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

by John Buntin

  ____. “Chicago Hoodlum Chased by Cops, Goes to ‘Vegas,’” January 16, 1953.

  ____. “Give Police Board, Not the Chief, More Power.” July 2, 1953.

  ____. “Cal. Employe [sic] Accused as Bunco Go-Between.” September 2, 1953.

  ____. “Cohen Jailed for Failure to Register,” September 26, 1957, accessed via the Los Angeles Times’s invaluable Daily Mirror blog (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/mickey_cohen/index.html), October 12, 2008.

  ____. “Brutal Tactics Told at Hearing,” January 26, 1960.

  ____. “Big Squeeze Boosts Police for Kennedy,” July 11, 1960.

  ____. “Criminals Laugh at LA Police, Says Chief. Underworld Rejoices in Ruling,” May 31, 1955.

  Los Angeles Mirror-Daily News. “Telephone Tap Defended by Chief Parker,” March 7, 1955.

  ____. “Police Instincts of Bill Parker Flourished Early,” June 18, 1957.

  Los Angeles Mirror-News. “PARKER FORCED TO ACT ON BRUTALITY, Cop Brutality Quiz Demanded by L.A. Judge,” March 13, 1952.

  ____. “Police Brutality Probe Is Overdue,” March 14, 1952.

  ____. “Lawmen Blast High Court Order to Identify Informants in Arrests: Ruling Termed Crippling in Drive on Dope,” October 2, 1958.

  ____. “Shooting Takes Place Six Feet From Mickey,” December 3, 1958.

  ____. “Keep Cool with Mr. K, Chief Parker tells L.A.,” September 7, 1959.

  ____. “Cohen Suspect in Slaying, Restaurant’s Guests Flee After Shooting,” December 3, 1959.

  ____. “Racial Bias Accusations False, Says Chief Parker. Explains Police Problem,” January 27, 1960.

  Los Angeles Police Departments records, City Records Center (CRC), Los Angeles.

  Los Angeles Sentinel, May 17, 1962.

  Los Angeles Times. “Detective McAfee is Exonerated,” September 23, 1916.

  ____. “Plans Submitted for Fine Theater: Picture Palace to Follow Elaborate Spanish Architecture,” July 11, 1920.

  ____. “The White Spot Glistens Brightly,” July 17, 1921.

  ____. “The Soul of the City,” June 24, 1923.

  ____. “Oaks Names Kent Parrot, Charges Lawyer Interfered in Police Department, ‘Dictatorial and Threatening,’” July 29, 1923.

  ____. “Kent Parrot Accused by Richards as ‘Sinister,’ Retiring Harbor Commissioner Names Him as Would-Be Boss,” August 1, 1923.

  ____. “Dark Trails to City Hall are Uncovered: Now Negro Politicians Make and Unmake Police Vice Squad Told in Heath Case,” August 17, 1923.

  ____. “Shall We Re-Elect Kent Parrot?” April 23, 1925.

  ____. “Bledsoe Hurls Defy at Cryer, Challenges Parrot’s Status as De-Facto Mayor,” April 23, 1925.

  ____. “Champion ‘Ag-inner’ of Universe Is Shuler, Belligerent Local Pastor Holds All Records for Attacks Upon Everybody, Everything,” June 1, 1930.

  ____. “Crawford Career Hectic, Politician Gained Wide Notoriety as ‘Pay-Off Man’ in Morris Lavine Extortion Case,” May 21, 1931.

  ____. “ARE GANGSTERS BUILDING ANOTHER CHICAGO HERE?: Police Officially Deny It; Admit Privately Facts,” March 29, 1931.

  ____. “Penny Money At Cafe: Clinton ‘Caveteria’ Caters to Customers of Lean Purse,” October 14, 1932.

  ____. “Complete Vote Received for Thursday’s Election,” September 30, 1934.

  ____. “Chief Shifts 28 Officers in New Shake-Up of Police,” March 9, 1939.

  ____. “Davis Defends Police Spying at Bombing Trial, Bitter Clashes Mark Chief’s Day on Stand,” April 27, 1939.

  ____. “Police Due for Shake-up Tomorrow, Chief Announces: New Divisions Will Be Organized and Shifts Made of Many Uniformed Officers in Sweeping Program,” November 30, 1939.

  ____. “Policewoman Implicates Sgt. Stoker in Burglary, Love for Vice Squad Man Admitted by Audrey [sic] Davis,” July 3, 1949.

  ____. “Murder Plot Story Filed: Testimony Transcript in Siegel Case Gives Gang,” August 31, 1940.

  ____. “Siegel Denies Buchalter Aid: Film Colony Figure Testifies on Removal Fight,” May 27, 1941.

  ____. “Plunge Fatal to Gangster, State Witness Against Buchalter and Others Attempts to Escape,” November 13, 1941.

  ____. “Japanese Aliens’ Roundup Starts: F.B.I. Hunting Down 300 Subversives and Plans to Hold 3000 Today,” December 8, 1941.

  ____. “Little Tokyo Banks and Concerns Shut, Even Saloons Padlocked; Extra Police on Duty to Prevent Riots,” December 9, 1941.

  ____. “Round Up of Japanese Aliens in Southland Now Totals 500: Officers, Working with F.B.I., Continue Hunt; Asiatic, Who Had Pledged Loyalty, Found with Guns,” December 9, 1941.

  ____. “Widow of Victim Heard at Murder Trial of Siegel: Heard Shots Killing Mate,” January 27, 1942.

  ____. “Siegel and Carbo Identified as Murder Aides, Tannenbaum Tells Killing,” January 28, 1942.

  ____. “Siegel’s Attic Capture Told, Witnesses at Death Trial Describe Hunt in Suspect’s Mansion,” January 31, 1942.

  ____. “Police Officer Keyes Resigns Under Attack,” July 26, 1942.

  ____. “Warren Picks First of Crime Commissions: Jeffers and Mudd Among Those Named Under New State Law,” October 22, 1947.

  ____. “Year Passes but Murder Not Solved: Search for Woman’s Slayer Recalls Other Mysteries,” February 14, 1949.

  ____. “Bowron Asks Grand Jury Action in Police Scandal, Two Officers Suspended; Cohen Posts $100,000 Bail,” March 23, 1949.

  ____. “Cohen Introduces Sound Recorder,” May 6, 1949.

  ____. “Cohen to Testify in Partner’s Case: Deputy Sheriff Denies Policeman’s Story That Meltzer Displayed Gun at Arrest,” May 10, 1949.

  ____. “New Police Chief on Job, to Tell Program in Week,” July 1, 1949.

  ____. “Chief Names Staff Inspector in Top Level Police Changes: Parker Given Number Two Post,” July 15, 1949.

  ____. “Worton Shifts 33 in Police Shake-Up: Top Flight Officer Named Intelligence Aide to Chief in Reorganization Move,” August 4, 1949.

  ____. “Hidden Microphones Hear Cohen Secrets, Police Device Records Intimate Talks in Home,” August 16, 1949.

  ____. “Police Shift Offices Due to City Hall Jam,” August 19, 1949.

  ____. “Parker Appointed New Police Chief Head, Patrol Division Head Promoted in Climax to Hot Battle Over Worton’s Successor,” August 3, 1950.

  ____. “Parker Declares City Is White Spot of Nation,” August 9, 1950.

  ____. “Mad Gunman Captured, Mickey Cohen Tells Inside Story of L.A.,” November 18, 1950.

  ____. “Cohen Deals Going Before Jury Today, Federal Inquirers Expected to Hear of Borrowings,” February 9, 1951.

  ____. “Truman Speeds War on Crime; Mickey Cohen Pay-off Charged, Racketeers’ Tax Returns to Be Eyed,” June 2, 1951.

  ____. “Cohen Profits Told as Tax Case Opens, Federal Prosecutor Attacks Gangster’s Story of Loans,” June 5, 1951.

  ____. “Mickey Cohen Gets 5 Years, $10,000 Fine,” July 10, 1951.

  ____. “Newman and Worton Quit Police Board,” July 18, 1951.

  ____. “Chief Parker Hits Brutality Stories,” February 28, 1952.

  ____. “F.B.I. Probing L.A. Police Brutality,” March 14, 1952.

  ____. “Under Table, Didn’t See Slayer, Cohen Says,” March 29, 1952, 30.

  ____. “Grand Jury Indicts Eight Officers in Beating Case,” April 23, 1952.

  ____. “36 L.A. Policemen Face Discipline for Brutality,” June 17, 1952.

  ____. “Verbal Battles by Lawyers Rock Public Housing Quiz,” May 21, 1953.

  ____. “Poulson Pledges War on Gangsters: Mayor-Elect Maps Plans with Parker; Shake-Up of Police Commission Indicated,” June 17, 1953.

  ____. “Police Warned on Secret Wire Taps, Officers Subject to Liability for Illegal Entry, Brown Says,” September 4, 1954.

  ____. “‘Planted’ Fur Story Acquits Malouf in Theft,” April 7, 1955.

  ____. “Judge Rules He Cannot Stop Police Microphones, Lacks Jurisdiction on Use of
Public Funds for Installation, McCoy Says,” July 1, 1955.

  ____. “Mickey Cohen Sees Billy Graham, Talks on Religion, Former Mobster Goes to N.Y. for Conference,” March 2, 1957.

  ____. “Parker Seeks Grand Jury Action Over Cohen Blast,” May 21, 1957.

  ____. “Cohen Attends Graham Rally in New York,” May 22, 1957.

  ____. “Cohen Booked for Not Signing Traffic Ticket,” May 26, 1957.

  ____. “Mickey Cohen’s Traffic Trial Off to Salty Start, Policemen Who Made Arrest Testify that Defendant Delayed Autos at Intersection,” July 11, 1957.

  ____. “Mickey Cohen Takes Manuscript to Author,” August 4, 1957.

  ____. “Cohen Found Guilty, Gets $11 Traffic Fine,” November 12, 1957.

  ____. “Jury Acquits Mickey Cohen on Disturbing Peace Charge, Ex-Convict Ruling May Affect Case,” December 17, 1957.

  ____. “Mickey Cohen Proud of Actress in Murder Quiz, Admits Liz Renay, Questioned in Anastasia Case, Loaned Him $10,000 He’s Repaying,” February 27, 1958.

  ____. “Chicago Attorney Glad to Stake Mickey Cohen, Admits $22,500 Loan; Says Ex-Gambler Stands to Make Fortune on Life Story,” June 9, 1958.

  ____. “Girl Friend of Mickey Cohen Quizzed Again, Won’t Tell Treasury Agent About Gifts from Bodyguard of Slain Anastasia,” September 10, 1958.

  ____. “Liz Renay Indicted on Perjury Charges: Mickey Cohen’s Actress Friend Accused of Lying About Raising $5,500 in Loans,” March 13, 1959.

  ____. “Under Table, Didn’t See Slayer, Cohen Says,” March 29, 1959.

  ____. “Poulson Cuts Police Budget by $6 Million, Commissioner Promptly Warns Mayor That City Faces Criminal Invasion,” May 1, 1959.

  ____. “Report Hints Cohen Had Part in Slayings,” June 16, 1959.

  ____. “Police Board Member Flays Parker, Quits,” June 19, 1959.

  ____. “Parker Plans Security for Khrushchev Visit,” September 7, 1959.

  ____. “Mickey Cohen Jailed in Murder of Bookie,” December 4, 1959.

  ____. “Slayer of Bookmaker Surrenders to Police,” December 9, 1959.

  ____. “Parker Angrily Denies Racial Discrimination: Presents Charts of City Districts, Tells of Undesirables Shipped into Los Angeles,” January 27, 1960.

  ____. “Council Hears Parker’s Recording on ‘Wild Tribes,’ Chief Denies Slur, Refuses to Apologize,” February 3, 1960.

  ____. “Demagoguery Loses a Round,” February 5, 1960.

  ____. “Witnesses Deny They Saw Whalen Shooting,” March 11, 1960.

  ____. “This Is Not Alabama,” editorial, June 1, 1960.

  ____. “The Bright Badge of the L.A.P.D,” editorial, August 9, 1960.

  ____. “MAD GUNMAN CAPTURED, Mickey Cohen Tells Inside Story of L.A., Bland Gangster Spars with Counsel in Quiz; Sheriff Also Testifies,” November 18, 1960.

  ____. “Parker Hails Kennedy as Crime Foe,” December 17, 1960.

  ____. “Ben Hecht Sees Cohen as Top Book Material,” May 18, 1961.

  ____. “Cohen’s Story Contract Presented at His Trial,” May 19, 1961.

  ____. “$9,000 Advance for Cohen, Screenplay Told,” May 20, 1961.

  ____. “Picked for Cohen Role in Film, Skelton says,” May 25, 1961.

  ____. “Two Cited Under Lynch Law After Park Riot,” June 2, 1961.

  ____. “Candy Barr Tells About Being Cohen’s ‘Sweetie’: Jailed Stripper Testifies How Ex-Hoodlum Helped Her Flee US. to Mexico Hideaway,” June 3, 1961.

  ____. “$200,000 Tax Writeoff Offer to Cohen Told,” June 8, 1961.

  ____. “US. Rests Cohen Income Tax Case,” June 17, 1961.

  ____. “Cohen Defense Claims He Was Losing Money,” June 24, 1961.

  ____. “Six Muslim Suspects Held in Row at Market,” September 3, 1961.

  ____. “Mickey Cohen Jaunty Again—in Volkswagen,” October 20, 1961.

  ____. “Mickey Cohen, 4 Others Indicted in Murder Plot, All Accused in Dec. 2, 1959 Slaying of Jack Whalen in Sherman Oaks Cafe,” November 1, 1961.

  ____. “Mickey Cohen Murder Charges Dismissed,” March 19, 1962.

  ____. “Officers Out to Get Cohen, LoCigno Says,” March 22, 1962.

  ____. “Under Table, Didn’t See Slayer, Cohen Says,” March 29, 1962.

  ____. “Cohen’s Defense Closes Murder Trial Argument,” April 5, 1962.

  ____. “Lo Cigno Rules Guilty of Manslaughter,” November 15, 1962.

  ____. “Parker Assails Bishop’s View of Negro Policy,” January 18, 1963.

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

  ____. Sentences Reimposed on 11 Black Muslims,” March 3, 1965.

  ____. “Ex-Sergeant Strange Praises Chief Parker, Remembers Sincerity,” July 20, 1966.

  ____. “Politics and the LAPD,” April 11, 1969.

  Los Angeles Tribune. “Truman Speeds War on Crime; Mickey Cohen Pay-off Charged, Racketeers’ Tax Returns to Be Eyed.” June 2, 1950.

  Manion, Dean. “Anarchy Imminent: Local Police Hobbled in Efforts to Stem Crime.” May 30, 1965, Manion forum, South Bend, Indiana. William H. Parker Police Foundation, Los Angeles, CA.

  Mann, William. Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 19101969. New York: Viking, 2001.

  May, Allan. “The History of the Race Wire Service,” http://crimemagazine.com/racewire3.htm, Crime: An Encyclopedia of Crime, 08-06-2000, access date: January 28, 2008.

  McDougal, Dennis. Privileged Son, Otis Chandler and the Rise and Fall of the L.A. Times Dynasty. Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus, 2001.

  McWilliams, Carey. Southern California: An Island on the Land. Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith, 1999.

  Moore, William Howard. The Kefauver Committee and the Politics of Crime, 19501952. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1974.

  Mooring, William. “Chief Gives Opinion of ‘Bad Cop’ Films.” The Tidings, October 22, 1954.

  Muir, Florabel. Headline Happy. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1950.

  Mydans, Seth. “‘It Could Happen Again,’ Report on Los Angeles Riots Blames Police and City.” New York Times, October 25, 1992.

  Nash, Robert Jay. World Encyclopedia of Organized Crime. New York: Da Capo Press, 1993.

  Nathan, Albert. “How Whiskey Smugglers Buy and Land Cargoes, Well-Organized Groups Engaged in Desperate Game of Rum-Running,” Los Angeles Times, August 8, 1926.

  ____. “‘Rousting’ System Earns Curses of the Rum-Runners, Chief Davis’s Raids Keep Whiskey Ring in Harried State,” Los Angeles Times, August 22, 1926.

  Newsom, Jim. “Men Efficient, Vigilant, Brave, Chief Relates.” Hollywood Citizen News, June 20, 1965.

  Newton, Jim. Justice for All: Earl Warren and the Nation He Made. New York: River-head Books, 2006.

  New York Times. “Abe Reles Killed Trying to Escape, Sheet Rope Fails After He Lowers Himself from 6th to 5th Floor, Motive Puzzles Police,” November 3, 1941.

  ____. “Mickey Cohen Cashes In on His Glaring Notoriety,” April 3, 1951.

  ____. “A.B.C.-TV Retracts Remarks by Cohen,” May 27, 1957.

  ____. “Mickey Cohen Sues U.S.,” February 18, 1964.

  ____. “Los Angeles Police Chief: William Henry Parker 3d,” August 14, 1965.

  ____. “Lou Stillman, Legendary Boxing Figure, Is Dead,” obituary, August 20, 1969.

  Olney, Warren. “Law Enforcement and Judicial Administration in the Earl Warren Era.” Earl Warren Oral History Project, University of California, 1981.

  Otash, Fred. Investigation Hollywood! Chicago: Regnery, 1976.

  Parker, William H. “Police Chief William H. Parker Speakers,” a compilation of Parker statements prepared by the Community Relations Conference of Southern California, 2400 South Western Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, Parker FBI file, 62-96042-109.

  ____. January 7, 1953, memo to the Board of Police Commissioners, Subject: Progress Report, August 9, 1950 to January 1, 1953. LAPD records. Originally CR
C Box 35314, now Escobar collection, Tucson, AZ.

  ____. “Responses to Questions of the Los Angeles City Council Concerning a Juvenile Gang Attack on a Citizen in Downtown Los Angeles,” December 8, 1953. Originally CRC Box 35324, now Escobar collection, Tucson, AZ.

  ____. Parker letter, January 29, 1954, to Don Thompson: 1953 county grand jury foreman, in response to a letter from him asking about rat packs. Originally CRC box 35300, now Escobar collection, Tucson, AZ.

  ____. “Laws on Wiretapping,” letter to the Los Angeles Times, January 23, 1955.

  ____. Parker on Police. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas Publisher, 1957. William H. Parker Police Foundation archives, Los Angeles, CA. “Col W. H. Parker Called by Death: South Dakota Congressman Passed Away Yesterday—Speaker Cannon Expresses Deep Regret,” clipping from Deadwood newspaper.

  ____. Letter from the Board of Civil Service Commissioners, September 28, 1926.

  ____. “Memorandum for the Adjutant General, Subject: Relief from Active Duty,” undated.

  ____. Letter from Arthur Hohmman to HQ Los Angeles Officer Procurement District, February 19, 1943.

  ____. Letter from Captain Robert L. Dennis to HQ, Los Angeles Officer Procurement District, February 23, 1943.

  ____. Col. Jesse Miller, Director, Military Government Division, to First Lt. William Parker, May 11, 1943.

  ____. Letter from C. B. Horrall to Capt. W. H. Parker, June 26, 1945.

  ____. “Police Post Gets Membership Drive Trophy.” L.A. Fire and Police Protective League News, 1947.

  ____. “Parker’s the One in ’51, Los Angeles Police Post 381, American Legion, unanimously presents William H. ‘Bill’ Parker for the office of COMMANDER OF THE AMERICAN LEGION, DEPARTMENT OF CALIFORNIA, for the year 1951-52,” August 1950, Number Three.

  ____. “Facts on Chief Parker’s Exam Records,” Assistant General Manager Civil Service, June 1, 1966.

  Parrish, Michael. For the People: Inside the Los Angeles County District’s Office, 18502000. Santa Monica: Angel City Press, 2001.

  Parson, Donald Craig. Making a Better World: Public Housing, the Red Scare, and the Direction of Modern Los Angeles. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005.

  Payne, James Gregory, and Scott Ratzan. Tom Bradley, The Impossible Dream: a Biography. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1986.