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

Mickey interjected. “Right now, …”: Cohen would later claim that Sack-man had set him up. The supposed rationale for the double-cross had to do with the problems Sackman himself was experiencing with the revenue bureau in connection with the Guarantee Finance Company. By offering the bureau Cohen, Mickey believed that Sackman was trying to save himself. This theory may be true. During the sentencing, Judge Harris would go so far as to state that Cohen “had talked himself into this case” by giving the revenue bureau a false statement when he could simply have remained silent. “Mickey Cohen Gets 5 Years, $10,000 Fine,” Los Angeles Times, July 10, 1951, 1; Hill, “5-Year Term Given to Mickey Cohen; Judge Finds Gambler ‘Not So Bad,’” New York Times, July 10, 1951, 1.

A request: The description that follows comes from Cohen manuscript, Hecht Papers, Newberry Library.

“I am praying that…”: “Jigs & Judgments,” Time, July 23, 1951.

One day in early: “Mickey Shifted to New Jail to End ‘Privileges,’ Crowding at County Bastille the Official Cause,” Hollywood Citizen-News, February 8,1952.

Cohen was placed in: “Cohen ‘Safe’ in U.S. Cell, Moved to Federal Pen, Brutality By Police Told,” Los Angeles Herald-Express, February 14, 1952.

“Mickey, my God, why: Cohen manuscript, Ben Hecht Papers, Newberry Library.

Although their client was: Lewis, Hollywood’s Celebrity Gangster, 124.

“Mickey is in”: Hecht, “Mickey Notes,” 9, Hecht Papers, Newberry Library.

Chapter Sixteen: Dragnet

The trouble arrived on: See Edward Escobar’s definitive article, “Bloody Christmas and the Irony of Police Professionalism: The Los Angeles Police Department, Mexican Americans, and Police Reform in the 1950s,” 171. This incident also inspired the opening scenes of the James Ellroy book (later movie) L.A. Confidential.

From the perspective of: Said the arresting officer later, “Sure I hit him. He was kicking at me with his feet. I only used necessary force to subdue him.” “Parker Clams Up on Jury Quiz,” Los Angeles Daily News, March 27, 1952; Escobar, “Bloody Christmas and the Irony of Police Professionalism,” 187.

Christmas was a special: Author interview with Harold Sullivan, July 26, 2007. The department would later insist, implausibly, that officers at Central station were consuming only ice cream, pie and cake, and coffee that evening. “‘Cops So Drunk They Fought Each Other to Beat Us,’” Los Angeles Herald-Express, March 19, 1952.

The prisoners were taken: “6 on Trial Tell More Police Brutalities,” Los Angeles Daily News, March 6, 1952. See also “Wild Party by 100 Police Described, Youth Tells of Beatings at Police Yule Party,” Los Angeles Examiner, March 19, 1952; “‘Cops So Drunk They Fought Each Other to Beat Us,’” Los Angeles Herald-Express, March 19, 1952; “Bare Yule Police Brutality Transcript,” Los-Angeles Daily News, May 13, 1952.

Two months after the: Escobar, “Bloody Christmas,” 185. “East side” was a phrase originally used to describe the area east of Main Street.

Parker’s initial response to: “Chief Shrugs at Claim of Cop Brutality, Police Brutality Gets Brush-off by Chief Parker,” Los Angeles Mirror, February 27, 1952; “Chief Parker Hits Brutality Stories,” Los Angeles Times, February 28, 1952. In Parker’s defense, it should be noted that the particular cause of the chief’s complaint—an allegation by a Latino doctor that a police officer had fired on him—did indeed prove to be unsubstantiated.

The liberal Daily News: Los Angeles Times, March 6, 1952.

Local Democrats unanimously passed: “PARKER FORCED TO ACT ON BRUTALITY, Cop Brutality Quiz Demanded by L.A. Judge,” Los Angeles Mirror, March 13, 1952; “F.B.I. Probing L.A. Police Brutality,” Los Angeles Times, March 14, 1952.

Belatedly, Parker recognized the: See “Florabel Muir Reporting,” Los Angeles Mirror, March 14, 1953, for a column on the chief’s change of heart.

But Parker’s story had: “Florabel Muir Reporting,” Los Angeles Mirror, March 20, 1952.

“Boys Tell Police Beating,”: March 19, 1952; “An Inadequate Answer,” Los Angeles Examiner editorial, May 2, 1952, describes the initial Internal Affairs’ report, which found no evidence of abuse.

Meanwhile, more reports of: “Move for Action on L.A. Police Brutality Charges,” Los Angeles Daily News, February 26, 1952; “Parker Clams Up on Jury Quiz,” Los Angeles Daily News, March 27, 1952.

Parker’s job was in: “Police Brutality Probe Is Overdue,” Los Angeles Mirror, March 14, 1952; Webb, The Badge, 174-75.