Vibrant footage of Prohibition-era Los Angeles

I stumbled upon the archive of the Los Angeles Times newspaper and could not get past their photos from the Prohibition era. Criminals, police crime scenes, etc. Where I could add more detailed descriptions to the photos.

(Total 43 photos)

Source: Journal/samsebeskazal

1. Detective Oscar Bauer poses with Tommy Gun in his hands. Machine without clip. 1925

2. Bauer with colleagues. 1925

3. Interrogation of a bank robber caught red-handed. 1932

4. "Red riot" - a demonstration of the unemployed in Los Angeles, held under the leadership of local communist leaders. 1930

5. Police Detective Eddie Nolan arrested for murder. 1931

6. LAPD detectives pose with weapons in their hands. 1925

7. A policeman stands next to a member of the Black Legion, an underground organization that broke away from the Ku Klux Klan and actively fought against blacks, Jews and Catholics. Members of the organization practiced ritual killings, there were more than 10,000 people in its ranks. 1936

8. Members of the Alcohol Illicit Unit. 1920

9. Police officers at a hearing in court. 1929

10. Police officers along with employees of the Belvedere State bank during the reconstruction of his robbery. 1923

11. Two detectives demonstrate a suitcase with explosives, which was used in an attempted bank robbery. 1932

12. Bootlegger McDonald, nicknamed "Sock" in the building of the city court in Los Angeles.

13. Bootlegger Harry Alpine in prison after being charged with shooting. 1925

14. Prosecutor Dell Schweitzer. 1928

15. The sheriff, along with members of the search team, are looking for the body of one of the victims of James Watson. He was married to about 16 women, 7 of whom were killed. He was caught when his last wife had suspicions about him and she hired a private detective. He revealed the scheme by which Watson placed an advertisement for an acquaintance in a newspaper, got married, and then appropriated their property. Watson was sentenced to life and died in prison in 1939 from pneumonia. 1920

16. Watson, accompanied by two sheriffs. 1920

17. Clara Philips goes to court, accompanied by police. Philips was accused of killing her own husband's mistress during a quarrel. She used a hammer as a murder weapon, and buried the body in a vacant lot. With the help of her husband, she was able to escape to Honduras during her hearing, but was later caught by the police and returned to the US. 1922

18. New and old police badges. 1927

19. LAPD Chief Badge. 1926

20. The LAPD motorcycle platoon lined up to check. 1924

21. The police exhume the body in a murder case. 1920

22. Prisoners in the cell of one of the police stations in Los Angeles. 1920

23. The police are investigating the Pacific National bank robbery. 1928

24. Raid in a Chinese illegal gambling house.

25. Civilian workers of the Los Angeles Police Department are in line for fingerprinting. 1928

26. Judge Carlos Hardy with assistants during the hearing. 1920

27. Detectives are studying sticks of dynamite and cords that were found under one of the aqueducts. 1924

28. Prisoners in a cell of the Lincoln Heights prison. 1925

29. Two detectives examine the remains of a woman named Grace Young, found in the basement of a house in a suburb of Los Angeles. The murderer turned out to be her husband, who thus wanted to inherit the fortune that Young had inherited from her first marriage. 1925

30. Journalist Minnie Kennedy interviews a diver during an operation to search for the body of a murdered woman. 1926

31. Convicted murderer Russell Beitzel shaves another prisoner in a county jail cell. 1928

32. Murder suspect David Clark plays cards with other prisoners in a prison cell. 1931

33. Vinnie Judd, nicknamed the "killer with suitcases" in the car immediately after his arrest. Judd killed her friend, then dismembered her body and packed it into several travel suitcases, went by train to Los Angeles. An employee of the baggage car smelled an unpleasant smell and noticed strange smudges on one of the suitcases. Thinking that the missing meat of the animal was inside, he demanded that Judd open it. She said she didn't have the key and ran away. Arriving police opened the luggage and found body parts inside. Judd was put on the wanted list and caught a month later. She was sentenced to life imprisonment, but later recognized as mentally ill and transferred to a mental hospital in Arizona. She escaped from there 6 times, but each time she was caught. For the seventh time, she finally managed to get away undetected, after which she made it to San Francisco, where she got a live-in job with a wealthy family. She was able to work there for six and a half years and only then was she caught again. After spending another 2 years in the hospital, she was released. She died in 1998 at the age of 93. Photo taken in 1931.

34. Detectives and a fingerprint expert examine the murder weapon.

35. Detectives during shooting classes. 1935

36. Branch of Bank of America after the robbery. 1932

37. Police captain inspects the piano in the house of Paul Wright, where he shot his wife and best friend. After his arrest, Wright explained that he found his wife and his best friend hugging on a bench in front of the piano, after which he lost his mind, took out a gun and killed both. Thanks to a clever lawyer, the court declared Wright insane, after which he was released. Having killed two people, he never spent a day in prison. 1937

38. Police officer posing with circus performers. 1935

39. Accused of double murder, Albert Dauer poses while being fingerprinted. His victims were two schoolgirls, whose bodies he then threw in a landfill in the suburbs of Los Angeles. 1937

40. 22-year-old former Marine Nelson Bower, shows detectives where he hid the body of his 42-year-old wife, whom he killed with dumbbells because she refused to give him a divorce. 1937

41. House where millionaire William Gettle was held. He was kidnapped from his own home during a housewarming party, after which the police received a ransom note. Five days later, Gettle was released during a special money transfer operation. There is a sign in front of the house with a price to view the crime scene. 1934.

42. Police sergeant with physical evidence in the murder case on which fingerprints were found. 1927

43. Philadelphia Jewish gang leader, boxing match promoter and bootlegger Mac Hoff, nicknamed "Boo Boo."