Dino and Frank's Connection To The Mob

Dino and Frank's Connection To The Mob

Everybody has heard that Frank Sinatra was connected. He first got involved with the mob as a young man in his late teens in Hoboken, New Jersey. He was singing at restaurants and nightclubs. New Jersey mobster Willie Moretti was like an uncle to Frank when he was growing up. Willie made sure nobody screwed Frank over when he sang at these places. Vincent "Jimmy Blue Eyes" Alo of the Genovese crime family had a big role in Frank's rise. He was close friends with Frank's mother. He was the one that introduced Frank to Lucky Luciano. Later on the mob helped him get his career going again in the early 1950s. Frank also hooked up with the Chicago crime family member Sam Giancana and became a partner with him in a business called the Cal-Neva Lodge on the border of California and Nevada. Bones Renner owned Cal-Neva, he was an old Jewish hood from San Francisco and close friend to the San Francisco mob boss Jimmy Lanza. Bones also owed the IRS $800,000 in back taxes. So Bones sold his business to a friend named Wingy Grober. Wingy was a wannabe hood that knew Sam Giancana and owed Sam a lot of money. So Wingy and Sam made a deal: If Wingy sold the Cal-Neva to Sam at a very reasonable price he'd be off the hook for the money he owed. The price turned out to be very reasonable and the Cal-Neva Lodge was sold in 1960 to Sam Giancana and Frank Sinatra. Dean Martin was asked by Frank Sinatra to join them, but Dean didn't want any part of it. In 1962, a Deputy Sheriff named Richard Anderson came to pick up his wife there who worked there as a waitress. His wife used to be Frank's girlfriend before she married Richard. Frank didn't like Richard and told him to leave, but he told Frank he was waiting for his wife, then Frank grabbed him and pushed him towards the door. After a small wrestling match Richard punched Frank so hard in the face that he could not sing on stage for a week. Several weeks later the guy was driving with his wife on Highway 28, not far from the Cal-Neva, when they were driven off the highway by another car. They smashed into a tree and Richard died really fast, but his wife lived. Many think Frank Sinatra had something to do with it.

Dean Martin was connected in his early days and was a card dealer in Ohio before getting into show business as a youngster. What a legend he was and a great guy! I heard that in the early 1960s he cut ties with mobsters and tried to get his close friend Frank Sinatra to do the same, but Frank was in too deep with them and still wanted their friendship. Dean began dealing craps when he was 17 years old for Jackie DeSarro in Steubenville, OH. Dean was close to the DeSarro family from East Liverpool, which was 25 miles North of Steubenville, closer to Youngstown. Jackie DeSarro and his brother Jimmy were associates of the Pittsburgh crime family. Dean also spent many nights at the infamous Jungle Inn Casino in Youngstown and dealt craps as well as performed. The Jungle Inn was credited with launching Dean's career. He also used to hang out in L.A. with mobster John Roselli, who was a member of the Chicago Outfit living in the L.A. area.

Here's a great photo of them.

I always wondered if and what Frank had to kick up to anybody for bank rolling the beginning of his career.

Then Dolly Sinatra would have died rich. He owed more to her political connections for getting his career off the ground than to anyone else. The serious mob friendships came later.

Thanks for clearing that up - I had always thought he grew up around these guys and they were the reason he got all the gigs in the beginning of his career and gained such notoriety. Dolly was his wife? Do you think he engaged in any mob activity when he did gain mob friendships later on? If not directly involved, was he in the know of mob happenings behind closed doors?

Dolly was his Mother. She was a heavyweight in North Jersey politics. She was very close to the Irish Democrats and went as far as having her husband, who was Sicilian born and a part-time boxer, fight under an Irish name (Marty O'Brien).

Dolly was Northern Italian and very, uhm, I don't want to say ashamed, so I'll say that she was very aware of the stigma of being Italian in this country back then. And the truth is, Sinatra was a spoiled kid because of all that. He had a brand new car while he was still in high school, which was unheard of back in the '30s.

I can't believe his father went for that - especially being that he was born in Sicily.

No wonder he was so intrigued by the mob guys. I appreciate the history lesson PB.

No problem. I think the point I'm trying to make, given the title of this thread, is that Dean had a MUCH more knockaround childhood than Frank.

Sinatra was privileged, Dean wasn't. Dean dealt cards in underground casinos, the whole nine yards. And the truth is, he was his own man. And the wiseguys respected him more for it. Frank had to work at his wiseguy friendships, Dean's were more natural.

And just for the record, I'm a HUGE fan of both of them. I'm just stating the well established facts .

So in a sense Dean knew what these mob guys we're really about being that he was involved with them in one way or another throughout his childhood. That's why he told Frank to 'get away from these guys'. You don't think Frank had any dealings with the mob in any way other than entertainment and partnering on clubs?

LOL I can tell you're a big fan. They're before my time but over the past couple years I've got into their stuff more on my own - not to say I didn't hear their music in the house regularly growing up .

As PB was saying above, Dino was around these guys on a daily basis and knew them for what they were and nothing more. Whereas Frank was smitten with these guys, just as they were with him. It was a mutual admiration society that seemed to benefit both of them. BTW, I think Frank's father, aka Marty O'brien, was a pretty good boxer.

Dean Martin--Funny,likeable and very talented !!

Frank Sinatra--Very talented and not likeable !!

Sinatra didn't wanna cut ties with them like Martin did because he liked, wanted and craved to be a tough guy, and without the mob he was just a little skinny pizz ant !!

How could any of the wiseguys still respect him after he had to get someone to slap around that little 5'3 150 pound Jackie Mason ?? That's embarrassing !!

Amen.
Finally, someone other than me who knows the truth about Sinatra, the wannabe gangster. Great singer and entertainer but not respected by the wiseguys like ppl think he was.

To show you Dolly's involvement in Frank's career here is an article plus a video of the Hoboken Four on Major Bowes Amateur Hour.

http://worldhistoryproject.org/1935/frank-sinatra-joins-his-first-group-the-hoboken-four


The guys in the Hoboken Four were much tougher street kids not weak like Frank so they gave Sinatra a couple of beatings mainly because Sinatra got most of the attention from the young girls.

I choose Dino over Frank every day of the week. Frank is a classic but Dean is a very good listen.

Did you watch that PBS special on the composer Jimmy Van Huesen?
He wrote many of the songs for Dino and Sinatra among others.

Missed that, AG. Sounds like a good one though. Love that old school stuff!

I love Dino's old songs.