The Big Listen

Originally Aired: January 5, 1954

Dragnet #229, "The Big Listen," Sergeant Joe Friday and Officer Frank Smith respond to a tip from Del, the manager of a Turkish bath. Del reports that a drunk customer named Vernon Carmichael bragged about a mysterious deal involving someone called "Bud" and carrying a .45 automatic in a shoulder holster. The man cryptically mentioned that when they left town, they'd all have more money than Del had ever seen. Through methodical police work, Friday and Smith trace the suspects to a hotel on South Flower Street, identifying Carmichael's associates as Howard "Bud" Nielsen and Ernest Hunter—three out-of-town hoodlums with criminal records in Pittsburgh.

As the investigation intensifies, Friday coordinates round-the-clock surveillance of the three suspects with Lieutenant Brown and Detective Myers. After a week of watching their regular movements and daily patterns, the detectives decide to take the next step: planting a listening device in the suspects' hotel room. Friday arranges for sound equipment from the crime lab and obtains the necessary permits from the Federal Communications Commission, preparing to uncover exactly what these armed gangsters are planning in Los Angeles.