Racket Squad

Episode 1

Check and Double Check

Thu, Sep 4, 1952 30 mins

A criminal gang uses kids to cash stolen checks in stores and swindle merchandise out of them. Capt. Braddock investigates.

Episode 2

Heartbreak for Sale

Thu, Sep 11, 1952 30 mins

A heartbroken mother whose son is in prison is approached by a con man who says he can pull some strings with the Parole Board to get an early release in return for money. She desperately pays the man and is disappointed once again when she realizes she's been scammed.

Episode 3

Charge It, Please

Thu, Sep 18, 1952 30 mins

Capt. Braddock looks into a credit-card fraud operation.

Episode 4

A Letter from Tessie

Thu, Sep 25, 1952 30 mins

The squad investigates a chain-letter scam.

Episode 5

The Expensive Tumble

Thu, Oct 2, 1952 30 mins

An insurance fraud case is referred to the squad for investigation.

Episode 6

Beauty for Hire

Thu, Oct 9, 1952 30 mins

Young woman falls victim to a two-stage scam while her man is away fighting in Korea. When a modeling agency to whom she had sent photos sends a letter requesting a meeting, she bites. Of course they tell her they will make a top notch model out of her once they train her. All she has to do is contribute a small share of her "training expenses". Once she has blown all her savings on the "training expenses", they pass her along to stage two of the scam. Here, she serves as a cocktail waitress in a nightclub and making no money.

Episode 7

The Suit Club

Thu, Oct 23, 1952 30 mins

Capt. Braddock sets out to bust up an illegal gambling operation.

Episode 8

The Front Man

Thu, Oct 30, 1952 30 mins

Two con artists target a poor Russian violin player to be the front man for their oil drilling scam. However, what the con artists do not realize is that their front man has a real oil executive who is a fan of his music, and who also happens to be friends with Captain Braddock.

Episode 9

At Your Service

Thu, Nov 6, 1952 30 mins

A con artist passes himself off as a handyman in order to swindle people out of their money.

Episode 10

The Label Switchers

Thu, Nov 13, 1952 30 mins

Capt. Braddock investigates reports that a gang is putting labels from expensive stores on cheap merchandise and then passing them off as the real thing.

Episode 11

Blessed Expense

Thu, Nov 20, 1952 30 mins

A struggling service station owner who has recently learned his wife is pregnant is conned into buying cut-rate health insurance from a pair bunko artists.

Episode 12

Strictly Legal

Thu, Nov 27, 1952 30 mins

Capt. Braddock investigates a shady real-estate operation that obtains property through foreclosures.

Episode 13

The Elephant in Stockings

Fri, Dec 12, 1952 30 mins

An aging businessman is stuck with a boxcar full of bad stockings which he cannot return because the seller has gone bankrupt. A younger con artist offers to get rid of the stockings for half of the proceeds. The old man agrees to the arrangement on the condition that the con artist not tell the old man how he is disposing of the stockings. The con man proceeds to quickly sell off the bad stockings by establishing a chain-selling scheme.

Episode 14

False Tape

Thu, Dec 18, 1952 30 mins

Someone is blackmailing a man with tapes of phone calls he made to his mistress. Capt. Braddock investigates.

Episode 15

The Christmas Caper

Thu, Dec 25, 1952 30 mins

Anxious to earn extra money to buy Christmas gifts for the children in his tenement building, elderly pensioner Charles Dooley takes a job as a bell-ringing street corner Santa Claus. He is unaware that his "employers" are actually swindlers who keep the funds for themselves, and he does not learn the truth until he goes to collect his pay on Christmas Eve. Desperate to keep from disappointing the children to whom he has promised gifts, he takes the money he has collected and uses it to buy the presents. Captain Braddock and Officer Seidel initially suspect that Dooley may be complicit in the swindle, but they learn the truth when they go to his tenement building to arrest him and find Dooley dressed as Santa Claus and giving much-appreciated gifts to the children and their parents. Captain Braddock realizes that he will be in the unenviable position of arresting "Santa Claus" on Christmas Eve unless he can somehow legitimize Dooley's well-intentioned actions.

Episode 16

The System

Thu, Jan 1, 1953 30 mins

An elderly con man uses his daughter's charms to lure men into his scheme. Dad claims to have develop a "system" for betting on horses that's practically perfect. He demonstrates it to his latest sucker, Don Reardon, by adjusting clocks by a half hour so his assistant can provide him with the results of a current race and then play tape-delayed recording of the "live" results on their rigged-out radio.

Episode 17

Baby Face Con

Fri, Jan 9, 1953 30 mins

Episode 18

The Case of the Dancing Lady

Thu, Feb 12, 1953 30 mins

A newlywed couple complains to Capt. Braddock that a dance studio has swindled them out of money. Braddock investigates.

Episode 19

His Brother's Keeper

Thu, Feb 26, 1953 30 mins

An elderly gambler nicknamed Long Shot poses as a deaf panhandler, and the money he collects he uses for gambling. However, a criminal gang is already using that same scam on a citywide basis, and they don't look too kindly on Long Shot cutting into their action.

Episode 20

Friend of the People

Thu, Mar 12, 1953 30 mins

Episode 21

Antique Racket

Thu, Mar 19, 1953 30 mins

A con artist selling phony antiques comes to the attention of Capt. Braddock and the squad.

Episode 22

Girl in the Mink Coat

Thu, Apr 9, 1953 30 mins

Capt. Braddock goes after a female con artist known only as "The Girl in the Mink Coat".

Episode 23

The Big Touch

Thu, Apr 23, 1953 30 mins

Capt. Braddock goes undercover to investigate a con game that he believes has ties to an organized-crime ring.

Episode 24

The White Carnation

Thu, Jun 18, 1953 30 mins

Capt. Braddock gets complaints about a con man's activities, but the only description he has of the man is that he wears a white carnation in the lapel of his jacket.

Episode 25

Take a Little, Leave a Little

Thu, Jul 2, 1953 30 mins

A pleasant man moves to a small town. He gives himself out as being a famous geologist, an expert in locating oil-deposits by signs in the surface of the landscape. Soon he is introduced into the community of the local businessmen. He reveals to them that he has found signs of an oil-deposit just outside the town. He offers them shares in the oil-field on very good conditions, but as soon as the money is paid and the contracts are signed, he prepares to leave the town immediately.

Episode 26

The Case of Lady Luck

Mon, Jul 6, 1953 30 mins

Julia Bentley, the new wife of influential Sam Bentley, arouses suspicion by her consistent and profitable success in the members' bridge games at Big Oaks Country Club. In hopes of avoiding a divisive confrontation with Sam Bentley, Club Committeeman Tom Grant asks Captain Braddock to discreetly investigate the matter. He agrees to do so, and enlists the services of reformed cardsharp Chip Madigan to observe Julia and determine the reasons for her success. Chip's background enables him to easily discern Julia's methods for obtaining winning hands and, at Captain Braddock's urging, he puts a gentle but definite end to her chicanery by giving the club members an impromptu demonstration of card manipulation techniques.

Episode 27

The Gentler Sex

Mon, Jul 13, 1953 30 mins

Capt. Braddock goes after a female con artist whose specialty is making men underestimate her, then taking them for everything they've got.

Episode 28

Sale Value

Mon, Jul 20, 1953 30 mins

A con man just released from prison sets his sights on a successful businessman and schemes to swindle him out of his company.

Episode 29

Phony Photo Contest

Mon, Jul 27, 1953 30 mins

Capt. Braddock uncovers information that leads to a prostitution ring.

Episode 30

Fraudulent Nursery School

Mon, Aug 3, 1953 30 mins

Capt. Braddock looks into a nursery school that may not be quite what it appears to be.

Episode 31

Romance Unlimited

Mon, Aug 10, 1953 30 mins

A woman victimizes men in overseas military service by marrying them for their allotments. One soldier returns unexpectedly and learns the truth and, filled with bitterness, holds her hostage with a plan to kill her. Captain John Braddock asks his mother to appeal to him to spare him from ruining his future.

Episode 32

Impatient Heir

Mon, Aug 17, 1953 30 mins

A young man buys a policy from a man that will allow him to use some of the money left to him by his grandfather to pay his debts. The man he bought the policy from has added a clause to his copy that will allow him to collect on the inheritance if the young man dies, and he attempts to kill the young man so as to acquire that inheritance. Captain Braddock stops him.

Episode 33

Diamond Smugglers

Mon, Aug 24, 1953 30 mins

Capt. Braddock receives information about a gang that's smuggling diamonds into the city.

Episode 34

Sting of Fate

Mon, Aug 31, 1953 30 mins

A man and woman team of confidence operators fake injuries in hotels in order to extort money. They use wasp stings to simulate the swelling of a real sprain, but a hotel employee helps Braddock expose the con and break the case.

Episode 35

The Case of the Sure Thing

Mon, Sep 7, 1953 30 mins

Charmed by a female con artist and her fake uncle sucker Mr. Crowley in a horse-race scam. After she presents him with a sob story about a sick husband and manipulates him into giving her a ride to visit her Uncle Dave, who runs a telegraph company involved in horse racing results. Uncle Dave tells about having to fire an employee for using inside information to made "sure thing" bets on the races, having the results in his hand. This gives Mr. Crowley an idea--not realizing it was the woman and her uncle/lover who planted the idea in his head.