Dragna/Cohen war. Dragna influenced by sheriffs?

Reading The Last Mafioso again, I never noticed before that Frattiano claims it was crooked sheriffs who wanted Cohen out, and they promised Dragna they'd split the books with him if he accomplished it.

I noticed that too and found it intriguing. Especially since the LAPD were supposed to be pretty hard on mobsters. Will have to do some digging...

It was actually a sheriff that Frattianio identified. His name was Al Guasti. The Sunset Strip, where most mob activity took place then, was in the LA Sheriffs jurisdiction because it hadn't yet been annexed by Los Angeles.

I'm not sure I believe Frattiano, however. He held Dragna in high regard and I wouldn't put it past him to try to save Dragna face by making it look like there were legitimate business reasons to target Cohen, as opposed to just plain jealousy, which it probably was. Dragna is well documented as having been bitter over the power and influence Siegel and Cohen had. Frattiano didn't seem to hold back his anti-semitism, either. When he went into detail about anything involving the Jewish gangsters in LA, I sense I'm just reading the words of a proud Italian wiseguy.

The Last Mafioso is a great read. This is my fourth time reading it. Frattiano, despite having some sharp knowledge in gambling and extortion rackets, was mostly a meat head. I take a lot of what he said with a grain of salt. Author Ovid Demaris did a good job weighing Frattiano's input with police records and news reports from that era. Overall it's a great book about the LA underworld from the 1940s to the 1970s.

I haven't read the book in years, but I remember thinking Frattiano had a very high opinion of himself.

It's one of my favourites even though it's very much Fratianno's opinion and I think Demaris took some creative licence with all the dialogue. I would rather have one LA mobster's actual point of view on things, even if he has a huge ego, than none at all. l still have to check out Mickey Cohen's autobiography.

In the opening, Demaris claims that if he found out Frattiano was lying about one single detail, everything was off. Who knows how genuine this disclaimer was? Demaris seems to have a pretty good reputation as a crime writer. Frattiano seems to involve himself in way too many historical events. Almost Forrest Gump-like. I'm at the part about Siegel's death now, and I just have a tough time believing that he was Frankie Carbo's wheel man. In fact, Carbo being the shooter has been widely disputed over the decades. Anyhow, it's hands down the best book about the west coast mob. The book about San Francisco a couple of years ago was atrocious.

I've been meaning to check out Cohen's auto-bio, too. There's copies on Amazon for around $12. At least there were the last time I looked. His book had been heavily criticized for leaving out a ton of things he was involved in. He had no immunity from prosecution. Could have been hauled in for writing anything incriminating. Still want to give it a shot, though. I mean, it's a damned book by Mickey Cohen. How bad could it be?

A surprisingly good book about the LA area is gangster squad. Ok so the film was shyte. But it gives a great insight into Dragna Cohen Fratiano.

I never thought about giving that book a read. I always associated it with the movie, but of course the book could have been good while the movie was not. The movie was a wasted opportunity. A lot of good actors in it. Seeing Jon Polito as Dragna made me wonder what it would have been like if the Coen Bros. had directed it. I really hope someday the Coens do a movie on the 1950s street wars in LA, even if Cohen and Dragna are small roles.

In this interview (at 6:57) he praises the business sense of Jews and makes fun of how Italian wiseguys handled their money.. Love his interviews btw..

Thanks for posting, Billy. This is a great interview. In the book he makes several implications that the Jewish gangsters answered to Italians in Los Angeles, which anybody who's ever looked into the topic knows is b.s. Maybe they answered to Italians back east, but not Dragna. Dragna had to kill some of Cohen's guys to get their attention, which was stupid business-wise. Dragna was old school Sicilian and pride clouded his business sense. Frattiano was more moderate in this regard. He had a business acumen, but not much of one. It seemed every time he talked about a sophisticated scheme, he couldn't resist going into how they cracked someone's head in the process. Frattiano was a leg breaker whose semi-knowledge of sophisticated schemes made him the best of a bad lot to people like Roselli and the midwest families. This is just my opinion, of course. I'm an admitted novice on the topic, and welcome being learned a thing or two.

Were there any lucrative money makers in the Dragna mob who weren't solidly connected back east, to the point to where they could have just represented an east coast or midwest family?

You're welcome OAF, I've been wanting to buy LAST MAFIOSO for quite some time now but I always end up buying some other book..

That's interesting. I think it's possible Frankie Carbo killed Siegel. Siegel was originally a NYC guy, so I think it's likely a New York man was ordered to kill him. As for the driver, it probably was a Los Angeles guy, because he would know the roads. We kind of have to take Frattianno's word for it, no one else from the LA family back then talked.

Most accounts believe Carbo was the trigger man, too. It's just the way Frattiano puts himself into every historical event, kind of raises red flags. I'm on the last 50 or so pages, now. I forgot he put himself front and center in Cleveland's Danny Greene war, too. But as you said, who else's word do we have to go by? Has anyone refuted him?

BTW, I'm thinking Johnny Knoxville to play Frattiano in a movie. He could use the same costume from Bad Grandpa in the later scenes.

If I remember correctly, he was actually involved in the Danny Greene war and that's what he was arrested for in the end.



lol, I can see the resemblance!

He was.

I'm being mostly facetious. He was the best of a bad lot in LA. It was Roselli then him.

I can hear Knoxville's voice. "You're going to walk straight in this town!".