Original subtitles

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

On Spring Street, you ’// find the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange and the big banks,

You can borrow a mil/ion dollars on a few minutes ’notice..,

if your credit’s good enough,

The people who make, or get, the million—dollar loans...

usual/y live a long way fl’om their work,

many of them here in Bel—Air.

Hundred—thousand—dollar homes are commonplace here.

So are halflmi/lion—do/lar estates.

The good life ofBel—Air attracts some of the best la wyers, doctors, bankers and merchants.

/t also attracts some of the best thieves.

That’s where /come in. / car/ya badge.

/t was Wednesday, April 74. /t was warm in Los Ange/es.

We were working the day watch out of Burglary Di Vision.

The boss is Captain Mack. My partner is Bill Gannon.

My name is Friday

Fine jade is one of the world’s most precious gems.

/mperia//ade is one of the most scarce. /ts value is almost limitless.

A je we/ thief operating in the Bel—Airsection of the city...

hadsto/en $200, 000 worth ofit.

We had to try and apprehend him.

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

The names have been changed to protect the innocent

Something wrong? I‘m afraid so,Joe.

It‘s from the army. Well, how do you know?

I can read,Joe. It says right there “Department ofthe Army, Signal Corps."

No, I mean how do you know something‘s wrong?

Why else would they be writing to me? Why don‘t you open it and find out?

I‘m almost afraid to. You know how some people get premonitions? I‘m one of‘em.

Open it.

You got a knife or a letter opener?

That‘s no way to open a Ietter,Joe. Tears the envelope.

What‘s it say?

— Specky‘s dead. — Who?

Specky. Great old bird,Joe.

— He die in action? — No. Old age.

Sorry. Friend ofyours, huh?

Not personally, no. But all of us in the Valley loft knew him.

He was a late hatch in 7954. Ne i/er trained a mile.

One ofthe fastest living birds alive,Joe. Now he‘s dead.

Right there in the mimeographed letter. Who are you talking about?

One ofthe greatest U.S. Army carrier pigeons ever to fly.

I didn‘t know you were interested in homing pigeons.

Ever since that squab deal fell through. You rememberI was gonna raise ‘em?

But it‘s too much work. I don‘t have the time to do it right.

So / went into homing pigeons. Oh, I see.

Got a great bird right now, joe.

Kids and I took him 50 miles away, up to Lancaster. Turned him loose.

— Is that right? — That‘s what you do, you know.

You start ‘em out on short flights. Work ‘em up to longer ones.

— How long did it take your bird to get home? — We took him up to Lancaster about three weeks ago.

—Yeah. — He didn‘t take off right away.

Kind ofwalked around and... [Tapping Table]

pecked at the dry grass in this vacant lot up there.

— Uh—huh. — Then he hit the air.

Beautiful sight,Joe. Almost straight up. Then he headed dead west.

When did he get home?

Well, that was three weeks ago Sunday, and I figure him being ayoung bird—

Sort of like his first solo flight, you could say

— He isn‘t backyet. — No, but we expect him anytime now.

— [Chuckles] — [ Man On Intercom] Friday, pick up two.

This is Friday.

What‘s the location?

Yeah. The estimated loss?

Uh—huh. Have you called the lab yet?

Good. Let me have your D.R.

Right. I have it. Thanks, Lieutenant.

— That was Lieutenant Armstrong, West LA. — Yeah?

— House in Bel—Airwasjust hit.Jewel thief. — What‘d he get?

Two hundred thousand dollars‘ worth ofimperial jade.

[Friday Narra ting] 7 042 a. m. Bill and / drove to the Bel—Air address.

For the past three weeks, a series ofje we/ thefi‘s had occurred in and around the Bel—Airsection.

The burglar had been hitting during the daylight hours when no one at home.

We had put out a special bulletin asking to be notified..

of an y je we/ burglaries that fitted this M. 0.

The reported loss was a sizable one,

and a great deal of time would be in volved in the in i/es tiga tion,

so Lieutenant Gro verArmstrong, commander of the West L os Ange/es detectives,

had asked that Bill and / take the case over.

They certainly send enough ofyou people out on a case.

Yes, ma‘am. This is my partner, Bill Gannon. My name‘s Friday.

Yes. You‘ll have to excuse me. I have to call the insurance company.

Then I‘ll be back to answer more ofyour questions, and I suppose you have a thousand.

As though any ofthem will help me get myjade back, will they?

We‘ll try, Mrs. Graham. Yes.

Hi, Mac. Mac.

Sergeant, you know Frank Adams. Hello, Frank. Give us the story, Mac.

We got here at 9:35. Gardener came to work at 9:00

Said he heard somebody running out the back door.

— A few minutes later, Mrs. Graham returned home. — From where? Do you know?

Charity breakfast She discovered the burglary.

Says the safe contained $200,000 worth ofimperial jade.

— Who‘s the insurance company? — NationalJewelry Indemnity.

— Full coverage, she says. — What‘s the gardener‘s name?

Henry Morito. He is out in back We ’ll take ofi‘now Anything else you need?

No. Thanks, Mac. Adams.

Better get Latent Prints and a safe man out here right away.

I‘ll call Walmsley and Barr. Right.

Just look at this room. Whoever did it didn‘t have to make such a mess.

No, ma‘am. We‘re gonna need a complete inventory ofyour losses.

— The insurance company has it. — We‘ll need it too.

Six pieces offine imperial jade. You‘ll never find it.

— How‘s that, ma‘am? — It‘s rare. It‘s priceless.

— It‘ll be on a plane today for Asia. — Is that right?

It‘s practically sacred there. There are Chinese andjapanese collectors...

who will give fortunes for a single piece ofimperial.

Look at this. This is all I have left of my collection.

This one photo.

This little peach is priceless.

Yes, ma‘am. Be all right ifwe keep this? It‘ll be returned after the investigation.

Yes, all right Notice the rich green color.

/t’s the quality of the mineral that counts. A photo simply doesn ’t do it justice.

Latent Prints and Ed Barr are on theirway.

Believe me, /kno w jade, Sergeant / was brought up in Hong Kong

My father was a dealer, and I married a dealer.

— Where is your husband now, Mrs. Graham? — He‘s dead.

He was on a buying trip to Burma. Chartered a little plane, and it went down.

— Yes, ma‘am. — I don‘t see what earthly good all these questions will do.

Anyone can see what happened Yes, m a ‘ a m .

The robber cut a hole in the screen, opened the window, searched the room,

pried the hinges ofi‘ the safe, took the jade and ran.

Whoever it was, finished up when the gardener came to work.

— Henry heard the thiefleave, you know. — Is there anyone else in the household?

I have a maid, Mary Carstairs, but she had the day off.

— Is Wednesday her regular day off? — No. She asked for it.

Some sick relative or something like that.

— Would you happen to know where she went? — No, I have no idea.

Ask her. She ’ll be back tomorro w morning

How many other people knew you had thisjade collection, ma‘am?

Everybody. Simply everybody. I entertain a great deal.

My club, the Benefit L eague. You know, the usual

Everyone who comes here insists on seeing it

You‘re not going to hound them, are you?

We‘re not gonna hound anyone, ma‘am.

We‘re only interested in trying to get yourjade back foryou and pick up whoever stole it.

Yes, well, I‘d like as little publicity as possible.

— I certainly don‘t want any of my friends disturbed. — We‘ll try not to.

—I suppose this‘ll be all over the newspapers. — They won‘t get it from us.

Just make certain you don‘t disturb any of my friends over this dreadful situation.

— Like I said, Mrs. Graham, we‘ll try not to. — I don‘t want them involved.

— Well, there‘s only one way they might be. — Yes?

Ifone ofthem stole yourjade.

[Friday Narra ting] 7 7:37 a. m. Officer Bill Walms/e y of the Scientific /n vest/gation Division...

had begun trying to lifi‘ latent prints.

All members of the Graham household would be fingerprinted for elimination purposes.

Any remaining prin ts could be a clue to the burglary.

Sergeant Ed Barr, the Burglary Division is safe expert,

had finished his examination of the safe.

— This doesn‘t add,joe. — What‘s that, Ed?

Dust guards have been pried or knocked off.

Only thing they‘re good for is to keep the hinges clean.

They don ’t ha ve anything to do with breaking the safe open. Yea h.

Wasn‘t a knob knocker. No caps. No prying. No force ofany kind.

— Then how was it opened? — Easiest thing in the world.

— Yeah? — Whoever opened it knew the combination.

[Friday Narra ting] 7 2: 7 7 p. m. Bill and / talked to Henry Morito, the gardener.

He told us that he had arrived at the Graham home at about 900 a. m.

He was positive of the time because he ’d been listening to the radio in his truck

When he arrived he heard what sounded like someone running out of the house and slamming a door.

But he had not seen anyone.

[Gannon] The screen where it‘s cut bends out, not in. Yeah.

Ifit was cut from the outside, the ends ofthe wire would bend in, wouldn‘t they?

Looks that way to me. And this window—

Once you cut the hole in the screen, you‘d have to pry it open.

Nojimmy marks. No pry marks.

This window was opened from the inside.

[Friday Narra ting] 3:37 p. m. Bill and / drove back to the office.

/ohn Benjamin, special agent for the Na tiona/je welry /ndemnity Company, was waiting for us.

Benjamin was an ex—po/ice officer and an old fi’iend

His company had insured the Graham jade.

Joe, it smells phony from beginning to end.

— You gonna deny the claim,john? — We can‘t without positive evidence.

An insurance company has to pay ofi‘ on a loss. That’s the contract we make.

The only out is proof that there wasn‘t any loss. [Phone Ringing]

Here‘s a copy ofwhat she had insured.

I didn‘t know any kind ofjade ran this high.

Imperial does. You know her collection was insured for full value— 200,000.

Who evaluated the collection before you issued the policy? Would you know?

Lin Fong, over in the Metropolitan Building. He‘s the best expert on the coast.

There is no doubt about it She had $200, 000 worth ofjade all right

People I work for always take a dim view of paying offon a phony claim.

My bosses ain‘t gonna like this.

— Neither are ours,john, and there‘s a lot more of‘em. — Huh?

Last census, about three million.

[Friday Narrating] 4:30 p. m. The Metropolitan Building at 3 75 West Fifi‘h...

is the je welry manufacturing center for L os Ange/es. .. and much of the world

Every tenant deals in je welry in some form or another.

You can order rings fora high school graduation class...

or diamonds for royalty

Lin Fong was an old established dealer with an established reputation.

Yes, ofcourse. I knew the complete history ofevery piece.

Mr. Graham— the late Mr. Graham—

he consulted me before every purchase.

Not that we always agreed.

He was very headstrong, very emotional.

Now, uh, this dancing figure—

That‘s part ofthe Graham collection? Yes. /ha ve photos of all the Graham pieces.

But this is nephrite. Definitely nephrite.

Then it’s not jade?

Oh, yes.jade.

The best jade, the treasures, the rich pieces,

true or imperial jade, arejadeite.

They can only come fiom Upper Burma or Tibet or the Yunnan Province of China.

— Yes, sir. — The relatively common nephrite,

which got its name from the Greek word for “kidney“...

because it was once worn for kidney diseases,

is found in Turk/stan, NewZea/and Siberia, Poland

You can even find it in Alaska.

I said to him, “My dearfriend, even you can make a mistake.“

He refused to listen. /t has since been sold

— Bywhom, Mr. Lin? — His wife.

She is disposed of most of the nephrite the last couple of years.

The rest ofthe collection was considered very good, wasn‘t it?

Exquisite. There are merchants in Hong Kong who would give a great deal for it.

— Is that so? — She has been selling it off, piece by piece.

/ hand/ed a fe w minor sales, but most of it has been going overseas.

[Friday] Yes, sir. In fact, I was surprised when the insurance man called me today...

to say that she had reported this big theft.

— Is that right? — I didn‘t think she had anyjade left.

[Friday Narrating] Thursday, April 75, 935 am.

We ran a credit check on Mrs. Francine Graham.

/t indicated her bank balance was lo w, and the Bel—Air home was hea vi/y mortgaged

Her only major asset had been the $200,000 worth ofjade.

We questioned the maid Mary Cars tairs.

She said that the previous day, she had gone to the General Hospital..

to see hers/ster who was recuperating fiom a minor operation.

She said she didn ’t kno w anything about the burglary until she returned to the Graham residence.

We asked her ifshe knew the combination to the safe.

She told us she did not

No. No one but my husband and myself knew the combination to that safe. No one.

Are you sure it was locked? Absolutely.

Did you ever give the combination to your maid oryour gardener or anyone else?

Instead ofstanding around here casting suspicion on my help and me,

why aren ’t you out looking for the thief?

— Gentlemen, there‘s a call from your office. — I‘ll take it,joe.

Right this way, sir. Thankyou.

— Sergeant, you realize you‘re hindering my insurance claim. — No, Mrs. Graham, we‘re not.

It‘s a sizable one. I‘ve paid enormous premiums foryears.

Sometimes these things can be difficult. I wouldn‘t want anything to delay it.

You also wouldn‘t want them to pay off on a dishonest claim, would you?

Naturally I want everybody to be sure. You insist I‘m being dishonest!

No, ma‘am. But there are a couple ofunusual circumstances surrounding the burglary.

— Is that so? — Yes, ma‘am. Andjust like you, we want to be sure.

— /oe. — Excuse me, Mrs. Graham.

That was Walmsley, Latent Prints. Yeah.

He says to hustle back in. He‘s come up with something.

[Friday Narra ting] 7 020 a. m. Bill and / drove back to the office...

and met with Bill Walms/e y in S /. D.

Remember the goldfish bowl in the room out there?

Well, that‘s where they were. Both sides.

Indicating that the bowl was moved, or at least picked up.

Yeah. Look here.

— [Phone Ringing] — Beautiful set of prints.

Right and left. I checked ‘em through.

Who do they belong to?

Small—time thief, name of Ben Martin.

[Friday Narra ting] 7 035 a. m. Bill and / knew Ben Martin. We ’d hand/ed him before.

We drove out to his last known address.

He had checked out several days before. His landlady had no idea where he went

We returned to the office and put out an APB on the suspect, Ben Martin.

7 7:47 am. We met with Captain Mack to review what we had on the Graham jade burglary.

It doesn‘t add up for eight cents, does it?

No, sir. Martin‘s never been known to go in for the big—time stuff.

No safejobs. Mostly rings,jewelry, clothing.

— Anything else missing from the house? — No, sir.

— You figure Martin was scared off? — That‘s the way it looks.

— Well, one thing‘s sure. — What‘s that?

Martin was in that house before we were. Maybe he knows something that we don ’t

—Yes, sir. — Find him and ask him.

[Friday Narrating] Monday, April 79, 937 am.

Four days went by Bill and/ checked with our informants...

to try and dig up a lead as to the whereabouts of Ben Martin.

We had no luck

7 040 a. m. john Benjamin, the special agent for the insurance company,

said he wanted to talk to us.

You haven‘t turned him yet, huh? No so far.

Ijust had a meeting with my boss.

He‘s instructed our people to start settling the Graham claim.

Naturally ifit‘s legit, we want to pay off. But,joe, Ijust don‘t think it is.

[Man On /ntercom ] Friday, take four.

This is Friday.

Yeah, Brown. Where?

Good. We‘ll be right here.

Yeah. Thanks, Guy.

That was Van Nuys. Theyjust collared Martin. They‘re bringing him right down.

[Friday Narra ting] 7 7:32 am. The suspect, Ben Martin, was brought do wn to wn. ..

by Van Nuys Detective Sergeant Brown and his partner, C T Zumell

We advised him of his constitutional rights.

You understand it? Sure do. Don‘t mean nothin‘ to me. What do you wanna know?

— Talk to us, Ben. — Whichjob?

How many have you pulled since you got out of“Q"?

I‘ve been doin‘ pretty good, Gannon. Till today.

Eleven jobs, one dud That‘s the one we‘re interested in.

The Graham place? Why? I didn‘t get a thing.

Didn‘t you? You know / didn’t

I just picked the wrong day. That crummy gardener.

— Tell us about it. — What‘s to tell? I get inside,

just start to prowl the place, and he shows up.

Figured maybe he might have a key. You know, like they sometimes do to get inside and water the plants.

—SoI blew. — You didn‘t take anything along with you?

Like what? I seen the safe. What good would that do me?

/ can ’t bust no safe. No way

Ben, did you ever hear ofimperial jade?

I heard ofjade.

Now, I want you to level with us, Ben. Did you walk offwith any from the Graham house?

Not me, Sergeant! No way! I ain‘t never heard ofthat imperial stuff.

I wouldn‘t even know what it looks like. So how could I heist any?

— Maybe you got some good advice? — From who? I don‘t know one Swedish person.

— What‘s that got to do with it? — That‘s where it comes from, ain‘t it? Switzerland?

You made a pretty good mess out ofthat room, didn‘t you?

Look, I keep telling you, and I‘m leveling, I didn‘t touch nothin‘.

— You touched the goldfish. — Well, all right. But that‘s all.

I walked outta the place empty. That‘s the truth.

[Laughs] I mean,you know me. One thing: I don‘t lie to you.

Yea h ? You and Friday here sent me up twice.

You know me. I don‘t even operate at night. Only daytimes ‘cause it‘s only second—degree.

/ don ’t even carry no tools. / ’m small— time.

Yeah, well, maybe you figure you‘re ready for the big time.

No, sir. Not me. I just ain‘t smart enough.

Is that right?

— In the last four months, I‘ve pulled I 1 jobs, right? — Ifyou say so.

I pull all themjobs, and I walk off with a pretty fair haul each time.

— You don‘t grab me for one of‘em. — Yeah.

Ijust walkthrough a house in Bel—Air, and you put the arm on me.

[Friday Narra ting] 7 2:34 p. m. Bill and/ drove out to Bel—Air to see Mrs. Francine Graham.

[Gannon] We picked up the man who entered your house Wednesdaymorning Mrs. Graham.

— Then you got myjade back. — No, ma‘am.

Then it was as I told you. He shipped it out ofthe country.

— No, ma‘am. He didn‘t do anything with it. He didn‘t take it. — Ofcourse he did. He‘s lying to you!

We‘ve handled this man before, Mrs. Graham. We‘ve sent him to prison twice.

He doesn‘t operate in rare items like imperial jade.

— He does now. —Afraid not, Mrs. Graham.

This is a small—time burglar, and they don‘t change theirway ofoperating.

He didn’t take your jade, unless someone gave him the combination to yoursafe.

— Maybe someone did. — You told us you were the only one that had that combination.

— Maybe he got it somehow. — Not unless you gave it to him.

— You know better than to say a thing like that, Sergeant. — Do I?

— That‘s entirely up to you, ma‘am. — You really believe that, don‘t you?

What we believe doesn‘t matter. All we know is $200,000 worth ofjade is missing.

We know that someone who knew the combination to that safe took thejade.

And you‘d like me to say that I did and make yourjob easier foryou.

Helpyou close a case you can‘t solve. Isn‘t that what you want?

— We want the truth, Mrs. Graham. — Really?

Then why don‘t you insist that man you picked up tell you where he got the combination to my safe?

— Because we don‘t think he ever got it. — Then how did he get into my safe?

He didn‘t.

— Sergeant— — Yes, ma‘am?

When my husband died, he left no personal insurance ofany kind.

He had it all in hisjade collection. That was covered, but nothing else.

He ’d borro wed against the mortgage on this house, against my insurance, e veg/thing

Oh, he had a good business, but when he passed away, everything went.

— Everything except his collection. — Yes, ma‘am.

/ tried to make ends meet / sold some of the pieces.

I thought forawhile, I might be able to work it out.

Then itjust seemed that bills mounted up, and there was no money to cover them.

Then when the gardener reported to me what had happened Wednesday, I decided to do it.

— Yes, ma‘am, go on. — I decided to use that man being in my house as an excuse for a robbery.

It seemed like such a perfect series ofcoincidental events.

The man breaking in. My maid asking for the day oh?

Yes, m a ‘ a m . / cut the hole in the screen,

fiddled with the safe, mussed up the room and called you people.

— Where is thejade, Mrs. Graham? — Sold. All ofit.

Over six months now. I had to sell it off piece by piece.

— I just had to have the money. — Who did you sell it to?

This man from Hong Kong. A man my husband bought some pieces from.

He would come to the house, bring the cash and pick up thejade.

You have no idea what it was like...

trying to keep the house and my car,

the good things that I‘d grown used to having most of my life.

— Yes, ma‘am. — And my friends, the clubs, the women‘s leagues.

Some ofthe money thejade brought I gave to charity, Sergeant.

Yes, m a ‘ a m . A great deal more than you might imagine.

My charities are important to me.

The pride of being able to give so much to them.

Almost $1 00,000 in the last nine months.

Yes, ma‘am. We‘ll have to askyou to come downtown with us, Mrs. Graham.

— I understand. Sergeant, tell me— — Yes, ma‘am?

Do you thinkI really did wrong? I mean, after all, itwas myjade.

Mrs. Graham, you were trying to collect insurance on a fraudulent claim.

—I don‘t thinkI ever would have taken that check. — Is that right?

Not when it came right down to it.

I don‘t believe I ever would have taken it.

Well, we‘ll never really know, will we?

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

The names were changed to protect the innocent

On November 7, trial was held..

in Department 787,

Superior Court of the State of California,

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

/n a moment, the results of that trial

The suspect was found guilty on seven counts of burglary in the second degree.

Each count of burglary in the second degree...

is punishable by imprisonment in the county/ail not exceeding one year...

or in the state prison for not less than one year or more than 7 5 years.

The attorney for Francine Graham wrote to the insurance company..

withdra wing her claim for the jade that was insured

The company decided not to prosecute.

Mrs. Graham has since moved to another city