The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul, and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles

I think Donald H. Wolfe has come closer than anybody before him to determining what actually happened to Beth Short on January 14-15, 1947. If he's correct, he also explains the mystery of the murder of Bugsy Seigel. Bugsy Seigel's murder as explained in Dean Jennings' book We Only Kill Each Other, has never made much sense to me. The Flamingo Resort Casino, which was in a bad way in January of 1947 at the time of Beth Short's death, by June, when Seigel was killed, was already beginning to pay for itself. In Robert Lacy's book Little Man, the authorized biography of Meyer Lansky, written with the cooperation of the Lansky family, Meyer Lansky swore he never harmed his friend and partner, Ben Seigel. Outside of his being a gangster, why would he lie about it at the end of his life? The coinciding of Seigel's return to Los Angeles from Vegas expressly to raise money, with the MacCadden jewelry robberies and burgalries that took place in LA over those days, and the return of Beth Short from San Deigo on January 9th, an explaination starts to take shape. The coroner's report tells us that Beth Short was NOT tortured to death. She was killed by blunt force trauma to the side of her head by a metal instrument, and having her mouth slashed open. So the wounds inflicted to the body were made postmortum. This was a practical crime made to look like a crime of passion. Who would do something like this? Who would have the audacity to mutilate a body like that and then drop it off in a residential neighborhood a short walk from the home of LA crime boss Jack Dragna? Wolfe's theory makes a lot of circumstantial sense. We know from John Gilmore's book Severed that even LAPD believes that Jack Anderson Wilson, killed when his hotel room caught fire days after Gilmore's first article about him appeared in an LA paper, was present at the murder of the Black Daliah. But the specifics of the crime make it unlikely that Wilson was the only person involved. His own apparent murder makes one wonder, who is still alive who wants to maintain the secrecy around the motive and circumstances of Beth Short's death? From Dennis McDougal's book, Privileged Son we know that Norman Chandler, owner of the LA Times at the time of Short's murder, lived a scandlous secret life and,along with Ben Seigel, played a very close game with the corrupt LAPD of that day. I think Wolfe's solution is highly probable and expect that as more confidential files are made public we will eventually learn what happened to the Black Daliah.

LAPD Detective Harry Hansen had The Black Dahlia Case solved, but was pressured (threatened?) by his corrupt fellow policemen, including his own partner and the Chief of Police into not disclosing the intricate details of the case, but got the ball rolling. John Gilmore author of SEVERED:THE TRUE STORY OF THE BLACK DAHLIA...interviewed a co-conspirator and participant in the murder of Beth Short (but he believed him to be the LONE killer). Author Donald H. Wolfe has not only solved Georgette Baurdorf's murder (there IS a connection) but has solved 95% of Beth Short's murder. The only pertinent piece missing is the ACTUAL autopsy report, which is claimed to be "LOST"! This book is the DEFINITIVE book on The Black Dahlia Murder and SHOULD be read by all true crime and "Black Dahlia" enthusiasts!

This book is stock full of both good research and good writing. Don Wolfe takes the reader on a trip back in time to the corrupt and seamy Los Angeles of the 1940's inwhich one of America's most gruesome and famous murders occurred. The book brings us inside the police department and the competing newspapers and, with the addition of some key living sources and papers recently released, arrives at a conclusion. I believe Mr. Wolfe has solved the unsolved case of Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia. The author manages to lay out the results of his investigation in most readable prose inwhich he includes his own story of growing up in Los Angeles. He does this to add to the storyline rather than intruding on it. This is a well written piece of great investigative journalism that I believe any reader of true crime stories will find fascinating. BRAVO FOR A JOB WELL DONE.

Whether you have read every book on the Black Dahlia case or are just a little curious about it, this is the book to read. Wolfe's book is by far the most factual and best substantiated full-length account of the case to date. Wolfe's tenacious digging through official documents and other sources give us what is by far the most detailed factual account of the victim, her life, and her murder. It does not detract much from the book that Wolfe's postulated solution to the crime is merely plausible. Wolfe relies too much and heresy and dubious sources for this part of the book to be convincing. But Wolfe is to be commended for giving detailed source notes for all the information he presents, which allows the reader to evaluate its credibility. Very refreshing compared to the chest-beating "Take my word for it! I should know!" posturing of other Dahlia authors. The extensive appendices of this book are a trove of firsthand information, reproducing many of the official case documents. Wolfe devotes a 12-page appendix to a point-by-point debunking of Dahlia author Steve Hodel's heavily publicized 2003 claim of having proved his father was the killer. Wolfe shows that Hodel's claim that this father had photographs of the Black Dahlia have been refuted by the woman's family and by facial recognitions experts; that his claim to have matched his father's handwriting to notes supposedly written by the killer did not follow standard handwriting analysis procedures and have been refuted by handwriting experts; that Hodel deliberately misrepresents press and official references to other suspects and persons of interest as referring to his father; and that Hodel's father was not a suspect in the crime until 1949, at which point he was thoroughly investigated by LADA's office and dismissed as a suspect. All and all, Wolfe presents a thoroughgoing look at the crime that is well worth reading.

Between the evidence presented in John Gilmore's excellent "Severed" and now Donald Wolfe's "The Black Dahlia Files", it appears that some sort of justice has finally been served for the brutal murder of Elizabeth Short. This book, by far, delivers the most plausible solution to one of the the 20th century's most intriguing mysteries. It's unfortunate, however, that many more important pieces of the puzzle are still being kept hidden from the public eye. Well, the cat's out of the bag, as they say. Hey, LA, its time to reopen the case and serve justice officially. ***It's easy for some to sit back and lob potshots at Donald Wolfe's investigation of the Dahlia case. It doesn't require any work on their part. However, it would be far more useful, and considerably more difficult, for them to present a MORE plausible solution. If an alternate TRUTH exists, please enlighten us.***