"Gangster Squad" and "Sin City 2": Upcoming Neo-Noir Releases:

"For Mickey Cohen, the desire to indulge—and bend the rules—meant more business. The first and most important part of it was gambling. Bookies were typically forced to pay $250 a week for the wire that provided racing results and a measure of protection. That added up. By one estimate, Bugsy Siegel’s bookie take during this period amounted to roughly $500,000 a year.(He also reputedly had a multimillion-dollar salvage business that trafficked in rationed goods as well as a rumored heroin supply route.) Mickey got only a sliver of this cash. However, other Siegel-Cohen enterprises were more than enough to make Mickey a wealthy man. Cohen would later boast that the two men’s loan-sharking operations “reached the proportions of a bank.” They also exercised considerable sway over the city’s cafes and nightclubs, lining up performers, arranging financing, and providing “dispute resolution services.” Mickey had his own operations as well, independent of Siegel. By far the most significant was the betting commission office he operated out of the back of a paint store on Beverly Boulevard. There Cohen handled big bets—$20,000, $30,000, even $40,000—from horse owners, agents, trainers, and jockeys who didn’t want to diminish their payouts by betting at the racetracks. Cohen also routinely “laid off” large bets to five or six commission offices around the country. On a busy day, this amounted to anywhere from $30,000 to $150,000, of which Mickey took a 2V2 to 5 percent commission. He also routinely used his insider knowledge to place bets himself.

He also opened a private club in a mansion in the posh Coldwater Canyon neighborhood, which stretches north from Beverly Hills to Mulholland Drive. There his guests—mainly denizens of the movie colony—could enjoy a good steak, listen to an attractive chanteuse (“who, when the occasion called for it, could also sing a song with a few naughty verses”), and enjoy games of chance at all hours of the night. -"L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City" (2010) by John Buntin

New Character Posters for Gangster Squad (2013) directed by Ruben Fleischer

Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling on the set of "Ganster Squad", September 20, 2011

“Los Angeles, 1949. Ruthless, Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) runs the show in this town, reaping the ill-gotten gains from the drugs, the guns, the prostitutes and—if he has his way—every wire bet placed west of Chicago. And he does it all with the protection of not only his own paid goons, but also the police and the politicians who are under his control. It’s enough to intimidate even the bravest, street-hardened cop… except, perhaps, for the small, secret crew of LAPD outsiders led by Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin) and Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), who come together to try to tear Cohen’s world apart.” Gangster Squad is set for release on 11th January, 2013, in the UK and US Source: heyguys.co.uk

Poster of "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For" (2013)

Jaime King and Jamie Chung have boarded Sin City 2, which began shooting on Monday in Austin. Robert Rodriguez is directing the movie with Frank Miller, the comic book icon who created the Sin City comics that were published by Dark Horse in the 1990s. Rodriguez and Miller teamed up for the stylish 2005 hit adaptation. Many of the original castmembers are returning for the sequel, including Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba and Rosario Dawson. (Rourke’s character Marv was killed by electrocution in the first movie but the Dame’s story takes place before and after that film’s events.)

King played the golden-haired prostitute Goldie in the first movie and returns to play her twin sister, Wendy. Chung is stepping into the heels worn in the first movie by Devon Aoki, the katana-wielding, roller-skating assassin Miho. The character plays a key role in helping Dwight locate the double-dealing Ava. Ava’s part, originally written for Angelina Jolie, is still unfilled.

And the part of Dwight remains a question mark. The character was played by Clive Owen in the first movie and sources say Owen is understood to be returning. But the character undergoes facial surgery and appears as a new man, thus the need for a new top-flight actor to play the reconstructed character. Also still uncast is a newly created character named Johnny, a smooth gambler. Source: www.hollywoodreporter.com