This book is overlong and somewhat disorganized, and the attempt to frame it as the story of a rivalry between gangster Mickey Cohen and Police Chief William Parker is a bit of a stretch--both men had a lot more to worry about than each other--but it is never boring. Certainly Cohen comes across as the more interesting character, a thief, a murderer, a racketeer, and many things besides, but a man who never lost faith in himself. Parker comes across as an excellent politician and a straight arrow, ahead of his time in some ways, but never able to face up to his personal shortcomings or those of the force he led. Along the way, we get insights from Parker's protege, future chief Daryl Gates (the book ends with the Rodney King riots) and capsule histories of the growth of Los Angeles and, in particular, its African American community. Since the African American part has nothing to do with Cohen, by the time you get to the end of this, you'll feel like you just listened (in my case) to more than one book. We also get appearances by John and Robert Kennedy, Bugsy Siegel, and lots of other characters. Glad I listened to this, and it is a good background to reading crime fiction set in L.A. ( )

A great insight into the 20th century of Los Angeles crime and the Los Angeles Police Department ( )

This is an excellent "biography" of Los Angeles told thru the lens of the lives of two extremes: Mickey Cohen, the infamous gangster who ran the mob in LA after Bugsy Segel left to create Las Vegas and William Parker, who rose up thru the rangs of the LAPD to become its most famous police chief. From the early days of Prohibition to the Zoot Suit riots to Rodney King and beyond, its a fascinating look at the crime and corruption (political and otherwise) that build the City of Angels.

Recommend.

"Parker found in Los Angeles temptation. Instead of becoming a prominent attorney, he became a cop, a patrolman in the LAPD. Coldly cerebral (Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, a onetime LAPD officer and Parker speechwriter, reputedly based the character Mr. Spock on his former boss), intolerant of fools, and famously incorruptible (in a department that was famously corrupt), Parker persevered."

The poet Hart Crane on visiting LA in 1927; "Th ecity itself was horrid, but the sex divine"

9/10

S: 7/17/16 - F: 8/1/16 (16 Days) ( )

While the description makes the reader envision a book about cops and mobsters, this is really a history of LA and the LAPD using mobster Mickey Cohen as the primary antagonist.

As a history of the LAPD, Buntin describes the long battle LAPD fought against corruption internally and externally. I liked how the author gradually brought to the fore the dichotomy between a corrupt police force that can be held accountable by elected politicians with all shades of integrity/ character versus a professional, disciplined, and forward-thinking (methodology-wise) police force under independent civil servants that was out-of-touch with and tone-deaf to the communities they served.

As a history of LA, the author weaves the narrative around the major events of the times - in no particular order: Bobby Kennedy's assassination, the 1960 Democratic Convention, the rise of major industry in LA, the advent of smog after WW2, WW2, Prohibition, the repeal of Prohibition, civil rights, the Great Depression, the Okies, changing demographics,...

Make no mistake, Mickey Cohen takes up many pages, but somehow the struggle never became personal for me. It just seems like he was the chosen representative for the corrupting and corrosive forces. Rather than 2 lines that intersect into an explosion, Parker/ LAPD and Mickey Cohen/ Syndicate are 2 threads woven together but never pulled taut. ( )

Couldn't get into it ( )