Title supplied by cataloger.; Photograph was edited for publication purposes. In May, 1931, Leo P. Bergin, head of the Los Angeles Soap Company, died of heart problems after having been involved in gambling with several known gangsters. The same gangsters, members of an association of cleaners and dyers in Los Angeles, including Eddie Rollins and his brother Patrick, then resorted to intimidation, threats and extortion against Bergin's widow to pay his debts. Later in the year, the association felt that White-Way Cleaners was not paying its dues. On December 14, 1931, a night watchman was killed at the White-Way Cleaners. Eight years later, six men were convicted, including the Rollins brothers. Photograph caption dated March 22, 1939 reads "Mrs. Patrick Rollins, left, and Mrs. Eddie Rollins, right, whose husbands are among seven men on trial accused of the slaying of John Stockman in a cleaners' war in 1931, are shown today as they waited for jury selection. With them is Mrs. Patrick Rollins' daughter, Catherine, 3." The women are seated and the child is standing in front of them.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;26 x 21 cm. Photographic prints
Rollins, Eddie--Trials, litigation, etc Rollins, Patrick--Trials, litigation, etc Crime--California--Los Angeles Trials--California--Los Angeles Women--California--Los Angeles Children--California--Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (Los Angeles, Calif.) Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express photographs Herald-Examiner Collection photographs
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