Calvary Cemetery Part 3 - City of Angels, City of Devils

[Music] we have come to our third and final walk together at Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles California in parts one and two we visited with many of the biggest names to appear on the silver screen and explored the myths and stories that made them legends now in part 3 we will meet the people about whom the movies are made not all their names will be familiar but their stories might be because for better or worse they help shape the times in which we now live many of the trails they blazed for us to follow our broad well tramped and filled with light but others are narrow and crooked and will take us into dark places some of the people we will meet were good some bad some heroes some cowards some were aware that they were making history but most simply got in history's way they are all here with us now and they have waited a long time to have their stories told come walk with me into the realm of our forefathers when they came to the place which is called Calvary there they crucified Him and the malefactors one on the right hand the other on the left from the Gospel of Luke chapter 23 verse 33 Calvary is the Latin word for Golgotha meaning the place of a skull and was the name of the hill located outside of Jerusalem where according to the New Testament Jesus was crucified over the centuries the name was adopted by Catholic churches and cemeteries Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles is one of the oldest in the city however it wasn't always located where it is today the original or old Calvary Cemetery was established in 1844 an occupied land in Chavez Ravine close to where Dodger Stadium currently stands the site is the current home of Cathedral High School perhaps out of respect for those once buried there the school has named their football team the phantoms by the 1880s old cavalry had seen better days according to contemporary newspapers it had become an encampment for vagrants and ruffians and was reduced to a garbage dump the graves of many old pioneers were subject to vandalism and robbery in 1903 thieves broke into the vault of Pio Pico the former governor of Alta California and a significant landowner in the state the corpse of Pecos wife was removed from its coffin and the bones scattered throughout the graveyard the Los Angeles Herald reporter who detailed the vandalism found her skull sitting atop one of the tombs when new cavalry cemetery opened for business in 1896 many families began transferring loved ones there from the original location today a memorial stands in remembrance of the old cemetery and to all those who rested there at the heart of cavalry stands the majestic All Souls Chapel its cornerstone was laid on All Souls Day 1902 and the completed building was opened for warship one year later elements of its rustic design were inspired by st. Giles parish church and stoke PO Jess Buckinghamshire England where poet Thomas Gray wrote his masterpiece on mortality elegy written in a country churchyard buried within shadows reach of the chapel spire are the humble priests and exalted prelates of the Los Angeles diocese beneath his statue is the very Reverend Aloysius Meyer who came to Los Angeles in 1884 as a member of the Vincentian order as president of st. Vincent's College he helped establish that institution as the first school of higher learning in the city it is still in operation to this day as Loyola Marymount College among his other accomplishments was the creation of st. Vincent's church after his death in 1898 the city's Catholics honored his memory by erecting a statue of st. Vincent DePaul at his gravesite its dedication was widely reported in the press [Music] along the path leading to all souls Chapel is Cardinal Timothy Manning the 3rd Archbishop of Los Angeles serving from 1970 to 1985 although holding to a traditional Catholic doctrine his term was also noted for a markedly more progressive stance toward race and the sexes than his predecessors he was a cardinal electors in the conclaves of August and October 1978 that selected Pope's John Paul the 1st and John Paul the second he retired in 1985 as Archbishop Emeritus and spent his remaining years at the Holy Family Parish in Pasadena [Music] also buried near the chapel our Catholic nuns and throughout the grounds can be found monuments to their various orders this elaborately carved monument marks the grave of Bonaventure a fox the first superior of the Sisters of Mercy in Los Angeles their orders mission is to pray and give aid to the sick and poor [Music] behind the chapel is this life-size sculpture of a nun in death resting upon the draped funeral bier that is covered in roses it is dedicated to the Carmelite Sisters of the most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles the order was founded in the 1920s by sister Maria Luisa Josefa [Music] travelers on the 60 freeway through East Los Angeles have probably noticed the large yellow and white cross standing on the northwest corner of Calvary Cemetery however many of them might not be aware of its significance on September 10th 1987 Pope John Paul the second began a nine city tour of the United States it would mark the first papal visit to the city of Los Angeles on September 16th the last night of his two night stay he held Mass at Dodger Stadium the event was attended by 63,000 of the faithful while millions more watched on television one of the most visible features was the large cross towering over the stage after the Pope's visit the cross was placed here in cavalry as a marker for commuters and a reminder of a special event in the lives of Southern California's Catholic community [Music] [Music] what makes cavalry unique among southern California cemeteries are its large number of figural sculptures in many ways it's like exploring a vast open-air museum [Music] everywhere are works of art created by craftsmen who crossed an ocean and a continent bringing old-world traditions into the new for many years cavalry was the only Catholic burial ground available families rich and poor traveled here from great distances to lay their loved ones to rest and those who could afford it wanted something beautiful to mark the graves they wanted something that not only spoke of the station they held in life but also express their faith in what awaits us in the next here in the old part of the cemetery are many of Los Angeles's earliest residents who bridge the old world and the new rhode islander robert Symington baker came to California during the gold rush of 18-49 he became a wealthy cattleman and landowner subdividing part of his holdings he created the town of Santa Monica and there he built the Arcadia hotel that was named after his wife [Music] frankly kuvera was a county surveyor and the director of the Farmers and Merchants Bank he was partially paralyzed for the last few years of his life a fact that is evident in his epitaph [Music] Louie Mesmer had been a successful baker in France when he arrived in Los Angeles around 1860 with the profits from his new bakeries he purchased large tracts of land in the growing city a jack-of-all-trades he was involved in mining and even supervised the construction of st. Viviana's cathedral he also became a hotelier when he bought the u.s. hotel which also served as his home until his death in 1900 [Music] the centas family were so highly respected in Los Angeles that when they were struck with a double tragedy on December 6th 1911 the day both father and son died it was said that their funerals were the largest ever held in the city [Music] Zach Montgomery came to California from Kentucky in 1850 in search of gold but became a lawyer instead practicing in Yuba City and Sacramento at the start of the Civil War he was living in San Francisco where he published the Occidental a pro south periodical his offices were destroyed by a mob angry at his views while practicing law in San Diego he was called upon to serve as assistant US attorney general during President Grover Cleveland's first term [Music] Don Manuel Dominguez was born in 1803 at Mission San Juan Capistrano and became the heir of the vast Rancho San Pedro land-grant there he raised cattle and served in various public functions after California's annexation the Dominguez family continued to be a major influence in the growth and prosperity of Los Angeles [Music] when Maria sore mono died from a concussion after being found unconscious on the street in front of her home the police believed her death was the work of the notorious John bull white who attacked unsuspecting women in the dark of night he was charged with misdemeanor assault in the brutal beating of another woman but no evidence was found that he was responsible for the death of Maria sir mano in the end the reform school dropout was released back into society today the placid stone gaze of the daughter of the old Spanish Dawn's greets those who pass by her grave [Music] Stephen Mallory White was born in San Francisco in the years following the gold rush he became a lawyer and drifted into politics in 1883 after becoming the Los Angeles District Attorney 10 years later he would become the first California native to represent his state in the United States Senate while in Congress he sponsored the San Pedro Harbor bill bringing unprecedented prosperity to Southern California his death in 1901 was a cause of great public mourning in 1908 a memorial statue was erected to his memory [Music] [Music] Kentucky and William Wolf's skill was a trapper and Explorer who blazed many a trail across the southwest he came to Los Angeles in 1831 where he began cultivating citrus groves and vineyards many members of his large family are also buried here at cavalry Wolfe skills daughter Frances married Charles Shepard who amassed a great fortune in Southern California real estate the wolf skill monument is visible on the left of the shot another family whose dealings in real estate would have a large impact on the future was that of Jean Pierre de Guerre he left his native France in 1879 to come to America and it was on that journey he met his future wife maria eugenia he settled on a large ranch in the area between Los Angeles and San Diego where he made his living raising sheep his life met a tragic end on a country road in 1911 while out for a carriage ride his horse was spooked by an approaching automobile and bolted jean-pierre was thrown from the carriage and died from his injuries the property left to his four children became within their lifetimes some of the most upscale communities in South Orange County [Music] throughout the cemetery are the graves of the nation's veterans they fought on land sea and in the air in places called Cerro Gordo Vicksburg the Black Hills Guantanamo Bay and Manila from chateau-thierry to the Argonne Guam Normandy and North Africa from Seoul to Incheon and the Chosun reservoir to Saigon we and Hill 861 a from Beirut to Fallujah and Tora Bora and everywhere in between there's a brotherhood of battle that reaches through time and through the hearts and minds of a people and here in cavalry their patroness st. Patrick the statue was dedicated on March 18th 1945 in remembrance of Los Angeles's Catholics who gave their lives in World War two it has since been rededicated for all who made the supreme sacrifice and service of their country like Hawthorne moles who was a 20 year old clerk at Nordahl Inger's department store when the United States entered the first world war he joined the Marine Corps and served with the storied 2nd division he was killed by a high-explosive shell on October 4th 1918 during the second day of the battle of Blanc Mont Ridge of the battle that ultimately drove the Germans out of long-held territory the second divisions commander Major General John Lejeune said to be able to say when this war is finished I belong to the second division I fought with it at the Battle of Blanc Mont Ridge will be the highest honor that can come to any man [Music] Hawthorne's body was returned home for burial on August 20th 1921 a generation after Hawthorne moles sailed to France to fight the Kaiser another young man became a United States Marine for Eugene Obregon a teenager from Boyle Heights the Marine Corps was a gateway into a world he could only imagine in June 1950 communist-controlled North Korea invaded the western-backed south acting quickly the United Nations went to their aid that summer Jean was sent to Korea as part of the 1st Marine Division it was the beginning of what would become a devastating three-year war within the first two months of his arrival private first class obregón tasted combat at Pusan and Incheon in late September his rifle company took part in the drive to retake the capital city of Seoul that was being occupied by North Korean forces the battle was fought from Street to Street and house to house on the 26th of September Alberta gongs company became pinned down by enemy fire after taking cover he witnessed fellow marine private first class Burt Johnson fall wounded with no thought for his own safety Jean ran out to the man and carried him to the side of the road while he was bandaging his wounds hostile troops advanced on them using his body to shield the injured man Jean returned their fire and effectively repelled the attack enabling fellow Marines to come to their rescue but by then it was too late for Jean who had been cut down by enemy machine-gun fire private first class Eugene Arnold Obregon was 19 years old when he died saving the life of burke johnson his body was returned home the following May and an LA Times photographer was on hand at the train depot to capture his parents heartbreak in August 1951 obregón was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above the call of duty it was presented to his mother who stood beside the man whose life her son had saved Jean was buried with full military honors today his grave is a quiet place but these grainy images of his funeral have not lost their power they recall countless similar scenes that have played out through the ages in cemeteries across the globe as the ranks of the Brotherhood of battle continues to grow [Music] standing among the monuments and headstones are the private mausoleums belonging to the pioneering families of los angeles their opulence mirror the mansions they owned in life as well as their vision for what their city would become [Music] felix and teresa Moncho were early settlers in los angeles when Felix died in 1890 he was originally interred at Old Calvary after the death of his wife Teresa in 1896 he was moved here their mausoleum is one of the earliest in the new cemetery within this mausoleum rests maria antonio wilcox she was the daughter of santiago Arguello the last spanish governor of california before the start of mexican rule in 1863 she married Alfred Henry Wilcox a sea captain an early California settler who began his own steamship line renowned for her great beauty Maria was said to be a great society hostess at the time of her death in 1909 her fortune was in excess of two million dollars this is the resting place of Billy Roland who from 1872 to 1875 was the sheriff of Los Angeles County he is best remembered for coordinating the capture of the notorious Bandito and revolutionary Hobart Co Vasquez in 1874 in later life Roland discovered oil and invested in large tracts of land making him a very wealthy man by the time of his death most of Calvary's private mausoleums are situated on this road leading from the old section of the cemetery to the new their placement is reminiscent of those found along the Via Appia in the ancient city of Rome it is not surprising in a city vast as Los Angeles that we should find here so many of its builders and visionaries one is Jon Brockman who left his native Germany as an orphan at the age of 8 and settled in Illinois after serving in the Union Army during the Civil War he moved west and became the owner of the Commonwealth mine later he came to Los Angeles and invested heavily in real estate and construction one of his buildings is located on 7th and grand in downtown Los Angeles built in 1912 it is known as the Brockman lofts and is still standing to this day standing beside the Brockman mausoleum is the resting places of jacob matthew snyder and family a longtime businessman in the city jacob was the president of JW Robinson's department store that was in a building constructed by Jon Brockman his neighbor and death Charles Ferdinand Kanaskie was a furniture maker when he came to America from Germany in 1880 settling in Los Angeles in 1915 he founded the Western upholstery company his eldest son urban followed him in his trade and by age 25 was part owner in the family business a bright future seemed guaranteed until tragedy struck in 1927 while duck hunting near Bakersfield with his three younger brothers Urban's gun accidentally discharged killing him instantly despite their terrible loss the family business thrived for many years to come Michael Connell was a merchant a banker a builder and philanthropist his wife Agnes organized many charities and fundraisers during the First World War she was the chairperson of the enlisted men's Club of Los Angeles and personally served coffee and doughnuts to young men going off to fight her untimely death in an auto accident was widely mourned after his wife's death Michael continued with his charitable work and added many buildings to the Los Angeles skyline until his own death in 1935 Philip 4v from wilkes-barre Pennsylvania was married to Louise Steg Mayer the daughter of the founder of stag Meyer brewery he came to Los Angeles in 1900 where he formed the for vey Pettibone corporation that made some of the first electric street lights in the city in 1905 an article appeared in the Los Angeles Times about the construction of a private mausoleum as big as a house the cost was conservatively estimated to be twenty five thousand dollars roughly seven hundred thousand today it was built for Thomas Higgins whose life mirrored that of John Brockman Higgins made a fortune in mining copper before coming to Los Angeles where he invested in real estate and built downtown office buildings the Higgins building is still standing on second and main as for his mausoleum it would have to wait fifteen years after its completion before Thomas took up permanent residence there Eliza Wilson was another real-estate mogul she was said to have laid out one of the first tracts of land in Los Angeles secundo go Asti came to Los Angeles from Italy in 1883 the son of a vintner he would become one of the premier wine producers of his day he formed the Italian vineyard company near Ontario California where he purchased 5700 acres and established the town of gue Asti two houses workers and their families after his death in 1927 his company passed to his son secundo jr. who ran it until his untimely death in 1933 go ass tees widow Luiza supported many Catholic Charities for the remainder of her days [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] one of the early burials at new cavalry was of Stephen Clark foster the city's first american-born alcalde or mayor who served from 1848 to 1850 during the period of California's annexation to statehood born in New England and educated at Yale University Foster came to the pueblos of Los Angeles in 1847 as an interpreter for Captain Phillips st. George cook who commanded the Mormon Battalion of volunteers cook would later serve as a general in the Union Army during the Civil War after Foster's term is alcalde expired he was elected as a member of the 18-49 California Constitutional Convention that met in Monterey he married the daughter of Jose del Carmen Lugo a prominent landowner the couple was blessed with five children but the union was said to be an unhappy one foster served two terms as California state senator and was elected mayor of Los Angeles in 1854 during his tenure he approved construction of the city's first public school on January 28 1898 Steven Clark foster died alone and penniless a Times article on February 2nd detailed the sad final days of a scholarly man who worked tirelessly for the city and state he helped build [Music] the Great Mausoleum has many small burial chambers that are accessible only from the outside in one of these located to the right of the forecourt is the crypt of an early major league ballplayer Johnny lush is not a name that is well remembered by most casual baseball fans but he held a record with the Philadelphia Phillies that would stand for nearly 60 years born in Williamsport Pennsylvania Johnny made his major league debut as a pitcher with the Phillies in 1904 the southpaw didn't have a remarkable career but on May 1st 1905 he pitched a no-hitter against the Brooklyn superboss at Washington Park no Phillies pitcher would duplicate the feat until Jim Bunnings perfect game against the New York Mets in 1964 ironically the scores of both games 6 and 0 were the same in 1907 Johnny left Philadelphia to play with the st. Louis Cardinals he finished his baseball career playing single a and double-a ball first with the Toronto Maple Leafs and finally with the Portland Beavers after retiring from baseball he moved to Los Angeles with his wife Etta where they owned and operated a gift shop at the Beverly Hills Hotel Johnny lush passed away in 1946 at the age of 61 on May 30th 1922 thousands attended the dedication ceremony of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC the dignitaries present that day were President Warren Harding with former President Taft and future President Coolidge as well as Abraham Lincoln's son Robert Todd among the many speakers was this bearded gentleman a flowing white hair in this rare footage he is briefly seen reading a poem he composed about Lincoln a man of the people in an age when poetry was still widely read nearly everyone was familiar with the works of poet edwin markham through his works markham became a champion of labor and an eloquent voice for reformers he came to the cause after seeing the jean-francois millet ain't entitled the man with the hoe it inspired him to write his most famous and controversial poem of the same name upon its publication in 1899 it took the world by storm and sent a collective shudder through plutocrats and industrialists everywhere in fact railroad magnate Collis P Huntington was so incensed that he offered a $700 prize to anyone who could write a suitable rebuttal to the man with the hole Huntington went to the grave without ever awarding the prize although as later works would not have the same success as the man with the hoe Markham continued to publish articles and books geared toward reform including several about child labor always a popular guest speaker he gave poetry recitals until the end of his life which came on March 7th 1945 on Stephen McCrory recalled the time he saw Markham giving a reading in the shade of an oak tree comparing him to Homer his colleague wrote God does not make but a few great poets and Edwin Markham was one of them John Steven McCrory was a man of many hats in addition to being California's poet laureate he was a playwright an author historian journalist and two-term member of Congress a Pennsylvanian by birth he moved to Montana where for a time he was an executive for a copper mine in 1901 he came to Los Angeles where he remained for the rest of his life there he wrote histories of California's missions and settlers including the popular and long-running mission play that was performed at a specially built playhouse in San Gabriel for the Lincoln Centennial edition of the Los Angeles Times in 1909 McCrory wrote an essay on the progress of African Americans since emancipation his compassion and understanding of their hardships earned him great respect in the black community while in Congress he was a champion of the Townsend pension plan that was a forerunner to the Social Security Act of 1935 in 1923 McGrory built a home called chupa rosa in the hills of Tujunga california it was his retreat from a busy public life after a full life John McGraw ready passed away on August 7th 1944 the funeral for the celebrated poet and historian was attended by hundreds of admirers over his gravesite were read the last few lines of verse that mcgrory ever wrote they were appropriately titled Requiem when I have had my little day my chance at toil my fling at play and in the starry silence fall with broken staff against the wall may someone pass god grant that way and as he bends above me say good night dear comrade sleep you well after coming out west to make movies Orson Welles famously observed that los angeles is a bright and guilty place he saw through its splendid veneer to the shadowy underworld that writers the likes of Raymond Chandler Dashiell Hammett and James M Cain woven details of urban noir where nothing is as it seems where heroes act like villains and were even a city of angels can be home to the devil in the early years of the 20th century a strange creature could be found plying the dingy streets and back alleys of Chinatown his withered and wrinkled form was said to haunt the abandoned tenements he owned that in days gone by echoed with the shrieks and moans peculiar to the brothels that thrived there for more than 50 years he was the Tsar of the Tenderloin the emperor of Chinatown and the king of cribs when he walked abroad he was met with whispers about the vast fortune he commanded even though he lived and dressed like a beggar his name was Bartolo ballarino an Italian by birth who made his way to LA in the 1850s via Chile within a few years of his arrival he owned most of the city's red light district near Chinatown ballarino did not directly operate the brothels instead he rented out the rooms or cribs where the fallen ladies serviced their clients he bribed corrupt ward bosses and policemen who turned a blind eye to his illicit enterprises later in life he became a curiosity of sorts as his name always seemed connected with one scandal or another even the divorce from his wife Maria of 40 years made headlines reporters delighted in describing his ragged appearance down to the homemade hair dye he used that was said to match the color of crushed strawberries by 1904 the city began clamping down on the crib owners ballarino and his ilk were the targets of new ordinances designed to put them out of business the legal battle that ensued was described almost daily in the press ballerina who by then was nearly 80 years of age fought with the tenacity of a grizzly bear to keep his empire but in the end the reform movement won the day and the cribs were closed and his dilapidated buildings condemned [Music] ballarino spent the last few years of his life attended by a few of his former tenants whose ministrations were bought with empty promises of making them inheritors of his fortune Bartolo ballarino died on July 11th 1909 and in keeping with his miserly ways was buried in an unmarked grave in cavalry cemetery nearby his wife Marie who died not long after she went to her grave fighting for control of his estate [Music] in the years following his death a few treasure seekers went searching the old cribs for the misers gold but they all went away empty-handed standing near to where he is buried you can almost make out the sound of ballarino getting the last laugh on September 14 1920 a brief article appeared in the LA Times about a poolroom shootout on East 9th Street the two men who started the fight were rushed to the hospital with serious injuries but died soon after being admitted one of the dead men was the 24 year old owner of the pool room Jack Blandino he left behind his parents and seven siblings as well as many unanswered questions with the scant information police gathered from witnesses they concluded that the shooting was the result of a dispute over the illegal sale of alcohol the 18th amendment which prohibited the production sale and transportation of intoxicating liquor had been in place for less than a year when this now forgotten act of violence took place prohibition did little to curtail the scourge of demon liquor that its champions had hoped for in fact it seemed only to increase the demand which compelled many to go into the distillery business for themselves early in the morning of August 3rd 1926 the Los Angeles Fire Department were called to a fire at a residential dwelling after the flames were extinguished they discovered that the fire had been caused by the explosion of a 50 gallon still that was used for making whiskey further evidence of this was the more than 100 barrels of mash found in the rubble they also made the grim discovery of the charred remains of two young men they were salmon chela and his friend Joe Bohr gonna both were 18 years old also in the house were Sam's mother and two sisters who barely escaped the flames with their lives Sam's mother who was held on charges of manslaughter claimed that the two boys had been hired by the distiller to keep an eye on his operation the mother was exonerated for the deaths of her son and his friend perhaps the authorities thought she had been punished enough on the morning of August 3rd 1926 boyhood friends Sam and chela and Joburg Lena died together and were buried next to one another here at cavalry their images frozen an eternal youth gaze out from the headstones nothing was engraved on either of them to tell us they were friends or to relate the cautionary tale that their brief lives came to represent the stories of Jack Blandino Sam and chilla and Joburg wayna are only three of countless others that unfolded in similar fashion during the 13-year lifespan of prohibition a period of time that also saw the birth of organized crime in America here in front of the Great Mausoleum are the graves of an Italian immigrant and his wife Jack dragna made his living as a banana merchant or at least that's what he told the government but everyone knew that for a quarter of a century he was the head of organized crime in Los Angeles and was often referred to as the Capone of California after getting his start in extortion and bootlegging dragna rose to power in the 1930s his criminal enterprise was built on prostitution gambling protection and narcotics his family survived through a tense alliance with the more powerful East Coast families dragna bowed to Benjamin Bugsy Siegel when he made his splashy entrance on the la scene the two were said to have established a racing wire together after Siegel's murder in 47 dragna's fiercest rival was Mickey Cohen dragna was believed to have had a hand in the several failed attempts on Cohen's life including the dramatic bombing of his house in February 1955 dragna associates were implicated including his brother and nephew while Jack fled the state to avoid questioning when reporters asked Cohen about dragna he replied he's one of my closest friends throughout his criminal career Jack managed to avoid prison although he was charged with contempt for refusing to answer the questions of senator Estes Kefauver commission on organized crime in 1951 he pled guilty to lewd vagrancy and spent six months in jail two years later immigration officials ordered deportation when it was discovered that he'd been living in the country illegally he would fight the order on appeal for the rest of his life Jack dragna met his fate on February 23rd 1956 not in a hail of bullets but from a heart attack he suffered in his sleep [Music] in November 1957 residents of a quiet hamlet in upstate New York noticed a large number of expensive cars with out-of-state license plates coming into their town and local hotels began filling up with an unlikely set of tourists state and federal authorities were alerted and on November 14th they converged on the hilltop retreat of Joseph Barbara they detained 65 men that day in what would be called the Apple Aiken summit of organized crime it confirmed once and for all what everybody suspected that an organized criminal conspiracy was at work in the country even FBI director J Edgar Hoover who for years denied their existence finally had to admit it was true among the names of those picked up that day was an attorney from Downey California named Frank D Simone he was indicted for contempt for not divulging the purpose of the Apple Aiken meeting but the charges would eventually be dropped his father was Rosario DeSimone a longtime player in the LA rackets a USC graduate who was admitted to the bar in 1933 DeSimone circulated among underworld figures for years and at times even gave them legal counsel after the death of Jack dragna in 1956 he was said to have taken over as the boss of La de Simone was said to be a straight-laced guy but stories exist that describe an underlying ruthlessness like the one about how he forced underboss Momoa Adamo to watch as he raped his wife the validity of the accusation is disputed but as fueled by the fact that Adamo later shot his wife before turning the gun on himself for years the LA family was dismissed by the Chicago and New York families the Mickey Mouse mafia and de Simone did little if anything to improve its reputation however it didn't stop Look magazine in 1965 from naming him as one of the decades most notable gangsters Frankie responded in lawyerly fashion by suing the publishers for libel after his name turned up on Joseph bonanno's hit list De Simone withdrew from sight he retired to his home in Downey where he died of a heart attack at age 58 having never married he was buried beside his mother and father most don't often consider how we will be remembered when we're gone when that day comes we hope it will be for happy times and the good we've done but sometimes the endeavours of a life well-lived can be eclipsed when we become the unwitting participants of history our next visit is to a man who is on the road to achieving the American dream he was the son of Italian immigrants who served his country honorably during World War two he studied business at USC married his high school sweetheart became a father of three and managed his family's chain of grocery stores his first marriage didn't last but he soon fell in love with a former waitress and seamstress and was remarried in 1960 outside of his family friends and business associates the world took little notice of lino LaBianca but all of that changed in the early morning hours of August 10th 1969 when Charles Manson came calling [Music] On June 3rd 1943 a group of sailors from the Naval Reserve Armory were assaulted by Mexican American youths while returning from leave in Los Angeles it was the culmination of weeks of escalating confrontations between white servicemen and the so called pachucos who were known for their thuggish manner as well as their distinctive style of dress after seeing their bloodied and beaten comrades a gang of around 50 sailors went into the neighboring community and began attacking any young men they found and stripped them of their clothes it was the first strike in what became the Zoot Suit Riots josè Guyardo Dias was a 22 year old farm worker whose family came to the United States from Mexico to escape the unrest that followed the revolution he left school after the eighth grade to help support his families by working in the vegetable packing industry the Diaz's lived in the principally mexican-american Barrios of East Los Angeles Jose's brother and sister remember him as a quiet and thoughtful young man and like most boys his age he enjoyed swing music and the lifestyle that went with it including the wearing of zoot suits [Music] after the United States entered World War two Jose wishing to serve his adopted country enlisted in the US Army the week before he was to report to boot camp his mother asked that he have his picture taken this is the only photograph of Jose Diaz that his family would ever have a few days after it was taken he attended the birthday party of a friend at around 1:00 a.m. partygoers saw him leave with two other boys shortly after he left members of the 38th Street gang showed up looking for the ones who had beaten up their friends earlier in the evening the brawl that followed would have tragic consequences at Don Jose was found lying unconscious in the road near a swimming hole that locals called the Sleepy Lagoon named after the popular song by Harry James he had been severely beaten and stabbed and was barely breathing when brought to the hospital he died a short time later having never regained consciousness the press dubbed it the Sleepy Lagoon murder and a citywide crackdown on youth gangs followed over 600 Latinos were grilled by the LAPD inexplicably the two boys last seen with Jose were not questioned eventually 22 youths were indicted for Diaz's murder resulting in the largest mass trial in California history anger in the Hispanic community rose over actions that seem to be geared more towards prejudice of mexican-americans than to bringing the killers of Jose Diaz to justice the 22 defendants were not allowed to cut their hair or change their clothes during the first month of the trial which many felt was done intentionally to make them look like unkempt hoodlums they were also made to sit in rows facing the jury which denied them the ability to consult with their attorneys in the end 17 of the 22 were convicted three of whom were sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder outrage over the verdicts coupled with the drunken behavior of servicemen coming into Hispanic neighborhoods is ultimately what sparked the riots of June 1943 for eight days the violence raged and in many cases the LAPD either joined the attacking servicemen or looked the other way finally military and civic leaders were forced to step in Los Angeles was made off-limits to members of the Armed Forces the LA City Council passed an ordinance banning the wearing of zoot suits on the streets a year later an appeals court overturned the Sleepy Lagoon convictions and all the defendants were released after nearly two years in jail the court also reprimanded the presiding judge for prejudiced and hostility toward the accused the murder of Jose Diaz remains unsolved and as tragically brief life has been overshadowed by the events following his death that made him another unwitting participant of history today he rests in a quiet place only a few miles away from the Sleepy Lagoon where he died [Music] you [Music] as our third and final exploration of cavalry cemetery comes to a close let's take one last look before we go for a moment let's see beyond the grand monolithic monuments that stand above human proportion and focus our gaze on those hidden at our feet we'll let the world above us go about its business as we quietly read the names that were long ago set into stone these small memorials do not compare in grandeur to the others some we are unable to read and there are those that have been reduced to fragments [Music] but the person's buried beneath them were no less valuable and loved no less and though there be no monument left to them it does not change the fact that they once lived and played their parts in history a friend once observed that the wind always seems to blow in cemeteries I believe born upon that wind are the memories of countless lives that are no more and they still have the power to reach us and to move us for me it was a little boy dressed in a sailor suit named Juan if he were still living as of 2018 he would be 100 years old but fate gave him only three of those years by now even his parents who mourned his passing are gone too and dandelions are the only flowers his grave ever sees [Music] nearby water spills into a reservoir as if measuring out all the tears that have ever been shed in this place over the decades [Music] it is then that I begin to feel the weight of my thoughts then the wind starts to blow think of one and I think of all the others and realize that part of them is still here and almost at once the weight lifts if I've taken away anything for my journey of discovery at Calvary Cemetery it's that no life is without significance or consequence whether we're inspired to build something to teach to write a poem to pretend to be someone else or to just show up at a birthday party those decisions send out ripples that touch us all and move us in directions we might never have dreamed many years from now after all present generations have passed from memory future grave explorers will look back on us and contemplate the parts that we played and then they'll feel the wind start to blow [Music] thank you for watching and if you like what you saw please give it a thumbs up and if you're interested in updates on future projects you can follow me on Facebook by clicking the link in the description below and if you haven't already subscribe to my channel now for more grave explorations you

Channel: Grave Explorations

Views: 60,300

Rating: 4.9298739 out of 5

Keywords: zoot zuit riots, L.A. mob, La Bianca, Charles Manson

Id: -kqsWrGL-2s

Length: 63min 35sec (3815 seconds)

Published: Tue May 22 2018