It's the picture that proved you could be considered guilty by association.
September 1976, and Sinatra is performing at the Westchester Premier Theatre in Tarrytown, New York. After the show he's greeted backstage by one of the biggest congregations of mobsters since the Apalachin conference of 1957.
Paul "Big Pauly" Castellano, Gregory De Palma, Tommy "Fatso" Marson, Carlo "Boss of Bosses" Gambino, Jimmy "the Weasel" Fratianno, Salvatore Spatola, Joe Gambino and Richard Fusco all line up to have their photo taken with Ol' Blue Eyes.
The singer puts his arms around De Palma and Marson, and produces a big Cheshire cat grin for the camera. Sinatra grew up in an Italian neighborhood in New Jersey, so he feels comfortable around guys like this. Now they long to be identified with him.
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Sinatra explains his philosophy to his wife, Barbara: "If I'm working some joint they own and they want their picture taken with me," he says, "I let them take it. But that doesn't mean they own me, too."
This particular joint is owned by the mob. It goes bankrupt two years later and the investors are accused of taking skims, contributing to its demise. Three guys in the photo — Marson, DePalma and Fusco — are indicted with stockbroker Elliot Weisman and Anthony "Nino" Gaggi, DePalma's capo under Castellano.
The Sinatra photo is made public during the trial. Everyone wonders, how could he allow himself to look so chummy around those guys?
One theory is that Sinatra agreed to do the gigs as a favor to Louis "Louie Dones" Pacella, a member of New York's Genovese family. Others say Sinatra and his attorney, Mickey Rudin, were in on the skim.
Another connection is Marson, who like Sinatra, has a home in Tamarisk Country Club. "Fatso" isn't exactly a Mafia bigwig. In fact, when the photo comes out, people wonder just who is. And how did he get a recommendation to join Tamarisk?
Marson's been linked to New York's Gambino family, but he's from the small town of Fairhaven, Michigan. In "Sinatra: The Life," authors Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan describe Marson as making a call from a Palm Springs restaurant instructing Sinatra to perform at the Westchester in April, September and October of 1976, and in May of 1977.
Mel Haber, owner of Melvyn's at the Ingleside Inn in Palm Springs, says he overheard that conversation.
"When I first opened in 1976, a friend of mine from Cleveland sends out a bunch of guys," Haber says. "It turns out to be the Cleveland Mafia... They called up a guy here who's a friend, Tommy Marson... Lived in Rancho Mirage. We're out at the pool. I had a phone. He says, 'Look at this (expletive). They call me up. I'm retired!'
"I give him the phone, he makes a call. I get goose bumps when I tell this. He says, 'Frank, I need you at the Westchester Premier May 2 and 3... Frank, I don't give a (expletive) what you have to do, just be there!'
"The next thing that happens, Sinatra takes a picture at the Westchester Premier with all the wiseguys."
