The Sleepy Lagoon Mystery

The Sleepy Lagoon Mystery was a cause celebre of Chicano mistreatment in Los Angeles, and was one of the earliest examples of political involvement by the Mexican American community in the city.

Sleepy Lagoon was a water reservoir in East Los Angeles, and it was there that a young boy named Jose Diaz on August 2, 1942, fell asleep on the road after getting drunk. He was either run over accidentally. or as the police believed, killed in a turf war between two rival gangs.

There followed a round-up and arrest of 300 Chicano youths; 12 were convicted of murder and 5 were convicted of assault. All of the verdicts were overturned on appeal.The treatment of Mexican Americans in this case remained a black eye for law enforcement, the media, and the city for many years.

References:

Dimitroff, James S. The 1942 Sleepy Lagoon Murder: Catalyst for Mexican-American Militancy in Los Angeles. Los Angeles: J.S. Dimitroff.
California State Library

Endore, S. Guy. The Sleepy Lagoon Mystery. San Francisco: A and E Research Associates, 1972.
Doheny Book Stacks; Law KF224S53.E5A72

Greenfield, Alice. The Sleepy Lagoon Case: A Pageant of Prejudice. Los Angeles: Citizen's Committee for the Defense of Mexican-American Youth, 1942.
UCLA

McWilliams, Carey, "Second Thoughts," The Nation 228(April 7, 1979), 358.

Servin, Manuel. The Mexican-Americans: An Awakening Minority. Beverly Hills: Glencoe, 1970.
Doheny Book Stacks; Leavey; Social Work E184.M5S4