S6 Ep6: The Murder That Sparked the Zoot Suit Riots

In August 1942, 22-year-old Jose Diaz was found dying near a Los Angeles reservoir called Sleepy Lagoon. He'd been beaten and stabbed the night before he was set to report to the U.S. Army. His death became the excuse the LAPD needed to launch a massive crackdown on Mexican American youth—rounding up 600 people, trying 22 young men with questionable evidence and igniting racial tensions that exploded into the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943. But who really killed Jose Diaz? And why did a fashion choice become a crime?

You can listen to S6 Ep6: The Murder That Sparked the Zoot Suit Riots online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

S6 Ep6: The Murder That Sparked the Zoot Suit Riots is an episode from Crimes of the Centuries.

This episode is 55:57 long.

This episode was published on Apr 6, 2026.

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