The FBI Story

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Flight number 21.

Flight number 21, leaving at 6: 15,

now boarding at gate 12.

Webster's International Dictionary

defines murder...

...as the unlawful taking of human life

by another human being.

On a November evening in 1955,

the definition became obsolete.

A mass murder was being planned.

The instrument of murder

was hidden in a battered suitcase...

...at a Midwest airport.

There'll be an excess

weight charge of $ 13.

Goodness, I didn't know

it was that heavy.

Only one person in the world knew why

the woman's luggage was so heavy.

Only one man knew

that a time bomb...

...was buried in the contents

of her suitcase.

He knew because he was the man

who had put it there.

He also knew that the suitcase

would be placed...

...in the cargo pit of an airplane.

An airplane scheduled

to carry four crew members...

...and 45 passengers.

- Here you are, Mrs. King.

- Thank you.

- Sign right here, Mother.

- Life insurance?

Yeah, I'm superstitious.

It's only when somebody hasn't got it

that things seem to go wrong.

Oh, my.

Thirty-seven thousand five hundred.

- Maybe you'll be rich.

- I hope not.

Oh, now, don't you worry

about me, son.

These airships fly millions of miles

without an accident.

I'll be dropping you a postcard

from Portland tomorrow.

Your attention, please.

This is the final call

for flight number 21.

- Flight 21 boarding at gate 12.

- That's us. Come on.

All aboard, please.

Now, you be careful while I'm away.

Don't get into any more trouble.

I won't. Now, you better get aboard.

- Goodbye, darling.

- Goodbye.

- Goodbye, dear.

- Goodbye, Mother.

Look.

The murder took place at 7:37,

on schedule.

And 49 men, women and children,

who never had anything in common...

...became final companions.

A number of organizations

were immediately involved...

...one of them an agency at 9th

and Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington.

Thousands of men and women

work for this organization.

Their daily chores

and their lives make up:

A few hours after

the Colorado airplane disaster...

...FBI agents joined with engineers

and CAB investigators...

...to collect and study the evidence.

The floor of a warehouse

was converted...

...into a scaled-down grid map

of the crash scene.

Each piece of wreckage

was placed on the grid...

...in the exact position

in which it was found.

The next step was to reassemble

the pieces into a rough facsimile...

...of the destroyed plane.

This revealed a jagged hole

near cargo pit number four.

The Civil Aeronautics Board

asked the FBI...

...to begin a sabotage investigation.

In less than three hours, over 100 agents

in 20 different cities went to work...

...digging into the backgrounds

of passengers and crew members.

They were looking

for any stray item...

...which might indicate sabotage...

...or murder.

They talked to everyone concerned:

Relatives, friends and enemies.

I understand that you were

acquainted with Mrs. King.

Yes, sir.

She used to live right next door there

with her kid.

He forged a check once or twice...

...and he was pinched

for bootlegging.

Remember anything else

that might help us?

No, except his mother

didn't seem to mind very much.

She acted like he was just having

a streak of bad manners or something.

That's about all I can recall.

I guess it doesn't amount to much.

But it did amount to something.

It brought into focus the name

and the face of Jack Graham.

It wasn't much, but sometimes

it doesn't take much.

One time, a crowbar

won't bend a cobweb.

Another time, a falling leaf

will start an avalanche.

It was a lead.

The whole FBI was alerted.

Agents in the field collected every available

piece of information on Jack Graham.

From people who knew him.

From people who didn't know

that they knew him.

- Operator.

- It was all relayed to Washington.

It was combined with information

from bureau files.

FBI Headquarters.

A pattern began to emerge,

and it boiled down to this:

Jack Graham was very sentimental

about insurance.

He'd collected on it twice.

The first time, it was an explosion

in a restaurant his mother owned.

Another time, he stalled a pickup truck

on the railroad tracks.

He seemed very surprised

when the train happened by.

And finally...

...he'd insured his mother's life.

By now, FBI chemists

had found something else.

A piece of metal taken from the crash

showed traces of sodium carbonate...

...sodium nitrate

and sulfur-bearing compounds.

These are chemicals found

after an explosion of dynamite.

There was now enough evidence

to move forward.

Carefully detailed instructions

went out to the Denver Field Office.

What is your name?

I'm John Gilbert Graham.

- Your address?

- 2750 Pitcher Road.

We want to advise you of your rights.

The door over there is open.

You can walk out any time you wish.

Or there's a telephone.

You can call an attorney.

Because anything you say here...

...can be used against you

in a court of law.

- Is that clear?

- That's clear. I've got nothing to hide.

She did her own packing.

I haven't got the slightest idea

about anything that was in the baggage.

But the next day,

agents talked to a family friend.

A discrepancy showed up.

Yes, Jack had a package for her

to take along on the trip.

It was wrapped like a gift.

I guess he wanted to surprise her.

I guess he did.

Do you know what it was?

Well, yes, it was a set of drills

and files and cutting tools.

His mother had a hobby of making

costume jewelry from seashells.

That's what the set of tools was for.

Do you remember anything else?

No, not that I recall.

She said you purchased

a toolkit for your mother.

Don't you remember?

Oh, come to think of it,

I did buy a toolkit last month.

And I put it in her suitcase.

It wasn't important. I'd forgotten it.

We've checked all the stores

in Denver that sell that kind of thing.

Yeah, well...

Well, I didn't buy it in Denver.

But you haven't been out of Denver

for two years. We've checked that too.

Look, we wanna remind you again

that you have certain rights.

You bet I have, and I wanna

get this straight.

Are you insinuating

I blew up that plane?

No. We don't insinuate.

We simply collect evidence.

Well, okay, I got nothing

to be afraid of, then.

I didn't do anything.

- Do you mind if we search your home?

- No, I don't care.

You won't find anything.

Sign this waiver, please.

In Graham's house,

the agents found a small coil of wire.

The kind which can be used

to detonate dynamite.

And finally, they found the last link.

A storekeeper verified

that he'd sold material to Jack Graham.

The sales order read:

"One timing device,

25 sticks of dynamite."

A medical doctor

attested to the fact...

...that Graham

was in sound mental condition.

Graham formally acknowledged

that he was not speaking under duress.

He acknowledged a lot more too.

So then I slipped the bomb

into her suitcase.

Twenty-five sticks of dynamite...

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