Synopses & Reviews
A harrowing, edge-of-your-seat narrative of murder and secrets, revenge and heroism in the City of Angels, GANGSTER SQUAD chronicles the true story of the secretive police unit that waged an anything-goes war to drive Mickey Cohen and other hoodlums from Los Angeles after WWII—the real events behind the highly-anticipated Warner Bros. film starring Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.
A full decade before J. Edgar Hoovers FBI even acknowledged the existence of the Mafia, the Los Angeles Police Department launched the real-life Gangster Squad with eight men who met covertly on street corners and slept with Tommy guns under their beds while combating what city fathers saw as an “invasion of undesirables.” The squad planted bugs in mobsters bedrooms and took visiting hitmen into the Hollywood Hills for a chat … and a pistol in their ear. But for two cops, all that mattered was nailing Mickey Cohen, the strutting little gangster who for 15 years made a mockery of law and order in Los Angeles. Sgt. Jack OMara was a square-jawed church usher, Sgt. Jerry Wooters a cynical womanizer. About all they had in common was their obsession with the pint-sized Brooklyn-born prizefighter who rose to the top of the L.A. rackets following the murder of his mentor Bugsy Siegel then flaunted his stature by holding court every night along the Sunset Strip. So OMara set a trap for Mickey - using his own guns -- to prove he was a killer. And Wooters formed an alliance with Mickeys budding rival, Jack “The Enforcer” Whalen, an intimidating figure with movie star looks and dreams of making it in Hollywood. Two cops -- two hoodlums. Their fates collided in the closing days of the 1950s, when “The Enforcer” stormed into Rondellis restaurant to have it out with Mickey and his crew. Then a bullet between the eyes signaled that the Gangster Squads time was up and so was a formative era in the citys history.
Award-winning journalist Paul Liebermans seven-part 2008 Los Angeles Times series “Tales from the Gangster Squad” was optioned by Warner Bros. and became the basis for the feature film scheduled for release in the fall of 2012. One of the most highly anticipated movies of the year, it features Josh Brolin as Sgt. OMara, Ryan Gosling as Sgt. Wooters, Nick Nolte as Police Chief William Parker, Sean Penn as Mickey Cohen and Emma Stone as the love interest caught between the citys foremost mobster and the dashing Sgt. Wooters. An Executive Producer of the film, Lieberman spent well over a decade tracking down surviving members of the real police unit and conducted more than 300 interviews in all to write the book version of “Gangster Squad.” He met countless times with the hitherto anonymous foot soldiers in L.A.s war against organized crime but also with the families and associates of the mobsters they pursued and assembled thousands of pages of documents, including grand jury transcripts, voluminous crime reports, old family letters and photos, and the LAPDs own survey of every mob killing in the city from 1900 to 1951. The result is an in-depth look at the real characters and chilling events that inspired the movie in a tour-de-force narrative that will remind readers of LA Confidential.
Review
"I'm all in on this book. Got a little Mission Impossible in there. Got a little Dirty Dozen in there. Got a little Bud White from L.A. Confidential in there. All set on the mean Noir streets of L.A. I dig the circa. I did the milieu. And I dig the cast of characters." -- Dennis Miller
Review
“Robert Petkoffs young, assertive tone propels these real-life stories, and he has a knack for characterizing the blunt-talking cops as well as the streetwise gangsters” - AudioFile Magazine
Review
“Read this mans book.” --James Ellroy
"Classic Noir, a chilling tale from the era that still defines L.A." --Huffington Post
"I'm all in on this book. Got a little Mission Impossible in there. Got a little Dirty Dozen in there. Got a little Bud White from L.A. Confidential in there. All set on the mean Noir streets of L.A. I dig the circa. I did the milieu. And I dig the cast of characters." -- Dennis Miller
“If you're a fan of true crime, you will love it. Lieberman really gives us the sense that we've stepped back in time…. This is a two-fisted true story, tough and hard-edged, as exciting as any novel.” -Winnepeg Free Press
"A real-life version of L.A. Confidential." --Joe Scarborough of "Morning Joe"
Synopsis
The real events behind the highly-anticipated film starring Sean Penn and Ryan Gosling—A secret police force wages an all-out street war to drive gangs from Los Angeles after WWII
Award-winning journalist Paul Liebermans 7-part 2008 Los Angeles Times newspaper series on the Squad was optioned by Warner Bros. for feature film. The $60 million production is scheduled for US release on Oct. 19, 2012, backed by $50 Million in marketing, and it has already been scheduled for release in 7 foreign countries. An Executive Producer of the film, Lieberman worked for 24 years as an editor and writer for the L.A. Times and before that with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For the L.A. Times series, he spent more than a decade tracking down surviving members of the secretive LAPD squad that battled Mickey Cohen and other hoodlums in 1950s L.A. He interviewed 150 people in all, including Cohens associates, and assembled thousands of pages of documents, including grand jury transcripts, voluminous crime reports, old family letters and photos, and an LAPD study of every mob killing in the city from 1900 to 1951.
Lieberman's book tells the story of two cops, OMara and Wooters, both of whom became obsessed with the Squads priority target, the showboating Mickey Cohen. One set a trap for Mickey using his own guns, while the other formed an alliance with Mickeys fearless rival, Jack “The Enforcer” Whalen. Both of their crusades then came to a head on the same night in the last days of the 1950s. The film is already generating buzz, but more importantly, there is a huge audience of true crime as well as noir-era L.A. fans who are already excited to read the true, in-depth story of the Squad—after the newspaper series ran, Lieberman heard from thousands of readers asking “When can I get the book?” With the Warner Brothers PR machine generating tremendous anticipation for the movie, this audience will create tremendous demand for this harrowing, edge-of-your-seat narrative of murder and secrets, revenge and heroism in the City of Angels.
Synopsis
A harrowing, edge-of-your-seat narrative of murder and secrets, revenge and heroism in the City of Angels—the real events behind the blockbuster Warner Brothers film starring Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.
GANGSTER SQUAD chronicles the true story of the secretive police unit that 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. But for two cops, all that mattered was nailing the strutting gangster Mickey Cohen. Sgt. Jack OMara was a square-jawed church usher, Sgt. Jerry Wooters a cynical maverick. About all they had in common was their obsession. So OMara set a trap to prove Mickey was a killer. And Wooters formed an alliance with Mickeys 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 LAs mob and police department, and signal the end of a defining era in the citys history.
In 2008, award-winning journalist Paul Liebermans seven-part Los Angeles Times series “Tales from the Gangster Squad” was optioned by Warner Bros. He spent over a decade tracking down surviving members of the real police unit as well as families and associates of the mobsters they pursued. GANGSTER SQUAD is a tour-de-force narrative reminiscient of LA Confidential.
Synopsis
“Read this mans book.” --James Ellroy
A harrowing, edge-of-your-seat narrative of murder and secrets, revenge and heroism in the City of Angels—the real events behind the blockbuster Warner Brothers film starring Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.
GANGSTER SQUAD chronicles the true story of the secretive police unit that 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. But for two cops, all that mattered was nailing the strutting gangster Mickey Cohen. Sgt. Jack OMara was a square-jawed church usher, Sgt. Jerry Wooters a cynical maverick. About all they had in common was their obsession. So OMara set a trap to prove Mickey was a killer. And Wooters formed an alliance with Mickeys 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 LAs mob and police department, and signal the end of a defining era in the citys history.
Warner Brothers developed the film Gangster Squad based on the research award-winning journalist Paul Lieberman conducted for this book, which reveals the unbelievable true stories behind the film. He spent more than a decade tracking down and interviewing surviving members of the real police unit as well as families and associates of the mobsters they pursued. Gangster Squad is a tour-de-force narrative reminiscent of LA Confidential.
About the Author
PAUL LIEBERMAN is a journalist with more than a quarter century of experience as a writer and editor at the Los Angeles Times and Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has won dozens of journalism honors, most for investigative projects, including the Robert F. Kennedy Awards Grand Prize, a George Polk Award, Gerald Loeb Award, American Society of Newspaper Editors Award and Scripps Howard Foundation Award. He also shared in two team Pulitzer Prizes at the L.A. Times, as a writer on its coverage of the Los Angeles Riots and an editor of its reporting on the Northridge Earthquake. A native New Yorker, Lieberman is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Williams College and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard, where he studied law and social history. He lives in Westchester County with his wife, a school administrator.