Latest / DISGRACELAND / Frank Sinatra Pt. 1: Frankie Is the Reason...That the President's Dead

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Frank Sinatra Pt. 1: Frankie Is the Reason...That the President's Dead · DISGRACELAND

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Disgraceland as a production of Double Elvis. The stories about
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Frank Sinatra are crazy. He was once arrested for a
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: seduction seduction he sent a tombstone to an unfriendly journalist
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: as a warning. He broke into a home to steal
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: away at cheating Marilyn Monroe from the arms of her
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: lover as a favor to her estranged husband and Frank's powell,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Joe DiMaggio. Frank Sinatra is rumored to have couriered bags
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: of cash for his friends in the mob, and he
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: was quoted as saying he'd rather be a mafia don
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: than the president of the United States. And of course
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: he acted as a pimp for his friend John F. Kennedy.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Francis Albert Sinatra, old Blue Eyes, the son of Italian immigrants,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: pulled himself up from the streets of Hoboke in New
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Jersey to the top of the entertainment world to become
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: quote unquote chairman of the Board. Along the way, he
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: made and relied on some interesting friends, entertainers, politicians, and gangsters,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: friends whose power mixed with Frank's inherent confidence, made Frank
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: believe he was ten feet tall and could accomplish whatever
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: he set his mind to. And one of the things
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Frank Sinatra accomplished was the making of some of the
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: greatest music ever recorded. And that music you heard at
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: the top of the show, and that wasn't great music.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: That was a preset loop from my melotron called moving
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Bass Piano, Moving Strings MK two. And I played you
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: that loop because I can't afford the license for I'm
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: leaving it up to you by Dale and Grace. And
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: why would I play you that specific slice of greasy
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: duet cheese? Could I afford it? Because that was the
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: number one song in America on November twenty secondnineteen sixty three,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: And that was the day that Frank Sinatra's pal, John F. Kennedy,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: President of the United States, was assassinated, an act that
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Frank's confidence turned. Hubris was partly responsible for. On this
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: episode JFK Moving String Cheese, the Mafia Hubris and Frank Sinatra.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan and miss this disgrace. Lad to understand
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: Frank Sinatra, man, you have to understand Frank Sinatra the performer.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: He was the first teen idol, he was the first
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: pop star, and he was unlike anything anybody had heard
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: or seen before. His command of his voice, stage and
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: camera was entirely unique. Sure, Bing Crosby paved the way,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: but Frank blazed a new path, and the sound of
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: his voice conveyed vulnerability and absolute authority all at once.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: The result a level of intimacy and relatability that worked
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: on women and men alike. And we've worn out the
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: old Schopiz descriptor. Men wanted to be him and women
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: wanted to sleep with him. But it was invented to
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: describe Frank Sinatra. Watch any of his live performances from
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: his early days with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra to his
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: retirement concert in Los Angeles in nineteen seventy one, and
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: you'll notice an undeniable confidence in electric masculinity. We hear
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: what it is to be a man, the good and
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: the bad. To me personally, when Sinatra speaks, I hear
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: in his slang a lack of self awareness, a neighborhood
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: tough guy with a big heart. More specifically, I hear
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: the unrefined toughness and emotional generosity of my stepfather, someone
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: strong enough to let you in, unafraid, comfortable in his
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: own skin, and in Sinatra's voice. I also hear the
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: contrived eloquence, the street kid who muscled his way into
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: the smart set. I hear my biological father, a man
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: who likes Sinatra, had the intellectual sand to surround himself
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: with educated men, even though he himself was never schooled
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: beyond the twelfth grade, but who no matter how many
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: books he reads, when he speaks, will always sound like
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: he's reaching, and will thus box you out and make
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: you feel like you need to continuously do better to
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: gain his approval. And the voice sounds slightly uncomfortable, afraid
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: of being found out that he's snuck into the party.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: And through all of Frank's music you hear a loneliness,
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  Speaker 1: something we can all relate to, and something Frank used
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  Speaker 1: humor to mask. He would have been the class clown
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: had he ever gone to class. So it was no
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: surprise that it was a wise ass comment in nineteen
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  Speaker 1: fifty about MGM's studio head Louis B. Mayer that got
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: Frank fired from MGM and spelled the end of his
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  Speaker 1: career well. The wise ass comment on top of poor
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: film reviews, lagging record sales, a voice that was failing
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: from overuse, and a decade of bad press due to
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: his body and sometimes violent public behavior. By nineteen fifty one,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: Sinatra was out. He went from being a street kid
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: from Hoboken, New Jersey, to the first teen idol, to
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: being one of MGM's biggest Hollywood stars, to being broke, busted,
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  Speaker 1: divorced from his first wife Nancy, perpetually at odds with
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  Speaker 1: his tempestuous lover, Ava Gardner, and right back where we
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: started at the bottom. It got so bad that Sinatra,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: who a few years earlier couldn't go anywhere without mobs
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: of screaming girls chasing him down, could now be seen
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  Speaker 1: roaming around Times Square at four am, alone and drunk.
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  Speaker 1: Beat Cops would find him passed out in the doorways
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  Speaker 1: and try to move him along, and he couldn't even
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: get arrested, literally, and something had to give. Frank knew
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: he wasn't over. He might not have had any cash,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: but he still had confidence, and just like every woman
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  Speaker 1: he'd ever met, except for maybe Ava, Frank knew America
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  Speaker 1: would take him back. Hollywood was a buzz about the
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: script adaptation of the best selling novel From Here to Eternity,
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  Speaker 1: and there was one role that Frank knew would reignite
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: his career. Maggio the Skinny Guinea with the Chip on
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: his shoulder from Brooklyn, which, like Frank's Hoboken was at
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: the time, a world away from Manhattan. Maggio's outsider status,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: his insecurities. They were characteristics that Frank Sinatra understood on
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: a molecular level. But Columbia Pictures was producing the film
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: in studio boss Harry Khane hated Frank Sinatra wouldn't be deterred.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: He wrote Cone countless letters detailing the many reasons why
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  Speaker 1: he was perfect for the role, signing them all Maggio,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: but Cone wouldn't budge. Cohne's authoritarian approach to running one
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: of the biggest movie studios on the planet was modeled
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: after Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini's approach to running Italy. Cohne
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: had met Mussolini years earlier, before the outbreak of World
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: War Two, and was so impressed by him that he
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: remodeled his own office to match the dictators. Designed to
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: achieve maximum leverage over his guests. His desk sat up
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  Speaker 1: high on a dais to intimidate, but the man sitting
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: across from Cone was anything but intimidated. Quite the opposite.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: Actually he was the intimidator. He was Johnny Rosselli, a
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: fearsome mafia enforcer for the Chicago outfit. Sinatra had a
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: friend with high level mob connections appealed to his boss's
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  Speaker 1: higher up the mafia food chain, sensing a future as
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: of yet unknown opportunity and perhaps that of genuine affection
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: for old blue Eyes the mafia via the boss himself,
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: Frank Costello decided to bet on Frank when no one
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: else would, to buy low as it were, and so
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Johnny Rosselli was dispatched to help sort out the Sinatra situation.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Roselli spoke with authority, Harry, give Frank the part. It's
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: perfect for him. Cone wasn't easily cowed. I know it's
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: perfect for him, which is why he ain't getting it.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Sinatra is washed up and he's gonna stay washed up.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Roselli figured he'd tried the soft touch once more. Harry,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: give the kid a chance. Remember not so long ago,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: when you needed a second chance, who was there for you?
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: We was there for you. Cohane was losing patience. John.
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  Speaker 1: If we have a problem here, I'm gonna have to
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  Speaker 1: make some phone calls. Johnny Roselli stood up, hopped up
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  Speaker 1: on the dais, put both hands on Cone's shoulders, leaned
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  Speaker 1: over into an inch of his face, and let it
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  Speaker 1: be known that he was through dicking around. Harry. If
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: we have a problem here, you're a fucking dead man.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: In a little over twenty four months, Frank Sinatra could
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: be seen sprinting down the aisle of Pantagious Theater at
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: the twenty sixth Annual Academy Awards to accept the Oscar
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Maggio and
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: the Harry Combe produced From Here to Eternity. Frank Sinatra
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: was back. Frank Sinatra was never wanting in the confidence department,
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: even when his career was over, even when he was
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: suicidal over the only woman to really reject him, Ava Gardner.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: Even then, the too short, too skinny son of Italian
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  Speaker 1: immigrants from Hoboken had confidence to spare. So when he
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: came back, when he raised that Oscar over his head
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: and proved to the world that he could do what
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: only one man before him, Jesus H. Christ, had been
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: able to do, come back from the dead, well he
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: felt invincible, like he could do anything. Hubris. It's a
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: funny thing. It's only really hubris if you fail. Otherwise
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  Speaker 1: it's just called confidence. But Frank Sinatra was no longer failing.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: He was redefining the meaning of success with one hit
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: after another through a diverse portfolio of entertainment projects. Following
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: the nineteen fifty three Oscar, Frank poured himself into his work.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: He ripped off a dizzying array of impressive musical releases
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: under a new recording contract with Capitol Records. Inspired by
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: the genius arrangements of musical director Nelson Riddle, Sinatra took
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: control of the charts, minds, and hearts of young lovers
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  Speaker 1: everywhere with a string of truly great long players, songs
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: for young Lovers, Swing Easy, and then, in my opinion,
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  Speaker 1: his best album in the wee Small Hours of the Morning,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: an album where Frank Sinatra invented the concept of the
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: concept album. Subsequent LPs released in the fifties, A Swinging Affair,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: Come Fly with Me, and Frank Sinatra Sings for Only
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: the Lonely would all contain songs that would become so
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: popular they'd eventually become standards of the American pop Cannon.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: Sinatra's musical output alone was staggeringly prolific, but with his
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: Oscar still fresh in the minds of Hollywood producers, he
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: also moved quickly to keep his film career moving. He
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: starred alongside Doris Day and Young at Heart Grace Kelly
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: in High Society, Marlon Brando, and Guys and Dolls, and
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: was nominated for another Oscar for his portrayal of a
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  Speaker 1: heroin addict in The Man with the Golden Arm. Before long,
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  Speaker 1: he was the highest paid actor in Hollywood, and he
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  Speaker 1: kept moving like a shark and a side divors suit.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Slowing down meant looking in the mirror and facing that
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: ever present loneliness. So work, work, and more work. Frank
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: took part of his earnings and bought a plane, using
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: it to charter him and his friends Dean Martin, Shirley McLean,
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: Humphrey Boger to his new playground in the desert, Las Vegas,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: where Frank took another piece of his bread and invested
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  Speaker 1: in the Sands Hotel and casino property whose majority share
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: was owned by Frank's old friend, mob boss Frank Costello,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: the same mafioso who pulled Harry Cohen's Strings via Johnny
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Rosselli to get Frank the Oscar winning role in From
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: Here to Eternity. Hanging out with mobsters was old hat
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: for Sinatra. Back in Hoboken, his father made ends meet
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: as half a wise guy. Frank had long referred to
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: them as the boys, and by the time he entered
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  Speaker 1: the entertainment industry where the nightclubs, dance halls, and concert
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: vendues were controlled by the mafia, Frank was used to
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: hanging around was gangsters and not shy about asking for
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: or returning favors for them. Frank was enamored of them.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: Gangsters had real power and they were a lot of fun,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: and Frank was no stranger to a good time, which
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: is why the investment in the Sands made sense. Plus,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: the gangsters really did like Frank. He was like them,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: Italian from the streets and he didn't take shit off
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  Speaker 1: no one. Plus that voice, those eyes. Dude was a
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: pussy magnet, but he attracted more than just women. Everyone
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  Speaker 1: wanted to be around Frank. He was a star star.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: With Frank owning a piece of the Sands with his
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: name association, the joint was packed every night. Money poured
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: in sure, every once in a while Frank had to
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: do a little favor for one of the boys, but
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: it wasn't bad. Deliver a message here or there, convince
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: the fellow star to join him at the sands for
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: a reduced rate. None of it seemed extraordinary because Frank
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Sinatra himself was extraordinary. And if Frank had to jump
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: on a plane to Havana with a case full of
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: cash from one of the boys to make sure it
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: landed in the right greasy hand, well that wasn't hubris.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: That was just Frank having the confidence to take care
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: of business. We'll be right back after this word word
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: word in the mafia, getting sent for is nerve wracking.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: It usually means you're being deployed to whack someone, or
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: you yourself are about to get whacked. In politics, getting
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: sent for usually means you're being deployed to kiss someone's
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: ass or you yourself are about to get your ass kissed,
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: which never comes without strings, which is why when the
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: half politician, half gangster Joseph P. Kennedy, father of Senator
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: and candidate for President of the United States John F. Kennedy,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: sent for Frank Sinatra, Frank was doubly concerned. What did
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: the old man want? Frank didn't know. All he knew
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: was that he was an admirer of the son Jack Yon. Articulate,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: good looking, and that had a hair and that smile
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: you could see from space, charisma for days. Unlike Frank catholic,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: just think a non wasp with a legit shot at
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: the White House. In nineteen sixty, Frank borded his jet
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: and took off with the Kennedy compound in Hyennasport, Massachusetts.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: Frank was in awe of the senator's father. Sinatra's own
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: father worked for JFK's dad back in the day, running
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: rum through the swamps of Jersey during the Prohibition. And
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: so here Frank sat looking up at the bootlegger turned
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: ambassador from across the desk, like a common laborer being
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: put to task by management. There's power and then there's power,
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: and the Kennedys had it. Sinatra wanted it, and what
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: Joe Kennedy wanted was a favor. The message was direct.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: His son was going to lose the West Virginia primary
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: to Democratic star wart Hubert Humphrey, and that couldn't happen.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: Losing West Virginia meant losing the nomination, and the Kennedys
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: weren't in the business of losing. Joe needed Frank to
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: get Frank's mafia palace to roust up enough votes in
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: West Virginia to deliver a win for Jack. Sure, Ambassador,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: no problem, I'm sure the boys would be happy to help.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: Frank high tailed it to Miami for a round of golf.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: That Sam g and Kanna aka Momo aka the ruthless
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: Chicago mobster who controlled the Midwest and West Virginia, a
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: SANS regular and a friend of Frank's, who at the
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: time was renting out space way up as ass to
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: the Ambassador's other son, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who'd been
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: making it his business to crack down on organized crime.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: So g and Kanna saw the obvious play, helped Jack
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: the Haircut win West Virginia and evict Bobby the pit
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: Bull from out his foot, and with that it was done.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: Sort of. The election was a nail better. Jack had
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: secured the nomination, but the Republican nominee, Richard M. Nixon,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: was a formidable candidate and almost as dirty as the Kennedys.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Almost it all came down to Illinois, Giancanna's home state.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: Rich with electoral votes and rife with corruption, it was easy.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: In the end, a couple thousand dead Democrats managed to
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: crawl out of the Illinois cemeteries and into voting boosts
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: to cast their votes for Jack. The Kennedys were going
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: to the White House, and Sinatra helped put them there.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: What couldn't Frank do? Take it easy, That's what the
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: party was on. There was one man in America who
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: was a bigger pussy hound than Frank Sinatra, and that
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: was Jack Kennedy. The two were a formidable pair. Frank
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: hosted Jack and his Palm Springs residents and stocked the
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: place with hookers, booze, gourmet foods, celebrity friends, whatever else
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: he thought his new politician pale wanted. And Jack loved it.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: And the remote location, far beyond the judgy eyes of
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: the press or his wife, meant he relax, hang out
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: by the pool, gossip with showgirls, smoke a joint, or
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: to get laid whenever. It was great, But when Jack
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: entered the White House, Sinatra was starting to be seen
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: as a liability Jackie. Jack's wife hated him. I mean,
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: why wouldn't she Frank was basically her husband's pimp. But
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: more damning was the wrath of Jack's brother, now Attorney General,
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: Bobby Kennedy, who learned that Jack, by introduction of Frank,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: was sleeping with Judith Campbell, girlfriend of mobster Sam g
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: and Conna, Bobby's nemesis. Talk about Hubris, You're president, you're married,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: you're sleeping with any woman you want, and you decide
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: to shack up with the girlfriend of the most powerful
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: mob boss in the country who is also the sworn
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: enemy of your brother, the Attorney General aka the top
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: cop in the land. Yikes. And despite Frank's efforts and
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: helping a JFK, the Kennedys cut him off. Frank was devastated.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: He loved Jack, he didn't blame him, though he blamed Bobby.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Frank was hurt, angry, but you know it was even
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: more angry sam Gy and Conna. G and Conna thought
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: that helping the Kennedys would get authorities out of his hair,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: but no. Since Jack the haircut became president, the heat
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: got hotter and the mafia felt it everywhere. Tails raids,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: wire taps, and gi and Conna was losing face. After all,
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: he helped get these snot nosed Irish punks into office,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: and here they were endlessly harassing him, making him look
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: like a jerkof sleeping with his woman. But somehow the
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: mafia had an even bigger problem. All the casinos they
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: owned in Havana, Cuba, had just been shut down abruptly
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: nationalized by the communist Fidel Castro during his recent rise
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: to power, and this meant a massive portion of the
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: mob's revenue had vanished overnight, and true to form, the
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Kennedys were no help. They'd botched the Bay of Pigs Invasions,
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: a CIA backed military effort to oust Castro from power,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: root the Kamis from the Western Hemisphere and restored democracy
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: and the mafia's reign in Cuba. But of course Kennedy
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: would only commit to sticking his dick in halfway, a
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: how out of character, and the invasion failed. But the
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: Kennedys didn't care. They thought, as did Sinatra, that they
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: had the world on the string. But some very dangerous
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: people were starting to get dangerously upset and their confidence
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: was about to turn to hubris. Johnny Rozselli couldn't believe
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: his life. Never a dull moment For a mid level
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: hood like Roselli, the action was NonStop. The girl girls,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: the gambling, the graft. It got to be ordinary. But this,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: this was very much extraordinary. Roselli was seated across from
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: two CIA spooks who are offering him and the syndicate
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: the American Mafia, cold hard cash to whack out Fidel Castro.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: Who'd have thunk the United States government wanted Castro gone
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: just as badly as the mob did, so here it
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: was taking out a contract on the beard. Uncle Sam
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: no joke, gangster as fucker. But try as they would,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: Rosselli and his American mob cohorts Santo Trafficante, Frank Costello
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: and Sam Giancana could not get to Fidel. And every
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: day that communist bastard stayed in power was another day
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: of lost millions for the boy and making matters worse,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: the Kennedy administration, through the efforts of Bobby's Justice Department,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: kept the heat upon organized crime, and the mafia was
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: getting shafted both ways, coming and going. And after the
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Bay of Pigs debacle, President Kennedy had the balls to
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: declare war on his own CIA. He felt the CIA
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: hung him out to dry with the botched invasion, and
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: now seemed content to let Castro remain in power so
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: long as the Soviets were kept out of the hemisphere.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: The Soviets, Communist Cubans, the anti Castro Cubans, the CIA,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: the Mafia, not to mention, capitalist industrialists, Republicans, and papal
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: fearing loss and racist from the American South, all suddenly
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: found their own self interests coalescing around their mutual hatred
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: of the Kennedys. What an epic buck show. Frank Sinatra
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: watched it all from the sidelines while as mafioso, but
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: his tried unsuccessfully to get him to get it is
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: so called friend the president to call off his dogs,
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: but it was useless. Frank was out. The Kennedy's didn't
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: need him, or so they thought, and so they pressed on,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: kept the heat up on the Mafia, kept Castor on
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: power through their inaction, kept up their pledge to dismantle
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: the CIA, and kept Frank Sinatra at bay, which was
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: likely their biggest mistake. Had they kept Frank in the loop,
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Frank would have been able to impress upon them just
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: how angry they were making the Mob and the CIA.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: But when you're young, rich, beautiful, powerful and can have
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: anyone you want, do anything you want, and you believe
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: in your own bullshit. At some point it became clear
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: to both the Mafia and the CIA that if they
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: couldn't use their combined efforts to get rid of the beard,
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: then they should use their combined efforts to instead get
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: rid of the haircut. There is an old Sicilian saying
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: that if you want to kill a dog, you don't
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: cut off his tail and cut off his head. Great
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: plots conspiracies take time to develop, but in the end
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: come together shockingly quick, so quick that the players in
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: the scheme seldom know that they're even playing. Conspiracies are
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: thought to be vast plots conducted from on high by
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: evil villains and schemers, but in reality, conspiracies happen. We
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: mutually aggrieve groups of people simultaneous. They lock into one
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: powerful shared sentiment, usually greed or vengeance, and are so
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: compelled by their own self interests that their destinies become
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: self fulfilling enough to propel them all collectively toward a
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: singular goal. In this case, for the Mafia and the CIA,
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: it was the elimination of an existential threat to their survival,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: the Kennedys. If the mafia was going to survive, if
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: the CIA was going to survive, JFK had to go
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: kill the President of the United States. Now that's hubris, unless,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: of course, you get away with it, then it's just confidence. Dallas,
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: November twenty second, nineteen sixty three, Game Day. It had
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: been a long time coming. No one, even those involved,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: truly knew what was happening. They just knew they had
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: a part to play, and then later, if everyone moved
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: in the right direction at the right time, their problems
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: would go away. And that's what happened. When Frank Sinatra
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: got word that his friend, the President of the United
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: States was murdered, he instantly knew why, and he realized
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: then that despite his clout, his friends, his confidence, he
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: had been powerless to prevent it. After the ass fascination,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: Frank crawled into an endless bottle of Jack Daniels and
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: sunk into a deep depression. He became one of those
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: sad sack characters in one of his songs, What was
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: it that had brought him to this point? This lowest
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: of Low's hubris mourning the loss of a man he
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: deeply admired encountered as a friend despite his recent estrangement. Yes,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: Hubris was to blame for this, just as it was
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: to blame for the demise of Jack Kennedy, a man
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: who could not see through the blinding light of his
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: own powerful entitlement and buffer Sinatra, this pit of grief, guilt,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: self doubt, and oh too familiar loneliness could only be
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: vanquished by real inner strength, real confidence, or maybe all
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: it would take and be a favor from one of
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: the boys. I'm Jake Brennan and this disgrace laugh. Disgraceland
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: was created by Yours Truly and is produced in partnership
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be found
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: on the show notes page at disgracelampod dot com. If
• 27:14
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• 27:17
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• 27:21
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• 27:23
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• 27:28
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• 27:31
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• 27:36
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• 27:40
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• 27:45
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  Speaker 1: slash at disgracelampod Rock a Roller. He then