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By Root 1957 0

signing the Life contract, Sinatra heard that Walsh, also with Life at the time, and one of America’s premier investigative reporters, was in New Jersey working on a story. Sinatra was convinced that the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist was trying to get hold of the transcript of his secret testimony before the New Jersey State Crime Commission. He threatened to cancel his contract with Life unless the magazine “called off Walsh. Tommy Thompson was beside himself and began trying to locate Walsh, calling him every hour until three in the morning. “When I told him I wasn’t working on a Sinatra story, I never saw a man so relieved in all my life,” said Denny Walsh.

Modern Screen, August 1969, reported this story as related by Dino Martin, Jr., who was dating Tina Sinatra:

“He’s quite a guy, that Frank,” said Dino. “Tina and I have gone down to Palm Springs and stayed at Frank’s house several times. The last time he flew us down on his own private jet, and he was aboard, too. Frank apparently learned there was a guy waiting for him at the airport terminal with a subpoena for his arrest. So we swerved around the landing strip and instead of heading into the terminal, we headed across the desert, on the ground. The airplane stopped and the three of us got into a waiting helicopter and flew to his house. As we were landing on the heliport at Frank’s house, the guy with the subpoena was still waiting to catch him at the airport.”

In his biography, Eddie: My Life and Loves New York: Harper & Row, 1981, Eddie Fisher tells of this incident:

Frank wore his emotions on his sleeve, and I always thought his cocky tough-guy attitude was probably just a way of protecting himself from being hurt. He seemed to prefer respect to love and when he thought he had been insulted he was like a wild man. I saw his quick temper flare while we were together in London. All his friends used to hang out in his suite at Claridge’s, and one morning I walked in and saw a young woman with a scarf around her head. I had no idea who she was and I said to Frank. “Good morning, Your Highness.” “She” was the Highness, Princess Alexandra, and we all sat around and had a nice chat. But somehow the newspapers found out about her visit, and Frank blew his stack. He swore he was going to get the guy who told reporters, and one by one, he buttonholed his friends, including me, demanding to know who had betrayed him.

The night before he was to leave London, we all wound up in his suite again for drinks and a healthy dose of Sinatra tapes, a usual feature at his parties. “I’ve narrowed it down to two people,” Frank announced, still playing detective, “the assistant manager of the hotel and the elevator operator, and I want everybody here tomorrow morning at 10:00.”

“Frank,” I said, “these things happen. Forget it. You’ve just come off this marvelous world tour, don’t blow it now.” I was worried about Sinatra’s image.

“Who the fuck asked you?” he snarled.

I don’t know what Frank thought he was going to do, but he left London the next morning without doing anything. Typical, I thought, a lot of energy and anger wasted.

The author also consulted numerous newspaper and magazine stories and several books, including Lou Cannon’s Reagan, New York: Putnam’s Sons, 1982, John Cooney’s The Annenbergs, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1982, and Salerno and Tomkins’s Crime Confederation, New York: Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1969.

CHAPTER 29

Information on the relationship between Sinatra and Vice-President Agnew was derived from many interviews, including ones with Vic Gold on January 24 and February 1, 1984, and Peter Malatesta on July 5, 25, 26, and 31, 1983, as well as numerous newspaper and magazine articles. The author also examined the transcript of the House of Representatives’ Select Committee on Crime Hearings of July 18, 1972, the Congressional Record, and interviewed Philip Nobile on November 10, December 14, 1983, February 12, 1984, and Elizabeth Greenschpoon (the former Mrs. Mickey Rudin).

In April 1976, the Boston Globe reported that on February 23, 1976, Sinatra