It looks like the desperate newspaper industry continues to whore itself out to Hollywood, as Warner Brothers has aquired the rights to an L.A. Times seven parts series “Tales From the Gangster Squad.” It chronicles the special sect of the LAPD formed in 1946 whose main objective was to keep the East Coast Mafia, which was engaging in shootouts at will, out of the city.
Paul Lieberman wrote the articles for the Times, that concluded in Saturday’s paper. In 1992, after Lieberman ran a piece on the LAPD’s Organized Crime Intelligence Division he receive a call a few days later from man who pointed out the fact that he failed to mention the origins of the division, which was a group formed following WWII. When Lieberman asked how he knew, the man said, “Well, I was on it.”
What followed was years of interviews of over 100 people that were either involved in the squad, attorneys for L.A. mobsters Bugsy Siegel and Mickey Cohen, and even two former members of Cohen’s entourage. The piece focuses on two cops, one is a member of the squad and one was forced out against his will but both of them are obsessed with taking down Cohen. It is being produced by former Warner’s exec. Dan Lin, who produced, “The Departed,” and is producing “Sherlock Holmes,” “Terminator Salvation,” Robert Rodriguez‘s “Shorts,” Richard Kelly‘s “The Box” and Lin Pictures also has “Justice League” at WB. He is currently looking for screenwriters to adapt the material.