Original subtitles

This is the city, Los Angeles, California.

For the taxes they pay,

Angelinos demand certain services.

They want their streets kept clean.

They want a fire department that's ready for any emergency,

and they want to know their security is being guarded

by a police department dedicated to their protection.

In any good-sized group of men,

you're liable to find a bad one once in a while,

but when that one happens to be a policeman,

it reflects on every man in the department, including me.

I carry a badge.

It was Tuesday, August 29th.

It was hot in Los Angeles.

We were working the day watch out of Robbery Division.

The boss is Captain Howe.

My partner's Bill Gannon.

My name's Friday.

Bill and I reported in for work.

I was about to become involved

in a phase of police work few officers ever do.

The story you are about to see is true.

The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Officer by the name of Phil Waverly

works a radio unit out of Central.

- Yes, sir? - He's being brought up

- before a Board of Rights. - Is that so?

You know anything about Trial Board procedure?

No, sir, not very much.

- Better bone up. - Why's that?

He wants you to defend him.

Boy, look at these reports, Joe.

They're piling up pretty good.

Yeah, well, I'm afraid I'm not gonna be much help.

- How come? - I've been asked

to defend somebody at a Trial Board.

Who's in trouble?

Some uniform guy, name of Phil Waverly.

Waverly, I don't think I know him.

Neither do I.

Well, he's got the right to pick anybody he wants.

It's kind of a compliment, isn't it?

I can live without it. I've got no eyes to play lawyer.

Somebody's gotta defend him.

- Why pick me? - Why not?

I'd make a lousy lawyer. I'm prejudiced.

If the guy's guilty,

I'll help 'em throw the book at him.

Maybe that's why he picked you.

- Huh? - He knows if he's clean,

you'll work just as hard to save his hide.

11:29 a.m. I called Internal Affairs

and made an appointment with Lieutenant Roger Mayers,

the Department Advocate.

He would be representing the case

against Officer Philip Waverly.

Three charges against him, Joe:

improper association with a known bookmaker,

accepting a bribe,

and failure to identify himself as a police officer

when stopped by officers

conducting an official investigation.

What have you got on him?

Eyeball witnesses that saw them together

a couple of times,

and saw the money being passed,

and a statement from the guy who bribed him.

Give me a rundown, will you, Lieutenant?

Vice had the bookie, name's Clover,

staked out for nearly two weeks.

During that time, he and Waverly

were seen having dinner together twice.

Vice boys didn't know who Waverly was at the time.

When they busted Clover, they questioned Waverly.

He gave his name, but never mentioned he was a police officer.

How'd you make him? By accident.

It was the first good look the arresting officers got of him.

They thought he looked familiar,

ran his name through personnel files

and found out he was a cop.

That made it our business.

The vice boys actually saw

Waverly take that money, did they?

Yeah. The clincher is the bookie, Clover.

He spilled it, said he was lending Waverly some money.

Here's all the paperwork on him.

You're pretty sure he's guilty?

We wouldn't be asking for a Board, if we weren't.

Yeah.

I'm not the DA, Joe. I'm just a cop, like you.

There's only one thing I'd like.

What's that? You prove I'm wrong.

3:33 p.m., Tuesday, August 29th.

Pending the hearing,

Officer Waverly had been temporarily relieved of duty.

I got his home address and drove over to talk to him.

Waverly lived in a new apartment development

in the Los Feliz District.

The place appeared neat and clean,

but it could've used furniture.

I'm buying the furniture on time.

I guess the place doesn't look like much yet.

How long you lived here?

Since I made the job, a little over a year.

What, are you sending money home?

How do you mean?

You earn enough to have the place

pretty well furnished by now, don't you?

I want to buy good stuff,

and I had some bills I thought I'd better pay off.

Uh-huh.

You're just like all the rest of them, aren't you?

What do you mean by that, Waverly?

You hardly walk in the door and say hello,

and you're fish-eyeing me like you don't believe me.

Well, now, you're a little over-sensitive, aren't you?

All right if we sit down and get started?

You already have.

I'll let that pass, Waverly.

You know what really gripes me?

Suppose you tell me.

I've got a near perfect record,

and the Department takes the word

of a two-bit bookie over mine.

All right, sit down, Waverly, and let's talk.

Now, let's you and me get one thing entirely straight, Friday.

I am not guilty!

Not one of those charges is true.

I should've played it smart

and got me an attorney right off.

If it wasn't for department procedure,

that's exactly what I'd have done!

Is that clear?

Let me straighten you out on a few things, Waverly.

I never laid eyes on you before I walked in that door.

You weren't even a badge number to me,

and you're not much more now.

You were told by IAD

you could have legal representation right off,

if you wanted it,

but instead you picked up a copy of the Department roster,

ran your finger down as far as the F's,

and you quit. I didn't ask for this mess,

and I'd just as soon drop it right now.

You had 5,000 other men you could've picked,

but for some reason, known only to you,

you latched onto me.

I'm here to try to get to the bottom of this thing,

and we're gonna do it my way.

You understand? If you're telling the truth,

I'll sweat it all the way with you

and try and get you cleared,

but if you think you're gonna do any table pounding

to convince me you're leveling, you're dead wrong!

Now, you just settle back in that chair

and give it to me straight, right from the beginning.

Not one of those charges is true, I'm telling you.

No? Well, when you were picked up with this bookie, Clover,

why didn't you identify yourself as a police officer?

I guess I was afraid of what would happen,

if they found out I was with a bookmaker.

I thought you said you didn't know he was a bookie.

Well, I didn't, not till ten minutes before.

How about the money he's supposed to have given you?

That's not true! I never took a bribe!

All right, from the beginning.

About three weeks ago, I was working in Elcar,

and I spotted Ted in the street.

We were in the same outfit in Vietnam.

As a matter of fact, we were pretty close.

- Yeah? - Well, I hadn't seen him,

since we got out.

There wasn't much time to talk,

so I invited him over to my place

for a drink the next day, and he came.

- Go on. - Well, it was kind of like old home week.

We talked about the outfit, guys we knew,

that type of thing.

You ask him what he was doing?

Sure, but he sloughed it off,

said he wasn't doing anything right now,

but he wasn't hurtin', had a little money saved up.

Go ahead.

That's about it. He had a date.

We had one drink, swapped phone numbers,

and I figured that was the end of it.

- Yeah? - Three or four days later,

he called and said, "Let's have dinner."

And you did.

No reason not to. We got to talking,

and he asked me how much money I made as a cop.

When I told him, he laughed,

said he always thought I was smarter than that.

Did you pick up on it?

I thought he was kidding, so I went along with it,

said anytime he figured out a way

I could make money without working, to let me know.

What'd he say to that?

He said he just might do that.

Go ahead.

Well, he called me about a week later,

and we had dinner again.

And that was the last time you saw him?

Yeah, that was when he made his pitch, the bribe.

How'd he go about it?

First, he talked about how close we used to be.

Then he reminded me of what I said

about making money without working.

Said if I really meant it, I could do him a big favor

and make a good-sized bundle for myself at the same time.

- Yeah. - I asked him how.

He told me he was making book,

that he'd already been busted once.

He said lately he thought the vice boys

had been keeping an eye on him.

Well, what'd he think you could do for him?

He said he was sure I must know somebody working vice.

If I could keep the heat off him,

I could make some pretty good loot.

You go along with the idea?

Look, I told you I never took a bribe!

I know what you told me. What did you tell Clover?

I told him I couldn't help him,

that even if I could, I wouldn't.

What'd he say to that?

He got mad, but he gets mad in a funny way.

No blow up, no yelling.

He just looked at me for a minute,

then called the waiter, paid the check, and took off.

What happened then?

Maybe I shouldn't have, but I ran after him.

I wanted him to know why I said it.

I mean, he was right. We were good friends once.

But he wouldn't listen to me.

That's the whole story.

- All right. - Sergeant?

- Yeah? - I know I'm edgy,

and maybe I was a little salty when you first walked in,

but this thing's ripping my guts out.

I'm being hung out to dry, and by a guy

I once trusted as a friend.

But I want to tell you something, Sergeant.

What's that?

I didn't just pick you to defend me by accident.

I want you to know, it wasn't like you said.

- Yeah. - The guys in the field

say you've got a reputation.

They say you're one guy who'll always back a guy

- to the limit, if he's right. - Maybe.

They say you're one of the best.

I don't know about that, but one thing's sure, isn't it?

What's that?

You've got yourself a king-sized mess here, boy.

Yeah, I know that for sure.

You don't need me, pal. You need Clarence Darrow.

Wednesday, August 30th, I called Lieutenant Mayers

and told him that Officer Phil Waverly and I

were ready to pick a Board.

10:47 a.m.

Joe, Waverly, this is Miss Larsen.

All right, let's get on with it.

You ever been through this before?

No, sir, I haven't.

All right, here's how it works.

We have a complete roster here of all officers,

from Captains up.

Everybody's here, except the Chief.

The City Charter exempts him from serving as a Board Member.

Now, I've removed all the tags of anyone

who will be on vacation during the hearing.

The rest are available to serve.

Now, first, we'll pull all the tags off

and put them in this box.

You'll pick six names out of the box.

From those six, you'll select any three,

and those three will sit as Board Members.

- Got it? - Yes, sir, I think so.

Miss Larsen will give you a copy of the names.

You and Friday can talk it over and let me know who you pick.

Yes, sir.

You know most of the brass, Sergeant.

I don't know any of them.

Don't let it worry you. What do you mean?

By the time this is over, you'll get to know 'em.

Thursday, August 31st. I asked Captain Howe

if I could use Bill Gannon to help in the investigation

concerning Phil Waverly.

He agreed to assign him to the case

until the hearing was over.

9:17 a.m. We drove to Waverly's apartment.

We wound up with two damaging pieces of evidence

we couldn't get around:

Clover's statement that he'd bribed Phil

and the eyewitness evidence of the two vice officers

who saw the money being passed.

I'll say it again!

I never took a bribe, and that's the truth!

Why would the vice boys lie?

I don't know, but I'm telling the truth!

One thing's sure.

- What's that? - Somebody's lying.

Friday, September 1st.

We were notified that Chief of Police, Tom Redden,

had set Waverly's hearing for September the 8th.

It didn't leave much time.

We decided to talk to the bookie, Ted Clover.

1:10 p.m. Clover lived

in one of the new high rise apartment buildings

going up in West Hollywood.

At the rentals they were getting,

it looked like he was running a profitable book.

- Yeah? - Ted Clover?

- Yeah. - Police officers.

This is Bill Gannon.

My name's Friday. We'd like to talk to you.

- What about? - Phil Waverly.

- You got a warrant? - All we want's conversation.

Come on in.

You guys like bullfights?

I never bothered to rate 'em.

That's because you don't know anything about 'em.

Now, take that Hemmingway cat.

He knew what it was all about.

Most Americans think of Veronica as the name of an actress.

- Is that so? - Yeah, I'm an aficionado.

Anything you want to know about bullfights,

I've got the answer.

I'm sure, but that isn't what we came to talk about.

You know what this is? No, of course, you don't.

It's a bull's ear.

Ortega himself gave this to me...

One of the greatest matadors in the business,

maybe the greatest.

Let's talk about Phil Waverly.

What's to talk?

I told those investigators everything I know.

You copped out on the bookmaking charge, didn't you?

Why not? They take me in, I plead guilty, pay my fine.

I'm on the street in an hour, no sweat.

It's not gonna be that easy for Waverly.

That fink. We used to be buddies, you know that?

- He told us. - He did?

- That's right. - Sure.

And then it came time to put his money where his mouth is.

You mean, when he said he couldn't keep the heat off of you?

Don't play games with me, chum.

Perry Mason you're not. You know my story.

You stick to that, fella, and there's a good chance

Phil's not only gonna be kicked off the job,

he's gonna go to prison.

Now, taking a bribe is a criminal offense.

Did you know that? How about that?

You ought to be glad to get rid of him.

- Should we? - Sure!

I'll tell you, I'm a civic-minded citizen.

I hate to see cops hustling bribes.

What's the real reason you're putting it to him?

Because you think he wouldn't go to bat for you

- with the vice boys? - My friend Phil?

You must be talking about the wrong guy.

He'd do anything for a friend.

Ask him. He'll tell ya, just like he told me.

He didn't blow the whistle on you, and you know it.

He didn't even know you were making book

until the night you were busted.

Oh, come on, Friday! You must've read my statement.

Phil knew what I was doing all right.

That's not what he says.

- He's lying. - Why would he lie?

Well, you know how it is.

A guy gets in a bind, he's gonna scramble.

You're really out to shoot him down, aren't you?

Well, you want the truth, don't you?

Yeah, but we're sure not gonna get it here, fella.

Oh, hey, Friday.

About getting my buddy kicked off the force?

Maybe I did old Phil a favor.

How do you figure?

Why would anybody want to be a cop?

Oh, I don't know.

Why would anybody want a dead bull's ear?

Friday, September 8th. The Board of Rights hearing

for Officer Phil Waverly started at 9:30 a.m.

The Board consisted of Deputy Chief Simon,

Senior Officer and Chairman of the Board;

Inspector McAllister, Patrol Bureau;

Captain Mack, Burglary-Auto Theft.

Mayer's Secretary, Eva Larsen, was sworn in,

and Waverly was advised of his rights.

Lieutenant Mayers called a roll of witnesses,

and the Chairman administered the oath.

I do.

Please be seated.

Officer Waverly, you are charged with three counts in a complaint,

which I will now read to you,

and ask you to plead guilty or not guilty on each count.

Count 1: "On two occasions,

during a period from August 9 to August 18, 1967,

in the Los Angeles area, while off duty,

you improperly associated yourself with Ted Clover,

a known bookmaker."

How do you plead on this?

Not guilty, sir.

Count 2: "On July 30, 1967,

you, while in the company of Ted Clover,

accepted from him a bribe,

for which you promised to attempt to prevent officers,

working Central Vice, from interfering

with Ted Clover's bookmaking activities."

How do you plead?

Not guilty.

Count 3:

"On August 18, 1967, at 432 West Broadway,

while off duty, when stopped and questioned

by officers of this department,

who were conducting an official investigation,

you failed and neglected to identify yourself

as a police officer."

How do you plead?

Guilty, sir.

10:36 a.m.

Mayers' first witnesses were the vice officers

who had made the arrest, Sergeants Ward and Vaughn.

They both told exactly the same story.

They'd seen Waverly with Ted Clover twice.

They saw Clover give Waverly some money.

Their testimony was deadly.

2:46 p.m. Ted Clover was the first witness,

when the hearing reconvened after lunch.

He was impressive.

Mr. Clover, why would you tell him you were a bookmaker?

You knew he was a police officer.

Well, that's the reason I did it.

Phil and I are old friends.

I figured he'd find out eventually,

so I thought I might as well level with him right off.

That way, he could make up his own mind

about me continuing as a friend of his.

And that's when he said he could help you

with the vice officers?

If I loaned him some money, yes, sir.

That's what he said, "If I loaned him some money."

Did you lend him the money?

Yes, sir, $50 worth.

Let's get that straight, Mr. Clover.

You paid Officer Waverly... I'm sorry,

you loaned Officer Waverly $50, in return for his promise

to help keep the vice officers away from you.

That is right.

I have no further questions.

Cross.

Mr. Clover, you're quite positive

about the amount of this loan, as you call it.

No chance it could've been more than $50 or less?

No chance, got it all down in my account book.

Oh, you mean, you have this transaction in writing?

Oh, I like to keep track of where my money goes.

I wonder if I could see your account book, Mr. Clover.

I don't think so. It's personal property.

Mr. Chairman, the witness claims to have written proof

of an act for which Officer Waverly

may be dismissed from his job.

Now, if that's true,

the defense has every right to see that proof.

We agree, Sergeant.

Mr. Clover, will you give the book you spoke about

to Sergeant Friday?

No chance. It belongs to me,

and it's got nothing to do with this case.

And besides, it won't do you or Waverly any good.

Mr. Clover, this Board is interested

in one thing and one thing only: the truth.

As long as there's a chance that book will help us

get that truth, you're directed to produce it.

It's in code.

I told you it wouldn't do any good.

I don't know what you expect to gain

by these tactics, Mr. Clover,

but this Board insists on your cooperation.

You made me give him the book,

but you can't make me remember how the code works.

I just forgot.

Sergeant Friday, if the Board will agree to recess now,

maybe you and Lieutenant Mayers can assist Mr. Clover

by breaking his code. Yes, sir.

Advise the Board when you're ready to resume.

Yes, sir. We'd like an hour.

This hearing is recessed and will reconvene in one hour.

We returned to Lieutenant Mayer's office.

We called in an expert, Sergeant Hugh Binyon

of the Administrative Vice Division,

a specialist in bookmakers and their operations.

Looks familiar. I'd guess it's some kind

of number-letter transposition code.

That's what I figured.

You just write down the alphabet from A to Z,

then number each letter from 1 to 26.

When you want to write down a number,

you change it to the corresponding letter

and change the letters you want to put in code into numbers.

Simple.

This marker here shows the action Clover was taking.

The bets seem to be written in clear.

For the rest of it, we switch the numbers to letters

and letters to numbers,

and that should give us the names of his clients,

the horses, tracks, and races.

That KN at the top could mean 11/14 or November 14th.

What do you mean by could?

Well, if Clover was being cute,

he might have added or subtracted

a key number in transposing.

For example, say he was using a key of some kind,

then the letter A would be 1, plus his key number.

Well, how do we work that out, Hugh?

Trial and error. I've got an idea, though.

You say Clover claims he gave Waverly 50 bucks.

That's right.

Now let's see if we can find that entry

and work backwards, right?

Here's something might be on his weekly O sheet.

- This is kind of interesting. - What's that?

Found an entry, 50 bucks even, only one in here.

Thing is, Clover's taken it off his net take,

- instead of his gross. - What's that mean?

Don't know, but if it's juice or bribe,

it seems more likely he'd take it off his gross, wouldn't he?

Could be some kind of personal item.

What kind of personal item?

Look here, right after this $50 entry,

two initials, PW.

Phil Waverly.

While Binyon and Mayers continued working on the code in Clover's book,

Bill and I met with Waverly in an interrogation room

on the third floor.

Well, have you got any explanation

for that $50 item in Clover's book?

How could I?

Now, look, Waverly, don't ask us how we know.

Just write it down as a hunch.

You sometimes get 'em in this racket.

I've got one now that says you're holding back.

You're not telling us everything you know about this.

Look, I don't know anything about his book

or his lousy code.

That's not what we're asking you!

We're asking you if a $50 personal item in that book

means anything to you, does it?

Look, it wasn't a bribe. I swear to you.

He was just paying back what he owed me.

He owed you $50?

Come on, spit it out!

The night we were discharged from the service,

we had a crap game in the barracks.

I won a couple of hundred bucks.

Ted was tapped out,

so I loaned him 50 to get home.

I forgot all about it till just the other night,

- when he paid it back. - Why didn't you tell us this before?

- Would you have believed me? - You didn't give us a chance.

I'm telling you the truth now, whether you believe it or not!

So help me, I'm telling you the truth!

- You know something, Waverly? - Yeah?

You're beginning to sound like a broken record.

4:05 p.m. The hearing reconvened.

Ted Clover was recalled for cross examination.

I'd like to remind you, you're still under oath.

Sergeant Friday.

Now, Mr. Clover, I'm gonna ask you once more

if you'll tell us how the code in this notebook reads.

I still don't remember.

But you do remember that you bribed Officer Waverly.

Don't put words in my mouth.

I said I loaned him $50. Isn't that what I said?

I know what you said, but Officer Waverly

is being charged with accepting a bribe.

That's his problem.

All right.

Will you identify this notebook

as the same one you gave me an hour ago?

It's mine.

Will you tell us if anything in it has been changed,

any erasures, additions, deletions?

Looks all right.

Bill.

Gentlemen, with the assistance of Sergeant Binyon of Ad Vice,

Mr. Clover's code is now readable.

It seems that Clover gave

each letter of the alphabet a number,

then he added 3 as a key number.

I call your attention to the blackboard.

You will see a single entry copied from his betting marker

for August 11th this year.

Officer Gannon will indicate the various points.

By decoding, we find that someone named Pat

made a $10 bet to win on horse number 4

in the third race at Aqueduct on August 11th.

Later, in Mr. Clover's notes, we find that Pat, whoever he is,

was paid off on this particular bet.

I have here the racing results for August 11th.

It shows Red Fox, the horse in post position number 4,

won the third race at Aqueduct on that day.

Now, am I right so far, Mr. Clover?

It's your blackboard.

And it's your code, Clover, and you're lying

when you say you bribed Officer Waverly.

Can you prove the witness is lying, Sergeant Friday?

Yes, sir, I think I can.

Now, on this page is an entry

involving Officer Waverly and $50.

That's what I said. I gave him $50!

No, not exactly.

The actual text of the entry is PW 50 21-19-7/15-17.

Now, this particular entry translates as follows.

PW 50 RPD/LN, or Phil Waverly, $50 repaid loan.

Now, I submit that there was no bribe involved here,

but rather repayment of money owed to Officer Waverly,

money lost in a dice game by this witness, Ted Clover,

while he was in service with the accused, Phil Waverly.

Isn't that correct, Mr. Clover?

Mr. Clover, is that correct?

I never should've given you that book.

You had no right.

Is this Board to assume, from your last statement,

that Sergeant Friday's analysis is correct?

Answer the question, Mr. Clover.

All right, all right! That's correct.

You cops really stick together

and protect one another, don't you?

We're going to go further than that, Mr. Clover.

Lieutenant Mayers, I direct you

to forward an entire transcript of this hearing,

together with this Board's findings,

to the District Attorney of the County of Los Angeles.

This Board will recommend that office institute

and press charges against this witness

for the felonious offense of perjury.

- One last thing, Mr. Clover. - Yeah, what's that?

You made a remark about policemen sticking together

to protect one another.

It's true. You do!

Yes, that seems to be the generally accepted myth

by those whose main energies are spent

defying constituted law and authority,

but your statement is only a half truth.

We're also sworn to protect the citizen,

even to the point of placing our lives on the line to do it.

I'm one of those citizens that pays your salary, Mister.

In your case, Mr. Clover, I promise you,

I'm gonna earn it.

The Board found the accused

not guilty of counts 1 and 2:

associating with a known bookmaker

and accepting a bribe from same.

The Board found the accused guilty on the third count:

failure to identify himself as a police officer.

Philip Waverly was suspended from his position as policeman

for a period of 45 days,

with a total loss of pay amounting to $1,000.

Ted Clover was subsequently tried

and convicted on a charge of perjury.

Perjury is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison

for not less than one nor more than 14 years.