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

On the morning of: Underwood, Newspaperwoman, 175.

“They told me they …”: Richardson, For the Life of Me, 221-22.

The next morning, Raymond’s: See Weinstock, My L.A., 56-57, for an account of the connections between Raymond, Clinton, and the Combination; Sit-ton, Los Angeles Transformed, 17-18.

Chief Davis’s career: Domanick, To Protect and to Serve, 77-78.

In April 1938, the: Underwood, Newspaperwoman, 176-78.

Davis parried that everyone: “Davis Defends Police Spying at Bombing Trial, Bitter Clashes Mark Chief’s Day on Stand,” Los Angeles Times, April 27, 1941, 1. See also Domanick, To Protect and to Serve, 76; Woods, “The Progressives and the Police,” 361; and “The Case of Earl Kynette,” Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, July 8, 1966.

One year earlier, Mayor: See Sitton, Los Angeles Transformed, 18-23, for the definitive account of the race.

In theory, thanks to: Sitton, Los Angeles Transformed, 32.

Despite his closeness to: “Chief Shifts 28 Officers in New Shake-Up of Police,” Los Angeles Times, March 9, 1939, 2.

A few days later: Gambling ships first appeared off the coast as early as 1923, but it was Tony Cornero who had the audacity to reconceive of them as floating casinos. He would die of a heart attack eighteen years later at a craps table in Las Vegas, just months before he, Milton “Farmer” Page, and other Combination figures finished building the world’s largest casino, The Stardust. At Cornero’s request, a band played “The Wabash Cannonball” at his funeral. Richardson, For the Life of Me, 227.

There was just one: “Chief Shifts 28 Officers in New Shake-Up of Police,” Los Angeles Times, March 9, 1939, 2.

Mayor Bowron was exultant.: Richardson, For the Life of Me, 219-28; Woods, “The Progressives and the Police,” 367.

Yet the triumph of: Los Angeles’s city charter sharply curtailed the power of the mayor. City departments operated under the control of general managers who enjoyed civil-service protection and who answered to independent boards of commissioners. Mayors enjoyed only the right to nominate commissioners (who then had to be approved by the city council), though mayors frequently sought to expand their authority by demanding written resignations in advance. Woods, “The Progressives and the Police,” 370.

In theory, promotion in: Author interview with Harold Sullivan, July 26, 2007.

The acting chief of: Woods, “The Progressives and the Police,” 371.

One hundred seventy-one: See William H. Parker Police Foundation archives for this and other Civil Service board notices.

From the first, Bill: Letter of recommendation from Inspector E. B. Caldwell, Parker Foundation archives; “Police Due for Shake-up Tomorrow, Chief Announces: New Divisions Will Be Organized and Shifts Made of Many Uniformed Officers in Sweeping Program,” Los Angeles Times, November 30, 1939. See also Sjoquist, History of the Los Angeles Police Department, 84.

Demoralized by his de facto: Letter from Caldwell to HQ Los Angeles Officer Procurement District, February 23, 1939, William H. Parker Police Foundation archives.

Chapter Nine: Getting Away with Murder (Inc.)

“Men who have lived”: Muir, Headline Happy, 161.

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.