Sinatra biography cites new claim of Mafia ties

Fri May 6, 9:59 PM ET

Frank Sinatra once served as a Mafia courier and narrowly escaped arrest with a briefcase containing $3.5 million in cash, entertainer Jerry Lewis told authors of a new book excerpted on Tuesday in Vanity Fair magazine.

The anecdote attributed to Lewis is one of several accounts linking the legendary singer to organized crime in the unauthorized biography " Sinatra: The Life ," by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan and due for release May 16 by Alfred A. Knopf.

Sinatra always denied any connection to the Mafia, though FBI files released in December 1998, seven months after his death, portrayed the singer-actor as a close friend of reputed Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana.

FBI documents also suggested he had contact with mobster Lucky Luciano during a 1947 trip to Cuba and alleged that his early singing career was backed by a New Jersey-based racketeer named Willie Moretti.

The book recounts a claim the authors attribute to Lewis that Sinatra once carried money for the Mafia.

"He volunteered to be a messenger for them," Lewis is quoted as telling the authors. "And he almost got caught once ... in New York."

Lewis is quoted as saying Sinatra was going through customs with a briefcase containing "three and a half million in fifties" and that customs officials opened the case. But due to crowds jostling for a glimpse of the star, officials aborted their search.

Otherwise, Lewis said, "We would never have heard of him again."

According to Vanity Fair, the authors do not claim that Lewis witnessed the customs incident but rather related the account "as a fact of which he had knowledge."

Lewis said the incident occurred shortly after Luciano was deported from the United States to Italy in 1946.

Reuters/VNU

A post on this topic was already made, :rolleyes: and discussions have taken place

http://www.gangsterbb.net/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=9;t=000898

but thank you for providing the details. However if you continue to make double posts about topics that are already in discussion, than you leave me no choice but to report you to the moderaters of the boards. Thanks for your cooperation and understanding. Enjoy the boards!

Don Cardi

Customs would have needed a crane to open the case. $3.5 million in fifties amounts to 70,000 $50 bills. A case big enough to hold that volume of bills would have been bigger than Frankie himself. Perhaps Jerry Lewis overdosed on that stuff he took in "The Nutty Professor." :rolleyes:

Customs would have needed a crane to open the case. $3.5 million in fifties amounts to 70,000 $50 bills. A case big enough to hold that volume of bills would have been bigger than Frankie himself. Perhaps Jerry Lewis overdosed on that stuff he took in "The Nutty Professor." :rolleyes: [/b][/quote]I did a search on the internet and found out this:

"a suitcase that is 30" x 24" x 12" can carry 38,400 bills"

I think the problem in the story is when he said they opened the case but aborted the search meaning there was obviously more in the case than just bills (the equation above would have been a suitcase JUST with bills) so it doesn't add up at all.

I guess I was the only one to find the "how many bills can fit in a suitcase equation" interesting

No I liked it too. Interesting trivia

The fact is is that the author is just trying to cash in by sensationalizing the life of Sinatra. They want to profit on something that has not, or will never be able to be proven, and which I must (and do) belive is a fabrication.

The FBI investigated this man for over four decades and they never could link him with the mafia, besides his meetings with Giancana (sp?).

Well Sinatra was more then just a friend with Giancana. He was buddy buddy with quite a few Mafiosos, including Gambino, Castellano, Giancana, and many Jersey mobsters. He got his start from his Godfather (the irony...), who happened to be a high ranking wiseguy in "The Garden State" at the time, getting him gigs all over Jersey. In fact, I believe there is even proof of him singing at a Commission meeting in Havana in which such men as Luciano and Lansky were present.

However, I strongly believe that Sinatra was nothing more then a friend. I mean, its one thing to live your life as a mobster with the ability to hide it your entire life. Its another thing to be such a star, such a popular person, and yet be in the Mafia, still with no one to be the wiser, including the Feds.

But, hey, its gonna earn Lewis some big money, and he got us all talking about it, so, good for him.

Sinatra was a great crooner no doubt, I dont think he'd have made much of a mobster though. He was in my eyes a guy who enjoyed hanging out with the bad guys and being 'associated' with them, without being "associated" with them..(mafia terms pun intended lol) maybe he got a kick out of it.