His Way_ The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra - Kitty Kelley [268]
This conversation triggered a massive investigation into the theater’s affairs. The result was the ten indictments handed down by a New York federal grand jury in June 1978, charging that racketeers defrauded the theater’s investors, stole the assets by illegally skimming receipts, and threw the company into bankruptcy.
Throughout the investigation and trial, Frank’s name dominated the headlines, beginning with reports that Mafia chieftain Carlo Gambino had helped finance the theater with a $100,000 investment on condition that Frank be signed up to perform. Before the proceedings were over, the federal prosecutor, Nathaniel H. Akerman, disclosed in court documents that an unnamed accomplice witness said that Frank had received $50,000 in cash “under the table” from one of the first two series of concerts. Frank was never charged.
On June 1, 1977, Gregory DePalma was talking to Salvadore Cannatella about a concession at the theater, the “T-shirt money.”
DePalma said, “I took care of Louie out of that, Eliot, Ritchie, me, you, Mickey, Tom, and Jilly.”
“Who Mickey?” said Cannatella.
“Mickey Rudin,” said DePalma.
“Oh. He gets picked oh wha [sic] his—his cut from the thing right?”
“Yeah,” said DePalma. “Well, I gave him my, er, I gave him five thousand dollars for the books.” (The books referred to Frank Sinatra program books that were printed and sold by Sinatra’s organization, not the theater.)
On April 15, 1977, William Marchiondo, a New Mexico lawyer, called Tommy Marson, asking for twenty tickets to the Sinatra show. Marson said this was a problem because he held back three hundred for each of New York’s five (Mafia) families and Sinatra got five hundred tickets a night.
On May 7, 1977, DePalma and Louis Pacella discussed the T-shirts for the Sinatra-Dean Martin concert. They also discussed their difficulties in fending off Mickey Rudin’s requests for additional seats. The government later claimed that Mickey Rudin’s demand for these additional seats revealed his authority in handling the financial affairs of a Sinatra concert and might shed light on subsequent skimming and ticket scalping that led to the bankruptcy, but testimony concerning Rudin was ruled inadmissible.
Frank’s first appearance at the Westchester Premier Theater was in April 1976, when he was moving from the soigné world of dinners with Governor Hugh Carey at “21” to meetings with “made” men at Sepret Tables, a Mafia restaurant on Third Avenue owned by Louis Pacella, also known as “The Dome” or “Louie Dones.” Pacella, a capo in the organized crime family of “Funzy” Tieri, was identified by the Drug Enforcement Administration as dealing in heroin and cocaine. His lawyer said that he and Frank were “very, very, very close and dear friends … they were brothers, not because they share the same mother and father but because they shared love, admiration, and friendship for many, many years.”
It was Louie Pacella who booked Frank into the Westchester Premier Theater in April and September 1976, and who persuaded him to come back in September 1977 for another performance, which would stave off bankruptcy proceedings for several months.
During his first engagement at the Westchester Premier Theater, Frank posed for pictures with New York Mayor Abe Bearne and then sang for an audience that included the Mafia hierarchy of Jimmy “The Weasel” Fratianno, Mike Rizzitello of Los Angeles, Tony Spilotro of Las Vegas, Russell Bufalino of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and several associates of Philadelphia boss Angelo Bruno. On April 10, 1976, he met Jackie Kennedy Onassis and the Peter Duchins at P. J. Clarke’s in Manhattan after his evening show. The next night backstage in his dressing room, he put his arms around Greg DePalma and Tommy Marson and posed for a picture with Carlo Gambino, Jimmy Fratianno, Paul Castellano, Gambino’s successor, Joseph Gambino, Carlo’s nephew, and Ritchie “Nerves” Fusco. The prosecution introduced this photograph into the trial, which was