by John Buntin
“We’re selfish about it…”: “Novice Chief Brings New Confidence San Francisco Call-Bulletin, May 10, 1955.
As Kefauver attempted to: Because Guarantee Finance operated as a “fifty-fifty book,” with management and participating bookies sharing expenses, the cost of juice was almost certainly twice that figure—$216,000. Kefauver, Crime in America, 240.
Later that evening, at: Scene of the Crime, 126-27.
Mickey was hustled off: Cohen, In My Own Words, 150-51.
But solving the case: The LAPD was right. However, the two Tonys were killed not because the police were closing in on them for the Rummell shooting—they had no involvement in that—but rather because the two men had recently heisted a big bookmaking operation in Las Vegas. Demaris, The Last Mafioso, 51-54.
“The Weasel” had an: Stump, “L.A.’s Chief Parker—America’s Most Hated Cop,” Cavalier Magazine, July 1958. See also Demaris, The Last Mafioso, 56-60, for Fratianno’s account of the interrogation.
Parker moved quickly to: Woods, “The Progressives and the Police,” 425-26.
“Well, get out,” Parker: Gates, Chief, Chapters One and Two. Gates’s characterizations of Parker are often ungenerous, as when Gates describes Parker as “a stern, cantankerous man with a reputation as a bully” (25). Throughout the earlier pages of his memoir, Gates presents himself as an independent-minded rebel, eager to break free of Parker’s tutelage. Yet in the version of Gates’s memoirs annotated by Helen Parker (available for perusal at the William H. Parker Police Foundation) a very different and in some ways more plausible picture of the young Gates emerges as an officer whom Parker had to push out into the field. There is probably at least some truth to this alternative account.
Fortunately, Daryl Gates was: Helen Parker would later deny claims that Parker was a heavy drinker, insisting that her husband simply enjoyed a cocktail or two at the end of the day. This claim can be set aside. Gates’s testimony on this point is compelling and corroborated by others, such as Deputy Chief Harold Sullivan.
As the Kefauver hearings: Gates, Chief, 37. Other federal law enforcement agencies had likewise missed opportunities to go after the little gangster. The Bureau of Narcotics had identified Cohen’s close associate, Joe Sica, as the principal supplier of heroin in Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley, but had failed to place him as a member of Cohen’s inner circle. More curious still was the conduct of the FBI. While the bureau developed a large file on Cohen activities, it showed no inclination to develop a case it could take to prosecutors. This was entirely in keeping with the FBI’s long-standing lack of interest in prosecuting organized crime, which director J. Edgar Hoover insisted was primarily local and thus a matter for local law enforcement to address.
When Cohen himself appeared: “Cohen Deals Going Before Jury Today, Federal Inquirers Expected to Hear of Borrowings,” Los Angeles Times, February 9, 1951, A1.
Cohen had long maintained: Lewis, Hollywood’s Celebrity Gangster, 169. He ultimately sold it to the Texas Stock Car Racing Association instead. “Mickey Cohen Cashes In on His Glaring Notoriety,” New York Times, April 3, 1951, 28.
It was no use: Lewis, Hollywood’s Celebrity Gangster, 169.
The trial began on: Cohen manuscript, Ben Hecht Papers, Newberry Library, n.p.
The prosecution’s strategy: “Cohen Profits Told as Tax Case Opens, Federal Prosecutor Attacks Gangster’s Story of Loans,” Los Angeles Times, June 5, 1951, 2; Cohen manuscript, Ben Hecht Papers, Newberry Library, n.p.
Perhaps the hardest to: Cohen manuscript, Ben Hecht Papers, Newberry Library, n.p.
At the end of: Lewis, Hollywood’s Celebrity Gangster, 172-75; Cohen manuscript, Ben Hecht Papers, Newberry Library, n.p.
The smoking gun: Jennings, “The Private Life of a Hood,” conclusion, October 11, 1958, 116.
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.
The first threat to: “Grand Jury to Attack Police Trials System,” Los Angeles Examiner, September 7, 1949; “Law for Policemen Took,” Los Angeles Examiner, editorial, November 14, 1949.
Of course, Chief Parker: See the March 28, 1953, untitled Daily News editorial for a rebuttal of these charges.
Pat Novak took the: Hayde, My Name’s Friday, 13. See also Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pat_nuyak&equals$fur-hire.
Jack Webb had grown: Unless otherwise noted, the biographical information that follows comes from Michael Hayde, My Name’s Friday. The chronology of events that led to this job offer is not entirely clear. Owen McClaine, the casting agent for He Walked by Night, claims to have heard Webb’s “private eye plays”—presumably, Pat Novak—and then offered him the job. But Jack Webb did not start playing the lead role in Pat Novak until 1949, when the program went national on ABC—one year after he appeared in He Walked by Night.
“I doubt it, Marty,”: Hayde, My Name’s Friday, 18-19.
Joe Friday (as played: See Raymond Chandler’s essay “The Simple Art of Murder” for more on the noir hero.
The radio program’s success: “Real Thriller,” Time, May 15, 1950.
Soon after the tribute: A July 17, 1958, memo from the FBI’s L.A. SAC to Hoover described Parker as a “Traffic Officer” prior to his appointment to the position of chief of police “with whom office had practically no contact.”
Whether Parker knew about: Hayde, My Name’s Friday, 31-33. See August 2, 1963, FBI memo, Parker FBI file, for the origins of the FBI feud. See December 4, 1951, memo from SAC, Los Angeles, to Director, FBI, for Parker’s praise of Hoover.
The episode aired on: Hayde, My Name’s Friday, 46.
Parker’s initial response to: On July 18, 1959, the FBI’s San Francisco SAC sent a confidential memo to J. Edgar Hoover, reporting on a recent off-the-record confab Parker had held with Bay Area law enforcement officials about community relations that provides rare insight into the chief’s thoughts about the Bloody Christmas affair. According to the SAC, Parker stated that “certain of his men were undoubtedly in the wrong.” Parker further noted that “a number of his young officers were also wrong in ‘clamming up’ when his own inspectors attempted to investigate the beatings, and that had these officers not done this, the entire matter might in all probability have been settled within the department.” Also author interview with Harold Sullivan, July 26, 2007.
Soon after his ill-received: “Parker Hints at Crackdown, Own Cleanup May Forestall Jury Action,” Hollywood Citizen-News, March 27, 1952; “Grand Jury Indicts Eight Officers in Beating Case,” Los Angeles Times, April 23, 1952; “Bloody Christmas—One Year Later,” Los Angeles Mirror editorial, December 6, 1952.
Parker went further: Webb, The Badge, 174-75; “36 L.A. Policemen Face Discipline for Brutality,” Los Angeles Times, June 17, 1952; “Grand Jury Turns Heat on Parker, Report Hits Police Dept. Conditions,” Los Angeles Daily News, April 2, 1952; “An Inadequate Answer,” Los Angeles Examiner editorial, May 2, 1952. A July 29, 1952, memo from the L.A. SAC to Hoover asserted that Parker had not been popular in the department before the FBI’s civil rights investigation commenced but that Parker’s strong defense of the department had “earned him support since.” Nonetheless, the SAC claimed that Parker’s position “is still somewhat precarious” as “it is generally known that the Mayor is hostile to him, as are a number of the Los Angeles Police Commissioners.” The following month Mayor Bowron would categorically deny any intention of removing Parker. “Bowron Denies Parker Ouster,” Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, May 27, 1952.
Dragnet wasn’t the only: A July 18, 1952, “confidential memo” from the FBI’s San Francisco SAC to Director Hoover reports that the L.A. business community had also printed a brochure titled “The Thin Blue Line” to distribute to members of the public. Whether the phrase was first used for the pamphlet or for the TV show is unclear.
The purpose of: April 1, 1952, letter from Parker to the Police Commission, William H. Parker Police Foundation archives.
“Soviet Russia believes that …”: Parker, Parker on Police, 30. See also Charles Reith, The Blind Eye of History, 209-23, for a viewpoint that profoundly influenced Parker.
In this vital role: Woods, “The Progressives and the Police,” 430.
Parker thought the primary: Woods, “The Progressives and the Police,” 429.
One generation earlier, Berkeley: Parker, Parker on Police, 12.
Hoover was determined to: See memorandum to Mr. DeLoach, December 12, 1960, for summary of bureau’s relationship with Parker, Parker FBI files.
Chapter Seventeen: The Trojan Horse
“You should always have…”: Poulson, The Genealogy and Life Story, 91.
“There is nothing about …”: “Chief Parker Expected to Quit in Bowron Row,” Los Angeles Examiner, May 27, 1952; Sitton, Los Angeles Transformed, 171; Parson, Making a Better World, 112, 115.
The charge emerged from: The residents of Chavez Ravine would later be evicted for another reason—to make way for Dodger Stadium.
Bowron had no interest: Sitton, Los Angeles Transformed, 171.
In December 1952: The Cadillac soon broke down, and Poulson replaced it with a fuel-efficient Rambler, much to the horror of West Coast oil and gas companies. Parson, Making a Better World, 127; Poulson, The Genealogy and Life Story, 132-34.
“I just casually reached …”: Poulson, The Genealogy and Life Story, 144.
“They would say that…”: Poulson, The Genealogy and Life Story, 144.
the House Subcommittee on: “Verbal Battles by Lawyers Rock Public Housing Quiz,” Los Angeles Times, May 21, 1953. Parson, Making a Better World, 203-208, provides a complete transcript of the LAPD’s Wilkinson file.
“I talked in circles,”: Poulson, The Genealogy and Life Story, 144-45.
Chapter Eighteen: The Magna Carta of the Criminal
“The voice of the …”: Webb, The Badge, 244.
Accardo’s party proceeded to: Russo, The Outfit, 302. The Los Angeles Mirror presents a slightly different version of the incident, which features a verbal confrontation at the airport. “Chicago Hoodlum Chased by Cops, Goes to ‘Vegas,’” Mirror, January 16, 1953. See also Davidson, “The Mafia Can’t Crack Los Angeles,” Saturday Evening Post, July 31, 1965. Fittingly, Perino’s was also a famous gangster-movie restaurant, a place that featured in such films as Scarface, Bugsy, and Mulholland Drive. It was torn down in the spring of 2005 (http://franklinavenue.blogspot.com/2005/04/perinos-no-more.html, accessed July 16, 2008).
Then there were the: Parker to Rev. John Birth, director, Catholic Youth Organization, April 28, 1953, William H. Parker Police Foundation archives. See Weeks, “Story of Chief Parker, Enemy of the Criminal,” for a disingenuous attempt to explain away the “personal” intelligence files. Los Angeles Mirror, June 17, 1957, 1.
The potential for the: Poulson, The Genealogy and Life Story, 140. The Daily News was speaking out against a proposal that surfaced that summer to give the police chief even more power over the department. “Give Police Board, not the Chief, More Power,” Los Angeles Daily News, July 2, 1953; Los Angeles Times, May 12, 1953.
There was a third: Coates, “Midnight Memo to the Mayor,” Los Angeles Mirror, July 20, 1953; Poulson, The Genealogy and Life Story, 140, 147.
“Chief Parker is to …”: “Poulson Pledges War on Gangsters: Mayor-Elect Maps Plans with Parker; Shake-Up of Police Commission Indicated,” Los Angeles Times, June 17, 1953.
Although he had concluded: Poulson, The Genealogy and Life Story, 147; “4 Named to Police Board by Poulson,” Hollywood Citizen-News, July 2,1953.
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bsp; The message Poulson intended: Woods, “The Progressives and the Police,” 151-52.
“Until these recommendations …”: Irey, “An Open Letter to the Mayor: Ex-Official Tells LA Police Stymie,” Los Angeles Mirror, July 13, 1953; Irey, “Police Dept. ‘Split’ Bared,” Los Angeles Mirror, July 14, 1953.
“Hardly anyone likes Parker, …”: Parker’s relationship with the press had taken a turn for the worse earlier in the year, when he shut down a poker game involving reporters and the police that had been going on since time immemorial. At the chief’s insistence, a sign was put up that read “No more card playing. By order of the Chief of Police.” Parker would later claim that he was moved to act after discovering that one unfortunate reporter had run up a $2,000 debt. The press itself seems to have viewed the crackdown case as pure vindictiveness. In a scathing story about the controversy, the Daily News complained of the chief’s “incredible inability to get along with newsmen or take criticism.” “Speaking of Snoopers,” Los Angeles Daily News, January 19, 1953.
Poulson hoped that his: Commission members received a stipend of $20 per meeting but were otherwise unpaid. Mayor Poulson’s predecessor, Fletcher Bowron, had also wrestled with this problem, when confronted with the prospect of having the ornery, independent-minded Parker as chief. His solution had been to place William Worton on the Police Commission board. Harry Frawley, “Police Board Will Use More Power—Mayor,” Valley Times, August 8, 1950. It didn’t work. Parker’s allies on the city council ferociously resisted a few early efforts by Worton to discipline the new chief. In the summer of 1951, General Worton resigned from the Police Commission and was gone. “Newman and Worton Quit Police Board,” Los Angeles Times, July 18, 1951, 1.
If those weren’t constraints: In his memoirs, Poulson would later accuse Parker of deliberately undermining the mayor’s relationship with Poulson. This is probably true; however, Parker undoubtedly also benefited from an incident that occurred that very summer. Soon after Irwin joined the Police Commission, he was approached by Herbert Hallner, chief investigator for the state board, with a proposition: If Irwin would “cooperate” with a group of “citizens” attempting to win permission to open, he would be “well taken care of.” It was common knowledge that the group of citizens in question was a front for Jimmy Utley, Mickey Cohen’s sometime underworld rival. Irwin quickly informed Parker and Poulson of the approach, and with Irwin’s continuing assistance, the department arranged a successful sting operation aimed at the corrupt investigator. The incident undoubtedly heightened Irwin’s regard for the chief. See “Cal. Employe [sic] Accused as Bunco Go-Between,” Los Angeles Daily News, September 2, 1953.