East LA was a blast. Lots of cases, lots of trials, lots of fun. Problems were primarily related to drugs, which needed money to buy, so lots of burglaries, shoplifting and mostly minor stuff, easily resolved. During the racing season, one of the judges liked to leave early to hop to the racetrack in Santa Anita, so get the calendar done before noon. I, for one, could. (He used to say, “half a loaf is better than none,” when it came to negotiation. Wonder what he meant by that.) There were some heavy bad guys and a famous gang called “The White Fence Gang,” a Hispanic group that meant business in doing business. Most of my readers are too young to have heard of the Broadway Musical called “Zoot Suit”which was based on the White Fence Gang. Bottom line, I really liked the East LA Office and got a ton of experience, not only in Law but also in another area and another culture. But, the Office wanted to help the Deputy DA get out of the San Antonio Judicial District and the Office figured a more thick-skinned guy could stand up to the three judges who terrorized young prosecutors. So off I went to a whole different part of LA, the North or Central East part of the County.
Let me remind you of the area: Huntington- generally white, working-class residents, and the City of Bell just north of Huntington Park (by the way there was no park in Huntington Park that I recall.) Generally law-abiding, The City of Bell just North of Huntington Park was pretty much the same with a few bad guys, Vernon, adjacent and to the South of Huntington Park, was straight industrial and manufacturing. Like all the cities, it had a small police force, but a number of cops really wanted to work there, because, due to the huge tax revenue generated by the businesses, the police officers pay was higher than any city in the County and probably higher than any PD in the State. As a result, though the force was small, the police officers of Vernon were really good in every way and pretty cool about it as well. As far as population was concerned it was as if there were no residents in Vernon to speak of. I might mention a very good buddy of mine who I knew for years and met through mutual friends, named Mike Roberts ran his father’s commercial laundry business located in Vernon, so we would meet often for lunch at one of the best lunch cafes I had ever been to. I should mention- also included in the industry, there were meat-packing plants, and this cafe had the best meat sandwiches I have ever had before or after. Can’t remember the name and not sure if it is still there. Mike and I go way back and I would get tarred and feathered if I told you of some of our pre-law exploits. I remember one day we drove to Tijuana,when Tijuana was one paved road just across the border, and on that road many many bars serving shots of tequila with salt on the wrist to suck and squeeze of lime to suck as well. Don’t know how we made it back to LA but we managed after being chased by serious guys in serapes and long knives. Mike was one of my male attendants at my wedding in San Francisco which was at the Fairmont Hotel. Almost got thrown out of the place before the wedding. Don’t know what we did, but we consumed a lot of Black Label. He was, and is, a good guy.The Latino community was North of the City of Bell, a County area policed by the LA Sheriffs as if it was not a City with a local police force like Vernon, Huntington Park and Bell, who all had their own police forces. “The Green Lantern” was the local drinking hole in Bell Gardens, and unlike Bell and Huntington Park, was not a white working-class neighborhood, but housed the largest community of ex cons, many still parolees, and though predominately a white community, a much tougher gathering of characters. I remember one police report noting the Sheriffs being called to the “Green Lantern” to quell a fight and when they entered they observed one guy just beating another who was on the floor, the beater looked at the two sheriffs and promptly turned back to his victim and proceeded to continue to stomp the guy. The sheriffs did not know what to do, so they called for reinforcements as they were not going into that place without back up.
I should mention this was back in the 50s long before integration and LA County was de facto segregated by race, ethnicity and as far as civil rights were concerned, they just did not exist. If one was African-American, it would be an unpleasant experience to be in Beverly Hills or Glendale and some other cities after sunset. That’s the way it was, broken into sections of ethnicity. Restrictive covenants on deeds to property were enforced and if the deed to the property said no sale to Negroes, Jews, or Asians, it was enforced. Many young people are probably unaware of the America of those days. As an example, there was World War II being fought in the 40s, but when I was drafted and sent to basic training, the 100,000 or so soldiers at Camp Roberts in the Salinas Valley in Central California were segregated and no “colored” men were there. Hard to believe, but that was the way it was.
The courthouse and area in the District were beautiful Spanish Style with large grounds and adobe buildings, housing not only the Courts but City agencies, DA’s area office and a place for the public defenders. On my first day after arriving, I went directly to the DA’s Office, and introduced myself to the only other DA there, Kenny Trauber. Turned out he was a great guy, gave me the lowdown on what was going on, the local politics including the three judges and assigned me my duties which consisted of everything. His job was to keep the peace with local agencies and police, file some complaints and send me off to the Courts to do battle. OK that’s what I will do if that’s what I am supposed to do.
So, off I go with a stack of cases to arraign,deal, set and, if need be, to try the various type of cases that found their way to the criminal justice system
Enough for one day and to be continued to illustrate some of my experiences and learned knowledge of the ways of the “System”
Marshall
MarshallsKnowledge© 