I thought about the famous picture of Sinatra with Paul Castellano, Gregory De Palma, Carlo Gambino, Jimmy Fratianno, Salvatore Spatola, Joe Gambino, Richard Fusco.

How did Jimmy became involved with the Gambinos?

Fratianno was known to have global connections. One such connection was with Australian organised crime figures. In 1976, Australian criminal Murray Riley met with Fratianno in San Francisco, allegedly, to organize drug shipments.[3][4] The same year, Sydney businessman Bela Csidei also met with Fratianno in San Francisco.[5][4] The FBI took photographs of this meeting.[6]

Fratianno also associated with Australian/Hungarian transport magnate and managing director of Thomas Nationwide Transport, Peter Abeles.[7] Through Fratianno's connections with Teamsters and Longshoremen's unions, particularly with Rudy Tham, a San Francisco Teamsters leader, Abeles was able to use his company to smuggle drugs in and out of the U.S.,[7] as well as reduce industrial tensions on the waterfront.[8]

I remember that case. You're referring to the Westchester Premier Theater case and trial. That's where the famous photo of Sinatra and the boys, including Carlo Gambino, was taken. Jimmy"The Weasel" Fratianno informed on the operation after coming over from California, and Sammy Gravano has talked about visiting there and encountering Fratianno, who tried to strike up conversation with Sammy. Also involved in the trial were Funzi Tieri and Nino Gaggi, it was very embarrassing and I think Carlo was pissed because his name came up and they lost money on the racket.
https://www.nytimes.com/1978/11/15/...n-bankruptcy-of-the-premier-theater.html

Thanks Gambino died later in 1976.

When a member from another city comes to town, is the home family obligated to take him around as hosts? I would think that is the case, unless the visitor does now want it. Maybe Fratianno used this as an opportunity. I think he was already cooperating with the feds.

Thanks Hollander, apparently there was a lot more to that Jimmy the Weasel guy than what meets the eye.

Jimmy Fratianno relationship with Australia started through Frank LaRusso nephew or cousin who had lived in San Onofre and had associations with Los Angeles and San Diego mainly San Diego. Was connected to the Strano family in Sydney He spent time in Australia in Melbourne and Sydney, back and forth between both America and Australia. Fratianno I believe met this relative of Frank LaRusso while Jimmy was with Chicago as Frank LaRusso already passed away, and recently Domenico Italiano and Antonio Barbara had both passed away, Domenico Strano was in bad health around this time, died in 1965, all four from natural causes. Italiano was the top Italian boss in Melbourne and Barbara was second and an enforcer. Domenico Strano was boss of Sydney, and Frank LaRusso was a former member of San Francisco before retiring to Australia, passing away sometime before 1960.

In 1973, after finishing a stint in Chino prison, Fratianno began cooperating with the FBI. Initially, he gave them only information he thought was worthless or that could compromise his enemies. But as inter- and intra-family rivalries made his position more precarious, in December 1977 he made the decision to break with the Mob.

He entered the Federal Witness Protection Program,, but he was expelled after a number of years because he did not follow the rules.

Thanks @GV.

I know he was involved in loan sharking with The Gambinos, mainly with Tony Plate. Plate had visited him in LA and Frattiano asked him to help out with a loan but Dellacroce wouldn't allow it.

Thx, Anthony “Tony Plate” Pilate disappeared in 1979.

Yep and he would go back to the days of Bugsy Siegel and Johnny Roselli.

I think it was John gotti, ange ruggerio and Willy boy Johnson that rubbed him out on orders of Neil who had a case with him at the time and apparently Plate was too ugly and gave Neil a bad chance of beating the case. I imagine Neil also wanted to ensure he didn’t rat as the former reason seems very harsh as reason to be murdered!

And just thinking maybe it was no coincidence that jimmy the weasel flipped relatively shortly before Plate got killed. Could Neil be wondering why Plate didn’t have a case… then suspicions of plate being a rat. Then Neil had a case with Plate, heightening those suspicions and the urgency to whack him - why take a risk?

The weasel is not a nice nickname lol.


Fratianno was born in Naples, Italy, in 1913, later immigrating with his family to the United States, settling near Cleveland, Ohio. He was first arrested at the age of 19, on suspicion of rape, but was not charged. Two years later, he was acquitted of robbery charges, but in 1937, was convicted of robbery and spent more than seven years in an Ohio state prison.[2] Fratianno earned his nickname "Weasel" as a boy when running from the police in the Little Italy section of Cleveland. A chase witness shouted "Look at that weasel run!" and the police quickly attached the nickname to his criminal record, falsely believing it was his alias. He was paroled in 1945, and moved to Los Angeles, California, where he associated with underworld figure Mickey Cohen.[2]

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.

STORY FROM FREDDIE MAC
Learn how to improve a low credit score

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."