Sinatra

by Anthony Summers

  130 Luciano release/exile/arrival in Cuba: (released from prison) There was prolonged controversy as to whether the mobster’s release was a reward for using his influence to help the Allied cause during World War II. An exhaustive study by Rodney Campbell, drawing on the official postwar investigation of alleged collaboration between U.S. Naval Intelligence and the Mafia, concluded flatly that Luciano did help. Governor Thomas E. Dewey, who commuted the mobster’s sentence—and whose work as U.S. attorney had put Luciano in jail in the first place—publicly acknowledged the cooperation (Campbell, refs., and see Eisenberg, Dan, and Landau, 180–); (Lercara Friddi) Eisenberg, Dan, and Landau, 228, Gosch and Hammer, 295–, “Summary of Information re Lucania,” Jan. 12, 1947, LLBN; (associates) Eisenberg, Dan, and Landau, 166, 174, Miami Herald, Feb. 24, 1947, Gosch and Hammer, 242, 245, and see chapter 5; (Rome) Gosch and Hammer, 304; (in contact/plotting) Siragusa to Oliva, and attached memo, Jun. 13, 1951, LLBN, “Activities of Top Hoodlums,” Dec. 12, 1958, FBI 92-632-515; (agreed Lansky) Olivera to Williams, Mar. 21, 1947, J. Ray Olivera (Bureau of Narcotics) Papers, courtesy of Olivera family, Eisenberg, Dan, and Landau, 228, 232, Gosch and Hammer, 306; (arrived Havana/connivance) Luciano report summaries, 16–, LLBN, Olivera to Williams, Mar. 21, 1947, J. Ray Olivera Papers, Commissione Parliamentare D’Inchiesta Sul Fenomeno Della Mafia in Sicilia, vol. 4, pt. 2, 1209; (a steady stream) “Parties Participating in the Meeting with Luciano in Cuba, 1947,” Luciano report summaries, 37, White to Anslinger, Feb. 5, 1951, and Siragusa to Anslinger, Feb. 19, 1951, LLBN; (“The guys”) Gosch and Hammer, 306.

  130 Rocco and Joe Fischetti/FS arrival Havana: According to columnist Lee Mortimer, the three men traveled on Pan Am Flight 447 and their names were listed together on the passenger manifest. Sinatra is recognizable in the photograph, and according to Mortimer law enforcement officials identified the Fischetti brothers from file pictures. The identification has never been contested, and Sinatra himself acknowledged having traveled with the Fischettis. Another image, seen by attorneys for the Senate Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in 1951, showed him with a Fischetti brother to each side of him. The still frame has not been published since 1952, when it appeared in American Weekly— the authors obtained an original copy of the magazine at the Library of Congress. Some sources have suggested Sinatra was with the mobsters in Havana as early as December 1946, as opposed to early February 1947. Sinatra’s known movements suggest he could have been in Cuba in December but, unless he made two visits, the authors see no way to reconcile the two versions. On the evidence, including a photograph in the Havana Post recording Sinatra’s arrival on February 11 and the dating of the contemporary reporting from Havana of Robert Ruark, the authors place the trip in February (photograph—American Weekly, Jul. 27, 1952; Mortimer on flight/identification—Mortimer to Westbrook Pegler, Sep. 26, 1947, attached to John F. Kelly to Pegler, Nov. 30, 1960, and undat. note re Royal News newsreel, and undat. letter Mortimer to Pegler—all in Box 73, Pegler Papers; Sinatra acknowledgment—American Weekly, Jul. 27, 1952; another image—transcript, Joseph Nellis interrogation of FS for Kefauver Committee, Mar. 1, 1951, published in Gallery, Sep. 1978, and Hank Messick with Joseph Nellis, The Private Lives of Public Enemies, New York: Dell, 1973, 234; December visit—Eisenberg, Dan, and Landau, 232–, Gosch and Hammer, 306–; Sinatra arrival photo—Havana Post, Feb. 12, 1947; Ruark—Washington News, Feb. 20, and memo, Ruark to Lee Wood, Feb. 25, 1947, Robert Ruark Papers).

  130–31 Ruark article: New York World-Telegram, Feb. 20, 1947. Ruark was first with the story only in the United States. The news that Luciano was in Havana had broken first in the Cuban weekly El Tiempo en Cuba (Tiempo en Cuba, Feb. 9, 16, Mar. 2, [NY] Sunday News, Feb. 26, 1947).

  131 FS version of Havana: (“Any report”) (NY) Sunday News, Feb. 23, New York World-Telegram, Feb. 24, 1947.

  131 Fischetti fleetingly/“run into”: American Weekly, Jul. 27, 1952. According to his daughter Nancy, in her book Legend, Sinatra would later dismiss his own bylined article in American Weekly— which deals with the Cuba matter—as “crap” made up by the magazine’s editors (Sinatra, Legend, 104). See note re “Most of my troubles,” p. 452.

  131–32 Kefauver: transcript, Joseph Nellis interrogation of FS for Kefauver Committee, Mar. 1, 1951, published in Gallery, Sep. 1978, int. Joseph Nellis, undat. Alfred Klein article, pt. 2, George White Papers, Stanford University, Messick with Nellis, 234. In 1951, after hearing some 800 witnesses, the Kefauver committee concluded that there was indeed “a national crime syndicate known as the Mafia.” (Summers, Official & Confidential, 228–); (“not an ounce”) FS testimony, Nevada State Gaming Control Board, Feb. 11, 1981; (Evans) int. George Evans, Apr. 12, 1948, LLBN; (already intended) Joseph Nellis interrogation, and see Hedda Hopper int. of FS, Chicago Tribune–NY News syndicate, undat. 1947 draft, MHL; (Nevada) FS testimony, Nevada State Gaming Control Board, Feb. 11, 1981; (“I was brought up”) New York World-Telegram, Feb. 24, 1947; (“I dropped by”) Hedda Hopper int. of FS, Chicago Tribune–NY News syndicate, undat. 1947 draft, MHL; (“I was invited”) American Weekly, Jul. 27, 1952; (FS on Immerman) ibid., transcript, Joseph Nellis interrogation of FS for Kefauver Committee, Mar. 1, 1951, published in Gallery, Sep. 1978, Messick with Nellis, 234–; (FS on Gross) Miller to Hundley, Jan. 22, 1964, and attached memorandum, Jan. 3, 1964, Organized Crime and Racketeering Section, Criminal Division, Department of Justice, FS testimony, Nevada State Gaming Control Board, Feb. 11, 1981; (companion explained) transcript, Joseph Nellis interrogation of FS for Kefauver Committee, Mar. 1, 1951, published in Gallery, Sep. 1978— companion was Gross; (knew no mobsters/Luciano’s reputation) Kelley, 394.

  132 FS and Fischettis: (visiting mother) “Memorandum re Frank Sinatra,” Feb. 26, 1947, FSFBI, “Indices Search Slip,” Mar. 28, 1955, FBI NY 100-80275; (Vernon Country Club) Chicago Sun, Jan. 16, 1948; (in touch with Joe) “Summary Memorandum,” Sep. 29, 1950, FSFBI, “Indices Search Slip,” Mar. 28, 1955, FBI NY 100-80275; (car dealership) int. Joseph Nellis; (“had a financial interest”) “Summary Memorandum,” Sep. 29, 1950, FSFBI.

  132 Cuba evidence: (FBI and Bureau of Narcotics had agents/had known Luciano) Legal Attaché Havana to Director, Mar. 26, 1954, FBI 88-3277-2256, Olivera to Williams, Mar. 21, 1947, J. Ray Olivera Papers, “Summary of Information re Lucania,” Jan. 12, 1947, and Luciano reports summary, 2–, 7–, 12, 23, 80, 92, and notes for Olivera, Mar. 27, 1947, LLBN; (elevator/phone operators) Frederic Sondern Jr., Brotherhood of Evil, New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1959, 115; (Luciano on eighth floor) Dania Perez Rubio, Hotel Nacional de Cuba, Havana: Editorial José Martí, 1999, 16.

  132 Frank on seventh floor: Mortimer to Pegler, Sep. 1947, Box 73, Pegler Papers. The recollection of the former Hotel Nacional employee interviewed in 2004— full name Jorge Miguel Jorge Fernandez—was that Luciano, too, was registered as using a suite not on the eighth floor but on the seventh and actually used rooms on the second floor—for security reasons, as explained later in the text. His bodyguards used the suite on the upper floor (int. Jorge Jorge by PITV).

  132 “While in Havana”: Luciano reports summary, 37, LLBN. Bruce Cabot, named in White’s report, was a friend of FS. A character actor who specialized in tough-guy roles, he was a veteran of World War II intelligence operations in Europe— including Sicily—and reportedly a “brawling roisterer” (Sinatra with Coplon, 136, Cabot entry at entertainment.msn.com/celebs, Lee Server, Robert Mitchum: “Baby, I Don’t Care,” London: Faber and Faber, 2002, 123); (Moretti in Cuba) “General Crime Survey,” Jul. 15, 1951, FBI 94-419, Peterson, The Mob, 248.

  133 FS would sue: Modern Screen, May 1947. The authors found no indication that the suit went forward—it was almost certainly dropped. Ruark reported that he arrived in Havana while Sinatra was still in town, and got his initial tip from a senior executive at the Hotel Nacional; (“I was told”/“I wouldn’t advise”/“ not to file”) Ruark to Wood, Feb. 25, 1947, Robert Ruark Papers; (Immerman background) NYT, Oct. 25, 1967, Oliv
era to Williams, Mar. 21, 1947, J. Ray Olivera Papers, Luciano reports summary, 18, LLBN.

  133–34 “Sanchez threw a party”/“through a series of disastrous mistakes”: As did several accounts of the events in Havana, and probably to preempt a lawsuit, Sondern’s 1959 book said only that the party had been given in honor of “a well-known Broadway and Hollywood star.” In the circumstances, and in light of Ventura’s letter to Ruark, this could refer to no one but Sinatra. The authors have not identified the Emilio Sanchez reported to have thrown the party (“Sanchez threw”—Ventura to Ruark, Mar. 17, 1947, Robert Ruark Papers, Sondern, 115–; “a well-known”—Sondern, 115–); (informant/planeload) “Summary Memo on Frank Sinatra,” Mar. 1, 1955, FBI LA 100-41713-4.

  134 photographs/Kefauver staff confronted FS: int. Joseph Nellis, Kelley, 159, M/G int. of Joseph Nellis. The Sinatra/Luciano photographs did exist—once. A report in the FBI’s Sinatra file indicates that by the mid-1950s they had been “stolen from the files of the Kefauver Crime Investigation.” Other material also vanished (“File Review & Summary Check,” Mar. 9, 1962, FBI LA 100-41413, ed. José Lizardo, Records of the Senate Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, 1950–51, Washington, DC: National Archives, 1959, 5).

  134 “We would come”: int. Jorge Jorge by PITV.

  134–35 money to Luciano: (developments/narcotics) Luciano reports summary, 5–, 20, 35–, Luciano Files, LLBN, Eisenberg, Dan, and Landau, 233; (cash to Havana) ibid., 233, 251—the “Lansky associate” was Joseph Stacher, Luciano reports summary, 36–, 92, LLBN, Gosch and Hammer, 307, 312–, int. Joseph Nellis; (Dempsey) Luciano reports summary, 14, 37, LLBN; (Fischettis $2 million) Robinson to Olney, Kefauver Committee, Sep. 15, 1950, Alpha Names Files, “Sinatra, Frank,” Kefauver Committee Files, NA, “Supplemental Correlation Summary,” Feb. 25, 1969, FSFBI, report re Frederick J. Tenuto, Apr. 22, 1954, FBI 88-13277, Wall Street Journal, Aug. 19, 1968, int. Joseph Nellis; (allegationin press) New American Mercury, Aug. 1951; (Luciano denied) undat. article by Kefauver Associate Counsel Alfred Klein, pt. 2, George White Papers; (“Picture me”) American Weekly, Jul. 27, 1952, and see transcript, Joseph Nellis interrogation of FS for Kefauver Committee, Mar. 1, 1951, published in Gallery, Sep. 1978.

  135 FS took up painting?: According to Nancy Sinatra, her husband hit on the idea of taking up painting, and rushed out to purchase art supplies, during the shooting of his movie The Kissing Bandit. Bandit did not start shooting until mid-May 1947, three months after Sinatra’s trip to Havana (hit on the idea—“My Life with Frank Sinatra,” article draft by Marva Peterson, Jul. 21, 1947, and see Movie Show, ms. by Lynn Peters, Jul. 31, 1947, MHL, and see intro. Tina Sinatra, A Man and His Art, refs.; Bandit shoot—AFI catalog details supplied by MHL); (“If you can find”) FS testimony, Nevada State Gaming Control Board, Feb. 11, 1981, FS testimony, Nevada State Gaming Commission, Feb. 19, 1981; (Mailer) NYT, Feb. 16, 1981, authors’ corr. Norman Mailer, 2003; (Lewis and FS) int. Jerry Lewis, Sinatra, Legend, 177; (Moretti wedding) Paterson ( NJ) Call, Sep. 22, 1947; (knew Fischettis) int. Jerry Lewis, Tosches, 156, 162–.

  135 “had to do with the morality”: int. Jerry Lewis. Former policeman and New York Crime Committee investigator William Gallinaro said he learned of Sinatra’s courier role in 1947 from a Cuban police contact. As reported in another chapter, Sinatra’s friend Brad Dexter later saw a briefcase containing a huge sum in cash. Sinatra told him he was at the time involved in moving cash to and from Mafia operations in connection with the 1960 election campaign (ints. William Gallinaro, Brad Dexter).

  135–36 purpose of meeting/Siegel: (FS performed) int. Jorge Jorge by PITV; (“Luciano was very fond”) Eisenberg, Dan, and Landau, 233; (Siegel on agenda) ibid., 237–, Katz, 157–, Gosch and Hammer, 315–; (Siegel background)“Final Report of the Special Crime Study Commission on Organized Crime,” Sacramento, CA: State of CA, May 11, 1953, 22, Jennings, refs., Sifakis, 302; (Flamingo) W. R. Wilkerson, The Man Who Invented Las Vegas, Beverly Hills, CA: Ciro’s Books, 2000, 99, 104; (Fischettis contributed) report re Rocco Fischetti, Feb. 14, 1963, FBI 92-3915, “Re Joseph Fischetti,” Jul. 16, 1957, FBI 92-96512; (FS exploring plans) Las Vegas Review-Journal, Jul. 31, 1946, HollywoodCitizen-News, Apr. 3, 1946, “Correlation Summary,” Jun. 8, 1964, and Rosen to Director, Feb. 26, 1947, and attached memo, FSFBI; (Siegel had complained)“Summary Memorandum,” Sep. 29, 1950, and “Correlation Summary,” Jun. 8, 1964, FSFBI; (trying to get FS at opening) “Memorandum re Frank Sinatra,” Feb. 26, 1947, FBI O & C File 139, “Summary Memo on Frank Sinatra,” Mar. 1, 1955, LA 100-41413; (sentenced) Eisenberg, Dan, and Landau, 238, Katz, 158, Gosch and Hammer, 317–, 328; (Fischetti directed?) ibid., 318.

  136 “We were with a couple”: int. Shirley Ballard. Siegel famously cultivated Hollywood stars, and initially Sinatra is said to have had a “natural respect” for him. A Bureau of Narcotics report placed him in Siegel’s circle, with Lana Turner. Siegel’s associate Allen Smiley said he knew Sinatra well, and at one point Sinatra rented an apartment in the same building as Smiley, at 8358 Sunset Boulevard. Los Angeles mobster Mickey Cohen said Sinatra was a friend, a claim corroborated by FBI reports (“natural respect”—David Thomson, In Nevada, New York: Knopf, 1999, 64; Narcotics Bureau and Siegel circle—Luciano reports summary, LLBN; Turner—Crane, 65, Rose, 105–; Smiley—“Summary Memorandum,” Sep. 29, 1950, and “Correlation Summary,” Jun. 8, 1964, FSFBI; apartment— “Summary Memo on Frank Sinatra,” Mar. 1, 1955, FBI LA 100-41413; Cohen— Davidson, 20, Mickey Cohen with John Peer Nugent, Mickey Cohen, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1975, 85–, 228, Rosen to Director, Feb. 26, 1947, attached memo, and “Summary Memo on Frank Sinatra,” Mar. 1, 1955, FSFBI); (syndicate had taken over) Wilkerson, 111, Reid, 222, Lait and Mortimer, 203.

  136 Luciano/FS relationship: (denied “was ever asked”) Gosch and Hammer, 312, and see Washington Daily News, Feb. 24, 1947, Parade, Jan. 12, 1964; (FS insisted) American Weekly, Jul. 27, 1952.

  136–37 Luciano after Cuba: (shipped back) Anslinger and Oursler, 105–, Anslinger draft ms., Box 4, File 3, Harry Anslinger Papers, University of Pennsylvania, Director to Legal Attaché, Rio de Janeiro, Mar. 25, 1947, FBI 39-2171-110; (in Italy) Anslinger and Oursler, 107–, Luciano reports summary, 22, LLBN, Commissione Parliamentare D’Inchieta Sul Fenomeno Della Mafia in Sicilia, vol. 4, pt. 1, 405–, and vol. 4, pt. 2, 1393.

  137 cigarette case/lighter: (“When Italian police”) undat. column, ca. Sep. 1949, Alpha Names Files, “Sinatra, Frank,” Kefauver Committee Files, NA; (Anslinger’s papers) Anslinger draft ms., Box 4, File 3, Harry Anslinger Papers; (later article) New American Mercury, Aug. 1951—piece was by Lee Mortimer; (no “gift”) American Weekly, Jul. 27, 1952, and see FS testimony, Nevada State Gaming Commission, Feb. 19, 1981; (“a few presents”) Gosch and Hammer, 312; (Rizzo background) Gosch and Hammer, 418–.

  137 “I had a gold lighter”: int. Adriana Rizzo. Official documents in Italian archives show that Luciano’s brother Bartolo did come from the United States to deal with the Mafia boss’s estate after his death. He apparently evicted Adriana Rizzo, allowing her to remove only her personal effects (Rapporto Sulle Operazioni Di P.G., 1446, Commissione Parliamentare D’Inchiesta Sul Fenomeno Della Mafia in Sicilia, vol. 4, pt. 1, 377, and see L’Ora, Jan. 30, Giornale di Sicilia, Feb. 9, 1962, Gosch and Hammer, 449–).

  137 “large, gold cigarette case”: int. Fulvio Toschi, and research in Rapporto Sulle Operazioni Di P.G. “Lucky Luciano,” Rome: Nucleo Centrale Polizia Tributaria Della Guardia Di Finanza, Mar. 30, 1962, 1428. The information available to the authors, it will be noted, refers to a lighter inscribed to “Charlie” and a cigarette case inscribed to “Lucky.” Luciano was christened “Salvatore” but changed to “Charlie” in early adulthood after friends called him “Sal,” which he thought sounded effeminate. The “Lucky” tag was reportedly given him by fellow hoodlum Meyer Lansky, after Luciano narrowly escaped being killed. It has been said he later disowned the nickname—not least becaus
e he became unlucky when he was given a lengthy prison sentence. Sources suggest associates used both “Charlie” and “Lucky.” The columnist Leonard Lyons, who interviewed Luciano in 1953, noted the initials C.L. on a lighter the mobster was using then. Martin Gosch and Richard Hammer reported in their 1974 Luciano book that Italian police noted various personal items, including a gold cigarette case with a Sinatra inscription, during a search of Luciano’s Naples apartment just days before his death (“Charlie”/“Lucky”—Sciacca, Luciano, 50, 87–, 168, Gosch and Hammer, 16, 109, 119, 148, Wolf with DiMona, 83, Katz, 88; C.L.—Esquire, Apr. 1953; police noted—Gosch and Hammer, 444, ints. Adriana Rizzo and Fulvio Toschi).

  137 Luciano knew FS’s address: The record indicates there were two separate address book seizures. The Anslinger document dates the seizure to “after Luciano’s arrival in Italy in February of 1946.” A 1949 report shows there was certainly a seizure in July 1949. Address lists are attached to both documents, and Sinatra appears in both lists—listed with his Toluca Lake, California, address. Numerous differences between the two lists are consistent with separate transcriptions at different times. There is a somewhat surprising reference in the 1946 document, however, to the simultaneous seizure of Luciano’s lover Igea Lissoni’s address book—and sources conflict as to whether the couple had become an item as early as 1946. Sinatra resided at the Toluca Lake address from spring 1944 to summer 1949 (Anslinger document—White to Anslinger, Feb. 5, 1951, LLBN; Lissoni—Sondern, 117, Gosch and Hammer, 335; other bureau documents—Luciano reports summary, 29, Manfredi “Affidavit” and attached address book entries, Nov. 21, 1952, and “Memorandum to District Supervisors,” Aug. 15, 1949, LLBN, “Summary Information re Lucania,” Jan. 12, 1947, J. Ray Olivera Papers; FS at Toluca Lake—Sinatra, Legend, 60, 91).