Bomb explosion awakens mob boss

Aug. 2, 1949: “Mobster Mickey Cohen, yellow pajamas flapping and pistol in hand, sprang from his bed ... when an explosion rocked his West Los Angeles neighborhood,” The Times reported.

In a driveway across the street from Cohen’s house, police found a hole 8 inches wide and 3 inches deep that seemed to be the result of a homemade bomb.

Cohen had recently returned home from the hospital, where he had been recuperating from a shotgun wound received in a gangland ambush on the Sunset Strip, The Times reported.

Since his return, the newspaper said, “practical jokers have plagued the neighborhood.” Police quickly deemed the explosion a prank, not another attempt on Cohen’s life.

The $3,000 “electric eye” warning system Cohen had installed at his house did no good, he told police and the press: “I thought it was a nightmare. The dogs didn’t even bark and the radar didn’t go off.”