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.