Mickey Cohen: The Life and Crimes of L.A.'s Notorious Mobster

This biography of celebrity gangster Mickey Cohen digs past the sensational headlines to deliver a remarkable story of a man who captivated, corrupted, and terrorized Los Angeles for a generation. When Bugsy Siegel was murdered, his henchman Mickey Cohen took over the criminal activity in Los Angeles. Mickey Cohen attained such power and dominance from the late 1940s until 1976 that he was a regular above-the-fold newspaper name, accumulating a remarkable count of more than 1,000 front-pages in Los Angeles papers alone, and was featured in hundreds of articles in national and international periodicals. His story and the history of mid-century L.A. are inextricably intertwined.

Mickey Cohen is a seductive, premium-octane blend of true crime and Hollywood that spins around a wildly eccentric mob boss. Author Tere Tereba delivers tales of high life, high drama, and highly placed politicians, among them RFK and Richard Nixon, as well as revelations about countless icons, including Shirley Temple, Lana Turner, Frank Sinatra, and the Reverend Billy Graham. Meticulously researched, this rich tapestry presents a complete look at the Los Angeles underworld.


ISBN-13 : 9781770410633
Author : Tere Tereba
Publisher : ECW Press
Publication date : 01/05/2012

Editorial Reviews

Booklist

Tereba brings the bantamweight crook back to vivid life in this biography, along with the night clubs and race tracks he frequented and the no-holds-barred L.A. in which he flourished. This is a remarkable biography.

Library Journal

Fedoras, tommy guns, and brutal public assaults are the province of the silver screen, but they were at one time a fixture of Hollywood life. Journalist and fashion designer Tereba's biography of Los Angeles mobster Mickey Cohen (1913–76) sets out to reveal the true story behind the glitzy legends and traces Cohen's influence through Tinseltown and beyond. The number of people in Cohen's life was so great that Tereba includes a "cast of characters," not seen for this review. Although the writing sometimes veers into film noir territory, it's hard not to get caught up in the descriptions of the opulent lifestyle maintained by the gangster and his cronies, despite the heavy toll it took on them, financially and physically. Cohen's personal habits and predilections are given particular attention, and the author channels Cohen's calm when recounting explosions, beatings, and the burials of bodies in lye. VERDICT For readers who revel in old movies, stories about gangsters in double-breasted suits, and midcentury Los Angeles. Recommended.—Kate Sheehan, Bibliomation, Middlebury, CT

From the Publisher

"Tereba brings the bantamweight crook back to vivid life in this biography. . . . This is a remarkable biography, in that Tereba takes a long-gone, mostly forgotten criminal and through her lively re-creation of the '20s and '30s, the decades in which Cohen was formed, and the later years when he ruled, makes you care." —-Booklist

Meet the Author

Tere Tereba is an award-winning fashion designer and journalist. She has written for Interview and Italian Vogue and her account of Jim Morrison in Paris was selected by The Doors to appear in their book, The Doors: An Illustrated History. She lives in Los Angeles.