The Big Red Part 1

Originally Aired: January 3, 1952 Dragnet #134, "The Big Red Part 1," Sergeant Joe Friday receives an unexpected contact from Jack Wallace, a former narcotics suspect he once arrested. Wallace, recently released from county jail, reaches out to repay Friday for the help the detective provided to his struggling family during his incarceration. Meeting at Lincoln Park, Wallace reveals crucial information about a major narcotics operation that has just hit Los Angeles. A New York operator known as Cadillac Red and his crew are sitting on six kilos of high-quality Mexican heroin worth close to fifty thousand dollars, but they are desperately searching for reliable pushers and contacts to move the merchandise. Friday sees an opportunity to infiltrate the organization and proposes that Wallace introduce him as a buyer from Fresno. The case becomes a race against time as Friday and his partner Ed Jacobs prepare to go deep undercover, setting up operations away from the office and waiting for Wallace's call after Red makes contact. Captain Kearney recognizes the magnitude of the situation, calling it the kind of break a cop gets once in a lifetime. With Wallace attempting to obtain a sample of the heroin and the gang growing increasingly nervous, Friday prepares for what could be one of the most dangerous operations of his career.