City of Demons: Old Los Angeles and the Wild West's Greatest Manhunt

Set against the backdrop of violent old Los Angeles comes the thrilling story of one of the largest manhunts in Wild West history: the deadly pursuit and capture of the criminal gang, the Manillas.

In October 1856, a young horse thief named Juan Flores escaped from San Quentin, a high security prison in the San Francisco Bay that housed the most infamous rogues of the Gold Rush. Joined by a dozen other convicts, Flores journeyed south across California’s mountainous terrain. The gang became known as Las Manillas—“The Handcuffs”—engaging in robberies and attacks that quickly earned them a reputation for ruthlessness.

Three months after Flores’s escape, the Manillas killed Los Angeles Sheriff James Barton, and panic ignited in the small frontier town. A posse assembled to capture the outlaws, consisting of American cowboys armed with six-shooters, Californio riders carrying medieval lances, and Native scouts. Thus began the greatest manhunt California had ever seen.

Drawing from newspaper archives, primary sources, and historical accounts, Andrew Dubbins details the riveting chase for Juan Flores and his Manillas across the crime-infested streets of early Los Angeles and the fading world of the Californio ranchos. Not only a pulse-pounding thriller, City of Demons is a poignant exploration of the interplay of justice and revenge, the struggle for land and power, the clash of cultures, and the brutalities of a bygone era, one that shaped the modern identity of Los Angeles and America.