Early Days of Los Angeles

Installment 8: Mayor, Mayor on the Wall The level of corruption sanctioned in Los Angeles by way of the mayor’s office throughout the long stretch of prohibition, could easily fuel season after season of award winning television. From real estate scams and rigged elections, bootlegging and gambling houses, to bookmaking, prostitution, and alliances with criminals and shadowy organizations—every Los Angeles mayor who sat behind the desk during “the drought” dabbled in at least some form…

Installment 7: The Senator and the Shield RICO, the infamous Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act of 1970, is credited as one of the most effective tools in the fight against the national crime syndicate. It’s aim for the prosecution of top mob members over mere soldiers, is no doubt largely responsible for its level of success. Earlier introduced and lesser known, was another controversial legislative weapon; one which arrived on the law books not…

Installment 6: Prelude to the Kefauver Hearings In April of 1950, the Senate Gambling Investigating Committee gathered in Washington DC. On the table, was a new bill that they expected would put “a ban on interstate transmission of race horse information.” Chairmen McFarland and his men were on a crusade to rid the nation of the racing wire service which “the country’s thousands of bookies” relied on. Though top officials from such major cities as…