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<v Speaker 1>Before there was East Coast West Coast rap battles, there

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<v Speaker 1>was East Coast West Coast mob wars. You think about

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<v Speaker 1>the MAFI, you think about New York, you think about Chicago,

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<v Speaker 1>you think about al Capone. But Los Angeles had its

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<v Speaker 1>own batch of mobsters. It's where we kick off True

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<v Speaker 1>Crime Tuesday. The story is.

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<v Speaker 2>True, sounds true?

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<v Speaker 1>No, it sounds made up.

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<v Speaker 2>I don't know, Garry and Shannon present true.

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<v Speaker 1>You raised a son, I did. When your son was five?

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<v Speaker 1>Did he know how to make gin?

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<v Speaker 2>No? He barely knew how to make peepee. Mickey Cohen

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<v Speaker 2>is a kid who, at the age of five, was

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<v Speaker 2>taught how to make gin by his older brother, Harry.

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<v Speaker 2>Mickey Cohen is the name of an LA gangster that

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<v Speaker 2>kind of pails. I don't want to discount his impact,

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<v Speaker 2>but he's not as well known, perhaps as some of

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<v Speaker 2>the bigger ones, the Lucky Luciano's, the Bugsy Seagulls and

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<v Speaker 2>things like that. And part of it is because he

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<v Speaker 2>was an LA guy at least when he rose to

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<v Speaker 2>when he rose to prominence.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Mickey Cohen was born in Brooklyn, but his dad

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<v Speaker 1>died in when he was weeks old. Mom took off

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<v Speaker 1>to Los Angeles a couple of years later, and they

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<v Speaker 1>made their life in Boyle Heights. And as you mentioned,

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<v Speaker 1>he took to the life very quickly. He had an

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<v Speaker 1>older brother who was a teenager at the time when

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<v Speaker 1>when little Mickey was learning how to make gin at five,

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<v Speaker 1>he grew up around pool halls, racking balls, slipping players,

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<v Speaker 1>bootlegged booze. It was a life of crime, or shall

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<v Speaker 1>we say, a life on the take from go and

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<v Speaker 1>Mickey Cohen is known. I think the picture that comes

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<v Speaker 1>to mind for me of Mickey Cohen is when he's

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<v Speaker 1>standing among what is left of his house in February

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen fifty and he's wearing a bathrobe and he's just

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<v Speaker 1>kind of casually looking at his house that had just

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<v Speaker 1>been essentially blown up by a rival mobster. And it's

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<v Speaker 1>such a cool picture because Mickey Cohen's in a bathrobe. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>what does that exude to you? To me, that exudes

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<v Speaker 1>I don't give an f you just tried to blow

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<v Speaker 1>my house up. I am not bothered enough to get

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<v Speaker 1>out of my bathrobe. I am not bothered enough to

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<v Speaker 1>change out of my slippers. I'm going to stand here

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<v Speaker 1>in my bathrobe and look at the damage, because I

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<v Speaker 1>don't fear you. I am Mickey f and Cohen.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, this is the craziest of This rival tries to

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<v Speaker 2>sneak a bomb underneath the crawl space of Cohen's house

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<v Speaker 2>and the crawl space or the bomb itself is made

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<v Speaker 2>of thirty sticks of dynamite, and they said it was

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<v Speaker 2>a weird quirk of the house that resulted in the

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<v Speaker 2>bomb not killing anybody. It was placed underneath the house,

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<v Speaker 2>but a cement covered vault that this guy installed ended

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<v Speaker 2>up diverting the blast.

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<v Speaker 1>The guy's name was Tom Dragna, the rival who tried

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<v Speaker 1>to blow up Mickey Cohen and his house, and the

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<v Speaker 1>two were involved in the Sunset Wars, which was basically

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<v Speaker 1>a turf war in Los Angeles trying to get mob

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<v Speaker 1>dominance in the late forties. And this was supposed to

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<v Speaker 1>be a sign, but like you said, it was a

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<v Speaker 1>gross miscalculation because there was that cement covered vault that

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<v Speaker 1>basically took the impact of the bomb.

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<v Speaker 2>And that was one of eleven known assassination attempts against

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<v Speaker 2>this guy. He was known as LA's al Capone, and

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<v Speaker 2>you mentioned that he was born in Brooklyn. As he

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<v Speaker 2>grew up. He just all ways was hustling, started selling

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<v Speaker 2>La examiners downtown. The paper he would he struck up

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<v Speaker 2>a deal with the editor the paper because he was

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<v Speaker 2>giving the editor bathtub gin at a time during prohibition,

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<v Speaker 2>and the editor would end up giving him papers that

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<v Speaker 2>he could then sell and keep the proceeds from.

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<v Speaker 1>It's funny that he started selling newspapers because he ended

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<v Speaker 1>up buying the newspaper people, buying the politicians, buying the cops,

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<v Speaker 1>buying attorney general. In fact, got an attorney How is that?

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<v Speaker 1>How great is that that you're a mobster running dirty

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<v Speaker 1>money left and right and you're able to put an

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<v Speaker 1>age of your picking in that spot.

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<v Speaker 2>Pretty nice? He as a kid, learns to box, actually

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<v Speaker 2>tries to make a go of it, ends up in

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<v Speaker 2>the Midwest in Cleveland, but catches on with some of

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<v Speaker 2>the less than savory people who are around the boxing

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<v Speaker 2>clubs that he was in, and gets picked up as

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<v Speaker 2>an enforcer for the mob. Gets pushed over towards Chicago

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<v Speaker 2>because they need some they need a tough guy in Chicago. Now,

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<v Speaker 2>this Mickey Cohen told stories all the time, and I

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<v Speaker 2>mean tall tales that kind of story all the time.

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<v Speaker 2>He talks about when he was in Chicago that was

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<v Speaker 2>the first time he met al Capone. Well, the math

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<v Speaker 2>doesn't work out because al Capone was already in Alcatraz

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<v Speaker 2>for tax evation at the time, so there's no way

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<v Speaker 2>he could have met him. But after things get out

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<v Speaker 2>of hand in Chicago and he's a little bit too

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<v Speaker 2>big for his breeches, they send him back to Chicago

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<v Speaker 2>in the thirties and they say, hey, listen, we need

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<v Speaker 2>you to team up with Bugsy Seagull. So he's in

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<v Speaker 2>cahoots with Bugsy Seagull and basically everything from prostitution to

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<v Speaker 2>gambling on the strip, the gambling ships off the coast,

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<v Speaker 2>all of that made Mickey Cohen into one of the

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<v Speaker 2>biggest gangsters in la.

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<v Speaker 1>If you're interested in this storyline, I will direct you

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<v Speaker 1>to the nineteen ninety one major motion picture movie Bugsy.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a great movie from what I remember when I

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<v Speaker 1>was eleven and I went to go see it in

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<v Speaker 1>the theater. It's about Bugsy Siegel and Mickey Cohen. Warren

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<v Speaker 1>Batty is Bugsy. Harvey Kaitel plays Mickey Cohen. Yeah, and

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<v Speaker 1>it's fantastic. It's all about Los Angeles and Vegas and

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<v Speaker 1>like the West Coast Mafia.

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<v Speaker 2>Mickey Cohen, a former boxer turned local mobster here in

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<v Speaker 2>la is detailed in a new book out. It's called

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<v Speaker 2>Mickey Cohen, The Life and Crimes of LA's Notorious Mobster

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<v Speaker 2>and Terry Tariba. The author basically argues that Mickey Cohen

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<v Speaker 2>kind of didn't get as fair shake in terms of

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<v Speaker 2>being as high profile as some of the other mobsters

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<v Speaker 2>that we know about. For example, Mickey Cohen, he didn't

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<v Speaker 2>really he didn't really drink, wasn't a big smoker. I

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<v Speaker 2>guess ice cream was his was his vice, and in

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<v Speaker 2>fact he was. He was oddly respectful and nice in

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<v Speaker 2>many cases to the police that were tracking him and

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<v Speaker 2>trailing him all day. He also supposedly brokeered some sort

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<v Speaker 2>of a truce. One of his tough guys named Johnny

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<v Speaker 2>Stampanado was caught with Ava Gardner, who was also having

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<v Speaker 2>an affair with Frank Sinatra at the time, and Mickey

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<v Speaker 2>Cohen mediated the whole thing, not by insisting that Johnny

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<v Speaker 2>Stampanado give up the relationship, but by insisting that Frank

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<v Speaker 2>Sinatra make amends with his wife Nancy.

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<v Speaker 1>At the time, Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner. What a

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<v Speaker 1>love story. Yeah, what a great story that is. I

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<v Speaker 1>think there's a Kitty Kelly book about that. It's pretty good.

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<v Speaker 2>He controlled and I mentioned that, you know, all of

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<v Speaker 2>the things, the gambling, ships, the back room gambling on

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<v Speaker 2>the Sunset Strip, prostitution, all of that stuff that was

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<v Speaker 2>running through LA at the time, but none of that

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<v Speaker 2>is what really got him in trouble. It's what falls, sorry,

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<v Speaker 2>it's what fells. All of the big ones. Tax evasion.

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<v Speaker 2>In nineteen fifty one.

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<v Speaker 1>Sam tax evasion.

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<v Speaker 2>He's indicted for failing to pay adequate taxes on his

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<v Speaker 2>income one owing what would be about two point seven

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<v Speaker 2>million when adjusted for inflation. There were some other legal

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<v Speaker 2>issues that were hanging over him. Of course. To shore

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<v Speaker 2>up his legal defense, he took out a storefront on

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<v Speaker 2>the Sunset Strip in which he wrote the words Mickey

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<v Speaker 2>Cohen quits, and then auctioned off a bunch of his furniture,

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<v Speaker 2>a bunch of his electronics, his vintage weapons at the time.

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<v Speaker 2>So he does just under four years in prison for

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<v Speaker 2>tax evasion, and he gets out and he's a new man.

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<v Speaker 2>But i'll put that in quotes new man. He dresses differently.

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<v Speaker 2>He talks to young people. A stay out of crime

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<v Speaker 2>begins hanging out with Billy Graham.

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<v Speaker 1>How old was he when he got out?

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<v Speaker 2>Uh? And died in fifty one, got out in fifty

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<v Speaker 2>five and born in thirteen, So he's in his forties.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, well back then the forties were your sixties essentially.

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<v Speaker 2>I guess. And then he goes back to prison in

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<v Speaker 2>nineteen sixty two. Guess what for tax evasionax evasion? And

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<v Speaker 2>he's released a short time later. I mentioned that there

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<v Speaker 2>is another movie about this guy. You mentioned Buggsy Siegel.

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<v Speaker 2>Obviously that concentrates on Bugsy Bugsy, but there was a

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<v Speaker 2>There was another movie called Gangster Squad in twenty thirteen

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<v Speaker 2>where Sean Penn plays.

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<v Speaker 1>Making That's a good movie. That's a good movie.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm a Stone. Josh Brol and Ryan Gosling in that

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<v Speaker 2>as well.

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<v Speaker 1>When Cohen was interviewed by Mike Wallace in New York

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<v Speaker 1>in nineteen fifty seven, he said, I never killed a

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<v Speaker 1>guy who, in my way of life didn't deserve it.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, in my way of life, is quite the umbrella. Right.

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<v Speaker 2>By the time he gets out, he says, the world

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<v Speaker 2>has changed. Touring for his autobiography that he wrote he

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<v Speaker 2>was diagnosed with terminal cancer. A little less energetic, they said.

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<v Speaker 2>He did still did the did the rounds. He did

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<v Speaker 2>what he could