Charity Gambling Ring: Boston Blackie (March 23, 1949)

“Charity Gambling Ring” is an episode of Boston Blackie, the old-time radio show, first broadcast March 23, 1949. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

When a charity bazaar is revealed to be a front for illegal gambling, Boston Blackie becomes involved after his friend Mary Wesley is questioned by police. A man named Hobo Jennings, who ran the rigged roulette wheels, is murdered, and then another associate is killed. Blackie investigates to uncover who is running the criminal operation.

A city with a police department, apartments, a charity bazaar venue, and a police headquarters with evidence rooms.

Characters: Boston Blackie, Mary Wesley, Inspector Faraday, Sergeant Matthew, Fancy Dan Carpenter, Patricia Weatherford, Pappy Bryant, Hobo Jennings

Listen for: A clever murder method involving a roulette wheel and a locked desk drawer with a mechanically triggered gun; Blackie's deduction about who has the mechanical knowledge to devise such a trap.

Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.