declared a citywide half-day holiday and urged city residents to fill the new Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to capacity for Olympic try-outs. By filling the Coliseum, Cryer sought to demonstrate the city's desire to host the Olympic games. Cryer led a parade of athletes into the Coliseum for an event that included a boxing exhibition by Jack Dempsey. Cryer was also an opponent of communism and the activities of the Industrial Workers of the World. On taking office in 1921, Cryer declared: "In this day of 'isms' and I.W.W. agitation, every enemy of our flag and country and institutions is carrying on this insidious propaganda of destruction, and it is, therefore, very necessary and proper that the forces of law and order should be alive, awake, and on guard." Allegations of corruption Though Cryer had been elected to office as a reformer who would eliminate public corruption, Cryer's administration became the target of corruption claims. Cryer defended his integrity against such charges and asserted when he left office that "Los Angeles is now the cleanest large city in the country, far superior to any city anywhere comparable in size." Some historical accounts indicate that Cryer was controlled by the city's political boss, Kent Kane Parrot, and a coterie of bootleggers and criminals, including "vice kingpin" Charles H. Crawford (a model for some of Raymond Chandler's villains). Indeed, the loosely organized crime syndicate operating within the city government became known as "the City Hall Gang" during the 1920s. Some have written that Cryer was a mere 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 with the city's police chief. Cryer's opponent in 1925 focused attention on Parrot's role in city government: "I ask, as I shall continue to ask through this campaign: 'Mr. Cryer, how much longer is Kent Parrot going to be the de-facto Mayor of Los Angeles'?" By 1927, the Los Angeles Times was openly critical of the relationship between Parrot and Cryer, referring to Cryer as Parrot's "personal mayor". Though the Times had been a strong backer of Cryer, the paper in 1927 published an editorial referring to the city government as "Our Local Tammany", a reference to Boss Tweed's Tammany Hall machine that controlled New York politics in the 19th Century. The article ignored Cryer and focused its attack on