The Big Mailman

Originally Aired: May 24, 1951 Dragnet #102, "The Big Mailman," Sergeant Joe Friday and Detective Ben Romero are working the day watch out of forgery detail when U.S. Postal Inspector Smith arrives at their office with a pressing problem. Someone is systematically stealing mail throughout Los Angeles, and the thief's sophisticated operation has already netted him an estimated two thousand dollars a month when he was operating in San Diego. Now he's brought his operation north. The investigation reveals a clever criminal who steals master panels from community mailboxes to create his own keys, giving him access to multiple locations. He targets checks in the mail, but the detectives face a puzzling question: how does the thief know which bank branches to cash the stolen checks at? Friday and Romero begin piecing together the mail thief's methods, discovering he also raids private mail slots using some kind of special tool and may be stealing bank statements along with checks to gather the information he needs. As Captain Harry Elliott coordinates between the police department and postal inspectors, the team works to understand the full scope of this mail fraud operation and track down a criminal who has proven both resourceful and dangerous.