by John Buntin
Poulson struggled in his: “Responses to Questions of the Los Angeles City Council Concerning a Juvenile Gang Attack on a Citizen in Downtown Los Angeles Which Resulted in His Death, Given by Los Angels [sic] Chief of Police W H. Parker on December 8, 1953,” Police Department files, Escobar collection, Tucson, AZ.
But when Leask presented: Memorandum from Parker to the Board of Police Commissioners, “Subject: Progress Report—August 9, 1950, to January 1, 1953,” January 7, 1953, Escobar collection, Tucson, AZ.
“You talk like you’re …”: “Charge 750 Police in Office Jobs, Quiz Chief,” Los Angeles Herald-Express, May 5, 1954; Williams, “Mayor and Parker in Sharp Clashes: Poulson, Police Chief and Leask Argue Heatedly at Public Hearing on City Budget,” Los Angeles Times, May 6, 1954, 1.
It was classic Parker.: Gerald Woods put it aptly in his 1,310-page dissertation, “The Progressives and the Police”: “A most contentious man, he could not abide the same quality in others…. He brooked no criticism of himself, his politics or his subordinates…. Parker’s description of society provided a concise analysis of the chief himself. Americans, he said, were ‘emotional people, responsive to stimuli administered to us through communicative media; we are immature and subjective about problems, and there is an unwillingness for us to accept our mistakes.’ His enemies could not have said it better” (432).
So far, the consequences: Memorandum from Parker to the Board of Police Commissioners, “Subject: Progress Report—August 9, 1950, to January 1, 1953,” January 7, 1953, Escobar collection.
I wish it could: Parker, Parker on Police, 16.
For decades, police departments: For instance, in the spring of 1955, Judge Aubrey Irwin dismissed a case against Hollywood playboy LeRoy B. (“Skippy”) Malouf after concluding that Malouf had been framed by the police. “‘Planted’ Fur Story Acquits Malouf in Theft,” Los Angeles Times, April 7, 1955, p. 4.
See the depiction of police work as approved by the department in He Walked by Night.
Of course, not every: Parker would later argue that technically wiretapping per se was not illegal under federal statutes but rather the divulging of information from a wiretap was. Parker, “Laws on Wiretapping,” letter to the Los Angeles Times, January 23, 1955.
“[I]n a prosecution”: Irvine v. California, 347 U.S. 128 (1954); Newton, Justice for All, 338. No case was ever brought against the officers involved.
The position of: “Chance on the High Sea,” Time, August 14, 1939; Warren, The Memoirs of Earl Warren, 255; Parker, “Responses to Questions of the Los Angeles City Council Concerning a Juvenile Gang Attack on a Citizen in Downtown Los Angeles,” December 8, 1953, Escobar collection.
“Certainly society cannot expect…”: City News Service, “Parker Hits at Highest Court Ruling in Irvine ‘Bookie’ Case,” L.A. Journal, February 19, 1954.
This was a sensitive: Wirin’s lawsuit was finally rejected on May 31, 1955. “Judge Rules He Cannot Stop Police Microphones, Lacks Jurisdiction on Use of Public Funds for Installation, McCoy Says,” Los Angeles Times, July 1, 1955.
Wirin’s attempts to rein: Los Angeles Herald-Express, April 19, 1954; Los Angeles Times, April 5, 1954.
“We would if you …”: Lieberman, “‘Dragnet’ Tales Drawn from LAPD Files Burnished the Department’s Image,” Los Angeles Times, October 30, 2008.
“Far from being a …”: Mooring, “Chief Gives Opinion of ‘Bad Cop’ Films,” The Tidings, October 22, 1954; “Telephone Tap Defended by Chief Parker,” Los Angeles Mirror-Daily News, March 7, 1955. In 1968, Congress passed legislation (known as Title III) governing federal law enforcement’s use of electronic surveillance that adopted precisely that procedure. California, however, declined to follow suit. Until quite recently, California state law criminalized all wiretaps that did not have the consent of both parties, with an exception only for certain narcotics-related law-enforcement matters. See Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs9-wrtp.htm#wt2, accessed July 26, 2008.
In addition to trying: “Police Warned on Secret Wire Taps, Officers Subject to Liability for Illegal Entry, Brown Says,” Los Angeles Times, September 4, 1954.
The case of Cahan: Lieberman, “Cop Befriends Crook,” Los Angeles Times, October 29, 2008.
Traynor served notice that: Liptak, “U.S. Is Alone in Rejecting All Evidence if Police Err,” New York Times, July 19, 2008.
“Today one of the …”: “Hidden Mike Barred, Beverly Bookie Case Upset by High Court,” Hollywood Citizen-News, April 28, 1955.
“The positive implication drawn: Earlier that year the Chandlers’ Mirror had bought out Manchester Boddy’s Daily News, creating the Mirror-News. For Parker’s statistics, see “Criminals Laugh at LA Police, Says Chief. Underworld Rejoices in Ruling,” Los Angeles Mirror-Daily News, May 31, 1955.
Chapter Nineteen: The Enemy Within
“He is intent on …”: Hecht Papers, Newberry Library, Chicago.
“There is not a: “Mickey Can’t have L.A. Bar, Officers Rule,” Hollywood Citizen-News, October 10, 1955.
“When I was on …”: Cohen, Hecht manuscript, 63, Hecht Papers, New-berry Library.
Several months after: The timing of the meeting between Hecht, Preminger, and Cohen is problematic. Brad Lewis’s Hollywood’s Celebrity Gangster places the meeting in the late 1940s or 1950s, well before the 1955 film was made (71). It is nonetheless possible that Preminger was reading Nelson Algren’s book, published in 1949.
On the appointed: Hecht manuscript, 1-3, 18-19, Hecht Papers, New-berry Library.
Not anymore. The postprison: Hecht manuscript, 13-14, Hecht Papers, Newberry Library. See also Cohen to Hecht, March 22, 1964, Hecht Papers, Newberry Library. Cohen, In My Own Words, 64, offers a slightly different recollection.
According to Hecht, Mickey originally brought him a 150-page typed manuscript that he said he had dictated. “Mickey Cohen Takes Manuscript to Author,” Los Angeles Times, August 4, 1957, 34. The Newberry Library contains fragments of this apparent manuscript.
LaVonne thought Mickey: Lewis, Hollywood’s Celebrity Gangster, 193, 196.
One night after midnight: The word gilgul means “cycle” in Hebrew and refers to a concept of reincarnation from the Kabbalistic tradition. Hecht manuscript, 16-17, 70-71, Hecht Papers, Newberry Library.
Chief Parker would have: Lieberman, “Cop Befriends Crook,” Los Angeles Times, October 29, 2008.
By 1956, the Kennedys: The extent of Joseph Kennedy’s involvement in bootlegging is often exaggerated. Contrary to public myth, the Kennedy family fortune was not based on illegal liquor. Joseph Kennedy’s father, P. J., had owned a series of saloons and liquor distributorships well before Prohibition, but it was Kennedy’s financial prowess (and his decision to bail out before the crash of 1929), as well as a series of savvy investments in Hollywood that increased the family’s resources so dramatically in the late 1920s and 1930s. That said, even though it was hardly necessary financially, Kennedy seems to have occasionally dabbled in bootlegging. See Fox, Blood and Power, 19-20; Thomas, Robert Kennedy: His Life, 41.
Kennedy had long been: Thomas, Robert Kennedy: His Life, 62-3, 71.
Soon thereafter, in August: Thomas, Robert Kennedy: His Life, 72; Kennedy, The Enemy Within, 18-21.
Parker took Kennedy’s visit: Thomas, Robert Kennedy: His Life, 74.
At the end of: Kennedy, The Enemy Within, 8.
One day in the: Author interview with Harold Sullivan, July 26, 2007.
The turning point came: Author interview with Joe Parker, December 1213, 2004.
Chapter Twenty: The Mike Wallace Interview
“I killed no men …”: Mickey Cohen to Mike Wallace, May 19, 1957; Wallace and Gates, Close Encounters, 49.
When Mickey Cohen: In 1950, Graham switched from describing his revivals as “Campaigns” to calling them “Crusades.” Graham, Just As I Am, 163.
Richardson responded by saying: Graham, Just As I Am, 150, 162, 174-75, 190-92.
; Graham and Cohen had: See Jennings, “The Private Life of a Hood,” conclusion, October 11, 1958, for an admission from “Picked for Cohen Role in Film, Skelton Says,” Los Angeles Times, May 25, 1961, 2. W. C. Jones admitted to only about $18,000 in gifts.
“He’s invited me …”: “Mickey Cohen Sees Billy Graham, Talks on Religion, Former Mobster Goes to N.Y. for Conference,” Los Angeles Times, April 2, 1957, B1.
In the summer of: Adams, “Mike Wallace Puts Out Dragnet to Line Up ‘Talent’ for His New Show,” New York Times, April 21, 1957, 105; Wallace and Gates, Close Encounters, 21-24, 32-33.
That fall: Wallace and Gates, Close Encounters, 45.
Wallace’s interviews: Author interview with Al Ramrus, March 18, 2008; Wallace and Gates, Close Encounters, 31-32.
When Ramrus contacted Mickey: Cohen, In My Own Words, 171. The claim that Billy Graham pushed Cohen to talk to Mike Wallace should be viewed with a certain degree of skepticism since Mickey himself is the sole source for this claim. Jennings, “Private Life of a Hood, Part III,” October 4, 1958, reports that Cohen also received $1,800 for expenses.
When Cohen flew: Author inteview with Al Ramrus, March 18, 2008, provides most of the account that follows. See also Wallace and Gates, Close Encounters, 48-53. Wallace recalled another companion named Arlene—presumably the nightclub dancer Arlene Stevens—and places Mickey in the Hampshire House. Wallace, Between You and Me, 160-67.
“I have a police chief”: Wallace and Gates, Close Encounters, 50; Wallace, Between You and Me, 161-63.
“Well, Mickey, you’re a …”: “Important Story,” Time, June 3, 1957; “Parker Seeks Grand Jury Action Over Cohen Blast,” Los Angeles Times, May 21, 1957, B1.
Mickey Cohen wasn’t: See Harnisch, “Cohen Talks,” for an interesting discussion of the controversy about whether to air the episode on the West Coast and an explanation of kinescope technology. Harnish, Daily Mirror blog (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2007/05/cohen-talks.html).
The Mike Wallace Interview: Wallace and Gates, Close Encounters, 50-51; Wallace, Between You and Me, 163-64.
Cohen was enraged by: “A.B.C.-TV Retracts Remarks by Cohen,” New York Times, May 27, 1957, 44.
Cohen, meanwhile, was dealing: “Cohen Attends Graham Rally in New York,” Los Angeles Times, May 22, 1957, 10. See also Jennings, “The Private Life of a Hood,” conclusion, October 11, 1958. Brad Lewis, Hollywood’s Celebrity Gangster, says Cohen was paid $15,000 to attend the rally (206). There are no further records of direct encounters between the two men, although evidently Graham’s father-in-law, Dr. Nelson Bell, himself a distinguished preacher, stayed in touch.
“They can’t get away …”: “Cohen Booked for Not Signing Traffic Ticket,” Los Angeles Times, May 26, 1957, 1; “Mickey Cohen’s Traffic Trial Off to Salty Start, Policemen Who Made Arrest Testify That Defendant Delayed Autos at Intersection,” Los Angeles Times, July 11, 1957, 5.
Los Angeles-area: “Cohen Found Guilty, Gets $11 Traffic Fine,” Los Angeles Times, November 12, 1957, 5; “Cohen Jailed for Failure to Register,” Los Angeles Mirror, September 26, 1957, accessed October 12, 2008, via Larry Harnisch’s Daily Mirror blog (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/mickey_cohen/index.html); “Jury Acquits Mickey Cohen on Disturbing Peace Charge, Ex-Convict Ruling May Affect Case,” Los Angeles Times, December 17, 1957, 2.
“I didn’t know a…”: Lewis, Hollywood’s Celebrity Gangster, 208. The profitability of the greenhouse business is somewhat unclear. For a positive assessment of its cash flow, see Salazar, “Violence Marks Cohen’s History,” Los Angeles Times, July 2, 1961.
Henceforth, Mickey would focus: “Chicago Attorney Glad to Stake Mickey Cohen, Admits $22,500 Loan; Says Ex-Gambler Stands to Make Fortune on Life Story,” Los Angeles Times, June 9, 1958, 19.
Back in New York: Ramrus interview, March 18, 2008; Wallace and Gates, Close Encounters, 52-53.
For the most part: Wallace and Gates, Close Encounters, 52.
“That is a big …”: Fox, Blood and Power, 325-26.
The very next day: Fox, Blood and Power, 326. For a different account of the gangsters’ response to the police raid, see Hilty, Robert Kennedy, Brother Protector, 124.
It was clear that: Ben Hecht Papers, Newberry Library.
Back in Washington, Robert: Thomas, Robert Kennedy: His Life, 82.
One year earlier the: Russo, The Outfit, 317.
“The results of the …”: Kennedy, The Enemy Within, 229.
Chapter Twenty-one: The Electrician
“[W]hat’s the meaning in …”: Cohen, In My Own Words, 193-95.
By late 1958, Mickey: Otash, Investigation Hollywood!, 179-86.
Cohen had the temperament: Gabler, An Empire of Their Own, 152.
But in 1958, Cohn: “A Star Is Made,” Time, July 29, 1957.
There’s another more plausible: There are many versions of this episode in Davis’s life. See Fishgall, Gonna Do Great Things, 114, for the most convincing.
Whatever version: Jennings, “Private Life of a Hood,” part two, September 27, 1958, 117.
In this, he was: Cohen, In My Own Words, 187.
The day after Stompanato’s: See, for instance, “Lana’s Romance with Stompanato Cools: Star Asks to Be Left Alone,” Chicago Daily Tribune, April 10, 1958, 8.
Renay was a sometime: Renay, My Face for the World to See, 129-32.
Meanwhile, Cohen and Hecht: “$200,000 Tax Writeoff Offer to Cohen Told,” Los Angeles Times, June 8, 1961, 29.
On the whole, though: “Lawmen Blast High Court Order to Identify Informants in Arrests: Ruling Termed Crippling in Drive on Dope,” Los Angeles Mirror-News, October 2,1958; “Poulson Cuts Police Budget by $6 Million, Commissioner Promptly Warns Mayor that City Faces Criminal Invastion,” Los Angeles Times, May 1, 1959.
“It won’t be long,”: Woods, “The Progressives and Police,” 446.
“Anything she says is …”: “Mickey Cohen Proud of Actress in Murder Quiz, Admits Liz Renay, Questioned in Anastasia Case, Loaned Him $10,000 He’s Repaying,” Los Angeles Times, February 27, 1958, C12.
“Her red hair was …”: “Girl Friend of Mickey Cohen Quizzed Again, Won’t Tell Treasury Agent About Gifts from Bodyguard of Slain Anastasia,” Los Angeles Times, September 10, 1958, B1.
The next day, Cohen: Lewis, Hollywood’s Celebrity Gangster, 244. See also http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=166332&cat=boxer, accessed10/25/2008.
To celebrate the thumb: Cohen, In My Own Words, 193-97.
Chapter Twenty-two: Chocolate City
“We are all members …”: Webb, The Badge, 244.
The polite word was: To his credit, Parker recognized that this was a problem soon after he became chief and set to work on curbing this unfortunate tendency. “Ex-Sergeant Strange Praises Chief Parker, Remembers Sincerity,” Los Angeles Times, November 20, 1996, C12.
As the 1920s progressed: Bass and Donovan, “The Los Angeles Police Department,” 155.
As a policeman, Parker: During Chief Davis’s tenure as chief, Parker might also have dealt with Lt. Homer Garrott, an African American lieutenant whom Davis made an acting captain. Lomax, “Bradley Makes ‘Loot’ Just in Time for the Vote on the Police Pay Raise,” Los Angeles Tribune, October 31, 1958.
The primary draw: Parson, Making a Better World, xi.
Los Angeles even: Escobar, Race, Police, and the Making of a Political Identity, 186-203. PBS’s American Experience documentary The Zoot Suit Riots also provides an excellent account of the era (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/zoot/index.html; accessed 2/21/2008).
“I feel that when …”: David Williams to Herb Schurter, April 1, 1959; Parker to Williams, April 13, 1959; Williams to Parker, April 21, 1959, LAPD records, CRC.
Williams wrote back to: Woods, “The Progressives and the Police,” 471. See also Williams’s July 9, 1959, letter to Councilman John Holland, Council File No. 89512, CRC.
The spat soon went: “Parker Hits Influx of Parolees to L.
A.: Tells City Council of Huge Rise in Crime,” Los Angeles Herald-Express, March 13, 1959.
The black press: Memorandum to the City Council from the Police Commission, “Subject: Council File No. 89512,” August 6, 1959, CRC. See also FBI September 4, 1959, report, captioned “Top Hoodlum Program,” Parker FBI file.
One of Parker’s first: This approach dates back to at least the early 1920s, when August Vollmer had pioneered the use of crime maps as a guide to deploy his elite “crime crushers” unit during his year as chief of police in Los Angeles. Today’s LAPD uses the computer-mapping tool COMPSTAT in a strikingly similar fashion.
The LAPD deployed: Civil Rights Congress, “Is the Police Department Above the Law?” pamphlet, Southern California Library, Los Angeles.
Anyone who’d spent: See Wambaugh, The Blue Knight, for an excellent (if fictitious) description of the mind of a beat cop in the 1960s.
“Any so-called …”: “Police Investigation Points Up Brutality In Minority Community,” California Eagle, June 30, 1949.
Strange may (or may not): It is worth noting that Strange, like Parker, was a devout Roman Catholic, a fact that undoubtedly elevated her in Parker’s estimation. Nor did Sergeant Strange’s promotion put her in a position to command white officers. She worked in community relations, in effect as a liaison to the black community. “Ex-Sergeant Strange Praises Chief Parker, Remembers Sincerity,” Los Angeles Times, November 20, 1996, C12.
