Full name: Gangster Squad: Covert Cops, the Mob, and the Battle for Los Angeles

Author: Paul Lieberman Year: 2010 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: True crime, Non Fiction, History Purchase/reserch links: Amazon eBooks.com Goodreads ISBNs: 9781250020116 1250020115

The true story behind the movie of the same name. A secretive police unit waged an anything-goes war to drive Mickey Cohen and other hoodlums from Los Angeles after WWII. In 1946, the LAPD launched the Gangster Squad with eight men who met covertly on street corners and slept with Tommy guns under their beds. Sgt Jack O'Mara was a square-jawed church usher, Sgt Jerry Wooters a cynical maverick. About all they had in common was their obsession. O'Mara set a trap to prove Mickey was a killer. And Wooters formed an alliance with Mickey's budding rival, Jack "The Enforcer" Whalen. Two cops -- two hoodlums.  Their fates collided in the closing days of the 1950s, when late one night "The Enforcer" confronted Mickey and his crew. The aftermath would shake both LA's mob and police department, and signal the end of a defining era in the city's history.     Similar books: Columbine by Dave Cullen Homicide by David Simon The Library Book by Susan Orlean The Esperanza Fire by John N. Maclean Getting Away with Murder by Chris Crowe The Infiltrator by Robert Mazur Simeon's Story by Simeon Wright Sex Trafficking by Siddharth Kara On the Laps of Gods by Robert Whitaker The Freedom Summer Murders by Don Mitchell Jack the Ripper by John J. Eddleston L.A. Noir by John Buntin The Billionaire's Vinegar by Benjamin Wallace A Bright and Guilty Place by Richard Rayner High Treason by Robert J. Groden The Bureau by Ronald Kessler The Curious Habits of Dr Adams by Jane Robins No Right to Remain Silent by Lucinda Roy The Shankill Butchers by Martin Dillon The Burning of Bridget Cleary by Angela Bourke