Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee, 1944-12

"Sleepy Lagoon...Victory for Democracy." A report and commentary on the overturing of 66 charges against 22 defendents convicted of murder, and assault with a deadly weapon with the intention of murder, following the death of Jose Diaz in Los Angeles, California. Intending to extinguish gang-related crime, Los Angeles police used Diaz's death as a pretext to arrest hundreds of young Mexicans and Mexican-Americans for offenses ranging from weapons possession to minor charges like vagrancy, curfew violation, "unlawful assemblage," or possessing a draft card with an incorrect address.