Dragnet

Ladies and gentlemen,

the story you are about to see is true.

The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Dd

It was Saturday, April 9.

We were working the day watch out of intelligence division.

The boss is captain Hamilton. My partner's frank Smith.

My name's Friday.

It was 7:29 P.M. the second floor of the old city jail building.

The crime lab.

That'll do it, ray. We know he's dead.

What have you got on him, Jim?

Looks like a gangland killing. Joe.

Miller starkie. W.M.A. 44.

L.A. number 1006484.

He's an ex-con.

"Bookmaker, gambler, procurer.

No known legitimate occupation.”

One of his last jobs was collecting bad checks for Vegas.

It's not in the book yet. What have you got, ray?

One impression... right foot, size nine and a half.

Wide last, rubber heel, what appears to be a metal cleat on the toe.

- Only got the one? - The rest weren't good enough to lift. Ground was too hard.

- Can you make him on that? - When you find the shoe.

- How about the shells? Anything on them? - 12-Gauge western, four empties.

It's a double-barrel, or two guns were used.

You can see by these blowups that on two of the shells...

The firing pin hits a little off center.

You can see a little better in this one.

- That's about it, huh, ray? - All except the other man.

- You figure two? - That's right.

What can you tell us about him? Nothing, but he was there.

According to the physical evidence, two men, one of them the victim,

entered the field near loma vista and third Avenue.

They proceeded diagonally.

Another man entered from up here... wentworth and Rachel.

He proceeded in a straight path to that small hill.

The victim had nice friends. He was ambushed.

What about the stuff found on the body? Anything there?

Key ring.

Fifty-seven dollars in cash.

Pocket comb.

Ticket to the art aragon fight.

Looks like a phone number on the back.

Hollywood 3-3449.

Tilden? We'll run it down.

What do you think, Jim? These are his friends.

Bernard wall. Reputed leader, west coast organization.

Answers only to the syndicate.

Narcotics and bookmaking. Old-time rum-runner.

No known legitimate occupation.

If it was for business reasons, you can bet it cleared through him.

- Max Troy. - High up in the west coast operation.

Close associate of Bernard wall. Number one muscle man. A killer.

Claims he's a sick man. No known legitimate occupation.

Think he pulled the string? He knows how.

Here's some more who might qualify.

Lee reinhard.

Wesley Cannon.

Chester davitt.

Walker Scott.

Check it out.

The past five years... over 50 arrests, two convictions.

Pick your charge. C.C.W., bookmaking, procuring,

narcotics, murder, a.D.W., rape and extortion.

You think one of these four? Maybe.

Unless Troy sent for an out-of-state killer.

I've got a copy of your book. Sixty-one men in here.

Most of them have been up on the same charges.

What makes this half dozen so special?

They're the first team. Anybody gets in trouble, they squeeze 'em.

You run intelligence. You keep tabs on these boys. Yeah.

What about the victim? You think starkie was in trouble?

He was at 4:00 this afternoon.

Saturday, April 9.7:48 P.M.

An immediate meeting was called by chief of police w.H. Parker.

It was over at 8:05.

Present at the meeting were district attorney, s. Ernest roll.

Chief of detectives, thad brown.

From the division of occurrence, lieutenant ruiz, commander, 77th street division.

Captain. R.A. Lohrman, homicide division.

The working team out of homicide...

Sergeants Jack gotchand William tilden.

Captain James e. Hamilton, intelligence division.

All days off were canceled.

All officers in the divisions concerned were placed on standby.

Homicide division was in charge of the investigation.

It appeared to be a gangland killing.

Since procuring and cataloging of information concerning this type of criminal subject...

Is the sole responsibility of the intelligence division,

we were directed to work with homicide.

8:55 P.M. as a result of our preliminary investigation,

it was decided that all suspects and their known associates be brought in for questioning.

Arrests were made quickly in order to avoid possible collusion.

To ensure maximum privacy,

one floor of an isolated wing of one of the city's larger hotels...

Was secured for interrogation purposes.

Frank and I were assigned to pick up Max Troy.

It was 9:07 when we arrived at the hotel.

The suspect was sullen and uncooperative.

Twice on the way in, he requested we stop so he could make telephone calls.

We refused.

Deputy district attorney Adolph Alexander...

Was assigned by the district attorney's office...

And placed in charge of the interrogation.

We were told to question Max Troy in room 312.

I asked Alexander if there was any further word...

On the missing suspect, Chester davitt.

Got his house staked. Bringing his wife in for questioning.

About ready to have a go at Lee reinhard.

Want a match?

All right, state your true name. Lee reinhard.

Address. 1623 Fargo place.

Maxie!

Belle, you all right, honey? Yeah, I'm fine.

You're out of line draggin' him up here. He's sick.

Did you see the x-rays on Miller starkie?

You know maxie's only got half a stomach. Draggin' him around?

How'd you like to be held together with platinum wire?

- I can't afford it. - You got a smart mouth.

Maxie's sick... trying to stay alive on custard and baby food.

Don't worry, belle. Most babies do.

All right, miss davitt.

What do you got there? Letters, tax reports. Got 'em at his place.

In here, Troy.

Coroner's report. Yeah? What do you got?

Shotgun, extreme close range.

Recovered 28 pellets, double-o.

Starkie was hit four times. First two cut him in half.

Second two turned him into a crowd.

The fight ticket found on the body.

On the back... it's the phone number of the red spot grill.

Troy's place. Ties in.

Starkie must've got out of step somewhere along the line.

We're in the right neighborhood. And if our theory's right, we know who.

Find out why, and we're in business. Give it a try.

This gonna take long? You got the time.

Mine's worth money. Yours isn't. Send in a bill.

I asked you a question. You're here to answer 'em, not ask 'em.

You listen to me, cop. I pay your salary. Sit down. I'm gonna earn it!

You already have, the kind of money you make.

What do they pay you to carry that badge around... 40 cents an hour?

You sit down!

That badge pays $464 a month.

That's what the job's worth. I knew that when I hired on.

67.40 comes out for withholding.

I give 27.84 for pension and 12 bucks for widows and orphans.

That leaves me 356.76. That badge is worth $1.82 an hour.

So, mister, you just settle back in that chair...

'Cause I'm gonna blow about 20 bucks of it right now.

This is the statement taken from Max Troy in room 312 of the crown regent hotel,

April 9, 9:55 P.M.

Present are frank Smith, Joe Friday.

Put your own name in, will you, Ken?

All right, state your true name.

- State your true name. - You know my name.

- Tell us anyway. - Max Troy.

- Your full name. - That's it.

You got a middle name, haven't you? Yeah, but I never use it.

- We do. - Max Edward Troy.

Your address. Huh?

- Where do you live? - You've got it. You picked me up, didn't you?

You've been through all this before. Just answer the questions.

Sure. Ask me something you don't know. All right.

- Where's Miller starkie? - I heard he was dead.

You heard why? Bled to death, didn't he?

- Starkie was a friend of yours. - I got a lot of friends.

- Where are you working? - You know I can't work.

How do you get by? I make a dollar here and there.

- Pin it down. - Look, I'm paying taxes.

Yeah, sure you are. 1951... $48.00.1952... $74.28.

1953... $61.00. And you're driving a Cadillac fleetwood.

- Who's lying to who? - I got a good tax man.

You listen. A man was murdered at 4:00 this afternoon. You're in it up to your ears.

Don't sit there and try to sell us cute answers. Sit down.

I want to get the ashtray. You already got one. Let's try it again.

What did Miller starkie do to get himself killed?

He must've run out of luck. Why?

We weren't that close. Somebody was.

Want to know what I think? Yeah, we'd like to know.

All right. You know about starkie.

He had hound blood. Ran with every dame in town.

Him married and a lot of them married too.

Marie knew all about them other dames, and her such a fine dame herself.

I'm gonna admit this to you. I called Marie up right after I heard about this thing.

Poor dame came all unglued. Must've cried for 10 minutes.

I didn't know what to tell her, but I can tell you. Dig into it.

All those dames' husbands, and starkie taking part of the action.

Or one of the dames herself. They get sore too, you know.

That's all there is about starkie. He knocked on a wrong door.

He was found dead in a field. They could've dumped him there.

He said good-bye there. They cut him apart with a shotgun.

- A lot of people know how to use a shotgun. - You boys invented it.

- All right. Somebody wanted to make sure. - Yeah, they killed him twice.

Keep your seat.

Tell me something, Troy. Where'd you sleep last night?

- I'm a sick man. I'm always home. - How about Miller starkie?

- When's the last time you saw him? - A couple of months ago.

- Where? - I don't know. The racetrack maybe.

- You haven't seen him, talked to him since? - No.