His Way_ The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra - Kitty Kelley [287]
“There is an allegation that you were in Hawaii … Mr. Giancana was there at that particular time and you were together. Did you have a meeting over there?”
Frank said he couldn’t remember, although he and his Mafia pal Giancana had made an indelible impression on the female flight attendants en route to Hawaii. The FBI agents following Giancana later told reporters that the flight attendants had complained bitterly about the harassment they had been subjected to by the two men.
Phyllis McGuire also recalled the trip to Hawaii because Sam was supposed to be with her in Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania, for her opening at the Twin Coaches. “Sam called me to say that he and ‘The Canary,’ his code name for Frank, were going to Hawaii,” she said. “That night, Frank called me three times trying to get Sam out of the doghouse, but I refused to take any of his calls. They were gone for about a week on that trip.”
Sinatra’s hearing lasted five and one-half hours. One of the commissioners proposed that a gaming license be limited to six months to see just how deserving Frank really was. “He has indicated and his attorneys have advised us Mr. Sinatra is a changed man from seventeen years ago,” said the commissioner. “Well, as I sit here today, there were a couple times that I hope[d] that Mr. Sinatra has changed some.”
Chairman Bunker closed the proceeding. “I have reached the point in my life that I don’t really care what anybody outside the state of Nevada thinks about gaming, the national media or anybody else. We have an economy here that is based on something that is illegal in every other jurisdiction but New Jersey, and people coming into this area, whether they be FBI, whether they be whoever they are, might come in here with different ideas than what some of us think that have lived here all of our lives.”
Bunker moved that Frank be recommended to the Nevada Gaming Commission for license approval for six months on a limited basis; the three commissioners approved unanimously; Frank walked out of the room to thunderous applause.
That night, Johnny Carson, in his monologue on The Tonight Show, said, “I just got word that Gregory Peck was nominated for an Oscar for his performance at the Frank Sinatra hearing.”
Next, Frank faced the five-member Gaming Control Commission, which had the final say in all licensing matters. That hearing, on February 19, 1981, lasted one hour and forty-five minutes. Again, Frank denied ever associating with members of organized crime. Rudin backed him up when asked whether he had any knowledge of Sinatra’s association with people who might be considered unsuitable by Nevada gaming authorities.
“Absolutely not,” said Mickey Rudin. Over the years many syndicate men had been Frank Sinatra’s houseguests in Palm Springs. Men like Mickey Cohen, Sam Giancana, Joe Fischetti, Johnny Roselli, Johnny Formosa, Skinny D’Amato—and Doc Stacher, whom friends remember playing gin rummy at Frank’s house for hours at a stretch.
The chairman, Harry Reid, asked Frank a few more perfunctory questions and then turned the hearing into a testimonial by reciting a poem he said he had received that morning:
Frank Sinatra is the subject, a gaming license he requests;
His life you’ll review, his morals give tests.
I hope you’ll consider all the good Frank has done,
In sharing and giving, many hearts he has won.
They claim he slipped once, he’s paid for it dearly.
Must we condemn him more by bringing it up yearly?
It’s your duty as commissioners to question and ask,
And to investigate the subject to get all the facts.
He’s proved to Nevada his word he has kept.
Let’s grant him a license with all due respect.
He’s trustworthy, honest, a man of great pride.
As believers, as gamblers, let’s let the bets ride.
This man you are reviewing, please keep him in mind.
He’s given to the crippled, poor, and the blind.
He’s known to have a heart of pure gold,
Never asking for thanks, nor wants his greatness told.
He’s been brought to his knees, he’s gave [sic] a clean fight.
To error [sic] is human, but Frank