Kent Kane Parrot

Kent Kane Parrot (c. 1882 - March 11, 1956) was an American political figure and attorney who was considered the "boss" of municipal politics in Los Angeles, California, in the 1920s.

Kane was a native of Kennebunkport, Maine, the son of a wealthy family. In 1905, he married his third cousin, Mary O'Hara. They had a son, Kent Kane Parrot, Jr., and a daughter who died of cancer in childhood. Following the end of their marriage, O'Hara worked as a Hollywood screenwriter; her most noted work was My Friend Flicka.

Parrot moved with O'Hara to Los Angeles in 1907, where Parrot attended USC Law School. He was reported to have been a star football player while a student at USC. Parrot received his law degree in 1909 and was admitted to the bar, but he found his talent as a deal-maker with tremendous people skills. He was described as a big man, approximately 6 feet 2 inches (188 cm), with a "magnetic personality".

Parrot became active in local politics, and in 1921 he teamed up with George E. Cryer, an assistant district attorney who had prosecuted public corruption cases. Parrot saw Cryer as a good choice for a mayoral candidate and suggested to Cryer that he run, with Parrot as his campaign manager. In 1921, the Cryer-Parrot team defeated the incumbent Mayor Meredith P. Snyder. Cryer's campaign promised to close the "dens of vice", and attacked Snyder as being corrupt and unfit to be mayor. The Los Angeles Police Commissioner sent a telegram to the newspapers before the election asking, "Shall crime and protected vice continue, or will the voters and taxpayers elect George E. Cryer mayor?"

Though Cryer had been elected to office as a reformer who would eliminate public corruption, Cryer's administration became the target of corruption charges. During Cryer's eight years as mayor from 1921 to 1929, Parrot became known for his wielding of power behind the scenes. Shortly after his election, Cryer appointed Parrot to the Board of Public Service Commission, but the City Council rejected the appointment by a 7 to 2 vote. Instead, Parrot remained in the background.

It was widely written that Cryer was a figurehead and that Parrot was the "de facto mayor" who ran the Harbor Commission and the Los Angeles Police Department, even transferring personnel without consulting the city's police chief. Cryer was sometimes referred to as "Parrot's Puppet", and the city government in the 1920s was said to be controlled by the "Parrot-Cryer machine". From his position of influence in city government, Parrot became associated with the city's vice king, Charles H. Crawford, and its bootlegging czar, Tony Cornero and Albert Marco. Though discreet in public, Parrot reportedly socialized with the city's criminal leaders at his private apartment at the city's newest opulent hotel, the Biltmore.

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