Read Online The Sinatra Files by Tom Kuntz - Free Book Online

on their request for a name check on Sinatra. In view of a sworn affidavit, executed by him on January 10, 1955, in connection with his application for a passport, to the effect that he had never been a member of the Communist Party or of any organization of a subversive character, the State Department requested an investigation by the Bureau to determine whether prosecution was warranted against Sinatra for making a false statement in the application. The investigationdeveloped no evidence connecting Sinatra with the Communist Party or any of its front groups aside from his membership in the Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions in 1946. This organization was cited by the California Committee on Un-American Activities as a communist front and included a number of other prominent citizens in its membership. In 1948, Sinatra allegedly took part in an appeal to the voters of Italy to vote against the communist ticket in the elections then being held in that country. Material has appeared in the press linking Sinatra with known hoodlums, and in February, 1947, he was alleged to have spent four days in the company of Lucky Luciano, the deported Italian criminal who was prominent in the narcotics traffic in America. His name has also been prominently linked with Joseph and Rocco Fischetti, members of the Capone gang, Willie Moretti, former underworld boss of Bergen County, New Jersey, James Tarantino, an associate of Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, and other hoodlums on the west coast. As recently as 1955, he was seen frequenting an after-hours bottle club in New York frequented by known hoodlums and is reputedly one of the twelve major stockholders in the Sands Hotel, a gambling establishment in Las Vegas allegedly controlled by Abner “Longy” Zwillman and Joseph Stacher, both notorious gangsters from New Jersey…. Sinatra’s mother, Mrs. Natalie Sinatra, was arrested in November, 1937, on a charge of abortion. No disposition is given for this case. Lawrence Garavente, said to be an uncle of Sinatra.Bureau files do not verify his relationship to Sinatra. In 1944, columnist Frederick C. Othman, in a syndicated article, quoted Sinatra as saying that he received a letter from the Bureau concerning an applicant in which he was requested to return four autographed photographs for the girls in Mr. Nichols’ office. When contacted, Sinatra denied the story but stated that he had received a letter of that kind from the office of the Adjutant General and would have Othman correct the matter. In September, 1950, through an intermediary, Sinatra offered his services to the Bureau, and the Director noted his agreement with Mr. Tolson’s comment that we “want nothing to do with him.”
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    SPECIFIC INQUIRIES MADE BY DAVIDSON
    In his letter, Davidson stated that he planned on doing a definitive, three-part profile on Sinatra for “Look” magazine and was concerned about several items which he had come across since the manner in which they were resolved would help in “pitching” his article….
    Davidson asked for verification of the following:
    1. That Sinatra was arrested for rape in Jersey City or Hoboken around 1934. The charge is supposed to have been reduced to seduction and then thrown out by the Grand Jury. (Westbrook Pegler has reported this several times in his columns.)
    COMMENT: The records of the clerk of the Second Criminal Judicial District of the county of Bergen, Hackensack, New Jersey, reveal the following information: Docket 15228 in the State vs. Frank Sinatra reflects that Sinatra was charged on November 26, 1938, byNew Jersey, as follows: “On the second and ninth days of November, 1938, … under the promise of marriage, he (Sinatra) did then and there have sexual intercourse with the said complainant who was then and there a single female of good repute….” The complaint was withdrawn when it was ascertained that the complainant was in fact married. Docket 15307 in the