Beschreibung:

(California - Organized Crime) Two reports on "Mafia" operations and political influence in California Place Published: Sacramento Publisher: State of California Date Published: 1949-1953 Description: Three volumes together. Comprising: Second Progress Report of The Special Crime Study Commission on Organized Crime. Sacramento: March 7, 1949. 128 pp. Original wrappers. (Moderate wear and soil) Final Report of The Special Crime Study commission on Organized Crime. Sacramento: May 11, 1953. 151 pp. Illustrated with photographs (including the bullet-ridden corpse of “Bugsy” Siegel. Original wrappers. (Moderate soil and foxing to front wrapper and title page and ink underlining on one page) Also included: Samish, Arthur and Bob Thomas. The Secret Boss of California / The Life and High Times of Art Samish. New York: Crown,1971. Original cloth in dust jacket. Signed on flyleaf by Samish In the summer of 1947, the Los Angeles Times reported an influx of East Coast gangsters into Southern California. In response, California Governor Earl Warren appointed a Special Commission to investigate all aspects of organized crime in the state (by the so-called “Mafia”, including both Italian and Jewish criminal professionals) and their pervasive political influence at the state and local levels. The second interim report of the Commission focused on bookmaking and slot machines. The final report dealt with Mafia-controlled prostitution and narcotics, with the headline grabbing the “invasion of undesirable” into ritzy Palm Springs. When the investigation turned to criminal political ties, it focused on “Artie” Samish, the most powerful lobbyist in Sacramento, who represented a host of corporate interests, legal and otherwise, from tobacco, liquor and gambling to film studios. Samish aroused public outrage by posing holding on his lap a ”dummy”, a large puppet-type character used by ventriloquists. whom he called “My Legislature”. Convicted of tax evasion, he spent three years in prison, later publishing, before his death, his own account of his troubles. Condition: Fair to very good. Item#: 347121 Headline: First official reports on California Organized Crime