Blogging the Wolfe Book, Request Line XVI

I have ceased blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe uses the “Laura” format, in which the anonymous, butchered body is found and the narrative proceeds in flashbacks.Now, I am taking a few requests before wrapping up the project. Today, we’ll look at Pages 239-258 at the request of ColScott.

Wow, almost 20 pages. I won’t be able to do all 20, but let’s crack open “Mogul” and see what we’ve got. I believe this is the Leslie Dillon fiasco.

Let’s recall that the reason the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office became involved in the Black Dahlia case is because of the LAPD’s treatment of Leslie Duane Dillon. Recall that although Dillon had lived in Los Angeles before Elizabeth Short’s murder, he was living in San Francisco when she was killed and in Florida when he read a True Detective article on the case. He wrote a letter to the LAPD that was forwarded to Police Psychiatrist Joseph Paul de River, who began a separate and competing investigation, bypassing Detectives Harry Hansen and Finis Brown.

This is not a career-enhancing move, folks. As you might expect, homicide detectives tend to be protective of their turf and take a dim view of a parallel investigation, no matter how sincere and well-intentioned.

To be brief, the result was a complicated, confusing mess. De River sincerely believed that Dillon had a split personality and that under another personality—Jeff Connors—killed Elizabeth Short. While in De River’s custody, after being lured to California—via Las Vegas—on the pretext of being De River’s secretary, Dillon sailed a postcard out the window of his hotel room saying that he was being held prisoner and wanted a lawyer.

Then police found the real Jeff Connors and everything fell apart. The resulting disaster propelled the case before the 1949 Los Angeles County Grand Jury, which called De River (in real life, an ear, nose and throat doctor with the VA), members of the Gangster Squad and Detectives Harry Hansen and Finis Brown. Much of the district attorney’s files deals with the Dillon fiasco.

Pages 239-258

Yep, Leslie Dillon.

Page 240

Well, it’s true De River was a civilian employee. I don’t know that he was close friends with Chief Clemence Horrall, but he certainly remained friends with Deputy Chief Joseph Reed. By the way, De River’s daughter, Jacque Daniel, a very nice woman, has written a self-published book on the Black Dahlia case. I’m not sure if it is generally available, although she has had book signings in Southern California.

Oh no!

No!!

NO!!!!!!!!!!

“According to Dillon, the charges brought against him started when he wrote a letter to Dr. De River in October 1946.”

OK, who can see the mistake in this sentence?

Well, I can tell you who didn’t see it: Book agent Alan Nevins, and editors Cal Morgan and Anna Bliss.

Now then, students, when does Wolfe says Dillon wrote this letter?

October 1946.

And when was Elizabeth Short killed?

January 1947.

It is beyond belief that anybody could get 240 pages into this book and not remember the year the murder occurred. I could quit here and be a happy man.

Page 241

Aha. Now recall that Wolfe had access to the district attorney’s files, which include extensive testimony from members of the Gangster Squad. And for the benefit of those without access to the files, here are the officers’ names and lengths of their transcripts.

• Officer Loren K. Waggoner. 31 pages.


• Officer John J. O’Mara. 31 pages.


• Officer Archie B. Case. 19 pages.


• Officer John H. Ahern. 44 pages.


• Officer Conwell L. Keller. 9 pages.


• Officer Garth L. Ward. 6 Pages.


• Officer William L. Burns. [Head of the Gangster Squad] 20 Pages.

In other words, 160 pages of sworn testimony before the grand jury. So does Wolfe actually use Waggoner, O’Mara, Case, Ahern, Keller, Ward or Burns as his source?

No!

He uses….

Ready?

Sgt. Stephan Bailey from John Gilmore’s “Severed,” Page 163.

In fact, you know how often Wolfe cites the 160 pages of the Gangster Squad officers’ sworn testimony in this section of the book?

Once.

Case and Ahern on Page 261, which doesn’t deal with Leslie Dillon.

OK, let’s look at the purported Detective Bailey in “Severed.” As we have seen in exhaustive detail, “Severed” is full of people who do not exist, most notably “Detective Herman Willis,” who is Gilmore’s alleged source for details of Elizabeth Short’s autopsy. In reality, there was no Detective Willis. We know because, among many other reasons, the LAPD summary lists everyone in attendance at the autopsy and there’s no mention of Willis. In fact there is no mention of Willis anywhere in LAPD records. I’ve never met a retired LAPD officer who worked in the 1940s who ever heard of him.

In short, he does not exist.

How about Bailey? Well, Gilmore introduces him on Page 160 of “Severed,” saying:

“The new team member, Detective Sergeant Stephen [I know, Wolfe calls him Stephan—I swear the man can’t read what’s in front of him] Bailey had transferred from robbery and resented his new assignment—as had other officers before him—a kind of caretaker duty, dealing with crazies and chasing leads going nowhere. ‘Hansen and Henry Hudson [that’s another name I don’t recognize that sends up warning flags] were puttering around with the Dahlia case,’ Bailey says, ‘keeping themselves busy by putting together a file on Mark Hansen as a suspect, as though they didn’t have anything else to do. Harry claimed he was actually going to go for an indictment against the guy.’ ”

How does Wolfe use this?

Page 241

“Former Homicide detective, Sgt. Stephan Bailey, who was working the Dahlia case, recalled that Dillon had written De River at about the time the 1949 Grand Jury was considering looking into the Black Dahlia murder.”

Uh…. No. The grand jury looked into the Black Dahlia case because of the Leslie Dillon fiasco. In other words, Leslie Dillon triggered the grand jury investigation.

And as far as I can tell, Detective Bailey is another nonexistent person in “Severed,” which is 25% mistakes and 50% fiction. I’ve never seen his name in any of the original newspaper reports on the case. He certainly never appeared before the grand jury and his name isn’t in the district attorney’s files on Elizabeth Short’s murder.

Let’s skip ahead. There’s so much nonsense I could spend weeks on this section.

Page 248

Oh, here’s a couple of nasty lies:

“[Finis Brown’s] brother Thad Brown, who had become chief of the Detective Division, was a protege of Norman Chandler and was known to be Chandler’s choice for the next police chief. In his Gangster Squad assignments, Finis had to be cautious and avoid casting shadows on his brother’s good name. Early on, Harry Hansen had discovered that Finis was a member of the Gangster Squad and concluded that Chief Horrall, ‘Big Jack’ Donahoe and the Gangster Squad were deliberately misdirecting the Black Dahlia investigation and when he learned that Horrall had assigned Finis as the liaison to Jemison, Hansen wanted little to do with the predictable Grand Jury inquiry.”

First the easy stuff. I already dispensed with Finis Brown and the Gangster Squad and Harry Hansen suspecting him of revealing sensitive material.

How about Thad Brown and Norman Chandler?

Now recall that Clemence Horrall resigned June 28, 1949, and William Worton, a civilian, became police chief July 1, 1949. Worton gave notice that he would step down July 1, 1950. Thad Brown and William H. Parker pursued the chief’s job, as did a number of other senior LAPD officers, including Lee German, head of personnel; Inspectors R.W. Bolling and Hugh Farnham; and Capts. Floyd Hays, Benjamin Stein, Harold Sullivan, Lynn White and William H. Wingard.

Thad Brown was such a Norman Chandler protege that when Brown was turned down for the chief’s job in favor of William H. Parker, The Times wrote an editorial headlined: “Los Angeles Has a Promising Police Chief” (Los Angeles Times, Aug. 4, 1950).

Oh, what an interesting little nugget. In the 1950s and before, the police reserves consisted of private individuals who furnished their own uniforms, guns and cars. (“This Killing Is More Than Just ‘Unfortunate,’ Los Angeles Times, Oct. 11, 1950) Please note Vincent Carter, author of “Rogue Cops” was working as a reserve officer during the Black Dahlia investigation.

And let me hammer home this point: The Gangster Squad’s involvement in the Dillon affair was sincere and well-intentioned. De River really believed Dillon was the killer. He was ultimately proved wrong when investigators—who spent forever on this aspect of the investigation—recovered a receipt for a mattress that Dillon and his wife sold in San Francisco within close proximity to the time of the murder.

Hm. This doesn’t look good either:

“Assigned to the case in October 1949, [Frank] Jemison was assured by Chief Horrall and Assistant Chief Joe Reed that he would have their total cooperation in supplying the Grand Jury with whatever information they might need from police files.”

Now as I just said, Horrall retired in June 1949. (Reed retired in November 1949). And in fact Jemison’s Oct. 28, 1949, memo refers to Chief Worton. We know Wolfe has this document because he used the top of it in faking his “D Memorandum.”

I swear, the man simply cannot read what’s in front of him.

Page 257

Ouch. This is a real hodge-podge of mistakes and fiction.

Charles Stoker’s “Thicker ‘n’ Thieves.” Poor old Leslie Audrain, a CDP (conveniently dead person, who died in May 1949) accused of being an abortionist.

Stoker talked to the grand jury? That’s sure not in the district attorney’s files on the Dahlia case.

To the end notes, Watson!

Holmes!

You’re right, Watson. Wolfe doesn’t cite the district attorney’s files. He can’t. Although this book is titled “The Black Dahlia Files” Wolfe refers to “Thicker ‘n’ Thieves.”

OK, to the haz-mat pile. This book is so bad. Steve Hodel’s “Black Dahlia Avenger” paints it as the story of an honest cop, but again, it is a self-published book and an extremely problematic one.

Aha. Angel City Abortion ring, Pages 150-162 of “Thicker ‘n’ Thieves.”

Here’s Stoker’s smoking gun. And this guy calls himself an investigator.

Ready?

Pages 150-151. Stoker says he was enlisted to help with an investigation by the California State Medical Board. A couple of investigators told him about an abortion ring allegedly headed by Dr. Audrain (who was dead by the time the book was published and incapable of filing a libel suit).

Stoker says that if the medical board received a complaint about someone performing abortions, it forwarded the information to the LAPD homicide bureau. He claims that the medical board investigators thought their information was being used to tip off abortionists who were part of a protection ring while allowing arrest and prosecution of those who weren’t part of the ring.

Stoker got Policewoman Audre Davis to pose as a pregnant woman and try to get an appointment for an abortion.

Stoker says Davis made an appointment for an abortion.

Stoker says that in the meantime, the supervisor of medical board’s inspectors returned and they apparently told him of their plan. They thought Audrain had been tipped off, Stoker claims.

Stoker says he took Davis to her appointment and then followed her into the building.

But Audrain’s office was locked. At 7:30 a.m.!

And all the next week, Audrain’s office was: locked.

Therefore Audrain was not only an abortionist but had been tipped off by inside informants in the medical board office.

Case closed, book him Dano, read him his rights, if you can’t pay the time don’t do the crime.

Oh please.

Now did Davis ever actually talk to Audrain?

No.

Did Davis ever actually meet Audrain?

No.

Was Davis ever within a mile of Audrain as far as we know?

Nope.

The most Stoker says is that Davis talked to Audrain’s nurse. Conveniently unidentified.

This case is beyond flimsy. And I’m leaving out lots of stuff about what a head case Audre Davis was.

And that they were accused of trying to shake down a convicted abortionist for $2,500 so he could avoid being arrested. (Los Angeles Times, Aug. 23, 1949) Oh my, there seems to be a wire recording of the shakedown. How awkward.

And that Davis and Stoker had an affair.

And that Davis got busted for being a bookie.

Now what surprises me the most about the way history has tarred Audrain as an abortionist is the fact that he went to federal authorities in the 1930s and filed an extortion complaint against Frank John Thomas Boyle. And I’m especially surprised when someone who is allegedly the head of an illicit ring is called to testify before a federal grand jury about receiving threatening letters that someone was going to blow up his gas tank. People who do illegal things usually stay away from law enforcement, rather than seeking out the law.

Oh. Did I mention that Dr. Leslie C. Audrain was Aimee Semple McPherson’s personal physician? Kind of unusual for an abortionist to be a religious leader’s personal doctor, no? I wonder if Wolfe mentions that. Nope.

I could go on and on with this stupid section but some accommodations have to be made for the brevity of human life.

Good grief: Case and Ahern are not only blamed in the Black Dahlia case. They covered up the death of Marilyn Monroe! (Page 256)

My head hurts from this stupid book!

Hurry back!

Blogging the Wolfe Book, Request Line XV

I have ceased blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe uses the “Laura” format, in which the anonymous, butchered body is found and the narrative proceeds in flashbacks.

Now, I am taking a few requests before wrapping up the project. Today, we’ll look at Pages 226-227 at the request of Regular Anonymous Correspondent.

This is about what’s left and with luck I’ll finish in the next week or so:
Pages 239-258 ColScott
Page 277-281 Mary Pacios
Page 284 Mary Pacios
Pages 293-296 Regular Anonymous Correspondent
Page 296 Mary Pacios
Page 311 Mary Pacios
Pages 345-357 Regular Anonymous Correspondent

Hold on here. “Mogul” fell open to Page 210 and I just can’t believe it. Wolfe cites a key source of information.

Are you ready for this??

His barber.

“Why did they kill Benny Siegel?” I politely inquired.

“Because he was crazy,” [Harry] Drucker replied.

“But wasn’t he always crazy?”

“Not like those last months,” Drucker said.

Explosive stuff, you’ll have to agree.

Now as a researcher, I’d love to know how Wolfe cites this material in his end notes. Like the date his barber delivered this particular bombshell about the mob in Los Angeles.

Guess what.

Nothing.

Remind me again how well-researched this book is. I keep forgetting.

Pages 226-227

Oh, we kind of did this.

Let me recap: Wolfe is dealing with the bogus cruise on the Queen Mary he allegedly took in 1962 while he was “on hiatus” from “The Loretta Young Show.”

Except “The Loretta Young Show” went off the air in January 1961.

Oops.

Wolfe claims he ran into Herald City Editor Aggie Underwood on the ship and grilled her about the Black Dahlia case. Except in 1962 Underwood was helping resolve the demise of the morning Los Angeles Examiner and its merger with the Herald-Express to form the afternoon Herald Examiner. And then she was involved with the threat of a Guild strike and contract negotiations that lasted until May (she talks about this in her interview with Will Fowler, which is in the Fowler archives at Cal State Northridge’s Urban Archives. Don’t take my word for it. Check it yourself and see if I’m not right). And then she won a presswomen’s award in June in Denver.

And in the summer of 1962 Loretta Young began work on “The New Loretta Young Show” (clever name, eh?) for the fall season.

OK, so this conversation didn’t even occur.

Now if I were Perry Mason, this is where I would smile and say “no further questions.” Because there is no point in addressing the content of a conversation that didn’t occur.

But just for fun (and fun is a relative term for a total research drudge), let’s look at exactly what Wolfe is claiming here. Remember, the conversation couldn’t have taken place because we have accounted for Underwood’s time from January through June 1962. And if Wolfe was working with Loretta Young, as he says, then her show was in preproduction by the summer of 1962 for the fall season.

Page 226

“Did you ever hear that Elizabeth Short was pregnant” Joe Friday asked.

“That was something I heard from the beginning down in the squad room,” Aggie said.

“Was that the control question?”

“It could have been. I knew Harry Hansen pretty well, but he wouldn’t talk about it. That was a ‘Yes’ as far as I was concerned.”

“Aggie recalled that another officer involved in the case told her there was a crazy underworld abortionist involved and Hansen brought him in for questioning several times and was pressing for an indictment, but Chief Horrall wanted to squash it. According to Aggie, the doctor died suddenly at his home in Pasadena.

“His death was said to be a suicide,” Aggie recalled.

“Do you think the cops killed him?” Joe Friday asked.

“I’m going to stick to my knitting on that one,” Aggie replied.

Now isn’t that putrid little pile of fiction?

Let’s rewind the tape.

“Did you ever hear that Elizabeth Short was pregnant” Joe Friday asked.

Real answer: No.

How do we know that? First of all, it’s not in her autobiography, “Newspaperwoman.” Or her letter about the case in the Medford, Mass., Historical Society.

Then there’s Underwood’s audiotaped interview with Will Fowler. She talks about being at the crime scene and many other details of the investigation. She even repeats the mistaken notion that Red Manley killed himself in an insane asylum.

But there’s not a word about Elizabeth Short being pregnant.

If you’re not wondering why Will taped his interview, you should be. The answer is simple. He did everything in his power to ensure that his phony story about being the first reporter at the crime scene would be preserved in as many places as possible. So on the tape, Will tells Aggie that he was the first one there. Of course, she was actually at the crime scene, so she knows better and argues with him about it.

OK, how about the crazy underworld abortionist? Who committed suicide in Pasadena. Or was maybe killed by the cops. (Yeah, right, like the LOS ANGELES police are going to a neighboring jurisdiction where they have no authority, the CITY of PASADENA, and bump off some guy). Wolfe really hasn’t a clue about local government in Southern California, does he? Nor do his editors, Cal Morgan and Anna Bliss.

And Harry Hansen was pressing for an indictment of this guy? So who handles indictments? The Los Angeles County district attorney. And how do we get an indictment? The police bring their case to the prosecutor, who takes it to the grand jury, which returns the indictment. And guess what, all of that generates paperwork. Which—if it existed—would be in the Los Angeles County district attorney’s files. Recall that this book is titled “The Black Dahlia Files.”

Do you think there’s anything in the district attorney’s files about a “crazy underworld abortionist.”

Uhhhh. Nope.

Total fiction by Wolfe.

Coming up next, Pages 239-258 a long section on poor old Leslie Dillon.

Shout out to:

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Blogging the Wolfe Book, Request Line XIV

I have ceased blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe uses the “Laura” format, in which the anonymous, butchered body is found and the narrative proceeds in flashbacks. Now, I am taking a few requests before wrapping up the project. Today, we’ll continue with Page 219 at the request of Regular Anonymous Correspondent.

Interested parties have made inquiry as to whether I’ve heard from Wolfe regarding my little note about the faked document on Page 198. Well, “faked” is such an ugly, loaded term. Maybe I should say it has submaximized factuality. No, I haven’t.

Page 219

Let’s see. Wolfe is talking about his stepfather Jeffrey Bernerd, finally mentioning that he died in 1950. Oddly, Wolfe goes on about Bernerd’s many friends—Winston Churchill, Lowell Thomas and Charlie Chaplin—but leaves out his dad, Sailing Wolfe, and his great-uncle Bernard Baruch. I’m baffled that in a book full of name-dropping, Baruch is one name that is never mentioned.

Wolfe’s mother meets Ben Williamson, who is identified as being charge of the Time-Life office in Beverly Hills. Wolfe says Williamson got Howard Hughes’ last public interview, regarding the “Spruce Goose,” a nickname that Hughes hated as I recall.

Wolfe says Williamson played poker with Ben Hecht, Jack Warner, Sam Goldwyn, Joe Schenck, Harry Cohn and Mark Hellinger. Wolfe also claims Hecht was tight with the mob from covering gangsters during his days as a reporter in Chicago.

Wolfe says Hecht socialized with Bugsy Siegel, Alan Smiley and Mickey Cohen and that in 1950, Hecht and Cohen held a charity gala at Slapsy Maxie’s to raise money for Jews in Palestine.

“Hecht gave an impassioned speech to the crowd of bookies and Hollywood dignitaries and more than $200,000 was raised that evening for the cause—but somehow the money never arrived in Palestine. Mickey Cohen explained that the boat carrying the cash was torpedoed and sunk, but Ben Williamson and Hecht always suspected that the money went down in one of the big game pots up at Hecht’s Angelo Drive castle.”

Hm. Well, frankly, I’d be perfectly happy to take a pass on this one since it has absolutely nothing to do with the Black Dahlia. Still, it presents some juicy targets for a total research drudge.

Even without the end notes, I recognize one familiar story and that’s the old chestnut about the fake fund-raiser for Israel. I can’t recall exactly where I read this story, but I believe it’s in Mickey Cohen’s autobiography. The idea is that Cohen would stage a fake benefit, plant an item with Aggie Underwood at the Herald-Express, and pocket the money. It could be in another mob memoir. I’m thinking the one by Jimmy “The Weasel” Fratianno.

Let’s see where Wolfe got this stuff. Only one source: Ben Hecht’s “Child of the Century,” Pages 610-613. Not one of the books in the haz-mat pile.

Well, let’s put this through the standard fact-checking torture test.

Ready for some ugly research?

Let’s start with Ben Williamson. I expect this material to be true or mostly true. Of course with Wolfe, one never knows. He claimed to be on hiatus from “The Loretta Young Show” during 18 months when it was off the air.

OK, we can confirm Ben Williamson was Time-Life bureau chief in Los Angeles in 1951 (Los Angeles Times, June 15, 1951). Appears to have been in Los Angeles in 1953, based on a search of the Time website. So there was a person named Ben Williamson and he was actually Time-Life bureau chief in Los Angeles. This puts Wolfe way ahead of John Gilmore’s “Severed,” which is loaded with people who don’t exist. I’m not going to chase this any more unless it starts looking fishy.

Ooohh. Howard Hughes on the cover of Time? We can check that on Time’s website. Shall we? Oh lets! Well, Time had Hughes on the cover July 19, 1948. Hm. Seems to be about Hughes at RKO. Now I would love to be able to bring you the entire article, but it costs money to subscribe. Here’s the link if anybody cares to pursue it.

Uh-oh. Hughes gave his last interview in 1958 to Frank McCulloch of Time Life? I guess that’s if you don’t count the 1972 conference call Hughes staged to rebut Clifford Irving’s book. For sale on EBay?

So much for that. Just a little old Hollywood resume padding. Let’s check on Hecht and Angelo Drive. Hm. Beverly Hills. That’s going to be a little hard to confirm with my limited time and it’s really unrelated to the Black Dahlia. I’ll pass.

How about this 1950 bash at Slapsy Maxie’s? Golly. Guess when Van de Kamp’s bakeries took over Slapsy Maxie’s and turned it into a coffee shop? (Los Angeles Times, March 10, 1950). This little fete doesn’t seem to have gotten any ink in The Times. Isn’t that just so peculiar?

AHA! Now this is what makes research so rewarding. I refer to Robert Rockaway’s “American Jews and Crime: An Annotated Bibliography,” found in American Studies International, February 2000, Vol. 38, No. 1.

Oh I like this. Rockaway does my kind of research:

“Mickey Cohen’s book, ‘In My Own Words,’ while something of a
classic, must be used with caution. Although Cohen presents useful
insights and reminiscences about his life in crime and his Jewish
underworld associates — among them, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel —
a number of his assertions must be treated with a healthy dose of
skepticism.

“This is good practice with regard to all criminal memoirs, since mobsters tend to justify their actions, distort their motives, and lie. For example, Cohen writes that he always believed that “Jews should behave differently and more correctly.” Yet he threatened, extorted, and beat Jews when it suited his purposes.

“Another example involves Cohen’s activities on behalf of the Irgun,
the underground Jewish organization in Palestine led by Menachem
Begin. According to Cohen, he “would do anything for a cause that
was right, especially Jewish causes.” Cohen became especially enthusiastic about helping the Irgun when he learned that “these guys actually fight like racket guys would. They didn’t ask for a quarter and they gave no quarter.”

“Accordingly, Cohen helped stage fund-raising affairs that raised thousands of dollars to purchase weapons and had them shipped to Israel. Cohen’s account remained the generally accepted version until the publication, in 1984, of the memoirs of Jimmy “the Weasel” Fratianno, a self-confessed Mafia killer turned government informer.

“Fratianno knew Cohen well. When he was not trying to kill Cohen, Fratianno socialized and worked with him. Cohen invited Fratianno to one of his fund-raisers, which was held at Slapsy Maxie’s restaurant in Los Angeles. Fratianno admitted being awed by the affair. “The place is packed. I’ve never seen so many Jewish bookmakers in one place in my life,” he remembers. “They’re all there. Famous actors, producers, big shots in the community. It’s a full house.” Fratianno claimed that nearly $800,000 was raised that evening.

“Because he distrusted Cohen, Fratianno remained suspicious of his motives. Fratianno asserted that Cohen would never let hundreds of thousands of dollars slip through his fingers. His doubts increased when he read a story in the Los Angeles Herald that reported that an unnamed ship carrying arms for the Jews in Israel sank in the Atlantic Ocean during a storm. These were the weapons supposedly purchased by Mickey Cohen.

“According to Fratianno, Cohen had a girlfriend who worked at the Herald. “This broad would walk on hot coals for Mickey,” he claims. Consequently, she printed anything Cohen gave her. “The way I see it,” says Fratianno, “Mickey called her and made up a story about buying guns and ammunition
for the Jews with the million raised at the benefits and then told her
the boat sank. A few unknown people died, some were saved, and
she prints it on his say-so.”

“Other sources disparage both men’s claims. Yitzhak Ben-Ami
headed the Irgun’s European-based illegal immigration operations.
In 1947, the Irgun sent him to the United States and he helped organize the fund-raising affairs Cohen and Fratianno spoke about.

“Ben-Ami claims that “between $50,000 and $60,000 was raised,” not
the hundreds of thousands that Cohen and Fratianno refer to. “The
Jewish underworld contributed all together about $120,000 for the
Irgun,” says Ben-Ami.”

This is worth repeating:

“His assertions must be treated with a healthy dose of skepticism. This is good practice with regard to all criminal memoirs, since mobsters tend to justify their actions, distort their motives, and lie.”

Time for my walk

Shout out to:

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Hearst (65.212.0.194)

Department of Defense Information Center, Olongapo, Philippines (214.1.3.248)

Hurry back!

Blogging the Wolfe Book, Request Line XIII

I have ceased blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe uses the “Laura” format, in which the anonymous, butchered body is found and the narrative proceeds in flashbacks. Now, I am taking a few requests before wrapping up the project. Today, we’ll continue with our examination of Page 218 at the request of Mary Pacios.

Recall that we were dissecting this paragraph. (I notice that blogger renumbered the paragraphs in transferring it from Microsoft Word. How weird. There are times when Word’s automatic formatting causes more trouble than it’s worth when it can’t guess what you want to do).

1. Otash “had been ensconced at the California Club, where he kept the distinguished residents and power brokers of the city under surveillance for Ray Pinker and the Gangster Squad. According to Otash, it was at his California Club suite that Norman Chandler rendezvoused with women who were often brought there by his playboy friend, actor Arthur Lake, who was on Brenda Allen’s “A” list. Although Dorothy Chandler did not care for Lake because of his licentious lifestyle, Lake was one of the few people Norman was close to. They had been best friends for many years, and Norman had been best man at Arthur Lake’s wedding to Patricia Davies Van Clive [Cleve], who was said to be the niece of actress Marion Davies.

2. Arthur Lake had first met Elizabeth Short in 1944 at the Hollywood Canteen. Both their names had been found in the Bauerdorf diary, and Lake admitted that he knew Elizabeth when he was brought in by the Sheriff’s Department for questioning.

3. If Arthur James was correct—that Elizabeth Short had been pregnant when she was murdered, and the father of the unborn child was Norman Chandler—it would explain the extraordinary efforts by the Chandler faction at City Hall to cover up the secret circumstances of the horrendous crime
Recall that we dumped Paragraph 3, because we have already dealt with James’ claims. We also dumped Paragraph 2 because Elizabeth Short wasn’t in Los Angeles in 1944.

That leaves us with:

Private detective Fred Otash “had been ensconced at the California Club, where he kept the distinguished residents and power brokers of the city under surveillance for Ray Pinker and the Gangster Squad. According to Otash, it was at his California Club suite that Norman Chandler rendezvoused with women who were often brought there by his playboy friend, actor Arthur Lake, who was on Brenda Allen’s “A” list. Although Dorothy Chandler did not care for Lake because of his licentious lifestyle, Lake was one of the few people Norman was close to. They had been best friends for many years, and Norman had been best man at Arthur Lake’s wedding to Patricia Davies Van Clive [Cleve], who was said to be the niece of actress Marion Davies.

Let’s break this down to sentences. This is what I’m talking about when I say this book has to be checked at the molecular level.

1. Private detective Fred Otash “had been ensconced at the California Club, where he kept the distinguished residents and power brokers of the city under surveillance for Ray Pinker and the Gangster Squad.

2. According to Otash, it was at his California Club suite that Norman Chandler rendezvoused with women who were often brought there by his playboy friend, actor Arthur Lake, who was on Brenda Allen’s “A” list.

3. Although Dorothy Chandler did not care for Lake because of his licentious lifestyle, Lake was one of the few people Norman was close to.

4. They had been best friends for many years, and Norman had been best man at Arthur Lake’s wedding to Patricia Davies Van Clive [Cleve], who was said to be the niece of actress Marion Davies.

All right.

Sentence 1, Otash was ensconced at the California Club. I think Wolfe’s favorite adjectives are “illustrious” (which is how he describes Otash) or “prominent,” which is how he describes everybody else). Well, no. Otash was still in uniform. How do we know?

The Times refers to Patrolman F. Otash and his partner H.A. Clark on Nov. 23, 1945, “Penny Fishing in Wishing Well Turns Out All Wet.”

A Feb. 16, 1946, story headlined “Attorney Killed by Bludgeon in Terrific Fight” refers to Otash and partner E.R. Barrett. This is a famous case, by the way, involving the vicious murder of a gay attorney named William H. Bonsall, who was found naked in his driveway, beaten to death with a six-foot pipe and a brass desk calendar.

And on June 17, 1947, The Times reported that Officer Otash recognized a neighbor’s pistol as one that had been stolen after he gave it to a friend. At that time, Otash was not ensconced at the California Club, but near Patricia Cox’s home at 1617 N. Cahuenga. Note, Dahlia fans, that this is after the murder of Elizabeth Short.

Finally, on Sept. 1, 1949, The Times reports that Officer Otash arrested a man after seeing him shoplift a spoon in Hollywood and discovered the man was a heroin addict.

So much for any truthfulness about Officer Otash. And Otash’s claim that he and a partner beat up Johnny Stompanato, took his clothes and dumped him in the Hollywood Hills? Show me the pictures, Freddy. I don’t believe a word of it.

But we’re not done with Sentence 1. This mumbo-jumbo about Ray Pinker and the Gangster Squad is nonsense. Ray Pinker was head of the crime lab and wouldn’t be assigning anybody to perform surveillance and he certainly wouldn’t have been working with the Gangster Squad unless they called him out for some reason on a case.

Well, if Otash wasn’t doing surveillance at the California Club, I don’t suppose he could have seen Arthur Lake bringing Brenda Allen’s finest to rendezvous with Norman Chandler. So much for Sentence 2.

But wait. Where exactly does Wolfe get this purported connection between Norman Chandler and Arthur Lake?

Note Sentence 3: Although Dorothy Chandler did not care for Lake because of his licentious lifestyle, Lake was one of the few people Norman was close to.

To the end notes, Watson, and hurry!

Holmes! An interview with Fred Otash in 1990.

Well, Watson, the California Death Index says he was still alive, so theoretically possible, at least. Although given Otash’s track record and his claim that he beat up Johnny Stompanato, I wouldn’t take anything he said without a fair amount of checking.

Just for fun (fun being a relative term for a total research drudge), let’s pull two of the main secondary sources on The Times and the Chandlers: David Halberstam’s “The Powers That Be” and “Thinking Big,” by Robert Gottlieb and Irene Wolf.

How much do you want to bet Halberstam doesn’t say a word about Norman Chandler’s best amigo and skirt-chasing compadre Arthur Lake?

Gosh. Somehow Halberstam, no slouch as an investigative reporter, seems to have missed this goodie. I know, let’s see if Halberstam mentions Elizabeth Short and how she was carrying Norman Chandler’s love child.

You want to guess how much Halberstam says about the Black Dahlia?

Zero.

OK, Let’s go to “Thinking Big.” I would expect this to be a little more fertile territory, since it’s fairly antagonistic toward The Times. This 603-page book is a little hard to find—in fact Wolfe didn’t consult it, oddly enough—but it is exhaustively researched. The bibliography runs 33 pages, and the authors say that it’s abridged!

Want to bet how much they say about Arthur Lake?

Nada.

Elizabeth Short?

Nada.

Black Dahlia?

Nada.

Fred Otash?

Nada.

OK, now I’ll really get into really dicey territory, William G. Bonelli’s “Billion-Dollar Blackjack.” Bonelli was the Vincent A. Carter of the 1950s, with this self-published (note: the Civic Research Press) attack on the Los Angeles Times. Wolfe at least lists this book in his bibliography, unlike “Thinking Big.”

In turning through “Blackjack” at random, we find on Page 206 that Bonelli is complaining that the Chandlers hated Fletcher Bowron, the mayor from 1938 to 1953, because they couldn’t control him. Quite the opposite view of the grand Chandler conspiracy outlined in “Black Dahlia Files,” isn’t it?

Oh my! We find the Bonelli book most unhelpful in Wolfe’s attempt to tar the Chandlers and the LAPD with corruption. Get this:

Page 208:

“Bowron put an end to police-hoodlum deals. The bookies went to jail or out of business. The gambling houses were closed. The slot machines were driven beyond the city limits. The brothels disappeared.

“Bowron reformed the civil service administration which had been turned into a job-selling agency by the previous administration. He put an end to the sale of zoning exceptions and variations.

“In fifteen years in office, Bowron met the day-to-day problems that arose. He kept the city government clean. He increased city services to meet the needs of a constantly growing city.”

I have to say, most authors would find it a challenge to make a portrait of pervasive vice and corruption out of that.

Let’s dig through this some more to see if there’s anything about Brenda Allen. Or Elizabeth Short. Or Arthur Lake.

Any bets on what’s in Bonelli’s index?

On Arthur Lake?

Nothing.

On Elizabeth Short?

Nothing.

On Brenda Allen?

Zilch.

Now I just took a few minutes and scanned every page of Bonelli’s book. There is no shortage of derogatory material about the Chandlers and an abundance of attacks on Norman Chandler. But as far as womanizing? Knowing Arthur Lake? Brenda Allen? Elizabeth Short?

Not a single word.

As far as I know, this is the most vicious, personal and vindictive attack ever made on The Times, And yes, it’s terribly biased, in a league with Carter’s “Rogue Cops” or Charles Stoker’s “Thicker ‘n’ Thieves.” But there’s nothing about the Black Dahlia, Arthur Lake, Brenda Allen, etc. etc. Believe me, Bonelli wouldn’t have held it back, either.

Let me wrap up by contrasting this

Page 218

“If Arthur James was correct—that Elizabeth Short had been pregnant when she was murdered, and the father of the unborn child was Norman Chandler—it would explain the extraordinary efforts by the Chandler faction at City Hall to cover up the secret circumstances of the horrendous crime.”

With this, by the Chandlers' most ardent enemy in print:

“Blackjack,” Page 208

“In fifteen years in office, Bowron met the day-to-day problems that arose. He kept the city government clean. He increased city services to meet the needs of a constantly growing city.”

“They [the Chandlers] wanted Bowron to act in their interest. He was congenitally unable to do so.”

Time for my walk.

Shout out to:

Softbank bb Corp. of Japan (219.13.121.103)

Jones Day Reavis & Pogue (168.98.32.42)

Bartlesville, Okla., Public Library (164.58.98.14)

I’ll bet you thought I forgot about Sentence 4, Norman Chandler being best man at Arthur Lake’s wedding.

What’s this? Arthur Lake married Patricia Van Cleve at Hearst Castle? Gee, I’m sure rival publisher Norman Chandler felt so welcome there!

Oops!

Hurry back!

Hammer

Blogging the Wolfe Book, Request Line XII

I have ceased blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe uses the “Laura” format, in which the anonymous, butchered body is found and the narrative proceeds in flashbacks.Now, I am taking a few requests before wrapping up the project. Today, we’ll continue with our examination of Page 218 at the request of Mary Pacios.

I hope Wolfe doesn’t lean so heavily on Vincent A. Carter’s “Rogue Cops” today. Yesterday’s go-round was quite time-consuming. Poking holes in one bad book is hard enough; poking holes in two bad books is even worse.

Page 218

Oh, thanks a lot, Mary!

We have a whole cast of characters to untangle today. And there's no way to make this short or easy. It's going to be tedious.

Now before we get started, let me emphasize yet again that according to the district attorney’s files, Elizabeth Short wasn’t in Los Angeles in 1944 or 1945 (recall that this book is titled “The Black Dahlia Files” rather than the more appropriate “What I Pasted Together From the Black Dahlia Files” or the shorter “Severed: 2006”).

First, our cast of characters, in order of their appearance:

• Fred Otash, a disgraced former LAPD officer, referred to by James Ellroy as “The Late, Great Freddy Otash.” Ellroy says Otash was a snoop for various scandal magazines of the 1950s and there has always been speculation that he had knowledge of—if not participation in—one of the famous Mickey Cohen attacks. What’s certain is that Otash was accused of brutality in the 1940s for roughing up a street preacher at Pershing Square. I know, because it’s in the minutes of the Police Commission in the city of Los Angeles archives.

• Ray Pinker, head of the LAPD crime lab.

• Norman Chandler, Wolfe’s target of choice in his scenario that Elizabeth Short was pregnant with Chandler’s love child.

• Arthur Lake, a CDP (conveniently dead person) who played Dagwood in a string of 1940s movies and is a key figure in John Gilmore’s “Severed” (25% mistakes and 50% fiction) involving the Hollywood Canteen and murdered socialite Georgette Bauerdorf. “Severed” goes into a long, fictitious tale of Elizabeth Short knowing Bauerdorf, having them work together as junior hostesses at the Hollywood Canteen, etc. Recall that Elizabeth Short wasn’t in Los Angeles when Bauerdorf was killed in October 1944. Oops.

• Brenda Allen, a notorious madam of the 1940s who was implicated in a huge scandal involving the Los Angeles Police Department.

• Dorothy Chandler, wife of Norman Chandler.

• Patricia Davies Van Clive—boy, you got me on that one. Wolfe identifies her as Lake’s wife, but after he mixed up the Murphys, I’m just not sure he can keep track of anybody. Ah, no wonder I can’t find her in Proquest. Her name was Van Cleve. Oops. Well this is odd. Wolfe identifies her as “said to be the niece of actress Marion Davies.” But the Jan. 26, 1928, Times obituary on Marion Davies’ mother, Rose C. Douras, refers to Patricia Van Cleve as a granddaughter. Doesn’t seem to be much question about it, eh? And when Marion Davies’ father died, Patricia Van Cleve is listed in the April 27, 1935, Times obituary as a granddaughter. A July 6, 1937, Times story refers to Lake and Van Cleve, so presumably they were married by then.

• Arthur James, a convicted forger who served two years for violating the Mann Act. James came forward after Elizabeth Short was killed, claimed he met her in 1944 (remember, Elizabeth Short wasn’t in Los Angeles in 1944-1945) and took her to Arizona, where he was arrested. James is a prominent figure in “Severed” (25% mistakes and 50% fiction).

• G.K. Chesteron. Wow, I hope Wolfe doesn’t accuse him of killing the Black Dahlia! As soon as I see the name of a CDP (conveniently dead person) I start to worry.

Oh, whew. Wolfe just says he was a fan of the Father Brown books and says his stepfather knew Chesterton. Odd, isn’t it, that Wolfe never mentions his father, Sailing Wolfe, or his great-uncle Bernard Baruch?

This is funny, Wolfe (Page 217) describes Otash as an “illustrious private eye.” Well, I suppose if you consider it illustrious to work for Confidential magazine, be convicted of doping a race horse (The Times, May 12, 1960), and being called along with Mickey Cohen to testify on racketeering (The Times, March 14, 1959) then Otash fills the bill. In a Nov. 27, 1981, Times article, Otash claims he and his partner beat up Johnny Stompanto and dumped him in the Hollywood Hills without his clothes.

Right.

Got everybody straight? OK, here we go:

Wolfe says:
1. Otash “had been ensconced at the California Club, where he kept the distinguished residents and power brokers of the city under surveillance for Ray Pinker and the Gangster Squad. According to Otash, it was at his California Club suite that Norman Chandler rendezvoused with women who were often brought there by his playboy friend, actor Arthur Lake, who was on Brenda Allen’s “A” list. Although Dorothy Chandler did not care for Lake because of his licentious lifestyle, Lake was one of the few people Norman was close to. They had been best friends for many years, and Norman had been best man at Arthur Lake’s wedding to Patricia Davies Van Clive [Cleve], who was said to be the niece of actress Marion Davies.

2. Arthur Lake had first met Elizabeth Short in 1944 at the Hollywood Canteen. Both their names had been found in the Bauerdorf diary, and Lake admitted that he knew Elizabeth when he was brought in by the Sheriff’s Department for questioning.

3. If Arthur James was correct—that Elizabeth Short had been pregnant when she was murdered, and the father of the unborn child was Norman Chandler—it would explain the extraordinary efforts by the Chandler faction at City Hall to cover up the secret circumstances of the horrendous crime.
It will be interesting to see how Wolfe attempts to pull this off; like watching slow-motion video of a card cheat.

Let’s dispense with the easy things first.

We can dump Paragraph 3, because we dealt with James’ claims yesterday. I’ll simply add that there is nothing to show The Times didn’t do its best to compete with the Examiner on the Black Dahlia story. I would say, without getting out a pica stick to measure them, that The Times and the Examiner devoted roughly the same number of column inches to the story, although The Times did play the story inside. Again, The Times considered itself the city’s family paper, contrasted with the more sensational Hearst publications.

Paragraph 2 is false because Elizabeth Short wasn’t in Los Angeles in 1944. Therefore, her name wasn’t found in Georgette Bauerdorf’s diary and Arthur Lake couldn’t possibly have admitted knowing Elizabeth Short. He couldn’t have known her. For the record, when Bauerdorf was killed, authorities interviewed every single person who worked at the Hollywood Canteen. If Elizabeth Short had been a junior hostess there, she would have been interviewed.

I imagine Wolfe’s source is “Severed.”

To the end notes, Watson!

Holmes!

My, aren’t we lightly sourced on this page? Especially considering the allegations involved.

OK, Paragraph 2 is hung on “Severed,” Page 154, just as we surmised. Except the material is really on Page 155.

But then, incredibly, Wolfe says he interviewed Aggie Underwood, former city editor of the Herald-Examiner, in 1962. That, folks, is a neat trick. Let’s dig a bit, using amazon.com’s “search inside” feature.

What’s this?

Page 225

“By 1962, Ben Williamson had become the national news editor for Time magazine and he and my mother moved to New York City. I had been working at Samuel Goldwyn Studios on the ‘Loretta Young Television Show’ and during the show’s hiatus, I was on my way to Europe for a holiday. I had a ticket for a bunk in Tourist Class on the Queen Mary, and Ben and my mother were putting me up at their Fifth Avenue apartment until the sailing date.

“My Black Dahlia puzzle box had been stored away for years, until my mother gave one of her parties during my stay—and Aggie Underwood was one of the guests. I didn’t remind Aggie of the appointments she had failed to keep almost a decade earlier, but I discovered that she, too, was sailing on the Queen Mary on her way to a holiday in Europe and the Greek Islands. When the boat sailed, I spotted Aggie on the passenger list, but decided I wasn’t going to bother her-besides, she was in Cabin Class and I was down in the bowels of the ship in Tourist. However, in the mid-Atlantic, I felt Joe Friday coming on, and I snuck into Cabin Class and found Aggie in the Mermaid Bar. While engaging her in holiday chitchat, I slowly steered the conversation into the Dahlia latitudes. Perhaps it was because Hearst had died and she was safely in the mid-Atlantic that Aggie felt free to talk about the Black Dahlia case.

“Aggie said that she had always believed there was a connection between the murder of Georgette Bauerdorf and Elizabeth Short and she had been totally mystified when ‘the Boss’ ordered her off both the Bauerdorf and the Dahlia case. She said she sat at her desk in the city room and did her knitting for several days, neither answering the phone nor speaking to anyone, in a silent protest. She said she had intended to leave the Herald when she was suddenly bumped upstairs to the city editor’s desk.

“Later, she learned that it had to do with the Arthur Lake connection. Aggie recalled that she had heard from contacts in the Sheriff’s Department that both Arthur Lake and Elizabeth Short had been mentioned in the Bauerdorf girl’s diary, and Lake had been brought in for questioning. After the Black Dahlia murder and the mailing of the contents of Elizabeth Short’s purse to the Examiner, she learned that Arthur Lake’s phone number had been found in Elizabeth Short’s address book.”

Now this is a foul bit of work, folks. A long-ago voyage on the Queen Mary, a convenient encounter that’s impossible to check.

Well almost.

You see, Will Fowler, author of “Reporters,” interviewed Aggie Underwood about the Black Dahlia case. Luckily, he recorded it. And it’s in the Urban Archives at Cal State Northridge. I’ve listened to the tape.

Do you know what Aggie says about Elizabeth Short and Georgette Bauerdorf?

Nada.

Aggie Underwood’s archives are also there. I’ve been through them. Guess what, there’s zero about Georgette Bauerdorf and Elizabeth Short. Not a single word.

I’ve also read a letter by Aggie Underwood on the Black Dahlia case at the Medford, Mass., Historical Society. You know what she says about Georgette Bauerdorf?

Zilch.

And you’ll never guess who received an award as most outstanding woman in journalism in June 1962. In Denver. Make that late June 1962 (Times, June 29, 1962).

“Mrs. Underwood was presented the award at the [National Federation of Press Women’s] 26th annual convention at the Cosmopolitan Hotel here.”

Guess who was honored at a presswomen’s party in September 1962, in Toluca Lake.

And Los Angeles history buffs, what happened in 1962? That’s right. In January, the Examiner ceased publication as a morning paper and merged with the afternoon Herald-Express.

What’s this? The Guild recommended a strike at the Herald in April 1962? Contract not settled in May 1962?

So 1962 would be sort of a bad year for the city editor of the newly constituted paper to be taking a cruise, wouldn’t you say?

And this stuff about “Perhaps it was because Hearst had died…”

William Randolph Hearst had died, all right. On Aug. 14, 1951. Eleven years earlier.

Oh, but it gets better. “The Loretta Young Show” wasn’t on hiatus in 1962. It had tanked the year before, with the last show airing in January 1961. In the summer of 1962, Young was in the news for being an absolutely harridan on the set of her new show, firing people left and right, and getting sued by actress Portland Mason. Attention TV buffs: “The New Loretta Young Show” replaced “Hennessey” on CBS and was on the air from September 1962 to February 1963. Then it, too, tanked.

In other words, Wolfe couldn’t have been on hiatus from “The Loretta Young Show” in 1962 because it was canceled a year earlier. And Aggie Underwood was in Denver in the summer of 1962 after going through the merger and then dealing with negotiations on a Guild contract. And she never mentions Georgette Bauerdorf in her tape at Cal State Northridge.

I’d sure like to see Wolfe’s ticket stubs from the Queen Mary right now. How many times do you need to catch someone in a lie before their entire story collapses?

Let’s wrap up a couple of loose ends. It is true that Underwood was taken off the Black Dahlia case for a short while in 1947 and put on the city desk. However, as she mentions in her autobiography, “Newspaperwoman,” she was put back on reporting. The Black Dahlia case was her last big story before moving to the Herald’s city desk, where she became the first woman city editor of a major metropolitan daily.

I’ll give you one hint about Paragraph 1. Otash was a uniformed patrol officer in 1946 when Wolfe claims he was staked out at the California Club.

Oops!

That’s it for today. It’s too nice outside for this.

Shout out to:

Judicial Council of California (208.239.204.208)

CBS (170.20.96.118)

Peabody, Mass. (64.48.71.210)

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Blogging the Wolfe Book, Request Line XI

I have ceased blogging in real time as I read Donald H. Wolfe’s “The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles.” Wolfe uses the “Laura” format, in which the anonymous, butchered body is found and the narrative proceeds in flashbacks.

Now, I am taking a few requests before wrapping up the project. Today, we’ll continue our examination of Pages 213-215 at the request of Regular Anonymous Correspondent.

Here’s the two-minute executive summary. We caught Wolfe in a nasty bit of business, in which he faked a crucial document. In fairness, I e-mailed him and asked if he cared to defend himself. So far, he hasn’t responded. We also discovered a rather bad distortion of Los Angeles geography, and what should be an embarrassing confusion between two sets of prominent people named Murphy. Even worse, Wolfe presents himself as knowing these folks.

In all, a pretty ripe week.

Let’s wrap up Page 215, shall we?

Wolfe is going through a long rigmarole involving a convicted forger named Arthur Curtis James Jr., who claimed he was a struggling artist when he met Elizabeth Short in 1944 and conned her into posing for paintings.

As the district attorney’s files show (recall the title of this book is “The Black Dahlia Files”), Elizabeth Short was nowhere near Los Angeles in 1944. Of course, this hasn’t stopped the claims that appear in John Gilmore’s “Severed,” (25% mistakes and 50% fiction), Steve Hodel’s “Black Dahlia Avenger (a ruthlessly distorted work reverse-engineered to prove Hodel’s original assumption that his father was an evil genius) and “Black Dahlia Files.”

James’ critical role in the Wolfe book is to prove that Elizabeth Short was pregnant with Norman Chandler’s love child.

No, seriously!

Now Wolfe moves from James to Vincent A. Carter, author of the self-published book “LAPD’s Rogue Cops.” Let’s cover something important at the outset. Carter says:

“Rogue Cops,” Page 11

“…although I never worked directly on the Black Dahlia murder, I never lost interest in it.”

My point is this: Carter never worked on the case, so the only material he can provide is locker room scuttlebutt. And indeed, that’s what “Rogue Cops” presents about Capt. Jack Donahoe, one of the most admired men in the Police Department of his day. “Rogue Cops” commits a vicious smear of Donahoe, completely ignoring his actual accomplishments and the high regard in which he was held. Especially this nonsense about courtesy cards. Did I mention that “Rogue Cops” claims Donahoe killed lots of people, but according to one of his best friends, retired Capt. Ed Jokisch, Donahoe never killed anybody?

Well, not only does “Rogue Cops” have a grudge against Donahoe, but it goes to town on the Chandler family:

“Black Dahlia Files,” Page 215:

“According to Administrative Vice officer Vince Carter, it was common knowledge within the upper echelons of the LAPD that Norman Chandler was a womanizer, who carefully guarded his private life from public scrutiny. As publisher of the Los Angeles Times, one of the things Norman Chandler insisted on was that the Chandler name and the Chandler activities be kept out of the paper. Vince Carter stated, ‘a lot of what was not printed about Chandler was common knowledge in Administrative Vice and the upper echelons of the Los Angeles Police Department—a department of city government in which Chandler always had an intense and close, if usually covert, working relationship.’ ”

Here we have another attack on a CDP (conveniently dead person). [Full disclosure: I work for The Times but everything you read here is done on my own as a private individual, using my personal resources and archives, and in no way reflects the newspaper].

Let’s check the old end notes, shall we, Watson?

By all means, Holmes!

Hum! This is interesting. Wolfe says he interviewed Carter in 1998 and 2004. Also cites “Rogue Cops,” Page 47-48.

Notice, Watson. “Rogue Cops” only addresses Norman Chandler as a newspaper executive on these pages. See for yourself:

“A lot of what was not printed about Norman Chandler was common knowledge in the upper echelons of the Los Angeles Police Department, a department of the city government in which Norman always had an intense interest and close, if usually covert, working relationships. He was a man who one biographer thought of as ‘shy,’ an assessment which may have been based on Norman’s habitual personal reticence, his privacy, and the barriers he erected which could not be crossed by personal friends or even by members of his family. His wife, Buff, who became something of a power in her own right in politics, society and the arts, thought that ‘everyone loved him and no one knew him.’ Buff is said to have remarked to a friend after Norman Chandler’s death that in all the years they had been married, she had never really reached him. No doubt this is true. It may even have been an understatement.”

Now Wolfe does pick up a bit more of this on Page 216:

“After Norman Chandler died in October 1973, his wife Dorothy ‘Buff’ Chandler remarked to a friend that, in all the years of their marriage, she had never really reached him. She stated, ‘Everyone loved him and no one knew him.’ ”

OK, Wolfe hangs all of this on Carter. But Carter doesn’t say beans about Norman Chandler womanizing on the pages Wolfe cites. And Carter is incredibly unreliable to begin with.

In fact.

I’ve caught Carter is a doozy.

Pay close attention to this, folks, because this is the kind of source we’re dealing with. This is long, but worth addressing.

“Rogue Cops,” Page 56

“Late in the evening, two homicide detectives came upstairs into the Reserve Unit at Hollenbeck, where I was on duty. They had just killed a man and wanted to find a place where they could come down off their high. They had been drinking. Detectives Henry Crammer and Bob Quella spent about an hour with me. (Both of these detectives were assigned to the Black Dahlia case).

“On Thursday morning, February 27, the newspapers carried stories about the shooting, accompanied by photographs.

“OFFICER SHOT, GUNMAN SLAIN: A policeman was wounded chasing a suspect in an assertedly stolen car.

“Swift and deadly retribution in the shape of three police bullets had struck down a 21-year-old transient as he was being taken from Georgia Street Receiving Hospital in custody for shooting a policeman at Fifth and Main Streets. This happened less than an hour before.

“As his asserted victim lay on the operating table three floors above in the Central Receiving Hospital fighting for his life with a .38-calibre bullet in his spine, John Green fell mortally wounded under the guns of Detective Sergeants Henry Crammer and Bob Quella.

“The youth, who came here from Helena, Montana three days ago, attempted to flee from the two officers as they walked down the hospital’s ramp on the main floor. Quella said the suspect asked for a cigarette as they neared the ramp, then pushed him aside and ran. Green dropped with three heavy-calibre bullets in his body after taking less than ten steps.

“The youthful suspect was under arrest for the shooting of policeman Art Fraide, 26, of 833 W. 82nd Street, who attempted to stop Green in an assertedly stolen car at Fifth and Main Streets.

“In the exchange of shots, witnessed by scores of persons on the busy downtown corner, Fraide was wounded seriously by a bullet that ranged through his chest and lodged in his spine.”

“Detectives Crammer and Quella were working Central Homicide when this shooting took place. Later Quella left the LAPD and Crammer transferred into uniform. A short time after his transfer he was promoted to Lieutenant.”

Did you get through all of that? Because this is where Vincent A. Carter shows his true colors.

This is a notorious incident in LAPD history, and it’s true there was an officer named Arthur Fraide who was wounded and John Green or Greene, the man suspected of shooting him, was killed at Georgia Street Receiving Hospital.

But wait.

First of all, the detectives. Not Henry Crammer and Bob Quella. They were Harry Fremont and Ray Varela. Harry Fremont, who indeed worked the Black Dahlia case, did end up in uniform, but it wasn’t as a reward. He was punished for being involved in “Bloody Christmas” and was busted from detective and sent as a uniform officer to the Highland Park Division. You can read more about his exploits in Daryl Gates’ book “Chief: My Life in the LAPD.”

Let’s dig out the clips.

Oh, this is even funnier. Guess what paper Carter quotes for this story.

Go ahead.

Hint: Not the Los Angeles Examiner.

Hint: Not the Herald-Express.

Hint: Not the Daily News a.k.a. the Illustrated Daily News.

Hint: Not the Hollywood Citizen-News.

Yep. He quotes evil Norman Chandler’s Los Angeles Times, almost verbatim, except Carter only uses the first few paragraphs. Now why is Carter quoting The Times if he hates it so much? I hope that makes sense to you, because it makes no sense to little old me.

Of course, what Carter doesn’t tell you is that Green stole a car from a parking lot at 753 S. Spring St. in downtown Los Angeles. Carter doesn’t tell you that off-duty Officer Charles S. Wyatt saw Green sideswipe a car and chased him. Carter doesn’t tell you that since Wyatt was unarmed, he yelled to Fraide, a traffic officer at 7th Street and Main, to pick up the chase.

Carter doesn’t tell you that Fraide commandeered a car and chased Green, who was trapped in traffic. Carter doesn’t tell you that Green shot Fraide as he approached the stolen car. Carter doesn’t tell you that even though Fraide was shot in the spine, he returned fire and hit Green in the arm, which is why Green was at the hospital. Carter doesn’t tell you that Green was finally caught in heavy traffic and surrendered to two officers who had drawn their guns.

Carter doesn’t tell you that Fraide received last rites because doctors expected him to die, and be paralyzed if he survived.

And Carter doesn’t tell you that Green was a suspect in a string of bank robberies. Or that his partner, Sidney R. Deegan, had just gotten out of San Quentin after serving four years for manslaughter.

Now what does the Herald-Express say?

Oh, I like this:

“Dead was John Green, 21, identified as an auto thief who came here three days ago from Helena, Mont., because he heard Los Angeles was easy picking for holdup men.”

And this in the Examiner:

“After being treated Greene [cq] was taken down to the south portico of the hospital by Detective Sergeants Harry Fremont and R.E. Varela.

“Shoving Fremont, Greene made a dash for the street.

“Fremont and Varela both fired, dropping him before he could take a dozen steps.”

The Hearst papers really knew how to write about crime, didn’t they?

And speaking of Hearst, the Examiner had pictures of Green, first being identified by Fraide, who was on a gurney, and then lying dead in the hospital parking lot with Fremont and Varela a few feet away. And you know what? Fremont and Varela don’t look a bit sorry about it, either.

Man. If there’s anything worse than poking holes in one bad book, it’s poking holes in two bad books.

And I can’t say this too often: Beware of authors who change people’s names without informing the reader. You can’t trust anything they write.

For the record, Office Fraide, that’s Arturo Fraide, by the way, survived being shot. I don’t know whether he was paralyzed, however.

And it’s a beautiful day out. Time for my walk.

Shout out to:

Los Nettos of San Marino? (206.117.237.56)

Union Bank of California? (216.52.215.232)

North Dakota State University Computer Center (134.129.70.113) Fargo North, Decoder!

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Upgrade!!!


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