Sleepy Lagoon Case

The Murder

On the night of August 1, 1942, several people associated with the 38th Street Boys, including Hank Levyas and Dora Barrios, came to the lagoon for a bit of romance. Levyas was one of the oldest of the gang's members, and many of the others both feared and respected him. Barrios was his girlfriend.

As Levyas and Barrios sat in a car, a gang from a rival neighborhood in Downey attacked and beat them. Levyas was popular, and the rival gang had violated the unwritten rule against beating a girl. Levyas went to 38th Street and collected a gang of nearly 30 boys and girls. By the time they returned, the Downey gang was gone.

Sounds of a party given by Amelio and Angela Delgadillo drew the group's attention. Levyas was convinced that party attendees included the rival gang members who attacked him and Barrios. After converging on the Delgadillos’ house, the 38th Street gang members beat some of the partygoers for 10 minutes. When the fight was over, Jose Diaz lay on the ground, beaten and stabbed. He died later that night.

Diaz, Mexican-born but American reared, went to the party held that night by his friends the Delgadillos, immigrant workers on the ranch where he also lived. Although Diaz was a Mexican citizen and exempt from the draft, he had volunteered for the U.S. Army. Diaz was to join the army in a few days, so a party was in order. He felt drunk at about 1 a.m., left the party, and was attacked by parties unknown, stabbed in the stomach with an ice pick, and his pockets turned out. He was found shortly after by Betty Zeiss and Barrios and taken to the hospital, where he died 90 minutes later.

Cuthbert L. Olson, the Democratic governor of California, believed juvenile delinquency was out of control, and he used Diaz's death as justification for aggressive action. The governor's call for action led to a city crackdown with massive police-encouraged publicity and a sustained dragnet. After authorities tied Leyvas and the 38th Street gang to the crime scene, indictments and a trial followed.

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) rounded up more than 600 “zoot suiters,” mostly Mexican Americans, and the district attorney indicted Leyvas and 21 other members of the 38th Street Boys. The LAPD also jailed female members of the gang on suspicion of wrongdoing. With the exception of one person, all of the accused were Mexican American.

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