Radio Archeaology

Dragnet: The Big Chance - No Way Out

dragnet Season 1 Episode 38

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0:00 | 29:56

Officer Eugene Brewer, eight years on the force, a good record all the way, had simply disappeared somewhere along the Imperial Highway near the San Pedro cut-off. His cruiser was found idling on the shoulder, lights still on, radio still working, with no sign of a struggle, no blood, and no footprints anywhere nearby. Two truck farmers had noticed the headlights sitting still in the dark but assumed everything was fine once they heard the radio playing. Brewer had simply stepped out of his car and vanished into the night.

The break came from an independent trucker named Nat Wolf, who'd helped tow a stranger out of the sand that same morning, a man who refused help with the chain and seemed determined to keep his face and his car out of view. Wolf noticed something stranger still: the man's nearly-new Plymouth had been freshly painted in cheap black paint, right down to a blacked-out license plate It led them from a stolen car to a Hollywood cashier to a packed apartment building in Las Vegas, where Mike Lupino, a paroled ex-convict, was finally cornered. 

 Episode Quotes

"He got tough. You didn't have to kill him." - Mike Lupino

"There ought to be two men in every patrol car." - Inspector Ed Backstrand

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SPEAKER_05

The story you are about to hear is true. Only the names and locations have been changed to protect the innocent.

SPEAKER_01

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SPEAKER_05

You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned to homicide detail. You answer an early morning call. A police officer on patrol duty disappears. Any attempt to contact him by car radio fails. Your job, find him.

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Dragnet, the documented drama of an actual crime. For the next 30 minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department, you will travel step by step on the side of the law through an actual case from official police files. From beginning to end, from crime to punishment, Dragnet is the story of your police force in action.

SPEAKER_10

Monday, June 4th. It was sultry in Los Angeles. We're working early morning watch out of homicide. My partner's Ben Romero, the boss of Chief of Detective Stad Brown. My name's Friday. It was 6 45 a.m. when we got to the Imperial Highway. San Pedro cutoff. All right. Friday and Romero? Yeah, that's right. Pete Sutton and Sheriff's Department. Don't worry. Hello. We got here as soon as we could. Inspector Bowers fill you in? Yeah, Ed Baxter and Central Homicide told us to check with Bowers at the sheriff's office. Bowers directed us to come out here and lend you a hand. This thing happens so close to the county line, they figure both departments ought to go to work on it.

SPEAKER_08

Sheriff, glad to have you. Looks like a tough one.

SPEAKER_10

Is this the highway patrol car the missing officer was signed just? Yep.

SPEAKER_08

This is just the way we found it.

SPEAKER_10

We turned off the injection.

SPEAKER_08

Motor was running, lights were on. It's been idling quite a while. The temperature was up pretty high. When'd you find it this way? 45 minutes ago. Missing patrolman's name is Eugene Brewer. State Highway Patrol called the sheriff's department a little before 6 a.m. Told us the missing officer wasn't acknowledging his radio calls. I talked to Mark Fenson. Radio all right? We checked it. In fact, it was operating normal when we found the car.

SPEAKER_10

Mike was out of the bracket laying on the seat there. Well. Any ideas? No signs of struck? No blood stains. This asphalt here. No footprints anywhere. Nothing on the shoulder of the road. You said the car was running? That's right. And eliminates any engine trouble. Yeah. No, there's more to it than that. Gotta be. Nobody has any idea of why or when he left his car. You've got it all. You know as much as we do. What was the check on Brewer? Mark Fenson says he's one of their top men, been with highway patrol for eight years. Good record all the way. Have you talked to anybody around here? Pretty remote spot out here. A lot of truck gardens, that's about all.

SPEAKER_08

My partner Dave Terry turned up one man. Maybe he's got something. Let's send him over by our car. Hey, Dave, would you send him over here, please? Who is the fellow? One of the farmers works at truck garden out here. Name's Henry Tanagucci.

SPEAKER_06

Tenant Sutton?

SPEAKER_08

Yes, sir.

unknown

Mr.

SPEAKER_08

Tanagucci, this is Sergeant Friday in Romero. Oh, yes, sir. Oh, yes, sir. I know you filled my partner in, but uh, would you mind going over it again for us?

SPEAKER_07

Oh, all right. I can tell you very little. You know, we start work early in the garden. Yes, sir. Uh, candidate, a fellow I work with, uh, Connor Ishikawa, uh, we started in a string beans about uh five o'clock this morning. Uh Vin Patch uh near Imperial Highway. Yeah. Uh we noticed a headlight stop off the side of the road. This happened all the time along the highway, but uh this stayed very long.

SPEAKER_10

About what time did you notice this, Mr. Tanaguchi?

SPEAKER_07

Uh, must have been uh oh ten minutes uh past five. I remember asked uh Charlie uh Fujicuni, our cultivator man, what time was? I see.

SPEAKER_10

Did you see or hear anything out of the ordinary?

SPEAKER_07

Uh no, sir. Uh we wait a while and uh head rights do not move. Uh Conrad and I decided maybe somebody was in trouble. This highway quite deserted early morning hour. What'd you do then? Uh we walked off to see what was wrong. Uh when we get close, we could see what state highway car, so we know everything all right. Did you see the officer in the car? No. Uh door was open on the other side. We thought maybe the officer investigates something down in the brush. Did you see him down there? Oh, no. We just think he was uh check up something. So we go back to work. You saw nothing out of the ordinary, nothing unusual. Uh no, we don't. Uh, we hear the radio play. We know everything okay.

SPEAKER_10

That checks off. The radio was functioning when we got here, fool. You didn't notice any other cars around anywhere, did you? No, sir. Thank you very much, Mr.

SPEAKER_08

Tanagucci. Uh, here's my card. Appreciate it. If you think of anything else, please let us know.

SPEAKER_07

Oh, yes, sir, I will. Uh, what happened to Officer Undy's car? We don't know. Oh, he's all right. Uh, probably uh look for somebody.

SPEAKER_10

Well, that makes us even we're looking for him. Monday, June 4th, 8 a.m. According to our instructions, we headed back to the Hall of Justice to check in with Inspector Gordon Brewer Bowers and Captain Garner Brown of the Sheriff's Department. They were coordinating the search for the missing highway patrolman, Eugene Brewer. Inspector Ed Baxtrand, Central Homicide, was helping out. To the peace officer, cooperation with all branches of the various law enforcement agencies is essential. Each man on the force knows the value of a coordinated effort. He knows that without the aid of the many divisions of law enforcing bodies in his city and county, the task of maintaining law and order would be a total failure. The local officer depends on the men in the federal, state, and county departments as they depend on him. Without this coordination, no one department could survive. 8:25 a.m., we met with Inspector Bowers and Ed Baxtrand in the sheriff's office. Nothing, huh? Nobody saw. Somebody did. We haven't found them, Inspector Bauer. We both figure the only thing to do was to ask for cooperation of the newspapers. We got it. Pretty good layout, aren't you? There's a story's in every morning edition in town. They're running a picture and full description of the missing patrolman. Well, we talked to everybody we could find in the general area out there. We worked two hours at it. The spot where the patrol car was found is pretty remote. A couple of gas stations, some vegetable gardens. We told you about the town and Gucci, fella. Checked all his friends that worked with him, and they couldn't add anything. Maybe the newspaper will turn up something. I sent a special detail out there to fan out and search the entire area. Five square miles. Yeah. It'll take time. There's nothing else we can do. Well, there's nothing more we can do. Nothing anybody can do until we can show them the patrol cars ought to carry two men. Nobody seems to be able to do anything about it. Well, maybe they will now. Sending one officer out in a patrol car is like trying to run a trolley line with one man. How many cases can you remember in our department? Ed Dudman pulled the car over in Dogtown at three o'clock one morning. Driver turned out to be a guy with a record. Dudman couldn't know that. While he was making out the traffic ticket, the guy shot him down the street. Dudman died before he could get help. Yeah, we'll do a lot of griping in the detective division, but those men in the patrol cars and the motorcycle boys, they get the dirty end of the deal for sure. You bet they do. When a detective is sent out on a job, he knows who he's after, what he looks like, what he can expect when he finds him. The boys in the patrol cars answer a call, a 390, a 415, or 507. Sure, we know what they're supposed to be, but how often do they turn out that way? Frowler, a peeping Tom? How many times do they have a gun in their pocket? How many cops do they kill every year? We've all been through it. We know what it is. Yeah, but how often do we think about it when we're gripping on stakehouse? Let me tell you something. This goes for me as well as you. Let's not forget who the real cream of the force is, the backbone of any police department. Men on wheel. No question, asker. Sorry, I didn't mean to make a speech, but when something like this happens, it gets to me. You're writing on short odds as it is. There ought to be two men in every patrol car. Well, I wish it'd been somebody else with Brewer. The guy on the job just doesn't disappear without a trace. It's just what he's done. He checked everywhere, everything. Excuse me. Fowler. Who? Yeah, send him right in. This might help. Truck driver by the name of Matt Wolf. Says he's got something for it. Come in. Mr. Wolf? Yes, sir. Come in. Mr. Wolf, Inspector Faxtrand, Sergeant Friday, and Romero. How do you do, um, I saw the story in this morning's times. I don't know what I got's worth anything, but I figured I'd better pass along to you guys. Something on the missing highway patrolman? Well, I don't know. Reason I'm here, maybe it's just a coincidence, but I gave a fellow a hand earlier this morning out of the Imperial Highway, not far from where the paper here says the empty patrol car was flat. About what time was that, Mr. Wolfe? Oh, around 4:30 this morning. You want to tell us about it? Yeah. Uh, I'm an independent trucker. I haul topsoil for different nurseries. Stuff out there on Imperial's good rich stuff. We dig it right outside of the hill. Yes, sir. Well, I just loaded up and I was on my way back to town. This fellow flags me down. Said he'd had a flat, pulled out on the shore of the road to fix it. Said he didn't know it was sand. After he'd fixed the flat, he found out he stuck. He couldn't get his car. You gave him a hand, huh? No, not with a flat. He already had that fixed, but I turned him out. That's how I became suspicious of this fellow. How do you mean? Well, I offered to get out and hook up the tow chain. He said, no, no, just stay in a cab. I figured if he could do it alone, though it was me. Well, I fooled him out. Here's the funny part.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_10

The chain got a kink in it from the way to the pool. No mean job to handle that alone, but he says, he could do it himself. Seemed to me like uh he didn't want me to get a good look at him or his car. I could be wrong, but well, that's the way it struck me. Did you notice anything? Yes, uh, I did. For one thing, I got a look at him when I threw on my backup lights and his car. That's a real funny one. What do you mean? Well, this is a fairly new car. I'd say older than last year's model, Plymouth. Well, at the risk of sounding completely nuts, I'm gonna tell you that car looked like it'd just been painted. There's nothing wrong in that, is it? Well, there is if you're off on the side of the road that time of the morning throwing cheap black paint all over a fairly new car. He's using a spray gun, I could understand part of it. What's that? It was his license plate. Front one. It was all painted over here. You couldn't read any of the numbers. Hmm. What led you to believe he just finished painting his car? Always hands and arms, and there's always clothes. Oh, I think. Except the kind of paint you put on the rag, you know. We am. Well, I don't know. Is it was it worth bothering you guys about? You bet it was, Mr. Wolf. I can't tell you just what it means now. Maybe it doesn't mean anything, but certainly it's out of the ordinary and worth reporting to the police. Well, I hope so. I'd like to see you boys find that missing officer. Something's pretty rotten in Denmark about that one, huh? Maybe we found a hole.

SPEAKER_09

Maybe.

SPEAKER_10

Friday, I'd like to have you and Romero help out on the next step. What's that? Roll up a roadblock. 10:30 a.m. Before we left the sheriff's office, the truck driver, Nat Wolf, gave Inspector Bowers a description of the man in the Plymouth sedan. Together with Lieutenant Pete Sutton and Dave Terry, we drove to the Imperial Highway. Nat Wolf showed us the spot beside the road where he towed the man. The area was checked, and sample scrapings of the black paint were taken. There was no chance of taking a tire impression because of the loose sand in the area. All physical evidence was taken back to the crime lab for an hour. Nat Wolf returned to the office to check through mug books for possible identification of the man he helped out. Meantime, a special detail of men continued to search the area where the missing patrolman had disappeared. 3 a.m. According to instructions, the roadblock was established at the spot where the abandoned patrol car had been found. Imperial Highway, San Vedro cut off.

SPEAKER_11

Super Penver. The eleven areas. And some say one of those police business?

SPEAKER_03

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_10

Wonder if you could help us out.

SPEAKER_03

Certainly.

SPEAKER_10

You travel this highway every night, ma'am?

SPEAKER_03

Yes, I do. I'm in the vegetable business.

SPEAKER_10

Did you come this way last night about this time?

SPEAKER_03

I run pretty much on schedule. Yes, I did.

SPEAKER_10

Did you notice anything unusual along the highway?

SPEAKER_03

I bet I know what this is about. That missing highway patrolman.

SPEAKER_10

Yes, ma'am. We're stopping everybody to see if they can give us any information that might help us out.

SPEAKER_03

Well, I wish I could, but I didn't feel thing. That poor fellow, do you think you'll find him?

SPEAKER_10

Mm-hmm. He's trying awful hard.

SPEAKER_03

Sorry, I can't help you. When I go now?

SPEAKER_10

Yes, ma'am. Thank you. How'd you do? Nothing. What time you got, Joe? Almost four.

SPEAKER_09

Got a little more hot coffee in the jug, you'll find with me, ain't it? Here we are. Cupson live here. Thanks, Lord. Watch your fingers. Hot. Yeah.

SPEAKER_10

Good. I'll take this one. I want to put my coffee on the fender here. Don't knock it off. Thank you.

SPEAKER_11

Hey, wait a minute. Wait a minute, Della.

SPEAKER_10

Can you see my light?

SPEAKER_04

I haven't even got a cigarette.

SPEAKER_10

I mean my flashlight.

SPEAKER_04

I got a cigarette lighter if that'll do you any good.

SPEAKER_10

You've been drinking, haven't you?

SPEAKER_04

Yes, I have. I never get drunk, but I've had a little drink.

SPEAKER_10

I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to ask you to pull over to the side of the road.

SPEAKER_04

Oh. Okay. What happened to my car?

SPEAKER_10

It's broke. You better let me do it, huh? You want to slide over a little bit there? I'll never pick up hitchhikers. No, I'm just gonna move your car off the side of the highway, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Many trouble, Joe?

SPEAKER_10

No. 502. We'll have to hold them a while.

SPEAKER_04

We'll tell your friend to get him, too. It's a savan.

SPEAKER_10

We're not going far.

SPEAKER_04

Where are we going? Right here. Is this the road to Pismo Beach?

SPEAKER_10

No, sir, not this one.

SPEAKER_04

Well, that dirty little Ernie, he lied again. He hates clams. What's that? I've been trying for five months to get to Pismo Beach for a bowl of clam chowder. I haven't made it yet.

SPEAKER_10

All right, you just sit here a while and sober up, will you? I'm gonna hold on to your keys. I'll get them back to you. You haven't got a bottle in the car, have you?

SPEAKER_04

No, I never drink and drive. Alcohol and gasoline do not mix. Yeah.

SPEAKER_10

Do you drive this road every night?

SPEAKER_04

Every night? And he keeps telling me to take me to Prismo Beach. I love cramps.

SPEAKER_10

We just sit here and sober up. Happy drunk? Yeah, he's too drunk to drive. Yeah. Getting along towards daylight. Where'd I put my clock?

SPEAKER_08

I foot it over here, Joe, afraid we'd knock it off. Oh thing. This one's mine.

SPEAKER_10

Hey. Seem to come in bunches. You get two or three and then you wait for an hour. You know, they don't use this highway much since they put that all in it, you know. Police doesn't.

SPEAKER_08

Yes, sir? You travel this highway every night about this time? Once in a while. Haven't been over this way in a week. You didn't drive this way last night. No, sir, I didn't. Anything the matter? Routine check. Thank you very much. You can go on.

SPEAKER_10

Nothing. Well, it looks like a hopeless job, doesn't it? Hmm, business is thickened up. Here comes another one. Looks like one of your sheriff's cars, Pete. Yeah. Reynolds, homicide. Pete Sutton? Yeah, Reynolds. You can pack up. They found him. Is he all right? Two bullet holes in the back of his head.

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SPEAKER_10

Best of all, long cigarettes. 5 a.m. Tuesday, the body of Highway Patrolman Eugene Brewer was found half buried in a shallow grave, approximately four and a half miles from the point where his car had been found standing on the highway. The scene was roped off, photographed, measurements were taken, and the area carefully gone over for any physical evidence. A few scattered residents were again checked and asked if they'd heard gunshots. Since the nearest dwelling to the place where the body was found was two miles, there was a possibility that they could have not heard the shots. No one could give us any further information. The coroner's autopsy showed that patrolman Brewer had been shot three times in the chest, one bullet directly entering his heart. He'd also been shot twice through the base of the skull, 1 p.m. Wednesday.

SPEAKER_08

I get it.

SPEAKER_10

Homicide fighting.

SPEAKER_08

Pete Sutton, Joe.

SPEAKER_10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08

Just had a call from our Hollywood substation. Woman reported her car stolen on Sunday night. Thought the guy was gonna bring it back. That's why she didn't report it sooner.

SPEAKER_10

What about it, Fee?

SPEAKER_08

It's a Flymouth sedan, last year's model. Same type the truck driver told us about it.

SPEAKER_10

Sounds good.

SPEAKER_08

We already have a broadcast on it on it. We're putting out an APB now. You want to check and see if they got it on tonight's hot sheet?

SPEAKER_10

Right. Anything on the guy who stole the car?

SPEAKER_08

Boyfriend of the woman who owned it. He left her in a restaurant and got away with her car. You remember the description of the guy the truck driver helped down at Monday morning?

SPEAKER_10

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_08

The guy that stole this woman's car, it's the same. Still doesn't prove he had anything to do with it.

SPEAKER_10

Doesn't prove he didn't. Together with Fete Sutton and Dave Terry from the sheriff's office, we drove out and interviewed the woman whose car had been stolen. She told us that the man who had taken her car had also been seen in the company of one of her girlfriends, a Miss Helen Farrell, who worked as a cashier at Hollywood Theater. The Farrell girl identified the man as Mike Lapino, and she gave us a snapshot of him. She also gave us his last known address. We had no actual tie-in between the theft of the woman's car and the murder of patrolman Eugene Brewer, but the circumstantial evidence made it at least worth checking out. The only car known to have been in the vicinity the morning of the murder was the car the truck driver, Nat Wolf, had reported. The same Megan model car had been stolen the night before the killing. The general descriptions of the man from two different people tallied closely. We figured before we'd pass this lead by, we'd check it out all the way. 4 p.m. Wednesday. We met with Inspector Bowers at the sheriff's office. We checked this in the Fainer's apartment. Found a shirt and a pair of fans. Black paint on both of them. I censor that truck driving that load to identify this picture here. You find anything else in your punk? Well, this address book. There's no local places in it. They're all Las Vegas Nevada addresses. That's it, huh? Yeah. What'd you get from the Record Bureau on the guy? The I Bureau folded the package on him. There's mama seat. Thank you. Mike Clafino. Spent some time at San Quentin. Armed robbery, grand theft oil. That's all. Pretty good record. I was still not positive he had anything to do with uh brewer killing what he had the training for. Yeah? Send him right in. Matt Wolfe. Come in, Mr. Wolfe. Thank you. Right about his favorite. Yeah. And a photograph we'd like you to look at, Mr. Wolf. You bet. Yeah. That's the man. Good truck. Sure. No mistake. Hey, uh, why do you suppose he was painting that car at four o'clock in the morning? Maybe that's what that patrolman wanted to know. We waited for an answer on the APB. Two days passed. Saturday, June 9th. We received a phone call from the Las Vegas-Nevada Police Department. The stolen black sedan had been found in the downtown area of Las Vegas. We requested them to put a stakeout on the sedan and asked them not to disturb either the car or its content. Together with Fete Sutton from the Sheriff's Office, Mart Fenson from Highway Patrol, and Ray Finker of our Crime Lab, we flew to Las Vegas. Finker checked the stolen car. Embedded in the rear seat were two spent bullets. There were also bloodstains overseated on the floor of the car. Finker flew back to Los Angeles where the evidence was analyzed. The bullets found in the car were fired from the same gun as the bullets found in the body of the dead patrolman. Fingerprints lifted from the stolen car matched those of Mike Lafina. Saturday afternoon, we check in with Chief Harry Miller, Las Vegas Police Department. That's most of it, yeah. Since we staked out that black sedan, I've had the town covered for Lapino. No one saw him abandon that car, huh? No one we know of, no. Had good cooperation from the newspapers.

SPEAKER_08

Story's been on page one since the thing broke. Anything come of those names we got from Lapino's address book, the ones we phoned to you? Let's see. I got the list right here.

SPEAKER_10

Yeah, here we are. These are the ones my men have checked out already. George Connolly, nothing there. Harry Carlson, he and his wife have been checked out, nothing there. William Spencer, nothing at his place. We've got them all staked up. At least two to go, huh? That's right. We're checking the last two now. Nothing from the railroad stations, the airline? They've been covered ever since we got your phone call. I could be wrong, but I think your man's still here in town. Any reports on him? A couple of wild ones, nothing definite. Checked them out. Had one this morning from a dealer at one of the clubs downtown. About 10:30 this morning, he saw Lufino playing the two-bit slot machine. We showed him his mug shot. He swears it's the guy. Well, all we can do now is sweat it out, huh? My men have covered everything. I don't know what else we can do. Skew this. Chief Miller. Yeah? You sure, Ted? No, don't try to handle alone. Keep the place covered the best you can. We'll be right out. They found him. Two Las Vegas detectives named Billings and Vance answered a phone tip from a groceryman in the east end of town. He said a man had been buying groceries from him for the past two days and lived in the apartment house above the store. The two detectives showed the groceryman Lapino's mugshot. He gave a positive identification. They then checked with the apartment house manager. After looking at the mugshot, he identified Lafino as the tenant in apartment 10B. Detectives Billings and Vance staked out the place until our arrival with enough men to cover the area.

SPEAKER_06

Vance? Yeah, Chief. What a story. Well, he's in there. He hasn't been out all day. Apartment 10B. We'll take the front, Chief. Manager thinks Lafino has a gun. Maid was cleaning the apartment, found some loose slugs in the dresser drawer. You still want it, Friday? Sorry, headache.

SPEAKER_10

Joe and I'll go in, Chief. Right. Vance gets the men up on the roof to cover. Right, Chief.

SPEAKER_09

Joe? No.

SPEAKER_10

Ten B's on the second floor.

SPEAKER_09

And let's take the stairs. This way.

SPEAKER_10

Shut right through the door. Yeah, you've got two left. You got another gun. Let's take him. One good kick out of the law.

unknown

Right.

SPEAKER_10

Let's go, Pete.

SPEAKER_11

I got him. What's that gun? What are you?

SPEAKER_10

Let it alone, Lafino.

SPEAKER_11

Thank you.

SPEAKER_10

All right, come on, get up. You all right, Pete? Okay. Bring it to cut. You tell us you killed that patrolman. He got tough. You didn't have to kill him. Spotted the stolen car. What else could I do? Come on, you. He had as much chat as I did. That figure.

SPEAKER_07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_10

Two bullet holes in the back of his head.

SPEAKER_05

The story you have just heard was true. If only the names and locations were changed to protect the innocent.

SPEAKER_01

On October 2nd, trial was held in Superior Court, Department 91, City and County of Los Angeles, State of California. In a moment, the results of that trial.

SPEAKER_10

And now, here is our star, Jack Webb. Thank you. The working detective knows that every member of his local police department is a qualified man. He knows that his fellow peace officers have been carefully selected to perform their specific duties by trial, by examination, and by results. And so with a cigarette, the makers of Fatima carefully select and blend only the finest Turkish and domestic tobaccos to make Fatima extra mild. Best of all long cigarettes. If you're a long cigarette smoker like I am, smoke Fatima. Every pack is extra mild. Fatima.

SPEAKER_01

Michael Everett Lufino was tried and convicted of murder in the first degree. The jury failed to recommend the death penalty. Lufino is now serving his life term in the state penitentiary.

SPEAKER_05

Ladies and gentlemen, the Los Angeles Police Department requests the cooperation of all Dragnet listeners in the following police matter. The Los Angeles Police Department would like every and any information regarding a gun fitting the following description. 38 caliber special, Smith and Wesson Revolver, Gold Seal Model. The gun has a blue steel four-inch ferrule. The serial number is 210088. 210088. If you have any information as to the past or present whereabouts of this gun, contact W.H. Parker, Chief of Police, Los Angeles, California. This is a very important matter. All information furnished will be held in strictest confidence. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01

You have just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases from official files. Technical advice comes from the office of Chief of Police W.H. Parker, Los Angeles Police Department. Coming up, Duffy's Tavern.

SPEAKER_10

Three chimes mean good times on MBC.

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