Picturing the underbelly of Los Angeles from the 20s and 50s, showcasing corruption within the police force and the headline crime of the Black Dahlia – these photos will give you thrills.

From the bloody evidence of a murder spree that awaits processing at police headquarters, 1930 to detectives who hover over the body of actor Carole Landis, who, after a life of depression and failed marriages, overdosed on seconal in 1948, all these photos will give you the information you need about crime and corruption in L.A.

Check them out for more information and start to see our world through photos!

The bloody evidence of a murder spree awaits processing at police headquarters, 1930.
Photograph: Cliff Wesselmann/BL Press LLC/TASCHEN

A reluctant suspect and a police officer in 1934.
Photograph: Cliff Wesselmann/BL Press LLC/TASCHEN

James ‘Two Gun’ Davis was the emblem of LA police corruption, 1937.
Photograph: Cliff Wesselmann/BL Press LLC/TASCHEN

A group of prostitutes cover up after a vice squad raid at the Carolina Pines Restaurant on Melrose Avenue, 1957.
Photograph: Cliff Wesselmann/BL Press LLC/TASCHEN

Betty Rowland reclines on a sofa backstage at the Follies, 1938.
Photograph: Cliff Wesselmann/BL Press LLC/TASCHEN

A victim of a mad butcher, 1938.
Photograph: Cliff Wesselmann/BL Press LLC/TASCHEN

A detective examines a murder weapon, 1940.
Photograph: Cliff Wesselmann/BL Press LLC/TASCHEN

A bartender was slain in a Hollywood robbery gone awry, 1940.
Photograph: Cliff Wesselmann/BL Press LLC/TASCHEN

Detectives hover over the body of actor Carole Landis, who, after a life of depression and failed marriages, overdosed on seconal in 1948.
Photograph: Robert O’Ritchie/Jim Heimann Collection/TASCHEN