L'histoire Complete de la Mafia - Mickey cohen
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00:00 Mickey Cohen was a tough guy, a violent guy.
00:04 He had no mercy.
00:06 I haven't killed anyone who didn't deserve to die.
00:10 Mickey Cohen liked to say he was a stalker.
00:14 Mickey was a gangster star.
00:18 Everyone dreamed of coming to sit at Mickey's table.
00:21 Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis.
00:24 Mickey was a real rock star.
00:27 He loved money. He thought he was above the law.
00:30 But he was wrong.
00:32 He almost got himself killed at least nine times.
00:36 If Mickey got there, it wasn't by playing the kids.
00:40 [music]
01:00 1959
01:02 [music]
01:05 [speaking in French]
01:18 We walked inside the house, and on my left,
01:21 I saw a casino table and people having fun.
01:24 I felt like I was in a movie.
01:27 [music]
01:43 I saw Mickey stomping and kicking and screaming at this man.
01:49 Mickey was taunting him and saying, "You stole from me, you son of a bitch."
01:55 I looked him in the eye and I thought he was dead.
01:58 I didn't see him. He couldn't breathe.
02:00 [music]
02:06 And inside, there was the big guy.
02:09 He was sitting there, sitting on the couch,
02:11 talking to the other guys.
02:13 He had this big image over his eyes,
02:15 and the lips were black.
02:17 He had a fat, like, four-leaf clover smile.
02:20 [speaking in French]
02:28 [music]
02:37 Brooklyn, New York.
02:40 [speaking in French]
02:49 [music]
02:54 [speaking in French]
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03:08 [speaking in French]
03:15 [music]
03:18 [speaking in French]
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03:27 [speaking in French]
03:37 There was a hope of starting everything from zero.
03:40 In general, Jewish families are ready for everything for their children.
03:44 If it was really a better place for the children, why not try it out?
03:48 If you had failed elsewhere, you could succeed in California.
03:52 [music]
03:53 [speaking in French]
04:07 At that period, they didn't have much money.
04:10 And Micky Cohen didn't spend time at the school.
04:12 He spent his time on the street.
04:14 He was selling newspapers, shouting, and grabbing the slightest penny.
04:17 He was a street kid, a ragamuffin.
04:20 [music]
04:22 [speaking in French]
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04:50 [speaking in French]
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05:25 [speaking in French]
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06:07 [speaking in French]
06:14 [speaking in French]
06:26 [music]
06:28 [speaking in French]
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06:53 [speaking in French]
07:00 [music]
07:02 [speaking in French]
07:18 [music]
07:19 [speaking in French]
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07:28 [speaking in French]
07:31 [speaking in French]
07:42 Mickey Cohen liked to say that he was a gambler. That was his forte in crime.
07:49 It was a new era for Mickey. He had money in his pockets and won many titles.
07:54 Then, on June 12th 1931, Mickey's brother organized a demonstration match against the featherweight champion, Tommy Paul.
08:06 After 2 minutes and 20 seconds in the first round, Paul gave Mickey a left hook, which put him on the mat.
08:18 After this defeat, Cohen was discouraged. He continued to fight, but Tommy Paul's left hand destroyed his dreams of glory.
08:28 He wasn't a very good boxer. And the few real champions he met, they all knocked him out. He really didn't have much to brag about.
08:43 In 1939, Mickey went back to Los Angeles. Now that he failed as a boxer, he hopes to succeed as a gangster.
08:53 Mickey Cohen will soon meet another famous Jewish gangster, Buxy Siegel.
08:59 Together, they will write the history of the Mafia in Los Angeles.
09:12 During the 1920s and early 1930s, Mickey Cohen wanted to make a career as a boxer by leaving Los Angeles for Cleveland.
09:19 But Cohen wasn't good enough. After losing 10 straight fights, he decided to get back on his feet.
09:28 In 1939, Mickey Cohen returned to Los Angeles.
09:33 He met other Jewish gangsters who were looking to get their share of the rackets organized by the Mafia on the West Coast.
09:42 Mickey Cohen was ready to go to the assault on Hollywood.
09:45 In the 1930s, Los Angeles' criminal world was made up of small scams that didn't follow any rules.
09:59 Was there a homegrown mafia in Los Angeles?
10:04 Sort of. They weren't really criminals at the level of the East Coast syndicates. They were organized by the Desperados.
10:14 When you think of a mob town, you think of Chicago, New York, New Orleans, etc. You don't think of Los Angeles.
10:23 But when the visionary New York gangster Meyer Lansky went west, he found an unexploited resource.
10:33 Lansky wanted to get a share of the rackets.
10:37 To get to Hollywood, he recruited an old childhood friend, Bugsy Siegel.
10:45 In the 1920s and particularly in the 1930s, a number of characters, gangsters, Desperados, came to California.
10:54 A lot of them were the real McCoy that had some sort of association with organized crime.
11:00 The most famous one would probably be Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. He was the real thing.
11:05 Siegel was the ideal choice for Lansky. He had the exact Hollywood style.
11:13 Bugsy Siegel was an extremely handsome guy. He had charisma and he spent a lot of time with movie stars.
11:21 People would never have thought he was a gangster.
11:25 But when he got angry, they said he would turn red, literally. This guy could kill you in the space of a second.
11:32 So it was better to obey him or you were dead.
11:35 Like Bugsy needs help, the East Coast mafia recruits a local gangster, Mickey Cohen.
11:44 Being himself Jewish, Siegel is happy to include Cohen in his team.
11:52 The people closest to him were Jewish. Why? Because you had that element of trust.
11:56 You had that element of understanding because they were all part of the same ethnic group.
12:01 And that's why Mickey Cohen was able to work with him.
12:04 Mickey respects Bugsy, but like he did in Cleveland, he continues his own free-lance hooligans.
12:11 Cohen gathers a small team and starts to rob local restaurants and bookmakers.
12:21 [Music]
12:23 When Mickey doesn't rob the local shoppers, he enjoys the nightlife that the city doesn't lack.
12:31 One evening, in a club in Los Angeles, Mickey meets Lavan Weaver, a dance teacher working for several Hollywood movie studios.
12:42 Mickey is immediately attracted to the pretty girl.
12:48 Unlike the gangsters' usual little friends, she is educated, well-fed,
12:52 exactly the kind of woman he's looking for to climb a notch in the social ladder.
12:56 Cohen covers Weaver with jewelry and fur, all the luxury that money can offer.
13:05 Apparently, Mickey's spending made him want her.
13:13 In the middle of the night of October 15, 1940, in a chapel on Western Avenue, Mickey and Lavan get married.
13:19 Now having a wife at home, Mickey can focus on his work.
13:30 He tries to take control of the West Coast's information service.
13:34 The first function of the information service was to provide the bookmaker with the prognoses and results.
13:40 Mickey and Bugsy could place someone on a race in Nashville, Tennessee,
13:44 who would then communicate the last prognoses and results to the bookmaker staying in California.
13:49 Without this, the bookmakers had no way of taking bets on the races organized around the country.
13:55 Through the service, the bookmakers in Los Angeles received the information in real time,
14:03 and could thus take bets until the last minute.
14:09 It was played in the second-to-last fraction, and Mickey was the king of this little game.
14:14 But Mickey had to keep his secret activity.
14:19 Bets outside the race field were still illegal.
14:22 It was a traffic that brought in big money.
14:26 The bookmakers paid up to $1,200 a week to take part in it.
14:30 But Cohen and Siegel were facing a severe competition.
14:36 Jack Dragna, a Sicilian member of the Italian mafia, already managed his own information service in Los Angeles,
14:41 the Continental Press agency.
14:44 Dragna has been managing the West Coast's racquets for nearly 20 years.
14:48 But he doesn't put the weight on a gangster like Bugsy Siegel, who has a long arm.
14:52 Jack Dragna was never a mafia member of the East Coast mafia.
14:58 He was above all a businessman.
15:03 But Dragna gets angry easily, and doesn't like strangers to come to his turf, especially Jewish gangsters.
15:09 This apparently did not sit well with Dragna.
15:14 Los Angeles didn't have a large Jewish community.
15:17 Dragna was upset. What did the Jews think?
15:21 They're not like us. They don't believe in Jesus.
15:24 In July 1942, Bugsy took action.
15:30 He sent Cohen and his gangsters to Dragna's HQ, with a simple order.
15:34 Take the phones from the information agency, and silence everyone who opposed it.
15:38 At the Continental Press, Cohen goes to work and ransacks the office.
15:45 Dragna is absent that day, but one of his men stands up against Cohen.
15:49 Michael takes him home with a bloody souvenir.
15:55 The mark of his gun's stocking on the temple.
15:59 Michael Cohen and Bugsy Siegel have just taken over Dragna's territory.
16:03 Their next target will be even more prestigious, Las Vegas.
16:12 At the end of the 1930s, Michael Cohen and Bugsy Siegel decided to take over the city.
16:27 In a few years, they got there by force of will.
16:30 But Michael Cohen wants more.
16:38 He wants to see his name on the top of the billboard.
16:42 In 1945, Michael Cohen and Bugsy Siegel were arrested.
16:56 In 1945, the case is flourishing for the two Jewish gangsters.
17:00 Michael, like his boss Bugsy Siegel, starts to go to the popular Hollywood establishments,
17:06 like the Sherry, the Ciro and the Coconut Grove.
17:10 Well surrounded, Michael spends his nights in the Sunset Strip neighborhood, next to pretty women.
17:21 He was a short, punchy guy, and yet he always came with beautiful, tall, striptease, and stupid ones.
17:30 You could spot Mickey from a mile away. He loved hats.
17:35 Mickey had to study in old school.
17:38 When he went out, he had to dress up. He'd go to a fight, he'd wear a suit.
17:42 He'd go to a restaurant, he'd wear a suit.
17:44 And when Mickey goes out, he likes to be noticed.
17:50 Mickey Cohen was the perfect choice if you wanted to publish a story, a quote, or a photo.
17:55 He was really the type of guy to get that kind of information.
17:59 If he didn't know anything, he'd be glad to make it up.
18:03 People in the movie industry, and celebrities in general,
18:07 feel a morbid attraction to people they perceive as dangerous.
18:11 Mickey wanted to get the attention of the media, and he was in L.A., the world's media capital.
18:19 For the first time in his life, Mickey Cohen felt like he was part of an elite.
18:24 In the mid-40s, Mickey and his wife, Lavonne, move into a new house in a rich neighborhood in Hollywood, Brantwood.
18:37 While Mickey was enjoying life in L.A., Bugsy Seagull was getting tired of this monotonous environment.
18:45 In 1945, Bugsy offers the Mafia a new investment opportunity, the Flamingo Hotel.
18:51 A first-class destination in Las Vegas, Nevada.
18:59 A 105-room building with private bungalows and a casino.
19:03 Seagull tells the Mafia that all she has to do is provide the money to build this mansion.
19:11 And to keep her portfolio in check.
19:13 In 1946, construction begins.
19:17 Seagull allows herself to make last-minute changes, which cost more money and time than was initially planned.
19:24 The gangsters of the East Coast give Mickey Cohen clear orders.
19:31 Save the Flamingo project and put it back on the rails.
19:38 But the time Mickey arrives in Vegas is too late.
19:41 The hotel has already exceeded the initial budget of $5 million.
19:45 Bugsy had promised the Mafia a safe investment.
19:48 The Flamingo is quite the opposite.
19:51 On June 20, 1947, at night, 42-year-old Bugsy is at his girlfriend's house in Beverly Hills.
20:05 That night, he spends a quiet evening reading the LA Times.
20:09 He does not suspect that a Mafia killer is sneaking into the neighbor's alley, armed with a .30-caliber rifle.
20:17 The killer opens fire on the house.
20:22 Hit three times on the head, Bugsy dies instantly.
20:31 Bugsy Seagull had bet everything on Vegas, and he lost.
20:35 After Bugsy's death, Mickey Cohen takes care of the illegal betting in LA and the information service.
20:47 Mickey Cohen is now the boss in Hollywood.
20:56 And when Mickey goes out to dinner, the city's residents notice him.
21:01 It was almost like a wave of silence.
21:05 As Mickey moved into the restaurant, people would raise their heads when they noticed him.
21:10 And they would stop eating.
21:12 Then another would stop eating, and so on.
21:14 They would watch him go by.
21:16 In a few minutes, a strange silence would set in.
21:22 In the streets, Mickey is often surrounded by glamorous actresses like Marilyn Monroe and Lana Turner.
21:28 Seeing Bugsy Seagull, his old rival, disappear, Jack Dragna seized the opportunity to reclaim his territory.
21:40 In 1949, the war between Dragna and Cohen was declared.
21:47 Shots were fired in the streets of Los Angeles.
21:52 It was largely about filling the void of power left by the death of Bugsy Seagull.
21:58 Mickey's guys and Jack's guys were shooting at each other.
22:03 On July 20, 1949, Dragna's gunmen attacked Mickey.
22:13 That night, Mickey and his usual circle had a late dinner in a trendy restaurant on Sunset Strip.
22:19 The group left the restaurant around 4 a.m.
22:28 Dragna's men waited outside.
22:30 They opened fire.
22:37 A lot of people were shot. I remember a woman selling newspapers.
22:41 I got a bullet in my butt.
22:43 And then there was another woman who was shot.
22:45 And then there was someone who was shot.
22:47 Mickey even got shot.
22:49 Mickey got a bullet in his right shoulder.
22:52 Six months later, on February 6, 1950, Dragna regained his chance.
23:00 This time, it was a chance to get back to the streets.
23:03 This time, it was a chance to get back to the streets.
23:07 This time, his men placed more than a dozen dynamite sticks under Mickey's house.
23:12 While Mickey and his wife were sleeping, Dragna's men waited for the right moment to blow up the dynamite.
23:20 At 4 a.m., the bomb was triggered.
23:26 The explosion was such that the roof flew off the house.
23:32 But Mickey was not happy about it.
23:34 When the bomb was triggered, he was on the other side of the house.
23:39 However, the lucky gangster was not in a mood to party.
23:43 His precious wardrobe was gone.
23:46 His clothes were torn.
23:49 He was worried about his clothes and all the shoes he had.
23:52 Mickey survived the attack organized by Dragna.
23:56 But an even more dangerous enemy was waiting for his time.
24:01 The Mafia
24:06 In 1947, gang killers killed Bugsy Seagal, a mafia legend.
24:14 In his absence, Mickey Cohen managed all the bets in the city and won millions.
24:19 Cohen also opened very popular restaurants in all neighborhoods.
24:25 These establishments shelter illegal activities such as sports bets and have casino tables in the back room.
24:32 He bought a farm behind the Warner Bros. studios and turned it into a casino.
24:37 The actors in costumes come to try their luck during their lunch break.
24:43 He is the number one gangster in Hollywood.
24:47 He knew how to get along with people.
24:51 He knew how to charm people.
24:52 He knew how to charm anyone.
24:55 Everyone needs a leader.
24:57 Power is a vacuum.
25:00 You walk in and you take it.
25:03 Mickey was a gangster star.
25:06 People thought they knew who he was and what he did.
25:12 But they didn't.
25:13 They only knew about the image that someone could see at a restaurant or walk down the street.
25:21 Hollywood stars like Lana Turner and Frank Sinatra
25:24 appear at the table of Mickey Cohen in the most popular clubs on the Sunset Strip.
25:28 You have to remember one thing.
25:32 In Hollywood, you can hang out with anyone as long as he is a famous person.
25:36 Mickey is not a discreet type.
25:45 His enemy, Jack Dragna, can easily follow his moves.
25:49 [car horn]
25:51 [gunshot]
25:53 Worried about his safety, Cohen buys a armored car.
25:58 It had an inch thick glass, which made it practically bulletproof.
26:06 [gunshot]
26:12 The war makes victims in both sides.
26:14 Until Dragna and Cohen receive a warning from the mafia on the east coast, that's enough.
26:20 Bloodshed is bad for business.
26:24 Gangsters always have a grudge against each other,
26:28 but they are smart enough not to oppose the mafia.
26:31 The Sunset Strip conflict ends in a draw.
26:40 But the attempted murders on Mickey have attracted the attention of the federal government.
26:44 FBI agents start to investigate the gangster.
26:48 To hide his illegal income from the racketeering,
26:53 Mickey turns to a sector he particularly likes, fashion.
26:57 He buys a men's clothing store and calls it "Michael's exclusive nursery".
27:02 It was a very nice men's clothing store, with glass counters and ties.
27:08 Magnificent silk ties, shirts, diamond studs.
27:13 It was very chic.
27:16 At any time, there could be 50 suits, 50 pants, 50 sports jackets, 50 pairs of shoes, 50 hats.
27:22 All of them the size of Mickey.
27:24 With the federal agents in his pockets, Cohen must remain careful.
27:30 But he is not the kind to be low profile.
27:37 At night, the exuberant gangster shows up on the Sunset Strip.
27:41 While Mickey saves appearances in Hollywood, the police put pressure on him.
27:50 In 1950, the LA police welcome their new chief, William Parker.
27:58 For years, Mickey did not need to put someone in the LA police.
28:04 He paid him to shut his eyes.
28:07 Now, with this new man in his head, things will become more difficult.
28:14 William Parker arrived in 1950 and did not want to tolerate this kind of scum.
28:20 The men he recruited in his anti-criminal brigade, which I describe in my book,
28:24 went to get the bad guys from the plane, train or bus.
28:27 He took them to a motel to put a lock on them and sent them back home.
28:31 He did this by a very good method.
28:34 That same year, the community drew the attention of the Senate Committee specialized in organized crime,
28:40 better known as the Kieffhover Committee.
28:43 This group of senators, led by Estes Kieffhover,
28:48 is determined to investigate the families of organized crime and dismantle them.
28:55 On November 17, the committee called on Mickey Cohen, 36 years old, to testify.
29:01 For hours, Mickey answered questions.
29:07 He told the committee that he was just a poor businessman who often borrowed money from his friends.
29:13 But the son did not doubt.
29:16 According to Cohen's testimony, he found a way to trap the gangster.
29:24 On April 6, 1951, the gangster, once so lucky, was officially charged with tax fraud.
29:31 All the big gangsters have been in prison for tax fraud.
29:35 Al Capone, Waxey Gordon, Jake Gouzik.
29:39 As he said, there are two things that are inevitable, death and taxes.
29:43 Two months later, the trial of Mickey Cohen began in California.
29:51 He loved money. He thought he was above the law, but he was wrong.
29:55 Mickey is found guilty after a few weeks.
30:00 He is sentenced to five years in prison.
30:02 But he will return to Hollywood and appear on his worst day during a shocking interview on television.
30:12 I have killed no man
30:15 that
30:18 at the beginning did not deserve to die.
30:20 In 1951, the gangster Mickey Cohen, who ran the Lego Highlands, is sentenced to five years in prison for tax fraud.
30:35 He is sent to McNeil Island, in the Puget Sound region, in the state of Washington.
30:43 Like Alcatraz in San Francisco, McNeil Island is only accessible by boat or plane.
30:48 For the moment, Mickey Cohen can not go anywhere.
30:52 In prison, Mickey fingers the guards to have more towels because of his obsessive obsession with hand washing.
31:12 The guards give Mickey a comfortable job, taking care of their uniforms.
31:16 Even in prison, Cohen is an important actor.
31:22 He participates in all kinds of smuggling, brand hats, and other things.
31:27 After spending nearly four years in prison, Mickey is released for good conduct.
31:38 [Music]
31:42 Cohen becomes a free man again.
31:45 Back in the streets of L.A., Mickey finds his old habits and spends a good time going out at night with pretty women.
31:56 But the time Mickey spent in prison has weighed on the life of the couple.
32:05 After more than a decade together, LaVaughn and Mickey separate.
32:08 The divorce hits Mickey.
32:12 He had always said that his wife LaVaughn was a "Lady with her head on her feet".
32:16 He will never remarry.
32:19 After a painful procedure, Mickey is content to be depressed in the dark.
32:25 But not for long.
32:30 On May 19, 1957, Mickey Cohen gives his approval for an unprecedented interview in a successful show.
32:37 An interview live with the gangster of L.A. promised a strong audience at the ABC channel.
32:47 As for Mickey, he was looking to restore his coat.
32:54 I have never killed anyone who at the beginning didn't deserve to die.
33:01 On a national television channel, Mike Wallace, he is admitting to the world that he has killed people.
33:10 And somebody who has killed people can kill again.
33:14 Mickey continues by demolishing the Los Angeles police chief, William Parker.
33:22 He is disgusting.
33:24 He is a real degenerate in other words.
33:27 He is a degenerate sadist of the worst kind.
33:30 The next day, Parker continues to prosecute Mickey and Ebisi for defamation on a national channel.
33:36 Ebisi presents him with immediate and total excuses in the Wallace show.
33:43 The controversy resuscitates Cohen's reputation around Hollywood.
33:50 Mickey is once again the one.
33:52 This is a town that just loves characters.
33:57 Hollywood loves the person who resembles themselves as somebody much more important than they are in reality.
34:03 Mickey Cohen used his bad reputation to make himself as a man on the inside.
34:15 In 1958, the scandalous newspapers are once again interested in Mickey when his associate and bodyguard of all time,
34:21 Johnny Stampanato, argues with his little friend, the legend of Hollywood, Lana Turner.
34:26 Their relationship had never been simple.
34:32 But one evening in April, Stampanato goes too far.
34:35 He catches Turner and shakes her a little too hard.
34:38 Wanting to protect his mother, Turner's daughter, Cheryl, 14 years old, stabs and kills Stampanato.
34:45 After the murder, Cohen goes to the morgue to identify Stampanato's body.
34:51 When the police interrogates Turner, she tells them that Johnny was a monster and that he easily got angry.
34:59 These allegations annoy Cohen.
35:02 In return, he communicates the couple's love letters to the local newspapers.
35:11 Cohen's action triggers a media storm.
35:14 A week later, local authorities investigate to clarify the circumstances of the murder.
35:21 They call Mickey Cohen to testify.
35:24 He is one of the few people to have had a relationship with Lana Turner and Johnny Stampanato.
35:29 Mickey Cohen went to the investigation office.
35:33 He walked in, sat down in a chair, took off his hat and said,
35:38 "I refuse to testify for the simple reason that I could be accused of having committed this crime."
35:42 He got up and left.
35:45 At the end of the investigation, a jury considers that the homicide was a case of legitimate defense.
35:51 Cheryl Crane will never be prosecuted.
35:54 Later, Mickey sees a young actor on television who plays the role of a robber.
36:02 Mickey finds the kid and the contact.
36:05 I got a fan letter.
36:07 He said he liked the way I played the bad guys.
36:10 He had a carousel called Brentwood.
36:13 He invited me to come down for some free ice cream.
36:16 Stevens responds to the invitation and the next day he visits one of the most famous mafios in Hollywood.
36:23 Everybody knew who Mickey was.
36:27 As soon as he arrived somewhere, they immediately rolled up his carpet and told him,
36:31 "You know, you're a bad guy. You're a bad guy."
36:34 He immediately rolled up the red coat.
36:36 "Oh, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Cohen, oh my God, Mr. Cohen, let me open the door for you."
36:39 He liked to have a woman at his arm.
36:42 Liz Renee, Candy Bar, they were strippers.
36:46 My favorite was a woman named Sandy Hachigan, which means "drugged harpy."
36:53 Now that's what I can name.
36:56 In addition to spending time with this charismatic boss, the actor also delivers packages for Mickey.
37:04 He would call me once in a while and say, "Hey kid, I need a favor. Go pick this up or that up."
37:10 I would never look at what the hell I was carrying.
37:14 The job is simple, until one of Mickey's acolytes gives Stevens a gun to protect himself.
37:20 A few days later, the police arrest Stevens for having lit a red light.
37:25 While the agents are searching for him, his gun falls off his belt and rolls to the ground.
37:32 I get thrown to the ground, and they've got me warned off with all the chains on me, like I was on a chain gun.
37:40 I'm in deep trouble.
37:43 A few hours later, Cohen's lawyer obtains Stevens' release under caution.
37:48 He has a message to convey to the young actor. Go see Mickey, immediately.
37:53 I go to Mickey's, I see him come out of his house, and before we get to the back room,
37:59 he turns around and hits me in the nose. I fall right off.
38:02 And he jumps on me, screaming and yelling, "How dare you do that?
38:08 Why did you have a fucking revolver on you? It's gonna come back to bite me in the face.
38:12 You think you're tough, you son of a bitch?"
38:15 The gangster's paranoia is justified.
38:20 On September 16, 1960, Cohen is charged with tax fraud by the federal prosecutor.
38:28 In Mickey's trial, the list of witnesses includes celebrities like Jerry Lewis.
38:33 But the entire Hollywood elite couldn't save Mickey.
38:37 The only crime that Mickey Cohen was convicted of was tax fraud, and he was stupid enough to get caught twice.
38:45 In the trial, a judge sentences the recidivist to 15 years in prison in Alcatraz.
38:54 Mickey will soon meet a more tough, more violent category of co-detainees, and this time, he won't get away with it.
39:01 In the 1950s, gangster Mickey Cohen had regained his place among the Hollywood elite after serving five years in prison.
39:14 But only five years later, the federal prosecutors send him back to the barracks for the same crime, tax fraud.
39:24 And it's not just any prison. Alcatraz, the worst in the country, where the most dangerous criminals are locked up.
39:33 Unlike his last penitentiary stay, Mickey is treated like any other detainee.
39:46 No favoritism, no extra napkins.
39:51 In 1963, the legendary prison definitively closes its doors.
39:55 Mickey is transferred to the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary.
40:00 On August 14, 1963, Mickey's life is turned upside down.
40:08 While he's looking at the news in the middle of the day, a co-detainee grabs a lead pipe and heads for the gangster who doesn't suspect anything.
40:17 The bad guy has nothing against Mickey, he just wants to hit someone.
40:21 Without warning, the detainee hits Cohen in the head with the lead pipe.
40:26 The blow caused irreversible brain injuries. It was the beginning of the end.
40:33 The prison doctors immediately take Mickey to the operating room to remove the damaged tissues.
40:40 In the wake room, surgeons have bad news for Cohen.
40:45 The gangster is partially paralyzed and will have to walk with a cane for the rest of his stay.
40:50 On January 6, 1972, after 10 years in detention, Mickey Cohen is released.
40:59 The former boxer is now a firm.
41:03 But the great gangster of Hollywood still has a lot of money hidden.
41:12 This year, Mickey tries to resume his old activities.
41:15 But times have changed and many of his associates have died.
41:19 At the end of 1973, Mickey is nothing more than the shadow of himself.
41:26 Even if he still enjoys a good fight.
41:30 Whenever he needed a ticket, he would call me at the club.
41:35 He wanted a seat right in front of me.
41:39 If he had used his cane, we made sure he could park at the entrance of the tunnel.
41:44 So he could walk to his seat on the edge of the ring.
41:49 At 59, Mickey is no longer in the news.
41:54 But during the fights, he remains a local attraction.
41:57 He always wore his $ 1,000 suits.
42:05 He was a celebrity and we wanted him to be there. He added a lot of color to the fight cards.
42:10 Even if the gangster looks harmless, he remains Mickey Cohen, the former king of the Sunset Strip.
42:18 Even in his condition, at the time he was partially infirm, he did not need to look for nuts.
42:26 Because I'm sure he knew people who could beat you if he needed a hit.
42:32 In February 1974, the Liberation Army, a group of radical activists, kidnaps Patty Hearst, the daughter of the press magnate William Randolph Hearst.
42:48 Mickey Cohen claims that Patty's father asked him to intervene and use his experience as a criminal to negotiate with the kidnappers.
43:00 Journalists follow the case for weeks and claim an interview with the only man who promises results, Mickey Cohen.
43:07 People questioned Mickey Cohen on the case.
43:11 The gangster made everyone know that he had connections, whether in the crime world or with radicals.
43:16 He implied that he was able to locate Patty Hearst and the Liberation Army.
43:21 This was good for selling stories to the press. Of course, he knew nothing at all.
43:26 Mickey makes the first move again.
43:30 Did he know anything? No, not really. But that didn't stop him and the newspapers didn't stop either.
43:36 Mickey stops his efforts to save Patty Hearst when he learns that she has allied herself to the cause of these kidnappers.
43:42 Two years later, on July 29, 1976, Mickey Cohen dies in his sleep at the age of 62.
43:55 His death marks the end of an era, the rise and fall of Jewish gangsters.
44:00 Jewish gangsters have disappeared over a generation because there were legitimate ways to make money.
44:06 They were very aware that their activity was a shame in the family.
44:11 They knew themselves that there was no honor in doing what they were doing, that there were other ways to make money to send their sons or daughters to law school, medicine or the bazaar.
44:24 Mickey Cohen has not legged any criminal empire. Instead, he has imposed himself as one of the most eccentric gangsters in history.
44:32 He was famous for being famous.
44:38 He loved being called a star in the nightclubs of the city.
44:42 I think he loved hanging out with people who wrote about him, who listened to him and who remained attached to his words.
44:49 He had that special something that you find in movie stars.
44:54 Politicians have, gangsters have, gangsters have...
44:58 Charisma.
45:01 [Music]
45:05 [BLANK_AUDIO]