His Way_ The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra - Kitty Kelley [269]
The prosecution’s major witness was Jimmy Fratianno, who cooperated with the government when he found out there was a Mafia contract on his life. He became the highest-ranking Cosa Nostra member to date to turn informer. Despite his record as an acting organized crime boss guilty of eleven gangland murders, the courts recognized him as an expert witness, and his testimony convicted more than twenty men since 1977.
Fratianno admitted to the Knights of Malta scam and claimed that after an informal induction ceremony in Palm Springs he took Frank aside and asked him for a favor. “Look, Frank, our [crime] family’s in trouble,” he said. “We’ve got people in jail and we’ve got to make some money, know what I mean?”
“Certainly,” said Frank. “What can I do to help?”
“Number one, Frank, the Knights ain’t got no money. The answer to both the Knights and our family could be solved if you did a benefit. Two days, four performances. I’ve talked to Greg DePalma, and you could do them at the Westchester Premier Theater. You know, add a couple of days to your next concert there. We’ve got a good working system over there. We’re with the right people, you know. You understand what I mean, Frank?”
“Oh, absolutely,” said Sinatra. “My pleasure, Jimmy. Have Greg [DePalma] work out a schedule with Mickey. Now, Jimmy, when you want to talk to me, work through Mickey, he’s my buffer. But if he bulls you, go to Jilly and I’ll straighten Mickey out. That way I don’t have to [mess] around with business deals.”
Jimmy thanked Frank, saying, “The family will appreciate it, believe me, and if ever there’s anything we can do for you, just say the word and you’ve got it.”
Fratianno claimed that the word came days later from Jilly Rizzo, who said Frank wanted a Mafia contract on Andy “Banjo” Celentano, a former bodyguard of Sinatra, who had written a few articles for the National Enquirer.
“Now we hear this Banjo’s writing a book about Frank,” said Jilly, “and we want this stopped once and for all. Know what I mean?”
“You want the guy clipped?”
“No, not right now. Just hurt this guy real bad. Break his legs, put him in the hospital. Work him over real good, and let’s see if he gets the message.”
“Where does he live?”
“That’s the problem. I don’t know. Burbank or Glendale, but he ain’t in the book. The best place to look for this guy’s at the racetracks. You can’t miss him.”
“Tell Frank we’ll do it, but it might take some time,” Jimmy said.
Unable to find the bodyguard, Fratianno said he soon forgot about the request.
For the next three years of grand jury investigations, indictments, and trials pertaining to the bankruptcy fraud of the Westchester Premier Theater, Sinatra’s name became linked with the entangled Mafia scheme. Although never charged with wrongdoing, Frank was later forced to explain the grinning photograph of him taken backstage with the lords of Cosa Nostra. Throughout the trial there were headlines like MOB HIT MAN IS TIED TO SINATRA (New York Post) and HIT MAN SAYS HE HUDDLED WITH SINATRA (Daily News) and POSSIBLE SINATRA TIE TO THEATER SCHEME IS STUDIED (The New York Times) that kept his name entwined with corruption. Rushing to his defense was columnist Pete Hamill, who wrote in the Daily News: “This disgusting little cretin [Jimmy Fratianno] has now been placed in a witness stand and put under oath and asked to describe the inner workings of the Mob. He spent all of his life lying and murdering, and we are supposed to believe what he says about Frank Sinatra. I’m sorry. But this is obscene.”
On January 17, 1979, after a fourteen-week trial and seven days of deliberation, the jury was deadlocked, causing a mistrial.
In a separate trial, Frank’s good friend Tommy Marson was convicted and sentenced to a year in prison and fined ten