“And Exley made Johnny tank that one pro fight he had.”
“Right.”
“And the newspaper pieces and the tank job were to set Johnny up as some sort of hard-luck kid, so it would look realistic when he applied to the LAPD.”
“Right.”
“And Exley got Johnny eased into the Academy?”
“Right.”
“And all this was to set Johnny up to work undercover.”
“Right, to get next to some people or something that Exley had this hard-on for, but don’t ask me who, ’cause I don’t know.”
THEM/Dan Wilhite/Narco–mix them, match them–
“Keep going.”
Bobs, feints–Reuben oozed sweat. “So Exley, he got Johnny this outside work while he was in the Academy, this gig where he what you call infiltrated these Marine Corps guys who were beating up and robbing all these rich queers. That punk Stemmons, you know, that ex-partner of yours, he was Johnny’s teacher at the Academy, and he read this report that Johnny wrote on the fruit-roller gig.”
“And?”
“And Stemmons, he was both, you know, attracted to and, what you call it, repelled by homos. He had the hots for Johnny, which embarrassed the shit out of Johnny, ’cause he’s a cunt man from the gate. Anyway, Johnny busted up the fruit-roller ring, and the Marine Corps police, they got, you know, convictions against the guys. Johnny graduated from the Academy and got assigned to the Detective Bureau right off, ’cause the queer gig made him look righteous good, and ’cause being a Golden Gloves champ gave him some righteous prestige. Anyway, that Irish guy, you know, Dudley Smith, he took a shine to Johnny and got him assigned to the Mobster Squad, ’cause he wanted an ex-fighter for this strongarm work they do.”
Side 185
Ellroy – White Jazz
Linkage clicking in–no surprises yet.
“And?”
“_And_ somehow Stemmons found out that Exley was what you call operating Johnny, _and_ he pulled this wild queer number on him, _and_ it disgusted Johnny, but he didn’t beat that _puto_ faggot silly, ’cause Stemmons was this hotshot evidence teacher cop who could screw Johnny on this gig he was fuckin’ embroiled in with Exley.”
Popping punches, popping sweat–little moves synced to his story.
“And?”
“_And_ you cops always pull that ‘and’ bit to keep people talking.”
“Then let’s try ‘so.'”
“_So_ I guess it was about this time that Johnny got tangled up in the fur job.
He said he had inside help, and he just hired on me and my brothers to do the hauling work. He was doing these other so-called bad things, and I figured it was strongarm shit on the Mobster Squad, but Johnny said it was lots worse, like so bad he was afraid to tell his good buddy Exley about it. Fucking Stemmons, he was talking all this criminal-mastermind noise up to Johnny, and I don’t know, but somehow he found out about Johnny and the fur heist.”
Ruiz shit-eater-grinning–punched out, winded.
“When did Johnny tell you all this?”
“After the fur heist, when we put on gloves and he told me to give him this penance beating.”
“And around that time Stemmons tried to horn in on Johnny’s part of the fur job.”
“Right.”
“Come on, Reuben. Right, _and?_”
“And Johnny told me the fur job was an Exley setup from the gate. It was part of his what you call cover, and Exley was in with that guy Sol Hurwitz. Hurwitz was some kind of gone-bust gambler, and fuckin’ richkid Exley, he bought all the furs and told Johnny how to stage the heist.”
AUDACIOUS.
Links missing.
Exley’s heist/Dudley Smith’s investigation–why did Exley assign someone that good?
Linkage chronology–pure guesswork:
Johnny offers Mickey Cohen hot fur.
Dud gloms the Cohen lead and scares Mickey shitless.
Exley intercedes.
Exley operates Mickey–_toward what end?_
Mickey, skewed behavior–movie mogul, Darktown bungler–he still won’t pull his Southside slots.
Chick Vecchio–Mickey linked.
Side 186
Ellroy – White Jazz
Chick–finger man–Kafesjian movie time.
Mickey and Chick–linked to:
THEM/Narco/Dan Wilhite.
Links:
Missing/hidden/obscured/twisted CRAAAZY–
Reuben–punched out, grinning: “So, I guess all this is just between us witness buddies.”
“That’s right.”
“Is Johnny dead?”
“Yes.”
“Too bad he never got married. Mea fucking culpa, I could of dropped a nice mink coat on his widow.”