A powerful and riveting history of L.A.'s police force and organized crime, using the lives of Mickey Cohen and William H. Parker, gangster and police chief respectively, to tell the story. Cohen and Parker got away with a great deal but in the end, they both lost - Cohen went to prison and eventually died of cancer, leaving only $3,000 (which was claimed for back taxes), while Parker died of a heart attack. The "Parker Way" of running the police department lasted through three more police chiefs, but finally came to an end after the L.A. Riots when Daryl Gates, Parker's protege, was finally defeated.

Highly recommended.