Frank Sinatra

[Russ]

>At 03:03 PM 5/15/98 +0100, you wrote:
>>Thanks for this Louis, but what of old blue eyes' supposed Mafia
>connections?
>>
>>Russ
>
>To the best of my knowledge, Sinatra came in contact with mob figures
>during his rise to stardom in the 1940s. The interesting political angle on
>this, of course, was Sinatra's ties to both Sam Giancana and JFK. Sinatra
>served as go-between when JFK was lining up a mafia hit-squad to use
>against Castro. Meanwhile, these very same gangsters were tied to Jimmy
>Hoffa and Howard Hughes. The epicenter for all this was Las Vegas, where
>the netherworld of showbusiness, politics and the trade union bureaucracy
>came together. This would make for an interesting movie, don't you think?
>With Johnnie Depp as Sinatra?
>
>Louis Proyect

Indeed! But there's a precedent: the crooner in The Godfather supposed to
be Sinatra. Further on film, Francesco Rosi's work amply points out how the
mob has been used to suppress working class organisation.  But how far is
this still valid today in the US, or on another vein is it valid to talk of
the mob, ie is it just a WASPish fixation with the Italian immigrant?

Russ