Los Angeles is a west-coast destination at the center of suspicions that members of Cormac MacKay’s organization were moved in coordination with corrupt federal agents. The city also sits within a broader California trail that Scarlet O’Bannon follows as she investigates the possible links between FBI personnel, Mickey MacFarland, and unexplained money.

Los Angeles in the Men’s Transfer

Cormac tells Scarlet that a contact has said men in Los Angeles were connected with the feds. Scarlet considers one possible explanation: an agent may have arrested the men elsewhere and sent them to Los Angeles to keep the matter quiet. She has heard nothing confirming that account, so the city initially represents a lead rather than established proof of an FBI operation.

Cormac later sets the report within his theory of Mickey’s rise against his father. He reasons that Mickey could not have arranged for some of Cormac’s men to be sent to California and then moved against Cormac’s father without help from the FBI. This is Cormac’s assessment, not a conclusion Scarlet can yet verify; she stresses that procedure and evidence matter even when the suspected pattern seems persuasive.

The California Trail

During six days of investigation, Scarlet looks into agents she considers suspicious, with Max Smithson emerging as a principal focus. Her research finds that Smithson owns a yacht, an apartment, and a house in California, although he has no offices there. She also finds that he spends all his holiday time in California and has a brother employed in a low-ranking FBI position.

The California properties sharpen Scarlet’s suspicions because they appear alongside other unexplained assets. Smithson owns laundromats around town, but Scarlet can find no purchase history for them; the records make it seem as though they were bought with no money. These findings do not establish that Los Angeles itself is where the alleged corruption was arranged, but they make California part of the financial and travel pattern she is tracing.

Investigative Significance

Los Angeles links two strands of suspicion: the reported transfer of Cormac’s men and Scarlet’s investigation of Smithson’s California ties. Cormac sees the transfer as evidence that Mickey had federal backing, while Scarlet must weigh that claim against what she can substantiate through her own channels. Her inquiry turns the city from a distant rumor into one element of a wider pattern involving travel, property, and unexplained wealth, while leaving the alleged connection unresolved.