Jim Purcell
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"Diamond" Jim Purcell was the Chief of Police in Portland, Oregon during the 1950s. He was an associate of Jim Elkins, a Portland mob boss, and helped protect Portland's pinball racket and other organized crime activity in the city. Of course, every police and court official was familiar with and could be named an associate of Big Jim Elkins. In Portland, Oregon, the police are directly responsible to the mayor of the city and could not survive in office if they countered the mayor's wishes.
The character of Diamond Joe Quimby, mayor of the fictional town of Springfield on The Simpsons, created by Portland native Matt Groening, is loosely based on Purcell.
[edit] References
- MacColl, E. Kimbark, The Growth of a City: Power and Politics in Portland, Oregon 1915 to 1950. Portland
Georgian Press, 1979. ISBN 0-9603408-1-5
- Lansing, Jewell Beck, Portland: people, politics and power, 1851-2001, Oregon State University Press, 2003, ISBN 0-87071-559-3
