Praise for Chip Jacobs
“Finished with a particularly powerful, forward-looking epilogue, this friendly, accessible history should appeal to the American environmentalist.”
—Publishers Weekly
“…a meticulous chronicle of the city’s signature airborne grime and of the civic and social forces that emerged to stop it… The story of Smogtown is that of a city vying against time to reconcile incommensurables.”
—Bookforum
“Story of smog in all its hazy—and sometimes humorous permutations…a zany and provocative cultural history.”
—Kirkus
“In Chip Jacobs true-crime The Ascension of Jerry we are whisked back to L.A.’s Kodachrome world of the seventies. Through the eyes of the protagonist, Jerry Schneiderman, the ‘bright colors and greens of summer’ quickly change to the real life black-and-whites of mayhem and murder. But this is not just another Hollywood Whodunit. In the end we find it is really about one man’s search and struggle to find his own personal truths and redemption. Well written and highly recommended.”
—Steve Hodel, LAPD Hollywood Homicide detective (ret.) and bestselling author of Black Dahlia Avenger
“Chip Jacobs uses his boundless reporter’s energy and well-honed sense of Southern California to tell a gripping tale of serial mayhem and the curious life of Jerry Schneiderman. It’s reassuring to see the right writer was paying attention.”
—David Willman, Los Angeles Times Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and author of The Mirage Man: Bruce Irvins, the Anthrax Attacks, and America’s Rush to War
“Chip Jacobs explores the underbelly of an L.A. murder-for-hire ring that leaves many dead and a successful space planner, Jerry Schneiderman, so affected by PTSD that he embarks on a widespread muckraking campaign that targets major political forces in Los Angeles and beyond. Pitched as a ‘roots of Occupy story’ (aside from Mark Twain’s, of course), The Ascension of Jerry…will leave you closing your blinds and forever looking behind your back for the crazed psycho-killer disguised as an ordinary blue collar guy.”
—ForeWord
“The pay for some deals is wonderful, but the drawbacks that can come along with it may be too much to swallow. The Ascension of Jerry…follows the life of Jerry Schneiderman, whose [space planning] career prospered, then quickly spun out of control when his business [partner] ate a bullet via assassin. Fearing for his life, he was on the run for [months], before he found his…life’s calling. The Ascension of Jerry is an enticing true tale of getting one’s life back in the midst of…skullduggery, highly recommended.”
—Midwest Book Review
“…a title for your shelf…a fascinating story.”
—Foothills Paper
“Chip Jacobs’ chops as an accomplished newspaperman are on brilliant display in The Ascension of Jerry, a delightfully off-kilter true-crime tale of a hero (sorta) who is neither especially loathsome nor lovable…Jacobs’ prose is intimate, darkly funny, and crisp as he follows the twisted path that leads SoCal businessman
Jerry Schneiderman through a series of weird events…only to emerge as a merry prankster with a jones for social activism…Jacobs is a genuine writer, not a wannabe scribbler. He knows what makes us keep turning pages. So for those few true-crime readers who like their mayhem served up in a sumptuous story, seek this one out.”
—Ron Franscell, celebrated true crime author.
The Vicodin Thieves
by Chip Jacobs
This is a Genuine Vireo Book
V
A Vireo Book | Rare Bird Books
453 South Spring Street, Suite 531
Los Angeles, CA 90013
rarebirdbooks.com
Copyright © 2013 by Chip Jacobs
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For more information, address: A Vireo Book | Rare Bird Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 453 South Spring Street, Suite 531, Los Angeles, CA 90013.
ISBN-13: 9780988931251
Contents
The Intimate Execution of America’s Youngest Mayor
The Full Employment Act for Spies
The Vicodin Thieves
State as Slumlord
The Mystery Million
Greasing the Skids
Death on the Tarmac
Drowning with Eyes on Him
Part Two
Dan Quixote
The Last (Los Angeles) Picture Show
Dropping Science
Holding On to Huey Long
Dear Rifle
Par for the Landfill
Green Edifice Complex
Requiem for the Lungs
Godfather of South Central
The Speculator
Part Three
Return of the Native
When Bus Drivers Beat the Shit Out of People
Drinking the Koulax
Got Your Back
Watching the Dumpster Divers
Locked Out from Lockheed
