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

I first read this from a local library and decided I needed to own my own copy. The alternate-chapter design of the emergence of Mickey Cohen vs William Parker is fascinating, paralleling the strengths and weaknesses of each man as they arc toward each other's paths. I have no idea why this was never made into a film, but then as the book itself suggests, the Hollywood machine would probably destroy all that is great about this book anyway. Highly recommended read. You'll see Los Angeles like never before.

This is an excellent and spell-binding story of the history behind the glitter, glamour, and loosely-organized criminal history of L.A. from the twenties to the sixties. The truth behind the rise and fall of Mickey Cohen, gangster and pal of Hollywood celebrities; the intriguing story about William Parker, the chief cop who "cleaned up" the city; Parker's egotistical feud with J. Edgar Hoover; and the bit players who rose to later fame and fortune are presented in compelling fashion. To read this book is to understand how L.A. became and remains a city without a true political base, but with what is probably the strongest police force in the nation. Wonderful characterizations bring the men and women (mostly men) of this story alive for a generation still hopped up on fast cars, movie stars, booze, and drugs. Gambling, for the most part, has been tamed and glossed over, no longer fodder for the few remaining newspapers. Ah, for the days of the truly outrageous and slightly libelous tabloids. After reading L.A. Noir, the reader may long for the tabloid reporting and multiple newspapers in this day of chic and shiny tv news personalities, the blandest newspaper in the West that often doesn't even print the serious news, but devotes pages and pages to soul-searching reporters personal quests. I think I'd prefer the reporters less intent, less sanctimonious, and who apparently never go on alcoholic benders (at least not publicly).

I thoroughly enjoyed and was enlightened by John Buntin's book L.A. Noir. It's an entertaining book that you can't put down and I recommend it highly. I was born in the LA area, lived in California for much of my life and watched police TV series - Dragnet, Adam 12 and the movie LA Confidential. Until I read LA Noir, I did not appreciate the rich history of the LAPD and LA criminal underworld and the impact of its policy and characters on LA today. I also was intrigued by the role that national figures played in LA's colorful history - Robert F. Kennedy, J. Edgar Hoover, Billy Graham, Malcolm X, Hollywood celebrities and the then-LA City Councilman Edward Roybal who was the first Latino City councilmember and later a United States Member of Congress for whom I worked for in Congress. I usually don't read non-fiction books but the author keeps you in engaged and interested. I look forward to more books by this author.

"L.A. Noir" is a fascinating study of organized crime in Los Angeles and the politics of policing it from the Twenties to the Sixties. It's an entertaining read that I found hard to put down. The book has everything: mob hits, police brutality, corruption, violence, glamor, and pathos. The author focuses on two major figures whose lives spanned this period: the gangster Micky Cohen and LAPD officer and chief Bill Parker. The two eventually became bitter enemies in a struggle for the soul of the city. For most of the time period covered, the LAPD resembled a mercenary army, subject to being bought off or bribed by one mob faction or another. Los Angeles was a wide open city, where crime flourished and no one tried too hard to bring the Syndicate to heel. While this sometimes led to wild instability and brutal killings, at other times the mob was able to reach an accommodation with the police and city hall, known as the "Combination." For a while, the Combination controlled L.A. Mickey Cohen was a lackluster boxer and low-life hood who rose to the top in the criminal underworld in Los Angeles. His chief strengths appear to have been absolute ruthlessness and a complete lack of fear. He stood up with almost crazy resolve, especially in the early days, to mobsters much more powerful than he was, almost daring them to kill him. His recklessness paid off. Bugsy Siegel made him his right-hand man, and when Bugsy eventually dropped out of the picture, Mickey ascended to the top spot. He had it all: wealth, power, respect, and the company of beautiful women. But Cohen had an adversary, a nemesis in Bill Parker. Parker was an odd duck: personally incorruptible but flawed by his heavy drinking, narrow-mindedness, and fits of rage. Over decades he worked to insulate the police department from political pressure, a key facilitator of corruption. When he finally made it to the top, he went after the mob with a vengeance. He suffered from a strange form of Cold War paranoia, believing that organized crime served the nefarious purposes of Communism. He would later bring the same unfortunate linkage to his view of the Civil Rights movement, with tragic results. The sidelights in this book are what really makes it fun. Whether it's Billy Graham trying to convert Mickey Cohen, the mob coming down on Sammy Davis, Jr. for dating Kim Novak, the use of Jack Webb's "Dragnet" to burnish the LAPD's image, a look at the politics of wiretapping, or Mike Wallace's interview with Mickey Cohen (in which Cohen called Parker a "degenerate"), the book is full of colorful anecdotes, containing one fascinating revelation after another. The book ends with an exploration of the LAPD's tragic bungling of the Watts riots, laying the failure at part at Parker's own feet. It is a rich reminder of the man's multifaceted character and his flaws. I highly recommend "L.A. Noir" for its fascinating history of crime corruption in Twentieth-Century Los Angeles.

Note that this is not a history of Los Angeles or a history of law enforcement therein. It is essentially an account of the careers of Mickey Cohen and William H. Parker. It is first rate narrative history with a focus on the intersection of the lives of a top criminal and top police chief. As such it is a perfect accompaniment to James Ellroy's L.A. Quartet. Here are the facts and the details, though some of the accounts (e.g. of the zoot suit riots) are fairly brief. L.A. Noir is a story of the politics of Los Angeles during this period and the pivotal role played by the LAPD. There is a major shortcoming to the book; there is no index. Since I reviewed an advance reading copy, I hope that there will be an index when the book is released in late August. Finally, this is a book that will interest everyone with an interest in 20thc Los Angeles, in crime fiction and the ethos which spawned it, in true crime writing, in important L.A. personalities and in the intersection of race and politics with modern policing. Highly recommended.