The Monopoly Matter

What this episode covers

Originally Aired: December 1, 1953Johnny Dollar #191, "The Monopoly Matter," insurance investigator Johnny Dollar rushes to the outskirts of Waterbury at the request of Mr. Brandt to examine a suspicious fire at a recreation club. Arriving while firefighters are still battling the blaze, Dollar teams up with Fire Captain McGready to sift through the smoking ruins. The evidence quickly points to arson—broken bottles, unburned cloth, and the telltale signs of Molotov cocktails thrown through a window. The Monopoly Club, a seemingly innocent establishment where factory workers gathered to play the popular board game in organized tournaments, has been burned to its foundations.Dollar tracks down the owner, Gerald Hobson, a nervous man who claims his club offered only harmless entertainment—monopoly games, cards, soft drinks and candy. When Dollar probes about possible gambling operations that might explain the arson, Hobson insists his establishment was completely legitimate. However, he reveals a troubling detail: just a week earlier, someone visited him demanding protection money, threatening to put him out of business for good. Hobson paid the hundred dollars and reported the incident to police, but now his club lies in ashes, and Dollar must determine whether this was a protection racket carried out or something else entirely.

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