21st Precinct, Sergeant Waters. How many holop men were there? Where? No, that's not in this precinct. But you give me the information. I'll see that the officers get there. Did they have guns? Yeah. You're in the muscle room at the 21st precinct, the nerve center. A call is coming through. You will follow the action taken pursuant to that call from this minute until the final report is written in the 124 room at the 21st precinct. All right. You just stay right where you are. The officers will be right there. Yeah. Right away. 21st Precinct. It's just lines on a map of the city of New York. Most of the 173,000 people wedged into the nine-tenths of a square mile between Fifth Avenue and the East River wouldn't know if you asked them if they lived or worked in the 21st. Whether they know it or not, the security of their homes, their persons, and their property is the job of the men of the 21st Precinct. The 21st, 160 patrolmen, 11 sergeants, and four lieutenants, of whom I'm the boss. My name is Kennelly, Frank Kennelly. I'm captain in command of the 21st. I was working my day tour. At 1255, plainclothesmen, who are responsible for the enforcement of laws relating to gambling and public morals in the 21st and other precincts of the Sixth Division, raided a policy drop on Upper Madison Avenue and made seven arrests. The suspects were brought to the station house, and at ten minutes to two, they were being booked by Lieutenant Gorman, the desk officer. I was in my office across the master room reading and signing reports which would be delivered by the precinct messenger to division. Sergeant Waters on TF duty was sitting at the switchboard. Excuse me, sergeant. Oh, hello, Mr. Spigio. What can I do for you? Is the captain around? Should I talk to him? He's in his office, yeah, but he's kind of busy. Is there something I can help you with? Well, I'd like to talk to him, sergeant. Well, let me ring a nap. Okay, we'll see. How are things over your way? All right, I guess. Good. 20 miles, precinct, Captain Kennelly. Sergeant Waters on TF, captain. Mr. Joe Spigio that has the upholstery shop there on Second Avenue is out here. He'd like to see if they've got a few minutes. All right, ask him to come in, sergeant. Yes, sir. Okay, Mr. Spigio, right across there. Thanks. Kind of rushed around here today, huh? Yeah, we are. The plainclothesmen raided a policy drop. Oh, over there? Yeah, that's right. All right, now the next one up here. All right, Harold, Logan, 824, 961. Come in. Oh, come in, Mr. Spigio. Thanks. Well, I'm glad to see you. Want to sit down? Oh, yeah, thanks. Now, what can I do for you? Well, it's sort of a ticklish situation, captain. By parents magazine. A perfection, Eric. What's it all about? Well, you know the few little storekeepers over there on my block, all small businesses, the merchants, a couple of garage men, you know. Yeah. Well, we got this little association. It's nothing much. It's just for the neighborhood. You know, we give our Christmas party and if some of the families need helpin' out, that's the thing that if somebody comes and asks us for a charity, we figure it's best to send them to the association rather than each individual merchant take care of themselves. Know what I mean? Yeah, sure. It's not a big deal or anything like that, captain. It's just something that we cooked up to take care of any emergency. And to have a little organization. I mean, we don't even have no meetings, hardly. It's just ten or twelve of the small storekeepers over there. Well, what about it? Well, you know Al Breider, don't you? Yeah, he has that luncheonette there on your block. Yeah, that's right. Well, here's the member. As a matter of fact, he's our treasurer. And? Well, Al is a nice guy, captain. And I don't like to go make him any trouble. He works hard, he runs that luncheonette, he's there day and night. But after all, the dough belongs to the association. Well, what happened? I hate to get anybody in trouble, captain, but if he's gonna be the treasurer, he's got to have some responsibility. Now, he's short over $200 and he can't come up with it. Now, I wouldn't come to you, captain, except that... Well, if a guy takes a job as a treasurer of an association, he's got to have some responsibility. I mean, that's what all the other members think. Well, what did he say when you asked him for it? Well, he admits he's short, he says he'll try to get it. He said he used the money to keep the luncheonette going. Now, he works hard, he runs that luncheonette, he's there day and night with his wife and everything like that. But I mean, after all, it wasn't his dough, captain. And that's what I think, that's what all the other members think. Well, do you want to file a complaint against him, Joe? We just want our $200, captain. Well, the police department isn't a collection agency. Yeah, I know, I know it isn't. We don't want to file no charges against him, but... Well, we can't let him get away with something like that. Well, there's just two things you can do, Joe. You can see a lawyer and try to collect it from him in the civil suit. Oh, no, no. Or you can make a complaint and the detectives and the district attorney will look into it from the point of view of a criminal case. Look, if we get a lawyer, it's going to cost us a fee, captain. And if he's got nothing, we're out to $211 plus the lawyer fee. Isn't there any way we could just, you know, maybe sort of throw a scare into him? Not through the police department. Well, thanks, captain. I'll walk out with you. I appreciate your help, if I've been any help. I only wish I knew what to do. Go ahead. Nothing else you can think of, huh, captain? No. It would be a shame for us to be out there $211. We're not big businessmen, you know. It's just a little association. It's not like the United States Chamber of Commerce. Hello, captain. Matt? What have you got over there? Well, the plainclothes man rated a policy drop-up on Madison Avenue. No. Lieutenant Matt King, Mr. Joe Sprigel. Oh, yeah. Hello. Mr. Sprigel runs the poster shop over there on Second Avenue. Oh, yeah. Lieutenant King is in command of the 21st Detective Squad. Oh, I'm glad to know you. Well, I won't take up any more of your time, captain. I'm sorry. I couldn't help you. That's all right. I guess this is a problem we have to work out ourselves. I think it is. Well, so long. Bye. Glad to have met you, lieutenant. Yeah, same here. I hear that fellow does nice work, captain. You see? Yeah. My wife wants some flip-covers, man. I think I'll send her in there. I hope he uses more judgment in his business than in picking a treasurer for his organization. Now what's the trouble? The treasurer is short $200. Oh. And out of all the members, they picked the one guy who's done time for being a thief. Who's that? You know, Al Brighton that runs the lunch net over there. Oh, yeah. He doesn't know any short time, does he, this Brighton? No, he got finished up last year, I think. Oh, Lieutenant King? Yeah, sergeant. MacKinnon, I'll bring it down from this squad. I want to talk to you. All right. Take it to my office, man. Thanks, captain. I'll take it in here, sergeant. All right. What did they pick? Jump yourself, man. Yes. 21st squad, Lieutenant King. Yeah, Mac? Yeah. Uh-huh. Why was this? What did they want from us? All right. Who's upstairs? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. All right. Who's upstairs? Yeah, okay. Take Novak and Howard and ride on down there. Yeah, all right. Well, that's a big one, captain. How? What? The payroll on a construction job in the 9th precinct. Three boys walked into the office shack and made the paymaster raise up. Got over 26,000. Oh. The borough office called and asked me how many men I could spare. I'm sending Novak, Mack, and Ernie and Howard down to give them a hand. 26,000? That's a good touch. Yes, sir. Especially tax-free. Yeah. I'm sending them to the precinct. I'm sending them to the precinct. I'm sending them to the precinct. I'm sending them to the precinct. I'm sending them to the precinct. Okay. Well, that's a good touch. Yes, sir. Especially tax-free. After the seven suspects arrested in the raid on the policy drop were booked by Lieutenant Gorman, a patrol wagon came to the stationhouse and took them directly to Gambler's Court in the New York County Criminal Court Building at 100 Center Street. Shortly afterwards, the alarm came through on the teletype concerning the payroll holdup in the 9th precinct. It described two armed bandits who entered the construction company shack, held up the a paymaster and two assistants, and escaped with $26,000 in cash. The description of the third man thought to be driving the car which waited on the street was lacking. The payroll, which included more than $1,000 in silver, had been delivered by an armored truck only 30 minutes before the robbery. I signed the blotter to go off the job at 6 p.m. At the subway I bought the evening papers. The story of the robbery was played in big headlines. There had still been no break in the case by the time I came into work at 3.40 the next afternoon to begin my night tour. Lieutenant Gorman was desk officer and Sergeant Waters had PS duty. Hello, Captain. Sergeant, we've got a visitor. I told him to wait in your office. Go ahead and take the call. I'll start the blotter. Yes, sir. 21st facing, Sergeant Waters. Oh, man, let's do it. Okay, 22. Well, who's the visitor, Sergeant? Oh, it's Joe Spigio again. Yeah? He called the first thing this morning. They told him you weren't due in here until about a quarter of four. He asked if he could see you then. They told him, be okay if you wanted to take the chances that you'd be able to. He's been here since about 3.30. I told him I have a seat in your office. Okay, I'll be in there. Yes, sir. 21st facing, Sergeant Waters. Oh, hello, Mr. Spigio. Oh, Captain. I hate to bother you again, Captain. That's all right. What's on your mind? Well, I... Excuse me. 21st facing, Captain Cannelli. Sergeant Waters, RTS, Captain. Paychecks are here. All right, send them into the 124 room. Yes, sir. Well, I'll be in there. I'll be in there. I'll be in there. I'll be in there. I'll be in there. I'll be in there. I'll be in there. I'll be in there. I'll be in there. Send them into the 124 room. Yes, sir. Well, what do you decide to do about Al Brighter, Mr. Spigio? Well, that's what I want to talk to you about. Nothing. Nothing? You were pretty steamed up at him yesterday. Yeah, I know, but he came into my store last night. He said he wanted to see me. He said to come into his luncheonette after I closed up. So I went in there. You know what? He gave me the money. $211. $211. Every cent he was short. Oh, I see. You could have knocked me over with a feather. So I guess we'll just kind of forget about it, huh? Well, it's up to you. But we're making him resign his treasure. That's the least we can do. Here he was all the time complaining to us about how he spent the money in his business, and he didn't have a nickel and all that. And he comes up with $211 all of a sudden. Well, I guess it's a good thing he didn't make a complaint yesterday. Yeah, I guess it is, Captain. But, uh, you know, Captain, don't do a guy any good that's got a little business if he gets a reputation like that. You know what I mean? I mean, I thought I'd be able to come over and just get it straightened out with you. Well, I'm glad you got your money. And so are we. Even if it almost took a truck to carry it home. What do you mean? Well, out of the $211, nearly $60 is a small change. Oh, was it? Yeah, I said, what are you doing, Alex? The idea. He said it was this change he took in over the counter, the change he'd been saving up. Oh, telling you it'll take a long time to get $60 and change in that luncheon. But I don't know. Don't make any difference as long as we got the money. It's a real load off my mind, I'm telling you. I want to thank you again, Captain. Oh, that's all right. Just want to make sure you didn't get me wrong ideas about Alex. A little slow, maybe, but you paid up. I understand. Well, I'll see you around, huh? Yes, I'll see you, Mr. Quid, you know. 21st facing, Sergeant Waters. Would you ring upstairs to the Detectives? Yes, sir. 21st squad, Detective Goldman. This is Captain Kennelly Goldman. Is Lieutenant King around there? Yes, sir, he's here. Hold on a second. Lieutenant King? Captain Kennelly on two. He's coming, Captain. All right. 24th squad, Lieutenant King. Captain Kennelly, Matt. Yes, sir. Did they get a break in that payroll robbery down in the 9th precinct yet? The one yesterday morning? They must not have, Captain. They've still got Novak and McInerney down there working on it. Why? If you've got a minute, Matt, I'll come upstairs and tell you why. You are listening to 21st precinct, a factual account of the way police work in the world's largest city. Lieutenant King about Al Brighter, the owner of a Second Avenue luncheonette who had once been convicted of armed robbery. We agreed that the fact that he had suddenly paid off a rather large debt, a great part of it in small change, was suspicious but by no means conclusive. There was sufficient reason, however, to check him out. Lieutenant King immediately assigned Detective Goldman to make a quiet inquiry into his recent activity. The Bureau of Criminal Identification was telephoned and requested to send a photograph of Brighter made at the time of his previous arrest to Lieutenant King. Inasmuch as I had on occasion stopped into the luncheonette since it was opened by Al Brighter, I decided to do it again. So after I turned out the platoon at four and completed some paperwork, I went on patrol of the precinct. During the course of that patrol, I instructed my operator, Patrolman Farrell, to drive down Second Avenue and stop up the block from Al Brighter's luncheonette. I got out of the car and walked back past several small stores until I reached Al's place. Through the window I could see there wasn't a customer in the store, just Al standing behind the small counter. Captain? Hello, Al. Oh, sit down. Make yourself at home. Oh, thanks. It's been a long time since I've seen you around here, Captain. Yeah, well, I was down the block. I thought I'd drop in and see how you're doing. What do you have? Want to see a menu? No, no, I'll just make you a cup of coffee. Oh, yeah. Sure. So what's new with the police department? Oh, what's new around here? You know, same old stuff. How's business then? Any better? Yeah, can't you notice the improvement? All the customers? Ah, too bad. I thought this was a pretty good spot for a luncheonette. I thought you'd do swell here when you opened up. Oh, it should be a good spot. Maybe it still will be if I can stick it out long enough. Things are that rough, huh? Well, since this joint isn't paying its way, I got this little sideline that helps out, so. Oh, what's that? Well, I pack box lunches, take them around, sell them to guys on jobs, you know. Get out early in the morning selling the box lunch? Uh-huh. What kind of guys? You know, construction jobs, factories, places like that. Sounds like a good idea. If it wasn't for that deal, I'd really be behind the eight ball. Every nickel I make off the box lunches, I'd pour into here. Too bad. Want some more cream? No. No, this will do. Things are looking up a little bit, Captain. Yeah, we hope so. At least I'm busy, at least between the box lunches and the luncheonette working day and night. I keep out of trouble. Well, thank goodness for that. Well, them days are over, Captain. You get older, you get some sense. I'm glad to hear it. When I was a kid, I was in one jam after another. A big, bold kid, that was me. Then they hit me between the eyes with that same thing deal. Yeah, I'm through with that kind of stuff. Don't pay. Well, that's good to hear. You know, somebody told me a couple of weeks ago you were having a hard time meeting your bills. I said you might have to close the place. Yeah, who was that? Oh, I don't remember. Somebody around here. No, there's nothing to that. I don't think so. Well, I'm glad. I like to see somebody make a success out of a business. Well, it's not exactly a success as yet, but it will be. I get a pretty big crowd for lunch. I get them a good sandwich here. Can't beat it anyplace in the neighborhood. How about a hamburger? I'll show you. No, no, no thanks. I had a late lunch. Well, stop around sometime, Captain, when you're hungry. What do you do with those box lunches? Just sell them to places around here? Yeah, I sell them all around. Uh-huh. Well, how far do you go? Well, I don't mess around much on the west side. I've got a few steady customers downtown, got a few uptown. Most of them are around here. Factories, mostly, huh? Yeah, factories. Like I said, construction jobs. You know, these construction workers are making so much money these days, they're getting too high class to carry their lunch from home on the subway. Decently stepped in. I can imagine. But I've got plans, Captain. I figured on getting some more help in here. Maybe a cook and a waitress, and I can put in a little more time developing the box lunch business. If I can expand that a little bit and keep the luncheonette going, I'll be doing all right. All that takes money. I'll manage, Captain. I talked to Al Brighter until I finished my coffee. When I left, I got into the car and I instructed Patrolman Farrell to return to the station house. Lieutenant King and his detectives had already begun the investigation that might link Al Brighter to the payroll robbery. I told him about my conversation. I went off the job at six, and when I returned at 3.30 the following day for my night tour, there was a message that Lieutenant King wanted to see me. I went upstairs to the 21st squad. I saw Lieutenant King sitting in his office with Detective Goldman. I walked over. Al Brighter. Al Brighter. You're late, Captain. Goldman came up with a few things. Would you shut the door? Yeah, sure. Hello, Captain. Goldman. Go ahead, Dan. Well, there's a couple of interesting things. Most interesting, Al seems to have gotten his hands on a good deal of cash in the last couple of days. In addition to the $211? Yes, sir. He owed a pretty big meat bill to a butcher around the corner from him there. The meat for the luncheonette. He sure got prosperous suddenly. Oh, when I was in there he told me that things were pretty rough. But he did say that he had prospects that they'd get better. The prospects seem to have come about pretty fast, Captain. Well, Captain, that's not the best of it. Yeah, tell the Captain about the other Goldman. This is a clincher to me, Captain. That box lunch business he has. Yeah? Well, from the description I get, he's been stopping down at that construction job where the robbery was every morning with six or seven orders. Now he's got one customer in the office there, one of the assistant payroll clerks. Oh? He's had plenty of opportunity to look it over and know exactly what goes on in there. Well, but he doesn't answer the physical description of any of the bandits. No, but he could have been driving the car. Yeah, he could have. Captain, I'd say he did. Yeah, I guess you're right. Good work, Goldman. Oh, thanks. You too, Captain. Well, what are you going to do about it? You going to pick him up? I'll have to call down to the commander of the 9th squad, Sir Kate. Yeah, oh, do you have any idea who he's been running with, Dan? Well, that's pretty hard to say, Captain. I haven't had much time to check, but I found out his wife's brother has a record as long as your arm. Oh, who's that? A fellow named George Van Peller, one of the neighbors where Al Liv told me about the brother-in-law. He said Al and his brother-in-law are always together. I called down to BCI and they checked out the name. Guy got five or six arrests and two convictions for armed robbery. Goes all the way back to when he was a kid, 17. Oh, from the way it looks right up to today. Lieutenant King, after seeing that Al Breider was put under surveillance, went downtown to the 9th squad to inform the detective commander who had jurisdiction over the case of the information that had been obtained. The detectives of the 9th squad joined those of the 21st in the plant on both the luncheonette and Al Breider's house. Pictures of Al Breider and his brother-in-law, George Van Peller, were obtained from the Bureau of Criminal Identification. And later that evening, Detective Goldman and Detective Michael Donahue of the 9th squad drove out to a small residence in Regal Park, Queens, where one of the payroll clerks, a Mrs. Mickelton, resided. Someone coming? Yes, what is it? Mrs. Mickelton? Who is it? We're police officers, Detective Goldman and Detective Donahue. Oh, all right. Detective who? I'm Detective Goldman of the 21st squad and this is Detective Donahue of the 9th squad. Come in. Thank you. Thank you. I've been trying to fry some potatoes in there for an hour. First my daughter gets me on the phone and then the next old woman comes in. I'll never get those potatoes fried. I'm sorry. That's all right. No reflection on you. Just that I work all day and have to come home and try to fix something or two. It's going to be a terrible rush. Well, I hope we don't have to keep you too long, Mrs. Mickelton. Oh, my potatoes. Come in the kitchen, please. My husband likes them just so. Not too done and not too undone. You know how men are, don't you? Yes, we know how they are. You see? Just let me take them off the fire. Now, now what can I do for you? Must be something about the robbery. If it wasn't something about the robbery, you wouldn't be here. Yes, it's something about the robbery. You caught those men. I bet you caught them. No, not yet, Mrs. Mickelton. Oh, that's a shame. Then what is it? Well, you said you'd recognize them if you saw them again. Oh, yes, I'd recognize them. And two, that is, I'd recognize the third one also except he was sitting in the car and I didn't see him. I'd recognize anybody. I've got a very good memory. A very good memory, Detective... Donahue. Detective Donahue. I've got a couple of pictures here, Mrs. Mickelton. Pictures? Yes, photographs. Now, would you look through them and see if you can recognize any of these? See if any of them look familiar. Well, I'll try. That's all I can do is try. That's him. That's the one I have a gun on me. This one. Ah, fine. That's him. I can see him standing there before me with a gun pointed right at me, scooping up the money. He just scooped it up. Do you know about the others? Have you got the pictures on them too? No, no, not yet. Do you know where they are? No, but we'll find them and thank you very much, Mrs. Mickelton. Would you like to stay to dinner? We're having more than five potatoes. I've got a roast in the oven. Well, thanks for the invitation, but we've got a lot of work to do. Oh, yes. You've got to go out and arrest this seller and fingerprint him and question him and all that. No, not yet. First, we've got to find him. When these officers returned with the information that one of the victims had identified the brother-in-law of Al Breiter as one of the bandits, Lieutenant King and the commander of the 9th Squad prepared to make the arrest. Because it had been my suggestion that led to the correct information, I was asked if I wished to participate in the arrest. I agreed to, and at 10.35 that night we drove over to the luncheonette on Second Avenue. When we walked up to the door, there were two customers sitting at the counter. Al was behind the counter. Lieutenant King and I entered with Detectives Goldman and Donahue right behind us. Hello, Captain. Have a seat. Al, this is Lieutenant King, commander of 21st Detective Squad. Hiya. Hello, Al. I see you've got a few customers. Yeah, I told you. Business was picking up. Can we talk to him? Yeah, sure. What's on your mind? How about going in the kitchen? Yeah, sure, if you want. Oh, what's the trouble? Nobody out there, is there? No, there's nobody there. I didn't get that chef I was telling you about. I didn't hire him yet. Okay, let's go in. Sure, this way. Come on. If you fellas want anything, just holler, I'll be in the kitchen. Yeah. Yeah. Well, what can I do for you, gentlemen? You've been passing out a lot of money lately, Al. What do you mean? You've been paying up a lot of old debt. You've been straightening up on bills. Well, I've got to. I wouldn't be able to stay in business. Where'd you get the money? I make it. I've got that luncheonette here and the box lunch route. I make it. Don't make that much. You can pay up all those bills so suddenly. Well, what bills? I don't know what you're talking about. You know, Al, let's not waste any time. I don't know what you're talking about. How'd you get all that money? Well, to tell you the truth, sir. That's what we want, the truth. I went into a crap game the other night. What crap game? It was a crap game with the boys. Just the boys? Is George Van Teller one of those boys? Well, yeah. Yeah, he's one of them. He was in the game. What is he now? I don't know. I haven't seen him in a couple of days. I think he went down to Philly. That's where I think he went. Down to Philly so he could get out of town until the heat blows over from that construction payroll job. Isn't that right, Al? I don't know what you're talking about. You know, Al, want to tell us about it? I don't know. I don't know what you're driving at. You fingered the job and drove the car. That's where you got the money, isn't that right? No, it's not right. You've got no right to come up here and accuse me of anything like that. That's where you got the money, isn't it? I went into a crap game. I told you that. Where's the rest of the money? You must have got three or four thousand or maybe five out of it. You guys are talking crazy. Al, I'm bringing four or five of my men down here. We're going over this place from top to bottom. Then we're going out and go over your house. We'll find it. Yeah, I guess you will. Okay, fellas, you got it right. Where's the rest of the money? To my house. I'll take you to it. The same. This thing had me in fine shape. I paid off everybody. I was just getting straightened out. Straightened out beautiful. Well, Al, you come on with us. We'll straighten you out some more. 21st Precinct, Sergeant Waters. Yeah, CB. No, the call was for a car to go to 71st and 1st to meet the officer and bring in a prisoner. He caught a boy carrying a load of revolvers. Yeah, that's right. 681 will be okay. And so it goes. Around the clock, through the week, every day, every year. A police precinct in the city of New York is a flesh and blood merry-go-round. Anyone can catch the brass ring. Anyone can catch the brass ring. Or the brass ring can catch anyone. 21st Precinct, a factual account of the way police work in the world's largest city is presented with the official cooperation of the Patrolman's Benevolent Association, an organization of more than 20,000 members of the police department, city of New York. Everett's flown on the role of Captain Cannelli, Ken Lynch as Lieutenant King. Features in tonight's cast were Gladys Thornton, Harold Stone, Mandel Kramer, Wendell Holmes, Bill Smith, and Don McLaughlin. Written and directed by Stanley Niss. Produced for CBS Radio by John Ives. Art Hanna speaking.
