Gangster Squad being adapted by Warner Bros.

According to Variety, Warners’ has nabbed the rights to a seven-part series by the L.A. Times, called Tales From the Gangster Squad, and has attached Dan Lin to produce the upcoming film.

The series begins coverage in 1946, in a corrupt Los Angeles where gangsters flagrantly engaged in shootouts and drive-by shootings. In response, the LAPD formed what was called the Gangster Squad to keep East Coast Mafia out of the city. Its anything goes tactics lasted through the 1950s.

Writer Paul Lieberman began working on the series in 1992, when he received a call from a reader about another piece he had written about the LAPD’s Organized Crime Intelligence Division.

The articles follow the story of two cops, one a member of the Gangster Squad and the other forced out against his will, who were both obsessed with taking down L.A. mobster Mickey Cohen.

Dan Lin oversaw the development of the Oscar-winning The Departed, and is currently in production on Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr. He is also finishing up Terminator Salvation, the Robert Rodriguez film Shorts, and is prepping Justice League and The Karma Coalition for Warners.