The Lid Off Los Angeles

"The Lid Off Los Angeles" was a 1939 six-part series of newsmagazine articles that ran in Liberty, an American general interest magazine. The series, written by Dwight F. McKinney and Fred Allhoff, asserted that the Los Angeles Police Department, in cooperation with officials in municipal government, had partnered with organized crime figures in the city for mutual financial benefit but to the detriment of the body politic. The article alleged police protection of gambling, alcohol smuggling, and bordello prostitution in exchange for payoffs by crime bosses, as well bribery, intimidation, spying, dirty tricks, ratfucking, and ultimately violence on the part of the corrupt LAPD to protect gambling-prostitute-bootlegging revenue for crime bosses over a 20-year period, ending under the administrations of Chief of Police James E. Davis and Los Angeles mayor Frank L. Shaw. Frank L. Shaw, who had been removed from Los Angeles City Hall and replaced with Fletcher Bowron by the 1938 Los Angeles mayoral recall election, sued the authors for libel, sued again for a different article in another magazine, and was later countersued by civic reformer Clifford Clinton for making false allegations. A jury in the first lawsuit was unable to reach a verdict. After lengthy court proceedings over several years, all parties settled out of court in 1943. The articles are considered very influential in the history of Los Angeles, and the title has been continuously reused in reference to crime and problems generally in Los Angeles. The title of the series comes from a statement made by Clinton in the wake of the car bomb that almost killed private investigator Harry J. Raymond; he announced he had information about the involvement of elected officials that would "blow the lid off of Los Angeles".{{sfnp|Sitton|2005|page=17}}

Libel suit

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Shaw filed a lawsuit in 1940 claiming he'd been libeled by the authors, and the publisher,{{Cite news |date=1940-09-26 |title=We're Waiting |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/monrovia-news-post-were-waiting/150385954/ |access-date=2024-06-30 |work=Monrovia News-Post |pages=8}} and seeking upward of $650,000 in damages. In March 1941 Shaw added a suit against the "sequel" article Shaw files against "My Husband's Death Struggle Against L.A.'s Vice Czars" article in True Story.{{Cite news |date=1941-03-28 |title=Shaw Names Clinton, Mayor in Suit |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-evening-citizen-news-shaw-na/149813838/ |access-date=2024-06-22 |work=Los Angeles Evening Citizen News |pages=11}}

The trial began in January 1942, Superior Court judge Charles Haas presiding.{{Cite news |date=1942-01-08 |title=Shaw Said Genius at Government |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-evening-citizen-news-shaw-sa/149815381/ |access-date=2024-06-22 |work=Los Angeles Evening Citizen News |pages=3}}{{Cite news |date=1942-01-13 |title=Shaw Case Articles Read |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-shaw-case-articles/149815229/ |access-date=2024-06-22 |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=25}} Among other things, Shaw's attorneys attempted to prove that civic reformer Clifford Clinton had had a major hand in writing the articles.{{Cite news |date=1942-01-21 |title=Clinton cast as writer in Shaw's libel action |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-clinton-cast-as-writer-in-sha/149814018/ |access-date=2024-06-22 |work=Daily News |pages=11}} Testimony about whether or not Shaw specifically or the Los Angeles city government generally was corrupt came from figures like Ann Forrester, a convicted brothel operator who was deposed from Tehachapi prison, and testified about the system by which she paid off Los Angeles police officers while in the company of Guy McAfee.{{Cite news |date=1942-01-18 |title=Ann Forrester Tells Pay-offs |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-ann-forrester-tell/150386273/ |access-date=2024-06-30 |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=15}} Other testimony concerned whether or not Clinton was in cahoots with gambling-syndicate attorney Charles Cradick and bookmaker Jimmy Utley.{{Cite news |date=1942-02-27 |title=Mayor, Clinton Mentioned in Shaw Trial |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-evening-citizen-news-mayor/150386944/ |access-date=2024-06-30 |work=Los Angeles Evening Citizen News |pages=3}} After a total of 12 weeks of testimony, the case went to the 11-person jury in March 1942, the 12th juror having been lost to illness and personal issue.{{Cite news |date=1942-03-24 |title=Shaw's Libel Suit Against Liberty Goes to Jury - City News Service |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/metropolitan-pasadena-star-news-shaws-l/150386618/ |access-date=2024-06-30 |work=Metropolitan Pasadena Star-News |pages=12}} After four days of deliberation the foreman told the judge they were hopelessly deadlocked 5-6 (leaning in favor of the magazine) and had been since the beginning with no hope of resolution.{{Cite news |date=1942-03-28 |title=Shaw libel suit jury, failing in agreement, discharged |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-shaw-libel-suit-jury-failing/150396156/ |access-date=2024-06-30 |work=Daily News |pages=4}} The judge then dismissed the hung jury.

Clinton later countersued Shaw for making false allegations that he had been taking payoffs too; all parties settled out of court in April 1943.{{Cite news |date=1943-04-29 |title=Shaw and Clinton Litigation Ended |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-shaw-and-clinton-l/149541395/ |access-date=2024-06-18 |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=32}}

Series and successors

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