Overview

The sensational tell-all biography of Hollywood’s most infamous mob boss who dominated Los Angeles’s underworld — and headlines — from the 1940s to the 1970s “The author does a superb job of tracing the ins and outs of Hollywood’s gang world.” — The Wall Street Journal When Bugsy Siegel was murdered in 1947, his henchman Mickey Cohen took over his criminal enterprise in Los Angeles. As charismatic as he was ruthless, Cohen attained so much power up until his death in 1976 that he was a regular above-the-fold newspaper name, with more than one thousand front-pages in LA papers alone. His story is inextricably intertwined with the history of the city of angels. Mickey Cohen is a seductive tale of Hollywood true crime history with a wildly eccentric mob boss at its center. Biographer Tere Tereba delivers tales of high life, high drama, and highly placed politicians — among them Robert F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon — as well as revelations about countless icons, including Shirley Temple, Lana Turner, Frank Sinatra, and even Rev. Billy Graham. Meticulously researched, this rich tapestry presents a complete look at the mid-twentieth century Los Angeles underworld and digs past the sensational headlines to deliver a remarkable story of a man who captivated, corrupted, and terrorized Los Angeles for a generation.

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9781770410633

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Reviews

An absorbing and gritty account of Cohen's rise from a tough as nails pugilist from East L.A. to a seemingly untouchable gangster. -- Hollywood Outbreak Tereba brings the bantamweight crook back to vivid life ... This is a remarkable biography. -- Booklist Tereba spent more than 10 years researching and writing her book; she tells Cohen's story swiftly and assuredly. Her page-turning and entertaining narrative neither glamorizes nor judges its subject. -- Film Noir Blonde Rough, florid, lively, and detailed, with plenty of celebrities in supporting roles and lots of Hollywood scandal. Tereba sums Cohen up as 'a dangerous man, full of bluster, violence, charm, greed, grandiosity, obsession, deception, chutzpah, and occasionally self-realization.' Unlike many of his brother gangsters, Cohen loved the limelight, so Tereba has had plenty of material to draw upon. -- The Dispatch Ms. Tereba brings flair and a tone of appalled fascination to her thorough and lively study of 'the man who plundered Los Angeles.' -- Wall Street Journal

This is a slashing good book -- a razor-sharp bio of malevolent macher Mickey the C: the confounding Kingpin of L.A. crime. Buy this book now -- it'll hang you out to dry!! --James Ellroy, author, The Black Dahlia and L.A. Confidential

Mickey Cohen is electric -- filled with detail that makes your senses tingle. . . . If you love The Godfather , The Sopranos or Boardwalk Empire , run -- don't walk -- to read this book. --Rikki Klieman, attorney, TV legal analyst, and bestselling author, Fairy Tales Can Come True

An arresting, high-speed account of Hollywood's homegrown superstar of crime --dangerous, outrageous, bulletproof Mickey Cohen, the man the mob could not kill. Tere Tereba writes a white-hot true crime classic. --Lee Server, author, Ava Gardner: Love Is Nothing With great style and boatloads of new information, Tere Tereba has crafted a page-turner about the greatest gangster LA has ever seen. . . . Few lived on the edge as long as Cohen, and fewer still earned a biography this entertaining. --Gus Russo, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author, The Outfit and Supermob This highly factual, rapidly paced biography chronicles not only tough-guy poster boy Mickey, but the City Noir whose appetites and ambitions he serviced, exploited, and, paradoxically, exemplified. --Kevin Starr, professor of history, University of Southern California Tere Tereba gives the gangster the biography he has long deserved -- an intense, straight-shooting, rocket-fast read, full of gossip, gore, and great research. Cohen's life is a fascinating slice of American history, and Tereba captures it poignantly. --Jonathan Eig, author, Get Capone In Mickey Cohen , Tere Tereba brings to life the pugnacious nature of a hoodlum unique in the annals of American gangsterism. . . . Tereba captures the essence of the man and his times with insight and flair. --T.J. English, New York Times bestselling author of Havana Nocturne and The Westies Mickey Cohen is electric -- filled with detail that makes your senses tingle. . . . If you love The Godfather , The Sopranos or Boardwalk Empire , run -- don't walk -- to read this book. --Rikki Klieman, attorney, TV legal analyst, and bestselling author, Fairy Tales Can Come True Tereba brings the bantamweight crook back to vivid life in this biography, along with the night clubs and race tracks he frequented and the no-holds-barred L.A. in which he flourished. This is a remarkable biography. -- Booklist (April 2012) For readers who revel in old movies, stories about gangsters in double-breasted suits, and midcentury Los Angeles. Recommended. -- Library Journal (May 2012) The author does a superb job of tracing the ins and outs of Hollywood's gang world in the 1940s and '50s. -- Wall Street Journal (May 16, 2012) [A] gripping yarn about the life and times of the 20th-century Los Angeles underworld. --www.InterviewMagazine.com [An] absorbing and gritty account of Cohen's rise from a tough as nails pugilist from East L.A. to a seemingly untouchable gangster. --www.HollywoodOutbreak.com This is a slashing good book -- a razor-sharp bio of malevolent macher Mickey the C: the confounding Kingpin of L.A. crime. Buy this book now -- it'll hang you out to dry!! --James Ellroy, author, The Black Dahlia and L.A. Confidential Tere Tereba gives up the charismatic L.A. mobster Mickey Cohen. -- Vanity Fair (May 2012)

For readers who revel in old movies, stories about gangsters in double-breasted suits, and midcentury Los Angeles. Recommended. -- Library Journal (May 2012)

Author Information

TERE TEREBA is an award-winning fashion designer and journalist. She has written extensively for Interview, her work has been featured in Italian Vogue, and her account of Jim Morrison in Paris was selected by The Doors to appear in their book, The Doors: An Illustrated History. Tereba lives in Los Angeles, and you can find her online at TereTereba.com.

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