money.”
Three years later, the same journalist contacted the FBI again, as recounted here in an excerpt from a heavily censored Teletype
.
TELETYPE
FBI LOS ANG.
7:07 PM PDST URGENT 5/9/66
TO: DIRECTOR
FROM: LOS ANGELES
INFORMATION CONCERNING
CAPTIONED INDIVIDUAL TELEPHONICALLY CONTACTED THE OFFICE AT ELEVEN THIRTY A.M. THIS DATE AND ADVISED THAT HE HAD BEEN BEATEN BY FOUR INDIVIDUALS WHOM HE SUSPECTS AS BEING FRANK SINATRA’S MOB. HE REQUESTED FBI ASSISTANCE IN IDENTIFYING THESE INDIVIDUALS.
RELATED TO SINATRA’S DIFFICULTIES WITH MEXICAN AUTHORITIES.WENT ON TO STATE THAT ONWHEN HE DROVE HIS CARHE WAS GRABBED BY FOUR THUGS AS HE LEFT THE CAR AND WAS SEVERELY BEATEN. HE SAID HE IMMEDIATELY NOTIFIED THE HOLLYWOOD DIVISION OF THE LOS ANGELES PD WHO IS INVESTIGATING.
HE SAID HE IS CERTAIN IN HIS OWN MIND THAT THE FOUR THUGS WHO COMMITTED THE BEATING WERE MEMBERS OF SINATRA’S GROUP. HE SAID HE BELIEVES THIS SINCE SINATRA THREATENED HIM IN THE PAST
IT IS NOTED IN LOS ANGELES FILES THAT BY LETTER DATED SEPTEMBER SEVENTEEN, NINETEEN SIXTY-THREE, THE BUREAU WAS ADVISED OF A CONTACT WITHAT WHICH TIME HE SPOKE OF AN ALLEGED THREAT MADE BYSINATRA WHILEWAS DINING AT PUCCINI’S RESTAURANT, OF WHICH SINATRA IS REPORTEDLY PART OWNER.
REQUESTED THAT THE FBI IMMEDIATELY MAKE AVAILABLE TO HIM PHOTOGRAPHS OF SINATRA’S HOODLUM ASSOCIATES SO THAT HE,, MIGHT VIEW THEM IN AN EFFORT TO IDENTIFY THE INDIVIDUALS WHO BEAT HIM.
WAS TACTFULLY ADVISED THAT THIS WAS NOT A MATTER WITHIN THE INVESTIGATIVE JURISDICTION OF THE FBI, AND THAT IT WAS PURELY A MATTER FOR LOCAL POLICE AUTHORITIES. AT THIS POINTBECAME VERY ARROGANT AND OBNOXIOUS AND DEMANDED THAT THE FBI ENTER HIS CASE. IT SEEMED THATWAS MAKING EVERY ATTEMPT TO STAMPEDE THE FBI INTO HIS CASE.
AFTER CLEARLY POINTING OUT THE POSITION OF THE FBI IN A MATTER SUCH AS THIS, THAT WE WILL COOPERATE WITH LOCAL POLICE AUTHORITIES IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE, THAT IT IS A MATTER FOR POLICE INVESTIGATION THE CALL WAS TERMINATED IN WHAT APPEARED TO BE A FRIENDLY TONE.
THREE
SINATRA AND COMMUNISM
“Mrs. Roosevelt in pants”
For many years, the FBI was much more concerned with combating the then ominous-seeming threat of communism than with fighting organized crime, the very existence of which Hoover questioned until the late 1950s. From the dawn of the cold war, the FBI intensively monitored the domestic activities of not only the Communist party, but also groups deemed too left-wing by Senator Joseph McCarthy, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), and conservative Sinatra antagonists in the press like Lee Mortimer and Westbrook Pegler.
Sinatra was among the first of many entertainment figures whose patriotism was thrown into doubt by the red-baiting of the anti-Communists. His ardently liberal New Deal politics, of course, made him an obvious target. And Sinatra wasn’t shy about collaborating with outspoken leftists, including Albert Maltz, the screenwriter for Sinatra’s acclaimed pro-tolerance film short
The House I Live In
(1945). The film, which won him a special Academy Award, was a mixed blessing at cold war’s outset: It made him a darling of the American left.
It is clear, however, that the FBI was overstating the case when, in internal reports from the period, it referred to Sinatra as a “communist sympathizer” or a “CP fellow traveler.” In the end, it had nothing on him but the ordinary activities of a liberal celebrity.
Moreover, the singer was more nimble than Maitz and others who were blacklisted; he at first belittled charges that he was a Communist sympathizer, then confronted them head-on. And at one point an intermediary told the FBI that Sinatra was willing to spy on certain groups for the bureau. Thus Sinatra emerged from the McCarthy era with his career, if not his reputation, more or less intact.
A few months after World War II ended and just after the release of
The House I Live In,
Sinatra made headlines trying to
Three years later, the same journalist contacted the FBI again, as recounted here in an excerpt from a heavily censored Teletype
.
TELETYPE
FBI LOS ANG.
7:07 PM PDST URGENT 5/9/66
TO: DIRECTOR
FROM: LOS ANGELES
INFORMATION CONCERNING
CAPTIONED INDIVIDUAL TELEPHONICALLY CONTACTED THE OFFICE AT ELEVEN THIRTY A.M. THIS DATE AND ADVISED THAT HE HAD BEEN BEATEN BY FOUR INDIVIDUALS WHOM HE SUSPECTS AS BEING FRANK SINATRA’S MOB. HE REQUESTED FBI ASSISTANCE IN IDENTIFYING THESE INDIVIDUALS.
RELATED TO SINATRA’S DIFFICULTIES WITH MEXICAN AUTHORITIES.WENT ON TO STATE THAT ONWHEN HE DROVE HIS CARHE WAS GRABBED BY FOUR THUGS AS HE LEFT THE CAR AND WAS SEVERELY BEATEN. HE SAID HE IMMEDIATELY NOTIFIED THE HOLLYWOOD DIVISION OF THE LOS ANGELES PD WHO IS INVESTIGATING.
HE SAID HE IS CERTAIN IN HIS OWN MIND THAT THE FOUR THUGS WHO COMMITTED THE BEATING WERE MEMBERS OF SINATRA’S GROUP. HE SAID HE BELIEVES THIS SINCE SINATRA THREATENED HIM IN THE PAST
IT IS NOTED IN LOS ANGELES FILES THAT BY LETTER DATED SEPTEMBER SEVENTEEN, NINETEEN SIXTY-THREE, THE BUREAU WAS ADVISED OF A CONTACT WITHAT WHICH TIME HE SPOKE OF AN ALLEGED THREAT MADE BYSINATRA WHILEWAS DINING AT PUCCINI’S RESTAURANT, OF WHICH SINATRA IS REPORTEDLY PART OWNER.
REQUESTED THAT THE FBI IMMEDIATELY MAKE AVAILABLE TO HIM PHOTOGRAPHS OF SINATRA’S HOODLUM ASSOCIATES SO THAT HE,, MIGHT VIEW THEM IN AN EFFORT TO IDENTIFY THE INDIVIDUALS WHO BEAT HIM.
WAS TACTFULLY ADVISED THAT THIS WAS NOT A MATTER WITHIN THE INVESTIGATIVE JURISDICTION OF THE FBI, AND THAT IT WAS PURELY A MATTER FOR LOCAL POLICE AUTHORITIES. AT THIS POINTBECAME VERY ARROGANT AND OBNOXIOUS AND DEMANDED THAT THE FBI ENTER HIS CASE. IT SEEMED THATWAS MAKING EVERY ATTEMPT TO STAMPEDE THE FBI INTO HIS CASE.
AFTER CLEARLY POINTING OUT THE POSITION OF THE FBI IN A MATTER SUCH AS THIS, THAT WE WILL COOPERATE WITH LOCAL POLICE AUTHORITIES IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE, THAT IT IS A MATTER FOR POLICE INVESTIGATION THE CALL WAS TERMINATED IN WHAT APPEARED TO BE A FRIENDLY TONE.
THREE
SINATRA AND COMMUNISM
“Mrs. Roosevelt in pants”
For many years, the FBI was much more concerned with combating the then ominous-seeming threat of communism than with fighting organized crime, the very existence of which Hoover questioned until the late 1950s. From the dawn of the cold war, the FBI intensively monitored the domestic activities of not only the Communist party, but also groups deemed too left-wing by Senator Joseph McCarthy, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), and conservative Sinatra antagonists in the press like Lee Mortimer and Westbrook Pegler.
Sinatra was among the first of many entertainment figures whose patriotism was thrown into doubt by the red-baiting of the anti-Communists. His ardently liberal New Deal politics, of course, made him an obvious target. And Sinatra wasn’t shy about collaborating with outspoken leftists, including Albert Maltz, the screenwriter for Sinatra’s acclaimed pro-tolerance film short
The House I Live In
(1945). The film, which won him a special Academy Award, was a mixed blessing at cold war’s outset: It made him a darling of the American left.
It is clear, however, that the FBI was overstating the case when, in internal reports from the period, it referred to Sinatra as a “communist sympathizer” or a “CP fellow traveler.” In the end, it had nothing on him but the ordinary activities of a liberal celebrity.
Moreover, the singer was more nimble than Maitz and others who were blacklisted; he at first belittled charges that he was a Communist sympathizer, then confronted them head-on. And at one point an intermediary told the FBI that Sinatra was willing to spy on certain groups for the bureau. Thus Sinatra emerged from the McCarthy era with his career, if not his reputation, more or less intact.
A few months after World War II ended and just after the release of
The House I Live In,
Sinatra made headlines trying to
Similar Books
