John Buntin is a staff writer for Governing magazine and the author of “L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America’s Most Seductive City,” which tells the story of the rivalry between mobster Mickey Cohen and Chief William Parker, creator of the Dragnet-era LAPD. This book debuts as an Esotouric bus adventure in September 2009. A long-time crime writer, Buntin first visited Los Angeles in 1999 to write a case study for the Justice Department about the public safety response to a series of (fake) anthrax attacks. He was so intrigued by L.A. that he decided to move to Santa Monica the following year. He soon found his way to the city archives atop Piper Tech downtown. There, in the minutes of the Police Commission and the files of the Chief of Police (C.O.P.), he discovered L.A.’s underworld.
