Gangster Squad: Covert Cops, the Mob, and the Battle for Los Angeles

The true story behind the movie of the same name. A secretive police unit waged an anything-goes war to drive Mickey Cohen and other hoodlums from Los Angeles after WWII. 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. 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. 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.