His Way_ The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra - Kitty Kelley [193]
But Frank did not show up. At four P.M. he called Olsen in a rage. “You’re acting like a fucking cop,” he said. “I just want to talk to you off the record.”
Olsen explained that he wanted the meeting on the record in his office in the presence of others, including his secretary, who would make a record of the conversation.
“Listen, Ed, I haven’t had to take this kind of shit from anybody in the country, and I’m not going to take it from you people,” said Frank. “I want you to come up here and have dinner with me … and bring that shit-heel friend, La France. [Charles La France was the board’s chief investigator.] It’s you and your goddamn subpoenas which have caused all this trouble.”
Olsen said that the publicity was not caused by his subpoenas because no one knew about them except those subpoenaed for interviews.
“You are a goddamn liar,” said Frank. “It’s all over the papers.”
“No, they are not,” said Olsen.
“I’ll bet you fifty thousand dollars.”
“I haven’t got fifty thousand dollars to bet.”
“You’re not in the same class with me,” said Frank.
“I certainly hope not,” said Olsen.
“All right, I’m never coming to see you again. I came to see you in Las Vegas and if you had conducted this investigation like a gentleman and come up here to see my people instead of sending those goddamn subpoenas, you would have gotten all the information you wanted.”
Pointing out that Skinny D’Amato refused to be interviewed and that the maître d’hôtel had obviously lied, Olsen said that he wasn’t satisfied that Frank had told the truth either.
“I’m never coming to see you again,” Frank repeated.
“If I want to see you, I will send a subpoena,” said Olsen.
“You just try and find me, and if you do, you can look for a big, fat surprise … a big, fat, fucking surprise. You remember that. Now listen to me, Ed … don’t fuck with me. Don’t fuck with me. Just don’t fuck with me.”
“Are you threatening me?” asked Olsen.
“No … just don’t fuck with me and you can tell that to your fucking board and that fucking commission too.”
At six P.M., two audit agents from the board arrived at Cal-Neva to observe the count of gambling table drop boxes. When Skinny D’Amato informed Frank of the agents’ presence, Frank told him, “Throw the dirty sons of bitches out of the house.”
Because the employees had already started the count, the agents left, but they returned two days later. At that time, Skinny tried to bribe them with one hundred dollars each. The agents turned down the bribes and reported the attempt to Olsen, who decided to issue a complaint seeking the revocation of Frank’s license at Cal-Neva and the Sands. He cited several grounds: violating Nevada’s gambling laws and regulations by permitting Giancana’s presence at Cal-Neva, trying to intimidate and coerce the chairman, Olsen, and members of the Gaming Control Board, hiring people who proffered bribes, instructing employees to resist subpoenas, and associating with people who were harmful to the gaming industry.
Frank was given fifteen days to answer the charges. Hank Greenspun, publisher of the Las Vegas Sun, hurried to his defense, writing daily front-page columns in his paper extolling Frank’s generosity and philanthropy.
“I cannot think of any individual who has possibly been more instrumental in spreading the name and fame of Nevada to the outside world than Frank Sinatra,” he wrote. “I think [revoking his license] is a rotten, horrible, mean, and cheap way to repay this man for all the good he has brought this state.”
The governor, Grant Sawyer, disagreed. “Threats, bribery, coercion, and pressure will not be tolerated, and the full weight of the state’s gaming control machinery will be brought to bear on any person who wishes to test us,” he said. “Nevada’s gaming authorities