In April 1956, Portland Oregonian investigative reporters Wallace Turner and William Lambert exposed organized crime rackets and rampant corruption within Portland's law enforcement institutions. The biggest scandal involved Teamsters officials and the city's lucrative prostitution, gambling, and bootlegging operations. Turner and Lambert blew the cover on the Teamsters' scheme to take over alcohol sales and distribution and profit from these fringe enterprises. The Rose City was seething with vice and intrigue.

The expose and other reports of racketeering from around the...