GANSGTER SQUAD, THE |ˈgaNGstər skwäd, T͟Hē| -According to Paul Lieberman, "Tales from the Gangster Squad", LA Times-The Gangster Squad was a "hush hush unit" formed by Police Chief C.B Horral in 1946 to keep East Coast Mafia out of L.A . Its 'anything goes' approach endured through the 1950s in an era when justice was found far from the courthouse.

In November 1946 eighteen handpicked cops were candidates to join The Squad.

Sgt.Willie Burns informed them about their primary duties which were to keep down the gangster killings and try to keep mobsters Bugsy Siegel, Dragna and Cohen under control.

According to Burns words the deal was:

"If they signed on, they'd continue to belisted on the rosters of their old stations. They'd have no office, only two unmarked cars. They'd almost never make arrests. They'd simply gather "intelligence" and be available for other chores. In effect, they would not exist."

The aspirants had a week to ponder their decisions and only seven came back, making a squad of eight counting Sgt. Willie Burns. Along the years more members would be recruited according to the unit's needs.

Five years after the Gangster Squad was formed two of the original eight had retired, including the first field leader Willie Burns and two more originals died, one in a car accident and the other committed suicide.

// 3.-The Squad's forms of procedure: The squad members used to meet on street corners or in parking lots.When they did get an office, it was a cubbyhole in the decaying Central Station, which had horse stalls from the 1880s.

Their 1940 Fords had 200,000 miles on them and holes in the floorboard so they could pour fluid into the master cylinders. At times five men rode in one, and if several smoked cigars, their suits would stink so bad they'd hang them outdoors at night.

They had three Tommy Guns that came with 50-round drums and beautiful violin cases, but they couldn't leave them in the trunk and risk having them stolen, O'Mara used to sleep with his under his bed.

They used a look-alike Pac Bell truck to plant bugs -to hell with warrants!-

They stole evidence from mobsters, befriended rivals of gang leaders and Jack O'Mara personally set a trap for the showboating Mickey Cohen, to prove he was a killer.

// 4.- the movie Based on writer Paul Lieberman's seven-part series of articles for The LA Times, "Tales from the Gangster Squad", the movie tells the story of a secret unit of 1940's police officers who work to keep East Coast mobsters like Mickey Cohen out of L.A .

Los Angeles, 1949. Ruthless, Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) runs the show in this town, reaping the ill-gotten gains from the drugs, the guns, the prostitutes and -if he has his way- every wire bet placed west of Chicago.

He does it all with the protection of not only his own paid goons, but also the police and the politicians who are under his control.

It's enough to intimidate even the bravest, street-hardened cop … except, perhaps, for the small, secret crew of LAPD outsiders led by Sgt. John O'Mara (Josh Brolin) and Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), who come together to try to tear Cohen's world apart.