L.A. Confidential Part 9

McPHERSON AND LOEW TOP D.A.'S FIELD: WILL CLASH IN SPRING ELECTION

William McPherson, seeking his fourth term as Los Angeles District Attorney, will face upstart Deputy D.A. Ellis Loew in next March's general election, the two colleagues leading an eight-man field by a wide margin.

McPherson, 56, received 38 percent of the votes cast; Loew, 41, received 36 percent. Their closest rival was Donald Chapman, the former city parks commissioner, with 14 percent. The remaining five candidates, considered long shots with little chance of winning, received a total of 12 perccnt of the votes cast between them.

McPherson, in a scheduled press conference, predicted a down-to-the-wire campaign and stressed that he is an inc.u.mbent civil servant first and a political candidate second. Locw, at home with his wife, Joan, echoed those sentiments, predicted victory next March and thanked the voters at large and the law enforcement community in particular for their support.

1953

LAPD Annual Fitness Report, Marked _Confidential_, dated 1/3/53, filed by Lt. Dudley Smith, copies to Personnel and Administration Divisions:

1/2/53 ANNUAL FITNESS REPORT DUTY DATES: 4/4/52--12/31/52 SUBJECT: White, Wendell A., Badge 916 GRADE: Police Officer (Detective) (Civil Serv. Rate 4) Division: Detective Bureau (Homicide Adjunct Surveillance Detail) COMMANDING OFFICER: Lt. Dudley L. Smith, Badge 410.

Gentlemen: This memorandum serves both as a fitness report on Officer White and an update on the first nine months of the Surveillance Detail's existence. Of the sixteen men working the squad, I consider White my finest officer. To date he has been attentive, thorough, and has put in long hours without complaint. He has a perfect attendance record, and has often worked two-week stretches of eighteen-hour days. White transferred to Surveillance under the cloud of last year's unfortunate Christmas mess, and Deputy Chief Green, citing the four excessive-force complaints filed against him, had some misgivings about the transfer (i.e.: that White's propensity for violence and the potentially violent nature of the a.s.signment would prove to be a disastrous combination). This has not proven to be the case, and I unhesitatingly give Officer White straight "A" markings in every fitness category. He has often evinced spectacular bravery. By way of example, I would like to cite several instances of White's performance above and beyond the call of duty.

1. 5/8/52. On a liquor store stakeout, Officer White (who is plagued by old football injuries) chased a fleeing armed suspect for a half mile. The suspect fired repeatedly back at Officer White, who did not return his fire for fear of hitting innocent civilians. The suspect took a woman hostage and held a gun to her head, which held off the backup officers who had caught up with Officer White. White then walked through a side alley while his partners attempted to calm the suspect down. The suspect refused to release the woman, and White shot and killed him at point-blank range. The woman was unharmed.

2. Numerous instances. One of the key duties of the Surveillance Detail is to meet paroled prison inmates upon their return to Los Angeles and try to convince them of the folly of committing violent crimes in our city. This job requires great physical presence, and Officer White has, frankly, been instrumental in scaring many hardened criminals into a docile parole. He has spent much off-duty time tailing parolees with particularly violent records, and he is responsible for the arrest of John "Big Dog" Ca.s.sese, a twice-convicted rapist and armed robber. On 7/20/52, White, while surveilling Ca.s.sese inside a c.o.c.ktail lounge, overheard him attempting to suborn a minor female into prost.i.tution. Ca.s.sese attempted to resist arrest, and Officer White subdued him through physical means. Later, White and two other Surveillance officers (Sgt. Michael Breuning, Officer R. J. Carlisle) questioned Ca.s.sese extensively about his post-parole activities. Ca.s.sese confessed to the rape/murders of three women. (See Homicide arrest report 168-A, dated 7/22/52.) Ca.s.sese was tried, convicted and executed at San Quentin.

3. 10/18/52. Officer White, while surveilling parolee Percy Haskins, observed Haskins in a known criminal a.s.sembly with Robert Mackey and Karl Carter Goff. All three men possessed long armed-robbery records, and White sensed that a major felony was in the making and proceeded on that a.s.sumption. He tailed Haskins, Mackey and Goff to a market at 1683 S. Berendo. The three robbed the market, and White attempted to arrest them outside. The three refused to relinquish their weapons. White shot and killed Goff and severely wounded Mackey. Haskins surrendered. Mackey later died of his wounds and Haskins pleaded guilty to armed robbery with priors and was given a life sentence.

In summary, Officer White has taken the high ground and has been instrumental in making the Surveillance Detail's first year a resounding success. I will be returning to my regular Homicide duties effective 3/15/53 and would like Officer White to join my squad as a regular Homicide detective. In my opinion, he has the makings of a fme case man.

Respectfully, Dudley L. Smith, Badge 410, Lieutenant, Homicide Division

LAPD Annual Fitness Report, marked _Confidential_, dated 1/6/53, filed by Capt. Russell Millard, copies to Personnel and Administration Divisions:

1/6/53 ANNUAL FITNESS REPORT DUTY DATES: 4/13/52--12/31/52 SUBJECT: Vincennes, John, Badge 2302 GRADE: Detective Sergeant (Civil Serv. Rate 5) DIVISION: Detective Bureau (Administrative Vice) COMMANDING OFFICER: Capt. Russell A. Millard, Badge 5009

Gentlemen: An overall "D +" fitness rating for Sergeant Vincennes, along with some comments.

A. Since he doesn't drink, Vincennes is excellent at liquor violation operations.

B. Vincennes oversteps his bounds where narcotics are concerned, insisting on making possession arrests when dope is found collaterally at Ad Vice crime scenes.

C. He has not fulfilled my fears that he would neglect his Ad Vice duties to offer a.s.sistance to his Bureau mentor, Lt. Dudley Smith. This is to Vincennes' credit.

D. Vincennes is not terribly resented for his testimony in the Christmas a.s.saults matter, because he lost his much coveted Narco a.s.signment and because none of the officers he specifically informed on went to jail.

E. Vincennes is continually pressing me to return him to Narco. I will not sign his transfer papers until he makes a major case at Ad Vice--this is a long-standing Ad Vice transfer stipulation. Vincennes has had Deputy D.A. Ellis Loew exert pressure on me to transfer him, and I have refused. I will continue to refuse, even if Loew is elected D.A.

F. There are rumors that Vincennes leaks interdepartmental information to the _Hush-Hush_ scandal rag. I have warned him: never leak word of our work or I will have your hide.

G. In conclusion, Vincennes has proven himself a barely adequate Ad Vice officer. His attendance is good, his reports are well written (and, I suspect, padded). He is too well known to operate bookmakers and adequate at working prost.i.tution sweeps. He has not neglected his duties to fulfill his TV show commitments, which is to his credit. Ad Vice has a probable p.o.r.nography crackdown coming up within the next few months and Vincennes has a chance to prove his mettle (and earn his major case transfer requirement) on that. Again, an overall "D +" rating.

Respectfully, Russell A. Millard, Badge 5009, Commanding Officer, Administrative Vice

LAPD Annual Fitness Report, marked Confidental, dated 1/1 1/5 3, filed by Lt. Arnold Reddin, Commander, Hollywood Division Detective Squad, copies to Personnel and Administration Divisions:

1/11/53 ANNUAL FITNESS REPORT DUTY DATES: 3/1/52--12/31/52 SUBJECT: Exley, Edmund J., Badge 1104 GRADE: Detective Sergeant (Civil Serv. Rate 5) DIVISION: Detective (Hollywood Squad) COMMANDING OFFICER: Lt. Arnold D. Reddin, Badge 556

Gentlemen: On Sergeant Exley: This man has obvious gifts as a detective. He is thorough, intelligent, seems to have no personal life and works very long hours. He is only thirty years old and in his nine months as a detective he has ama.s.sed a brilliant arrest record, with a 95 percent conviction rate on the cases (mostly minor felony property crimes) he has made. He is a thorough and succinct report writer.

Exley works poorly with partners and well by himself, so I have let him conduct interviews alone. He is a peerless interrogator and to my mind has gotten many miraculous confessions (without physical force). All well and good, and my overall fitness grade on Exley is a solid "A."

But he is roundly hated by his fellow officers, the result of his serving as an informant in the Christmas shake-up, and he is despised for receiving a Bureau a.s.signment out of it. (It seems to be common knowledge that Exley made the Detective Bureau as a result of his informing.) Also, Exley does not like to employ force with suspects, and most of the men consider him a coward.

Exley has pa.s.sed the lieutenant's exam with very high marks and an opening is probably coming up for him. I think he is both too young and too inexperienced to be a detective lieutenant and that such a promotion would create great resentment. I think he would be a roundly hated supervisor.

Respectfully, Lt. Arnold D. Reddin, Badge 556

EXTRACT: L.A. _Daily News_, February 9:

IT'S OFFICIAL: CONSTRUCTION KING EXLEY TO LINK SOUTHLAND WITH SUPERHIGHWAYS

Today, the Tri-County Highway Commission announced that Preston Exley, ex--San Francisco paperboy and L.A. cop, would be the man to build the freeway system that will link Hollywood to downtown L.A., downtown to San Pedro, Pomona to San Bernardino and the South Bay to the San Fernando Valley.

"Details will be forthcoming," Exley told the News by phone. "I'll be holding a televised press conference tomorrow, and representatives of the State Legislature and the Tn-County Commission will be there with me."

February 1953 issue, _Hush-Hush_ Magazine:

L.A. D.A. TAKES TIME OFF FROM CAMPAIGN--RELAXING WITH COPPER CUTIE!!!

by Sidney Hudgens

Bill McPherson, the district attorney for the City of Los Angeles, likes them long and leggy, zesty and chesty--and dark and dusky. From Harlem's Sugar Hill to L.A.'s Darktown, the 57-year-old married man with three teenaged daughters is known as a sugar daddy who likes to tss around that long slush-fund green--in dark hot spots where the drinks are tall, the jazz is cool, reefer smoke hangs humid and black-white romance bebops to the jungle throb of a wailing tenor sax.

Can you dig it, hepcat? McPherson, engaged in a reelection campaign, the fight of his political life against ace crimebuster Ellis Loew, needs time to relax. Does he go to the pool at the staid Jonathan Club? No. Does he take the family to Mike Lyman's or the Pacific Dining Car? No. Where _does_ he go? To the Darktown Strutter's Ball.

It's all shakin' south of Jefferson, hepcat. It's a different world down there. Get your hair marcelled, get yourself a purple sharkskin suit and trip the dark fantastic. D.A. Bill McPherson does--every Thursday nite.

But let's talk facts. Marion McPherson, Darktown Bill's long-suffering hausfrau, thinks Billy Boy spends Thursday nites watching Mexican bantamweights pound each other silly at the Olympic Auditorium. She's wrongsky--Bad Billy craves amour, not mayhem, on his Thursdays.

Fact numero uno--Bill McPherson is a regular at Minnie Roberts' Casbah--the sw.a.n.kiest colored cathouse on L.A.'s southside. Call it sinuendo, hepcat-- but we've heard he likes the thirty-five-dollar milkbath, plied by two very large Congo cuties. Fact numero twosky--McPherson was seen listening to Charlie "Bird" Parker (a notorious hophead) at Tommy Tucker's Playroom, on cloud ten from the Playroom's potent Plantation Punch. His date that night was one Lynette Brown, age eighteen, a dusky deelite with two juvenile arrests for possession of marijuana. Lynette told a secret _Hush-Hush_ correspondent, "Bill like his black. He say, 'Once you had black you can't go back.' He dig jazz and he like to party slow. He really married? He really distric' 'turney?"

He sure is, sweet thing. But for how much longer? There's a bunch of Thursdays between now and Election Day, and will Bad Bebop Billy be able to control his dark desires until then?

Remember, dear reader, you heard it first here--off the record, on the Q.T. and _very_ Hush-Hush.

EXTRACT: L.A. _Herald-Express_, March 1:

b.l.o.o.d.y CHRISTMAS POLICEMAN TO LEAVE JAIL SOON