Del Mar: He’s got a gun in his car. You better stop him,” the friend told Sinatra.

[andymays]

In the second installment, we trace how the pair used their political influence and financial connections to seize control of the Del Mar racetrack.

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2011/jan/12/feature-big-rich-part-two/

Excerpt:

Hart, a longtime associate of the Chicago mob, had been a beer runner for Al Capone, writes Gus Russo in his book Supermob. In the 1930s, Hart owned Central Liquor Distributors, the San Angelo Wine and Spirit Corporation, and Alfred Hart Distilleries.

“In 1949, a San Bernardino grand jury was convened to investigate two of Hart’s partners in Alfred Hart Distilleries, Edward Seeman, the slot machine king of San Bernardino, and State Senator Ralph E. Swing, for soliciting a bribe from a citizen who wanted to obtain an auto-racing concession. However, the grand jury returned no indictment,” according to Russo.

While an owner at Del Mar, Russo says, Hart “struck up a lifelong friendship” with J. Edgar Hoover, “despite the fact that Hart’s FBI file notes, ‘Hart has a reputation of associating with known hoodlums.’” In 1948, Hart had invested $75,000 in Bugsy Siegel’s Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. At the time of the partnership, says Russo, Siegel had a box at Del Mar, which he shared with his girlfriend Virginia Hill.

In November 1959, Hart crossed paths with Judith Campbell — later to become one of John F. Kennedy’s mistresses — in a penthouse hotel suite in Hawaii rented by Frank Sinatra. The singer had invited Campbell along for a week in Hawaii with Peter Lawford and his wife Patricia Kennedy, the sister of the president-to-be. Hart, like many of Sinatra’s mobbed-up friends, dropped by for a visit.

“He was in and out, and I seem to remember him being there that first day, but it could have been the next day,” Campbell, then known as Judith Exner, recalled in a 1977 autobiography, My Story, as told to Ovid Demaris. “He sticks in my mind because of the comical image he presented when he walked out in swim trunks.

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2011/jan/12/feature-big-rich-part-two/

[pandy]

Sinatra once said that it was a lot of pressure being Sinatra because everyone always called him to ask for his advice whenever they had a problem.

I saw Vic Damone at an outdoor concert about 10 years ago, he was filling in for Mel Torme, who was ill. He was very good, velvety smooth voice and he told some funny stories. The entertainers from that era really knew how to hold an audience. I saw Jack Jones a few years later, another guy with a terrific voice, and he also told funny stories. Both singers told stories about Sinatra. Sinatra once said that Vic Damone had the best pipes in the business and also heaped praise on Jack Jones.

[andymays]

Sinatra once said that it was a lot of pressure being Sinatra because everyone always called him to ask for his advice whenever they had a problem.

I saw Vic Damone at an outdoor concert about 10 years ago, he was filling in for Mel Torme, who was ill. He was very good, velvety smooth voice and he told some funny stories. The entertainers from that era really knew how to hold an audience. I saw Jack Jones a few years later, another guy with a terrific voice, and he also told funny stories. Both singers told stories about Sinatra. Sinatra once said that Vic Damone had the best pipes in the business and also heaped praise on Jack Jones.

Thanks for adding to the story Pandy. :ThmbUp:

[BlueShoe]

In 1948, Hart had invested $75,000 in Bugsy Siegel’s Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. At the time of the partnership, says Russo, Siegel had a box at Del Mar, which he shared with his girlfriend Virginia Hill.
1948? It would have been very difficult for Mr. Hart to have engaged in a business relationship with Mr. Siegel in 1948, and equally unlikely for Ben and Virginia to have attended the races at Del Mar that year. Bugsy departed rather abruptly from this world on June 20, 1947 after suffering a sudden case of severe lead poisoning.

[andymays]

1948? It would have been very difficult for Mr. Hart to have engaged in a business relationship with Mr. Siegel in 1948, and equally unlikely for Ben and Virginia to have attended the races at Del Mar that year. Bugsy departed rather abruptly from this world on June 20, 1947 after suffering a sudden case of severe lead poisoning.

Good catch. The Reader has been doing stories like this one for a long long time and some of them deal with people I know. I've noticed some errors before.

[OCF]

Good catch. The Reader has been doing stories like this one for a long long time and some of them deal with people I know. I've noticed some errors before.

It's been decades since I lived in San Diego, but if my middle-aged memory serves me correctly The Reader is a free paper, yes?

[andymays]

It's been decades since I lived in San Diego, but if my middle-aged memory serves me correctly The Reader is a free paper, yes?

Yes it's free. They do some good reporting but in long stories like this one they tend to get a few things wrong.

[andymays]

Here is an interesting incident at Del Mar several decades ago.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

http://edgar-hoover.tripod.com/index.htm

The following text is excerpted from the book, Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover by Anthony Summers.

Excerpt of the Excerpt:


Jimmy "The Weasel" Fratianno, the highest-ranking mobster ever to have "turned" and testified against his former associates, was at the track in 1948 when Frank Bompensiero, a notorious West Coast mafioso, taunted Edgar to his face. "I pointed at this fella sitting in the box in front," Fratianno recalled, "and said, 'Hey, Bomp, lookit there, it's J. Edgar Hoover.' And Bomp says right out loud, so everyone can hear, 'Ah, that J. Edgar's a punk, he's a ****in' degenerate qu**r.'"

Later, when Bompensiero ran into Edgar in the men's room, the FBI Director was astonishingly meek. "Frank," he told the mobster, "that's not a nice way to talk about me, especially when I have people with me." It was clear to Fratianno that Bompensiero had met Edgar before and that he had absolutely no fear of Edgar.

[joanied]

Being from Bensonhurst in Brooklyn, I love reading this wise guy stuff...keep the stories comin' :jump:

[andymays]

Being from Bensonhurst in Brooklyn, I love reading this wise guy stuff...keep the stories comin' :jump:

I put this up for you joanied. I was wondering when you'd get hooked.

I met Frank Bompensiero when I was a little kid. My uncle was his driver and bodyguard. He was everything people would imagin he would look like. Big Cigar and big personality

As a side note I'd have to say that although "the life" has it's moments most of these guys end up dying in jail or dying in the streets. In the Bomps case it was in the streets at a phone booth in Pacific Beach in San Diego. He was told not to go but he went anyway and got two or three in the head. It was a setup and it was found out later that he was an informant for the FBI. My uncle told a couple of people that something wasn't right but they didn't believe him. There's a lot more to the story but I'll leave you with that for now. ;)

A good story is the time he went after Mickey Cohen.

Another is the time Desi Arnaz almost got clipped.


TAPE CONTRADICTS TESTIMONY OF A MAFIA KILLER - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/28/us/tape-contradicts-testimony-of-a-mafia-killer.html?sec=travel&&fta=y

Excerpt:

An admitted Mafia hit man, Aladema (Jimmy the Weasel) Fratianno, has testified that he and other underworld figures met at the La Costa resort and planned to kill Desi Arnaz, the actor and movie producer, because they were angry at the way he portrayed Italian mobsters.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

joanied, if people knew the truth about all this stuff they think they know and stuff they don't know there would be rioting in the streets. ;)

I'm not telling for the time being.

[joanied]

I put this up for you joanied. I was wondering when you'd get hooked.

I met Frank Bompensiero when I was a little kid. My uncle was his driver and bodyguard. He was everything people would imagin he would look like. Big Cigar and big personality

As a side note I'd have to say that although "the life" has it's moments most of these guys end up dying in jail or dying in the streets. In the Bomps case it was in the streets at a phone booth in Pacific Beach in San Diego. He was told not to go but he went anyway and got two or three in the head. It was a setup and it was found out later that he was an informant for the FBI. My uncle told a couple of people that something wasn't right but they didn't believe him. There's a lot more to the story but I'll leave you with that for now. ;)

A good story is the time he went after Mickey Cohen.

Another is the time Desi Arnaz almost got clipped.


TAPE CONTRADICTS TESTIMONY OF A MAFIA KILLER - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/28/us/tape-contradicts-testimony-of-a-mafia-killer.html?sec=travel&&fta=y

Excerpt:

An admitted Mafia hit man, Aladema (Jimmy the Weasel) Fratianno, has testified that he and other underworld figures met at the La Costa resort and planned to kill Desi Arnaz, the actor and movie producer, because they were angry at the way he portrayed Italian mobsters.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

joanied, if people knew the truth about all this stuff they think they know and stuff they don't know there would be rioting in the streets. ;)

I'm not telling for the time being.

Man, your Uncle must have had some great stories to tell...yeah, 'the life' is kinda like what Bruce Springsteen says in his song 'Murder Inc.' (probably my favorite Springsteen tune...it rocks!!)...better keep your piece under the pillow and have eyes in the back of your head...I had a relative that was never seen again!

Had no idea about that Desi Arnaz story...interesting...especially since he was Cuban!
Andy...I miss the Sopranos;)