Daughter says Frank Sinatra got mob boss to help JFK in
election
Posted: Saturday,
October 07, 2000
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Frank Sinatra got Chicago
Tina Sinatra said her father told her Joseph Kennedy, the
president's father, asked the singer and actor to talk to the Mafia about
securing the labor union vote in the crucial West
Virginia
"Dad was on an errand," Sinatra's 52-year-old
daughter said.
After Sinatra's death in May 1998, FBI files on Sinatra
included allegations of the entertainer's ties to organized crime, but FBI
investigators never proved direct involvement with the Mafia.
Tina Sinatra told "60 Minutes" Giancana assured
her father the request would be met."It's a couple of phone calls,"
she quoted Giancana as saying.
Kennedy defeated Hubert Humphrey in the West
Virginia
The interview coincides with the release next week of Tina
Sinatra's book, "My Father's Daughter," by publisher Simon &
Schuster, Inc.
An editorial on the Sinatra family Web site established by
daughter Nancy also discusses the Kennedy-Sinatra-Mafia connection.
"Please keep in mind when reading or hearing stories
about JFK, FS and Sam Giancana that it was Joseph Kennedy Sr. who approached Frank
for help in contacting Sam Giancana because he knew Frank, like all others on
the circuit, performed in night clubs owned by mob bosses," the editorial
reads.
Tina Sinatra: Mob Ties Aided JFK
Legendary crooner Frank Sinatra served as a liaison between
John F. Kennedy's 1960 campaign for president and mobster Sam Giancana in a
scheme to use Mafia muscle to deliver union votes, Sinatra's daughter
tells 60 Minutes.
The late singer's youngest daughter, Tina, also describes her father's final years and his work for the Central Intelligence Agency. The interview will be rebroadcast on Dec. 31.
Tina Sinatra, 52, says her father told her that Kennedy patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy wanted the Mafia's help in delivering the union vote in the 1960West
Virginia U.S. Minnesota
Sinatra was approached "because (Kennedy) knew dad had access to Sam Giancana," Tina said.
"It would be in Jack Kennedy's best interest if his father did not make the contact directly…Dad was on an errand," she tells Correspondent Steve Kroft.
Giancana told Frank Sinatra he would do it, telling the singer, according to his daughter, "It's a couple of phone calls."
Soon after Kennedy won the tight race for president, the deal brokered by Sinatra came back to haunt him when the Kennedy administration cracked down on the Mafia — an effort led by Robert Kennedy, the president's brother and attorney general.
Tina says her father told her how he assuaged an angry Giancana.
"Sam was saying, 'That's not right. You know he owes me,' he meaning Joe Kennedy, and dad, I think, said, 'No, I owe you. I asked for the favor,'" recalls Tina.
To repay the favor, Tina says, Frank Sinatra "…went toChicago
Tina says her father also claimed to have served as a courier for theCIA .
"Because (he) controlled his own air travel … (theCIA )
would ask him and many others with that capacity to courier a body — a living
person, you know, not a corpse, but a diplomat — or … papers."
Sinatra never revealed who or what he was transporting.
"We asked him," says Tina. "He didn't (tell us)."
Sinatra's friendship with President Kennedy was well known, and allegations of his connections to the Mafia are not new.
Central to those rumors is Judith Exner, the Giancana and Sinatra girlfriend who has claimed she engaged in a long love affair with President Kennedy, which could have compromised the government's attack on the mob.
After the actor and entertainer died at age 82 in May, 1998 the FBI released nearly 1,300 pages of information it accumulated over 40 years of investigating the man known as "Old Blue Eyes" and "The Chairman of the Board."
The FBI probed allegations that Sinatra had bought his way out of the draft in World War II — he turned out to have had a perforated ear drum — and considered bugging his home, but didn't under orders from bureau head Edgar Hoover. The agents never found evidence of a crime in his mob connections.
The FBI also investigated supposed communist leanings on Sinatra's part, citing his appearance at union rallies and his progressive views on race.
For his part, Sinatra maintained in an exclusive CBS interview with Walter Cronkite that his mob connections were just part of being an entertainer.
"In theatrical work, in nightclub work, in concerts. So, wherever I might be. In restaurants, you meet all kinds of people, so that there's really not much to be said about that," Frank Sinatra said. "And I think the less the better."
Frank Sinatra kept performing late into his life, even as old age robbed him of his ability to sing and remember lyrics to his signature songs, and even as his daughter begged him to stop.
He told his daughter he had to keep singing to keep earning more money.
Dementia and physical illness made Frank Sinatra weak in his final years.
"The older he got, the more sickly he became, the less he enjoyed his life. None of us thought he would become that frail," Tina says. "It's funny how you delude yourself."
When he died, says Tina, "I think he was unhappy, I think he was tired and I think he was ready."
The late singer's youngest daughter, Tina, also describes her father's final years and his work for the Central Intelligence Agency. The interview will be rebroadcast on Dec. 31.
Tina Sinatra, 52, says her father told her that Kennedy patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy wanted the Mafia's help in delivering the union vote in the 1960
Sinatra was approached "because (Kennedy) knew dad had access to Sam Giancana," Tina said.
"It would be in Jack Kennedy's best interest if his father did not make the contact directly…Dad was on an errand," she tells Correspondent Steve Kroft.
Giancana told Frank Sinatra he would do it, telling the singer, according to his daughter, "It's a couple of phone calls."
Soon after Kennedy won the tight race for president, the deal brokered by Sinatra came back to haunt him when the Kennedy administration cracked down on the Mafia — an effort led by Robert Kennedy, the president's brother and attorney general.
Tina says her father told her how he assuaged an angry Giancana.
"Sam was saying, 'That's not right. You know he owes me,' he meaning Joe Kennedy, and dad, I think, said, 'No, I owe you. I asked for the favor,'" recalls Tina.
To repay the favor, Tina says, Frank Sinatra "…went to
Tina says her father also claimed to have served as a courier for the
"Because (he) controlled his own air travel … (the
Sinatra never revealed who or what he was transporting.
"We asked him," says Tina. "He didn't (tell us)."
Sinatra's friendship with President Kennedy was well known, and allegations of his connections to the Mafia are not new.
Central to those rumors is Judith Exner, the Giancana and Sinatra girlfriend who has claimed she engaged in a long love affair with President Kennedy, which could have compromised the government's attack on the mob.
After the actor and entertainer died at age 82 in May, 1998 the FBI released nearly 1,300 pages of information it accumulated over 40 years of investigating the man known as "Old Blue Eyes" and "The Chairman of the Board."
The FBI probed allegations that Sinatra had bought his way out of the draft in World War II — he turned out to have had a perforated ear drum — and considered bugging his home, but didn't under orders from bureau head Edgar Hoover. The agents never found evidence of a crime in his mob connections.
The FBI also investigated supposed communist leanings on Sinatra's part, citing his appearance at union rallies and his progressive views on race.
For his part, Sinatra maintained in an exclusive CBS interview with Walter Cronkite that his mob connections were just part of being an entertainer.
"In theatrical work, in nightclub work, in concerts. So, wherever I might be. In restaurants, you meet all kinds of people, so that there's really not much to be said about that," Frank Sinatra said. "And I think the less the better."
Frank Sinatra kept performing late into his life, even as old age robbed him of his ability to sing and remember lyrics to his signature songs, and even as his daughter begged him to stop.
He told his daughter he had to keep singing to keep earning more money.
Dementia and physical illness made Frank Sinatra weak in his final years.
"The older he got, the more sickly he became, the less he enjoyed his life. None of us thought he would become that frail," Tina says. "It's funny how you delude yourself."
When he died, says Tina, "I think he was unhappy, I think he was tired and I think he was ready."
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