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Speaker 1: Disgraceland as a production of Double Elvis. The stories about

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Speaker 1: Frank Sinatra are crazy. He was once arrested for a

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Speaker 1: seduction seduction he sent a tombstone to an unfriendly journalist

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Speaker 1: as a warning. He broke into a home to steal

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Speaker 1: away at cheating Marilyn Monroe from the arms of her

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Speaker 1: lover as a favor to her estranged husband and Frank's powell,

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Speaker 1: Joe DiMaggio. Frank Sinatra is rumored to have couriered bags

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Speaker 1: of cash for his friends in the mob, and he

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Speaker 1: was quoted as saying he'd rather be a mafia don

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Speaker 1: than the president of the United States. And of course

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Speaker 1: he acted as a pimp for his friend John F. Kennedy.

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Speaker 1: Francis Albert Sinatra, old Blue Eyes, the son of Italian immigrants,

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Speaker 1: pulled himself up from the streets of Hoboke in New

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Speaker 1: Jersey to the top of the entertainment world to become

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Speaker 1: quote unquote chairman of the Board. Along the way, he

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Speaker 1: made and relied on some interesting friends, entertainers, politicians, and gangsters,

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Speaker 1: friends whose power mixed with Frank's inherent confidence, made Frank

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Speaker 1: believe he was ten feet tall and could accomplish whatever

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Speaker 1: he set his mind to. And one of the things

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Speaker 1: Frank Sinatra accomplished was the making of some of the

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Speaker 1: greatest music ever recorded. And that music you heard at

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Speaker 1: the top of the show, and that wasn't great music.

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Speaker 1: That was a preset loop from my melotron called moving

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Speaker 1: Bass Piano, Moving Strings MK two. And I played you

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Speaker 1: that loop because I can't afford the license for I'm

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Speaker 1: leaving it up to you by Dale and Grace. And

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Speaker 1: why would I play you that specific slice of greasy

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Speaker 1: duet cheese? Could I afford it? Because that was the

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Speaker 1: number one song in America on November twenty secondnineteen sixty three,

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Speaker 1: And that was the day that Frank Sinatra's pal, John F. Kennedy,

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Speaker 1: President of the United States, was assassinated, an act that

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Speaker 1: Frank's confidence turned. Hubris was partly responsible for. On this

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Speaker 1: episode JFK Moving String Cheese, the Mafia Hubris and Frank Sinatra.

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Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan and miss this disgrace. Lad to understand

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Speaker 1: Frank Sinatra, man, you have to understand Frank Sinatra the performer.

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Speaker 1: He was the first teen idol, he was the first

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Speaker 1: pop star, and he was unlike anything anybody had heard

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Speaker 1: or seen before. His command of his voice, stage and

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Speaker 1: camera was entirely unique. Sure, Bing Crosby paved the way,

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Speaker 1: but Frank blazed a new path, and the sound of

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Speaker 1: his voice conveyed vulnerability and absolute authority all at once.

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Speaker 1: The result a level of intimacy and relatability that worked

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Speaker 1: on women and men alike. And we've worn out the

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Speaker 1: old Schopiz descriptor. Men wanted to be him and women

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Speaker 1: wanted to sleep with him. But it was invented to

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Speaker 1: describe Frank Sinatra. Watch any of his live performances from

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Speaker 1: his early days with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra to his

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Speaker 1: retirement concert in Los Angeles in nineteen seventy one, and

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Speaker 1: you'll notice an undeniable confidence in electric masculinity. We hear

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Speaker 1: what it is to be a man, the good and

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Speaker 1: the bad. To me personally, when Sinatra speaks, I hear

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Speaker 1: in his slang a lack of self awareness, a neighborhood

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Speaker 1: tough guy with a big heart. More specifically, I hear

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Speaker 1: the unrefined toughness and emotional generosity of my stepfather, someone

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Speaker 1: strong enough to let you in, unafraid, comfortable in his

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Speaker 1: own skin, and in Sinatra's voice. I also hear the

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Speaker 1: contrived eloquence, the street kid who muscled his way into

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Speaker 1: the smart set. I hear my biological father, a man

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Speaker 1: who likes Sinatra, had the intellectual sand to surround himself

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Speaker 1: with educated men, even though he himself was never schooled

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Speaker 1: beyond the twelfth grade, but who no matter how many

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Speaker 1: books he reads, when he speaks, will always sound like

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Speaker 1: he's reaching, and will thus box you out and make

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Speaker 1: you feel like you need to continuously do better to

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Speaker 1: gain his approval. And the voice sounds slightly uncomfortable, afraid

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Speaker 1: of being found out that he's snuck into the party.

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Speaker 1: And through all of Frank's music you hear a loneliness,

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Speaker 1: something we can all relate to, and something Frank used

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Speaker 1: humor to mask. He would have been the class clown

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Speaker 1: had he ever gone to class. So it was no

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Speaker 1: surprise that it was a wise ass comment in nineteen

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Speaker 1: fifty about MGM's studio head Louis B. Mayer that got

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Speaker 1: Frank fired from MGM and spelled the end of his

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Speaker 1: career well. The wise ass comment on top of poor

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Speaker 1: film reviews, lagging record sales, a voice that was failing

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Speaker 1: from overuse, and a decade of bad press due to

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Speaker 1: his body and sometimes violent public behavior. By nineteen fifty one,

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Speaker 1: Sinatra was out. He went from being a street kid

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Speaker 1: from Hoboken, New Jersey, to the first teen idol, to

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Speaker 1: being one of MGM's biggest Hollywood stars, to being broke, busted,

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Speaker 1: divorced from his first wife Nancy, perpetually at odds with

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Speaker 1: his tempestuous lover, Ava Gardner, and right back where we

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Speaker 1: started at the bottom. It got so bad that Sinatra,

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Speaker 1: who a few years earlier couldn't go anywhere without mobs

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Speaker 1: of screaming girls chasing him down, could now be seen

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Speaker 1: roaming around Times Square at four am, alone and drunk.

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Speaker 1: Beat Cops would find him passed out in the doorways

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Speaker 1: and try to move him along, and he couldn't even

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Speaker 1: get arrested, literally, and something had to give. Frank knew

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Speaker 1: he wasn't over. He might not have had any cash,

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Speaker 1: but he still had confidence, and just like every woman

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Speaker 1: he'd ever met, except for maybe Ava, Frank knew America

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Speaker 1: would take him back. Hollywood was a buzz about the

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Speaker 1: script adaptation of the best selling novel From Here to Eternity,

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Speaker 1: and there was one role that Frank knew would reignite

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Speaker 1: his career. Maggio the Skinny Guinea with the Chip on

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Speaker 1: his shoulder from Brooklyn, which, like Frank's Hoboken was at

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Speaker 1: the time, a world away from Manhattan. Maggio's outsider status,

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Speaker 1: his insecurities. They were characteristics that Frank Sinatra understood on

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Speaker 1: a molecular level. But Columbia Pictures was producing the film

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Speaker 1: in studio boss Harry Khane hated Frank Sinatra wouldn't be deterred.

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Speaker 1: He wrote Cone countless letters detailing the many reasons why

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Speaker 1: he was perfect for the role, signing them all Maggio,

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Speaker 1: but Cone wouldn't budge. Cohne's authoritarian approach to running one

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Speaker 1: of the biggest movie studios on the planet was modeled

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Speaker 1: after Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini's approach to running Italy. Cohne

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Speaker 1: had met Mussolini years earlier, before the outbreak of World

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Speaker 1: War Two, and was so impressed by him that he

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Speaker 1: remodeled his own office to match the dictators. Designed to

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Speaker 1: achieve maximum leverage over his guests. His desk sat up

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Speaker 1: high on a dais to intimidate, but the man sitting

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Speaker 1: across from Cone was anything but intimidated. Quite the opposite.

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Speaker 1: Actually he was the intimidator. He was Johnny Rosselli, a

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Speaker 1: fearsome mafia enforcer for the Chicago outfit. Sinatra had a

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Speaker 1: friend with high level mob connections appealed to his boss's

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Speaker 1: higher up the mafia food chain, sensing a future as

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Speaker 1: of yet unknown opportunity and perhaps that of genuine affection

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Speaker 1: for old blue Eyes the mafia via the boss himself,

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Speaker 1: Frank Costello decided to bet on Frank when no one

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Speaker 1: else would, to buy low as it were, and so

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Speaker 1: Johnny Rosselli was dispatched to help sort out the Sinatra situation.

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Speaker 1: Roselli spoke with authority, Harry, give Frank the part. It's

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Speaker 1: perfect for him. Cone wasn't easily cowed. I know it's

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Speaker 1: perfect for him, which is why he ain't getting it.

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Speaker 1: Sinatra is washed up and he's gonna stay washed up.

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Speaker 1: Roselli figured he'd tried the soft touch once more. Harry,

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Speaker 1: give the kid a chance. Remember not so long ago,

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Speaker 1: when you needed a second chance, who was there for you?

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Speaker 1: We was there for you. Cohane was losing patience. John.

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Speaker 1: If we have a problem here, I'm gonna have to

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Speaker 1: make some phone calls. Johnny Roselli stood up, hopped up

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Speaker 1: on the dais, put both hands on Cone's shoulders, leaned

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Speaker 1: over into an inch of his face, and let it

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Speaker 1: be known that he was through dicking around. Harry. If

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Speaker 1: we have a problem here, you're a fucking dead man.

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Speaker 1: In a little over twenty four months, Frank Sinatra could

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Speaker 1: be seen sprinting down the aisle of Pantagious Theater at

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Speaker 1: the twenty sixth Annual Academy Awards to accept the Oscar

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Speaker 1: for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Maggio and

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Speaker 1: the Harry Combe produced From Here to Eternity. Frank Sinatra

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Speaker 1: was back. Frank Sinatra was never wanting in the confidence department,

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Speaker 1: even when his career was over, even when he was

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Speaker 1: suicidal over the only woman to really reject him, Ava Gardner.

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Speaker 1: Even then, the too short, too skinny son of Italian

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Speaker 1: immigrants from Hoboken had confidence to spare. So when he

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Speaker 1: came back, when he raised that Oscar over his head

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Speaker 1: and proved to the world that he could do what

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Speaker 1: only one man before him, Jesus H. Christ, had been

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Speaker 1: able to do, come back from the dead, well he

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Speaker 1: felt invincible, like he could do anything. Hubris. It's a

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Speaker 1: funny thing. It's only really hubris if you fail. Otherwise

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Speaker 1: it's just called confidence. But Frank Sinatra was no longer failing.

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Speaker 1: He was redefining the meaning of success with one hit

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Speaker 1: after another through a diverse portfolio of entertainment projects. Following

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Speaker 1: the nineteen fifty three Oscar, Frank poured himself into his work.

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Speaker 1: He ripped off a dizzying array of impressive musical releases

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Speaker 1: under a new recording contract with Capitol Records. Inspired by

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Speaker 1: the genius arrangements of musical director Nelson Riddle, Sinatra took

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Speaker 1: control of the charts, minds, and hearts of young lovers

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Speaker 1: everywhere with a string of truly great long players, songs

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Speaker 1: for young Lovers, Swing Easy, and then, in my opinion,

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Speaker 1: his best album in the wee Small Hours of the Morning,

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Speaker 1: an album where Frank Sinatra invented the concept of the

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Speaker 1: concept album. Subsequent LPs released in the fifties, A Swinging Affair,

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Speaker 1: Come Fly with Me, and Frank Sinatra Sings for Only

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Speaker 1: the Lonely would all contain songs that would become so

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Speaker 1: popular they'd eventually become standards of the American pop Cannon.

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Speaker 1: Sinatra's musical output alone was staggeringly prolific, but with his

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Speaker 1: Oscar still fresh in the minds of Hollywood producers, he

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Speaker 1: also moved quickly to keep his film career moving. He

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Speaker 1: starred alongside Doris Day and Young at Heart Grace Kelly

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Speaker 1: in High Society, Marlon Brando, and Guys and Dolls, and

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Speaker 1: was nominated for another Oscar for his portrayal of a

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Speaker 1: heroin addict in The Man with the Golden Arm. Before long,

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Speaker 1: he was the highest paid actor in Hollywood, and he

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Speaker 1: kept moving like a shark and a side divors suit.

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Speaker 1: Slowing down meant looking in the mirror and facing that

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Speaker 1: ever present loneliness. So work, work, and more work. Frank

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Speaker 1: took part of his earnings and bought a plane, using

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Speaker 1: it to charter him and his friends Dean Martin, Shirley McLean,

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Speaker 1: Humphrey Boger to his new playground in the desert, Las Vegas,

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Speaker 1: where Frank took another piece of his bread and invested

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Speaker 1: in the Sands Hotel and casino property whose majority share

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Speaker 1: was owned by Frank's old friend, mob boss Frank Costello,

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Speaker 1: the same mafioso who pulled Harry Cohen's Strings via Johnny

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Speaker 1: Rosselli to get Frank the Oscar winning role in From

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Speaker 1: Here to Eternity. Hanging out with mobsters was old hat

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Speaker 1: for Sinatra. Back in Hoboken, his father made ends meet

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Speaker 1: as half a wise guy. Frank had long referred to

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Speaker 1: them as the boys, and by the time he entered

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Speaker 1: the entertainment industry where the nightclubs, dance halls, and concert

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Speaker 1: vendues were controlled by the mafia, Frank was used to

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Speaker 1: hanging around was gangsters and not shy about asking for

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Speaker 1: or returning favors for them. Frank was enamored of them.

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Speaker 1: Gangsters had real power and they were a lot of fun,

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Speaker 1: and Frank was no stranger to a good time, which

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Speaker 1: is why the investment in the Sands made sense. Plus,

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Speaker 1: the gangsters really did like Frank. He was like them,

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Speaker 1: Italian from the streets and he didn't take shit off

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Speaker 1: no one. Plus that voice, those eyes. Dude was a

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Speaker 1: pussy magnet, but he attracted more than just women. Everyone

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Speaker 1: wanted to be around Frank. He was a star star.

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Speaker 1: With Frank owning a piece of the Sands with his

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Speaker 1: name association, the joint was packed every night. Money poured

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Speaker 1: in sure, every once in a while Frank had to

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Speaker 1: do a little favor for one of the boys, but

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Speaker 1: it wasn't bad. Deliver a message here or there, convince

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Speaker 1: the fellow star to join him at the sands for

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Speaker 1: a reduced rate. None of it seemed extraordinary because Frank

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Speaker 1: Sinatra himself was extraordinary. And if Frank had to jump

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Speaker 1: on a plane to Havana with a case full of

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Speaker 1: cash from one of the boys to make sure it

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Speaker 1: landed in the right greasy hand, well that wasn't hubris.

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Speaker 1: That was just Frank having the confidence to take care

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Speaker 1: of business. We'll be right back after this word word

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Speaker 1: word in the mafia, getting sent for is nerve wracking.

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Speaker 1: It usually means you're being deployed to whack someone, or

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Speaker 1: you yourself are about to get whacked. In politics, getting

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00:14:29,600 --> 00:14:32,440
Speaker 1: sent for usually means you're being deployed to kiss someone's

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Speaker 1: ass or you yourself are about to get your ass kissed,

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Speaker 1: which never comes without strings, which is why when the

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Speaker 1: half politician, half gangster Joseph P. Kennedy, father of Senator

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Speaker 1: and candidate for President of the United States John F. Kennedy,

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Speaker 1: sent for Frank Sinatra, Frank was doubly concerned. What did

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Speaker 1: the old man want? Frank didn't know. All he knew

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Speaker 1: was that he was an admirer of the son Jack Yon. Articulate,

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Speaker 1: good looking, and that had a hair and that smile

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Speaker 1: you could see from space, charisma for days. Unlike Frank catholic,

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Speaker 1: just think a non wasp with a legit shot at

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Speaker 1: the White House. In nineteen sixty, Frank borded his jet

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Speaker 1: and took off with the Kennedy compound in Hyennasport, Massachusetts.

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Speaker 1: Frank was in awe of the senator's father. Sinatra's own

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Speaker 1: father worked for JFK's dad back in the day, running

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Speaker 1: rum through the swamps of Jersey during the Prohibition. And

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Speaker 1: so here Frank sat looking up at the bootlegger turned

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Speaker 1: ambassador from across the desk, like a common laborer being

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Speaker 1: put to task by management. There's power and then there's power,

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Speaker 1: and the Kennedys had it. Sinatra wanted it, and what

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00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:51,760
Speaker 1: Joe Kennedy wanted was a favor. The message was direct.

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Speaker 1: His son was going to lose the West Virginia primary

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Speaker 1: to Democratic star wart Hubert Humphrey, and that couldn't happen.

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Speaker 1: Losing West Virginia meant losing the nomination, and the Kennedys

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00:16:02,640 --> 00:16:06,080
Speaker 1: weren't in the business of losing. Joe needed Frank to

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Speaker 1: get Frank's mafia palace to roust up enough votes in

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Speaker 1: West Virginia to deliver a win for Jack. Sure, Ambassador,

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Speaker 1: no problem, I'm sure the boys would be happy to help.

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00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:21,400
Speaker 1: Frank high tailed it to Miami for a round of golf.

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Speaker 1: That Sam g and Kanna aka Momo aka the ruthless

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00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:29,760
Speaker 1: Chicago mobster who controlled the Midwest and West Virginia, a

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00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:32,360
Speaker 1: SANS regular and a friend of Frank's, who at the

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00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:35,000
Speaker 1: time was renting out space way up as ass to

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Speaker 1: the Ambassador's other son, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who'd been

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Speaker 1: making it his business to crack down on organized crime.

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Speaker 1: So g and Kanna saw the obvious play, helped Jack

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Speaker 1: the Haircut win West Virginia and evict Bobby the pit

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00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:52,600
Speaker 1: Bull from out his foot, and with that it was done.

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00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:56,520
Speaker 1: Sort of. The election was a nail better. Jack had

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00:16:56,560 --> 00:17:00,520
Speaker 1: secured the nomination, but the Republican nominee, Richard M. Nixon,

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00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:04,679
Speaker 1: was a formidable candidate and almost as dirty as the Kennedys.

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00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:09,520
Speaker 1: Almost it all came down to Illinois, Giancanna's home state.

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00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:13,960
Speaker 1: Rich with electoral votes and rife with corruption, it was easy.

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00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:16,960
Speaker 1: In the end, a couple thousand dead Democrats managed to

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00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:19,919
Speaker 1: crawl out of the Illinois cemeteries and into voting boosts

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00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:22,880
Speaker 1: to cast their votes for Jack. The Kennedys were going

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00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:26,200
Speaker 1: to the White House, and Sinatra helped put them there.

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Speaker 1: What couldn't Frank do? Take it easy, That's what the

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00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:37,440
Speaker 1: party was on. There was one man in America who

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00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:40,520
Speaker 1: was a bigger pussy hound than Frank Sinatra, and that

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00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:44,119
Speaker 1: was Jack Kennedy. The two were a formidable pair. Frank

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00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:46,919
Speaker 1: hosted Jack and his Palm Springs residents and stocked the

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00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:50,920
Speaker 1: place with hookers, booze, gourmet foods, celebrity friends, whatever else

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00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:54,480
Speaker 1: he thought his new politician pale wanted. And Jack loved it.

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Speaker 1: And the remote location, far beyond the judgy eyes of

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00:17:58,160 --> 00:18:01,440
Speaker 1: the press or his wife, meant he relax, hang out

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00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:04,600
Speaker 1: by the pool, gossip with showgirls, smoke a joint, or

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00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:09,359
Speaker 1: to get laid whenever. It was great, But when Jack

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00:18:09,480 --> 00:18:12,400
Speaker 1: entered the White House, Sinatra was starting to be seen

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00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:17,120
Speaker 1: as a liability Jackie. Jack's wife hated him. I mean,

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00:18:17,240 --> 00:18:21,120
Speaker 1: why wouldn't she Frank was basically her husband's pimp. But

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00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:25,520
Speaker 1: more damning was the wrath of Jack's brother, now Attorney General,

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00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:29,879
Speaker 1: Bobby Kennedy, who learned that Jack, by introduction of Frank,

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Speaker 1: was sleeping with Judith Campbell, girlfriend of mobster Sam g

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Speaker 1: and Conna, Bobby's nemesis. Talk about Hubris, You're president, you're married,

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00:18:41,119 --> 00:18:44,280
Speaker 1: you're sleeping with any woman you want, and you decide

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00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:47,040
Speaker 1: to shack up with the girlfriend of the most powerful

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00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:50,399
Speaker 1: mob boss in the country who is also the sworn

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00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:54,720
Speaker 1: enemy of your brother, the Attorney General aka the top

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00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:59,440
Speaker 1: cop in the land. Yikes. And despite Frank's efforts and

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00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:04,360
Speaker 1: helping a JFK, the Kennedys cut him off. Frank was devastated.

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00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:08,320
Speaker 1: He loved Jack, he didn't blame him, though he blamed Bobby.

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00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:12,560
Speaker 1: Frank was hurt, angry, but you know it was even

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00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:16,560
Speaker 1: more angry sam Gy and Conna. G and Conna thought

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00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:19,440
Speaker 1: that helping the Kennedys would get authorities out of his hair,

294
00:19:20,080 --> 00:19:23,520
Speaker 1: but no. Since Jack the haircut became president, the heat

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00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:27,719
Speaker 1: got hotter and the mafia felt it everywhere. Tails raids,

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00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:31,080
Speaker 1: wire taps, and gi and Conna was losing face. After all,

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00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:34,000
Speaker 1: he helped get these snot nosed Irish punks into office,

298
00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:37,320
Speaker 1: and here they were endlessly harassing him, making him look

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00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:41,600
Speaker 1: like a jerkof sleeping with his woman. But somehow the

300
00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:45,639
Speaker 1: mafia had an even bigger problem. All the casinos they

301
00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:49,360
Speaker 1: owned in Havana, Cuba, had just been shut down abruptly

302
00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:53,760
Speaker 1: nationalized by the communist Fidel Castro during his recent rise

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00:19:53,840 --> 00:19:57,000
Speaker 1: to power, and this meant a massive portion of the

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00:19:57,040 --> 00:20:01,760
Speaker 1: mob's revenue had vanished overnight, and true to form, the

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00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:05,640
Speaker 1: Kennedys were no help. They'd botched the Bay of Pigs Invasions,

306
00:20:05,920 --> 00:20:09,720
Speaker 1: a CIA backed military effort to oust Castro from power,

307
00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:13,400
Speaker 1: root the Kamis from the Western Hemisphere and restored democracy

308
00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:16,960
Speaker 1: and the mafia's reign in Cuba. But of course Kennedy

309
00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:19,480
Speaker 1: would only commit to sticking his dick in halfway, a

310
00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:23,119
Speaker 1: how out of character, and the invasion failed. But the

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00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:26,639
Speaker 1: Kennedys didn't care. They thought, as did Sinatra, that they

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00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:29,760
Speaker 1: had the world on the string. But some very dangerous

313
00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:33,679
Speaker 1: people were starting to get dangerously upset and their confidence

314
00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:52,520
Speaker 1: was about to turn to hubris. Johnny Rozselli couldn't believe

315
00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:56,200
Speaker 1: his life. Never a dull moment For a mid level

316
00:20:56,200 --> 00:21:00,359
Speaker 1: hood like Roselli, the action was NonStop. The girl girls,

317
00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:05,399
Speaker 1: the gambling, the graft. It got to be ordinary. But this,

318
00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:10,120
Speaker 1: this was very much extraordinary. Roselli was seated across from

319
00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:13,600
Speaker 1: two CIA spooks who are offering him and the syndicate

320
00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:18,240
Speaker 1: the American Mafia, cold hard cash to whack out Fidel Castro.

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00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:22,399
Speaker 1: Who'd have thunk the United States government wanted Castro gone

322
00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:25,040
Speaker 1: just as badly as the mob did, so here it

323
00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:29,280
Speaker 1: was taking out a contract on the beard. Uncle Sam

324
00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:46,720
Speaker 1: no joke, gangster as fucker. But try as they would,

325
00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:51,520
Speaker 1: Rosselli and his American mob cohorts Santo Trafficante, Frank Costello

326
00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:55,040
Speaker 1: and Sam Giancana could not get to Fidel. And every

327
00:21:55,119 --> 00:21:58,400
Speaker 1: day that communist bastard stayed in power was another day

328
00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:01,960
Speaker 1: of lost millions for the boy and making matters worse,

329
00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:06,200
Speaker 1: the Kennedy administration, through the efforts of Bobby's Justice Department,

330
00:22:06,359 --> 00:22:09,600
Speaker 1: kept the heat upon organized crime, and the mafia was

331
00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:14,520
Speaker 1: getting shafted both ways, coming and going. And after the

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00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:17,639
Speaker 1: Bay of Pigs debacle, President Kennedy had the balls to

333
00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:21,120
Speaker 1: declare war on his own CIA. He felt the CIA

334
00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:23,720
Speaker 1: hung him out to dry with the botched invasion, and

335
00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:26,800
Speaker 1: now seemed content to let Castro remain in power so

336
00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:29,360
Speaker 1: long as the Soviets were kept out of the hemisphere.

337
00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:35,720
Speaker 1: The Soviets, Communist Cubans, the anti Castro Cubans, the CIA,

338
00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:41,480
Speaker 1: the Mafia, not to mention, capitalist industrialists, Republicans, and papal

339
00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:45,720
Speaker 1: fearing loss and racist from the American South, all suddenly

340
00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:49,840
Speaker 1: found their own self interests coalescing around their mutual hatred

341
00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:54,160
Speaker 1: of the Kennedys. What an epic buck show. Frank Sinatra

342
00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:57,000
Speaker 1: watched it all from the sidelines while as mafioso, but

343
00:22:57,160 --> 00:23:00,159
Speaker 1: his tried unsuccessfully to get him to get it is

344
00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:03,400
Speaker 1: so called friend the president to call off his dogs,

345
00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:07,359
Speaker 1: but it was useless. Frank was out. The Kennedy's didn't

346
00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:11,359
Speaker 1: need him, or so they thought, and so they pressed on,

347
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:14,600
Speaker 1: kept the heat up on the Mafia, kept Castor on

348
00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:18,520
Speaker 1: power through their inaction, kept up their pledge to dismantle

349
00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:23,399
Speaker 1: the CIA, and kept Frank Sinatra at bay, which was

350
00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:27,359
Speaker 1: likely their biggest mistake. Had they kept Frank in the loop,

351
00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:29,959
Speaker 1: Frank would have been able to impress upon them just

352
00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:34,040
Speaker 1: how angry they were making the Mob and the CIA.

353
00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:38,240
Speaker 1: But when you're young, rich, beautiful, powerful and can have

354
00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:41,280
Speaker 1: anyone you want, do anything you want, and you believe

355
00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:44,600
Speaker 1: in your own bullshit. At some point it became clear

356
00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:48,040
Speaker 1: to both the Mafia and the CIA that if they

357
00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:51,000
Speaker 1: couldn't use their combined efforts to get rid of the beard,

358
00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:54,720
Speaker 1: then they should use their combined efforts to instead get

359
00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:58,280
Speaker 1: rid of the haircut. There is an old Sicilian saying

360
00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:00,600
Speaker 1: that if you want to kill a dog, you don't

361
00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:04,520
Speaker 1: cut off his tail and cut off his head. Great

362
00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:09,320
Speaker 1: plots conspiracies take time to develop, but in the end

363
00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:13,159
Speaker 1: come together shockingly quick, so quick that the players in

364
00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:17,080
Speaker 1: the scheme seldom know that they're even playing. Conspiracies are

365
00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:19,920
Speaker 1: thought to be vast plots conducted from on high by

366
00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:24,480
Speaker 1: evil villains and schemers, but in reality, conspiracies happen. We

367
00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:28,720
Speaker 1: mutually aggrieve groups of people simultaneous. They lock into one

368
00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:33,480
Speaker 1: powerful shared sentiment, usually greed or vengeance, and are so

369
00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:37,399
Speaker 1: compelled by their own self interests that their destinies become

370
00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:41,840
Speaker 1: self fulfilling enough to propel them all collectively toward a

371
00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:46,879
Speaker 1: singular goal. In this case, for the Mafia and the CIA,

372
00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:50,840
Speaker 1: it was the elimination of an existential threat to their survival,

373
00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:55,000
Speaker 1: the Kennedys. If the mafia was going to survive, if

374
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:59,280
Speaker 1: the CIA was going to survive, JFK had to go

375
00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:07,359
Speaker 1: kill the President of the United States. Now that's hubris, unless,

376
00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:14,920
Speaker 1: of course, you get away with it, then it's just confidence. Dallas,

377
00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:20,160
Speaker 1: November twenty second, nineteen sixty three, Game Day. It had

378
00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:23,399
Speaker 1: been a long time coming. No one, even those involved,

379
00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:26,879
Speaker 1: truly knew what was happening. They just knew they had

380
00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:29,920
Speaker 1: a part to play, and then later, if everyone moved

381
00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:33,199
Speaker 1: in the right direction at the right time, their problems

382
00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:46,040
Speaker 1: would go away. And that's what happened. When Frank Sinatra

383
00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:48,600
Speaker 1: got word that his friend, the President of the United

384
00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:52,640
Speaker 1: States was murdered, he instantly knew why, and he realized

385
00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:56,439
Speaker 1: then that despite his clout, his friends, his confidence, he

386
00:25:56,520 --> 00:26:00,520
Speaker 1: had been powerless to prevent it. After the ass fascination,

387
00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:04,480
Speaker 1: Frank crawled into an endless bottle of Jack Daniels and

388
00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:08,360
Speaker 1: sunk into a deep depression. He became one of those

389
00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:12,159
Speaker 1: sad sack characters in one of his songs, What was

390
00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:15,000
Speaker 1: it that had brought him to this point? This lowest

391
00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:19,119
Speaker 1: of Low's hubris mourning the loss of a man he

392
00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:24,879
Speaker 1: deeply admired encountered as a friend despite his recent estrangement. Yes,

393
00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:27,199
Speaker 1: Hubris was to blame for this, just as it was

394
00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:30,320
Speaker 1: to blame for the demise of Jack Kennedy, a man

395
00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:32,679
Speaker 1: who could not see through the blinding light of his

396
00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:38,200
Speaker 1: own powerful entitlement and buffer Sinatra, this pit of grief, guilt,

397
00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:42,639
Speaker 1: self doubt, and oh too familiar loneliness could only be

398
00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:48,480
Speaker 1: vanquished by real inner strength, real confidence, or maybe all

399
00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:50,919
Speaker 1: it would take and be a favor from one of

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00:26:50,920 --> 00:27:05,399
Speaker 1: the boys. I'm Jake Brennan and this disgrace laugh. Disgraceland

401
00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:08,000
Speaker 1: was created by Yours Truly and is produced in partnership

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00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:11,160
Speaker 1: with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be found

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00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:14,719
Speaker 1: on the show notes page at disgracelampod dot com. If

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00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:17,800
Speaker 1: you're listening as a Disgraceland All Access member, thank you

405
00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:20,760
Speaker 1: for supporting the show. We really appreciate it. And if not,

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Speaker 1: you can become a member right now by going to

407
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408
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410
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412
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Speaker 1: slash at disgracelampod Rock a Roller. He then