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In August of 1919, he was indicted by the county grand jury and accused of falsely imprisoning Frank Alexander
Johnson and extorting him to secure his release, which was not the first of such accusations against him.
Interestingly, when Raymond’s case came to trial on September 10, 1918, Johnson was missing and could not
be located. Thus, the charges were dropped but Raymond was removed from his position on 21 October. By the
fall of 1919, he was back working as an L.A.P.D. special investigator, and by March of 1924 he was named chief of
detectives for the district attorney, however, after more allegations of mishandling the arrest of a wealthy resident,
Raymond resigned that position and returned to the department. In August of 1927, Raymond was involved in the
arrest of city councilman Carl Jacobson on a “morals charge”. Jacobson claimed to be framed in this case and in
November of 1928, the woman involved in the setup, Callie Grimes, admitted that was the case, with the grand jury
finding Raymond and another officer culpable in early 1929, demanding their resignations. Raymond returned to
private detective work for years until 5 June 1933, when he was very unexpectedly appointed as San Diego’s chief of
police, beating out his own rumors of ties to corruption, as well as several other more qualified candidates. Shortly
after, Raymond began the biggest shakeup in the department’s history, transferring over 100 officers to different
positions in an effort (supposedly) to combat corruption and racketeering in the city. Local newspapers were almost
immediately against Raymond, and their fervor only grew with several successive, high-profile raids. Just 90 days
after he was appointed, the San Diego city manager fired him. By 1936, he was back in Los Angeles working as a
private investigator for
an organization
called the
Citizens
Independent
Vice
Investigating
Committee
(CIVIC).
The organization and Raymond were striving to investigate and prove connections
between organized crime, the L.A.P.D., and L.A. city hall. In late 1937, a bankruptcy trial
was underway against a former police commissioner, who had connections to the political campaign of
the current mayor, with trails of money leading from both back to the criminal underworld of Los Angeles. It
was announced that Raymond would be called as a witness and would make some “startling statements about
local politics.” On 14 January 1938, Raymond entered his car in his locked garage and when he turned the ignition,
it exploded. Raymond was wounded over 150 times but survived and an investigation quickly discovered that
a secret “spy squad” of the L.A.P.D., which reported directly to Chief Davis and Mayor Shaw, had been spying on
Raymond and was responsible for the bombing. Earl Kynette, a former partner of Raymond’s was convicted and
the mayor was forced from office. He spent much of the rest of his life trying to keep Kynette behind bars. On 1
April 1957 Harry Raymond died at the age of 76, leaving behind a colorful law enforcement career that was deeply
intertwined with the organized crime and politics of Southern California. A copy of the book “The Long Winding
Road of Harry Raymond” by Patrick Jenning is included, which covers Raymond’s career and life, as well as some
other research collected by the consignor.
CONDITION: Excellent, retains 97% of the untouched, original nickel finish with a few scattered specks of light
flaking, a few patches of light frosting, and crisp engraving throughout. The grips are very fine with only the
slightest handling marks and a few spots of enamel loss within the carved monograms. Mechanically excellent. The
holster is fine with some mild wear, a torn retention strap, and some light age cracking.
B) Colt Police Positive Revolver - Serial no. 180725, 38 S&W cal., 5 inch round bbl., nickel finish, pearl grips. See “A”.
CONDITION: Excellent, retains 95% plus of the untouched original nickel finish with some scattered light flaking,
mostly near edges, and crisp engraving throughout. The grips are excellent with a
few light handling marks and retaining almost all of the enamel in the carved initials.
Mechanically excellent. The holster is very fine with mild wear, a partial tear on the
retention strap, and some age related cracking. An incredible documented pair of
very scarce, factory engraved, Colt Police Positive revolvers with monogrammed grips
attributed to real life Prohibition era L.A. detective and police chief Harry J. Raymond!
Estimate: 22,500 - 37,500
173
According to "The Colt Engraving Book Vol.
II" by R.L. Wilson, approximately 170 Colt
Police Positive Double Action Revolvers were
factory engraved between 1904 and 1943.
San Diego
Police Chief
Harry J.
Raymond