Original subtitles

This is the city, Los Angeles, California.

It has its share of professional sports.

The Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team.

The Los Angeles Rams football team

Plays its games here.

Professional hockey and basketball are played here.

Los Angeles has its quota of professional golf tournaments.

The city also has its share of thieves,

Professional and amateur.

Either kind, I deal with them here.

I carry a badge.

It was Wednesday, May 1st.

It was clear in Los Angeles.

We were working the day watch out of Fraud's Division.

The boss is Captain Frankell.

My partner's Bill Gannon. My name's Friday.

A downtown businessman had just come from his auditor's.

After having the biggest volume of sales

In the history of the company,

He was in the red by almost $100,000.

Somebody was stealing company funds.

We talked to him in the captain's office.

The story you are about to see is true.

The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

No, I don't see how.

I've had two audits by two different companies

And the results were the same,

Almost $100,000 is missing.

What kind of company do you own, Mr. Loring?

Well, wholesale electrical supplies.

Sunray's the name of the firm. It's a small company.

How many people do you employ?

33 at present. Nine of them are salesmen.

They're on the road most of the time.

Both teams of auditors gave the sales force

A clean bill of health.

What about the other 24?

Well, we've eliminated most of them.

Why?

Nothing could get by the three key people

In the office in the warehouse.

Who are they?

There's Barnes, George Barnes.

He runs the warehouse. Nothing could get by Sally.

Sally Fisher's been with me

Since I started the company 15 years ago.

She heads the office personnel,

And she's in charge of accounts receivable.

Henry Pendleton's my purchasing agent,

Best one I ever had.

Do they know what's happened?

Well, they know we're being audited

And they've got to suspect

That something is seriously wrong,

But I haven't broadcast the findings yet.

A thing like that can wreck morale, you know?

Nothing could get by these three employees

- You've just mentioned? - I'm sure of it.

Sounds like you've narrowed down the people you suspect

To just these three. But I know these people.

I'm in contact with them five days a week.

You may not know them as well as you think.

I doubt very much if you men

Could get to know them better than I do.

What you may mean, sir, is that we wouldn't get

To like them as much as you do.

- Same thing. - No, not quite.

You may like them too much to know them.

10:30 a.m.

Bill and I drove out to the Sunray Electrical Company.

We allowed time for Edward Loring

To get back to his office first

So that he could brief Sallie Fisher,

Henry Pendleton and George Barnes

On the purpose of our investigation.

In order to attract as little attention

To our investigation as possible,

Loring gave us the use of one of the salesman's offices.

We talked with Sallie Fisher first.

I knew something was wrong. Well, I had to know

With those auditors checking and rechecking my books.

Well, you've been audited before, haven't you, Ms. Fisher?

Well, of course, but a person can tell

When something's wrong.

Heaven knows I've made some mistakes

In the years I've been with Sunray.

Two years ago, I was off $3,000,

And I'd like to have died.

That was the year Mother's health started to fail, you see.

- Yes, ma'am. - Well, it's touch and go now.

It's her heart, touch and go.

Mr. Loring couldn't have been nicer

Or more understanding

When my error was found by the auditors.

It was only a bookkeeping error.

I mean, the money was there

But, well, there were a couple of days...

Well, as I said, I'd like to have died.

Your mother's an invalid now, is she?

Yes.

It must be hard on you financially.

I'd be in the poor house if I hadn't had insurance.

Insurance cover everything?

- No. - You're trying to find out

How desperate I am for money, aren't you?

Well, it's not easy to make ends meet, but I do.

There's never anything left over for,

Well, the little things.

You're going to ask other people about me, aren't you?

We might.

Well, there's the minister of my church.

- He'll vouch for me. - Fine.

- It's funny. - What's that?

Well, I just remembered an article

I read in a magazine a couple of months ago.

It was about a woman who lived in the Midwest.

She had grandchildren.

She gave thousands of dollars to her church and to charity.

She was the best-loved woman in the town.

Do you know what?

Every penny she gave away, she'd stolen from the bank

Where she had worked for 30 years.

What's the connection?

Her minister vouched for her, too.

11:15 a.m.

Edward Loring sent Henry Pendleton in

To talk to us next.

You might just as well come to my office

Where you can see my records.

There's no point in hiding here now.

The word's out about the money.

You can't keep a thing like that secret very long.

- No, I guess you can't. - I'd like to say one thing

Before you start the questions, may I?

Sure, go ahead.

I met Ms. Fisher on my way up here.

She was crying.

Sallie Fisher is as honest as the day is long.

She's a fine woman.

Takes care of her mother-in-law.

We know.

What I want to say is that as purchasing agent,

I would know if there were any irregularities in her books.

- You would? - Absolutely.

And how is it auditors had to discover a $3,000 mistake

In her books two years ago?

Well, then, she was half out of her mind at that time.

She thought her mother was going to die.

It was only a bookkeeping error, gentlemen.

The point is it's an error you didn't detect.

Isn't that right?

Yes, but you mustn't make too much of that sort of error.

A personal crisis can get a person so upset,

So mixed up, they make mistakes

When normally they're perfectionists.

Well, now, do you think a normally honest individual

Might even steal during a personal crisis?

You mean, like stealing food if they were hungry?

$100,000 isn't exactly food, Mr. Pendleton.

Since the word was out about the theft,

There was no point in using the assigned office

For questioning any longer.

11:50 a.m.

George Barnes, manager of the warehouse,

Was the next man on our list to question.

How come I'm last on your list?

Something goes wrong,

You usually check out the warehouse first, don't you?

- Do we? - Sure, you do.

Those little guys in the black suits,

They ran my records from A to Z.

Yeah?

You can check this out with Mr. Loring.

I've been here three years.

The first year, I caught two of my men

Swiping penny ante stuff.

They were doing work around their houses

And needed a little copper tubing, a little wiring.

Penny ante. Just the same, I fired them.

The last two years, not a nickel's worth of stuff been swiped.

I'd like to ask you a few personal questions.

Fire away. I've got nothing to hide.

You a gambling man?

Now and then, play a little cards,

Small-stake poker.

How about the horses?

I hit the track a couple times a year.

Trying to make me out a gambler, huh?

No. Just wanted to know if you gamble.

Check my records. You'll find everything's okay.

The books have been checked out. You know that.

They say $100,000 is missing,

But they don't tell us who took it.

Sounds like we got a smart operator working here.

Seems to have you guys jumping up and down, don't it?

Our files are full of smart operators.

Okay. So you think I've stolen

$100,000 worth of equipment out of the warehouse.

Arrest me.

I won't tell you how to run your business,

Don't tell me how to run mine.

Just the mail. Didn't mean to interrupt.

That's all right, Dell.

Are you still taking me to lunch, George?

It depends on these guys. We're about through.

Okay, honey.

Good deal.

12:15 p.m.

We again met with Edward Loring.

I can't see any of my people doing this.

I just can't.

Well, try to think of it this way, Mr. Loring.

We're not looking for the run-of-the-mill burglar,

Purse snatcher, armed robber.

We're not looking for the professional thief.

We're dealing with people who have good jobs.

They work hard for the money they earn.

Yet one of them is stealing.

Now, this kind of thief is often driven to it.

He feels compelled to steal, and the compulsion is so great

He doesn't really think of himself as dishonest.

One type believes his motives are so pure

That his actions are totally justified.

Another type believes he's only borrowing the money.

He kids himself into believing he'll pay it all back.

Then you've got the schizoid type.

His dreams are his reality.

Actual reality has no meaning for him.

This is usually the big spender, the great lover.

Now, any one of the three people we've talked to

Could fit into one of those categories.

Well, it seems to me like it would take a psychiatrist

To identify which one. Or a policeman.

We know the symptoms. We deal with them every day.

If we find the person with the right symptoms,

10 to 1, we'll find your embezzler.

10 to one? You a betting man, Sergeant?

No, but I may be looking for one.

1:30 p.m. We went back to the police building.

Neither Sallie Fisher nor Henry Pendleton had a record.

Eight months before, George Barnes had been arrested

For disturbing the peace in a bar called the Green Gym.

The proprietor of the Green Gym bar

Turned out to be a friend of Barnes,

And he did not prefer charges at the time.

The proprietor's name was Nick Gerber.

Look, old Georgie Boy blew his stack, you see?

This fight I can't stop, so I gotta call the cops.

I don't want Georgie Boy put in the clinker, you see.

He's a buddy of mine.

We was in the Marines together.

Barnes blow his stack often?

Well, not once since then.

You see, he and his wife just busted up.

He took it pretty hard, you see.

Oh, for a couple of months,

He was hitting the bottle pretty hard.

- He still come in here? - Sure.

- What's this all about? - Routine investigation.

Well, anything I know about George,

You can know. He's straight.

Now, some of my other customers, well,

There's a couple I might be real shy about, you know.

Yeah. Barnes big with the women, is he?

Oh, you know it.

He's always got a wild-looking chick when he comes in.

- Any particular one? - There's one called Dell

He's been bringing in a lot lately.

- Dell? - Delores.

Yeah, she works the same place he does.

- She's taking him. - How do you know that?

You work a bar 20 years,

And there's certain types you can spot, pal.

What type is she, would you say?

A champagne dame.

She might not like the taste of the stuff,

But she likes the idea of her guy spending

That kind of dough on her.

That's how she rates a guy... By how much he spends on her,

How much he gives her. A lot of dames like that.

They got cash registers for hearts.

How does George rate, then?

Well, his Gallup Poll ain't so good.

Not a big spender, huh?

Well, when he's got it, he spends it.

What do you mean? He gets stranded for cash now and then.

Yeah, you know, a couple of days before payday.

So I let him charge a few beers.

Well, he makes good money, doesn't he?

He also pays alimony, and that Dell,

She keeps him broke, poor guy.

Can't you tell me what this is all about?

You say he's always broke?

Most of the time.

Well, I can tell you this much.

Yeah, what's that?

For what we're checking, he's better off that way.

3 p.m. We drove out

To Henry Pendleton's home in Southgate.

We talked to his wife, Norma. Sit down if you like.

Henry called me during lunchtime

And said someone might be coming by.

He said I should help you any way I can.

Then you know what we've come to talk about.

Yes.

Imagine someone taking all that money.

Henry said until you got to the bottom of it,

Everyone in the company was under suspicion,

Including him.

Well, if you knew him as well as I do,

You wouldn't waste a second's thought on him.

I really don't see how I can help you.

We just have a couple of questions, Mrs. Pendleton.

I've been married to Henry almost nine years.

There isn't much to tell you about Henry.

You grow those roses, Mrs. Pendleton?

No.

Henry sent those to me yesterday.

- Anniversary? - No, just an impulse.

He'll do that now and then.

Now, our new color TV set,

That was an anniversary present last year

And he shouldn't have.

It was so expensive, but that's Henry.

He's a very giving man when he's got it to give.

Well, he makes good money at Sunray, doesn't he?

Oh, yes. Yes, indeed.

But he has great expenses.

Of course, that's neither here nor there.

- It might be. - It's a personal situation.

You might say it's my cross to bear

And no one else's.

I've got over the hurt of it a long time ago.

Maybe you should know that it's where the money goes.

It also explains why we live in a low-rent

Neighborhood like this despite Henry's paycheck.

We are talking about money, aren't we?

Yes, ma'am, we are.

Actually, it's not a cross to bear anymore.

I shouldn't have said that.

Once I understood the reason, I took comfort from it.

What reason is that?

I didn't know until three,

Almost four years after we were married

That Henry had been married before.

He has three children.

He said that falling in love with me was his undoing.

He gave her just about everything to get a divorce.

He pays her a percentage of his wages in alimony

Before tax deductions.

You don't know how little that leaves.

Henry never realized the trap.

Then there are the extras, too.

The children, they've got all kinds of sickness.

She can't be a very good mother.

I don't know where Henry got the idea

That I had religious scruples

Against marrying a divorced man,

But he thought I had,

And that's why he didn't tell me.

Well, how did you find out?

There was never enough money.

Henry handled the bills and things,

But I'd get phone calls dunning us for payment.

Once the electricity was turned off.

It got so bad I was frantic.

I almost had a breakdown.

Finally, he had to tell me where the money was going.

You don't know the terrible things I was imagining.

Well, I'm glad I told you that.

You think that if Henry stole $100,000,

We'd be living like this, just making ends meet each week,

And week after week, year after year?

All those roses, so impulsive.

I know why he has to do something like that

Every now and then.

He's always asking forgiveness.

Where do his ex-wife and children live?

Ohio. I don't know where.

I try to pretend they don't exist.

She keep her married name?

How in the world would I know?

Well, you might if Mr. Pendleton mailed his checks from here.

No, he doesn't.

Maybe you've seen the canceled checks?

No. Henry does all that from the office.

He always has.

Does your husband gamble, Mrs. Pendleton?

That's a silly question, officer.

What would he gamble with, and when?

- How do you mean? - He doesn't have the time.

He's home every evening?

Is Mr. Loring going to know everything we talk about?

No, ma'am, only what concerns the theft.

Well, I'll tell you then.

Henry works three nights a week

And sometimes four at a service station.

You know, a gas station.

What do you call that, moonlighting?

Sometimes.

I don't think that's something Mr. Loring should know about,

But I wanted you to know.

Now, do you think if Henry stole $100,000,

He'd be coming home at 1:00, 2:00 in the morning,

Gray in the face and drained,

And ready to drop in his tracks all because he loved me.

Well, I hold onto that.

Maybe it doesn't make life easier,

But at least I know the reason why it's tough.

Some people have it tough and never know why.

Is he working at the station tonight?

Yes, he is.

Could you tell us the name of the service station?

I don't remember the name.

Well, do you know where it is?

Corner of Slauson and Green, I think.

I asked him where once when I wanted to bring him

Some sandwiches and coffee, but he didn't want me to come.

- He's ashamed. - Yes, ma'am.

You see, in the daytime,

He's a very important man at Sunray.

3:50 p.m. We drove to the service station

At the corner of Slauson and Green.

We asked the attendant on duty if he knew Henry Pendleton,

Who his wife had told us worked the night shift,

Three or four times a week.

The attendant never heard of Pendleton.

4:50 p.m.

We went back to the Sunray Company.

Eileen was going to have fried chicken tonight.

Yeah.

She sure gets upset when I ask for something special

And then I don't make it home.

Fried chicken's one of my favorites, Joe.

Well, maybe she'll save you some.

Nope. Her favorite, too.

There's Pendleton.

Let's check that location with AD-Vice.

Control 818, this is 1K80.

1K80 go.

You have any information on a parking lot at 5th and Temple?

1K80 stand by.

KMA 367.

What do you figure, Joe?

Maybe nothing, but it sure looks

Like some kind of a payoff, doesn't it?

1K80 control 818.

We have pertinent information at that location.

Contact via landline.

No can do.

We have possible suspect under observation.

Roger 1K80.

Location subject of numerous complaints for 337A.

1K80 Roger KMA367.

Bookmaking.

5:15 p.m.

Henry Pendleton left the parking lot

And headed out for State Highway 103.

We followed him. 6:20 p.m.

We followed Pendleton to the city of Clover,

An hour's drive from Los Angeles.

Draw poker is permitted in the city of Clover.

The state of California has basic laws against gambling

But they don't include draw poker.

It is up to the individual city charters

As to whether or not to permit this form of gambling.

No gambling of any kind

Is allowed in the city of Los Angeles.

We're Los Angeles police officers.

This is Bill Gannon; my name is Friday.

Jim Barlow.

What can I do for you, or do you want to see the boss?

Maybe you can help us.

Happy to oblige any way I can.

We don't want trouble of any kind,

So if something's wrong, we help in any way we can.

The man at the corner table there in the other room.

He just came in, do you know him?

Oh, Henry? Sure.

Comes here a lot. We could do without him.

- Wins too much? - You kidding?

He loses too much. Guy loses too much

And the other customers get uncomfortable, you know?

Do you know if he plays

Any of the other clubs around here?

He rotates. He's got a system.

Never stays more than a half an hour

In each club at one time.

- That's a system? - You know gamblers.

Each one's got a quirk. He in trouble?

- We don't need it. - Business is good, huh?

That's right, without the sick ones.

What do you call sick?

The ones that just gotta lose.

You know, when they win, they gotta give it back double.

Never could figure that out.

Well, you're not a compulsive gambler.

- I work here. - Yeah.

I'm not any kind of a gambler.

Although the security guard was cooperative,

He asked us to pick up Pendleton outside the club.

Exactly one half hour after he'd gone inside to play,

Pendleton came out.

Pendleton? Sergeant Friday.

- Your car locked? - Yeah, why?

- We'd like to talk to you. - About what?

I wish it was a tank full of gas.

8:35 p.m.

We took Henry Pendleton to an interrogation room

At the police building.

We informed him of his constitutional rights.

Gambling in Clover's no crime.

Okay. You play the horses, too.

Now what else, Las Vegas?

I don't have time to go to Las Vegas.

Tell us something, Pendleton.

You seem to know it all.

Did gambling break up your first marriage, is that it?

No, yes. You're trying to mix me up.

There was no first marriage, was there, Pendleton?

You think I've been lying to Norma about that, too?

- That's what we think. - Well, you're wrong.

Fine.

You tell us your ex-wife's name and address in Ohio

And show us the canceled checks for the money you say

You've been sending her, then we're dead wrong.

How about it, Pendleton.

You're not wrong, Sergeant, not wrong.

You want to tell us about it?

Now, wait a minute.

It's not as though I cheat on my wife

Or something immoral like that.

Norma knows how much I love her. That's important.

- That so? - I do love her.

I don't want her hurt.

Maybe she won't be after she understands.

- Understands what? - You may be sick.

Sick?

There's nothing wrong with me.

Compulsive gamblers are sick people,

And you may be one, Pendleton.

No, I'm not. How could I be?

You asked me if I go to Las Vegas. I don't.

I don't want to spend the money it costs

To travel there and stay there,

And it's the same with the race tracks.

It costs money to get in.

You don't realize the amount of money you spend

Before you even place a bet. I don't do those things.

You know, that sounds like an alcoholic

Who says he's not one because he doesn't drink Martinis.

I mean, I'm not a big-time gambler.

You gamble pretty steady, don't you?

Just for recreation, that's all.

I enjoy it. Lots of people like to gamble.

Lose 4 or 500 bucks a night, and in three or four days,

You're shoving out a couple thousand a week.

If you have a bad streak.

Now wait, please. You're twisting things around.

- Are we? - Making out that I'm a...

I mean, I'm not a professional gambler.

We never said you were.

They're sort of flashy people. I'm not.

Let's skip the professional gambler.

I'm not one. I don't look like one, do I?

I'll tell you what a lot of compulsive gamblers look like.

They look like anybody, like you look.

Most of them have families.

Either they've got parents or they've got wives.

A lot of them have kids.

A lot of them have good jobs

Before the compulsion gets too big for them to handle.

It's a progressive disease,

And you've got to keep on feeding a disease

Just as much as if you were on booze or drugs.

And then comes the day when it becomes

The most important thing in your life.

Now, of course, you don't admit that.

You don't say that,

And sometimes, you honestly don't know it.

The compulsion becomes more important

Than the wife, the kids or the parents.

It becomes more important

Than the trust other people have in you.

You don't think so?

Yes, you do, Pendleton, deep inside,

Because even when the insanity is in full bloom

You'll feel a stab of guilt,

So you'll send your wife a dozen long-stemmed roses.

Trouble is she doesn't want roses.

She'd just like a normal life without the fear

Of having the electricity turned off,

Or the phone ringing, and somebody dunning her

For a bill she thought you'd paid.

She'd be happy just to live on the money you make.

Now, that's the truth. You don't believe me.

Well, look at the life you lead.

Look at the life you give your wife.

Oh, you've got the sickness, Pendleton, and it shows.

No, by tomorrow, we'll know how you stole that money,

How you rigged the books.

Tonight we found out why.

And you took that money, didn't you?

Yes, I did. Yes, I did.

It's been a living hell. Now, why can't a person stop?

I've gotten down on my knees and I've prayed to stop.

What do you pray?

Please let me win and then I'll stop?

What happens when you win sometimes?

Your prayer is answered, what happens then?

I don't stop. I don't know why I can't.

It just gets worse.

I guess I've known it for a long time.

There's no help for people like me.

That's what you want to believe but there is help.

There's even an organization

Pretty much like Alcoholics Anonymous.

It's called Gamblers Anonymous.

You can also get psychiatric help.

The trick is you've got to want help.

I said I prayed.

No, Pendleton. You tried to make a bargain.

A bargain?

The way I think it works is

You've got to pray for the right thing.

The suspect was found guilty of embezzlement.

Embezzlement is punishable by imprisonment

In the county jail for not more than one year,

Or in the state prison for not more than 10 years.