L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City

District Attorney Buron Fitts: Central Avenue played an important and unique role in Los Angeles politics. During the 1920s, its large and fast-growing African American population emerged as one of the only reliable voting blocks in the city. A handful of political bosses controlled many of these votes and were sometimes able to demand considerable freedom for illicit activities, a situation that greatly frustrated African American progressives like Charlotta Bass Hayes, publisher of the California Eagle. Parrish, For the People, 127; Woods, “The Progressives and the Police,” 347.

“You never heard of…”: Jennings, We Only Kill Each Other, 60.

Bugsy Siegel was one: Jennings, We Only Kill Each Other, 27.

The next day the: Muir, Headline Happy, 167-69; Richardson, For the Life of Me, 4-5.

Mickey and Bugsy: Cohen, In My Own Words, 58.

“I found Benny a …”: Later (much later) Cohen would circulate stories of how he’d stood up to “the Bug” at their first meeting (while generally omitting the story of what happened to him as a result). Cohen, In My Own Words, 38. Cohen’s comments to Ben Hecht in the mid-1950s make it clear that even at his craziest, Mickey knew how powerful Siegel was. Hecht Papers, Newberry Library.

It was an arrangement: Cohen, In My Own Words, 36.

Only after the countess: Jennings, We Only Kill Each Other, 74-78, provides a somewhat fanciful account of this episode.

The evening before Thanksgiving: “Widow of Victim Heard at Murder Trial of Siegel: Heard Shots Killing Mate,” Los Angeles Times, January 27, 1942, A1; “Siegel and Carbo Identified as Murder Aides, Tannenbaum Tells Killing,” Los Angeles Times, January 28, 1942, A1.

Abe “Kid Twist” Reles: Turkus and Feder, Murder, Inc., 52.

In January 1940, two: Nash, World Encyclopedia of Organized Crime, 331.

It took twelve days: Turkus and Feder, Murder, Inc., 67.

Reles wasn’t prosecutors’ only: “Murder Plot Story Filed: Testimony Transcript in Siegel Case Gives Gang,” Los Angeles Times, August 31, 1940, A1.

The raiding party—three: Jennings, We Only Kill Each Other, 47-48.

Bugsy’s bed was still: “Siegel’s Attic Capture Told, Witnesses at Death Trial Describe Hunt in Suspect’s Mansion,” Los Angeles Times, January 31, 1942, A1. See also Jennings, We Only Kill Each Other, 100-101; Muir, Happy Holidays, 176-77.

Dockweiler was in a: Dean Jennings argues that O’Dwyer was on the take (We Only Kill Each Other, 121). Jerry Giesler argued that prosecutors in L.A. were on the take (The Jerry Giesler Story, 237-38).

Back in New York: “Plunge Fatal to Gangster, State Witness Against Buchalter and Others Attempts to Escape,” Los Angeles Times, November 13, 1941, 2.

What had happened to: “Abe Reles Killed Trying to Escape, Sheet Rope Fails After He Lowers Himself from 6th to 5th Floor, Motive Puzzles Police,” New York Times, November 13, 1941, 29. Jennings, We Only Kill Each Other, 128-29, makes the case for defenestration.

Without Reles, the prosecution’s: Giesler, The Jerry Giesler Story, 239-40.

But Robinson: For an assessment of his gang and an account of the meeting, see Hecht notes, Ben Hecht Papers, Newberry Library, Chicago.

“The poor bookmakers”: Ben Hecht Papers, Newberry Library, Chicago.

“Dragna was inactive at: Cohen would later claim that he had been attuned to the danger of a resentful Dragna all along (In My Own Words, 63). This is the wisdom of hindsight.

Sica did. Then he: Cohen, In My Own Words, 62.

Utley took it bravely: “Report Hints Cohen Had Part in Slayings,” Los Angeles Times, June 16, 1959; “Mad Gunman Captured, Mickey Cohen Tells Inside Story of L.A.,” Los Angeles Times, November 18, 1950, 1.

Jack Dragna was less: Cohen, In My Own Words, 63-64.

Chapter Ten: L.A. Noir

“If you’re going to …”: Wilkerson III, The Man Who Invented Las Vegas, 12.

Bugsy Siegel wasn’t: For more on Hohmann, see Sjoquist, History of the Los Angeles Police Department, 84; and Woods, “The Progressives and the Police,” 380.

Hohmann had been: Woods, “The Progressives and the Police,” 381.

As chief, Hohmann had: “Special Police Groups Press Fight on Crime, Cities Combat Increased Felonies with Crack Units; in Los Angeles It’s ‘Metro,’” Los Angeles Times, February, 23, 1964.

Bill Parker was demoralized: Woods, “The Progressives and the Police,” 420.

JAPS OPEN WAR ON: AP headline immediately following Pearl Harbor.