The Sinatra Files (26 page)

It was reported on April 15, 1947, that Joseph Fischetti had been in telephonic communication with Frank Sinatra at least once a week.

E. Don Junior

On August 9, 1948, Don Junior, a Los Angeles gambler and associate of Johnny Meyer, entered the apartment of Allen Smiley and during the course of his visit related a story of a party which he had attended the past week-end at Balboa with Bill Cagney, brother of James Cagney the movie actor, Frank Sinatra and their girlfriends. At this particular time, Junior was attempting to locate a house with Smiley to start a gambling establishment. Meyer and Smiley are identified hereinafter.

It was also learned that Don Junior had attended a party on the night of August 16, 1948, with William Cagney and Frank Sinatra.

F. Willie Moretti

During the course of inquiries made by the Newark Field Division in connection with the crime survey program, information was received from Captain Matthew J. Donohue of the Bergen County Police, Hackensack, New Jersey, that Willie Moretti of Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, has a financial interest in Frank Sinatra. It should be mentioned that Frank Sinatra’s residence is also in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. Willie Moretti is the leader of a gang known as the Willie Moretti Gang operating in Bergen County, New Jersey. Moretti is reported to control the numbers rackets, horse racing, and gambling throughout Bergen County, New Jersey. The Newark Office has advised that Moretti is a close associate of Frank Costello, well-known gambler of New York City, and that during 1933 Moretti, while visiting the Arlington Hotel, Hot Springs, Arkansas, was in the company of Lucky Luciano.

On February 6, 1948, Moretti was interviewed by Bureau Agents from Newark Office under suitable pretense at which time he admitted among other things his association with Frank Sinatra.

An informant “recently” related an incident concerning Frank Sinatra, who prior to the time he went into the movies
worked for Pete LaPlaca and others in Bergen County, New Jersey. Pete LaPlaca was identified as Willie Moretti’s bodyguard. The informant stated that when Sinatra was “recently” separated from his wife, a cousin of Sinatra’s wife who is related to a key member of the Moretti mob, contacted Willie Moretti regarding Sinatra’s marriage difficulties and as a result Willie Moretti personally instructed Sinatra to go back and live with his wife. Sinatra immediately obeyed the orders of Moretti. Informant
stated that Sinatra and Lou Costello, the movie and radio comedian, both “kick in” to Moretti.

Lee Mortimer reported that Frank Sinatra was backed when he first started by a gangster in New York named Willie Moretti, with alias Willie Moore.

G. Aaron Smehoff, w.a., Allen Smiley

On June 13, 1948, Allen Smiley, notorious Los Angeles underworld character who was with “Bugsy” Siegel the night he was murdered, claimed to know Frank Sinatra quite well.

Westbrook Pegler has made reference to Sinatra’s associations with Smiley in editorials which he had written criticizing the Department of Justice for not prosecuting its case against Smiley with greater vigilance.

Smiley was born in Russia on January 10, 1907, and came to Canada seven years later with his parents where his father became a citizen of Canada. Smiley subsequently entered the United States, assertedly at Detroit, in 1922, and since that time has been in this country without an immigration visa or passport. He was arrested by the FBI on November 21, 1947, charged with falsely claiming citizenship and with perjury. On August 1, 1949, he was sentenced to one year in jail and fined $1,000 for twice falsely claiming he was a United States citizen. He appealed his case and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rendered a decision on April 13, 1950, upholding the District Court’s finding of guilty.

The Los Angeles District Office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service issued an order May 12, 1949, that Smiley be deported to Canada and if that country would not accept him then to Russia. Service of this order was pending the outcome of Smiley’s prosecution. Smiley’s hearing was re-opened by INS on August 1, 1950, for the sole purpose of including in the record of Smiley’s conviction in the U.S. District Court at Los Angeles on charges of falsely claiming citizenship.

On May 6, 1948, Jack Dragna, Los Angeles hoodlum, called at the apartment of Allen Smiley and asked for a list of names of persons to be invited to the wedding of his, Dragna’s, daughter. Smiley listed about 45 persons for Dragna including Frank Sinatra and others who were mostly racketeers, gamblers, bookmakers or otherwise closely associated with the underworld.

H. James Tarantino

Westbrook Pegler made reference to Tarantino’s association with Frank Sinatra in his column which appeared in the “Washington Times Herald” on October 3, 1947, in which he stated “Tarantino is a swipe and hustler who used to hang around Jacobs’ Beach, a stretch near Madison Square Garden where the fighters, managers, and racketeers gather. He has a cheap police record in Newark and he has been a friend and protégé of Frank Sinatra.”

Pegler further stated in this article that George Evans, Sinatra’s press agent and manager, had denied that Sinatra had anything to do with Tarantino. In contradiction of this, Pegler reported that on February 4, 1946, Frank Sinatra’s name was signed first under the signature of a “Citizens Committee” to a wire to Fred Howser, Prosecuting Attorney of Los Angeles County, demanding police protection for Tarantino and his wife and children who had been “threatened and harassed by political gangsters.” Pegler also reported that Sinatra had called the meeting of this “Citizens Committee.”

Pegler further reports that Evans had specifically said Sinatra did not finance Tarantino’s paper.

James Tarantino, Editor and Publisher of the magazine, “Hollywood Nite Life,” a scandal sheet published in Hollywood, California, was interviewed at his request by the San Francisco Office on May 18, 1949. He claimed at that time to have learned of an alleged plot by William Clinton Wren, Managing Editor of the San Francisco “Examiner” to “blast him” on a trumped up extortion charge, and said he wanted the Bureau to have all the facts in case the complaint was made against him.

Tarantino advised that the magazine, “Hollywood Nite Life,” was incorporated in California in 1945 by Barney Ross, former welterweight champion, Henry Sanicola and himself. He reported that Sanicola is a very good friend of Frank Sinatra and that Sinatra
had helped finance the deal with $15,000. This group operated the magazine for approximately six months, after which time Tarantino said he acquired full ownership.

On November 10, 1949, Inspector Frank J. Ahern, San Francisco Police Department, advised the Los Angeles Office that he believed that Tarantino’s publication was sponsored by Frank Costello’s criminal syndicate and that Tarantino had been invaluable in infiltrating political machines in order to allow Costello’s mobsters to operate with the co-operation of such politicians and officials.

Tarantino specializes in sensationalism and during 1949 featured a so-called “expose” of the narcotics traffic in Hollywood which allegedly involved Judy Garland, Actress, and Actor Robert Mitchum. He is reported to take orders from Michael “Mickey” Cohen, Los Angeles’ leading hoodlum, and was friendly with the late Bugsy Siegel.