Whilst November 1963 was a terrible month, with global and long lasting repercussions, it wasn’t the only one that year. Six months earlier in March, a smaller, but no less fatal event took place that would plague the survivors for the remainder of their lives. In Los Angeles on the evening of March 9, recently assigned partners Ian Campbell and Karl Hettinger are on patrol when they see a car drive by. They instinctively feel that the passengers, Jimmy Lee Smith and Gregory Ulas Powell, are up to no good. Following behind, they notice that the light meant to illuminate the number-plate is broken and this smallest of matters lets them pull the car over. What follows is tragedy, and only three of the men live to see the dawn.

Interspersing the events of the night with stories from the men’s lives, this classic is far more than the generic ‘true crime’ label would imply.