SAN PEDRAN LED FAST & FURIOUS LIFE AS COP

MIKE POWELL’S NEW BOOK GIVES AN UNFLINCHING LOOK AT LAPD LIFE IN THE 1970s

by Steve Marconi

San Pedro native Mike Powell struggled as a child, took down bad guys as a cop, mingled with the rich and infamous as a bodyguard, and as a private detective, took part in covert operations for the federal government that involved the Mafia.

It was enough to get him two lengthy News-Pilot stories in the early 1980s, the last one a profile when he was only 31. Almost 40 years later, encouraged by his therapist, Powell decided it was enough for a book, the recently published and aptly titled Escaping the Kill Zone: My Journey From LAPD’s Zebra Unit to Undercover Federal Operative in the Las Vegas Mafia

With an introduction by San Pedro’s Xavier Hermosillo, the former crime reporter for the News-Pilot, Escaping the Kill Zone is an unflinching, soulbaring memoir of what it was like being a Los Angeles police officer in the notorious “Shootin’ Newton” Division in the mid-‘70s. You know you’re in for a wild ride when the book opens with a 1981 arson attack on his San Pedro home.

The middle of three boys who all graduated from San Pedro High, Powell, small and dyslexic, was the target of bullies as a child until he was taken under the wings of an uncle, Bobby Wood, a former professional boxer. Powell learned how to fight, gaining the confidence and bravado that served him well later in life, and soon turned the tables on his oppressors.

He graduated in 1970, worked at several odd jobs — never thinking of a law enforcement career — and was in the Marine Corps Reserve when, just for a lark, he took and passed the LAPD entrance exam. After graduating from the academy, he was assigned to the

Newton Division in crime-ridden South Central Los Angeles, and, a year later, was attached to the plainclothes Zebra unit. It began a short but action-packed four years, with one interlude involving babysitting Charlie’s Angels star, Jaclyn Smith.

It came to a screeching halt, literally. Seriously injured in an accident while pursuing bank robbers who had just killed a security guard, Powell, only 28, was retired with a disability pension in 1979. By that time, he’d already survived four shootouts, earning the reputation of being a “cowboy” for his penchant for sniffing out the bad guys, whether in uniform or undercover, and had been involved in enough blood and mayhem to keep him in therapy for years to come.

Powell’s “war stories” fill the book’s first half, but leaving law enforcement not only didn’t get him out of the “kill zone,” it put him in an entirely new one. His bizarre relationship as a bodyguard for porn magnate Larry Flynt results in the firebombing of his San Pedro home. Unknown to Flynt, Powell had made enemies with some of his coworkers. He later becomes involved with yet another porn magnate, Penthouse magazine’s Bob Guccione, who offers him $1 million to get dirt on his Hustler rival, Flynt. Then there’s Powell’s involvement in a Louisiana murder investigation in 1982. Still a cold case, a Louisiana crime writer read Powell’s book and recently published an update on his website: bayoujustice.com/2023/ 02/41-year-old-pot-box-murder-stillunsolved.

Fittingly, the book ends in the early ‘80s with the mob and a Las Vegas sting operation. For reference, Powell suggests viewing Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed 1995 movie, Casino. Those entanglements with various nefarious characters in the second half of this 242-page book keep Powell on the razor’s edge, a place he admits early on that he enjoys. The pain resulting from the broken back and ruptured disk in the pursuit accident that nearly killed him left Powell addicted to painkillers and alcohol. Still, while he overcame that, adrenaline remained his “drug of choice.”

However, no drug could erase the memories of seeing a baby shot to death in front of him during a domestic violence incident, leading to the post-traumatic stress syndrome he suffered from long after his physical injuries had healed. This is a no-holdsbarred look at policing, particularly the “old school” version of the LAPD under Ed Davis and Daryl Gates, making it interesting history on top of a selfintrospective memoir.

Put this book, sprinkled liberally with references to people and places of ‘70s and ‘80s San Pedro, on the top of your summer reading list. It’s available at shootinnewton.com or Amazon. spt Steve Marconi can be reached at spmarconi@yahoo.com.

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