"True Stories of Real Crimes!"
Gang Busters had several precedents, beginning with the 1935 movie starring Jimmy Cagney. The success of that film led radio producer/director Phillips Lord, in association with J. Edgar Hoover, to produce G-Men. which produced dramatized FBI cases. Hoover was particular about the types of programs he would approve: the cases had to be closed ones, and could not feature much violence or gunfire, rather concentrating on the investigative skills of his department. G-Men ran on NBC Radio from July 20 to October 12, 1935.
Gang Busters was Lord's "sequel" to G-Men. The popular program ran for 21 years, beginning on January 15, 1936 and ending on November 27, 1957. To add authenticity, Lord had Norman Schwarzkopf, Sr., the head of the New Jersey State Police, introduce the program. (Schwarzkopf was the father of General "Stormin' Norman" of the Gulf War fame; Schwarzkopf was also one of the main figures who bungled the Lindbergh kidnapping case.)
The radio program ran variously on CBS, the Blue Network, back on CBS, and finally on the Mutual Broadcasting System. Among the actors appearing on the radio program were Richard Widmark, Art Carney, Frank Lovejoy, Larry Haines, and Leon Janney. The radio show spawned a DC comic book which ran from 1947 to 1958, as well as several Big Little Books. A serial theatrical film featuring Kent Taylor, Ralph Morgan, and Robert Armstrong was released in 1942.
On March 20, 1952, the television series was born, appearing NBC and hosted by Chester Morris. (It went off the air in 1953; it alternated its time spot with Dragnet, and when the Jack Webb show was able to produce weekly episodes, Gang Busters was jettisoned.
During its run, some 49 episodes were aired, a number of them lost to time. The cast varied from episode to episode.
In this episode. the brutal Scissors Gang had committed at least fifty robberies in the Nutmeg State and it was up to the Connecticut State Police to stop them. It was directed by W. Lee Wilder and scripted by Lord. Featured actors were John Raven, Lyle Talbot, and Peter Davis. Look closely and you'll see Robert Bice, who had a recurring role in The Untouchables. Look even closer and you might recognize Michael Mark, who once played Joe Palooka's father and was in Son of Frankenstein and The Wasp Woman.
Enjoy this episode from the days when crime did not pay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9xKBc3IUN8
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