Reads a little like the book/movie "LA Confidential",but delves much deeper into the aspects; such as "Bloody Christmas" in 1951,(I think)& the Zoot Suit riots, just to name a few. LA was known as, "the Great White Spot", meaning home to White Anglo Saxon Protestants,during the early 1920's-30's all the while the police force was running the vice empire as well as the gambling rackets! When Eastern gangsters came to visit "La La Land", they were greeted at the airport terminal of the train station by the LAPD "Gangster Welcoming Committee", who's main job was to educated these Eastern racketeers/gangsters that they and their kind was not wanted or allowed in the vicinity of Los Angeles. They sent "Joe Batters" and "Momo Giancana" packing as soon as they landed, it was a quick polite "hello, you'll need to depart on the next plane/train", if they put up a fight, things usually ended up with the coppers coming out on top. So it was best for all involved to just leave and avoid the problems. An interesting book, explains how in the early years, the LAPD was the "gangster element" running certain aspects of the underworld while movie producers secured their futures with friends with judges, cops, other rich influentials like theirselves. Even talks about the Watts riot, what started it, what fueled it, and the reasonings of both sides. Very informative and worth a read.