Original subtitles

[ Frida y Nam? ting] This is the ciz‘y— [as Ange/es, California,

Like eveiyp/ace e/se, money is what makes it go,

and there are a lot of ways ofgetting it.

You can earn it.

You can speculate for it.

You can win it... sometimes.

You can borrowit... oreven buyit.

lf you ’re desperate enough you can steal it.

When you do, / go to work. / car/ya badge,

/t was Monday, March 78, /t was cloudy in Los Ange/es.

We were working the day watch out of Robbery Di Vision,

The boss is Captain Ho we. My partner’s Bill Gannon.

My name is Friday

/n the space of two weeks, an armed bandit had held up and robbed..

70 branches of one of the city’s largest candystore chains.

We knew his M. 0. We had a good description.

So far, we had failed to identiij/ him.

[Man Narrating] The story you are about to see is true.

The names have been changed to protect the innocent

[Friday Narrating] Monday, March 78, 9:00 am.

The candystore bandit had entered the 70th store...

shortly before 8:00 p. m. the previous night.

The clerk, Mrs. jean Hardy, described him as a tall, gaunt man,

armed with a blue—steel automatic.

I‘ve given notice, Sergeant. The only reason I came in today was to tell them to get somebody else.

— Yes, ma‘am. —I didn‘t feel I could quit without giving them some notice.

They don‘t want me to leave. They‘ve even offered a raise,

but / told Mr. Claxton— he ’s the manager—

I said, “Mr. Claxton, there isn‘t enough money in this world...

for me to go through that again ”— getting shot at, / mean.

We‘re pretty sure he‘s the same man who held up the other Rachelle stores.

But this is the first time he‘s used a gun. Tell us what happened.

Well, I was about here when he came in, checking the trays.

He saw me, but he walked straight over there to the cash register.

I had an empty tray in my hand. I took itwith me when I moved over to wait on him. I asked him what he wanted.

He brought his hand up like this.

— That‘s when I saw the gun. — Yes, ma‘am. Would you go on, please.

I remember thinking very calmly, very clearly,

“This is a holdup. It‘s happening to me."

— We understand. — Well, then he said to give him all the money.

As I opened the register, with my left hand,

I made a halfturn to the right to set the tray down.

— That must‘ve been what did it. — What‘s that?

Making two movements at the same time. It must have startled him.

I can‘t think ofany other reason why he should shoot at me. Can you?

— No, ma‘am. — Well, he‘s not getting a second chance.

I‘ve given notice. There‘s not enough money in this world.

Well, it‘s not likely he‘ll ever come back to this particular store again, Mrs. Hardy.

— You haven‘t arrested him, have you? — No, not yet.

Well, then I don‘t know how you can say he won‘t come back.

Well, we can‘t guarantee it, ma‘am, but we know he‘s never repeated on a store so far.

Is that right? Never?

Oh, well, maybe that does make a difi‘erence.

Here. Have one of these. Go ahead Or do you prefer light chocolate?

No, thanks. None for me. All the same to me. Thanks.

You know, there is something wrong with that holdup man. How‘s that, ma‘am?

I was talking about him with Mr. CIaXton this morning,

and he said the head office had made the same comment.

— What‘s that? — Ten candy stores, counting this one.

Yes. Stolen all that money

And never helped himself to one piece ofcandy.

[Friday Narrating] 9:35 am. We went back to the ofiice. The captain wanted to see us.

Corner Pocket‘s been asking me questions. I‘ve got a few foryou.

— Yes, sir. — These candy store heists— Why is he still operating?

— Wejust haven‘t been able to make him yet. — Ten hits.

— That oughta be enough to give you a fix. — We‘ve checked him out three ways.

— Yeah? — We got a description. Everybody‘s agreed on it.

— We pulled every mug shot that even came close. Hejust wasn‘t there. — Mm—hmm.

Then we tried working through his MO.— kind ofstore, the hours he works, always a blue—steel automatic.

He is only fired it on this last job.

— Ballistics recovered the slug— 38 caliber. — What else did you come up with?

Looks like he‘s new. We‘ve got nothing on him at all.

— Got prints, haven‘t you? — Yeah, but nothing readable.

Ten candy stores have been knocked over in almost as many days.

Unless it‘s the Invisible Man, you must know something about him.

Well, we know he‘s not a big operator. The most he‘s ever gotten was $50.

— Once it was only I 0. — But he‘s had steady work.

Well, the way we see it, he had the shorts one day,

and he walked into that first store, probably because it was handy.

— It worked for him once, so he hasn‘t changed his MO. — Anything else?

The stores he‘s hit, all 10 ofthem, are in the downtown area.

You could walk to any one ofthem in an hour. Ten minutes on a bus.

— He‘s never hit the same one twice. — How many stores does he have left in the downtown area?

— Five. — How long a stakeout, do you figure?

Well, he‘s never gone longer than two nights running without making a hit.

Ifthere were two men in each ofthose five stores, we oughta pick him up before the end ofthe week.

— Before the end ofthe week? — Yes, sir.

Ifanybody asks me, that‘s what I‘ll tell them.

[Friday Narra ting] Arrangements were made to draw 70 men fl’om Metro Division.

They were told they would be on extra duty...

fl’om 6:30 p. m. until 9:00, 7000 or 7 7:00,

depending on the closing hour of the candystore they were assigned to.

4:30pm. The officers reported to the Robberysquad room for briefing

All right, gentlemen. IfI could have your attention, please.

Here‘s a description ofthe suspect: male Caucasian,

between 6 ’and 6 1?” tall,

weight about 750 pounds,

thin and gaunt.

Nearly all the witnesses have used those words to describe him.

—Thin and gaunt. — Is he geed up?

— A couple ofthe women clerks said they smelled alcohol on his breath. — How about the kind ofclothes?

A few times, a heavy, dark sweater.

Most ofthe time he wears a cheap, gray suit that looks to be a size too big for him.

His MO. is always the same. He‘s never hit anything but Rachelle candy stores.

Ne i/er before 7:00 p. m. Usual/y near closing

And only if there are no customers in the stores.

The suspect carries a blue—steel 38 automatic.

— Do we check out shotguns? — No. These stores are too small.

— Too close to the sidewalk. — Is he trigger—happy?

He was last night.

[Friday Narra ting] A team was assigned to each of the five downtown candystores...

that had not yet been robbed

They would take up their positions at 6:30 p. m.

Bill and / would be in Unit 7 K —80 on rollingstakeout

5:48pm. Have to take offin about 20 minutes. Oughta have a sandwich.

Be a while fore we can eat. What are you gonna have?

— Oh,just coffee. — You oughta have something solid,Joe.

— Well, coffee‘ll get it. — It‘s your stomach.

— Where do you want to go? Upstairs? — It‘s all taken care of.

— What do you mean? — The food oughta be here any minute.

— Well, then why did you ask me what I was gonna have? — I wanted to see ifI guessed right.

— Who‘s bringing it? One ofthe boys? — Not with those legs.

Thanks, Miller. Do I have any change coming?

Three cents. That‘s all right. Keep it foryour trouble.

Thanks a million, Bill. How areyou,Joe?

Fine, Dorothy. Nice ofyou to pick that up for us.

It‘s no trouble. I‘m on the night watch. You got a rumble going?

Yeah, five—way stakeout. We gotta leave in a few minutes.

— You‘d better get to that then, hadn‘t you? — I‘m just having coffee.

It‘s in there. Bill, didn‘t you tell me to pick up two ofthose mile—high sandwiches?

— That‘s right. — Why didn‘t you tell meJoe didn‘t want one? No use to waste it.

Oh, I didn‘t know that when I called you. Joe was out ofthe office.

You know I never eat those things. Pickles, onions and all that stuff.

[Radio Beeping] I forgot.

[Man On Radio] All units in the vicinity.

A 211 in progress at 633 West Olive.

7A— 72, handle the call Code 3.

That‘s a Rachelle Candies,Joe.

[Friday Narra ting] 6:20 p. m. Contrary to his M 0.,

the candystore bandit had held up a store earlier than he e ver had so far.

The robbery had occurred a good 25 minutes...

before any of the teams on stakeout had taken up their positions...

in the Rachel/e candystores.

Goldman? In the alley, Sergeant.

When we pulled up, the man ran out ofthe candy store, down this alley.

Got offthree rounds at us before we returned the fire.

— [Friday] Nickel—plated revolver. — Not the gun we‘ve been looking for.

[Friday] That’s not the man we ’ve been looking for.

[Friday Narrating] Tuesday, March 79, 70-00 a. m. We met with Captain Howe.

That dead man in the alley last night— Still think he‘s the wrong man?

— We know he is, Skipper. — We’ve identifiedhim.

— Name‘s Max Schifftler. —Just in from Kansas City.

He hadn‘t been in town an hour before he tried that robbery.

— It wasjust a coincidence. — It made all the papers.

Good chance the guy you‘re looking for will get hinky.

Could blow the stakeouts. I think we oughta stay at it a few more nights anyway.

— Your man has to know you‘re waiting for him. —Yes, sir.

— Then what‘s the point? — What else have we got?

[Friday Narrating] Tuesday, March 79, 7:00pm.

The stakeouts continued Bill and/ cruised the area,

ready to respond immediately to a call fiom any of the five candystores.

900 p. m. Two of the stores closed for the night

The ofificers on stakeout had nothing to report

7 000 p. m. The other three Rachel/e candystores closed without incident

One thing we were sure of Since he had begun his series of robberies,

the gaunt bandit had ne ver gone more than two nights without making a hit

Tomorrownight would be the second night

Wednesday, March 20

We made a request to continue the candystore stakeouts one more night

Do we go another night? Yeah. We‘re gonna be shorthanded.

Oh? Edwards and Logan have been pulled out.

No other teams available? Yeah, one.

Yeah? You and me.

[Friday Narra ting] 8:00 p. m. Bill and / staked out the Rachel/e candystore on Wi/shire.

Any of the other four teams would contact us if anything happened at their locations.

We waited You know what they tell these clerks?

I mean in any candy store. No. What‘s that?

First day on thejob, help yourself. Everything‘s free. Eat all you want.

You know what happens. No. What‘s that?

You get so sick ofcandy, you never want any more.

Is that so? You bet.

How long have we been here?

Hour and 10 minutes.

Boy,just the smell ofit kind offills you up, don‘t it?

[Phone Ringing]

This is Friday. Yeah.

Where? Where?

Yeah. Right away.

Anything? Yeah, he hit right between us.

What do you mean? He hit the same store for the second time.

[Friday Narra ting] 8.20 p. m. Despite our efforts,

the candystore bandit had held up 7 7 stores in a row

He had avoided the stakeouts by repeating on one store he had robbed only three nights earlier.

The clerk was the same one as before— Mrs. jean Hardy

A black—and— white unit had almost caught him on the job.

Female customer saw the man had a gun, backed out, made the call from next door. Yeah.

We werejust two blocks over. Got here in less than a minute. Yeah.

Suspect was on the street by then, saw us coming, fired twice.

I got one shot off, he grabbed the side ofhis face and stumbled around the corner.

Left a few drops of blood on the street.

Those blood spots— Let‘s follow ‘em.

[Friday Narra ting] The spots pointed east, to ward skid ro w

8:45pm. The trail ofspots ended at a cheap hotel on lower East Fifth Street

Police officers. Yes, sir?

We‘re looking for a tall man— 6‘, maybe 63".

Thin, around 150 pounds. Yes, sir.

His face is bleeding. He came in 10 minutes ago. Where is he?

Claude Thibodeau. Room 12. Does he live alone?

Yes, sir. Stay offthat phone.

He ain‘t got no phone in his room.

Police officers! Get your hands up on that wall! Move!

All right, turn around. Get your hands behind your head.

I don‘t see why you‘re so tough about it.

I‘m not making no trouble for nobody.

Now, that‘s the first time you‘ve been right in two weeks.

[Friday Narra ting] A search of the hotel room failed to turn up the suspect’s gun.

We took him downtown.

9'75p.m. Claude Thibodeau was advised of his constitutional rights.

Heddmtmmm MMWfiJM

The candystore clerk, Mrs. Hardy, was asked to make the identification.

945 p. m. Mrs. Hardy was picked up in a black—and— white unit..

and brought do wn to wn for the sho w—up.

We made out a 72.27 form in the event she made an identification.

You know, Sergeant, I stayed on thatjob entirely on your people‘s say—so.

You gave me your assurance that man would never come back again.

We‘re sorry, ma‘am. He‘d never held up the same store twice.

You found out different, didn‘t you? Yes, ma‘am.

— This is almost as bad as the holdup. — How doyou mean?

Being in a police station isjust like being in a hospital, as far as I‘m concerned.

/t makes me terribly nervous.

— Well, it shouldn‘t take very long, Mrs. Hardy. — Will he be able to see me?

No, ma ’am. There is a copperscreen between the suspects and the witnesses.

You can see them clearly, but they can‘t see you.

— You‘re sure? — Yes, ma‘am.

Who is that man sitting down there?

— That‘s Sergeant AI Vietti ofour division. — What do I have to do?

A number ofdifferent men, all similar in appearance...

to the man who held you up will walk out on that platform.

— Where will he be? — Right in front ofthat height board, along with seven other men.

— I‘m supposed to pick him out? — That‘s the idea.

—Just take your time and be sure. — I don‘t want to pick out the wrong man.

We don‘t want you to either, Mrs. Hardy. You just take your time.

— AI, send in the first line. — Send in the first line.

Now, Mrs. Hardy, we ’re going to adjust the lights...

to approximate the brightness of Rachelle‘s candy store.

You tell us when it looks right to you. Bring ‘em up, AI.

Bring up the lights.

There. That seems about right. Hold it there, AI.

Hold it. All right. Take a quarter turn to your left.

Your left, number four! Your left!

Another quarter turn to the lefi‘.

Quarter turn to the left.

Number four, your left!

All right Face the fiont

Do you see the man who held you up, Mrs. Hardy?

Would it be the second man from the right?

You tell us, Mrs. Hardy.

Well, /’ve seen that man before. / kno w that

Where else could it have been?

— Second man fiom the right, you said? — Yes, I believe so.

From your left, that‘s number seven.

—Yes, but I‘m notjust sure. — Would you like to hear the man‘s voice?

— Well, you do have other witnesses, don‘t you? — Yes, we do.

The clerks in all the other Rachelle stores saw him too.

Yes, ma‘am. But you saw him twice.

Well, I simply can‘t say for sure.

And I told you I wouldn‘t want to send an innocent man tojail.

Are you sure the man who held you up is not on that platform?

— No. — Well, then.

I‘m just not sure he is either.

Friday?

— You do any good here? — Hardy woman‘sjust not sure, Skipper.

— Maybe she‘s got a good reason. — What do you mean?

Blue—steel automatic, 6‘2", weight around 150 pounds, thin and gaunt. They‘re bringing him in.

— What about him? — Man who looks like thatjust held up a Rachelle‘s candy store 10 minutes ago.

[Friday Narrating] 7 045 pm. The latest suspect’s name was George Watson.

He fitted the description of the candystore bandit in everyrespect

We advised him of his rights, and he agreed to talk to us without a lawyer.

Watson is answers were confused and contradictory.

7 7:75. We decided to bring the two suspects together.

Hello, George.

They got you too, huh? Sure looks like it, don‘t it?

What do you got to say, Claude?

— It‘s up to George. — All the same to me.

Well, where do you want to start? Christmastime?

That‘s when I first run into George. We was having a free turkey dinner...

over at a rescue mission, you know?

— [Friday] Yeah. — We got to talking, and that makes a fellow pretty dry.

— So afi‘era while, we went looking fora drink — Go on.

Only trouble, I was broke, and George, he didn‘t have no money neither.

Can‘t remember whether we ever got a drink that day or not.

Do you, George? N o.

Maybe wejust talked. Turned out we had a lot in common, me and George.

— Yeah. — Ofcourse, we still needed drinking money.

One day, George happened to say he knew where there was a gun.

Found it in back ofa bar one day when I was gathering empties.

All right. Let‘s get to the robberies.

I did it the first time, then I told George.

Then he went out and he held up a store.

After that, whoe ver needed money would just take the gun and go find a Rachel/e ’s.

— You both held up those candy stores? — Me and Claude. We took turns.

— And you used the same gun? — Same one. We only had one.

Well, what about that, Thibodeau? How did George get hold ofthe gun?

You used it tonight We had a special place to keep it.

We‘d take it out, do thejob and put it right back.

— That way, we didn’t have to talk about it — Where‘d you keep it?

Buried under the alley in back of the hotel

— Me and Claude took an oath. — What kind ofan oath?

That we‘d never shoot offthe gun to kill nobody.

Just like them two police tonight. I wasn‘t even aiming at ‘em.

Well, that‘s it. I guess we‘ve told you everything.

— No, not quite. — Huh?

Why did you two keep pulling those holdups?

— You must‘ve figured we‘d have those stores staked out? — How could we figure that?

These robberies have had a lot of publicity.

— We didn‘t know that. — Never heard nothin‘ about it.

— It was in all the papers. — That don‘t mean anything to either of us.

— How‘s that? — One ofthe things me and George have in common.

— Yeah, what‘s that? — We never learned how to read.

[Friday Narrating] 7 7:3 7 pm.

Bill and / took the suspects downstairs to the C entra/ jail, Felony Section,

to be booked for27 7 P. C, Robbery.

While Bill waited to sign the booking slips, / started in on the paperwork

[Sighs] Kinda tired. You?

Yeah, a little. Why don‘t you go on home? I‘ll finish up.

— Good. Sure you don‘t mind? — Why, no. Go ahead.

I promised Eileen I‘d help my oldest boy with his homework.

— Is that so? What‘s he studying? — Advanced calculus.

— Since when do you know anything about calculus? — I don‘t, but he doesn‘t know that.

/ work fiom his math book, joe. He asks me questions. /ans wer him.

That’s all Why don‘t you take off?

Well, I hate to leave you alone,joe.

Why? I can find my way out. Go on home.

— That‘sjust it. — What‘s it?

I keep thinking ofyou going home to that apartment ofyours, all alone.

What brought this on? Eileen and/ were talking about you just this morning

Single man Iikeyou. You never think ofsettling down, doyou?

— I‘m settled. — No, you‘re not,joe.

Living alone like you do. You ne ver go out, ha ve any fun. We! I—

I mean with a real nice girl, somebodyyou got a lot in common with.

You know, you‘re beginning to sound like a “lonely hearts“ column— a bad one.

Now, you take tonight /’d like to see you go out,

have a nice late dinner at some quiet, out—of—the—way place.

Maybe a couple ofdrinks. You know, relax, take it easy.

— Yeah, I might do that. — Not alone,joe.

With a real nice girl. That‘s your trouble.

— What is? — You‘re shy.

You see a girl; you’re afiaid to ask her.

Sure, I know a couple ofgirls.

Yeah, but none you got anything in common with.

Well, how would you know?

You think about that,joe. I‘ll seeyou in the morning.

—I sure am tired. —Yeah. Rest up.

J; [ Whistling]

[Door Opens] [Dor [0&7 oth y ]

— Sorry about your car,joe. — Huh?

Well, Bill called about 15 minutes ago. He said he had to catch the tail end ofa lodge meeting.

— Wanted to know if / ’d run you home. /t’s right on my way — Yea h?

— What‘s the matter with your car? — Didn‘t Bill tell you?

— No.just said you were having trouble with it. — That‘s it.

—What? — I‘m having trouble with it.

[Narrator] The story you ha ve just seen is true.

The names were changed to protect the innocent

On ju/y 70 and 75, trials were held..

in Department 7 82, Superior Court...

of the State of California,

in and for the County of L os Ange/es.

/n a moment, the results of those trials.

Both suspects were found guilty on 7 7 counts of robbery in the first degree.

Robbery in the first degree is punishable...

by imprisonment for not less than five years.