EPISODE 13: Grand Jury Suspects
Leslie Dillon tosses this postcard out of the hotel window.
Welcome to the 13th episode of the Black Dahlia and the Blue Dahlia podcast.
I am your host Scott Tracy.
I assumed learning about Elizabeth Short would lead me to a suspect when I began to research this mystery. My early questions: Who was Elizabeth Short? Why is she called the Black Dahlia? What could she have done to deserve such a cruel torturous fate? How come she was dumped at a lovers lane? Was this the action of a jilted ex-lover?
Those questions are a distraction. She was nicknamed the Black Dahlia by strangers. No one deserves such a fate. Norton Ave. wasn’t a lovers lane then and isn’t one now. Of the four suspects presented in books, none fit the category of jilted lover. Nor is there any indication of any relationship between Leslie Dillon or George Hodel or the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run with Norton Ave. This dump site may had internal meaning to the real killer, but that is speculation not a clue. Norton Ave is an island that does not exist in her life, it only her death.
Who was Elizabeth Short? Beth was a naive drifter, greedy for attention, Beth is flirtatious with strangers and duplicitous with partners. Beth is not just an overly friendly girl who underestimates the risks of getting into a car with a stranger; Beth is homeless when she puts the pay phone back in the cradle and leaves the Biltmore Hotel on foot, walking south, alone, on Olive Street. She has tried to reach others, but now, has no one. None of the soldiers in her memory book or civilians in her address book are coming to help. Elizabeth is emotionally and economically dependent on strangers.*
Studying Beth’s life offers no path that names the killer.† Elizabeth’s last months in California is that of a teenage child who has run away to join the circus of big city life. Her actions at times lack adult logic; Beth lies to Anne when she says she is going north to see her sister Virginia, instead she travels south to San Diego without any set plan. She is lucky that the French family brings her in. Why would Beth choose spend the Christmas holiday with complete strangers. Looking for answers about Elizabeth Short and finding nothing, I felt as if I had opened the last, smallest Russian nesting doll in the set and found it to be as empty as Raymond Chandler’s paper cup. Beth’s childhood ambition to be a movie star is not the magnetic north of her movements in California ‡ .When the Hollywood melodrama is ignored, the compass of the mystery properly adjusts to focus on the nature of the crime, criminal signatures and victimology.
Beth is the same person in Medford Massachusetts as she is in Santa Barbara, in Long Beach and in Los Angeles and San Diego. Hollywood doesn’t change Elizabeth Short; It is Beth’s romantic disappointments that sets her in motion, not her dreams of movie fame. .
Beth never has a job after the death of Matt Gordon and never had a stable living situation after she broke with Fickling. Her teenage male friends in Medford speak of her vulnerability: QUOTE I think of her as beautiful but a very private person with a sadness about her – a void, something missing”
AND another male friend, QUOTE “I wanted to wash the make- up off her face, wanted her to be her natural self…she never mentioned boyfriends. She was a loner and seem to be floating wandering with no direction” §
The story of Elizabeth Short’s life is not a Hollywood story; however the Black Dahlia myth is as Hollywood as Hedda Hopper. This fact is clear when one reads the very early words written about Jane Doe #1 on the January 16th front page of Los Angeles Daily News: Dr. Frederick Newbarr reaffirmed his guess that the girl was no more than 15 to 16 years old, QUOTE "a peasant type with heavy thighs.” That peasant type comment strikes such a sharp contrast to the movie-struck wannabe image was packaged from that day forward.**
The fascinating trajectory of the victim from Jane Doe #1 to Elizabeth Short to the Black Dahlia, is unlike any other in history. The Angel of Death for the city of Las Angeles has become a muse for the marketplace.‡‡ Jane Doe #1 of 1947 has morphed into a brand in 2021. One can purchase Black Dahlia Perfume, Black Dahlia lacquer for nails, as well as rock music, CDB oils and bonbons. There are more commercial Black Dahlia products in the marketplace today than the 24 suspects in the murder case listed by the district attorney in 1949.
Elizabeth Short becoming the Black Dahlia elevates the crime to become the most important murder of an unimportant person in California history.
The three suspects that authors have claimed to have been the killer: Leslie Dillon, George Hodel and the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run will all be covered in this podcast.
I begin with the publication of a pulp detective magazine in October of 1948, the cover story is a speculative piece entitled “The Black Dahlia Murders” written by George Clark. Note “Murders” is plural. The illustration on the True Detective magazine cover shows the heads of six young women in various states of distress. DeRiver anointed as the “sex expert” and quoted at length multiple times including the final two sentences in the article; QUOTE
“Dr. DeRiver believes that the type of person capable of conceiving the kind of death that was inflicted upon Elizabeth Short, will sooner or later, by his very nature, be impelled to boast of the crime that shocked the nation. …” A month after the publication, Dr. DeRiver received a letter from a Jack Sands in Miami. DeRiver was intrigued to discover that Sands is an aspiring writer who is interested in sexual themed crimes and sadism. DeRiver speaks with Sands over the telephone and inquired if Sands might wish to help the doctor with his research and investigation. Promoting his usefulness to DeRiver, Dillion recalls a friend in San Francisco, another aspiring pulp fiction writer named Conners, said he knew Elizabeth Short.
DeRiver offered to hire Sands as a secretary to assist with the doctor’s work in progress, a book focused on the sexual criminal. Sands agrees. DeRiver, believing this man he has not met is the murderer, convinces the chief of police to release monies to fly Sands to Las Vegas. On Dec 28 1948 DeRiver and his driver, LAPD Sgt. J.J. O’Mara pickup Jack Sands at the Las Vegas airport. De River explains there are no suitable rooms in Vegas. They drive to a small town half way between Palm Springs and San Bernardino. Three rooms are arranged at the Briargate Lodge in Banning California. Sgt. O’Mara places a listening device in one of the rooms. The interrogation begins with the friendly demeanor of employer interviewing a candidate in a hotel room. Jack Sands clarifies that he has used his “pen name” to write to DeRiver. His real name is Leslie Dillon, he is 27 years old and has lived in different cities since he was discharged from the Navy. Unknown to Dillon, DeRiver is recording his conversations.
Consistent with the Lombroso inspired curiosity of the anatomy of criminals, DeRiver asks Dillon to take off his shirt. Dillon complies. DeRiver asks Dillon to lower his pants. Dillon hesitates, then complies. On a simple level a voyeur is engaging an exhibitionist, however, this voyeur is a misguided, narcissistic poser and this exhibitionist is grifter, amped on amphetamines. DeRiver observes that Mr. Dillon’s penis is undersized, and surmises Beth must have teased Leslie about his “boyhood” sized manhood. DeRiver imagines that Dillon ties up Elizabeth Short, carves the flesh of her face open. He watches the body bleed out. Dillon eviscerates her tattoo on her thigh and slices her breast like a butcher trimming meat. He cleanly bisects her then scrubs and brushes the body in order to place the two naked haves where school children ride bikes— because Leslie Dillon has a diminutive penis.
In that moment, Dillon thinks he’s got a job. DeRiver thinks he’s got a murderer. They are both wrong.
Leslie Dillon states he has no direct knowledge of the Black Dahlia, only knowing was what he had read in the newspapers and detective magazines and his conversation in San Francisco with Jeff Conners who claimed to have met Elizabeth Short at a bar in Los Angeles during her last week alive. DeRiver suggests a journey to San Fransisco and on January 3rd they are on the road to meet this man Conners. Accompanied by DeRiver and O’Mara, Dillon searches in vain for Jeff Conners in the city. The next morning they return south, arriving in Los Angeles on the 7th of January. O’Mara books in rooms at The Strand Hotel, west of downtown. The interrogation becomes confrontational as DeRiver theorizes Dillon has a split personality and Conners is Dillon’s alter ego, Conners is the one that kills. DeRiver accuses Dillon of inventing Jeff Conners. The doctor’s theory of sexual criminals necessitates finding a way to get the “Conners” personality to confess. DeRiver handcuffs Dillon to a radiator and confronts him but to no avail. On January 10, Dillon takes a Briargate Lodge postcard and writes a plea for help addressed to Jerry Geisler, the most famous Los Angeles attorney. On the front of the postcard, QUOTE “If found, please mail,” The back reads, “I am being held in Room 219-21, Strand Hotel, phone FE. 3101 in connection with the Black Dahlia murder by Dr. J. Paul de River as far as I can tell. I would like legal counsel. Mr. Leslie Dillon.”
The postcard is not mailed but tossed out of the Strand hotel window with a stamp on it. Astonishingly, the card is found lying in the gutter by a newspaper employee, the aptly named, William Chance. The Herald Express has the scoop. The next day Leslie Dillon is revealed to the rest of the world by Police Chief Horrall as the best suspect we have ever had. De River speaks at the press conference stating two false claims: QUOTE Dillon knows more about the Dahlia murder than the police did, and more about abnormal sex psychopathia than most psychiatrists do. END-QUOTE In short order, Jeff Conners is located in Gilroy, arrested and brought to Los Angeles for questioning. DeRiver’s split personality hypothesis is exposed as delusionary. Dillon is released and threatens a law suit for his mistreatment. Two days later Conners is released. The United Press highlights the embarrassing situation: QUOTE “Last night, exactly two years after the torture slaying of beautiful, jet-haired Elizabeth Short…the latest in a long series of ‘hot suspects’ was freed last night and police admitted they had no other suspects in sight.”
Similar to the many Black Dahlia confessors who volunteer to be included in the big story, Dillon and Conners have pretended to be part of something infamous, posing to be more important than they really are.
Although police interest in Dillon continued, the game changes when grand jury launches it’s own investigation. The primary concern of the 1949 Los Angles County Grand Jury the bribes and corruption of the police department, just as corruption had been the concern in previous Grand Juries in 1934 and 1938.. The 1949 Grand Jury found evidence of payoffs protecting the Mickey Cohen gambling operations and the Brenda Allen prostitution ring.
Brenda Allen ran an escort service thru a telephone exchange. The Vice Queen Bee placed advertisements in the Los Angeles Times claiming she could offer over a 100 escorts for companionship. It was true. She had 114 pleasure girls who in a typical day brought in $4,500. Sergeant Elmer Jackson second in command on the LAPD’s vice squad, became the Queen Bee’s lover and business partner. For protection from raids and other legal actions, Allen paid Jackson $50 a week for each woman she employed. With 100 working girls that bribe would amount to $56,000 a week in today’s dollars.
Mickey Cohen’s method of bribery was creative; his bookie syndicate had a legitimate front, a savings and loan company called Guarantee Finance who would lend LAPD officers significant amounts of money but never ask for repayment. Mickey Cohen’s total bookmaking operation would bring in $150,000 daily. The staggering amount of money available to have police look the other way makes one realize how easy it was to offer enough money for every need.
Accordingly, Los Angeles citizens had a very negative impression of policing. Armed gangsters brazenly carried on in public and weren’t arrested. The drumbeat of newspaper headlines of unsolved lone women murders had citizens wondering why were sex crazed murderers free to roam the streets? The grand jury was determined to find out if the homicide division was competent or corrupt.
The Black Dahlia murder was foremost on everyone's mind given the chief of police had just arrested Leslie Dillon on Tuesday Jan 12 1949 only to release the best suspect we have ever had on the 13th.
Interestingly, the rise of crime premise of this grand jury is false. The murder rate had been falling every year in the post war period; 220 deaths in 1946, 209 in 1947, 162 in 1948. What had gone up was the amount of newspaper column space and photos publicizing brutal slayings as never before as the press embraced the public hunger for Black Dahlia-type stories. The square inches of newspaper coverage goes up leading to a perception that fed the public outrage at lack of progress.
Did the corruption in vice cross over impact the homicide division? No evidence of gambling or prostitution linking to the slaying of oil heiress Georgette Bauerdorf, homeless Naomi Cook, jobless Elizabeth Short, drunken Evelyn Winters, church-going Dorothy Montgomery or real estate professional Gladys Kern.
The grand jury concludes there was no corruption in the homicide investigation of the murder of Elizabeth Short. The spotlight on DeRiver-Dillon false arrest fiasco resulted in a focus on the Doctor’s previous failures of judgement. On January 21 the Los Angeles Daily News published an article written by investigative reporter Sarah Boynoff, DR. DERIVER BACKGROUND REVEALED. The article does substantial damage to the image of the doctor and the city that employed him. Multiple scandals are presented; DeRiver had padded his resume, DeRiver did not have the expected certifications from the state board and had been admonished by the court. The reporter discovered Deriver was not his real name, he was born Joseph L. Israel. Many change their names for a variety of good reasons, but DeRiver embraces a false history of French heritage, embellishing his image by claiming to be a descendant of Bayou pirate Jean Laffite. The unflattering expose of DeRiver causes City Councilman Ernest Debs to initiate a public inquiry into the qualifications of the psychiatrist. City officials had to be concerned with the Leslie Dillon $100,000 lawsuit filed Feb 23rd 1949.
The LA County Grand Jury investigation into the “Dillon fiasco” utilizes the district attorney team to investigative any Leslie Dillon connection to the Black Dahlia murder. LAPD Gangster Squad detectives followed up on a lead Leslie Dillon had stayed at the Aster Motel in April 1947, before leaving Los Angeles for Oklahoma City that summer. There was a dramatic amount of blood found in one of the motel rooms on the morning Elizabeth Short’s severed body was found on Norton Ave. Could Leslie Dillon have been at the Aster that week in January? The police were never informed of the blood in the motel room even though the amount of blood suggests a crime of extraordinary violence. Burt Moorman, Clora Hoffman’s brother, who lived at the Aster in January 1947, spoke to Detective James Ahern, a member of the Gangster Squad: “I worked in a mortuary,” Moorman said. “We used to drain bodies of blood. We used to drain off half of it and then put in the other fluid. I thought that the blood on this mattress would be what a human body would probably contain. It was that much. The smell there at that time was enough to drive you out, even though” …it… “had been cleaned up.” Interesting that the blood on the bed and not drained into a bathtub! This killer takes care in washing and scrubbing the body with a brush, why then would the killer leave the motel room looking like a slaughterhouse?
Lila Durant, maid, said she looked in – there was human feces.” On the floor and wall. She also said there were male shoe prints in the feces.
Dr. Frederick Newbarr, the Chief County Autopsy Surgeon, said that Elizabeth Short’s stomach was full and that there was fecal matter in her lower intestine at the time of death. There was no indication that there was a loss of fecal matter.
Beth is fed. Why is that interesting? if Beth is held captive for 7 days to be tortured why feed her before killing her? Her stomach is full with a bit of alcohol. That sounds like an evening that starts like a date. The full belly is not evidence but it is an indicator worthy of our acknowledgement.
The owner of the Aster Motel, ex-con Henry Hofmann, shooed away the maid and cleaned the room himself. The amount of blood makes this a crime scene. Hofmann actions make him at the very least an accessory to a crime. One has to factor Hoffman’s untruthfulness with this in mind — he committed a crime by not reporting the bloody crime scene in January 1947. His answers to the 1949 inquiry reflect this reality. Significantly, it would be in Hoffman’s best interests if the police focused on his motel as the Elizabeth Short crime scene.
The unreported crime scene at Aster Motel was not the crime scene. Elizabeth Short was killed elsewhere. From the start the LAPD understand they are looking for an environment that would allow Elizabeth Short to be captured, restrained, slow tortured, mutilated and drained of blood. When the LAPD sent 40 patrolmen set out to go door to door in Leimert Park. Detective Freestone explained the purpose of the operation is to locate the “death house” where Homicide believed Elizabeth Short was held captive, tortured and slain. Privacy is needed to commit this murder. The killer takes pleasure in the torture and would not want to be interrupted or hurried. Motels are the least private of accommodations, everyone is on the first floor; management and guests are ever-close, watching, listening. The walls are thin at the Aster.
One writer oddly refers to the Motel rooms at the Aster as cabins; a misleading image because it implies privacy. If one imagines individual cabins doting a pastoral scene you would be very disappointed at the asphalt, cement and windows with bars at the corner of Figueroa and 29th. The small rooms of the Aster motel share common walls. The Aster Motel was built on the cheap in 1946 and flipped in 1947. As owners, Hoffman and his wife Clara lived at the motel. It is highly unlikely a torture mutilation crime could have occurred at the Aster without Hoffman’s knowledge. Either Hoffman participated or was bribed or was threatened. Clara Hoffman burned the motel registration cards after the sale to the new owner, Joseph Marks. There is no proof Dillon was in Los Angeles on the date in question, witnesses place him in San Francisco. Clearly the Gangster Squad desired to collar Dillon and clear their reputation. There was no case to be made against Dillon. The Aster Motel witnesses were unreliable. Any testimony of an ex-con who failed to report a murder would be exposed and ridiculed at trial. Dillon’s innocence was a foregone conclusion given he Dillon was not in Los Angeles and his prints didn’t match the finger print on letter.
The undisciplined gangster squad scandal would lead to the forced retirement of LAPD Chief of Police, Horrall as well as causing formal charges to be filed against four of Horrall's top officers, all committed perjury in their grand jury testimony. On June 30, 1949 new Chief of Police, is appointed, an outsider, retired U.S. Marine Major-General William Worton. The rogue Gangster squad is disbanded; replaced by a newly formed Intelligence Section, operating directly under the Chief of Police.
Under attack, DeRiver grasps at straws and doubles down. In Black Dahlia Red Rose, Eatwell presents DeRiver’s thoughts indirectly, by quoting a young playwright who interviewed him. Eatwell quotes Donald Freed quoting DeRiver. “The doctor told us that Leslie Dillon, with his connections to the prostitution network, was a pimp and errand boy for Mark Hansen. Hansen was getting tired of the Short girl. He was jealous of her many boyfriends, had enough of her pestering him for money. So one day, Hansen said words to the effect of, ‘ Get rid of her.’ Hansen, not knowing or caring that his functionary was a dangerous and murderous psychopath, was stunned when she turned up as she did, all cut up. Dillon was simply a runner, a messenger, a small time hood …But he knew where the bodies were buried, and who at the LAPD was on the cuff for betting, bookmaking, prostitution, et cetera.”
This may be the most irresponsible paragraph in any true crime book I have read. If Dillon was a gofer and pimp for Hansen and NTG., there would be witnesses at the Florentine Gardens and elsewhere. Yet Eatwell has no proof Dillon knows Hansen, no proof Dillon knows Short. No proof Dillon is a murderous psychopath. Dillon has no history of violent crime. Eatwell understands Dillon is a more grifter than gangster when she lists his career choices “bellhop, bootlegger, pimp, gambler, taxi driver, dance instructor. He never stayed in one place for long or did any one thing for long.” Yet this bellhop who has spent a few months in the city of Los Angeles knows the names of every cop on the take.
Why would Dillon kill Elizabeth Short at the Astor motel when he is known there? Why would he leave the room in such a state with blood and feces when he is known at that motel? Why would police fear Dillon, a transient bellhop and taxi driver so much that they let him go but the LAPD does not fear Brenda Allen who testified with documentation of her bribes to the Vice squad? Why would Leslie Dillion kill Beth Short on behalf of Mark Hansen and then mail the press and police a package with an address book with Mark Hansen name embossed in gold on the cover? If Hansen was a powerful mob figure he would have had Dillon rubbed out for being so careless. Hansen has no history of violent crime. No proof Hansen owns the Aster Motel. Eatwell’s hypothesis that Mark Hansen is powerful and mob-connected figure that pulled the strings of the LAPD is offered with no evidence. She assigns the following quote to no one but says, “The word on the street was that Mark Hansen, like Jimmy Utley, was in the abortion racket.” Mark Hansen is a owner of theaters, car lots and investor in a night club. Jimmy Utley was a bookie and gambling club operator was subpoenaed and testified at the 1950 senate hearings on organized crime as one who was publicly associated with Mickey Cohen, Jack Dragna, Johnny Rosselli and Johnny Stompanato. Utley was arrested for for burglary. Mark Hansen has no arrest record. He is not like Jimmy Utley. Nor is Hansen as quite as rich or influential as portrayed. To refer to Mark Hansen as a mover or a shaker in Hollywood in 1949 is an exaggeration. He didn’t own the Florentine Gardens. Frank Bruni did. Hansen was an investor and a physical presence at the club. The Florentine Gardens went broke in 1948, filing for bankruptcy with mounting debts of $100,000, and closed in October. Hansen’s Marcal Theater was burned in July 1948. A fire damaged the roof, orchestra pit, and stage causing nearly $100,000 in damages. That would be a small potatoes to gangster Mickey Cohen, it crippling to Hansen. On July 15th 1949 Oakland stripper Lola Titus shot Mark Hansen in the back as he shaved. Titus’s motives are unclear, she had mental health issues. As Mark Hansen recovers in hospital, the LAPD searches the Carlos Ave bungalow for traces of blood but finds nothing.
Mark Hansen allows the police to bug his house. Willing to be a stool pigeon, it was Hansen’s understanding the police were investigating a jewelry store’s insurance scam, as highly valuable gems had been substituted. In fact the LAPD were hoping to hear Hansen incriminate himself. They heard nothing of value. Hansen is not a credible suspect.
The most accurate term to describe the LAPD relationship to George Hodel would be “a person of interest” Hodel fits the “mold” for the Black Dahlia Avenger killer better than Dillon or Hansen or Manley. Dr. Hodel had medical knife skills and the privacy of an isolated house. Hodel was a womanizer and camera enthusiast; Elizabeth Short’s body was was posed and detective St John showed David Lynch the flash photograph taken at the Norton Ave site.
Just as the LAPD tried to entrap Hansen by recording his home and guests. The police bugged George Hodel at home in Feb and March of 1950. Hodel was eliminated as a suspect in the murder of Elizabeth Short by District Attorney, Frank Jemison. George Hodel was on the police radar because was a doctor who been accused of a sex crime.
Former LAPD officer Steve Hodel has investigated his father and believes he is a serial killer George Hodel is responsible for many of the other lone women murders in Los Angeles as well as the zodiac killings in Northern California.
Steve Hodel theorizes his father is enamored with Man Ray and the display of the body mimics Man Ray’s art. Oddly there are no surrealistic elements in stomping Jeanne French to death in a muddy field. None of the lone women murder victims shows the grotesque mutilation of lust killing violence associated with the Black Dahlia; the torture before death or time with the body after death isn’t seen in the unsolved murders of Georgette Bauerdorf or Ora Murray. Organized Killer
Why torture and why Norton Ave and why display body in public? Does a Man Ray photograph successfully answer those questions? No.
Steve Hodel began his journey into the Black Dahlia mystery when he discovered pictures in his fathers belongings that he believes bore a resemblance to Elizabeth Short.
These pictures are of other women not Elizabeth. There are no photographs of Elizabeth and George together. They aren’t in the same social or cultural circles. Beth is meeting soldiers on street corners and letting them buy her dinner at The Pig Stand. Beth is hanging out at Carpenter’s Drive In or visiting watering holes near the Greyhound bus station like the Gay Way or Corral bar.
There is no proof they dated or have any shared path, that alone isn’t enough to declare Hodel’s innocence. After all, a stranger killed Beth Short, George Hodel could have been that stranger. Beth often allowed strangers to get close; Manley and Vetcher picked her up on the street. George Hodel, a confident and sophisticated man driving a nice car, could have met Beth on a sidewalk outside the tabu club. Hodel is not a match for the FBI latent fingerprints found on the envelope nor a match for the prints at the Bauerdorf crime scene. if one accepts Steve’s theory that George Hodel molested his 15 year old daughter Tamar and had sex parties at the Snowden house, these acts of abnormal sexual behavior do not intersect with the actions of a lust serial killer.
The torture murder of Elizabeth Short needs to be understood as a planned criminal attack unlike any other. It is wise to remember there are few who could conceive of such a crime and fewer who could commit such a crime.
The bisection and the draining of the blood from the body and the public display of the victim make this crime unique in history.
(END OF PART ONE.)
Footnotes:
* Is Beth anxious or afraid? Could her vulnerability have triggered her killer to see Beth as a victim?
† There are no photos of Beth with Leslie Dillon or of Beth with George Hodel for example, only soldiers and family. Understandably the investigation focused on those in the address book and photo albums
‡ Beth has the card of a Hollywood Wolves Club member Chet Montgomery has a Screen Actors Guild card in her purse. Compare with Jean Spangler’s Screen Actor’s Guild Card in her purse.
§ Childhood Shadows, the Hidden Story of the Black Dahlia Murder, Mary Pacios
* *. Hollywood Citizen News, 17 Jan 1947, Fri • Page 1 24 hours later, Beth was reported to be friend with famous English actress Anne Todd.
††. There is a Netflix documentary on the Cecil Hotel. Few care about the Cecil Hotel, so the marketing department wraps the package in Black Dahlia ribbon for clicks and eyeballs.
‡ ‡
§ §. The Oct 1948 issue is scarce and in high demand
*** The eyes and hair styles vary but all six women have a similar “look” to them
† † † Flying “Sands” to Las Vegas! Shall we think of this as similar to taking Coal to Newcastle?
‡ ‡ ‡ The LAPD have legal rights in the state of Califormia not Nevada
§ § § If true this is additional proof of no missing days. Of course there is no benefit for Conners to now admit he saw Beth, nor any benefit for the LAPD to disprove the missing days myth.
* * * * 729 South Union St, one mile west of the Figueroa Hotel. Today Charleston Apartments
† † † †. Found by Chance indeed.
‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ Witmer who defended DeRiver… suggested Dillon inserted himself into the investigation in a manner similar to Albert Dyer. The only similarity is they are both innocent.
§ § § §. Press and Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, New York, Jan 15 1949, Sat • Page 15
* * * * * In response to the 1934 investigation, The Hollywood Citizen News estimated graft payments to police, politicians, and journalists at $400,000 per month. 5 million in today’s dollars! One can imagine A violent explosion rattled the The grand jury of 1938 uncovered the LAPD Intelligence Squad, the anti-communist red squad. placed a car bomb severely injured Harry Raymond a private detective investigating Mayor Shaw on behalf of Clifford Clinton. As a result, the reformist outsider Judge Fletcher Bowron was elected Mayor. Local racketeer Tony Cornero, the one time owner of the offshore gambling ship, The Rex, was prompted by Jim Richardson, Hearst editor, to meet with Mayor Bowron. Cornero delivered the names of 26 police officers on the take.
† † † † † Los Angeles Times, 1938
‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ Lead by Clifton Los Angeles Restauranteur. The grand jury uncovered a substantial corruption system intersecting politics, police and gangsters. The internal corruption is shocking as police exam questions and promotions were sold out of the office of Mayor Frank Shaw.
§ § § § § Los Angeles was very much an Industry town in the studio years. The big studios had their own stable of lawyers, detectives and go getters that protected the image of talent who might stray into grey areas; drug use, paternity, infidelity and inappropriate sexual encounters. Abortion was a necessary option for the Movie stars of tomorrow who found themselves with child after a party night at a VIP Hollywood Gala. Studio money was spent to ensure whatever happened backstage never got to the front page.
Mickey Cohen’s private gambling casino clubs attracted Hollywood high rollers could be managed by public relations, however in matters involving bookmaking, prostitution, mob influence in labor unions and payola schemes; it was quieter to deal with them mob than the press. The unions were an unusual threat, with elements of red scare labor politics and as well as the mob payoffs. Beginning with Bugsy Siegel, the mob would siphon from the movie unions and the movie moguls equally . Mickey Cohen would surround himself with young actresses by offering film extra parts for those eager for a break.
* * * * * * Allen took a 50% cut. 30% went to paying off cops, doctors, lawyers, judges, and bail bondsmen who provided protection and other favors. The remaining 20% belonged to the girls.
† † † † † † Allen personally advertised on page 37 of the Players Directory, the publication of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Check out the phone number for her service: HO-2525
‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ His private gambling operations were well attended. On any given night, visiting a high end club featuring crap tables one could see $200,000 in play at multiple tables.
§ § § § § § Los Angeles County Medical Examiner yearly reports to city council: https://mec.lacounty.gov/annual-reports-and-stats/
* * * * * * * The grand jury found no… “indication of payoff, misconduct or concealment of facts on the part of any officers. ….It is the consensus of…the undersigned that there is insufficient evidence as of this date, October 28, 1949, upon which any suspect could now be brought to trial for the murder of Elizabeth Short.” – Frank Jemison, District Attorney.
† † † † † † † Officer Conwell L. Keller to Lt. Frank B. Jemison, Dec 1949, p. 423; Mark Hansen to Jemison, 16 Dec 1949, p.876; Officer Harry Hansen to Deputy District Attorney Arthur L. Veitch, Dec 1949, pp. 120-121; Anne Toth to Jemison, 13 Dec 1949, pp. 923-927; Los Angeles Grand Jury Testimonies and Witness Interviews, “The Black Dahlia.”
‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ Los Angeles Times 24 Feb 1949. Black Dahlia researcher Larry Harnisch added that did Dillon collected on his claim against the city. Web article: Harnisch’s Black Dahlia: Leslie Dillon, Paul De River and the LAPD – Part 4
§ § § § § § § Los Angeles Daily News 23 Jan 1947, Thu • Page 28
* * * * * * * * Ad in Hollywood Citizen News, May 30 1947 Page 21, Aster Motel 10 unit Brand New Downtown. Sacrifice. Owner.
‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ Horrall had become chief when the previous chief, Clarence Hohmann, took a demotion to deputy chief after he became involved in a police corruption trial. Assistant Chief Joe Reed also resigned. (Note: Assistant Chief Reed had been instrumental in the launch of the Dragnet radio show with Jack Webb.)
§ § § § § § § § Los Angeles Examiner 11 Jan 1949 and 22 Jan 1949.. Years later, the Los Angeles Times mentioned that the Gangster Squad took an “anything goes” approach to driving out LA crime. Former Gangster Squad Sergeant Jack O’Mara admitted, “We did a lot of things that we’d get indicted for today”; 26 Oct 2008.
* * * * * * * * * During the previous decade the LAPD had similarly named Intelligence Bureau that was the city’s anti-communist red squad
† † † † † † † † † Eatwell’s errors on the side of prosecuting Dillon often— “Her boyfriend, an ex-Marine, had been threatening to kill her. Later, the same girl had exited a bar with two men and a woman. Dillon was an ex-Marine. Connors, Dillon’s friend, had claimed he and his wife were in a bar with the Dahlia the night before the murder.” Dillon was ex-navy not ex-marine. Black Dahlia, Red Rose (p. 133).
‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ Niles Thor Granlund
§ § § § § § § § § Dillon wasn’t a pimp on a street. He was arrested for procurement when working in a hotel. A guest would tip the bellhop to arrange female companionship.
* * * * * * * * * * The full quote—“Throughout the late ’40s he (Dillon) meandered from state to state with his wife and daughter, crisscrossing the country from coast to coast with stays in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Florida, and Oklahoma City. His changes of occupation reflected the chameleon-like changes of his name and hair color: bellhop, rumrunner, bootlegger, beer bottler, pimp, gambler, taxi driver, dance instructor. He never stayed in one place for long or did any one thing for long.”
† † † † † † † † † † Eatwell, Piu. Black Dahlia, Red Rose (pp. 67-68)
‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ Nils Granlund moved to the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas.In early 1949, the space reopened as the short-lived Cotton Club, an “all-Negro revue” featuring Count Basie and His Orchestra.