by James Ellroy
Shipstad: "There's no evidence sticker on this bag of white powder, Lieutenant."
Milner: "I think he's got a habit."
His partner: "Stemmons sure as hell did."
Noonan tugged his necktie-his underlings walked out.
Shipstad: "Do you wish to examine the arrest warrant, Mr. Klein?"
Noonan: "We'll have to amend it to include violation of Federal narcotics statutes."
I threw a guess out: "You rigged the warrant with a friendly judge. You told Ruiz to lie, then recant when you turned me. You told the judge what you were doing. It's a Federal warrant on some trumped-up civil-rights violation, not a California Manslaughter One paper, because no Superior Court judge would sign it."
Noonan: "Well, it got your attention. And of course we have binding evidence."
"Release me."
Noonan: "I said '_binding_.'"
Shipstad: "Shortly after we released you early this morning, Abe Voldrich was released to take care of some personal business. He was found murdered this afternoon. He left a suicide note, which a graphologist examined and said was written under physical duress. Voldrich had agreed to testify as a Federal witness, on all matters pertaining to the Kafesjian family and this perhaps tangential burglary investigation that you and the late Sergeant Stemmons were involved in. An agent went by his house to pick Voldrich up for more questioning and found him."
Noonan: "Agent Milner canvassed the area. A 1956 powder-blue Pontiac coupe was seen parked by his house around the approximate time of his death."
Shipstad: "Did you kill him?"
Noonan: "You own a blue automobile, don't you?"
"You know I didn't kill him. You know it's Tommy and J.C. You know that I own a dark blue '55 Dodge."
Shipstad: "The Kafesjians have an excellent alibi for the time of Voldrich's death."
Noonan: "They were at home, under twenty-four-hour Federal surveillance."
"So they called out a contract."
Shipstad: "No, their phone was tapped."
Noonan: "And _had_ been tapped, going back prior to the time we picked up Voldrich."
"What else did they discuss on the phone?"
Shipstad: "Unrelated matters. Nothing pertaining to that Richie you seemed to be so interested in last night."
Scooped--no Herrick update--clueless on the South Arden slaughter.
"Get to it. Get to 'binding evidence.'"
Noonan: "Your appraisal of the situation first, Mr. Klein."
"You want to take three witnesses to the grand jury. I'm one, one just died, one's this so-called major surprise witness. You're short a man, so you're doubling up on me. That's my appraisal, _so let's hear your offer_."
Noonan: "Immunity on the Johnson killing. Immunity on all potential criminal charges that you might accrue. A written guarantee that no Federal tax liens will be filed against you should it be revealed that you have unreported income earned as a direct result of criminal conspiracies that you've engaged in. For this, you agree to enter Federal custody and testify in open court as to your knowledge of the Kafesjian family, their LAPD history and most importantly your own history of dealings with organized crime, _excluding_ Mickey Cohen."
Light bulb--Major Witness Mickey.
Reflex jolt--never.
"You bluffed, I call."
Shipstad ripped the draping off the walls. Shredded paper in piles-- column graphs underneath.
I stood up. Boldface print--easy to read.
Column one: names and dates--my mob hits.
Column two: my property transactions detailed. Corresponding dates--Real Estate Board kickbacks--five thousand dollars each--my clip fee funneled.
Column three: kickback receivers listed. Detailed: slum dives offered to me lowball cheap. Corresponding dates: escrow and closing.
Column four--Meg's tax returns '51--'57. Her _unreported_ cash listed and traced: to appraisers and permit signers bribed.
Column five--witness numbers--sixty-odd bribe takers listed.
Names and numbers--pulsing.
Noonan: "Much of the data regarding you is circumstantial and subject to interpretation. We've listed only the men that the underworld grapevine credits you with killing, and those five-thousand-dollar windfalls that followed are circumstantially seductive and not much more. The important thing is that you and your sister are indictable on seven counts of Federal tax fraud."
Shipstad: "I convinced Mr. Noonan to extend the immunity agreement to cover your sister. If you agree, Margaret Klein Agee will remain exempt from all Federal charges."
Noonan: "What's your answer?"
Shipstad: "Klein?"
Clock ticks, heartbeats--something short-circuiting inside me.
"I want four days' grace before I enter custody, and I want a Federal bank writ to allow me access to Junior Stemmons' safe-deposit boxes."
Shipstad, bait grabber: "Did he owe you money?"
"That's right."
Noonan: "I agree, provided a Federal agent goes with you to the bank."
A contract in my face--fine print pulsing.
I signed it.
_______________________________________
"You sound resigned."
"It's all gota life of its own."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning you should tell me things."
"You don't mention certain things. You call me from phone booths so you won't have to."
"I want to put it all together first."
"You said it's sorting itself out."
"It is, but I'm running out of time."
"You or we?"
"Just me."
"Don't start lying to me. Please."
"I'm just trying to put things straight."
"But you still won't tell me what you're doing."
"It's this trouble Igot you in. Let it go at that."
"I bought that trouble myself--you told me that."
"Now you sound resigned."
"Those Sheriff's men came by again."
"And?"
"And a cameraman told them we were sleeping together in my trailer."
"Do they know I was hired to tail you?"
"Yes.
"What did you tell them?"
"That I'm free, white and twenty-nine, and I'll sleep with whoever! want to.
"And?"
"And Bradley Milteer told them that you and Miciak had words. I said I met Miciak through Howard, and he was easy to dislike."
"Good, that was smart."
"Does this mean we're suspects?"
"It means they know my reputation."
"What reputation?"
"You know what I mean."
"That?"
"That."
"... Oh shit, David."
"Yeah, 'oh shit.'"
"Now you sound tired."
"I am tired. Tell me--"
"I knew that was coming."
"And?"
"And my clutch is still on the fritz, and Mickey asked me to marry him. He said he'd 'cut me loose' in five years and make me a star and he's been behaving as oblique as David Douglas Klein at his most guarded. He's got some kind of strange acting bug, and he keeps talking about his ~ue'and his 'curtain calL
"And?"
"How do you know there's more?"
"I can tell."
"Smart man."
"_And?_"
"And Chick Vecchio's been coming on to me. It's almost like.. ."
"His whole attitude changed overnight."
"Smart man."
"Don't worry, I'll take care of it."
"But you won't tell me what it's _about?_"
"Just hold on for a few more days."
"Because it's all sorting itself out?"
"Because there's still a chance I can force things our way."
"Suppose you can't?"
"Then at least I'll know."
"You sound resigned again."
"It's dues time. I can feel it."
__________________
_____________________
L.A. _Herald-Express_, 11/21/58:
HANCOCK PARK SLAYINGS SHOCK CITY
The murders of wealthy chemical engineer Phillip Herrick, 52, and his daughters Laura, 24, and Christine, 21, continue to shock the Southland and confound the Los Angeles Police Department with their brazen brutality.
In the mid afternoon hours of November 19th, police surmise that a man invaded the comfortable Tudor style home where widower Phillip Herrick lived with his two daughters. Forensic experts have reconstructed that he gained access through a flimsily locked back door, fatally poisoned the family's two dogs, then shot Phillip Herrick and employed gardening tools found on the premises to hideously mutilate both Mr. Herrick and the animals. Evidence indicates that Laura and Christine returned home at this point and surprised the killer, who similarly butchered them, showered himself free of their blood and donned clothes belonging to Mr. Herrick. He then either walked or drove away, accomplishing the bestial murders in something like near silence. Postal employee Roger Denton, attempting to deliver a special delivery package, saw blood on the inside den windows and immediately called police from a neighboring house.
"I was shocked," Denton told Herald reporters. "Because the Herricks are nice people who had already had their fill of tragedy."
FAMILY NO STRANGER TO TRAGEDY
As police began a house-to-house canvassing for possible witnesses and lab technicians sealed the premises off to search for clues, neighbors congregating outside in a state of horrified confusion told reporter Todd Walbrect of tragic recent turns in the family's affairs.
For many years the Herricks seemed to enjoy a happy life in affluent Hancock Park. Phillip Herrick, a chemist by trade and the owner of a chemical manufacturing business that supplied industrial solvents to Southland machine shops and dry-cleaning establishments, was active in the Lions Club and Rotary; Joan (Renfrew) Herrick did charitable work and headed drives to feed indigent skid row habitués festive Thanksgiving dinners. Laura and Christine matriculated at nearby Marlborough Girls' School and UCLA, and son Richard, now 26, attended public schools and played in their marching bands. But dark clouds were hovering: in August of 1955, "Richie" Herrick, 23, was arrested in Bakersfield: he sold marijuana and heroin-cocaine "goofballs" to an undercover police officer. Convicted of the offense, he was sentenced to four years in Chino Prison, a harsh sentence for a first offender, meted out by a judge anxious to establish a reputation for sternness.
Neighbors state that Richie's imprisonment broke Joan Herrick's heart. She began drinking and neglecting her charity work, and spent many hours alone listening to jazz records that Richie recommended to her in long letters from prison. In 1956 she attempted suicide; in September of 1957 Richie Herrick escaped from minimum-security Chino and remained at large, police believe, without ever contacting his mother. Joan Herrick went into what several acquaintances described as a "fugue state," and on February 14th of this year committed suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills.
Postman Roger Denton: "What a godawful shame that so much awfulness was visited on one nice family. I remember when Mr. Herrick put those heavy leaded windows in. He hated noise, and now the police say those windows helped stifle the noise of that killer fiend doing his work. I'll miss the Herricks and pray for them."
EXPRESSIONS OF SHOCK AS POLICE
INVESTIGATION SPREADS OUT
Shock waves have spread through Hancock Park and indeed the entire Southland, and a memorial service for Christine and Laura Herrick drew hundreds at Occidental College, where they were both enrolled in graduate programs. Locksmiths citywide have reported a tremendous business upswing; guard dog sales have doubled locally. Private security patrols for Hancock Park are being considered, and meanwhile police are jealously guarding investigatory information.
The Herrick investigation is being headed by Lieutenant David D. Klein, the commander of the Los Angeles Police Department's Administrative Vice Division, recently in the news when a Federal witness he was guarding committed suicide in his presence. Lieutenant Klein has detached a half dozen men from the Department's Internal Affairs Detail to work under him, along with his aide, Officer Sidney Riegle.
Chief of Detectives Edmund Exley defended his choice of Lieutenant Klein, 42, a 20 year officer with no Homicide Division experience. "Dave Klein is an attorney and a very savvy detective," he said. "He has worked on a burglary case that may be tangentially connected, and he is very good at keeping evidence under wraps. I want this case cleared, and so I have selected the best possible men to achieve that end."
Lieutenant Klein addressed reporters at the LAPD Detective Bureau. "This investigation is proceeding rapidly," he said, "and progress has been made. Many known associates of the Herrick family have been questioned and eliminated as suspects, and extensive canvassing of the area surrounding the murder scene yielded no eyewitnesses to the killer entering or leaving the Herrick home. We have eliminated robbery and revenge against the family as motives, and most importantly eliminated the Herrick's Chino escapee son Richard as a suspect. He had been our initial major suspect, and we had issued an all-points-bulletin to aid in his capture, but we have now lifted that bulletin, although Richard Herrick is an escaped felon and we would very much like to talk to him. We are now centering our search on a sexual psychopath rumored to be seen near Hancock Park shortly before the killings. Although the three victims were not specifically sexually assaulted, the crime has the earmarks of being perpetrated by a sexual deviate. I, personally, am convinced that this man, whose name I cannot reveal, is the killer. We are making every effort to apprehend him."
And, meanwhile, fear besieges the Southland. Police patrols in Hancock Park have been doubled and the current boom in home security measures continues.
A funeral service for Phillip, Laura and Christine Herrick will be held today at St. Basil's Episcopal Church in Brentwood.
L.A. _Times_, 11/21/58:
SOUTHSIDE CRIME WAVE AROUSES SUSPICION
Citing crime statistics and current rumors, U.S. Attorney Welles Noonan stated today that Southside Los Angeles is "boiling over with violent intrigue" that may well be "connected on some as yet undetermined level."
Noonan, heading up a much-publicized Federal rackets probe centered in South Central Los Angeles, spoke to reporters at his office.
"During the past four days eight violent deaths have occurred within a three-mile South Los Angeles radius," he said. "This is double the average of any one-month period of any given year going back to 1920. Add on the curious heart attack of a supposedly healthy young policeman at a nightclub later burned down, and count as perhaps curious the mutilated body of an unidentified man found two miles further south on the Compton--Lynwood border. Collectively, you have fodder for much interesting speculation."
Noonan elaborated. "Three nights ago an unexplained shootout at an illegal after hours club in Watts occurred," he said. "Two Negro men and three Negro women were killed, although rumors persist that one of the victims was white. The following morning a young LAPD officer named George Stemmons, Jr., was found dead, allegedly of a heart attack, in a back room at the Bido Lito's jazz club. A scant day and a half later Bido Lito's burned to the ground. Federal agents overheard an eyewitness tell LAPD detectives that he heard a Molotov-cocktail--like explosion moments before Bido Lito's caught fire, but the LAPD Arson Squad has now attributed the blaze, which took three lives, to a carelessly tossed cigarette."
Reporters interrupted the impromptu press conference with questions. Repeatedly stressed: the Federal rackets probe is specifically targeted to discredit the Los Angeles Police Department's Southside enforcement measures; isn't the U.S. Attorney taking an adversarial position predicated on incomplete information?
Noonan responded. "Granted," he said, "that unidentified body found in the L.A. County Sheriff's jurisdiction may be a non sequitur, but I ask you to consider the following.
"One, remember what I told you about that eyewitness to
the Bido Lito's fire. Two, consider that the father of the young policeman who expired of alleged heart failure at Bido Lito's earlier, himself a high-ranking Los Angeles police officer, stated that he thought his son was murdered. That man has been suspended from duty for his open criticism of Chief Ed Exley's handling of the situation, and is rumored to be resting at home under doctorordered sedation."
Reporters pressed: isn't the Federal-LAPD quagmire coming down to a battle waged by two highly respected, nationally known crimefighters: himself and LAPD Chief of Detectives Edmund Exley?
Noonan said, "No. I will not let personalities or political ambitions dictate the thrust of my investigation. What I do know is: after hours clubs are allowed to flourish in Watts under unofficial LAPD sanction. Five Negro citizens died as a result, and despite assigning a dozen officers to the case, Ed Exley has not been able to come up with a single arrest. He has shoved the suspicious death of a Los Angeles policeman under the carpet and has deliberately misrepresented the facts in a triple-homicide arson case."
In related developments, Noonan refused to comment on the persistent rumor that LAPD Narcotics Division officers are soon to be called in for questioning, or whether Abraham Voldrich, a rumored Federal witness recently deceased, was murdered or committed suicide.
"No comments on those questions," he said. "But on the topic of witnesses, let me state that when it comes time to present evidence to the Federal Grand Jury, I will offer a major surprise witness with extraordinary cachet and another witness prepared to give astonishing testimony."
Edmund Exley responded to the U.S. Attorney's accusations: "Welles Noonan is an unscrupulous hack politician with spurious liberal credentials. He has no grasp of the situation in Southside Los Angeles and his smear campaign against the LAPD is based on lies, fatuous rumors and innuendo. The Federal rackets probe is a politically motivated front aimed at establishing Noonan as a viable candidate for State office. It will fall because he has grievously underestimated the moral rectitude of the Los Angeles Police Department."
