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Portland Confidential: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Rose City
It may come as a shock, especially to anyone who has come to regard Portland as a haven for enlightened progressive thought, light rail, and lattes for all, not that long ago — in fact as recently as the 1950s — Portland was known throughout the country as a Mecca of vice and sin. Portland Confidential rips the covers from Portland's biggest dirty little secret. It was a side-open town, with purveyors of all the traditional vices operating openly under the noses of the local police. All they had to do was pay off the cops and, of course, their bosses in City Hall. One day in the spring of 1956, it all blew up in everyone’s faces with newspaper exposés, indictments of public officials—including the chief of police, the district attorney, and the Mayor—and shameful national headlines. Things got so bad that Bobby Kennedy, then a young lawyer for the Senate Rackets Committee, hauled two dozen or so of the town’s more colorful characters back to Washington, DC and grilled them before a national television audience. It couldn’t have been more embarrassing. So naturally, when it was all over, everyone came back to town and pretended it never happened. For decades, it’s been Portland’s dirty little secret. Not any more, though—it’s all right here in Portland Confidential.
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Portland Confidential: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Rose City
It may come as a shock, especially to anyone who has come to regard Portland as a haven for enlightened progressive thought, light rail, and lattes for all, not that long ago — in fact as recently as the 1950s — Portland was known throughout the country as a Mecca of vice and sin. Portland Confidential rips the covers from Portland's biggest dirty little secret. It was a side-open town, with purveyors of all the traditional vices operating openly under the noses of the local police. All they had to do was pay off the cops and, of course, their bosses in City Hall. One day in the spring of 1956, it all blew up in everyone’s faces with newspaper exposés, indictments of public officials—including the chief of police, the district attorney, and the Mayor—and shameful national headlines. Things got so bad that Bobby Kennedy, then a young lawyer for the Senate Rackets Committee, hauled two dozen or so of the town’s more colorful characters back to Washington, DC and grilled them before a national television audience. It couldn’t have been more embarrassing. So naturally, when it was all over, everyone came back to town and pretended it never happened. For decades, it’s been Portland’s dirty little secret. Not any more, though—it’s all right here in Portland Confidential.
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Portland Confidential: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Rose City

Portland Confidential: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Rose City

by Phil Stanford
Portland Confidential: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Rose City

Portland Confidential: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Rose City

by Phil Stanford

Overview

It may come as a shock, especially to anyone who has come to regard Portland as a haven for enlightened progressive thought, light rail, and lattes for all, not that long ago — in fact as recently as the 1950s — Portland was known throughout the country as a Mecca of vice and sin. Portland Confidential rips the covers from Portland's biggest dirty little secret. It was a side-open town, with purveyors of all the traditional vices operating openly under the noses of the local police. All they had to do was pay off the cops and, of course, their bosses in City Hall. One day in the spring of 1956, it all blew up in everyone’s faces with newspaper exposés, indictments of public officials—including the chief of police, the district attorney, and the Mayor—and shameful national headlines. Things got so bad that Bobby Kennedy, then a young lawyer for the Senate Rackets Committee, hauled two dozen or so of the town’s more colorful characters back to Washington, DC and grilled them before a national television audience. It couldn’t have been more embarrassing. So naturally, when it was all over, everyone came back to town and pretended it never happened. For decades, it’s been Portland’s dirty little secret. Not any more, though—it’s all right here in Portland Confidential.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781627310635
Publisher: Feral House
Publication date: 08/21/2018
Pages: 192
Sales rank: 1,045,082
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Author Phil Stanford has worked as a columnist for both the Oregonian and the Portland Tribune and has written for a number of national publications including the New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, and the Columbia Journalism Review on defense and intelligence matters. Along the way, he has also worked as a magazine editor and as as a licensed private investigator in Portland and Miami.

His other titles include: "The Peyton-Allan Files" and from Feral House "White House Call Girl", and "Rose City Vice."

Table of Contents

Introduction iv

1 No Money Changed Hands 1

2 Openly and Notoriously 10

3 The Big Payoff 26

4 Business as Usual, With a Difference 44

5 Politics and the Pinball Wars 68

6 Burning Issues of the Day 92

7 The Brewing Storm 110

8 The Story Breaks 118

9 The Aftermath 150

Authors Note 163

Bibliography 165

Photo Credits 165

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