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Tommy James and the Shondells: Mony Mony and Mafia-Sanctioned Hits · DISGRACELAND

0:00
Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. The stories about
0:17
Speaker 1: Tommy James and the Chandells are insane. He was obsessed
0:22
Speaker 1: with guns, His hits were sanctioned by the mafia. He
0:25
Speaker 1: was heavily addicted to pills, and a one time supplier
0:29
Speaker 1: of speed to the Vice President of the United States.
0:33
Speaker 1: Tommy James came up during a time when the music
0:35
Speaker 1: industry was in part controlled by New York's Italian mafia,
0:39
Speaker 1: and for a period in the nineteen sixties that power
0:43
Speaker 1: was centralized at Roulette Records. The record label was run
0:47
Speaker 1: by convicted extortionist Mars Levy and operated in partnership with
0:51
Speaker 1: the Genovese crime family. This was where Tommy James made
0:55
Speaker 1: some of his greatest hits. Great music, unlike that music
1:00
Speaker 1: played for you at the top of the show. That
1:02
Speaker 1: wasn't great music. That was a preset loop for my
1:05
Speaker 1: mellotron called Frank's Nice and Sleazy MK two. I played
1:11
Speaker 1: you that loop because I can't afford the rights to
1:14
Speaker 1: Monday Monday by the Mamas and Papas. And why would
1:17
Speaker 1: I play you that specific slice of Wrecking Crew Cheese?
1:21
Speaker 1: Could I afford it? Because that was the number one
1:25
Speaker 1: song in America On May twenty one, nineteen sixty six,
1:30
Speaker 1: and that was the Dave. Billboard magazine reported that the
1:33
Speaker 1: rights to re release Tommy James and the Schondell's regional
1:37
Speaker 1: hit Hanky Panky had been purchased by Roulette Records, an
1:41
Speaker 1: event that would drastically alter the chorus of Tommy James's
1:45
Speaker 1: life and very nearly lead to his death. On this
1:50
Speaker 1: episode music the Mafia, Mony, Mony and Tommy James and
1:54
Speaker 1: the Shondells, I'm Jake Brennan and this is disgraced. Tommy
2:28
Speaker 1: James was exhausted. The Black beauties helped, That's what they
2:32
Speaker 1: were called on the street anyway, speed amphetamines, late sixties
2:37
Speaker 1: heads used them to stay up all night to counter
2:40
Speaker 1: the grass. Soldiers over in Vietnam relied on them to
2:44
Speaker 1: stay awake on overnights and the shit. The soldiers were
2:48
Speaker 1: also relying on Vice President Hubert Humphrey to get them
2:51
Speaker 1: out of the mess that President Lyndon Baines Johnson had
2:54
Speaker 1: landed them in. It was nineteen sixty eight and there
2:58
Speaker 1: didn't seem to be an end in sight for the
3:00
Speaker 1: Vietnam War. But if the VP and current candidate to
3:03
Speaker 1: replace President Johnson had a plan a country didn't yet
3:07
Speaker 1: know about it. Tommy James waited in his Midtown high
3:12
Speaker 1: rise for the car, struggling to keep his eyes open
3:15
Speaker 1: despite the late morning hour. He contemplated another pill. The
3:20
Speaker 1: car would be on time the Vice President had sent it.
3:26
Speaker 1: Tommy James had been up all night. There's another sold
3:29
Speaker 1: out Colisseum show the night before. His group, Tommy James
3:33
Speaker 1: and the Chondells were flying high, one of the biggest
3:36
Speaker 1: in the country and abroad, with massive top ten hits
3:38
Speaker 1: beginning in nineteen sixty six with Hanky Panky, continuing into
3:43
Speaker 1: sixty seven with I Think We're Alone Now, and into
3:45
Speaker 1: sixty eight with the Monster Smash Money Money. Currently, the
3:50
Speaker 1: song was everywhere. Tommy heard it that morning on the
3:53
Speaker 1: radio in his apartment. While waiting for his ride. He
3:56
Speaker 1: remembered back to writing that song in that very apartment,
4:00
Speaker 1: Stuck with this songwriting partner for hours, trying to find
4:03
Speaker 1: a word to hang the chorus on. Boney, Boney, that
4:07
Speaker 1: would do? What about phony? Phony? Now? That didn't make
4:10
Speaker 1: much sense. They sat on Tommy's outdoor patio, sharing a
4:14
Speaker 1: joint overlooking the Manhattan skyline, searching for an answer to
4:18
Speaker 1: unlock the riddle. That was their song. And there it was,
4:22
Speaker 1: in big neon letters staring back at them, the flashing
4:26
Speaker 1: Mutual of New York sign atop the Insurance Company's building
4:30
Speaker 1: at seventeen forty Broadway, a couple of blocks from Tommy's building.
4:34
Speaker 1: The first letters of each word spelled it out for them.
4:38
Speaker 1: M O N why money, moony money moony. Yeah, that's it, Yes,
4:44
Speaker 1: that's it. They had their hit. The song went like
4:50
Speaker 1: gangbusters up the charts and solidified Tommy James and the
4:53
Speaker 1: Chondell's as one of the biggest pop groups of the day,
4:56
Speaker 1: so big and with such influence over American teenage that
5:00
Speaker 1: the Vice President came calling upon Tommy and his group
5:03
Speaker 1: to help him boost attendance at the VP's campaign rallies
5:07
Speaker 1: that summer. It worked. Tommy and the Chandells could take
5:11
Speaker 1: a Humphrey campaign event, and with their jaw balloon the
5:13
Speaker 1: size of the event from a couple thousand to more
5:15
Speaker 1: than ten thousand, sometimes twenty thousand. Today's event was going
5:20
Speaker 1: to be different. Tommy knew it. He'd done many for
5:23
Speaker 1: Humphrey by this point, it would do many more. Whatever
5:25
Speaker 1: was necessary to defeat Richard Nixon from gaining entry into
5:28
Speaker 1: the Oval office. Tommy knew that today the VP was
5:32
Speaker 1: going to ask him for a favor, and where Tommy
5:35
Speaker 1: came from, favors were a currency. He didn't ask for
5:39
Speaker 1: them unless you were prepared to pay, and he didn't
5:41
Speaker 1: grant them unless you were prepared to collect. When the
5:45
Speaker 1: limo arrived in the back seats, the party was in
5:48
Speaker 1: full effect. Comedian Alan King played at nonchalant, something cool
5:52
Speaker 1: and wet, tumbling in the rocks glass in his hand.
5:55
Speaker 1: He acknowledged Tommy with a hey kid, It went back
5:58
Speaker 1: to staring out his window. Actress Shelley Winters just stared
6:02
Speaker 1: at Tommy. She was clearly sauced, even at this early hour.
6:07
Speaker 1: She eskewed the formality of the glass and pulled Jack
6:10
Speaker 1: Daniels straight from the bottle. Whatever Alan King was annoyed with,
6:14
Speaker 1: it seemed to Tommy that the very drunk Shelley Winters
6:17
Speaker 1: was quite possibly at the top of that long list.
6:20
Speaker 1: Tommy sat back and played it cool, popped a pill,
6:24
Speaker 1: shot it back with the snort of Jack, rested his
6:26
Speaker 1: head back on the leather headrest and made like Alan
6:29
Speaker 1: King and ignored Shelley Winters when they were on stage
6:33
Speaker 1: an hour or so later, before Tommy said introducing the
6:37
Speaker 1: Vice President, Shelley almost fell over right there on stage
6:40
Speaker 1: in front of the audience. She was slurring her words.
6:44
Speaker 1: I'm Shelley Winters, and I'm an actress, and I can
6:46
Speaker 1: say any damn thing I want, and I say, Hubert
6:49
Speaker 1: Humphrey is going to be the next President of the
6:51
Speaker 1: United States. Behind him on the stage, Alan King leaned
6:56
Speaker 1: over and quietly said to Tommy, at least she got
6:59
Speaker 1: his name right. Every time this fucking broad shows up,
7:01
Speaker 1: we lose ten thousand votes. The crowd roared with laughter.
7:06
Speaker 1: Alan and Tommy and everyone else in attendance all realized
7:09
Speaker 1: at that moment that the stage minkes had picked up
7:11
Speaker 1: Allan's commentary, and ten thousand plus people had just heard
7:15
Speaker 1: him shit talk Shelley Winters in real time. It didn't matter,
7:19
Speaker 1: if anything, it helped. The crowd loved it, and they
7:23
Speaker 1: loved Tommy and the Chandelle set, and they loved Hubert
7:25
Speaker 1: Humphrey as well. The VP came on and rapped Harmony,
7:29
Speaker 1: rapped power to the People, rapped non committal Vietnam strategy,
7:32
Speaker 1: rapped tricky Dick in unemployment. Tommy James, like everyone else
7:36
Speaker 1: in attendance, lapped it up. Later that night, backstage, he
7:42
Speaker 1: sat with the Vice President and a small group of others.
7:46
Speaker 1: Humphrey asked Tommy if he would lead the President's Council
7:49
Speaker 1: on Youth Affairs. It was a sub cabinet position, but
7:52
Speaker 1: an important one, nonetheless, and here was Tommy James, singer
7:56
Speaker 1: of pop songs with nonsensical titles like money, Money, Hanky Panky,
8:01
Speaker 1: accepting the prestigious position. The Vice President was happy to
8:05
Speaker 1: hear Tommy's answer. He was also tired. He confided in Tommy,
8:10
Speaker 1: as he had come to do more often on their
8:12
Speaker 1: trips from campaign stop to campaign stop, that he was
8:15
Speaker 1: exhausted and had no idea how he was going to
8:18
Speaker 1: stay up all night writing this new speech. Tommy, ever,
8:22
Speaker 1: the pleaser, saw an opportunity to help out and further
8:25
Speaker 1: embed himself in the VP's good graces. You know, when
8:29
Speaker 1: I have to stay up, I sometimes take these little
8:32
Speaker 1: stay awake pills. Tommy reached into his pocket and pulled
8:36
Speaker 1: out a vial of Black Beauties and gave one to Humphrey,
8:38
Speaker 1: who happily accepted. Needless to say, the VP's next speech
8:44
Speaker 1: killed Tommy James was opportunistic. Life, especially in America, presented
8:52
Speaker 1: you with opportunities. It was like a game of cards.
8:54
Speaker 1: Since Tommy, it was all how you played them. He
8:58
Speaker 1: played his first break back in nineteen sixty six into
9:01
Speaker 1: a winning hand. He recorded a local single back on
9:04
Speaker 1: his home turf, Michigan, Hanky Panky. It sold okay, but
9:08
Speaker 1: failed to set the world on fire, so his band,
9:11
Speaker 1: the Chondell's Split abandoned him for the straight world, the
9:15
Speaker 1: service marriage, et cetera. Tommy was a drift alone, broke
9:19
Speaker 1: and busted. It stung. He thought he and his bandmates
9:22
Speaker 1: were boys a gang in it to conquer hearts and
9:25
Speaker 1: the charts. But in the end, Tommy James and his
9:28
Speaker 1: Hanky Panky were nothing but a fad to the rest
9:30
Speaker 1: of his band. When you get the call from Pittsburgh's
9:33
Speaker 1: famous DJ, the larger than life on their personality from
9:37
Speaker 1: wzumam Mad Mike, Mike laid it down for him, real simple,
9:42
Speaker 1: Tommy James, your song Hanky Panky, It's a bona fide
9:45
Speaker 1: smash man. I can't stop playing it. My listeners won't
9:48
Speaker 1: let me get your ass over to Pittsburgh with the
9:50
Speaker 1: rest of the Chondell's and come on my show. The
9:52
Speaker 1: station will put together a concert for you to play
9:54
Speaker 1: to your fans. Fans Tommy James had fans. He didn't
9:59
Speaker 1: even have a band anymore. That didn't matter. Instinctively, Tommy
10:03
Speaker 1: knew this was his opportunity. Sure, mister Mike, me and
10:06
Speaker 1: the band will be there for sure, right away, sir.
10:08
Speaker 1: Tommy wasn't about to tell the DJ he no longer
10:10
Speaker 1: had a band, that they'd left him in the lurch.
10:13
Speaker 1: He'd figure the band thing out later. He'd find a
10:15
Speaker 1: band in a club thirty miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Hey,
10:18
Speaker 1: you guys want to be the Chandell's. Sure great, and voila.
10:21
Speaker 1: Tommy James once again had a band. And when he
10:24
Speaker 1: came to Mad Mike in the radio appearance, Tommy James
10:27
Speaker 1: was all yes, sir, sure sir, and right away, sir,
10:29
Speaker 1: you can count on me. Sir. Tommy sees the opportunity,
10:32
Speaker 1: just like he would later with the Vice President, and
10:35
Speaker 1: just like he would after Pittsburgh in the Big Apple,
10:38
Speaker 1: when another larger than life personality would make him an
10:41
Speaker 1: offer he couldn't refrain. The office phones wouldn't stop ringing.
11:09
Speaker 1: Mister Levey can't speak at the moment. Mister Levee can't
11:12
Speaker 1: speak at the moment. Mister Levey can't speak at the moment.
11:15
Speaker 1: Oh sure, mister gigonte one moment, Please let me grab
11:19
Speaker 1: mister Levy. There was a constant hum of action in
11:28
Speaker 1: and around every corner of the record label's headquarters. Tommy
11:32
Speaker 1: James's young, pretty head felt like it was on a swivel,
11:35
Speaker 1: and there were songwriters, publishers, accountants, and tax men all
11:38
Speaker 1: buzzing about, and every last one of them was there
11:41
Speaker 1: for the same reason to speak to Marris Levey, head
11:44
Speaker 1: of Roulette Records and its various sister labels, whose stable
11:48
Speaker 1: of stars included Frankie Lyman, Bill Haley, and Ronnie Hawkins,
11:51
Speaker 1: among others, and were responsible for early rock and roll
11:55
Speaker 1: hits and dance craze songs like the Peppermint Twist, among others.
11:58
Speaker 1: But at the moment, Marris wasn't seeing anyone, not even
12:02
Speaker 1: Tommy James and his manager, who he Mars Levey had
12:05
Speaker 1: requested to see. Tommy had come all the way from Niles,
12:08
Speaker 1: Michigan to meet with him, as well as with all
12:10
Speaker 1: the other labels. After it was clear that the hanky
12:12
Speaker 1: panky was no fluke, no fat, and now he was
12:16
Speaker 1: being made to wait. Tommy, just nineteen at the time,
12:19
Speaker 1: didn't know much, but he knew this felt like disrespect.
12:23
Speaker 1: Then he heard the yelling, screaming, really from Marris's office
12:27
Speaker 1: by a very angry man who he could only assume
12:30
Speaker 1: was mister Marris Levey himself. Then the sounds rough sounds,
12:35
Speaker 1: big bangs, violent shuffles, clanging, more yelling, and unbelievably screams
12:40
Speaker 1: from someone clearly not Mars Levey. All of it was
12:44
Speaker 1: fully out of place in this business environment. But no one,
12:46
Speaker 1: not the secretary's, not the accountants, not the publishers, not
12:49
Speaker 1: any of the waiting guests, acknowledged the sounds as even
12:52
Speaker 1: being there. They all just kept going about their business
12:55
Speaker 1: while mob Bell's choir kept ringing in the background, soundtracking
12:59
Speaker 1: what was some sort of midtown madness, the likes of
13:01
Speaker 1: which Tommy James could not comprehend. He was a long
13:04
Speaker 1: way from the Midwest, he knew that much, and he
13:07
Speaker 1: also knew this was all very exciting. He'd been in
13:13
Speaker 1: New York City for less than twenty four hours. The
13:16
Speaker 1: goal was to find a record label to sign to.
13:18
Speaker 1: Getting meetings was easy. The regional success of Hanky Panky
13:22
Speaker 1: opened the right doors Columbia Records, Kamasutra Records, Redbird Records,
13:27
Speaker 1: Atlantic Records, and RCA. They met with the heads at
13:29
Speaker 1: all the labels except Roulette. Mars Levy was not available,
13:34
Speaker 1: so they simply left a copy of Hanky Panky with
13:36
Speaker 1: his very attractive secretary and went about the rest of
13:39
Speaker 1: their meetings. Atlantic was hot to trot, so was Columbia.
13:42
Speaker 1: Word got back. Not only did Atlantic and Columbia want
13:45
Speaker 1: to sign Tommy James, but so did every single other
13:48
Speaker 1: label they met with. It was a whirlwind. Tommy was
13:51
Speaker 1: hot on Atlantic, he would just as soon as signed
13:53
Speaker 1: with them on the spot during their first meeting, but
13:56
Speaker 1: his manager knew better make him wait, sweat it out,
13:59
Speaker 1: get a better da that sort of thing. But that
14:02
Speaker 1: was yesterday, the day before. This was today, and now
14:06
Speaker 1: suddenly the labels were no longer interested, all except Roulette.
14:11
Speaker 1: It made no sense, not to Tommy James and his
14:14
Speaker 1: Midwest hick manager anyway. In New York, though, it made
14:18
Speaker 1: perfect sense what happened in between Tommy's meetings with the
14:23
Speaker 1: heads of the music industry's biggest record labels the day before,
14:27
Speaker 1: and his jet cooling stint on the sofa inside the
14:29
Speaker 1: Roulette Records waiting room was that Maurice Levy had heard
14:33
Speaker 1: Hanky Panky, loved it, and decided unilaterally that Tommy James
14:37
Speaker 1: was to be a Roulette artist, and called the heads
14:40
Speaker 1: of the other labels and collectively told them all that
14:42
Speaker 1: back the fuck off, mincing no words of Atlantic's Jerry
14:45
Speaker 1: Wexler telling him this is my fucking record, leave it alone.
14:49
Speaker 1: And now Tommy had been sent for and was waiting
14:52
Speaker 1: patiently to learn of his fate. The fate of whoever
14:55
Speaker 1: was on the other side of Maris Levey's door, however,
14:58
Speaker 1: was seriously question The sounds continued, it was clear that
15:02
Speaker 1: there was some sort of violent confrontation happening, and then
15:06
Speaker 1: Morris's office door opened and the sound ceased out. Limped
15:12
Speaker 1: a haggard looking young man. He didn't look much older
15:14
Speaker 1: to Tommy than himself, mid twenties, greaser workmen's clothes, and
15:18
Speaker 1: fresh wounds on his face. Two big Italian looking men
15:21
Speaker 1: in suits followed him. Take them back to Flatbush, came
15:25
Speaker 1: the booming voice from out of Morris's office. Behind them, Flatbush,
15:33
Speaker 1: the Brooklyn bootlegger was making good bread. Most kids didn't
15:37
Speaker 1: care what label covered the records of their favorite songs,
15:40
Speaker 1: as long as they got to spin them on their
15:42
Speaker 1: turntables while they did the mystery dance, the mashed Potato,
15:45
Speaker 1: or the haggy panky. Bootlegging records was big business in
15:50
Speaker 1: the fifties and sixties, and if you were trying to
15:52
Speaker 1: make your money running a record label, a bootlegger could
15:55
Speaker 1: put you out of business by printing up and selling
15:57
Speaker 1: off brand copies of the music you finance to the
16:00
Speaker 1: unsuspecting record buying public. Mars Levey's men located the bootlegger,
16:05
Speaker 1: no problem. He was right where they said he'd be,
16:08
Speaker 1: in Flatbush. They stormed the makeshift pressing plant with baseball bats,
16:12
Speaker 1: grabbed a little dude of the press by the shirt collar,
16:14
Speaker 1: beat the living piss up and treating him like the
16:16
Speaker 1: unseen stitches on a white Ford fastball. And when they
16:19
Speaker 1: got done swinging for the fences, they tied him to
16:22
Speaker 1: a chair, grabbed his illicit inventory of vinyls, spread it
16:25
Speaker 1: out all around him, doused it with gasoline, and lit
16:27
Speaker 1: a match. It quickly went up in flames. They found
16:31
Speaker 1: the bootlegger's partner cowering in the corner of the office.
16:34
Speaker 1: They grabbed him as a souvenir for their boss and
16:36
Speaker 1: headed back to the Roulette offices in Midtown. And now
16:43
Speaker 1: that bootlegger was walk of shaming it out of Mars
16:45
Speaker 1: Levey's office and back to his torched misfortune, having no
16:49
Speaker 1: doubt worked out some sort of devil's bargain to save
16:51
Speaker 1: his life. Marris appeared in the doorway of his office,
16:55
Speaker 1: looked out into the waiting room, and no one in
16:57
Speaker 1: particular asked this. The kid Tommy said nothing, neither did
17:01
Speaker 1: anyone else. Neither did Mars. He just turned and went
17:04
Speaker 1: back into his office. Tommy and his manager were soon
17:08
Speaker 1: after ushered in behind him, and once inside Mars Levey's
17:11
Speaker 1: inner sanctum, they were pleasantly surprised. All the intimidation of
17:16
Speaker 1: the experience thus far had been replaced by Mars Levey's
17:19
Speaker 1: sizeable charm. Hanky Panky was a smash whether more where
17:23
Speaker 1: that came from. Tommy was clearly the next big thing
17:25
Speaker 1: with all that talent, and Roulette was just the record
17:28
Speaker 1: label to make it happen for all of them. Mars
17:30
Speaker 1: laid out his vision for Tommy James and the Chondells,
17:33
Speaker 1: another pressing of Hanky Panky on Roulette, with proper promotion,
17:36
Speaker 1: nationwide radio play, a publishing deal in advance, a tour,
17:40
Speaker 1: a certain stardom, and then more hits. Tommy was all years.
17:44
Speaker 1: He immediately took to Marris. It was hard not to
17:47
Speaker 1: when Mars Levey wanted you to feel the love. You
17:49
Speaker 1: felt the love and he seemed like the only guy
17:51
Speaker 1: on the planet who could give it to you, who
17:53
Speaker 1: could give you whatever it was you wanted. Marris Levey
17:56
Speaker 1: was boisterous, larger than life, and despite his gruff demeanor
18:00
Speaker 1: cigar chomping voice, he had a kindness to him with big, round,
18:03
Speaker 1: soft eyes, the kind that said, don't worry about nothing,
18:07
Speaker 1: don't worry about the thing earlier with that guy, just
18:09
Speaker 1: a little trouble. We had to take care so that
18:11
Speaker 1: you can realize your dreams, dreams that I'm going to
18:14
Speaker 1: make come true for you. Kid. Marris Levy pulled from
18:17
Speaker 1: an endless reservoir of confidence. A jew, he came up
18:22
Speaker 1: in the Bronx, working Italian ma Bone nightclubs and other
18:25
Speaker 1: mafia controlled rackets, the most infamous being the Manhattan jazz
18:29
Speaker 1: club Birdland, which operated under the protection of the Genovese
18:32
Speaker 1: crime family. It was one of New York's most successful
18:35
Speaker 1: clubs at the time, but it wasn't without its problems.
18:38
Speaker 1: Marris's brother was murdered there on some beef that was
18:42
Speaker 1: never entirely clear, but Mars pressed on. He commissioned a
18:46
Speaker 1: theme song for the club, the Lullaby of Birdland by
18:48
Speaker 1: George Shearing. It was a quick hit in an occasion
18:51
Speaker 1: to start a publishing company for Mars, a publishing company
18:54
Speaker 1: that Mars Levy quickly, by a combination of cunning and force,
18:58
Speaker 1: turned into an empire. Marris aligned himself with the most
19:04
Speaker 1: successful disc jockey in the country, Cleveland's Alan Freed. Marris
19:08
Speaker 1: brought him to New York, wined and dined, and proceeded
19:11
Speaker 1: applying with the lavish lifestyle Freed felt he deserved. Morris
19:15
Speaker 1: and Scottsdaalin a WIMS radio, and Alan Freed was now
19:18
Speaker 1: the most influential DJ in New York. DJs all over
19:22
Speaker 1: the country followed his lead. Played what he played with
19:25
Speaker 1: Alan Freed in the fold. In Marris's pocket and thus
19:28
Speaker 1: in the pocket of the Genevese family. Marris was able
19:31
Speaker 1: to get freed to play whichever of his records he
19:33
Speaker 1: wanted as frequently as he wanted, all but guaranteeing hits
19:37
Speaker 1: for the songs Mars published. So Marris then formed Roulette
19:41
Speaker 1: Records to grab a bigger piece of the royalty pie
19:43
Speaker 1: from the sale of records that featured the songs he
19:46
Speaker 1: published and that were generating performance royalties from their massive
19:49
Speaker 1: radio play. Mars was smart. He needed to make that money.
19:53
Speaker 1: He was an earner, a top earner for the Genovese family,
19:56
Speaker 1: as he'd always been, going all the way back to
19:59
Speaker 1: his time as a kid the Bronx. He knew how
20:01
Speaker 1: to make his bosses happy. First there was Salvator Marenzano,
20:05
Speaker 1: then Lucky Luciano put a bullet in him. Lucky went
20:08
Speaker 1: away and Vito Geneviz took over. Then Vito went away,
20:11
Speaker 1: and Frank Costello tried stepping into his shoes but got
20:14
Speaker 1: clipped by Jim Chacante. Frank survived, and so did the
20:17
Speaker 1: man who arranged to whack him out, Tommy Ebily, who
20:20
Speaker 1: is now sitting next to Tommy James and his manager
20:22
Speaker 1: in Mars Levy's office, seemingly out of place. A fly
20:25
Speaker 1: on the wall observing his charge. Mars Levy take charge
20:30
Speaker 1: back to teeing up the conversation, Marris came around from
20:33
Speaker 1: his desk and motioned to young Tommy James to stand up.
20:37
Speaker 1: Mars Levy hugged the nineteen year old he had just
20:39
Speaker 1: met and told him everything was going to be all right.
20:42
Speaker 1: He could go back to his hotel and arrest, come
20:44
Speaker 1: back in the morning, and they had talk producers for now, though,
20:48
Speaker 1: Marris wanted some time alone with Tommy's manager so he
20:51
Speaker 1: and his boys could work it all out. We'll be
20:59
Speaker 1: right back after this word word word. It wasn't so
21:05
Speaker 1: much that the contract as manager worked out with him
21:07
Speaker 1: was bad. It was that the guy mars Levy, who
21:11
Speaker 1: Tommy's manager contracted him with, was bad. Some musicians signed
21:16
Speaker 1: bad contracts and in the process sign over everything profits
21:20
Speaker 1: from their record sales and profits from their songwriting royalties
21:23
Speaker 1: aka their music publishing. That wasn't the case with Tommy.
21:27
Speaker 1: He maintained his right to make money off of his songwriting.
21:31
Speaker 1: It's just that the man who is responsible for administering
21:33
Speaker 1: the money that his songs generated, i e. The man
21:36
Speaker 1: responsible for collecting and paying him only kept up with
21:40
Speaker 1: one of his duties. Mars Levy collected, but mars Levy
21:44
Speaker 1: didn't pay, and by nineteen sixty nine there was a
21:47
Speaker 1: lot of songwriting publishing money to be collected on behalf
21:50
Speaker 1: of Tommy James. Since signing with Roulette. Everything mars Levy
21:56
Speaker 1: had promised Tommy James in that first meeting he had delivered.
22:00
Speaker 1: Hanky Panky was reissued and distributed through Roulette, and it
22:04
Speaker 1: was a hit, rising to number one on the charts
22:06
Speaker 1: and selling more than a million copies going gold. Tommy
22:10
Speaker 1: backed up that breakout success with a string of seven
22:12
Speaker 1: hit singles, including I Think We're Alone Now, Mirage and
22:16
Speaker 1: Getting Together, Climaxing with Money Money. In nineteen sixty eight,
22:20
Speaker 1: Mony Mony hit big on both sides of the pond.
22:23
Speaker 1: It peaked at number three in the US but went
22:25
Speaker 1: all the way to number one in the UK. Had
22:27
Speaker 1: left such a cultural mark that Billy Idol's cover version
22:30
Speaker 1: would repeat the chart topping performance almost twenty years later,
22:36
Speaker 1: and by the end of the sixties, as pop music
22:38
Speaker 1: transitioned from a forty five singles market to an album
22:41
Speaker 1: oriented market, Tommy adjusted with the times. His second single
22:46
Speaker 1: off the album, Crimson and Clover, Crystal Blue Persuasion climbed
22:50
Speaker 1: to number two on the charts, and hitting number one
22:52
Speaker 1: was the album's title track, Crimson and Clover. On radio stations,
22:57
Speaker 1: it was heard over and over. Yeah, his career such
23:03
Speaker 1: a sweet thing. Tommy James could do everything, Tommy James
23:11
Speaker 1: couldn't miss, But Tommy James couldn't get paid, at least
23:15
Speaker 1: not what he was owed. Mars Levy kept him satiated
23:20
Speaker 1: with a couple grand in cash here and a couple
23:22
Speaker 1: granding cash there, and covered touring expenses, where Tommy and
23:25
Speaker 1: his band were free to make whatever money they wanted
23:28
Speaker 1: from performance fees, and Mars paid for studio time and
23:31
Speaker 1: recording and other living and lifestyle expenses. But those out
23:34
Speaker 1: of pocket expenses were pocket change compared to the millions
23:37
Speaker 1: Tommy James was owed and back publishing money millions Marris
23:42
Speaker 1: used to finance his lavish lifestyle, expensive parties, prostitutes, a
23:46
Speaker 1: huge spread upstate, and massive legal bills to fend off
23:50
Speaker 1: a constant swarm of IRS agents prowling around trying to
23:54
Speaker 1: bust Mars for tax evasion. And of course there was
23:57
Speaker 1: the long standing protection deal he had with the Geneva
24:00
Speaker 1: family and whatever money he needed to pay out monthly
24:02
Speaker 1: to satisfy that arrangement. Mars had a healthy overhead and
24:06
Speaker 1: a stable of songwriters he deemed expendable parts necessary for
24:10
Speaker 1: him to do the real work of marketing and selling
24:12
Speaker 1: music through a mix of intimidation, force Paola and other scams.
24:19
Speaker 1: And Tommy James was his favorite. Sure, like a son
24:22
Speaker 1: to Mars, But Tommy James was as expendable as the rest.
24:25
Speaker 1: Jimmy Rogers who got too big for his songwriting bridges,
24:28
Speaker 1: and that junkie you couldn't keep his dick in his pants,
24:30
Speaker 1: Frankie Lyman. Tommy would take what he was given and
24:33
Speaker 1: shut up about it. What was he going to do
24:35
Speaker 1: complain to who he wouldn't dare. Over the years, Tommy
24:38
Speaker 1: broached the subject of getting paid with Mars numerous times,
24:41
Speaker 1: but got nowhere, and he wouldn't dare bring the business
24:44
Speaker 1: outside of the walls of Roulette. Tommy saw firsthand what
24:47
Speaker 1: happened to the bootleggers who crossed Mars, and he heard
24:49
Speaker 1: the rumors too about other not so fortunate souls who
24:52
Speaker 1: dared get on the wrong side of Mars Levy. And
24:54
Speaker 1: of course Tommy heard what Mars was capable of straight
24:58
Speaker 1: from the horse's mouth. So Tommy James took whatever money
25:03
Speaker 1: you could get his hands on and indulged one of
25:06
Speaker 1: his growing fascinations guns. He'd amassed a small arsenal in
25:13
Speaker 1: his apartment. He loaded his prized piece, a thirty two
25:16
Speaker 1: caliber police pistol from nineteen oh two, the one with
25:19
Speaker 1: the rubber handle in the eight inch barrel. He stood
25:22
Speaker 1: on his balcony high above Manhattan, took gain and fired.
25:27
Speaker 1: Under normal circumstances, this would only be a little scary,
25:30
Speaker 1: but under the current circumstances it was terrifying. Tommy had
25:34
Speaker 1: a head full of speed and was trying to process
25:37
Speaker 1: his overwhelming sense of anger at being screwed by Mars
25:41
Speaker 1: Levy and unable to do anything about it. The whole
25:44
Speaker 1: thing lent itself to a little cyclone of violence swirling
25:47
Speaker 1: around Tommy James in nineteen sixty nine, and Tommy fired
25:52
Speaker 1: off another round, and the shot was loud with each
25:55
Speaker 1: pull of the trigger. Tommy imagined himself settling his beef
25:58
Speaker 1: with Marris. Imagine taking charge and taking control of the
26:01
Speaker 1: money Marris owed him shedding himself with Mars and this
26:05
Speaker 1: impossible predicament of having his creativity preyed upon and exploited.
26:09
Speaker 1: It pulled the trigger over and over. With each shot,
26:13
Speaker 1: Tommy felt a little better, felt Maris Levey's shackles loosened.
26:17
Speaker 1: The black beauties had him amped. The weed did little
26:20
Speaker 1: to level of him off. It made him paranoid, and
26:22
Speaker 1: the boozy sipped in between rounds complimented the air of
26:25
Speaker 1: invincibility that his peace in his hand inspired. Tommy's wife
26:29
Speaker 1: screamed at him to stop. He didn't listen. She screamed
26:32
Speaker 1: some more. He listened less. He kept shooting, over and over.
26:36
Speaker 1: Scared to death, Tommy's wife, unable to call the cops,
26:39
Speaker 1: called the only person she knew who Tommy would listen to.
26:42
Speaker 1: She called Mars Levey. Mars made it over in no time.
26:46
Speaker 1: The last thing he needed was his star attraction getting
26:49
Speaker 1: busted into the stockpile. Believe a weaponry what he bounded
26:54
Speaker 1: through their apartment door. Tommy immediately snapped too. But this
26:57
Speaker 1: was his home, So fuck Mars Levey, give me the
27:00
Speaker 1: fucking guns, was all Marris said. Fuck you. Mars grabbed
27:04
Speaker 1: Tommy by the neck, lifted him off the ground with
27:06
Speaker 1: one hand, and slammed him into the wall. Now you
27:09
Speaker 1: listen to me, you little cocksucker. You gonna shoot these
27:11
Speaker 1: guns off into the night sky. That's one kind of stupid.
27:13
Speaker 1: You're gonna fantasize about shooting me. Well, that's another kind
27:16
Speaker 1: of stupid. Entirely. You insult me in a dream, and
27:19
Speaker 1: you gotta wake up and apologize. You hear me? How
27:22
Speaker 1: did he know? Tommy wondered, Marris was in his head,
27:25
Speaker 1: fucking with him on repeat. Marris tightened his grip to
27:28
Speaker 1: drive home his next point. Do you know what I did?
27:31
Speaker 1: Ut bum who killed my brother at Birdland? Tommy couldn't
27:34
Speaker 1: say anything, He couldn't breathe, his eyes widened. Mars squeezed tighter.
27:39
Speaker 1: I fucking took a knife and stuck it in his
27:41
Speaker 1: fucking stomach and twisted it. Mars shaped his free hand
27:44
Speaker 1: into a fist and ground it slowly and painfully into
27:47
Speaker 1: Tommy's stomach. I stuck it in his fucking stomach until
27:50
Speaker 1: his fucking guts fell out. Tommy's eyes got bigger, his
27:55
Speaker 1: face was plumb red. Marris leaned in closer to Tommy's
27:58
Speaker 1: ear and whispered, Now, you ain't gonna hurt me, are you.
28:03
Speaker 1: He didn't wait for an answer, He just loosened Tommy
28:06
Speaker 1: from his grasp, who crumbled onto the floor. Marris quickly
28:11
Speaker 1: went in a savior mode and began caring for Tommy.
28:13
Speaker 1: He picked him up to his feet, dusted him off,
28:16
Speaker 1: told him to leave the pills alone, and that he
28:18
Speaker 1: was taking his guns, but if he ever wanted to
28:20
Speaker 1: shoot them, he could do so up at Mars's place
28:22
Speaker 1: up state. And then if you were worried about protection
28:24
Speaker 1: in the city for whatever reason, then Marris would assign
28:27
Speaker 1: some men to accompany him and watch his back. And
28:30
Speaker 1: just like that, Tommy James Popstar had a full time
28:34
Speaker 1: Genevie's family bodyguard accompanying him wherever he went, looking out
28:39
Speaker 1: for him, protecting him. It was a good thing because
28:42
Speaker 1: Tommy was gonna need the protection. It was commonly known
29:07
Speaker 1: that in nineteen seventy one there were five families mafia families,
29:11
Speaker 1: that is Gambino, Luksi, Genevez, Bonano, and Colombo. What is
29:17
Speaker 1: uncommonly known is that Roulette Records was the unofficial sixth family,
29:21
Speaker 1: headed up by Mars Levy, at least that's how he
29:24
Speaker 1: saw it. Years later, creators of the greatest television show
29:28
Speaker 1: of all time, the Sopranos would base the character of
29:31
Speaker 1: hash Rabkin on mars Levy, But back in the late
29:34
Speaker 1: nineteen sixties, all anyone needed to know was that mars
29:38
Speaker 1: Levy had created a mini empire in the music industry
29:41
Speaker 1: that was throwing off mountains of cash and operating under
29:44
Speaker 1: the protection of the Genevize crime family, a family whose
29:49
Speaker 1: leadership in very existence was currently under fire. In nineteen
29:57
Speaker 1: sixty nine, Vito Genevese, leader of the one of these
30:00
Speaker 1: crime family, died in prison. For the past few years
30:03
Speaker 1: there had been a type of peace between the Genevese
30:06
Speaker 1: family and the rest of the New York families, but
30:08
Speaker 1: now it seemed that peace was unraveling. The Gambino family
30:13
Speaker 1: was on the rise, consolidating their power, and the Gambinos
30:16
Speaker 1: took over the Profacci family, and the Banano family was
30:19
Speaker 1: on the run, and the Gambino Schacho Colombo, boss of
30:22
Speaker 1: the Columbo family, in the head in the middle of
30:24
Speaker 1: Columbus Circle, and as far as the Genovese family went.
30:27
Speaker 1: With their leader of Vito recently departed with unsteady leadership,
30:31
Speaker 1: the Gambinos smelled blood and were gunning for more power.
30:35
Speaker 1: Roulette records would make for a shiny new piece in
30:38
Speaker 1: the crown of jewels. The Gambinos were consolidating throughout New
30:42
Speaker 1: York in nineteen seventy one. But first Mars Letty would
30:46
Speaker 1: have to go. And if Mars couldn't be found, then
30:49
Speaker 1: perhaps the Gambinos could snake away something he cared about
30:52
Speaker 1: to try and coax him out of hiding and leverage
30:55
Speaker 1: him into some sort of illicit swap or bargain. Perhaps
30:58
Speaker 1: that leverage could be found in capturing Tommy James. Tommy
31:05
Speaker 1: James couldn't believe what he was hearing sitting in his
31:07
Speaker 1: lawyer's office. The meeting was supposed to be about developing
31:10
Speaker 1: a strategy for Tommy to extract from Marris the money
31:13
Speaker 1: he owed him via a clever audit. It was recently
31:17
Speaker 1: learned by Tommy and his lawyers that Mars likely owed
31:20
Speaker 1: Tommy a total of forty million dollars. But now Mars
31:25
Speaker 1: was gone in the wind, rumored to be in South America,
31:28
Speaker 1: but maybe also as far away as Australia, lamming it
31:32
Speaker 1: away from the Gambino soldiers in New York who had
31:35
Speaker 1: gone to the Mattresses and likely wanted him dead or
31:37
Speaker 1: kidnapped and forced him to signing away ownership of Roulette Records.
31:41
Speaker 1: Tommy's lawyers made it clear his life was in danger
31:46
Speaker 1: and he needed to get out of New York. Now
31:48
Speaker 1: the Gambinos were a real threat. Marris was gone, they
31:52
Speaker 1: could try and use Tommy to get to Mars. So
31:54
Speaker 1: just playing kill Tommy to send Marris a message. It
31:57
Speaker 1: was a threat the likes of which Tommy James had
31:59
Speaker 1: never felt. But whenever anything to that point in his
32:02
Speaker 1: career had threatened Tommy, Marris was the guy who took
32:05
Speaker 1: care of it. And now Marris was gone and there
32:07
Speaker 1: was no one to take care of the threat or
32:09
Speaker 1: take care of him personally, never mind his career. Without Mars,
32:13
Speaker 1: the gig was over and forget about money. Tommy would
32:15
Speaker 1: now never see what Marris o do. He was sunk,
32:19
Speaker 1: so he headed to Nashville to drown his sorrows and
32:22
Speaker 1: speed and booze and to naturally make a country album
32:26
Speaker 1: without Marris's involvement. The country album sold like ice in
32:29
Speaker 1: the middle of a blizzard. After some time, the five
32:37
Speaker 1: families warring ways calmed down and Marris was allowed to
32:40
Speaker 1: return to New York. Tommy wasn't sure of the arrangement,
32:44
Speaker 1: but he wouldn't have been surprised if the Gambinos were
32:46
Speaker 1: now profiting off of his songs via Roulette records, just
32:49
Speaker 1: as the genovies were. In exchange for Mars being allowed
32:52
Speaker 1: to continue operations with Roulette. Tommy couldn't truck with it anymore.
32:56
Speaker 1: He told Mars he wanted his money, and if he
32:58
Speaker 1: couldn't get it, he wanted his freedom, and the confrontation
33:02
Speaker 1: was brutal. Tommy unloaded years of resentment on to Mars
33:05
Speaker 1: about being taken advantage of, effectively stolen from Marris unloaded
33:10
Speaker 1: right back. Reminded Tommy that had it not been for him,
33:13
Speaker 1: that little Tommy James would still be hanky panking it
33:15
Speaker 1: in Midwest dive bars. And Marris wasn't wrong, and he
33:19
Speaker 1: was unfazed by Tommy's demands. He knew he had Tommy
33:22
Speaker 1: where he wanted him, enslaves to his lifestyle. It wasn't
33:26
Speaker 1: everything he was old, but it was worth more than
33:27
Speaker 1: his life was before he'd met Marris. So Tommy James
33:31
Speaker 1: played the only hand he had left he retired. He
33:38
Speaker 1: refused to make any more records for Roulette, proving to
33:41
Speaker 1: Mars in the process that he was dead serious. Not
33:45
Speaker 1: making records and not getting paid was better than making
33:47
Speaker 1: records under the exploitative black hand of the mafia and
33:50
Speaker 1: not getting paid anyway he looked at it, he wasn't
33:53
Speaker 1: getting paid and the rush of fame didn't matter anymore,
33:56
Speaker 1: and the live shows paid the bills. And though the
33:58
Speaker 1: hit he took in relevance due to not having any
34:00
Speaker 1: new hits to support, caused his live fees to drop,
34:03
Speaker 1: it was still enough to get by and he was
34:05
Speaker 1: still Tommy James, and Mars couldn't take that away. He
34:09
Speaker 1: also couldn't take away the memories. Tommy, despite all of
34:13
Speaker 1: Marris's conniving ways, still looked back at those early days
34:16
Speaker 1: of hits with reverence and strangely gratitude, and they were
34:20
Speaker 1: the most exciting days of his life. All the glitz,
34:23
Speaker 1: the fame, and yeah, of course, even the crime. It
34:25
Speaker 1: was a thrill a minute when Tommy James was on
34:27
Speaker 1: the come up with Roulette records. Years later, after Tommy
34:32
Speaker 1: had professionally divorced Marris Levy, and after Marris had been
34:36
Speaker 1: arrested by the FBI for an extortion scam that had
34:39
Speaker 1: him fending off a long federal prison sentence. Marris succumbed
34:43
Speaker 1: to liver cancer in nineteen ninety. Before doing so, Marris
34:47
Speaker 1: sold off Roulette Records in all of his holdings, including
34:50
Speaker 1: his publishing company that included Tommy James's songs. Now in
34:54
Speaker 1: the hands of professional publishers who not only collected, but
34:58
Speaker 1: who also paid, Tommy James saw windfall of cash. He
35:02
Speaker 1: was helped by a resurgence of popularity of his songs
35:05
Speaker 1: in the nineteen eighties due to the fact that two artists,
35:08
Speaker 1: Billy Idyl and Tiffany, had both recorded and racked up
35:12
Speaker 1: simultaneous hits with cover versions of Tommy James and the
35:15
Speaker 1: Chandell's songs Mony, Moony and I Think We're Alone Now. Remarkably,
35:20
Speaker 1: when Billy Idol's Tommy James cover hit number one, the
35:23
Speaker 1: song it knocked off was Tiffany's Tommy James cover. Back
35:32
Speaker 1: in sixty eight, Marris had summoned Tommy James to his office.
35:36
Speaker 1: It was a thing that happened regularly, but this time,
35:39
Speaker 1: as Tommy was approaching, something felt different. The surrounding office
35:44
Speaker 1: lacked its usual buzz. As Tommy made his way in
35:47
Speaker 1: to see the boss. He was young and naive, but
35:50
Speaker 1: not without instincts. When he opened Marris's door and entered,
35:54
Speaker 1: he immediately realized the reason it all felt different. Inside
35:58
Speaker 1: Marris's office, there were five serious looking Italian men sitting
36:02
Speaker 1: on Mars's l shaped sofa. Mars looked more serious than usual. Hey, kid,
36:08
Speaker 1: come on in. Tommy did as he was told. Tommy, marsaid,
36:15
Speaker 1: these men would like to meet you. This is mister Gigante.
36:19
Speaker 1: Tommy knew who he was meeting. It was the fearsome
36:22
Speaker 1: geneviz Capo, one of the boss's most loyal soldiers, Vincent
36:26
Speaker 1: the chin Gigante. And this is mister Cirillo. Tommy then
36:30
Speaker 1: shook hands with quiet Dawn Sorillo and mister Celeermo wanted
36:34
Speaker 1: to meet you as well. Tommy's hand was then gripped
36:37
Speaker 1: by the massive mit of fat Tony Cealermo, who would
36:40
Speaker 1: go on to eventually become the inspiration for the Sopranos.
36:43
Speaker 1: Tony Soprano and mister Vistola wanted to say hello, and
36:47
Speaker 1: of course you know mister Ebilie already Mars addressed them all.
36:51
Speaker 1: He's a good kid. He's got the number one record
36:53
Speaker 1: this week. Tommy Ebily spoke for the group. We're all
36:57
Speaker 1: proud of you, Tommy. That thing you do in Vice
37:00
Speaker 1: President Humphrey, it's a good thing, and we're all very
37:03
Speaker 1: proud of you. Mars then gave Tommy a nod as
37:06
Speaker 1: if to say, you're free to leave now with your
37:09
Speaker 1: life because me and these men in this room say so.
37:13
Speaker 1: Tommy then told them it was nice to meet you
37:15
Speaker 1: all and quickly made his way out of the office.
37:18
Speaker 1: Sitting back now years later, enjoying his newfound success, Tommy
37:23
Speaker 1: James remembered that day. He remembered that while walking away
37:27
Speaker 1: from those very scary men, the upper echelon of the
37:30
Speaker 1: Genevese crime family, that he didn't feel frightened at all.
37:34
Speaker 1: He felt accepted, and that was all he really wanted
37:37
Speaker 1: in life and his career was to feel accepted, to
37:40
Speaker 1: feel like he was part of something. The original Chandell's
37:43
Speaker 1: betrayed that feeling when they abandoned Tommy James back in
37:46
Speaker 1: his teens and later as an adult, Marris Levy and
37:49
Speaker 1: the Sixth Family Roulette Records fulfilled that feeling for him.
37:53
Speaker 1: They accepted him, but not out of love or friendship
37:56
Speaker 1: or some sense of honor or family but for price,
38:01
Speaker 1: and that was a disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan and this
38:07
Speaker 1: is Disgraceland. Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is
38:53
Speaker 1: produced in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode
38:56
Speaker 1: can be found on the show notes page at disgracelandpod
38:59
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39:03
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