The Sinatra Files (9 page)

    
Another reporter, Bill Davidson of
Look
magazine, asked the FBI for derogatory information on Sinatra in 1957. His January 20 letter to Louis Nichols, a Hoover aide, cited “constant allegations” circulating about Sinatra:
Had Sinatra been arrested for rape or assault in Jersey City or Hoboken in the early 1930s? the journalist wanted to know. Had his mother been arrested and charged as an abortionist? And had two of Sinatra’s uncles been arrested for bootlegging during Prohibition?

In response, the FBI official immediately ordered up a synopsis of the Sinatra files (below) that included specific replies to Davidson’s inquiries. Later that year, Davidson wrote an award-winning series on Sinatra for
Look
magazine, prompting libel and invasion-of-privacy lawsuits from the singer, which were eventually dropped
.

SYNOPSIS:

    Frank Sinatra was born December 12, 1915 or 1916, at Hoboken, New Jersey, of Italian-born parents. He left high school in 1935 to obtain employment and during that year, began his singing career in night clubs and road houses in the northern New Jersey area. He was married in 1939 to Nancy Barbato and has three children by that marriage. He divorced her in 1951 and married actress Ava Gardner, from whom he was separated after approximately two years of marriage. Allegations concerning his contacts with the Communist Party and numerous communist front groups came to the Bureau’s attention for a number of years and were included in a memorandum sent to the State Department in December, 1954, on their request for a name check on Sinatra. In view of a sworn affidavit, executed by him on January 10, 1955, in connection with his application for a passport, to the effect that he had never been a member of the Communist Party or of any organization of a subversive character, the State Department requested an investigation by the Bureau to determine whether prosecution was warranted against Sinatra for making a false statement in the application. The investigation
developed no evidence connecting Sinatra with the Communist Party or any of its front groups aside from his membership in the Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions in 1946. This organization was cited by the California Committee on Un-American Activities as a communist front and included a number of other prominent citizens in its membership. In 1948, Sinatra allegedly took part in an appeal to the voters of Italy to vote against the communist ticket in the elections then being held in that country. Material has appeared in the press linking Sinatra with known hoodlums, and in February, 1947, he was alleged to have spent four days in the company of Lucky Luciano, the deported Italian criminal who was prominent in the narcotics traffic in America. His name has also been prominently linked with Joseph and Rocco Fischetti, members of the Capone gang, Willie Moretti, former underworld boss of Bergen County, New Jersey, James Tarantino, an associate of Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, and other hoodlums on the west coast. As recently as 1955, he was seen frequenting an after-hours bottle club in New York frequented by known hoodlums and is reputedly one of the twelve major stockholders in the Sands Hotel, a gambling establishment in Las Vegas allegedly controlled by Abner “Longy” Zwillman and Joseph Stacher, both notorious gangsters from New Jersey…. Sinatra’s mother, Mrs. Natalie Sinatra, was arrested in November, 1937, on a charge of abortion. No disposition is given for this case. Lawrence Garavente, said to be an uncle of Sinatra.
Bureau files do not verify his relationship to Sinatra. In 1944, columnist Frederick C. Othman, in a syndicated article, quoted Sinatra as saying that he received a letter from the Bureau concerning an applicant in which he was requested to return four autographed photographs for the girls in Mr. Nichols’ office. When contacted, Sinatra denied the story but stated that he had received a letter of that kind from the office of the Adjutant General and would have Othman correct the matter. In September, 1950, through an intermediary, Sinatra offered his services to the Bureau, and the Director noted his agreement with Mr. Tolson’s comment that we “want nothing to do with him.”

* * *

SPECIFIC INQUIRIES MADE BY DAVIDSON

In his letter, Davidson stated that he planned on doing a definitive, three-part profile on Sinatra for “Look” magazine and was concerned about several items which he had come across since the manner in which they were resolved would help in “pitching” his article….

Davidson asked for verification of the following:

1. That Sinatra was arrested for rape in Jersey City or Hoboken around 1934. The charge is supposed to have been reduced to seduction and then thrown out by the Grand Jury. (Westbrook Pegler has reported this several times in his columns.)

2. That Sinatra was arrested and convicted of assault around the same time (presumably the 1930’s).

3. That Mrs. Natalie Sinatra, his mother, was arrested 6 or 7 times for operating an abortion mill in Hoboken between the years 1930 and 1950 and that she might have been convicted once.

4. That Sinatra’s uncles, Champ and Lawrence Garavente, were arrested and perhaps convicted of bootlegging in Hoboken in the 1920’s and early 1930’s.