Gangster Squad
Covert Cops, the Mob, and the Battle for Los Angeles
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Narrated by:
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Robert Petkoff
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By:
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Paul Lieberman
About this listen
A harrowing, edge-of-your-seat narrative of murder and secrets, revenge and heroism in the City of Angels - the real events behind the blockbuster Warner Brothers film starring Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, and Emma Stone.
Gangster Squad chronicles the true story of the secretive police unit that waged an anything-goes war to drive Mickey Cohen and other hoodlums from Los Angeles after World War II. In 1946, the LAPD launched the Gangster Squad with eight men who met covertly on street corners and slept with Tommy guns under their beds. But for two cops, all that mattered was nailing the strutting gangster Mickey Cohen. Sgt. Jack O’Mara was a square-jawed church usher, Sgt. Jerry Wooters a cynical maverick. About all they had in common was their obsession. So O’Mara set a trap to prove Mickey was a killer. And Wooters formed an alliance with Mickey’s budding rival, Jack “The Enforcer” Whalen. Two cops - two hoodlums.
Their fates collided in the closing days of the 1950s, when late one night “The Enforcer” confronted Mickey and his crew. The aftermath would shake both LA’s mob and police department, and signal the end of a defining era in the city’s history.
In 2008 award-winning journalist Paul Lieberman’s seven-part Los Angeles Times series “Tales from the Gangster Squad” was optioned by Warner Bros. He spent over a decade tracking down surviving members of the real police unit as well as families and associates of the mobsters they pursued.
Gangster Squad is a tour-de-force narrative reminiscient of LA Confidential.
©2012 Paul Lieberman (P)2012 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Some good DC history & time travel
- By Marie on 07-12-16
By: Ruben Castaneda
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Public Enemies
- America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34
- By: Bryan Burrough
- Narrated by: Campbell Scott
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Abridged
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In Public Enemies, Bryan Burrough strips away a thick layer of myths put out by J. Edgar Hoover's FBI to tell the full story of the most spectacular crime wave in American history, the two-year battle between the young Hoover and an assortment of criminals who became national icons: John Dillinger, Machine Gun Kelly, Bonnie and Clyde, Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, and the Barkers.
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Need the unabridged version
- By Craig Hansen on 07-28-04
By: Bryan Burrough
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The Corporation
- An Epic Story of the Cuban American Underworld
- By: T. J. English
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 19 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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By the mid 1980s, the criminal underworld in the United States had become an ethnic polyglot; one of the most powerful illicit organizations was none other than the Cuban mob. Known on both sides of the law as "the Corporation", the Cuban mob's power stemmed from a criminal culture embedded in south Florida's exile community - those who had been chased from the island by Castro's revolution and planned to overthrow the Marxist dictator and reclaim their nation.
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uncle joey approved
- By Anonymous User on 04-14-18
By: T. J. English
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Cullotta
- By: Dennis N. Griffin, Frank Cullotta
- Narrated by: Michael Taylor
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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From burglary to armed robbery and murder, infamous bad guy Frank Cullotta not only did it all, in Cullotta he admits to it - and in graphic detail. This no-holds-barred biography chronicles the life of a career criminal who started out as a thug on the streets of Chicago and became a trusted lieutenant in Tony Spilotro's gang of organized lawbreakers in Las Vegas. Cullotta's was a world of high-profile heists, street muscle, and information - lots of it - about many of the FBI's most wanted.
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Great story, silly narrator
- By Tom Mainella II on 04-20-15
By: Dennis N. Griffin, and others
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Animal
- The Bloody Rise and Fall of the Mob's Most Feared Assassin
- By: Casey Sherman
- Narrated by: Jim Goad
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Joe Barboza knew that there were two requirements for getting inducted into the Mafia. You had to be Sicilian. And you had to commit a contract killing. The New Bedford-born mobster was a proud Portuguese, not Sicilian, but his dream to be part of La Cosa Nostra proved so strong that he thought he could create a loophole. Barboza’s legacy, buried for years thanks to the murders or deaths of its participants, is finally coming to light and being told in its unvarnished brutality by one of America’s most respected true crime writers.
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Well done. 5 stars.
- By robert price on 03-03-19
By: Casey Sherman
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Hell's Angel
- The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club
- By: Sonny Barger
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Narrated by the visionary founding member, Hell's Angel provides a fascinating all-access pass to the secret world of the notorious Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club. Sonny Barger recounts the birth of the original Oakland Hell's Angels and the four turbulent decades that followed. Hell's Angel also chronicles the way the HAMC revolutionized the look of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle and built what has become a worldwide bike-riding fraternity, a beacon for freedom-seekers the world over.
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A must for any true biker
- By Chris B on 06-20-15
By: Sonny Barger
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Vegas and the Mob
- By: Al W. Moe
- Narrated by: Jason Sullivan
- Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Las Vegas was the Mob's greatest venture and most spectacular success, and through 40 years of frenzy, murder, deceit, scams, and skimming, the FBI listened on phone taps and did virtually nothing to stop the fun. This is the truth about the Mob's control of the casinos in Vegas like you've never heard it before, from start to finish.
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From Bugsy to Binion
- By Patrick King on 08-20-14
By: Al W. Moe
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The Last Madam
- A Life in the New Orleans Underworld
- By: Christine Wiltz
- Narrated by: Donna Postel
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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1916: Norma Wallace, age 15, arrived in New Orleans. Sexy and shrewd, she quickly went from streetwalker to madam and by 1920 had opened what became a legendary house of prostitution. There she entertained a steady stream of governors, gangsters, and movie stars until she was arrested at last in 1962. Shortly before she died in 1974, she tape-recorded her memories. With those tapes and original research, Christine Wiltz chronicles Norma's rise and fall with the social history of New Orleans.
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pronunciations
- By lynda on 07-29-19
By: Christine Wiltz
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Sex Money Murder
- A Story of Crack, Blood, and Betrayal
- By: Jonathan Green
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Based on years of research and extraordinary access to former gang members, reporter Jonthan Green creates an epic character-driven narrative, drawing on first-person interviews, police reports, and court transcripts to offer a unique and engrossing work of gritty urban reportage. Magisterial in its scope, Sex Money Murder offers an extraordinary perspective on modern-day America.
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Narrator using the N word was cringe worthy
- By Bmac on 09-07-18
By: Jonathan Green
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Hellhound on His Trail
- The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin
- By: Hampton Sides
- Narrated by: Hampton Sides
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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On April 23, 1967, Prisoner #416J, an inmate at the notorious Missouri State Penitentiary, escaped in a breadbox. Fashioning himself Eric Galt, this nondescript thief and con man - whose real name was James Earl Ray -drifted through the South, into Mexico, and then Los Angeles, where he was galvanized by George Wallace's racist presidential campaign. With relentless storytelling drive, Sides follows Galt and King as they crisscross the country, one stalking the other, until the crushing moment at the Lorraine Motel.
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History Comes Alive
- By L. Lyter on 06-29-10
By: Hampton Sides
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BMF
- The Rise and Fall of Big Meech and the Black Mafia Family
- By: Mara Shalhoup
- Narrated by: L. Steven Taylor
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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In the early 1990s, Demetrius "Big Meech" Flenory and his brother, Terry "Southwest T", rose up from the slums of Detroit to build one of the largest cocaine empires in American history: the Black Mafia Family. They socialized with music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs, did business with New York's king of bling Jacob "The Jeweler" Arabo, and built allegiances with rap superstars Young Jeezy and Fabolous. Yet even as BMF was attracting celebrity attention, its crew members struck fear in a city.
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Good listen
- By Lamont on 04-20-20
By: Mara Shalhoup
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In Contempt
- By: Christopher A. Darden, Jess Walter - contributor
- Narrated by: Christopher Darden
- Length: 2 hrs and 45 mins
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This number-one New York Times best seller is an unflinching look at what the television cameras could not show: behind-the-scenes meetings, the deteriorating relationships between the defense and prosecution teams, the taunting, baiting, and pushing matches between Darden and Simpson, the intimate relationship between Darden and Marcia Clark, and the candid factors behind Darden's controversial decision for Simpson to try on the infamous glove, and much more.
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Author-narrated/well-written - yet abridged
- By J.Chin on 06-28-16
By: Christopher A. Darden, and others
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The Tangled Web
- The Life and Death of Richard Cain—Chicago Cop and Mafia Hitman
- By: Michael Cain
- Narrated by: Clinton Wade
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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The Tangled Web tells the dramatic story of detective Richard Cain's criminal career as revealed by his half-brother, Michael. Cain led a double-life—one as a well-known cop who led raids that landed on the front pages, and the other as a "made man" in one of Chicago's most notorious mob families.
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Reviews
- By G. D. Hoppe on 11-19-20
By: Michael Cain
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Killing the Dream
- James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
- By: Gerald Posner
- Narrated by: Brian Holsopple
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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In the three decades since April 4, 1968, when Martin Luther King, Jr., was shot to death in Memphis, scores of books and articles have questioned whether James Earl Ray, King's killer, acted alone or was part of a larger conspiracy. Now, based on explosive new interviews, confidential files, and previously undisclosed evidence, best-selling author Gerald Posner finally resolves the simple truth of the last great political murder mystery of the 1960s, definitively proving that Ray acted alone.
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Enlightening
- By Thornton Mellon on 05-19-19
By: Gerald Posner
What listeners say about Gangster Squad
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- DaveNoID
- 06-24-15
Not the movie
This is the story of the real gangster squad - I really enjoyed this production. It was interesting & very entertaining. Big thumbs up!
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- Josh Uldricks
- 08-15-17
Gangster Squad
A few good things about this is the writer did an amazing amount of research, he also notes when stories he has can contain hyperbole or be untrue. The characters are all good characters to hear about especially the Whalen family.
Really one of the boring parts was Mickey Cohen sure he was interesting till he went to prison the first time, after that he seems just like a has been and the story could have been better suited towards other things the intelligence division did.
The origins the writer goes back to are excellent he mentions the fruit cart selling black hand people and details how in the early days LA was the wild west and was notorious for corruption. It is a great overall read.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Mark Landsbaum
- 02-14-22
Great fun. How much of it is embellished?
Great fun. How much of it is embellished? Who KNOWS? Who cares? Still get fun.
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- KEITH
- 02-21-13
Nothing Like the movie
Would you try another book from Paul Lieberman and/or Robert Petkoff?
It is up in the air. I do not normally listen to non fiction. This book did grab my interest once I got past that the book was a historical narative of the years in LA in the police force.
What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)
It is a well written and well documented book that does not leave gaps in the telling of the LA police forces fight to keep the Mafia out of its City.
What three words best describe Robert Petkoff’s performance?
Easy to listen to. He is very clear in his reading.
Was Gangster Squad worth the listening time?
Initially I was unhappy as it claims to be the basis of the Movie. As with Band of Brothers by by Ambrose as opposed to the HBO series it is not very much alike. Once I started to listen though, the book did catch me and I was not able to stop listening to it. Have truly enjoyed it. If you are interested in early Police history, LA or the Mafia this is a good book for you.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Robbie Major
- 01-22-21
Great book
Loved it, great narration, great author, and great characters in the book. Hope there's a sequel!
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- Ted H.
- 03-18-18
I read it & felt like I lived it
Very enjoyable story, if you like cops & mobsters. I enjoyed that Lieberman didn't glorify these thugs - especially Mickey Cohen. That's one of the things I hated about "The Sopranos". These are low lifes who ruin the lives of mostly innocent people by praying on the weaknesses. Example: Mickey Cohen owned a florist and he would send out his delivery people with floral arrangements to homes of some of the citizens of Los Angeles. The problem...these people didn't order flowers. Of course Cohen's named would be on the receipt and since he was a well known "celebrity"/gangster (for lack of a better term) and fearing retribution they pay up. Nothing romantic about that unless you're a thug looking for new ideas to scam hard working citizens. It's the police that are the romantic character in this story. It's a wonderful story spanning the late 30's (with main character family stories dating back to the 1880's) thru the early 1960's (again with main characters stories going up until present time). This story goes much, much deeper than the movie. I hope this entices some people get the wonderful audio book.
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- CHRIS
- 09-24-24
Impeccably good 👍🏻
Storyline, facts , and timeline were spot on.
This was a story that involved my family, so it was cathartic to learn some hidden truths.
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