The Sinatra files_ the secret FBI Dossier Part 12

The informant advised that while at the club, both Sinatra and Raft lost heavily at the c.r.a.p table. Raft was heard to say that he had never seen a larger c.r.a.p game outside of Las Vegas or Reno, Nevada.

There is enclosed additional information concerning Frank Sinatra which may be of interest to you.

Enclosure February 10, 1961 FRANK SINATRA.

Sinatra was born December 12, 1915, or December 12, 1916, at Hoboken, New Jersey, and began his singing career in 1935. He has been married and divorced twice, the second marriage to actress Ava Gardner in 1951 ended in approximately two years.

In February, 1944, on the basis of an anonymous complaint alleging he had paid $40,000 to obtain a deferment, the FBI made inquiries concerning Sinatra's Selective Service status. These inquiries revealed that Sinatra's rejection for military service was in conformance with Selective Service regulations.

In 1955, the Bureau conducted investigation relative to possible false statements reportedly made by Sinatra in a pa.s.sport application with regard to members.h.i.+p in subversive organizations. This investigation developed no evidence of Communist Party or front organization members.h.i.+p other than 1946 members.h.i.+p in the Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions, which organization was cited by the California Committee on Un-American Activities as a communist front.

Information available reflects that Sinatra has reportedly been a.s.sociated with or lent his name to sixteen organizations which have been cited or described as communist fronts.

Information was received during the 1940's and 1950's which linked Sinatra's name as an a.s.sociate of well-known hoodlums, including Joseph and Rocco Fischetti, members of the Capone Gang; Willie Moretti, former underworld boss of Bergen County, New Jersey; and James Tarantino, an a.s.sociate of Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel.

A confidential source advised in June, 1958, that during the first part of that year when Sinatra was appearing at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, Sinatra was with Samuel M. Giancana, described as a notorious Chicago hoodlum, and accompanied him to the El Rancho Vegas, which is located in Las Vegas.

During a search of Giancana by Customs officers in Chicago, Illinois, during June, 1958, the notation "Sinatra, Office 5-4977, Home Crestview 4-2368" was found among his effects. Crestview 4-2368 is the private number for Frank Sinatra in Los Angeles, California.

A confidential source advised in August, 1958, that Joseph Fischetti, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin were driven from the Amba.s.sador East Hotel to the residence of Anthony Accardo, referred to as a notorious Chicago hoodlum, in River Forest, Illinois. At the Accardo residence, Martin and Sinatra gave a "command performance" for numerous Chicago hoodlums.

Based on information from a confidential informant that notorious hoodlums Vito Genovese, Thomas Lucchese and Samuel Giancana were at Atlantic City, New Jersey, as guests of Frank Sinatra, investigation was conducted in that city. It was ascertained that the Sinatra party rented the entire first floor of the Claridge Hotel in Atlantic City from July 25, 1959, to August 2, 1959. The presence of Genovese and Lucchese was not ascertainable but a hotel employee identified the photograph of Samuel Giancana as being in the hotel on several occasions as a visitor in connection with the Sinatra party. Notorious Chicago hoodlum Joseph Fischetti was also identified as being with Sinatra at the Claridge Hotel.

In July, 1959, it was reported Sinatra and singer Dean Martin flew to Miami, Florida, from the west coast to attend the wedding of the daughter of Chicago hoodlum Samuel M. Giancana. In November, 1959, an informant advised Giancana had taken over a theatrical booking and managing agency and that Sinatra was among the clientele of this agency.

[image]advised during September, 1959, that in[image] she went to Frank Sinatra's suite at the Hotel Fontainebleau, Miami Beach, Florida, in connection with efforts to sell him a painting. She said that among those present in the Sinatra suite was Joseph Fischetti and added that she a.s.sumed that it was common knowledge Fischetti and Frank Sinatra were close friends and that Sinatra had the "hoodlum complex." she went to Frank Sinatra's suite at the Hotel Fontainebleau, Miami Beach, Florida, in connection with efforts to sell him a painting. She said that among those present in the Sinatra suite was Joseph Fischetti and added that she a.s.sumed that it was common knowledge Fischetti and Frank Sinatra were close friends and that Sinatra had the "hoodlum complex."

[image]advised in January, 1960, that he had known Mickey Cohen, Los Angeles, California, hoodlum figure, for several years and had met Frank Sinatra through Cohen.

In March, 1960, a confidential source reported that Sinatra's company had contracted to hire Albert Maltz, one of the "Hollywood Ten," who was convicted of Contempt of Congress, to write the film script for the movie "The Execution of Private Slovik."

Files of the Identification Division of the FBI reveal that Frank Albert Sinatra, born December 12, 1915, or December 12, 1916, Hoboken, New Jersey, was arrested by the Sheriff at Hackensack, New Jersey, on November 26, 1938, and charged with seduction. This charge was dismissed on January 24, 1939.

Enclosed is a photograph which includes Sinatra which was found among the effects of James John Warjac, one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, at the time he was apprehended on July 22, 1960, at Los Angeles. The photograph shows Sinatra at a gambling table dealing "blackjack" in the Sands Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada. He is standing between Rudy Duran, a young movie actor, and Shearn Moody, Jr., a wealthy Texan, who are seated.

SIX.

SINATRA, THE KENNEDYS, AND THE MOB-THE ESTRANGEMENT "He made a donation to the campaign ... but was not getting his money's worth."

Not surprisingly, Robert Kennedy's princ.i.p.al initiative as attorney general was a crackdown on mobsters. Building on Hoover's "Top Hoodlum Program," the initiative would lead to even more aggressive tactics against Sam Giancana and his Chicago syndicate. That, of course, didn't sit well with the boss and his a.s.sociates, who were over-heard on hidden FBI microphones bitterly complaining that Sinatra and the Kennedys had failed to show sufficient grat.i.tude for their campaign support in West Virginia and in Illinois.

The Justice Department's war on organized crime had one significant unintended consequence-Hoover's discovery of evidence suggesting that the president was consorting with a lady friend of two of the attorney general's princ.i.p.al targets.

She was the same woman the New Orleans FBI office had mentioned several weeks after Jack Kennedy had met her in 1960, as re-counted early in chapter 5 chapter 5. Frank Sinatra had introduced Jack Kennedy to his former girlfriend, Judith Campbell (later Judith Exner), during a Rat Pack show at the Sands in Las Vegas on February 7, 1960. A while later, Sinatra also introduced Campbell to Giancana. She was also friendly with Johnny Roselli, Giancana's man in Hollywood and in Las Vegas.

All these players-the two alleged mobsters, the Kennedy broth ers, Campbell, Sinatra, and Hoover-soon were entangled in increasingly bizarre plot lines. First, Campbell and Kennedy became lovers. Then, the CIA enlisted Giancana and Roselli to a.s.sa.s.sinate Fidel Castro. By 1962, Hoover had learned something was up between the president and Campbell and made sure the Kennedys knew what he knew.

Ever his brother's keeper, Robert Kennedy moved to limit the damage.

Hoover thought it best to keep his boss apprised of the relations.h.i.+p between the president's friend Sinatra and Giancana. Hoover sent this memo to RFK two days after a hidden FBI mike picked up some hoodlums discussing how Giancana and Sinatra "almost got into a firstfight" over who was going to buy the drinks one night.

TO: The Attorney General DATE:November24,1961 DATE:November24,1961 FROM: Director, FBI

SUBJECT: SAMUEL M. GIANCANA.

ANTI-RACKETEERING.

Information was confidentially received November 23, 1961, concerning the close a.s.sociation between Chicago hoodlum Samuel M. Giancana and entertainers Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett on occasions when Sinatra and Bennett visit Chicago.

During such visits, according to our information, Giancana and his a.s.sociates, John Matta.s.sa, a former Chicago Police Department Detective, and Dominic "Butch" Blasi, accompany Sinatra and Bennett on their rounds of various night clubs reported to be hangouts and possible enterprises of Giancana. On some past visits, Sinatra and Giancana have held contests to determine who could spend the most money buying drinks and trinkets for the party.

Giancana is one of the individuals selected as a target for early prosecution. Reports containing the results of our inquiries into his activities have been furnished to the Criminal Division.

On December 6, 1961, a Giancana underling named Johnny-either Roselli or Johnny Formosa-was overhead in Chicago telling his boss about a talk he'd had recently with Sinatra about trying to get the attorney general to lay off Giancana. (The transcript, obtained from the National Archives, has been edited here for clarity.) JOHNNY: I said, "Frankie, can I ask one question?" He says, "Johnny, I took Sam's [Giancana's] name and wrote it down and told Bobby Kennedy, 'This is my buddy. This is my buddy. This is what I want you to know, Bob.' " ... Between you and I, Frank saw Joe Kennedy three different times. He called him three times, Joe Kennedy, the father.

GIANCANA: He better make it, because after this administration goes out, he'll have a headache.

JOHNNY: He says, "Johnny, I have to protect myself."

GIANCANA: He'll protect himself.

JOHNNY: I say he's [Kennedy's] a one-termer. He [Sinatra] says, "I got to watch myself." He says he's got an idea that you're mad at him. I says that I wouldn't know. "I must ask you this question," I said.

GIANCANA: He must have a guilty conscience. I never said nothing.... If he [President Kennedy] starts campaigning, I'm not giving him one penny.... That [expletive] better not think of taking this [expletive] state.

GIANCANA: Well, I don't know who the [expletive] he's [Sinatra's] talking to, but ... after all, if I'm taking somebody's money, I'm gonna make sure that this money is going to do something. Like, "Do you want it or don't you want it?" If the money is accepted, maybe one of these days, the guy will do me a favor.

JOHNNY: That's right. He says he wrote your name down.

GIANCANA: Well, one minute he tells me this and then he tells me that. And then the last time I talked to him was at the hotel in Florida, a month before he left, and he said, "Don't worry about it, if I can't talk to the old man [Joe Kennedy], I'm going to talk to the the man [President Kennedy]." One minute he says he talked to Robert, and the next minute he says he hasn't talked to him. So he never did talk to him. It's a lot of [expletive]. Either he did or he didn't. Forget about it. Why lie to me? I haven't got that coming. man [President Kennedy]." One minute he says he talked to Robert, and the next minute he says he hasn't talked to him. So he never did talk to him. It's a lot of [expletive]. Either he did or he didn't. Forget about it. Why lie to me? I haven't got that coming.

JOHNNY: If he can't deliver, I want him to tell me, "John, the load's too heavy."

GIANCANA: When he says he's gonna do a guy a little favor, I don't give a [expletive] how long it takes, he's got to give you a little favor.

JOHNNY: He says he put your name, buddy, on- GIANCANA: Aw, [expletive]. Out of a jillion names, he's gonna remember that name, huh?

JOHNNY: What's happened, Frank says to me, "Johnny, he ain't being bothered."

GIANCANA (pausing, taking a deep breath and then shouting): I got more [expletive] on my [expletive] than any other [expletive] in the country! Believe me when I tell you!

JOHNNY: I know it, Sam.

GIANCANA (still shouting): I was on the road with this broad, there must have been ... twenty guys! They were next door, upstairs, downstairs, surrounded, all the way around! Get in a car, somebody picks you up. I lose that tail-boom!-I get picked up someplace else! Four or five cars ... back and forth, back and forth!

JOHNNY: This was in Europe, right?

GIANCANA: Right here in Russia: Chicago, New York, Phoenix!

A few days later, Hoover summarized Giancana's complaint in a memo to Attorney General Robert Kennedy.

TO: The Attorney General DATE:December11,1961 DATE:December11,1961 FROM: Director, FBI PERSONAL PERSONAL.

SUBJECT: GAMBLING ACTIVITIES.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA.

Information has been received that persons connected with gambling activities in Las Vegas are becoming increasingly apprehensive concerning the intensity of investigations into gambling.

In this connection, information has been received indicating that Samuel M. Giancana, a hoodlum figure, has sought to enlist Frank Sinatra to act as an intermediary to intercede on Giancana's behalf with the Attorney General. In this regard, consideration was allegedly given to making such overtures through the father of the Attorney General. However, Sinatra is reported to have rejected this idea.

Information has been received that Giancana complained bitterly concerning the intensity of investigation being conducted of his activities, and that he made a donation to the campaign of President Kennedy but was not getting his money's worth. Giancana allegedly indicated he would not donate one penny toward any future campaign.

This is being furnished for your personal information.

On December 21, 1961, Johnny Roselli a.n.a.lyzed Sinatra's relations.h.i.+p with the Kennedys in another talk with Moe Giancana-and obliquely suggested getting tough. (This transcript also was obtained from the National Archives.) ROSELLI: He's got big ideas, Frank does, about being amba.s.sador or something. You know, [Kennedy spokesman] Pierre Salinger and them guys, they don't want him. They treat them [sic] [sic] like they treat a wh.o.r.e. You [expletive] them, you pay them and then they're through. You got the right idea, Moe-go the other way: [expletive] everybody. Every [expletive], we'll use them every [expletive] way we can. They only know one way. Now let them see the other side of you. like they treat a wh.o.r.e. You [expletive] them, you pay them and then they're through. You got the right idea, Moe-go the other way: [expletive] everybody. Every [expletive], we'll use them every [expletive] way we can. They only know one way. Now let them see the other side of you.

On January 4, 1962, Giancana was still grumbling about the situation. According to this edited transcript (also from the National Archives), he and an unknown a.s.sociate discussed a law limiting appeals by criminal defendants.

GIANCANA: Got a new law where we can't go back and forth to the courts. Bobby Kennedy's bright idea.

a.s.sOCIATE: How about his friend, and your friend, Sinatra?

GIANCANA: Aw, that [expletive]. Johnny Roselli is out there. I told John to tell him to forget about the whole thing and tell him to go [expletive]. Lying [expletive]. If I ever listen to that [expletive] again-if he [Kennedy] had lost this state here, he would have lost the election. But I figured with this guy [Sinatra], maybe we'll be all right. I might have known this guy would [expletive] me.

a.s.sOCIATE: Well, at the time, it looks like you done the right thing, Sam. n.o.body can say different, after it's done.

GIANCANA: Well, when a [expletive] lies to you ...

a.s.sOCIATE: What was his motive?

GIANCANA: Who knows.

A couple of weeks later, on the evening of January 31, 1962, Giancana discusses the matter with another a.s.sociate, John D'Arco, a Democratic Chicago alderman, comparing President Kennedy at one point to somebody else who crossed him. (This edited transcript also comes from the National Archives.) GIANCANA: He's like Kennedy: He'll get what he wants out of ya', but you won't get anything out of him.

D'ARCO: That [expletive] Kennedy. Is Sinatra going to work on [him]? GIANCANA: No.

D'ARCO: I heard that the president, when he is in California, is with Sinatra all the time.

GIANCANA: He can't get change for a quarter.

D'ARCO: Sinatra can't?

GIANCANA: That's right. Well, they got the whip, and they're in office, and that's it, and they got the money behind 'em. So they're gonna knock us guys out of the box and make us defenseless. They figure if you got money, you got power; if you don't have money, you don't have power.

D'ARCO: That's probably what it is. They're trying to break you, and they don't give a [expletive] what happens as long as they stop your income.

Bitterness about the Kennedy administration's crackdown on alleged mobsters ran deep in Chicago's Italian-American community. Later in this conversation, D'Arco discusses what Frank Annunzio, a Democratic ward committeeman and later a congressman, told an FBI agent questioning him about his relations.h.i.+p with Giancana. The agent was William Roemer, head of the FBI detail investigating Giancana.

D'ARCO: Frank [Annunzio] said, "And another thing, Roemer, ... the irony of all this is that the Italian-Americans elected Kennedy, and this is the appreciation they get, by him hara.s.sing anybody and saying he's a criminal if he's Italian.... Why is it you ask about this man when this man was responsible for Kennedy being elected? Without this state, Kennedy was in a lot of trouble. They'd ask for a recount in a few other states and it would have shown that Kennedy was beat. If it wasn't for the Italian voter in this city, Kennedy would never have got in. They went for him 100 percent, and this is what they get for it."

During yet another talk, Giancana and his colleague Johnny Formosa were overheard discussing how to avenge the slight, according to this excerpt from Kelley's book: FORMOSA: Let's show 'em. Let's show those a.s.shole Hollywood fruitcakes that they can't get away with it as if nothing's happened. Let's. .h.i.t Sinatra. Or I could whack out a couple of those other guys. [Peter] Lawford and that [Dean] Martin, and I could take the n.i.g.g.e.r [Sammy Davis, Jr.] and put his other eye out.

GIANCANA: No ... I've got other plans for them.

Eddy M., the bugging subject mentioned in chapter 5 chapter 5, also was overheard talking about revenge in 1962, according to this transcript from the National Archives.

EDDY M.: I'd like to hit that Kennedy in the kisser with a bomb. If I could just hit Bob Kennedy in the kisser with a stink bomb, some kind of bomb that will explode, I would gladly go to the penitentiary for the rest of my life, believe me. Is that too much to ask?

By early 1962, Hoover had enough information to know that something was up between the president and Campbell. He quickly informed the attorney general and a top White House aide.

TO: Mr. Belmont DATE: 2/26/62 DATE: 2/26/62.

FROM: C. A. Evans

SUBJECT: JOHN ROSELLI.