Jack F. Whalen was born in Missouri. Whalen's father Fred—who was also a career criminal known as "Freddie the thief"—had enrolled Jack in military school to give his son a better life. Jack played polo in school and piloted bombers in World War II. After the war, he married into one of L.A.'s oldest and richest families, the Sabichis, who had a 27-room mansion on South Figueroa; however, by 1955, his own criminal career had begun. He was soon called "The Enforcer" because he was "so tough he didn't need a gun." Whalen was a Los Angeles area bookie. Whalen was the most fearsome of the figures who had tried to move in on L.A.'s rackets while Mickey Cohen was off at prison. Some of the police on the Gangster Squad (LAPD) liked to say there were now three gangs in town: the Italians led by Ja