I am the "Gangster Squad" journalist and author who wrote the articles and book the movie is based on…

Did Ryan Gosling care that much about what the real guys were like or did he want to play the role his way?

Was Sean Penn easy to work with or is he as big of a pain as people say he is?

Goslir did meet the two sons of the real Jerry Wooters and was eager to hear about their "old man". In fact they told him how the real Jerry Wooters would flick the ashes from his cigarette into his pants cuffs--so Ryan started doing that during the filming. I'm not sure it ever made it onto the screen. As for Penn, he definitely played the character of Mickey Cohen his way...very BIG, as critics have noted, like a Batman or James Bond villain. The real Mickey was not like that--he was a showman--but Penn's portrayal more was a riff on the tradition of Gangster Films. This one is set in 1949, the year Warner Bros released "White Heat" in which Jimmy Cagney winds up atop an oil refinery shouting, "Made it, Ma, Top of the World." real big, in other words. That film was based loosely on the Ma Barker gang, by the way....but no Barker ever bought it that way!

What's Ryan Gosling like?

I found him to be very nice, unaffected and serious about his acting. Though this was an action film, in which a lot of the action is over-the-top, and not meant to be realistic, he even would question whether little bits seemed plausible...like how Josh Brolin slides him a Tommy gun clip in the final big shootout. They actually changed the bit after Ryan questioned it.

The movie gangster squad is a little more ethnic than the real guys.

Not a question, just thought it was funny.

Right, that still was the era of White Men Rule. As I write in the book version of Gangster Squad, blacks back then weren't part of the club, they got the club. But the real O'Mara really did have a friendly rivalry with the pioneering black officer Tom Bradley, who went on to become L.A.'s mayor. They used to race each other from Police Academy days on. O'Mara thought he was fast but Bradley was faster, a former college track star, in fact.

Ok. How did the name 'Gangster Squad' come about?

That's what this real squad was called when it was formed in 1946. The LAPD actually had used that before for a squad that battled Prohibition rum-runners. Once the famous William Parker ("Whiskey Bill") became Police Chief, however, he changed the name to the Intelligence Division. But some of the original members, like O'Mara, kept calling themselves the Gangster Squad.

I currently live in LA and I'm from DC. While my perception may be incorrect it seems to me that the mobs and more organized crime units have basically been replaced by street gangs (ms 13, bloods, etc.). At this point, the old mobsters have been glorified and people seem to think they were preferable to the new gangs (as though we could just choose between competing proposals). Is such a criminal nostalgia justified or were the old guys actually much worse than the common man realizes?

Brilliant. One of the things that fascinated me was how city leaders in L.A. for decades obsessed with invading gangsters -- as if evil only came from without. But the number of gangster shooting in the city was miniscule compared to those committed by street gangs bred right in the heart of the city. If you read the book, I hope you reach the cemetery scene and see how that makes the point.

How did you make sure you aren't going to get screwed over by Hollywood accounting, like all those other book authors?

Easy--I get not a penny of the box office so don' have to fret about that form of Hollywood screwing.

As someone who knows the true story well, were there any aspects that were embellished in the movie that particularly annoy you?

I am the one most in touch with the surviving old cops and the families of the dead ones, so I have sympathy for their concern with the movie's violence, as the granddaughter of O'Mara expressed yesterday. While some shrugged "It's only a movie" or even relished the attention given the Gangster Squad, after all these years, others felt their loved ones had been turned into gunmen not much better than the hoods.

I would rather see a movie with an actual gosling as a detective. Would you write that movie?

Sounds good. Sold.

What are some of your favorite books?

I re-read Gatsby every year or two just to earn the right to again read the final two pages, which leave me in awe every time, and totally humbled.

Nice! Do you have any thoughts or expectations on the film adaptation of Great Gatsby coming out in a few months?

Not until I've seen it. But I will.

How faithful is the movie to your book? Is there anything they changed that you're upset about?

The movie is very different--it's openly heroic, you know the good guys will win and the hero get the girl. In real life, L.A. cops never got a conviction in a mob rubout for 50 years! And when they finally got one--in the killing that culminates my book--it goes the way of Noir. After their 15 years pursuing Mickey Cohen, real justice for him comes in the form of a lead pipe to the head, in prison...

What inspired you to write their story in the first place?

The post-war "Noir" era was the period that to this day defines Los Angeles...and this was a rare untold story from that era, because the squad had been so secretive. (The Noir worldview to me was: "Truth is not found in the sunshine and justice not obtained in a marble courtroom.")

Hi! Thanks for doing this AMA! I loved the movie, and am really interested to learn the real story. How sensationalized was Mickey Cohen's rise to power and apparent threat to the city of Los Angeles? Was he truly an Al Capone type, with the possibility of controlling the entire city, perhaps the whole west coast? Or was he more of a wannabe?

Great question. The movie is set in 1949, when Mickey really was causing havoc in the city. Google up the old Life magazine photo of him in front of dozens of huge banner headlines he was generating almost daily as he generated a new scandal almost every week. That said, he mostly was being shot at by the Italian hoods -- not shooting at others -- and in later years he became a self-parody. He actually sold shares in his life story to any sucker who would bite. As I've said frequently, today he'd have a reality TV show, no question. But back in 1949, when the movie is set, he was perceived as a menace to L.A. Some of the language in the film may seem overblown but that year the mayor really did go on the radio to deliver a "We're going to get you Mickey Cohen!" speech you wouldn't believe.

Slightly unrelated, but what do you think of Boardwalk Empire?

I like Boardwalk, having walked the real one as a boy--indeed, my mother was duped into buying a diamond ring at a trumped-up auction there. Wild.

What is your favorite sex position?

My position is I'm for it.

for it

for

four

foursome

EXTREE EXTREE! PAUL LIEBERMAN CONFESSES TO FOURSOME SEX TRYST (WITH RYAN GOSLING, EMMA STONE, AND BETTY WHITE!)

Please don't tell my wife, or Betty's family.

What do you think of the videogame, " L.A. Noire"?

Great colorful era--why not a game? But I'm not a video game guy, too old.

That's not true, sir. http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/lydz0/my_grandpa_asked_for_some_videogames_for_his/ You are possibly missing some great storytelling.

I will accept too busy, though. Thanks for the AMA!

You know, you're right. I'll try it next week.

What's your favorite mob movie?

Godfather I, II and Goodfellas are like heroin in my veins (if I took the stuff) even if the Godfather movies mythologize the mob. (I tend to be a demythologizer)

Did you ever meet Emma Stone? If so, was she nice?

Alas, she was not filming when I was on the set. My wife, of course, asked that same question....so I told her not to believe anything they wrote about us in the gossip columns. (Everyone involved said she was very sweet and a real pro...I am amused, though, when entertainment media ask her what it was like being paid to kiss Ryan Gosling...that's what they want to know.)

One of the things I was most disappointed with in the movie was that it really failed to get more into the past life of Mickey Cohen. I know they brought up he was a boxer, but besides that, there wasn't very much mention of how he ended up with his power in California. As someone who is very interested in the gangster era of prohibition and on, I found myself googling Mickey Cohens name to find more information about where he was from, how he came to his power, etc. My question to you is, what roll did gangsters of an earlier era (such as Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Segal, etc) play in Mickey Cohen's rise and his control over LA?

Another question that wasn't really brought up in the movie, did the Chicago gangsters just sit by when they found out that Mickey was murdering their men? From my previous understandings of gangsters of the era, I doubt they would let something like that go unpunished.

One more question, what did the Jewish mobsters of the rest of the country think of Cohen and his power in LA? Did they endorse him, or did he kind of just take LA by himself and for himself? Did he have connections in Chicago/NYC?

Thanks!

Very good question. I too view the Gangster Movie ideally as the flip side to America's great Horatio Alger fable, except the rags-to-riches rise is in the criminal world...and usually ends in a flaming fall, as you see in the "Gangster Squad" film. There are hints in movie of Mickey's humble past (as when he talks about being a newsboy) but not much. As I've indicated above, the local Mafia boss Jack Dragna, who had tied to Chicago, indeed kept trying to kill Mickey and did get some of his men. Mickey himself did have ties to big-time Mafia types back East, though not as strongly as Bugsy Siegel, his mentor, who had grown up with Lucky Luciano. That said, many old-line monsters had to see Mickey as a looney-tune because of how he promoted himself, posing for Life magazine with his pet doggy ("Tuffy") for instance...or going on national TV (a new show by then little known Mike Wallace) to taunt the L.A. cops and the "stupidity squad." No sane gangster did stuff like that.

I know you're going to get a lot of questions about your film but I'd like to know something that taps into your experiences in Hollywood.

Was it what you expected? How did you protect your material and what kind of legal trouble would they have been in if they had just stolen your material and done the movie without you, cutting you out of the loop?

Good question--that's happened to me, of course, as it has with many writers. The main producers did often seek my input in this case, even though they did not have to. But they also were quite open about their attempt to make a mass market action film that would be very different than my printed versions. You sometimes have to accept what authority you have or don't have...and go along for the ride. A studio spending $60 million on a film earns the right to make it as it wishes.

I have not read your book, but does it trash Burbank as much as the movie does? If so, I will order it now.

Yes, Burbank was the bastion of corruption. The police chief was caught dining at Mickey's home, bought a big yacht and actually received a cash payment while attending an FBI training program back east. Mickey actually had a gambling joint by the stables there. That said, the current Burbank chief and some of his men attended the presentation we gave last week (Ellroy and I) at the LA Police Museum and laughed with everyone else at that past.

My boyfriend has been obsessed with your book since August, and can't wait to go see your movie. We've never been to a movie together, and have been dating for two years. Thanks for finally bringing him back to the world. ;) Also, I had read some parts of the book as well, and I really enjoyed the detail you put into it.

Thanks. I'm as obsessive as those cops in getting the full history. And three great researchers helped. (Bless you Nona Yates).

How do you react to this post from the granddaughter of Jack O'Mara who said that the film was widely inaccurate and altered her grandfather's story significantly?

I've had years of contact with her and her remarkable mom, Jack O'Mara's daughter -- and a Harvard Ph.D! -- and they are right in stating that the film character is very different (and much more violent) that the real man. The real O'Mara was a fist-ready tough cop but told me he'd only fired his gun once, at a robbery suspect. And his greatest weapon was his cleverness. But the filmmakers wouldn't disagree that they stretched things in the name of drama.

Was Jerry Wooters really the party persona portrayed? Was Emma Stone's character real or was she just added to give more to the storyline?

The Emma Stone character is a total cinematic creation, along the lines of the old Lauren Bacall characters in her films with Bogart. But Wooters really was a wild guy. He came out of Vice, a world (sometimes lawless) apart even in the LAPD. And while he eventually married (a stewardess, he was quite the ladies man earlier in life, particularly in the war years, after he was shot down overt the pacific while taking photos of Japanese positions out of a bomber. He later kept all sorts of photos of him with various nurses, good-looking ones too. LAter, he'd sometimes show other cops films that vice had confiscated, and show 'em right in the Police Academy--they were not the sort made by Disney.

Are you happy with the final outcome of the film and its portrayal of the "Gangster Squad"?

I'm a nonfiction guy so my prejudice always is in favor of the true story, as in the book. I think that knowing it is true gives it extra power.

Would you rather have a shootout with 100 duck-sized gangsters, or 1 gangster-sized duck?

Yes.

How much have you been influenced by James Ellroy's work?

He is fantastic and the true authority on this era. We had dinner last week in L.A. then did a joint presentation at the Los Angeles Police Museum, which now has a Gangster Squad exhibit. Ellroy and the head of the museum also interviewed one of the characters in my book, the original bug man Con Keeler, before he died, especially about the squad's role in the Black Dahlia murder case. The squad was brought in on that when the police brass feared that Homicide was botching the case. That's a chapter in the book.

What was Williams College like in the 60's/70's? I saw on the school website that you're an alum.

Right. All male when I arrived. That's how dumb I was then. But a beautiful place and something of a refuge from the insanity of the '60s.

1. What was the most untrue part of the movie? In other words, what aspect of the movie was the farthest from the actual reality?
2. Did they fabricate any characters?
3. I haven't had the opportunity yet to read your book; was Sgt. O'Mara as devoted to justice as the movie suggested, or did they turn him into a gritty hero in order to have a shiny protagonist?
4. How accurate was the movie with Mickey Cohen's actual reign on Los Angeles? Was it as bad as the movie made it out to be?

!) Well, there were not all those wild shootouts on the streets of L.A. in real life--yeah, a few gambling hoods were knocked off, and then a batch of Mickey's men. But the Tommy gun action in the film was inspired more by the tradition of the genre. Also, as I said above, Mickey was more the target than the shooter when there was gunplay between him and Jack Dragna's crew ... 2) As I've said, the love interest was a creation. Mickey did have a bunch of glamor arm-candy but some of that was just for show -- he staged an engagement to one burlesque dancer who actually was happily married. In the book, she talks about how that was all a show to enhance Mickey's image. 3) As I've said, Mickey was pretty badass through 1949 (when the movie is set) but after that there was so much heat on him he was mostly a self-parody, the used-to-be playing the big gangster (when he wasn't in prison)

Because they bought the rights to make a movie out of your book, how much say did you get to have in writing the screenplay and being on set to help with the film production?

I often joke that you could measure my authority on either a 1-to-10 scale or 1-to-100 and it would be the same, zero. And I accepted that. But my input was solicited often, which I appreciated, even if others thought some of my suggestions were nutty. (I suggested a Louis Armstrong song for the ending, for instance, not what they envisioned in targeting a youngish audience.)

Which song!?

"Lucky Old Sun" which was a hit in '49 when the film is set, though Armstrong did his later. Check that out and see what you think. It's an homage to hard working folk and simple pleasures, which these characters earned in their lives. And the sun of course speaks to the sun-washed city where too much played out in the shadows.

As a non-fiction writer and researcher, are there other stories from this period that you may have stumbled upon while writing "Gangster Squad"?

Yes, sure. But the appeal of this one was that it had almost been lost to history. Another LAPD unit, the Hat Squad, had gotten a lot of attention -- it was part of the Robbery Division -- but not the Gangster Squad, which was much more undercover. What's more, the killing of Jack "the Enforcer" Whalen invariably was glossed over, just a footnote in accounts of Mickey Cohen's life. The tale of Whalen, and his family, was incredibly rich. I hope people read my book just to learn about his father, Freddie the Thief, perhaps L.A.'s greatest conman of that era--a character right out of The Sting.

Did the whole "good guy tries to steal the bad guy's girl" part of the story actually happen?

No.

Are there are parts in the film where you would have cast someone completely different to whoever actually was given the role?

No, the casting was terrific. Though others have questioned Sean Penn as the Jewish and very short Mickey Cohen, I thought his intensity made him a great choice to portray a gangster, as Cagney, Brando, DeNiro, etc., had done in the past. He's a brilliant actor. Whether the choices he made in this case were right, you can judge yourself. It was interesting that the New Yorker thought he nailed it, while other critics have thought he went overboard.

Hi Paul - I've not read the book - but how did the real-life guys feel about persuing someone so public and 'dangerous' only to have him killed in prison instead?

Also - did you ever ask them to compare their feelings about crime then and now?

Thanks

Mickey was not killed in prison, only crippled. But that's a question that gets to the core of my book. The real O'Mara was a very straight-laced guy, the head usher at his church, etc. He believed in good and evil and heaven and hell and was confident that he and Mickey would not wind up in the same place. However....in the end, he seemed to accept the Noir worldview that justice often was obtained not the way they teach in grade school but in the shadows. How Mickey got it was a prime example.

What is your opinion on the mustaches? On the Rotten Tomatoes rating?

Don't know it, but vigorous commentary (and criticism) is a strength of our society.

I greatly enjoyed the film as an entertaining story with elements of gangster and noir. Thanks for helping to bring it to life. I have a question about the noir genre: Why do you think noir is so neglected today, even though the major films that pay it homage tend to do well (LA Confidential, Payback)? Particularly given that society today mirrors certain elements of the 1950s - veterans, distrust of the establishment, paranoia, etc.

Terrific question. The film version of "Gangster Squad" certainly has some Noir lines and atmosphere, but is not a Noir statement--it's an action film in which the good guys triumph over the bad. From a commercial standpoint, I suppose that's viewed as more appealing to a mass audience. "L.A. Confidential," in contrast, was a Noir statement -- little was what it seemed at the end. Here's a question for you. Which story appeals to you more: 1) new York cop sees street person going shoeless in Times Square and buys him a new pair of boots; or 2) N.Y. cops buys street character a new pair of boots...and street guy promptly sells 'em and goes back to his spot on the sidewalk, shoeless again? Which is a more salable story? Which captures your view of the world better?

so i hear that the scene where they shoot up a movie theater was hugely controversial and there was even talk about it being cut from the movie all together. What was the reaction from the the crew and actors to the resemblance of the tragedy and the scene shot in the film? I haven't seen the movie yet but i'm assuming the scene has not been cut, correct me if i'm wrong.

that scene was cut after the Colorado tragedy, and a new scene shot in its place. That's why release of the film was delayed for four months. In my view, the inconvenience to a piece of entertainment commerce was insignificant when compared to the real human toll--the studio did the right thing.

What are some of the other projects you've worked on since the original articles/book? Do you typically stick to this era of history or do you just find a story you want to know more about and run with it?

No, I'm not obsessed with this era. I actually conducted the GS research over many years while I was pursuing other stories. I like ones from the fringe. I spent several years tracking a hospital killer, for instances -- one of those so-called Angels of Death, except there's nothing angelic about any of them. Medical/hospital killers top the list of mass killers in our society because killing is easy to get away with in a hospital, where people are expected to die. But what intrigued me was how the public at large often thinks there killers acted out of mercy for the sick and elderly--when that's never the case, it's a delusion to underplay the horror of what they do. I called that one, "The Graveyard Shift."

How much hs the movie boosted the book recent sales? I know I'm picking it up ASAP... or maybe after watching the movie, would like to enjoy the movie, insted of keep dissing it in my head.

I know that I -- and the families of these old cops -- would like people to know the real-life story of them, for all their flaws. But don't expect to find all sorts of wild shootouts in the book. The Whalen killing that climaxes the tale is rather chilling, I think. Everything before is leading you to that deadly night in the Valley.

What was your favorite scene in the movie?

I loved the raid on the Burbank casino where a lot of the customers are dressed as movie extras. That was very funny and actually somewhat true to life -- Mickey's "ranch" casino by the stables did attract such a crowd. And there were frequent raids there, just without the shootouts you see in the film.

Lets say you didn't know anything about the original gangster squad, how would you rate the movie? Was it still enjoyable?

Hey, my sister liked it and she's an old Beat poet type. But my wife, an elementary school educator, had to close her eyes at some of the violence.

Do you think an accurate mobster vs. cops movie could be made that would grab audience's attention? Or will Hollywood need to always embellish things?

Yes to the first, but that doesn't mean it could earn back a $75 million budget. Probably yes to the second -- John Irving has a character in one of his books say he can take any real story and make it better with a little tweaking.

As someone who grew up and lived in Los Angeles up until recently, I have always been interested in this part of the city's history. Are there any books, articles or documentaries you would recommend checking out?

James Ellroy and Walter Mosley's fiction, of course, and going back a bit, Raymond Chandler -- the story "Red Wind" contains one of the greatest Noir passages anywhere. But check out historian Kevin Starr's work too -- it's astonishing in its detail.

Thanks for doing this AMA!

Do you have any thoughts on how the classic, Italian gangsters of the '40s differ from the various criminal syndicates of today, like the Mexican cartels, the Russian mafia and the remnants of the Sicilian families?

The ones today are much more scary and violent. I did some work relating to the Armenian mob around L.A. and was advised by homicide cops not to see the leader suspected of having ordered a series of hits in the garment industry--he might not understand the usual ground rules that you don;t rub out cops...or writers.

How did you feel about the theater shooting scene being taken out of the film, and how difficult was it to rewrite the film after it was removed?

I didn't write the script. That was Will Beall--a former LAPD cop turned writer.

As a journalist (unemployed/freelancer) myself, I'd like to ask you what you think about the state of our class nowadays. I'd like to ask you as well what was the story you enjoyed most, both covering it yourself and covered by another journo. Keep on the good work!

Despite the sad economic state of most anything associated with the printed word, I remain in awe of some of the work people do, especially when they do the hard work of digging up original material. At the top of the list currently is Lawrence Wright's work on Scientology, first published in the New Yorker, now in a book. I have no use, in contrast, for people who make their living recycling the material of others or just spinning blah-blah. Down with talking heads. Down with blah-blah.

How well do you think Mickey Cohen was portrayed in the film compared to real life events?

As I said, that portrayal is as much a riff on past movie gangsters as the real Mickey -- he was much more press-friendly in real life, certainly. He'd hold court along the Sunset Strip. He also hired the husband of one of the city's leading columnists as sort of his personal PR man. If you read the book, you'll learn how the squad got revenge on that columnist and her hubby.

Why did they stuck with the working title?

Don't know. But it seemed to the point.

My favourite scene in the movie (that i can remember anyways) was the shooting where the shoe shine kid got killed. was there actually a shoe shine kid that jerry had that kinda "walk by and talk for a bit" relationship?

Made up.

What does Ryan gosling drink in the movie?? It's that orange soda looking drink

That's "Nehi," a very popular orange soda back then. The family of the real Wooters laughed at that because the real guy was a big (hard) drinker, as most of these men were. But Ryan used the character's going to softer drink as a way of showing his newfound commitment to the job, when he joined the squad.

Always wanted to know if the families got any money from their relations being in the book and then being turned into a movie. Or did all the money go to you. How does that work out?

I did not pay anyone, as is the usual practice in journalism or nonfiction writing. Of course, by the time the film was made, all the main real-life characters were dead. One secondary character was still ticking, if barely, and I talk about my interaction with him in the afterword to my book. I don't know what financial arrangements the studio made.

Who was your favorite "character" both in reality and in the film?

In real life, I very much admired O'Mara, especially after I learned how he cared for his wife, Connie, after she was disabled by a stroke. That was his finest moment as a man, beyond anything he did as a cop. But Wooters, the rogue, was the most interesting character, as rogues tend to be. I hope you learn what happened to him after his police career...and how he used his police pension.

I would just like to thank you for spending so much time and effort and passion into writing such a brilliant book. I couldn't put it down for days.

Thanks. An old family friend, in her 90s, said she had the book by her bedside and kept trying to read it each night...but kept falling asleep! I told her I charged extra for that service.

How much influence did you have during production?

Answered above--little or none, but that was understood from the get-go.

Thanks for doing an AMA!

I am currently trying to write a book that I hope someday could become a screenplay (I'll probably let someone else adapt it). Any advice for someone trying to get into writing for Hollywood?

I've read some Syd Field and Vogler's The Writer's Journey but since I am writing the book that I hope the screenplay can be based on, is there any books you would recommend?

Once again, thanks for being awesome!

Yeah, trust your instincts but seek input, and criticism, from those more experienced (and not a friend or loved one likely to puff you up). Then have the courage to risk rejection.

Was the (deleted) scene where there was shooting in a movie theatre added or real? How do you feel on the subject now?

That was a scene invented by the screenwriter Will Beall. It was very good cinema -- the screen's showing the great stampede scene in John Wayne's "Red River." But the studio made the right decision scrapping it after the shooting at the theater in Colorado.

What is the craziest thing you have seen in real life?

Were you pleased with the movie?

What do you wish they would have done differently?

What is something you wish they added?

Wow, let me ponder question one awhile. As for the film, EVERYONE has their own ideas how any scene should be shot, and how every movie should go, and I'm no different. But I'm the last person to ask about an action film--I was not the target audience, trust me, and the producers even joked about that. Do you know Altman's "McCabe and Mrs. Miller"? I probably would have crafted this more along those lines, taking a de-mythologizing approach to the Gangster and Noir epic.

Were you happy with how the movie came out? No offence, I saw it and thought it was very poor and cheesy!

The critics have made a few reasonable points. No question, some things could have been done more effectively. (The same applies to my book.)

can you submit some proof to the mods?

It's sorta jumbled, but he posted a pic of himself with a hi reddit sign and then a pic of him with gosling, so seems like the real deal.

his name isn't mentioned in the post.. its very confusing? *edit: is he Paul Lieberman?

Yes, that's correct--Paul Lieberman; pix show me with Ryan and hello Reddit blurb, as well. So, hello Reddit community--you sure keep the questions coming.