must determine whether this is a tragic accident or something more sinister.

Originally Aired: May 31, 1951

Dragnet #103, "The Big Bindle," Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero are called to investigate a sophisticated heroin distribution ring operating out of an unlikely location. When they interrogate Monty Wilkins, a user arrested the previous night with seven caps of high-grade heroin, they discover that top-quality narcotics have been flooding Los Angeles from what appears to be an Eastern operation. Wilkins reluctantly reveals that he's been buying from a street-level dealer who mentioned names like Kirk and Smith, and claims the operation is running out of the Plaza Royal Hotel, one of the city's most fashionable establishments.

The detectives bring their findings to Captain Kearney, explaining that for seven months they've been tracking this distribution center through arrested users carrying unusually pure heroin, unlike the typical Mexican product common to the Southwest. With Wilkins' information confirming their theory that the operation is based in the downtown metropolitan area, Friday and Romero propose an undercover strategy to infiltrate the Plaza Royal and break the ring from the inside.

Originally Aired: May 24, 1951

Dragnet #102, "The Big Mailman," Sergeant Joe Friday and Detective Ben Romero are working the day watch out of forgery detail when U.S. Postal Inspector Smith arrives at their office with a pressing problem. Someone is systematically stealing mail throughout Los Angeles, and the thief's sophisticated operation has already netted him an estimated two thousand dollars a month when he was operating in San Diego. Now he's brought his operation north. The investigation reveals a clever criminal who steals master panels from community mailboxes to create his own keys, giving him access to multiple locations. He targets checks in the mail, but the detectives face a puzzling question: how does the thief know which bank branches to cash the stolen checks at?

Friday and Romero begin piecing together the mail thief's methods, discovering he also raids private mail slots using some kind of special tool and may be stealing bank statements along with checks to gather the information he needs. As Captain Harry Elliott coordinates between the police department and postal inspectors, the team works to understand the full scope of this mail fraud operation and track down a criminal who has proven both resourceful and dangerous.

Originally Aired: May 17, 1951

Dragnet #101, "The Big Blast," Sergeant Joe Friday and Officer Ben Romero investigate a brutal shotgun murder on a sweltering July night in Los Angeles. The victim is Josephine Stevens, a young mother who was blasted through a screen door while lying in bed. The only witness is her terrified seven-year-old son, Charlie, who tells Friday about hearing someone cutting the screen before the fatal shots rang out. The boy's grandmother provides comfort as detectives work to piece together who would want to kill Josephine and why.

Friday and Romero's investigation leads them to the victim's estranged husband, Keith Stevens, who has a troubled past and a contentious custody battle over young Charlie. As they interview suspects and check alibis, the detectives discover that Stevens has been keeping company with questionable associates, including a man named Carl Walters. The case grows more complex as Friday uncovers a web of lies, jealousy, and desperation surrounding the custody dispute. With methodical police work, Friday pursues the truth behind this vicious crime while young Charlie struggles to understand why someone would hurt his mother.

Originally Aired: May 10, 1951

Dragnet #100, "The Big Drills," Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero are working burglary detail, chasing a highly skilled gang of safe crackers who have hit thirty-seven Wilson Brothers grocery stores over the past eighteen weeks, netting over $100,000. Despite assigning 252 officers to stakeouts across the city, the burglars always seem to know which markets aren't covered. Their method is consistent and professional: they pry open doors, cut burglar alarm wires, drill the safes cleanly, and disappear without a trace. When Friday arrives at the latest crime scene at Melrose and Green, the evidence is frustratingly familiar—metal shavings, cloth particles, empty pop bottles—until Detective Rubbles discovers torn checks and a fishing license in the bathroom drain bearing the name Charles W. Royal.

The discovery of the fishing license offers Friday and Romero their first promising lead in months. Royal turns out to be a former employee of the burglarized store who was transferred to another Wilson Brothers location six months earlier—a location that was also hit by the gang. The detectives place Royal under surveillance, hoping they've finally found the inside connection that would explain how the burglars always know which stores to target. Captain Wisdom and the entire burglary detail are desperate for a break in this case that has stumped local police, the sheriff's office, and even the parole department.

Originally Aired: May 3, 1951

Dragnet #99, "The Big Casing," Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero respond to a shooting at the Kelsey apartment hotel. They find Marie Robertson dead from a gunshot wound to the right temple, with her husband Andrew claiming it was suicide. According to Andrew, the couple had been arguing while Marie prepared dinner. He says she grabbed his Army .45 automatic from a nightstand, backed into the kitchen, and shot herself to end their dispute. However, Friday and Romero quickly notice troubling details at the scene that contradict the suicide story, including the suspicious position of the spent cartridge casing and the body's location.

As the crime lab processes the scene, Friday and Romero interview Ted Carlton, a neighbor who lives upstairs in apartment 212. Carlton paints a disturbing picture of the Robertsons' volatile marriage, describing Andy's terrible temper and frequent arguments. He reveals that Marie once told him she feared Andy might kill her during one of his rages. The detectives must piece together the physical evidence and witness statements to determine whether Marie Robertson really took her own life or if her husband's story is an elaborate cover for murder.

Originally Aired: April 26, 1951

Dragnet #98, "The Big Saint," Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero are assigned to auto theft detail to investigate a troubling pattern. Over the past four months, the recovery rate for stolen vehicles has plummeted from the normal 96-98 percent down to the low 80s, and the pressure is on from headquarters to break the case. The detectives notice that all the outstanding thefts involve late-model General Motors cars in excellent condition, suggesting they're dealing with a sophisticated, well-organized ring of professional thieves.

Following up on salvage reports, Friday and Romero focus their attention on Herman Salvage at 2716 West San Pedro Street. The operation appears legitimate on the surface, owned by Herman Lester for six years with no prior violations. However, one detail stands out: Herman's business has purchased an unusually high number of wrecked GM vehicles, four out of the last five salvage buys. When the detectives visit the salvage yard to inspect the recently acquired cars, they begin to piece together the puzzle of where the stolen vehicles might be ending up.

Originally Aired: April 19, 1951

Dragnet #97, "The Big Speech," Sergeant Joe Friday receives a telegram at home inviting him to speak about police work at his old high school, but the pleasant request is quickly overshadowed by urgent police business. Friday and his partner Ben Romero are called to investigate a vicious robbery at a doctor's office on Georgia Street. A narcotics addict they've been tracking for seven weeks has escalated his crimes dramatically, pistol-whipping fifty-five-year-old Dr. Gannon and leaving him in critical condition with a fractured jaw, seven missing teeth, and possible blindness in one eye. The young thief made off with a substantial haul of morphine, codeine, and other narcotics.

Working with Sergeant Ed Hall from Narcotics Division, Friday and Romero pursue their only lead: a stolen car connected to the robbery. However, the investigation takes a puzzling turn when they discover the car's owner, Irving Adams, is actually a narcotics user himself who has been sitting in county jail for over a week. The detectives head to the jail's interview room to question Adams about why his wife reported the car stolen from him when he couldn't possibly have been driving it.

Originally Aired: April 12, 1951

Dragnet #96, "The Big Threat," Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero investigate a puzzling case after Dr. Hart reports that his patient, Lewis Butler, was beaten and robbed of over $800. When the detectives arrive at Butler's accordion studio, they encounter a frightened middle-aged businessman sporting bandages and facial swelling who adamantly refuses to cooperate. Butler insists he wants to forget the entire incident and won't press charges, despite the severity of his injuries and the substantial loss. His evasive behavior and obvious fear suggest something more sinister is at play.

Friday and Romero face mounting frustration as Butler dodges their questions and repeatedly asks them to leave. The investigation takes a darker turn when Friday reveals that half a dozen people in the neighborhood have been similarly victimized in recent weeks. Despite Friday's warnings that cooperating with criminals through silence will only lead to further blackmail and violence, Butler remains terrified, admitting he knows the identity of his attackers but fears for his family's safety. The detectives must find a way to break through Butler's wall of fear before the holdup men strike again.

Originally Aired: April 5, 1951

Dragnet #95, "The Big Friend," begins with a desperate phone call to Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero. Leonard Gray reports that his wife has been murdered in their home at 1627 Oxford Place. When the detectives arrive on the rainy Los Angeles night, they find Mrs. Gray's body on the dining room floor, showing signs of a struggle with a deep gash on her forehead and a broken vase nearby. Gray tells them he had been out drinking with his best friend and neighbor, Earl Anderson, after work. The two men stopped at their usual bar before Anderson drove them both home around six-thirty.

Gray explains that when they arrived at his house, his wife Hazel was mildly upset about his lateness but more concerned about their car, which had mysteriously had the air let out of its back tires. Gray says he went to the garage to check on the problem, and when he returned, his wife was dead. Most troubling is Gray's claim that his best friend Earl Anderson, who lives just two houses down, is accusing him of the murder. Friday and Romero begin methodically investigating the scene while the crime lab is called in.

Originally Aired: March 15, 1951

Dragnet #92, "The Big Ben,"

Sergeants Joe Friday and Ben Romero investigate a brutal early morning robbery on Commercial Street. The victim, Harvey Kimbrough, a department store employee, stops to help what appears to be a stranded motorist around 5 a.m. on his way to work. Instead of finding someone in distress, Kimbrough is confronted by an armed man who pulls him from his vehicle at gunpoint, steals his wallet containing fourteen dollars, viciously strikes him in the face, and drives off with his 1948 blue Dodge sedan. A second vehicle, a late model two-tone green Chevrolet, follows as the getaway car.

Friday and Romero begin their methodical investigation by interviewing Kimbrough at the Stacy Hollywood department store, then tracking down Sidney Ferguson, the good Samaritan who discovered the injured victim on the roadside and came to his assistance. As the detectives piece together witness statements and gather details about the suspect and stolen vehicles, they work to build their case and track down the violent criminal who left his victim bleeding on a deserted street.

Originally Aired: March 8, 1951

Dragnet #91, "The Big New Years," Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero are assigned to special duty on New Year's Eve, working the night watch out of homicide as thousands crowd downtown Los Angeles. What begins as a routine evening of handling street fights, drunk drivers, and minor disturbances takes a devastating turn when an officer needs help call escalates to a shooting at East Main and Darwin. Friday and Romero rush to the scene and discover the victim lying face down on the pavement with six bullet wounds. The dead man is Jack Conley, serial number 367, a veteran Central Homicide officer who had just invited them to a party at his home that very evening.

As dozens of cruiser cars flood the area and officers begin a door-to-door search, Friday and Romero canvas the neighborhood for witnesses. They find people who heard the shots and saw a man in a dark suit fleeing the scene, but no one who can provide a solid identification. The investigation grows more difficult as Friday and Romero face the hardest part of their job: driving to Conley's home on Ralston Avenue, where his wife Betty waits with party guests, expecting her husband to arrive any minute.

Originally Aired: March 1, 1951

Dragnet #90, "The Big Partner," finds Sergeant Joe Friday and Officer Ben Romero responding to a brazen jewelry store robbery in broad daylight. When they arrive at City Hall to begin their investigation, the case takes an unexpected turn—a traffic accident at Third and Ditchel leads them straight to their suspect. A truck driver named Lenny Brooks has wrestled down a man who pulled a gun on him after crashing through a red light, and dozens of diamond rings have spilled from the suspect's coat. The man is identified as Vernon Albert McCoy, a two-time loser fresh out of Folsom Prison with a history of armed robbery.

The case seems wrapped up until McCoy engineers a daring escape from custody at Georgia Street receiving hospital, overpowering two transportation officers. Within hours, he's suspected in another armed robbery—this time hitting a gas station for quick cash. Friday and Romero trace McCoy's movements to a candy store in Boyle Heights, where the owner, Matthew Hobbs, reveals he saw the fugitive the previous night. As the detectives piece together McCoy's desperate flight through Los Angeles, they must anticipate his next move before this reckless criminal strikes again.

Originally Aired: February 22, 1951

Dragnet #89, "The Big Couple," Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero are called to investigate a heartbreaking case of fraud at the Holy Gospel Tabernacle. Reverend Andrew Olson explains how a seemingly devout couple, calling themselves Mr. and Mrs. Tom Herbert, approached him with an offer to write a history of his modest church for publication in a county historical book. After gaining his trust through weeks of dedicated research work, the Herberts claimed the publisher backed out and subtly convinced the Reverend and his church board to finance the book themselves. The small congregation scraped together $804.61 through ham dinners, advertising sales, and a bank loan Reverend Olson personally secured.

When the promised delivery date passes and the Herberts vanish from their hotel on South Grand, Friday and Romero discover this is no isolated incident. The suspects match the description of a veteran husband-and-wife confidence team with a seventeen-year criminal record spanning multiple cities. These con artists have made their specialty preying on churches and clergymen, leaving struggling congregations robbed and Reverend Olson facing the devastating task of explaining the loss to his hardworking parishioners.

Originally Aired: February 15, 1951

Dragnet #88, "The Big Crime," Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero are called to investigate a terrifying case when four-year-old twin girls, Jo and Kelly Carson, disappear from a park during a family picnic. As hours pass without any sign of the children, the investigation takes on increasing urgency. The detectives methodically canvas the area, interviewing neighbors, friends, and storekeepers, but find no leads until they speak with an ice cream vendor named George Kamencek. He reports seeing two young girls matching the twins' description in the company of a large man with a mustache near a clump of trees in the park.

The case takes a dark turn when torn pieces of the girls' clothing are discovered in the bushes. The detectives rope off the area and call in the crime lab while intensifying their search. An emergency check of registered sexual psychopaths produces a possible suspect named D.H.L. Glamberg, who lives near the park and matches the physical description. Friday and Romero track him down at his workplace, a small bar where he works as an organist, and begin questioning him about his whereabouts during the critical hours when the children vanished.

Originally Aired: February 8, 1951

Dragnet #87, "The Big Cast," Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero are assigned to a perplexing homicide case. Twelve men have vanished without a trace over a short period, and after four months of investigation, they finally track down their prime suspect: Henry Osworth Ross, a hot-tempered longshoreman living in a shabby rooming house. When Friday and Romero arrive to question him, Ross mistakes them for enemies from a bar fight and violently resists before realizing they're actually police officers.

Back at headquarters, Friday and Romero interrogate Ross about one of the missing men, Paul Davis, who disappeared while driving to a new job. The detectives have evidence linking Ross to Davis's abandoned car, including forged signatures on the vehicle's pink slip and a suspicious letter—all in Ross's handwriting according to their experts. Despite the mounting evidence, Ross calmly denies everything, insisting he barely knows anyone named Davis and claiming someone must have copied his handwriting. As Ross sits casually scraping calluses from his hand, Friday and Romero face the challenge of breaking through his story to uncover what really happened to the dozen missing men.

Originally Aired: February 1, 1951

Dragnet #86, "The Big Children," Sergeant Joe Friday and Officer Ben Romero from the Juvenile Bureau investigate a disturbing report from a neighbor in the wealthy Bel Air district. Miss Jeanette Bajan, a cook working in one of the area's colonial mansions, has called in a complaint about two children from next door—seven-year-old Richard Kessler and his five-year-old sister Judy—who have been going door to door begging for food for the past several days. Despite living in a neighborhood of $50,000 homes, the children appear half-starved.

When Friday and Romero visit the Kessler home, they find eight-year-old Richard alone, warming borrowed soup in a kitchen littered with empty whiskey bottles. The once-beautiful house is cold, dusty, and strewn with children's toys and scraps of stale bread. Richard, polite and well-mannered despite his dirty shirt, tries to maintain that everything is fine, but Friday gently presses him about his mother's whereabouts. The boy finally admits she left last Friday night and hasn't returned, leaving the children to fend for themselves in increasingly desperate circumstances.

Originally Aired: January 25, 1951

Dragnet #85, "The Big Tomato," Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero investigate a tragic case that hits close to home for Los Angeles families. When seventeen-year-old Kenneth Morrow dies after crashing his car into a street light at high speed, the investigation takes a darker turn. Officers discover a metal case containing marijuana on the floor of the wrecked vehicle, revealing that the boy's death wasn't just a simple accident but the result of drug use. Friday and Romero learn that Kenneth, once a good student with above-average grades, had undergone a dramatic personality change in recent months, becoming disrespectful, neglecting his studies, and lying to his parents about spending evenings at the library.

As Friday and Romero dig deeper, they interview Kenneth's devastated father Thomas Morrow and his former girlfriend Peggy Kane, who describe a boy who seemed to have fallen in with the wrong crowd. The detectives discover that Kenneth's behavior shifted dramatically around Christmas, and they begin tracking down his associates, including Bob Lavelle, a fellow student who worked with Kenneth in the school cafeteria. With a dangerous marijuana operation targeting high school students and this being the second such death in eight months, Friday and Romero must work quickly to identify the suppliers before more young lives are destroyed.

Originally Aired: January 18, 1951

Dragnet #84, "The Big Dance," finds Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero tracking a pair of brutal young holdup men who have terrorized Los Angeles with 23 robberies in three months. The detectives are pulled from a quiet Sunday morning breakfast at Friday's apartment when another vicious crime occurs at a small newsstand on South Grand and Colonial. The victims are John and Madeline Wilden, an aging couple running a modest newspaper stand near a church. Mrs. Wilden is carried away unconscious, her face brutally beaten, while her husband struggles to explain what happened when he returned from getting change and discovered the robbery in progress.

The holdup men fit the familiar pattern: two young men in their late teens or early twenties, one with red hair and another with dark hair, both willing to use shocking violence for small amounts of money. As Friday and Romero investigate the scene and question the shaken Mr. Wilden, they piece together the details of an attack that exemplifies the senseless brutality these young criminals bring to every job. The detectives face the challenge of stopping these unpredictable bandits before they strike again.

Originally Aired: January 11, 1951

Dragnet #83, "The Big Jump," Sergeants Joe Friday and Ben Romero race against the clock when they receive a call about a potential jumper at the Fitzroy building downtown. Walter Harrison, a 41-year-old mental patient, has climbed out onto a narrow 14-inch ledge thirteen stories above the street and threatens to leap to his death at exactly 2:00 p.m. The situation turns more dangerous when officers discover Harrison is armed with a carpenter's hammer and takes swings at anyone who tries to approach him on the ledge. With crowds gathering below and rescue nets being stretched out by the fire department, the detectives have less than half an hour to talk Harrison down.

As the clock ticks toward the deadline, Friday and his team piece together what happened. Harrison came in for a routine physical examination with Dr. Turner when he suddenly became violent, claiming the medical staff was trying to kill him. After assaulting the doctor, he fled to the window ledge. Now, with Harrison's sister nearly hysterical and previous attempts to reach him failing, Friday must find a way to prevent the jump before time runs out.

Originally Aired: January 4, 1951

Dragnet #82, "The Big Holdup," finds Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero hunting a dangerous criminal known as the rattlesnake bandit. This vicious holdup man has already robbed six people in the Los Angeles area, savagely beating his victims for no apparent reason even when they cooperate. Operating in stolen cars with an attractive blonde accomplice who seems to encourage his violence, the bandit strikes again while Friday and Romero are investigating his previous crimes. What makes this criminal particularly dangerous is his unpredictability—the holdups net him little money, rarely more than fifty dollars, yet he continues to brutally assault his victims without provocation.

The case takes a deadly turn when the bandit attacks high school teacher Ralph Younger and his companion Ethel Donovan, a grade school teacher. After beating Younger and finding only three dollars in Donovan's purse, the bandit shoots her in the head and wounds Younger when he tries to intervene. Friday and Romero race against time to track down this increasingly violent criminal before he can strike again, working with the limited descriptions provided by traumatized victims while Ethel Donovan fights for her life in critical condition.

Originally Aired: December 28, 1950

Dragnet #81, "The Big Family," Joe Friday and Ben Romero investigate the mysterious disappearance of John Keith Jarrett, a wealthy and prominent Los Angeles businessman. When Jarrett's abandoned car is discovered at the end of Pier 6 with a suicide note in his coat pocket, the case initially appears straightforward. However, crucial evidence complicates the picture: Jarrett's gun is found carefully hidden under the dashboard with two empty shells, and despite the suicide note, there's no body in the harbor. Friends and business associates insist Jarrett had no reason to take his own life.

The investigation deepens when Friday and Romero interview Mrs. Jarrett, a pale, middle-aged woman who's been drinking heavily. Her chilling assessment of the family reveals a household held together in name only—a successful man too consumed by business to connect with his wife and two grown children. Mrs. Jarrett seems strangely detached from her husband's disappearance, explaining that Jack never cared much about having a real family. As the detectives prepare to interview the Jarrett children, they face a puzzling question: did this broken family finally reach a breaking point?

Originally Aired: December 21, 1950

Dragnet #80, "22 Rifle for Christmas," Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero respond to what begins as a routine missing child case but quickly becomes something far more sinister. When nine-year-old Stanley Johnstone disappears from his backyard on a cold December afternoon just days before Christmas, his mother Ruth initially believes he has simply run away from home as he once did before. However, when juvenile detectives Harry Levinson and his partner discover fresh blood stains in the backyard along with an empty .22 caliber shell casing, Friday and Romero realize they may be dealing with something much darker than a runaway child.

As Lieutenant Lee Jones from the crime lab analyzes the blood evidence and a special detail is called in to aid the search, Friday questions Mrs. Johnstone about her son's habits and whereabouts. The investigation intensifies as the hours tick by with no sign of Stanley. With blood evidence mounting and the boy missing for over four hours in the pre-Christmas cold, Friday faces a race against time to discover what happened in that backyard and locate the missing child before it's too late.

Originally Aired: December 14, 1950

Dragnet #79, "The Big Break," Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero close in on George R. Hoffman, a career criminal responsible for 18 armed robberies over three months. Acting on a tip that Hoffman is holed up in a bungalow on Buchanan Avenue, Friday and his team move in during a foggy night to make the arrest. The dangerous suspect, armed with two revolvers and a hunting rifle, attempts to flee but is cornered when his getaway car fails to start. With multiple victims identifying him in a lineup, Friday and the district attorney build what seems like an airtight case.

However, on the morning of his scheduled court arraignment, Hoffman pulls off a daring escape from the county jail. Using steam from shower faucets to obscure the guard's view, he climbs out a window and scales down seven stories on the outside of the Hall of Justice building. After slugging a bailiff and disappearing into the street crowd, he immediately commits another robbery. Friday and the entire police force mobilize to recapture the desperate fugitive before he can strike again.