Gangster Squad

Gangster Squad is a historical crime drama film that was written by Will Beall, based upon the novel of the same name by Paul Lieberman. Directed by Ruben Fleischer, the Warner Brothers film featured an all star ensemble cast including Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Nick Nolte, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone and Giovanni Ribisi. The story follows the true crime drama that involved the LAPD detectives who were attempting to free Los Angeles of the many notorious gangsters that had invaded the region during the period of approximately the 1940s through the 1950s.  

The films thrust accentuates how the LAPD fought to keep out the East Coast Mafia that had such a strong presence during that time. Six police authorities must use all they have to take on notorious crime boss Mickey Cohen and his gang of thugs.

The hard boiled cops have their work cut out for them as they battle the terrible crime element steeped in corruption during the early days of both the police departments in L.A. and N.Y. Each faction had its own brand of power that made it even more difficult for authorities to try to get it under control to eradicate it.  

The murderous competition and illegal power and profit came long before the Miranda warning era began. Because of this, cops at that time had much more power to operate on their own as enforcers.  

While there were still court decisions that limited what authorities could do, the public still had a stake in how the police operated. Nonetheless, the police managed to find themselves in heaps of trouble at every turn due to their tactics.  

The public knew all too well about the vicious element that the cops were up against. This is why they rooted for the police, believing that this made them winners, too. However, operating under the pressure cooker of victory and also criticism, the small victories that were won wore down quickly as organized crime bosses continued to prevail.