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00:00:25.950 --> 00:00:28.593
NARRATOR:
On a clear night
in August of 1942,

00:00:28.597 --> 00:00:31.097
a group of Mexican American
teenagers

00:00:31.101 --> 00:00:33.603
from L.A.'s 38th Street

00:00:33.607 --> 00:00:36.249
headed to a swimming hole
called Sleepy Lagoon.

00:00:36.492 --> 00:00:40.180
Riding in the car
was Hank Leyvas.

00:00:44.509 --> 00:00:46.830
Earlier that evening, Hank and
his girlfriend had been beaten

00:00:46.834 --> 00:00:49.155
by Mexican American kids
from another neighborhood.

00:00:53.004 --> 00:00:56.007
Hank was determined to defend
his sweetheart's honor.

00:00:59.178 --> 00:01:02.881
As they approached
Sleepy Lagoon,

00:01:02.905 --> 00:01:05.748
the sounds of a party
filtered through the trees,

00:01:05.752 --> 00:01:08.853
and Hank Leyvas thought
he had found

00:01:08.877 --> 00:01:11.318
the boys he was looking for.

00:01:11.322 --> 00:01:14.007
HADDA BROOKS (on recording):
♪ To spend one night with you ♪

00:01:16.893 --> 00:01:20.380
♪ In our old rendezvous ♪

00:01:23.186 --> 00:01:26.873
♪ To reminisce with you ♪

00:01:28.074 --> 00:01:31.482
♪ That's my desire ♪

00:01:32.845 --> 00:01:36.412
♪ To dance where gypsies play ♪

00:01:38.937 --> 00:01:42.200
(glass shattering)

00:01:42.224 --> 00:01:45.006
♪ And let our hearts
go astray ♪

00:01:45.010 --> 00:01:48.517
♪ Down in that dim café ♪
(men struggling)

00:01:50.721 --> 00:01:54.102
♪ That's my... ♪

00:01:54.127 --> 00:01:56.368
(record scratches)

00:01:56.372 --> 00:01:57.872
(skipping backward):
♪ Desire... desire... ♪

00:01:57.876 --> 00:01:59.756
♪ desire... de... ♪

00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:01.840
NARRATOR:
The ten-minute fight
at Sleepy Lagoon

00:02:01.844 --> 00:02:03.984
had all the markings
of a typical teenage rumble--

00:02:03.988 --> 00:02:06.670
except for what neighbors
discovered later that night.

00:02:12.324 --> 00:02:16.027
In the light of the full moon,

00:02:16.051 --> 00:02:18.834
José Díaz, a 22-year-old
about to go off to war,

00:02:18.838 --> 00:02:21.943
lay dying.

00:02:23.587 --> 00:02:26.590
He had been beaten and stabbed.

00:02:29.158 --> 00:02:31.259
EDWARD ESCOBAR:
During the summer of 1942,

00:02:31.263 --> 00:02:32.882
there had been growing concern

00:02:32.886 --> 00:02:35.407
about Mexican American
youth crime.

00:02:35.731 --> 00:02:39.394
When the Sleepy Lagoon case
broke--

00:02:39.418 --> 00:02:42.561
when José Díaz's body
was found--

00:02:42.585 --> 00:02:45.086
it came at exactly
the right moment

00:02:45.090 --> 00:02:47.410
for the hysteria to erupt.

00:02:47.414 --> 00:02:50.116
NARRATOR:
In the 1940s,

00:02:50.120 --> 00:02:52.480
one Mexican American kid
killing another

00:02:52.484 --> 00:02:54.866
didn't attract much interest
from authorities.

00:02:57.515 --> 00:02:59.755
But in wartime Los Angeles,

00:02:59.759 --> 00:03:02.160
José Díaz's murder
would play out differently.

00:03:02.164 --> 00:03:05.567
The police department stormed

00:03:05.591 --> 00:03:07.632
the city's Mexican American
community.

00:03:07.636 --> 00:03:10.279
Hank Leyvas was
the main suspect.

00:03:13.406 --> 00:03:16.348
The arrest and trial of Leyvas

00:03:16.352 --> 00:03:18.553
and others from the 38th Street
neighborhood

00:03:18.557 --> 00:03:20.557
raised fears that Mexican youth
were out of control.

00:03:20.561 --> 00:03:23.603
(chain rattling)

00:03:23.627 --> 00:03:26.510
Within months, the city
would be gripped

00:03:26.514 --> 00:03:29.395
by brutal racial rioting.

00:03:30.761 --> 00:03:33.042
Mexican Americans would point
to the riots of 1943

00:03:33.046 --> 00:03:35.867
as the darkest days
of their long history

00:03:35.891 --> 00:03:38.854
in the City of the Angels.

00:03:45.029 --> 00:03:48.032
(flames crackling)

00:03:58.537 --> 00:04:02.223
NARRATOR:
In 1942, the mood in the City
of the Angels was eerie.

00:04:06.513 --> 00:04:09.516
The country was at war.

00:04:11.523 --> 00:04:14.224
On the streets, the talk was
of spies and traitors.

00:04:14.228 --> 00:04:17.935
Suspicions swirled around
young Mexican Americans.

00:04:19.859 --> 00:04:24.003
Fears abounded that rebellious
kids were being manipulated

00:04:24.027 --> 00:04:27.433
by enemy agents.

00:04:29.157 --> 00:04:31.418
GEORGE SAÁNCHEZ:
In the local papers,
you saw often

00:04:31.422 --> 00:04:33.082
columns right next
to each other:

00:04:33.086 --> 00:04:34.966
Japan is doing this,
and our local threat

00:04:34.970 --> 00:04:37.210
is these Mexican American youth.

00:04:45.469 --> 00:04:48.472
(bell ringing slowly)

00:04:53.245 --> 00:04:55.727
NARRATOR:
Less than 100 years before,

00:04:55.731 --> 00:04:57.571
Los Angeles belonged to Mexico.

00:04:57.575 --> 00:05:00.475
Business was conducted
in Spanish

00:05:00.499 --> 00:05:04.388
and streets had names like
Eternidad and Chapule.

00:05:06.071 --> 00:05:09.575
(people talking in background)

00:05:09.599 --> 00:05:12.602
But by 1942,
Nuestra Señora de Los AÁngeles

00:05:12.725 --> 00:05:16.388
was now simply Los Angeles.

00:05:16.412 --> 00:05:19.194
(car horns beeping)

00:05:19.198 --> 00:05:21.980
And more than just the name
of the city had changed.

00:05:22.023 --> 00:05:25.526
Chapule became Pearl Street

00:05:25.550 --> 00:05:28.553
and Eternidad
became Broadway.

00:05:34.327 --> 00:05:37.631
As Los Angeles grew,

00:05:37.655 --> 00:05:40.116
Mexican Americans came to be
viewed as foreigners

00:05:40.120 --> 00:05:43.466
in a city established
by their ancestors.

00:05:51.281 --> 00:05:54.785
Within 48 hours
of José Díaz's murder,

00:05:54.809 --> 00:05:57.812
600 young Mexican Americans
were caught in a dragnet.

00:06:02.624 --> 00:06:04.805
LUPE LEYVAS:
They picked up everybody
that was over 12

00:06:04.809 --> 00:06:06.710
and up to 25.

00:06:06.714 --> 00:06:09.615
And you couldn't walk out
on the street,

00:06:09.639 --> 00:06:12.320
because they would take you.

00:06:12.324 --> 00:06:15.065
So the word went out
in the neighborhood,

00:06:15.089 --> 00:06:17.511
"They're picking up everybody.

00:06:17.515 --> 00:06:20.717
And it's about a fight, and it's
about somebody got killed."

00:06:20.741 --> 00:06:23.703
Then the parents would go
to the other parent

00:06:23.707 --> 00:06:26.769
and tell them, "Look,
they're doing this and that.

00:06:26.793 --> 00:06:29.796
Keep the kids in the house."

00:06:30.079 --> 00:06:32.380
We were just peeking out
the windows,

00:06:32.384 --> 00:06:34.685
and police were all over
the streets.

00:06:36.692 --> 00:06:39.114
ESCOBAR:
The police did regularly harass
Mexican kids on the street

00:06:39.118 --> 00:06:41.678
because they thought of them
as being the criminal element.

00:06:41.702 --> 00:06:44.805
If the kid looked suspicious,
they would pick them up.

00:06:44.829 --> 00:06:48.973
If the kid looked sullen
or didn't give proper respect,

00:06:48.997 --> 00:06:52.420
that kid could get beat up
by the police.

00:06:52.444 --> 00:06:55.747
There, there are a number
of instances

00:06:55.771 --> 00:06:58.252
in which Mexican kids said,

00:06:58.256 --> 00:06:59.855
"You know, if you're
on the street after 8:00,

00:06:59.859 --> 00:07:01.519
"just be careful,
you got to...

00:07:01.523 --> 00:07:03.322
You got to get off
the streets."

00:07:04.830 --> 00:07:08.035
NARRATOR:
Hank Leyvas was no stranger
to the L.A.P.D.

00:07:09.559 --> 00:07:13.341
Leyvas was routinely picked up
by police

00:07:13.365 --> 00:07:16.368
when the suspect of a crime was
ambiguously described

00:07:16.372 --> 00:07:19.374
as an "unknown Mexican."

00:07:21.943 --> 00:07:24.284
EDUARDO PAGAÁN:
From the perspective
of the L.A.P.D.,

00:07:24.288 --> 00:07:26.208
Henry was a delinquent
with a chip on his shoulder--

00:07:26.212 --> 00:07:29.615
largely because he was
the kind of kid

00:07:29.639 --> 00:07:31.860
who would stand up
for his rights.

00:07:31.864 --> 00:07:33.182
He would protest
assaults upon him.

00:07:33.186 --> 00:07:34.865
He would protest if
he was arrested, for example.

00:07:34.869 --> 00:07:37.711
He would challenge them.

00:07:39.779 --> 00:07:41.819
NARRATOR:
By the summer of 1942,

00:07:41.823 --> 00:07:44.825
his life seemed headed
in a new direction.

00:07:46.351 --> 00:07:48.653
He had enlisted
in the Merchant Marine,

00:07:48.657 --> 00:07:50.958
even been issued a uniform.

00:07:52.965 --> 00:07:55.968
But now he was a suspect
in the murder of José Díaz.

00:07:57.373 --> 00:08:00.836
As soon as we pulled up,

00:08:00.860 --> 00:08:03.643
my mother started to get
out of the car,

00:08:03.647 --> 00:08:05.547
and the police surrounded
the car, and they...

00:08:05.551 --> 00:08:07.995
And they arrested my brother.

00:08:09.878 --> 00:08:12.380
I asked them,
"Where are you taking him?"

00:08:12.384 --> 00:08:14.886
And they said,
"To the 77th Police Station."

00:08:20.581 --> 00:08:24.083
(children playing, dog barking)

00:08:32.323 --> 00:08:34.805
NARRATOR:
Decades of discrimination

00:08:34.809 --> 00:08:37.290
had forced the Mexican American
community to turn inward.

00:08:40.099 --> 00:08:43.062
By the 1940s,
L.A.'s 250,000 Mexican Americans

00:08:43.065 --> 00:08:46.929
lived in a series
of tight-knit neighborhoods

00:08:46.953 --> 00:08:49.695
called "barrios."

00:08:49.699 --> 00:08:52.861
The communities were
traditional, conservative,

00:08:52.885 --> 00:08:55.970
and self-contained.

00:08:58.375 --> 00:09:00.817
But like many Mexican Americans
of his generation,

00:09:00.821 --> 00:09:04.403
Hank Leyvas refused to accept
the confines of the barrio.

00:09:04.427 --> 00:09:07.350
(dog barking in distance)

00:09:07.354 --> 00:09:10.276
There was a different America
outside their neighborhood,

00:09:10.359 --> 00:09:13.982
and Hank and others like him

00:09:14.006 --> 00:09:16.207
wanted to claim a piece
for themselves.

00:09:18.296 --> 00:09:20.196
(car horns honking)

00:09:20.200 --> 00:09:21.398
SAÁNCHEZ:
The tensions that arose

00:09:21.402 --> 00:09:23.302
from this sort of splitting
of culture

00:09:23.306 --> 00:09:26.247
is that often,

00:09:26.271 --> 00:09:28.653
parents really saw their
children disappearing from them,

00:09:28.657 --> 00:09:31.297
from the sanctity of the barrio,
from the cultural world.

00:09:31.321 --> 00:09:34.825
Even though physically
they remained,

00:09:34.849 --> 00:09:37.450
they more often were the people

00:09:37.454 --> 00:09:40.055
that would venture into various
aspects of American culture.

00:09:47.595 --> 00:09:50.176
PAGAÁN:
These kids spoke to each other
in English.

00:09:50.180 --> 00:09:52.440
And it was an English that was
punctuated by jazz phrases--

00:09:52.444 --> 00:09:54.926
"cool," "hip," "on time."

00:09:54.929 --> 00:09:58.031
All of these kinds of things

00:09:58.055 --> 00:10:00.577
that they very clearly drew
from jazz culture

00:10:00.581 --> 00:10:02.561
during this period.

00:10:02.565 --> 00:10:04.264
And some of the boys
from 38th Street will tell you,

00:10:04.268 --> 00:10:06.288
they didn't know Spanish
during this time.

00:10:06.292 --> 00:10:08.112
They didn't speak Spanish.

00:10:14.689 --> 00:10:17.692
NARRATOR:
The wartime economy
put money in the kids' pockets.

00:10:20.941 --> 00:10:23.784
In 1942, they were spending it

00:10:23.788 --> 00:10:26.128
on big balloon pants
pegged at the ankle

00:10:26.132 --> 00:10:28.452
and long, baggy coats,

00:10:28.456 --> 00:10:31.278
a style borrowed
from African Americans.

00:10:33.526 --> 00:10:36.529
It was called the "zoot suit."

00:10:39.979 --> 00:10:41.920
The zoot suit was everywhere.

00:10:41.924 --> 00:10:43.824
In the night clubs,

00:10:43.828 --> 00:10:45.848
kids in zoot suits
ruled the dance floor,

00:10:45.852 --> 00:10:48.035
their stoic moves
the essence of L.A. cool.

00:10:48.516 --> 00:10:52.725
ARTHUR ARENAS:
All he'd do is get
the girl's arm like that,

00:10:53.204 --> 00:10:56.588
and she'd go around him,

00:10:56.612 --> 00:10:59.053
and he'd put his arm out
this way,

00:10:59.057 --> 00:11:01.318
and then she'd go around
about three times,

00:11:01.322 --> 00:11:03.482
and he'd go like that,

00:11:03.486 --> 00:11:04.986
because that guy was
not going to move.

00:11:06.693 --> 00:11:09.053
(chuckling):
He didn't want to wrinkle
the coat or nothing.

00:11:09.057 --> 00:11:12.379
He didn't want to
mess up his pants!

00:11:14.989 --> 00:11:17.250
PAGAÁN:
As soon as they would get
out of the house,

00:11:17.254 --> 00:11:19.434
they would beeline straight down
to Central Avenue,

00:11:19.438 --> 00:11:22.159
where a lot of jazz clubs were.

00:11:22.183 --> 00:11:24.665
And they would go there
to listen to jazz artists

00:11:24.669 --> 00:11:26.348
and to dance the swing,
and all of these things

00:11:26.352 --> 00:11:28.272
that their Mexican parents would
probably not have approved of.

00:11:28.276 --> 00:11:30.697
And, and they found ways
of sneaking around that,

00:11:30.701 --> 00:11:33.282
and, in fact, wearing
the zoot suit, I would say,

00:11:33.286 --> 00:11:36.168
was part of that.

00:11:37.133 --> 00:11:39.875
LUPE LEYVAS:
Many times, I wore my skirt
just above my knee

00:11:39.879 --> 00:11:43.081
till I got around the corner,

00:11:43.105 --> 00:11:45.627
and then I'd roll it up
at the waist.

00:11:45.631 --> 00:11:49.013
And so that it would be
really short, you know?

00:11:49.037 --> 00:11:52.040
Then coming back from school,
we'd just pull them down.

00:11:54.327 --> 00:11:57.110
The boys wore their pants
very wide at the knee.

00:11:57.114 --> 00:12:00.716
They were always to be 40 inches
at the knees

00:12:00.741 --> 00:12:04.187
and ten to 11 inches
at, at the cuff,

00:12:05.348 --> 00:12:08.973
so they were very ballooned out,

00:12:08.997 --> 00:12:11.318
very high-waisted.

00:12:13.506 --> 00:12:16.027
NARRATOR:
Their outrageous clothes
and cocky attitudes

00:12:16.031 --> 00:12:18.833
shocked their
traditional parents,

00:12:18.857 --> 00:12:21.418
who feared their sons
and daughters

00:12:21.422 --> 00:12:23.984
were becoming "pachucos."

00:12:25.309 --> 00:12:27.349
PAGAÁN:
In Los Angeles
in the early '40s,

00:12:27.353 --> 00:12:28.933
the word "pachuco" meant "punk."

00:12:28.937 --> 00:12:32.179
These were ill-mannered kids.

00:12:32.203 --> 00:12:34.725
These weren't the kids

00:12:34.729 --> 00:12:37.250
that you wanted your children
to hang out with.

00:12:37.412 --> 00:12:39.855
NARRATOR:
Many white Los Angelenos
felt threatened

00:12:39.859 --> 00:12:41.839
by their assertive presence.

00:12:41.843 --> 00:12:44.384
To them, any Mexican kid
in a zoot suit

00:12:44.388 --> 00:12:47.049
was a potential pachuco.

00:12:47.053 --> 00:12:50.414
PAGAÁN:
By wearing their zoot suits

00:12:50.438 --> 00:12:52.940
and swaggering down the streets
in public,

00:12:52.944 --> 00:12:55.385
these kids defied
the norms of segregation.

00:12:55.389 --> 00:12:58.793
It's hard for us to imagine,

00:12:58.817 --> 00:13:01.599
but to go back in the context
of the 1940s,

00:13:01.603 --> 00:13:04.124
when everything around you
told you, "You're not one of us.

00:13:04.128 --> 00:13:07.249
"You're not American, and
because you're not American,

00:13:07.273 --> 00:13:09.875
"because you're not white,

00:13:09.879 --> 00:13:11.578
"you're supposed to remain
in your neighborhoods.

00:13:11.582 --> 00:13:13.101
"You can't go to our clubs,

00:13:13.105 --> 00:13:14.805
"you can't go
to our restaurants,

00:13:14.809 --> 00:13:16.287
you can't go to our movies,"
and on and on and on.

00:13:16.291 --> 00:13:18.371
And of course that's going to
breed some sort of resentment.

00:13:18.375 --> 00:13:21.357
(people talking in background)

00:13:21.381 --> 00:13:24.764
NARRATOR:
The tension on L.A.'s streets

00:13:24.788 --> 00:13:27.149
was heightened by the presence
of 50,000 sailors

00:13:27.153 --> 00:13:30.039
looking for a way to let off
steam before heading off to war.

00:13:35.369 --> 00:13:38.372
SAÁNCHEZ:
Tensions between servicemen and
Mexican American boys, I think,

00:13:38.535 --> 00:13:42.239
came from a lot
of different places.

00:13:42.263 --> 00:13:44.705
The first place to look

00:13:44.709 --> 00:13:46.347
is in terms of the servicemen's
own backgrounds.

00:13:46.351 --> 00:13:48.812
A lot of these servicemen

00:13:48.837 --> 00:13:51.178
were coming from other parts
of the United States.

00:13:51.182 --> 00:13:53.282
They had, they were not familiar
with Mexican Americans.

00:13:53.286 --> 00:13:55.687
And they really
were not accustomed

00:13:55.691 --> 00:13:57.951
to not only the diversity
of Los Angeles,

00:13:57.955 --> 00:14:00.576
but the kind of interaction one
would see on the city streets.

00:14:04.548 --> 00:14:08.692
NARRATOR:
The charged atmosphere
sparked frequent street battles

00:14:08.716 --> 00:14:12.459
between sailors
from the Naval Armory

00:14:12.483 --> 00:14:14.965
and Mexican American boys

00:14:14.969 --> 00:14:17.029
from the surrounding community
called Chavez Ravine.

00:14:17.033 --> 00:14:20.556
PAGAÁN:
Many of the Mexican American
kids during this period

00:14:20.580 --> 00:14:23.402
came to terms with segregation

00:14:23.406 --> 00:14:26.228
by seeing their neighborhoods
as their neighborhoods.

00:14:29.838 --> 00:14:32.259
They resented
the presence of whites,

00:14:32.263 --> 00:14:34.304
particularly,
if you can imagine

00:14:34.308 --> 00:14:36.428
white military personnel
during this period,

00:14:36.432 --> 00:14:38.372
pumped up by boot camp,
ready to go out

00:14:38.376 --> 00:14:41.661
and lick the Japs,
and lick the, the Nazis.

00:14:45.109 --> 00:14:48.651
NARRATOR:
The sailors making their way
back from a night on the town

00:14:48.675 --> 00:14:51.678
had no alternative

00:14:51.682 --> 00:14:54.684
but to cut through a mostly
Mexican American neighborhood.

00:14:56.772 --> 00:14:59.153
GEORGE BRAY:
Going down that canyon
from the armory,

00:14:59.157 --> 00:15:01.217
Mexican kids would sit up there
on the side of the hill

00:15:01.221 --> 00:15:03.843
as we were walking down
the, the road there.

00:15:03.847 --> 00:15:06.808
(chain rattling)

00:15:06.832 --> 00:15:09.273
You never wanted to get caught
by yourself as a sailor

00:15:09.277 --> 00:15:11.818
in, in that area,

00:15:11.842 --> 00:15:14.003
by, by going through there
in one single file.

00:15:14.007 --> 00:15:16.108
You're, you're asking
for trouble.

00:15:16.111 --> 00:15:18.391
You're really asking
for trouble.

00:15:18.395 --> 00:15:20.155
At the base,

00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:22.159
they told us
to go down to the sail shop,

00:15:22.163 --> 00:15:25.749
and, and they sewed 13 pennies
in the back of our neckerchief,

00:15:26.953 --> 00:15:30.776
that if any of the pachucos
came after you,

00:15:30.800 --> 00:15:33.782
you'd take that neckerchief off
and use it as a billy club.

00:15:33.786 --> 00:15:36.708
13 pennies give you
quite a blow.

00:15:36.712 --> 00:15:39.655
And we all had that.

00:15:40.740 --> 00:15:43.201
NARRATOR:
Each fight provided an excuse
for the next.

00:15:43.205 --> 00:15:46.327
Sailors insulted
Mexican American teenagers,

00:15:46.351 --> 00:15:49.598
and they in turn
taunted the sailors.

00:15:49.959 --> 00:15:53.365
(sirens blaring)

00:15:54.808 --> 00:15:58.632
The police had
their own problems

00:15:58.656 --> 00:16:01.297
with L.A.'s Mexican youth.

00:16:01.301 --> 00:16:03.381
ESCOBAR:
During the war years,
the L.A.P.D. felt frustrated.

00:16:03.385 --> 00:16:06.928
They were losing their best and
most experienced police officers

00:16:06.952 --> 00:16:10.415
to go off into the Army
and the Navy,

00:16:10.439 --> 00:16:13.161
into, into the service.

00:16:13.165 --> 00:16:15.225
And in addition to that,
they were faced

00:16:15.229 --> 00:16:17.654
with this new phenomenon
of the zoot suiters.

00:16:20.859 --> 00:16:23.702
You don't know how many times
you heard

00:16:23.706 --> 00:16:26.127
they were going to take
their kid gloves off

00:16:26.131 --> 00:16:28.151
and they were going to deal with
the zoot suiters harshly now--

00:16:28.155 --> 00:16:30.597
that they wanted
to really step forward

00:16:30.601 --> 00:16:33.861
and deal with what they saw
as this criminal element

00:16:33.885 --> 00:16:36.888
in a very harsh manner.

00:16:39.317 --> 00:16:42.640
NARRATOR:
Inside the interrogation room
of the 77th Precinct,

00:16:42.664 --> 00:16:46.127
Hank Leyvas could not
have imagined

00:16:46.151 --> 00:16:48.813
what was in store for him.

00:16:48.817 --> 00:16:51.618
The Sleepy Lagoon case

00:16:51.642 --> 00:16:54.645
was playing out
like a Hollywood movie.

00:16:54.688 --> 00:16:58.031
Hank was the villain.

00:16:58.055 --> 00:17:02.022
The ending to this story
would surprise everyone.

00:17:12.684 --> 00:17:16.852
The arrest of Leyvas and 21
other boys made front-page news.

00:17:22.544 --> 00:17:25.245
Hank and his friends did admit
to engaging in a fight,

00:17:25.249 --> 00:17:27.950
but they denied
killing José Díaz.

00:17:27.955 --> 00:17:30.975
They stuck to their story

00:17:30.999 --> 00:17:34.002
despite tough treatment
by the police.

00:17:34.006 --> 00:17:37.654
HENRY YNOSTROZA:
They put gloves on so they won't
mark their hands up, you know?

00:17:38.936 --> 00:17:42.720
And just whip you, just hit you,
all over--

00:17:42.744 --> 00:17:45.385
the body, the face
and everything;

00:17:45.389 --> 00:17:47.591
and the leg,
kick you in the legs, yeah.

00:17:47.595 --> 00:17:50.095
And... they were trying
to get a confession.

00:17:50.099 --> 00:17:53.245
We got to the police station,
and I went up to the counter,

00:17:53.926 --> 00:17:57.790
and I asked if I... we could see
my brother Hank,

00:17:57.814 --> 00:18:01.397
that he had just been picked up,
and what could we do?

00:18:01.421 --> 00:18:04.588
And the officer said...

00:18:05.309 --> 00:18:09.012
He looked it up,
and he said,

00:18:09.036 --> 00:18:11.157
"Oh, yeah," he says,
"he's the leader."

00:18:11.161 --> 00:18:13.301
And I said,
"Well, I am not sure

00:18:13.325 --> 00:18:16.548
"that you got
the right person,

00:18:16.572 --> 00:18:18.832
if you're calling him a leader."

00:18:18.836 --> 00:18:20.315
He said,
"No, we know who you want."

00:18:20.319 --> 00:18:22.541
He says, "You want to see Hank."

00:18:23.103 --> 00:18:26.592
(voice breaking):
And, uh, they opened the door
and I saw my brother...

00:18:28.275 --> 00:18:31.618
(door slams)

00:18:31.642 --> 00:18:33.883
But I didn't even recognize him.

00:18:33.887 --> 00:18:36.126
They had him handcuffed.

00:18:36.131 --> 00:18:38.832
The hands were behind
the chairs.

00:18:38.837 --> 00:18:41.638
He had his head down, his lip
was hanging all below his...

00:18:41.662 --> 00:18:44.605
his chin.

00:18:44.609 --> 00:18:48.395
And I called to him,
but he didn't lift his head up.

00:18:50.399 --> 00:18:54.062
He just, he was knocked out.

00:18:54.086 --> 00:18:57.089
And he said,
"Well, now you've seen him."

00:19:06.952 --> 00:19:11.096
NARRATOR:
Hank claimed that one
of the cops who beat him

00:19:11.120 --> 00:19:14.043
was Chief Clem Peoples.

00:19:14.047 --> 00:19:17.108
The chief was
the lead investigator

00:19:17.132 --> 00:19:20.135
on the Sleepy Lagoon case.

00:19:24.829 --> 00:19:27.389
When the largest mass trial
in California history

00:19:27.393 --> 00:19:30.114
began in October of 1942,

00:19:30.119 --> 00:19:33.061
Peoples was there,

00:19:33.065 --> 00:19:35.707
building a case against Hank
and the boys in the courtroom

00:19:35.711 --> 00:19:39.497
and writing articles about
Sleepy Lagoon in the pulp press.

00:19:44.668 --> 00:19:47.450
(birds chirping)

00:19:47.454 --> 00:19:49.474
Presiding over the case was
the Honorable Charles Fricke,

00:19:49.478 --> 00:19:52.203
a well-respected judge
known as a law-and-order man.

00:19:52.282 --> 00:19:56.692
WILLIAM SHIBLEY:
Dad used to talk about Fricke
as a prosecutor's judge.

00:19:57.292 --> 00:20:01.036
Judge Fricke,
according to my father,

00:20:01.060 --> 00:20:03.602
would take his prosecutors aside
over lunch hours

00:20:03.606 --> 00:20:06.231
and educate them
on how to introduce evidence.

00:20:06.992 --> 00:20:10.294
He prided himself

00:20:10.318 --> 00:20:12.660
in knowing criminal law
better than anybody.

00:20:12.664 --> 00:20:14.865
I think my father felt

00:20:14.869 --> 00:20:17.651
that he thought of himself
as infallible,

00:20:17.655 --> 00:20:20.335
and tended to look down
at counsel

00:20:20.339 --> 00:20:23.184
and look down at people
that he didn't agree with.

00:20:27.032 --> 00:20:29.233
NARRATOR:
Overruling objections
from the defense,

00:20:29.237 --> 00:20:31.397
Judge Fricke sat all
the defendants together,

00:20:31.401 --> 00:20:34.363
isolating them
from their lawyers.

00:20:35.368 --> 00:20:38.752
Since their arrest,

00:20:38.776 --> 00:20:41.177
the defendants had not been
allowed to get haircuts

00:20:41.181 --> 00:20:43.261
or clean clothes.

00:20:43.265 --> 00:20:45.907
Defense attorneys requested

00:20:45.911 --> 00:20:48.271
that the defendants be permitted
to clean up.

00:20:48.275 --> 00:20:51.297
Their request was denied.

00:20:51.321 --> 00:20:54.303
The judge ruled
that the boys' appearance

00:20:54.308 --> 00:20:56.728
was relevant to the case.

00:20:56.733 --> 00:20:59.874
LUPE LEYVAS:
"That's the way they are,

00:20:59.898 --> 00:21:02.159
that's the way they have
to be out here."

00:21:02.163 --> 00:21:03.922
He said, "They wear long,
ducktail hair,

00:21:03.926 --> 00:21:06.648
and no, we're not allowing them
to take haircuts."

00:21:06.672 --> 00:21:09.453
So nothing was allowed,

00:21:09.457 --> 00:21:12.239
and, so naturally,
they looked really bad.

00:21:15.369 --> 00:21:18.031
ALICE GREENFIELD McGRATH:
The jury was looking
at the defendants,

00:21:18.035 --> 00:21:21.518
who sat in two rows of seats
opposite them,

00:21:21.542 --> 00:21:25.108
and their dislike of the
defendants was palpable.

00:21:26.190 --> 00:21:30.238
They did not like those people
they were looking at.

00:21:33.966 --> 00:21:36.227
NARRATOR:
"Hank and the other boys
look like vagabonds,"

00:21:36.231 --> 00:21:38.311
said one observer.

00:21:38.315 --> 00:21:41.276
LUPE LEYVAS (voice trembling):
They were no longer
those young men

00:21:41.300 --> 00:21:43.902
that took their pride
in their clothes.

00:21:43.906 --> 00:21:46.511
They didn't have that.

00:21:49.276 --> 00:21:53.525
NARRATOR:
Only Hank Leyvas grasped
the significance of the trial.

00:21:54.527 --> 00:21:58.190
His conviction
would send a message

00:21:58.214 --> 00:22:01.217
that the city had Mexican
youth crime under control.

00:22:05.469 --> 00:22:07.911
RUDY LEYVAS:
My brother Hank knew that
he was going to be the one

00:22:07.915 --> 00:22:10.455
that they were going
to zero in on.

00:22:10.479 --> 00:22:13.482
He was very aware
of what was happening.

00:22:16.692 --> 00:22:18.933
McGRATH:
Hank was cast as the villain,

00:22:18.937 --> 00:22:21.822
because both in personality
and size,

00:22:22.984 --> 00:22:26.832
he was, like, larger
than, than the others.

00:22:31.601 --> 00:22:34.102
NARRATOR:
The prosecution painted a
picture of the 38th Street group

00:22:34.106 --> 00:22:36.812
as ruthless killers,
with Hank as their leader.

00:22:41.622 --> 00:22:44.525
When the 38th Street kids
took the stand,

00:22:44.529 --> 00:22:47.914
they told a different story.

00:22:50.158 --> 00:22:52.900
They said they were driving
around that night

00:22:52.904 --> 00:22:55.144
looking for the boys who had
attacked Hank and his girlfriend

00:22:55.148 --> 00:22:57.469
earlier that evening.

00:22:57.473 --> 00:23:00.295
HADDA BROOKS (on recording):
♪ To dance where gypsies play ♪

00:23:00.820 --> 00:23:04.524
(car doors opening and shutting)

00:23:04.548 --> 00:23:07.109
♪ And let our hearts both sway ♪

00:23:07.113 --> 00:23:10.374
♪ Down in that dim cafe... ♪

00:23:10.399 --> 00:23:14.222
NARRATOR:
As they approached the party,

00:23:14.246 --> 00:23:17.249
two of the girls found José Díaz
lying in the shadows.

00:23:17.693 --> 00:23:21.356
He had been beaten and stabbed.

00:23:21.380 --> 00:23:24.964
PAGAÁN:
Blood is streaming down
from both sides of his face.

00:23:24.988 --> 00:23:27.811
There's blood coming
also out of his, his mouth.

00:23:27.815 --> 00:23:30.656
He's breathing quite,
quite shallow.

00:23:30.680 --> 00:23:33.542
And this is when they find him,

00:23:33.546 --> 00:23:36.407
already unconscious,
before the fight breaks out.

00:23:36.731 --> 00:23:40.596
NARRATOR:
As the girls attended to José,

00:23:40.620 --> 00:23:43.623
Hank and his friends
went on the attack.

00:23:43.866 --> 00:23:47.248
(glass shatters)

00:23:50.039 --> 00:23:52.801
(lightbulb shattering)

00:23:54.366 --> 00:23:57.209
(glass breaking)

00:23:57.213 --> 00:23:59.033
When the brief fight broke up,

00:23:59.037 --> 00:24:00.455
the girls helping José
were pulled away.

00:24:00.459 --> 00:24:03.986
One of the boys spotted Díaz
on the ground and hit him.

00:24:04.787 --> 00:24:08.892
The defendants admitted that one
of their group had struck Díaz,

00:24:08.916 --> 00:24:12.803
but under oath, they denied any
responsibility for his death.

00:24:14.888 --> 00:24:18.776
BROOKS:
♪ Darling, I love you so ♪

00:24:20.458 --> 00:24:23.826
♪ That's my desire ♪

00:24:24.828 --> 00:24:29.092
NARRATOR:
Though never charged in
connection with the murder,

00:24:29.116 --> 00:24:31.718
the girls from 38th Street
were portrayed in the press

00:24:31.722 --> 00:24:34.422
as every bit as dangerous
as the boys.

00:24:34.446 --> 00:24:38.030
ELIZABETH ESCOBEDO:
It was plastered
all over the papers

00:24:38.054 --> 00:24:40.977
that girls took part
in this murderous foray

00:24:40.981 --> 00:24:44.202
the night that José Díaz
was killed.

00:24:44.226 --> 00:24:46.628
And that was a huge part
of the story,

00:24:46.632 --> 00:24:48.893
that women were actually on the
streets fighting with boys.

00:24:48.897 --> 00:24:52.883
NARRATOR:
Eight girls were called
to testify by the prosecution.

00:24:54.006 --> 00:24:57.894
One after another,
they refused to cooperate.

00:24:58.816 --> 00:25:02.342
One of them was Lorena Encinas.

00:25:06.712 --> 00:25:09.453
She knew who killed José Díaz,

00:25:09.457 --> 00:25:12.199
but she would not reveal
her secret.

00:25:19.256 --> 00:25:23.000
The trial dragged on
for three months.

00:25:23.024 --> 00:25:26.792
Hank Leyvas's mother remained
hopeful throughout the process.

00:25:27.072 --> 00:25:31.602
LUPE LEYVAS:
My mother always thought that
because her son was not guilty,

00:25:32.963 --> 00:25:36.548
that no matter what they do,

00:25:36.572 --> 00:25:38.753
at the end, they're going
to be released,

00:25:38.757 --> 00:25:40.415
because they didn't have
anything to do with the killing.

00:25:42.984 --> 00:25:45.987
NARRATOR:
On January 12, 1943,
the jury announced its verdict.

00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:52.900
McGRATH:
When the jury came in
and the verdict was read...

00:25:52.905 --> 00:25:55.706
(gavel banging echoes)

00:25:55.730 --> 00:25:58.010
The expression on the faces
of the defendants

00:25:58.015 --> 00:26:00.660
were of horror.

00:26:06.190 --> 00:26:10.454
LUPE LEYVAS:
The mothers were all huddled
together there,

00:26:10.478 --> 00:26:13.201
and I was there with them.

00:26:13.205 --> 00:26:15.646
Most of them
didn't speak English.

00:26:15.650 --> 00:26:18.151
There was, I think,
only two that spoke English.

00:26:18.155 --> 00:26:21.862
So we were quickly trying
to translate to them

00:26:22.462 --> 00:26:25.950
what had happened.

00:26:27.954 --> 00:26:30.857
NARRATOR:
17 defendants were found guilty.

00:26:30.861 --> 00:26:34.422
Hank Leyvas was sentenced
to life.

00:26:34.446 --> 00:26:38.093
RUDY LEYVAS:
Hank had kind of expected
that they would be found guilty.

00:26:40.700 --> 00:26:44.122
And he picked his head up,

00:26:44.146 --> 00:26:46.627
where a lot of them just dropped
their head down

00:26:46.632 --> 00:26:48.692
and, and looking to the,
to the floor.

00:26:48.696 --> 00:26:51.277
But he just picked his head up,
like he knew this was coming.

00:26:52.322 --> 00:26:56.290
My brother Hank knew
it was going to come, yeah.

00:27:00.098 --> 00:27:02.780
YNOSTROZA:
Some of the guys were in tears,
you know.

00:27:02.784 --> 00:27:05.345
And me and Hank Leyvas
would tell them,

00:27:05.349 --> 00:27:07.630
"Buckle up, you suckers,
you men.

00:27:07.634 --> 00:27:09.714
Be a man, stop crying,"
you know.

00:27:09.718 --> 00:27:12.159
(chuckles)

00:27:12.163 --> 00:27:14.043
And we were hurting, too,
you know,

00:27:14.047 --> 00:27:15.506
but we weren't
trying to show it.

00:27:15.510 --> 00:27:17.008
We were trying to be machos,
you know, and all that,

00:27:17.012 --> 00:27:18.512
but a lot of guys were crying.

00:27:21.340 --> 00:27:25.404
NARRATOR:
The boys were sent
to San Quentin prison,

00:27:25.428 --> 00:27:28.692
400 miles from home.

00:27:28.716 --> 00:27:32.258
They weren't the only ones
who would do time.

00:27:32.282 --> 00:27:35.786
The girls from 38th Street
were taken from their families

00:27:35.810 --> 00:27:39.191
and made wards of the state.

00:27:39.215 --> 00:27:42.221
In a legal process that provided
neither jury nor trial,

00:27:42.543 --> 00:27:46.551
they were sent away
to an infamous reform school.

00:27:50.478 --> 00:27:52.860
ESCOBEDO:
The Ventura School for Girls
at this time

00:27:52.864 --> 00:27:55.529
is really a very
repressive institution--

00:27:58.094 --> 00:28:01.436
one that's custodial,

00:28:01.460 --> 00:28:03.862
and disciplinary procedures
completely rival

00:28:03.866 --> 00:28:06.366
the state prisons of the time.

00:28:06.390 --> 00:28:10.253
Young women would go
to very drastic measures

00:28:10.277 --> 00:28:12.779
in order to escape going
to the Ventura School for Girls

00:28:12.783 --> 00:28:15.284
because of its bad reputation.

00:28:15.288 --> 00:28:17.990
There were women
at the juvenile hall

00:28:17.994 --> 00:28:21.156
who knew that they were going
to be ultimately sentenced

00:28:21.180 --> 00:28:24.281
to the Ventura School,

00:28:24.305 --> 00:28:26.406
and they were swallowing
safety pins the night before

00:28:26.410 --> 00:28:28.836
in order to get out of it.

00:28:31.240 --> 00:28:33.781
NARRATOR:
With the secret she held,

00:28:33.786 --> 00:28:36.126
Lorena Encinas
could have made a deal.

00:28:36.130 --> 00:28:39.335
But she refused.

00:28:43.665 --> 00:28:45.746
THEODORE ENCINAS:
My mother's reason
for being there

00:28:45.750 --> 00:28:48.329
was for the mere reason

00:28:48.353 --> 00:28:50.836
that she failed to cooperate
with the courts

00:28:50.840 --> 00:28:52.479
and divulge the information
that they wanted her to,

00:28:52.483 --> 00:28:55.184
to name all the names
of the people involved.

00:28:58.494 --> 00:29:02.599
NARRATOR:
During all the time she served
at Ventura,

00:29:02.623 --> 00:29:06.389
Lorena kept details about
José Díaz's murder to herself.

00:29:17.411 --> 00:29:20.434
While the 38th Street boys
did time in San Quentin,

00:29:20.458 --> 00:29:23.705
prominent Los Angelenos were
working to get them released.

00:29:28.675 --> 00:29:30.716
Believing the boys had been
railroaded,

00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:32.540
Communists, intellectuals,
and Hollywood celebrities,

00:29:32.544 --> 00:29:35.225
like Orson Welles
and Rita Hayworth,

00:29:35.229 --> 00:29:38.430
lent their names

00:29:38.454 --> 00:29:41.457
to the newly formed
Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee.

00:29:43.304 --> 00:29:45.666
I went to
the Beverly Hills Hotel.

00:29:45.670 --> 00:29:47.750
They said I had to go speak.

00:29:47.754 --> 00:29:50.114
She says, "Bring...

00:29:50.118 --> 00:29:52.078
Bring some clothes,
we'll pick you up."

00:29:52.082 --> 00:29:54.102
Well, I went as I dressed,

00:29:54.107 --> 00:29:57.491
with my knee-high white socks
and my very short black skirt.

00:30:02.703 --> 00:30:04.824
They picked me up and we went
to Rita Hayworth's house.

00:30:04.828 --> 00:30:07.609
And Rita Hayworth said, "No, no,
no, you can't wear that.

00:30:07.633 --> 00:30:10.936
You can get one of my dresses."

00:30:10.960 --> 00:30:14.526
And my first formal belonged
to Rita Hayworth.

00:30:23.264 --> 00:30:25.485
NARRATOR:
Political activists also joined
the cause.

00:30:25.489 --> 00:30:28.530
McGRATH:
We had professional people,

00:30:28.554 --> 00:30:31.557
we had educators,

00:30:31.561 --> 00:30:34.563
we had, um, we had congressmen,

00:30:34.767 --> 00:30:38.494
we had a lot of union people.

00:30:42.663 --> 00:30:44.984
NARRATOR:
The committee's efforts
to portray the defendants

00:30:44.988 --> 00:30:46.968
as innocent victims

00:30:46.972 --> 00:30:48.732
paid off.

00:30:48.736 --> 00:30:50.334
Money to fund an appeal came in
from across the country.

00:30:50.338 --> 00:30:53.781
Prominent members of the
committee visited the boys

00:30:53.805 --> 00:30:57.509
to reassure them
they would not be forgotten.

00:30:57.533 --> 00:31:00.876
YNOSTROZA:
And Anthony Quinn told us,
"Don't worry.

00:31:00.900 --> 00:31:03.762
"We're going to beat this
on appeal, yeah.

00:31:03.766 --> 00:31:06.466
You were railroaded."

00:31:06.470 --> 00:31:08.832
And he says,
"I'm behind you guys."

00:31:10.680 --> 00:31:14.086
NARRATOR:
In the months following the
trial, the city grew more tense.

00:31:15.208 --> 00:31:19.152
Skirmishes between sailors
and zoot-suiters became

00:31:19.176 --> 00:31:22.278
a daily occurrence.

00:31:22.302 --> 00:31:25.205
MARIETTA LEE:
The pachucos would intimidate
people.

00:31:25.209 --> 00:31:28.111
They would walk down the street,
five abreast,

00:31:28.314 --> 00:31:31.817
and if you walked around them,

00:31:31.841 --> 00:31:34.704
they would laugh or stick
their hand out and hit you.

00:31:34.708 --> 00:31:38.631
After a while, you got so you'd
go down the side streets

00:31:38.655 --> 00:31:41.717
instead of confronting them.

00:31:41.741 --> 00:31:44.664
A lot of them were from Mexico.

00:31:44.668 --> 00:31:47.489
They didn't speak English.

00:31:47.493 --> 00:31:49.754
They didn't adhere to our laws.

00:31:49.758 --> 00:31:52.119
They weren't even geared up
for the war effort.

00:31:54.448 --> 00:31:57.090
NARRATOR:
On June 3, 1943,

00:31:57.094 --> 00:31:59.233
the city exploded.

00:31:59.237 --> 00:32:01.458
PAGAÁN:
As a group of service personnel

00:32:01.462 --> 00:32:03.664
were passing
a group of civilian youth,

00:32:03.668 --> 00:32:05.768
one young man raised his hand
in a manner

00:32:05.772 --> 00:32:08.393
that one of the sailors thought
was threatening.

00:32:08.397 --> 00:32:11.078
(men squabbling)

00:32:11.082 --> 00:32:13.322
One of the sailors turned around

00:32:13.326 --> 00:32:15.326
and grabbed the arm
of a young civilian,

00:32:15.330 --> 00:32:17.170
and from that point,
this, the fight broke out.

00:32:17.174 --> 00:32:19.194
It seemed that both sides were
primed for confrontation,

00:32:19.198 --> 00:32:21.984
and the street seemed to explode
in a fight.

00:32:22.184 --> 00:32:26.072
In the process, the sailor had
his jaw broken,

00:32:26.392 --> 00:32:29.855
he was knocked unconscious,

00:32:29.879 --> 00:32:32.300
and his buddies were, had
to drag him back to, uh,

00:32:32.304 --> 00:32:34.785
to the armory.

00:32:34.809 --> 00:32:37.090
(chains rattling)

00:32:37.094 --> 00:32:38.934
NARRATOR:
Later that night,

00:32:38.938 --> 00:32:40.698
a group of sailors
armed with belts and clubs

00:32:40.702 --> 00:32:42.902
left the Naval Armory
and headed downtown.

00:32:43.466 --> 00:32:46.994
The Zoot Suit Riots had begun.

00:32:48.116 --> 00:32:52.020
BRAY:
We had a, uh,
a commanding officer.

00:32:52.044 --> 00:32:54.946
And he told the guys,
he said, "Okay, men."

00:32:54.950 --> 00:32:57.310
He said, "We've had it."

00:32:57.314 --> 00:32:58.774
So he went, the guys
from the armory,

00:32:58.778 --> 00:33:00.836
they got out the gun belts

00:33:00.860 --> 00:33:03.122
and wrapped them around their,
their hands,

00:33:03.126 --> 00:33:05.187
and down they went,
cleaned up town.

00:33:05.191 --> 00:33:07.592
I was in the theater downtown,

00:33:07.596 --> 00:33:09.836
and watching a movie.

00:33:09.840 --> 00:33:13.302
All of a sudden,
the lights went on,

00:33:13.326 --> 00:33:16.048
and you hear a lot of noise,
commotion.

00:33:16.052 --> 00:33:18.372
A lot of, a lot of guys yelling
or something.

00:33:18.376 --> 00:33:21.478
Now, you turn around,

00:33:21.503 --> 00:33:23.604
and you see these servicemen

00:33:23.608 --> 00:33:25.708
beating the heck
out of all these Mexicans.

00:33:27.914 --> 00:33:32.220
GLORIA RIOS BERLIN:
And there was a fight
not just with fisticuffs,

00:33:32.244 --> 00:33:35.106
but some of them had chains.

00:33:35.110 --> 00:33:37.572
So what I did is,
I dived underneath the counter

00:33:37.576 --> 00:33:40.356
and stayed there and,
you know,

00:33:40.380 --> 00:33:43.162
protected myself,
because it became very wild.

00:33:43.166 --> 00:33:45.907
It was like a movie set.

00:33:47.896 --> 00:33:49.916
NARRATOR:
Among the victims in the theater
were 12- and 13-year-old boys,

00:33:49.958 --> 00:33:53.543
beaten by American servicemen

00:33:53.567 --> 00:33:56.509
because of the clothes
they wore.

00:33:56.514 --> 00:34:00.116
I know a lot of them
came back happy,

00:34:00.140 --> 00:34:02.682
a lot of the guys,
the Americans--

00:34:02.686 --> 00:34:04.485
they came back happy.

00:34:04.489 --> 00:34:05.788
(chains rattling)

00:34:05.792 --> 00:34:08.172
NARRATOR:
The following night,

00:34:08.196 --> 00:34:10.597
hundreds of sailors took
the fight beyond downtown

00:34:10.601 --> 00:34:13.004
and into the heart of L.A.'s
oldest Mexican neighborhood.

00:34:14.047 --> 00:34:17.991
SAÁNCHEZ:
The servicemen would cross
the river

00:34:18.015 --> 00:34:20.918
and head into communities
like Boyle Heights,

00:34:20.922 --> 00:34:23.262
and then other parts
of East Los Angeles,

00:34:23.266 --> 00:34:25.628
to seek out
Mexican American youth

00:34:25.632 --> 00:34:27.872
that were no longer ending up
in downtown Los Angeles

00:34:27.876 --> 00:34:30.137
at theaters and, and bars.

00:34:30.141 --> 00:34:32.541
So as the riot
played itself out,

00:34:32.546 --> 00:34:35.024
there had to be a lot more
sort of search and destroy--

00:34:35.048 --> 00:34:37.971
to use a military metaphor.

00:34:37.975 --> 00:34:40.475
And that's where you get

00:34:40.479 --> 00:34:43.061
the real movement
into East Los Angeles.

00:34:45.270 --> 00:34:47.732
NARRATOR:
Once in the barrio, sailors
broadened their attack

00:34:47.736 --> 00:34:50.136
beyond Mexican boys
in zoot suits.

00:34:50.140 --> 00:34:53.687
Any Mexican in their path
was a potential target.

00:34:57.735 --> 00:35:01.076
SAÁNCHEZ:
The way the riots develop

00:35:01.100 --> 00:35:04.103
is very much attached to what
the notion of a zoot suiter was.

00:35:04.308 --> 00:35:08.252
The notion of a zoot suiter
was always racialized,

00:35:08.276 --> 00:35:11.819
even though Mexicans were not

00:35:11.843 --> 00:35:13.984
the only people
wearing zoot suits.

00:35:13.988 --> 00:35:15.648
So a riot that first was aiming
at individuals

00:35:15.652 --> 00:35:18.793
because of their dress

00:35:18.817 --> 00:35:20.818
becomes a more expansive
sort of riot

00:35:20.822 --> 00:35:23.081
aimed at a particular
racial population:

00:35:23.105 --> 00:35:25.808
Mexican Americans.

00:35:25.812 --> 00:35:28.433
(crowd clamoring)

00:35:35.169 --> 00:35:38.172
NARRATOR:
It didn't take long for the kids
from the barrios to organize

00:35:38.176 --> 00:35:41.438
and fight back.

00:35:41.462 --> 00:35:43.824
RUDY LEYVAS:
There was an alley
behind this theater

00:35:43.828 --> 00:35:45.808
and a lot right next to it.

00:35:45.812 --> 00:35:48.092
And it was just jammed.

00:35:48.096 --> 00:35:50.416
So we was waiting,
it was already getting dark.

00:35:50.420 --> 00:35:53.082
So then about 20, 20 or 30 guys
come out in the street,

00:35:53.767 --> 00:35:57.751
so that when the sailors come,
they could see them.

00:35:57.775 --> 00:36:00.638
And as soon as they went
out there,

00:36:00.642 --> 00:36:02.861
here comes those truckloads--

00:36:02.866 --> 00:36:04.645
truckloads of sailors
and civilians.

00:36:04.649 --> 00:36:07.030
And they let out a cry, "There
they are, there they are!"

00:36:07.034 --> 00:36:10.215
And they came in.

00:36:10.239 --> 00:36:12.641
Well, as they came in,

00:36:12.645 --> 00:36:14.444
once they got all the way in,
we all came out.

00:36:14.448 --> 00:36:16.750
(people shouting)

00:36:16.754 --> 00:36:19.214
I myself had a bat
and I used it.

00:36:20.218 --> 00:36:23.545
And there was people hurt
on both sides.

00:36:25.267 --> 00:36:29.212
SANETTI:
We were fisticuffing,
and, you know,

00:36:29.236 --> 00:36:31.658
and kicking and biting
and scratching.

00:36:31.662 --> 00:36:34.042
And I got a couple of
good blows, knocked me down.

00:36:34.046 --> 00:36:35.999
They took me back to the base

00:36:36.001 --> 00:36:37.101
and put me in sick bay
overnight.

00:36:37.104 --> 00:36:39.901
And the next morning, I went
back to doing my normal duties.

00:36:39.904 --> 00:36:41.562
But I had two good shiners.

00:36:42.066 --> 00:36:44.446
At nighttime they came.

00:36:44.450 --> 00:36:45.929
At nighttime, right?

00:36:45.933 --> 00:36:46.991
At nighttime they came.

00:36:46.995 --> 00:36:48.273
So we just disappear, right?

00:36:48.278 --> 00:36:49.996
Disappear.

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:51.580
But then we found out

00:36:51.584 --> 00:36:52.862
that the best thing to do
to get even with them

00:36:52.866 --> 00:36:55.687
is watch them
on Whittier Boulevard,

00:36:55.711 --> 00:36:58.714
and when there was four
or five guys riding in a car,

00:37:00.882 --> 00:37:04.425
and we would follow them

00:37:04.449 --> 00:37:06.650
until they had to come
to the boulevard, stop,

00:37:06.654 --> 00:37:08.253
and there'd be another car
in front of them.

00:37:08.257 --> 00:37:09.976
We'd run out there,
open one door,

00:37:09.980 --> 00:37:12.102
and start pounding the hell
out of the driver's door

00:37:12.106 --> 00:37:14.486
and get, get him out.

00:37:14.490 --> 00:37:16.710
And then beat the hell
out of the other guys, right?

00:37:16.714 --> 00:37:18.614
(people talking in background)

00:37:18.618 --> 00:37:21.099
NARRATOR:
On the fifth day of the riots,

00:37:21.123 --> 00:37:24.126
5,000 civilians showed up
to assist the sailors.

00:37:24.810 --> 00:37:28.633
LEE:
My brother was only
14 years old.

00:37:28.657 --> 00:37:31.660
I was 16 at the time,
but I did drive.

00:37:31.743 --> 00:37:35.207
And we got my mother's car,

00:37:35.231 --> 00:37:38.234
and we went to El Toro
and picked up Marines.

00:37:42.285 --> 00:37:44.706
Los Angeles was like a war zone

00:37:44.710 --> 00:37:46.590
and we had to do something
about it.

00:37:46.594 --> 00:37:49.056
The pachucos had just
taken over.

00:37:50.741 --> 00:37:54.725
I felt that I was doing my share
for the war effort.

00:37:54.749 --> 00:37:57.892
(chains rattling)

00:37:57.916 --> 00:38:00.919
NARRATOR:
The kids fighting the sailors
were not entirely on their own.

00:38:04.529 --> 00:38:07.111
RUDY LEYVAS:
There's this man I never knew,
I never seen him before.

00:38:07.115 --> 00:38:09.696
And he says, "Are you guys
coming to fight sailors?"

00:38:09.820 --> 00:38:13.123
And I says, "Yeah."

00:38:13.147 --> 00:38:15.368
He said, "I have a car here,
it's full of gas."

00:38:15.372 --> 00:38:17.971
And at that time,
the gas was rationed.

00:38:17.995 --> 00:38:20.497
"Take it, use it.

00:38:20.501 --> 00:38:22.621
"When you get through,
just leave the keys in it.

00:38:22.626 --> 00:38:25.127
Put it anyplace on Central
Avenue and I'll pick it up."

00:38:25.131 --> 00:38:28.713
And he says,
"All I want you to do

00:38:28.737 --> 00:38:31.740
is get one of them white guys
for me."

00:38:35.030 --> 00:38:38.033
NARRATOR:
By week's end,

00:38:38.037 --> 00:38:40.537
the Zoot Suit Riots were making
headlines across the country.

00:38:43.247 --> 00:38:46.629
Thousands of Marines,
soldiers, and sailors

00:38:46.653 --> 00:38:49.556
from as far away as Las Vegas

00:38:49.560 --> 00:38:51.920
arrived in
the City of the Angels,

00:38:51.924 --> 00:38:54.386
pitching to clean up the town.

00:38:57.035 --> 00:39:00.038
Mexican American kids
were overwhelmed.

00:39:01.884 --> 00:39:04.206
In a ritual repeated
across the city,

00:39:04.210 --> 00:39:06.309
servicemen stripped them
of their clothes

00:39:06.313 --> 00:39:09.115
and burnt the garments
on the streets.

00:39:09.139 --> 00:39:12.142
(people shouting)

00:39:15.027 --> 00:39:18.999
PAGAÁN:
The L.A.P.D. hangs back during
this entire confrontation--

00:39:19.116 --> 00:39:22.619
about a week of rioting--

00:39:22.643 --> 00:39:25.306
never taking the offensive
in trying to stop the riot,

00:39:25.310 --> 00:39:28.271
and only showing up

00:39:28.295 --> 00:39:30.756
after the rioting servicemen
have swept through an area.

00:39:30.760 --> 00:39:32.780
And they show up only to arrest
the victims of riot

00:39:32.784 --> 00:39:36.071
and throw them into jail.

00:39:41.881 --> 00:39:44.863
SANETTI:
The shore patrol would naturally
come out right away,

00:39:44.868 --> 00:39:47.509
because they were patrolling
like regular policemen.

00:39:47.513 --> 00:39:50.355
And they'd come
to break up a fight

00:39:50.379 --> 00:39:52.880
and they'd take these pachucos,
they'd--

00:39:52.884 --> 00:39:54.724
if they could catch them, if
they didn't run away, you know--

00:39:54.728 --> 00:39:56.628
and they'd catch them
and throw them in the jeep

00:39:56.632 --> 00:39:59.193
and put them in the paddy wagon
and take them to jail.

00:40:01.561 --> 00:40:03.942
With the sailors,
they'd put us in the jeep,

00:40:03.946 --> 00:40:06.307
take us a couple of blocks away,

00:40:06.312 --> 00:40:08.932
and tell us to get back to our
ship or get back to the station.

00:40:08.936 --> 00:40:12.319
None of the sailors
ever got arrested.

00:40:12.343 --> 00:40:15.166
You tell me one of the sailors
that got arrested

00:40:15.170 --> 00:40:17.389
for beating the hell
out of somebody, huh?

00:40:17.394 --> 00:40:19.794
(people shouting)

00:40:24.308 --> 00:40:28.230
SAÁNCHEZ:
Within four or five days,
L.A. officials realized,

00:40:28.254 --> 00:40:32.199
"This could move us
out of control--

00:40:32.223 --> 00:40:34.744
out of control
in a wartime society."

00:40:34.748 --> 00:40:37.272
It could, in fact,
lead to much greater problems

00:40:37.793 --> 00:40:41.681
if servicemen kept disobeying
their superiors

00:40:42.043 --> 00:40:45.705
and going down
into these communities.

00:40:45.729 --> 00:40:48.031
And that's why it stops.

00:40:48.035 --> 00:40:49.814
(shouting, sirens blaring)

00:40:49.818 --> 00:40:52.299
NARRATOR:
On June 8, 1943,
military authorities,

00:40:52.383 --> 00:40:56.247
in consultation
with civic leaders,

00:40:56.271 --> 00:40:59.274
declared the city off-limits
to servicemen.

00:40:59.557 --> 00:41:03.324
The rioting
ended soon afterwards.

00:41:06.330 --> 00:41:09.333
(sirens fading)

00:41:12.763 --> 00:41:15.999
The following day, the city
council adopted a resolution

00:41:16.002 --> 00:41:17.999
banning the wearing
of zoot suits

00:41:18.002 --> 00:41:19.202
on L.A. streets.

00:41:20.523 --> 00:41:22.262
Wearing the suit in public
was punishable

00:41:22.266 --> 00:41:24.628
by a 30-day jail term.

00:41:28.175 --> 00:41:31.158
Stores that sold the suits

00:41:31.162 --> 00:41:33.441
quickly moved to distance
themselves from the style

00:41:33.446 --> 00:41:35.829
that had become
a symbol of rebellion.

00:41:38.515 --> 00:41:41.358
SAÁNCHEZ:
Mexican American youth, I think,
were taught in World War II

00:41:41.362 --> 00:41:45.129
that they could not simply
choose by themselves

00:41:46.410 --> 00:41:50.355
the way that they
would express themselves.

00:41:50.379 --> 00:41:53.561
They simply couldn't choose
what they could wear;

00:41:53.585 --> 00:41:56.328
they simply couldn't choose
who they could be;

00:41:56.332 --> 00:41:58.412
that this was not a society

00:41:58.416 --> 00:42:00.496
that allowed for that kind
of freedom of expression

00:42:00.500 --> 00:42:02.940
for these particular youth.

00:42:02.944 --> 00:42:04.999
And that's a very
painful lesson.

00:42:06.001 --> 00:42:08.302
It's a very painful lesson

00:42:08.306 --> 00:42:10.266
when one hears the rhetoric
of "Americans all,"

00:42:10.270 --> 00:42:13.713
the rhetoric
of American promise,

00:42:13.737 --> 00:42:16.740
open to all sorts of immigrants,
all sorts of people.

00:42:23.011 --> 00:42:27.195
NARRATOR:
As the riots subsided, the
governor ordered the creation

00:42:27.219 --> 00:42:30.883
of a citizens' committee.

00:42:30.907 --> 00:42:33.929
Its charge was to investigate
and determine

00:42:33.953 --> 00:42:37.078
the cause of the riots.

00:42:38.503 --> 00:42:41.466
Ironically, prison life had
sheltered the 38th Street boys

00:42:41.470 --> 00:42:44.875
from the worst mob violence
in Los Angeles history.

00:42:45.157 --> 00:42:49.165
With Hollywood stars
still working on their behalf,

00:42:49.604 --> 00:42:53.108
the kids got special treatment.

00:42:53.132 --> 00:42:56.515
YNOSTROZA:
We used to have
what the guards used to eat.

00:42:56.539 --> 00:43:00.041
Their food, not prison food--
their food.

00:43:00.065 --> 00:43:03.249
You know, steaks, pork chops,
milk, ice cream, cake.

00:43:03.273 --> 00:43:06.575
Everything.

00:43:08.623 --> 00:43:10.643
NARRATOR:
Unlike the other boys, Hank
Leyvas refused to play along.

00:43:10.887 --> 00:43:14.791
His resistance to authority
earned him a stint

00:43:14.815 --> 00:43:17.818
at California's dreaded
Folsom prison.

00:43:22.831 --> 00:43:26.215
(crank winding)

00:43:26.239 --> 00:43:28.459
The locking of the doors,
he wrote,

00:43:28.463 --> 00:43:30.683
left him with a lonesome,
empty feeling.

00:43:31.493 --> 00:43:33.734
"You are standing up
to the iron door,

00:43:33.738 --> 00:43:35.617
"waiting for the guard to
come along and take the count.

00:43:37.122 --> 00:43:39.767
"Listening as his footsteps
fade away in the distance,

00:43:41.811 --> 00:43:45.313
you realize that you are alone."

00:43:45.337 --> 00:43:48.340
(slamming door echoes)

00:43:51.673 --> 00:43:53.854
As the months passed, Leyvas
grew increasingly resentful.

00:43:58.803 --> 00:44:02.227
Finally, in November of 1943,

00:44:02.251 --> 00:44:05.254
defense attorneys
filed an appeal

00:44:05.258 --> 00:44:07.638
with the California
Second District Court

00:44:07.642 --> 00:44:10.023
claiming their clients
had been denied a fair trial.

00:44:15.757 --> 00:44:19.725
A year passed before
a decision was handed down.

00:44:20.407 --> 00:44:24.391
By this time, Hank and
the others had been locked up

00:44:24.415 --> 00:44:27.418
for more than two years.

00:44:31.549 --> 00:44:35.413
McGRATH:
I sent a telegram
to San Quentin,

00:44:35.437 --> 00:44:38.443
care of Henry Leyvas,
to tell all the guys,

00:44:38.723 --> 00:44:42.451
saying, "Appeal successful..."

00:44:43.533 --> 00:44:47.156
I've forgotten
what else it said,

00:44:47.181 --> 00:44:49.962
but I know that it ended,
"Oh, what a wonderful morning."

00:44:52.871 --> 00:44:55.094
YNOSTROZA:
We couldn't believe it at first,
you know what I mean?

00:44:55.118 --> 00:44:56.118
Like, it was like a shock.

00:44:56.844 --> 00:44:58.804
And one of the guys told me,

00:44:58.808 --> 00:45:00.407
he says, you know, "This guy's
got a barrel of homemade brew

00:45:00.411 --> 00:45:02.771
buried in the ground."

00:45:04.275 --> 00:45:07.538
And we felt like celebrating,
you know.

00:45:07.562 --> 00:45:10.364
So we dug it up

00:45:10.368 --> 00:45:12.569
and we got drunk, that night,
in the barracks over there.

00:45:12.573 --> 00:45:15.273
And the officers came,
you know--

00:45:15.297 --> 00:45:17.619
well, they weren't officers,
they were, like, supervisors--

00:45:17.623 --> 00:45:19.623
and the head guy, the warden,
told them,

00:45:19.627 --> 00:45:22.087
"As long as they
don't fight nobody, you know,

00:45:22.091 --> 00:45:24.251
"don't cause no problems,
leave them alone.

00:45:24.256 --> 00:45:26.376
Leave them alone,"
you know?

00:45:26.380 --> 00:45:27.522
And we drank that whole barrel,
yeah.

00:45:29.188 --> 00:45:31.309
NARRATOR:
In October of 1944,

00:45:31.313 --> 00:45:33.434
Hank Leyvas and the other boys
were set free.

00:45:37.404 --> 00:45:39.725
Ever defiant,
Hank Leyvas walked out

00:45:39.729 --> 00:45:41.969
of the Los Angeles
Hall of Justice

00:45:41.973 --> 00:45:44.736
wearing a zoot suit.

00:45:46.340 --> 00:45:49.640
The court ruled

00:45:49.664 --> 00:45:51.786
that Judge Fricke had committed
serious errors in the trial

00:45:51.790 --> 00:45:53.790
and threw out the verdict,

00:45:53.794 --> 00:45:56.555
but the court did not clear
the 38th Street boys

00:45:56.559 --> 00:45:59.902
of the murder charge.

00:45:59.926 --> 00:46:03.469
Although L.A. authorities
declined to retry the case,

00:46:03.493 --> 00:46:06.820
the Sleepy Lagoon murder haunted
Hank and the others for life.

00:46:10.302 --> 00:46:14.367
LUPE LEYVAS:
It stopped him
from going in the service,

00:46:14.392 --> 00:46:17.234
which is the thing
that he wanted so bad.

00:46:17.238 --> 00:46:20.298
He'd already signed
in to the Merchant Marine.

00:46:20.322 --> 00:46:23.005
He'd already had a trial run.

00:46:23.009 --> 00:46:25.571
And he was in uniform.

00:46:25.575 --> 00:46:27.457
And, um, and it didn't happen.

00:46:28.645 --> 00:46:31.648
All this happened and, and it
just broke his, his future.

00:46:40.068 --> 00:46:42.529
NARRATOR:
José Díaz was dead,

00:46:42.533 --> 00:46:44.995
and his killer
got away with murder.

00:46:45.199 --> 00:46:49.207
Those who had information
weren't talking in 1942.

00:46:52.535 --> 00:46:54.756
JUDY TORRES-PRESTON:
My mom did know who
the murderer of José Díaz was,

00:46:54.760 --> 00:46:57.241
but she kept it to herself.

00:46:57.265 --> 00:47:00.268
And she refused to cooperate
with the authorities.

00:47:03.597 --> 00:47:06.600
NARRATOR:
Decades passed
before the truth emerged.

00:47:09.088 --> 00:47:11.549
Toward the end of her life,

00:47:11.553 --> 00:47:13.413
Lorena Encinas at last
shared her secret

00:47:13.417 --> 00:47:15.678
about Sleepy Lagoon.

00:47:16.682 --> 00:47:19.544
TORRES-PRESTON:
My mother admitted to me

00:47:19.548 --> 00:47:22.089
that the reason that she

00:47:22.093 --> 00:47:23.873
kept that secret
from the authorities

00:47:23.877 --> 00:47:25.796
was that it was
her brother Louie

00:47:25.800 --> 00:47:28.482
who was involved in the murder.

00:47:30.769 --> 00:47:33.191
She kept it to herself because
she was not the type of person

00:47:33.195 --> 00:47:35.876
that would snitch,
so to speak, on anyone else.

00:47:35.900 --> 00:47:39.066
And she also was trying
to protect my Uncle Louie.

00:47:44.555 --> 00:47:48.018
NARRATOR:
Lorena claimed that her brother
Louie was at the party

00:47:48.042 --> 00:47:51.168
before the 38th Street kids
arrived,

00:47:51.689 --> 00:47:55.577
but had been thrown out
for causing problems.

00:47:58.623 --> 00:48:01.365
Later that night,

00:48:01.369 --> 00:48:03.209
as José Díaz and two companions
left the party,

00:48:03.213 --> 00:48:05.517
they were met by an angry
Louie Encinas and his friends.

00:48:06.559 --> 00:48:10.022
In the fight that followed,

00:48:10.046 --> 00:48:13.049
José Díaz was stabbed
and left to die.

00:48:17.140 --> 00:48:20.122
A short time later,

00:48:20.127 --> 00:48:23.049
Hank Leyvas and his friends
arrived at the party.

00:48:32.331 --> 00:48:35.633
Louie Encinas was picked up

00:48:35.657 --> 00:48:38.500
in the dragnet following
the Sleepy Lagoon murder,

00:48:38.504 --> 00:48:41.265
but was let go by police.

00:48:41.269 --> 00:48:44.171
Years later,
Encinas committed suicide.

00:48:52.130 --> 00:48:55.914
In 1943,
the citizens' committee

00:48:55.938 --> 00:48:59.080
investigating
the Zoot Suit Riots

00:48:59.104 --> 00:49:01.525
issued its report.

00:49:01.529 --> 00:49:03.911
It condemned the role played
by the press and by the L.A.P.D.

00:49:03.915 --> 00:49:07.721
and determined race to be
a central cause of the riots.

00:49:08.884 --> 00:49:13.012
At the same time, the mayor
came to his own conclusion.

00:49:13.733 --> 00:49:17.902
"The riots," he said, "were
caused by juvenile delinquents.

00:49:22.189 --> 00:49:25.192
Race was not a factor."

00:49:27.841 --> 00:49:31.024
The Sleepy Lagoon Defense
Committee was powerless

00:49:31.048 --> 00:49:33.911
to help the 38th Street girls.

00:49:33.915 --> 00:49:37.276
They remained wards of
the California Youth Authority

00:49:37.300 --> 00:49:40.303
until they reached
21 years of age.

00:49:41.990 --> 00:49:45.477
Lorena Encinas died in 1991.

00:49:51.569 --> 00:49:54.952
As Hank Leyvas and the other
boys walked out of prison,

00:49:54.976 --> 00:49:58.503
a guard remarked,
"They'll be back."

00:50:00.265 --> 00:50:03.489
He was right.

00:50:03.513 --> 00:50:07.255
Hank Leyvas and many
of the other boys

00:50:07.279 --> 00:50:10.282
grew tragically familiar
with prison life.

00:50:15.056 --> 00:50:19.144
Hank, the symbolic zoot suiter,
died in an East L.A. bar

00:50:20.427 --> 00:50:23.673
in 1971.

00:50:23.874 --> 00:50:27.882
The Sleepy Lagoon murder
remains officially unsolved.