Gangster Squad

Covert Cops, the Mob, and the Battle for Los Angeles

De: Paul Lieberman

Narrado por: Robert Petkoff

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 World War II. 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 O’Mara was a square-jawed church usher, Sgt. Jerry Wooters a cynical maverick. About all they had in common was their obsession. So 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.

In 2008 award-winning journalist Paul Lieberman’s 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.

©2012 Paul Lieberman (P)2012 Macmillan Audio

Not the movie

This is the story of the real gangster squad - I really enjoyed this production. It was interesting & very entertaining. Big thumbs up!

Gangster Squad

A few good things about this is the writer did an amazing amount of research, he also notes when stories he has can contain hyperbole or be untrue. The characters are all good characters to hear about especially the Whalen family.

Really one of the boring parts was Mickey Cohen sure he was interesting till he went to prison the first time, after that he seems just like a has been and the story could have been better suited towards other things the intelligence division did.

The origins the writer goes back to are excellent he mentions the fruit cart selling black hand people and details how in the early days LA was the wild west and was notorious for corruption. It is a great overall read.

Very disappointing gangster story

I was very excited to listen to this book . I love Mafia/true crime / post ww2 crime stories as well as books about hard boiled cops going “outside the law “ and giving evil people a taste of their own medicine. That’s what this book promised however , to me anyways , it delivered almost none of that . The book is supposed to follow LA’s Gangster Squad of the mid 1940’s and there war against Micky Cohen and the effort to keep organized crime out of LA . What it actually is , however , is a series of chapters that jumps around from character to character and time period to time period constantly focusing on Micky Cohens obsession with washing his hands and the Squad placing microphones/wire taps . A great book would have a plot line that stretches through the story . There would be a couple cases that they would go into detail on while getting you introduced to the main members of the squad and the criminals they are going after . You would see the cat and mouse game from both sides . In this garbage your jumping from a way to long introduction to a pool shark con man who has nothing to really do with the story other than being the dad of a guy who gets killed late in the book , to a rapid fire introduction to squad members who disappear completely other than the occasional mention of how they “came along to plant a bug “. Then you spend time hearing about micky cohen buying new socks , selling his life story , or his dating life . HEAVEN FORBID we learn more about his criminal activity (other than horse betting ) There is no (or very little ) info on what power he actually had , who the important members of his organization are (other than like 3 people who also disappear after being introduced) and what criminal acts they actually did (other than some stuff on bootlegging and of course , horse betting ) . In the books defense, there are Some chapters that really do a good job of showing the personality of some characters but I never really saw how any of that related to the “gangster Squad “ . Most of the book feels like the author wanted to just write about Micky cohen and this pool shark guy but didn’t have enough to do a full biography on eaither of them so he just threw it all in this book and called it a day . This is one of the most disappointing books I’ve ever read .

Great fun. How much of it is embellished?

Great fun. How much of it is embellished? Who KNOWS? Who cares? Still get fun.

Nothing Like the movie

Would you try another book from Paul Lieberman and/or Robert Petkoff?

It is up in the air. I do not normally listen to non fiction. This book did grab my interest once I got past that the book was a historical narative of the years in LA in the police force.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

It is a well written and well documented book that does not leave gaps in the telling of the LA police forces fight to keep the Mafia out of its City.

What three words best describe Robert Petkoff’s performance?

Easy to listen to. He is very clear in his reading.

Was Gangster Squad worth the listening time?

Initially I was unhappy as it claims to be the basis of the Movie. As with Band of Brothers by by Ambrose as opposed to the HBO series it is not very much alike. Once I started to listen though, the book did catch me and I was not able to stop listening to it. Have truly enjoyed it. If you are interested in early Police history, LA or the Mafia this is a good book for you.

I read it & felt like I lived it

Very enjoyable story, if you like cops & mobsters. I enjoyed that Lieberman didn't glorify these thugs - especially Mickey Cohen. That's one of the things I hated about "The Sopranos". These are low lifes who ruin the lives of mostly innocent people by praying on the weaknesses. Example: Mickey Cohen owned a florist and he would send out his delivery people with floral arrangements to homes of some of the citizens of Los Angeles. The problem...these people didn't order flowers. Of course Cohen's named would be on the receipt and since he was a well known "celebrity"/gangster (for lack of a better term) and fearing retribution they pay up. Nothing romantic about that unless you're a thug looking for new ideas to scam hard working citizens. It's the police that are the romantic character in this story. It's a wonderful story spanning the late 30's (with main character family stories dating back to the 1880's) thru the early 1960's (again with main characters stories going up until present time). This story goes much, much deeper than the movie. I hope this entices some people get the wonderful audio book.

Impeccably good 👍🏻

Storyline, facts , and timeline were spot on.
This was a story that involved my family, so it was cathartic to learn some hidden truths.