Chapter Fourteen
1 They are Senators Stuart Symington of Missouri, Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, Wayne Morse of Oregon, and George Smathers of Florida. Lyndon Johnson, Adlai Stevenson, and Governor Robert Meyner of New Jersey will join them.
2 Among those appearing were Shirley MacLaine, Myrna Loy, Vincent Price, Nat King Cole, Shelley Winters, Janet Leigh, Charlton Heston, and Edward G. Robinson.
3 It is worth noting that Sinatra also sang the national anthem at the Democratic National Convention in 1956. He later became a Republican.
4 The signature film during Evans’s time at Paramount was The Godfather. Director Francis Ford Coppola was determined that Al Pacino play the role of Michael Corleone. But Pacino was contractually obligated to another film, whose producer would not release him from the contract. Korshak made a phone call on Evans’s behalf, and within twenty minutes Pacino was free to play Michael Corleone.
5 George Raft modeled his on-screen gangster persona on the voice and style of dress of New York City mobster Joey Adonis.
6 Harry Cohn was one of the most volatile individuals in the history of Hollywood, with a manic and profanity-laced style that would become the caricature for movie mogul behavior. He also made liberal use of his Mafia ties. When African American singer Sammy Davis Jr., who lost his left eye in an automobile accident, began dating the white actress Kim Novak, Cohn threatened to have Davis’s other eye put out unless the affair ended. The biracial relationship eventually halted, but only when Sidney Korshak intervened and reminded Davis that his career would effectively be over if he did not comply.
7 The source of this conversation is Fratianno’s biography, The Last Mafioso, and is repeated in Gus Russo’s The Outfit. It does not appear that Lucille Ball, wife of Desi Arnaz and the most famous individual in television at the time, had any knowledge of the pending Mafia hit. Fratianno would later go on to become acting boss of the L.A. crime family, then enter the Federal Witness Protection Program in 1980 after agreeing to testify against the Mafia because he was facing murder charges. The Weasel would be dropped from the program after publication of his autobiography. He died of Alzheimer’s disease in 1993.
8 The actor’s name was Paul Percini.