In 1910, the city of Los Angeles was an inferno of unrest. A handful of powerful men used coercion, corruption, and outright theft to build their dream metropolis in the middle of a desert. But when labor unions shifted their focus to California, these powerful men realized that their furtunes would be ruined if they did not keep union men out of LA. What followed next was an all-out battle for the city that killed twenty-one innocent people.

This is part one of the two-part episode, Battle for Babylon: The LA Times Bombing.

Sources:

Blum, Howard. American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century (New York: Crown Publishers, 2008).

Butler, Kirstin. “When California’s Water Wars Turned Violent” PBS: American Experience. March 24, 2022. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/flood-desert-california-water-wars-violent/

Hannon, Michael. “McNamara Bombing Trial.” University of Minnesota Law Library. http://moses.law.umn.edu/darrow/trialpdfs/McNamara_LA_Times_Bombing.pdf

King, Eddie. “The Los Angeles Times Building Fire: October 1, 1910.” The Los Angeles Fire Department Historical Archive. https://www.lafire.com/famous_fires/1910_1010_LATimesFire/100110_TheLosAngelesTimesFire_gv_11001960.htm

Kincheloe, Jennifer. “The Woman who Captured the Real Boyle Heights Rape Fiend.” Jennifer Kincheloe. August 10, 2016. https://www.jenniferkincheloe.com/post/2016/08/10/the-woman-who-captured-the-real-boyle-heights-rape-fiend

Music: Dellasera by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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