#paul lieberman

[straightfromamovie]

You lose everything and you win the war - you're a hero. You lose everything and you lose the war - you're just a fool.

Sgt. John O' Mara, Gangster Squad

[jedlelands]

"His Hollywood dream was real, who didn't have that? But for all his flirtation with the other straight-and-narrow stuff, and ventures that never quite made it — there was always an excuse — Jack Whalen was possessed by the same addiction that drove his father, for the criminal's elemental thrill of getting over on the other guy, the suckers (in his father's case) and weaklings (in his). Where his father was the bullfighter's red cape — now you see it, now you don't — the son was the charging bull. Don't give me b.s., give me the money."

— Gangster Squad: Covert Cops, the Mob, and the Battle for Los Angeles, by Paul Lieberman

[jedlelands]

Out of the blue, Jack Whalen offered Jerry Wooters a gift. 'I got a dog for you,' he announced. That was one thing Whalen had in common with Mickey, dogs. Mickey went for boxers and bulls, the squat, powerful breeds. Whalen favored purebred German shepherds and Great Danes, the big dogs. But Jerry Wooters wanted nothing to do with any pooch, and not only because one took a bite of his hind end back when he was a rookie. He told Whalen: 'They die on you, then you're miserable.' 'No, no, you'll like this dog.' 'No, no, Jack, I don't want the fucking dog.' 'I'm telling ya', Jerry, take the dog — you're hurting the wrong people.' 'Who am I...?' 'Trust me, the thing'll let you know if anyone's sniffing around your bushes or your car...' 'C'mon...' 'No, listen, I'm tellin' you, you're gonna open up that garage some night and you're gonna get your ass blasted off.' 'Where do I pick up the dog?' The Wooters' new pet was named Thor, after the Norse god of thunder.

— Gangster Squad: Covert Cops, the Mob, and the Battle for Los Angeles, by Paul Lieberman

[jedlelands]

"Sergeant Jerry Wooters developed a theory about Mickey and all those women — nothing was going on there. Mickey's friends laughed at that, swearing that Mickey scored high on the carnality scale and there was a certain thing he liked done to him, like any man. But Jerry decided that Mickey's germ phobia had to get in the way. 'I think he was a real closet case, always washing his hands. I spoke to those gals he was with, they said he was always looking out the window, never did lay 'em.'"

— Gangster Squad: Covert Cops, the Mob, and the Battle for Los Angeles, by Paul Lieberman

[jedlelands]

"[Jack] Whalen was always pleading poverty when he got hauled off to court. He'd claim that his wife and children would starve if he couldn't keep selling aluminum cookware or bartending in his sister's tavern or pumping gas at a service station. It was true that he had gotten rid of the private charter plane he once flew on a dare under the Oakland Bay Bridge, but he still lived mighty well for a self-described $277-a-month gas pump jockey. By the mid-'50s he had given up the ranch where he used to train horses in favor of an Encino home with a pool out back. There was a pool house, too, with enough rooms to show films at family gatherings. Sometimes they had sleepovers for the young kids in the extended Whalen-Wunderlich clan and Jack the Enforcer would pretend to be a monster, contorting his face and making grunting noises and threatening to lock the youngsters in a dungeon... before tucking them into bed. He arranged the ponies for their Sunday picnics in Griffith Park and treated everyone to trail rides into the hills from the rental stable below the Hollywood sign."

— Gangster Squad: Covert Cops, the Mob, and the Battle for Los Angeles, by Paul Lieberman

[jedlelands]

That was the nature of police partnerships. One guy usually was a damper — if not an anchor — while the other was a pusher, the leader who occasionally needed pulling back. Jerry Wooters was the pusher, no matter his partner. He'd have you out all night on the Strip, shadowing Mickey club to club — OK, and enjoying a few drinks on the house. But getting Mickey's goat wasn't all he did. More than any squad member he set up arrests of bookies who gave any hint of aligning again with that phony. It was as if Jerry still had a pipeline directly into L.A.'s underworld — and he did, thanks to one particular source. 'God, for a few years, you know, they thought I was the best detective in town,' he said. 'As long as you had Jack, you had the world.'"

— Gangster Squad: Covert Cops, the Mob, and the Battle for Los Angeles, by Paul Lieberman

[goslingsryan]

Speaking of Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, we also see a cute bulldog in the film's trailer, frolicking with the glamorous couple. Is there a back story behind the dog? - Paul Lieberman: That's Mickey Cohen's beloved bulldog," Mickey Jr." He came after the fluffy terrier "Tuffy" and went everywhere with the human Mickey. He even got kidnapped once -- alas, the dog-napping is an episode in the book version of "Gangster Squad" that never made the film. (x)

[roadshowfilms]

Gangster Squad (2013) Behind The Scenes [HD]

In Australian cinemas January 10! 

Watch the amazing trailer here!