“We need to…WE NEED TO… get -on-the-sidewalk… GET ON THE SIDEWALK%2 

An arrest in connection to the June 21 shooting outside The Echo nightclub that left three people injured portends the outbreak of a new gang war in the streets of LA.

“The suspect is Jose Luis Sanchez, 25, of Los Angeles. He is a suspected Mongols gang member, and the motive is believed to be his intent to shoot the Hell’s Angel at the club” Lt. Wes Buhrmester, LAPD Rampart Patrol Division wrote today on East LA blog The Eastsider.
 Despite the shooter’s intent, no Angel was hit. But three concert goers leaving the Echo were, and word of the arrest brought a sense of relief to at least one of the victims. “I hope they got the right guy. I’ve been shaky about going back to the Echo” shooting survivor Adam D’Zurilla tells Legman exclusively.

Self-evidently, the blood feud between the Mongols Motorcycle Club and the Hells Angels MC only skipped a beat since 2008 when the longest undercover operation in law enforcement history ended in mass arrests of Mongols. Over a thousand cops, feds and deputized ATF agents swarmed down on members of the gang, nabbed 60 members across five states but coming as it did amid the presidential election fury the story went largely unoticed.
  “Outlaw bikers are the most dangerous criminal  organization operating in the United States} is  how the Mongols are described in the 177 page federal indictment which

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The Frolic Room, a bar aside the landmark Pantages Theater on Hollywood Boulevard is a location in murder-mysteries like LA Confidential and The Black Dahlia. This past April 5th reality emulated art when the bar became the scene of a grisly death. However, insiders say it is no mystery while police maintain it is not a murder.

  Gerald Thomas Andersen, one of five brothers who grew up in a small Midwestern agricultural town arrived in Los Angeles some 20 years back, like so many others gifted with good looks and a modicum of talent, to find his way in showbiz. In April, at the age of 49, never having landed that big role, Mr. Andersen returned to his hometown of Faribault, Minnesota for his funeral. And if that sounds hard-boiled, consider the location of his demise, a 1930’s era Hollywood gin mill where he worked the door and which remains an iconic backdrop for LA film noir. 

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A Friday night ride brought cyclists into a confrontation with cops along Hollywood Boulevard, near Highland as best we can make out from this video posted on cycling scene site Midnight Ridazz. Holding promise for a truce during the popular monthly Critical Mass rides, Police Chief Charlie Beck announced a policy to better train LAPD officers on the rights of cyclists. Apparently this one officer missed the briefing; at the 26 second mark a bike patrol officer in shorts and cycling helmet throws a snap kick at a passing rider.

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“That won’t work, it will not get you far in Los Angeles. THAT is not an LA car” the art dealer prophesied, pointing at the Legman’s Ford Taurus outside a Williamsburg gallery when we announced our bailing the Big Bagel. His words were driven home each day since. From dirty stare downs at reds from blond air heads to comments from valets (this at the Beverly Hills Hotel “Are you, like, STAYING here?”) nowhere in this car nut town did we see the respect our NYP tagged HuMPT (highly mobile multi purpose Taurus) drew parked on Bronx sidewalks, sans hub caps 5-O style, across 2000 crime scenes. Over 10 years of duty, shotgun and bottle of Beam beneath our seat, the Bull which traversed the nation twice, hit all five boroughs in a single day chasing stories for a major metropolitan newspaper, braved subzero trips to Montreal, and on 9/11 barrelled down the West Side in a state trooper convoy to ground zero at 90mph, has been impounded by LAPD sanctioned tow pirates.

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when you can now keep up to speed with all the city’s mayhem on this live LAPD scanner. We once dropped a chunk of change on a scanner and code book to stay on top of the men in blue back in the Boogie Down so this free site is an absolute thrill to stumble across. Ought to be a blast tuning in on New  Years, even if LA residents heed the mayor and refrain from firing celebratory salvos.

Legman was warmly welcomed to the LAPD’s spanking new 437 million dollar headquarters the other day. Three floors up the brilliantly reflective façade of the L-shaped building a law enforcement management type is waiving at us!

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