爵士歌王与美国黑帮的神秘瓜葛(图) |
http://www.sina.com.cn 2005/05/08 22:11 国际在线 |
Frank Sinatra once served as a Mafia courier and narrowly escaped arrest with a briefcase containing $3.5 million in cash, according to a new biography of the legendary singer. The entertainer Jerry Lewis is quoted as saying that Sinatra "volunteered to be a messenger for them... And he almost got caught once... in New York." Extracts of Sinatra: The Life, an unauthorised biography by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan, were published yesterday by Vanity Fair magazine. Lewis said that Sinatra was going through customs with a briefcase containing "three and a half million in fifties" and that customs officials opened the case. But due to crowds jostling for a glimpse of the star, officials aborted their search. Otherwise, Lewis said, "We would never have heard of him again." According to Vanity Fair, the authors do not claim that Lewis witnessed the customs incident but related the account "as a fact of which he had knowledge". Lewis, one of the singer's Rat Pack compatriots from the 1960s, claims that Sinatra's mob links "had to do with the morality that a handshake goes before God". The anecdote is one of many fleshing out Sinatra's reputed close ties to the Mafia. The singer carried mob money several times, Lewis is quoted as saying. He knew the Mafia was expanding beyond its East Coast base and volunteered to be a "messenger". "Frank, at a cocktail party, told Meyer [Lansky, a known mobster] in no uncertain terms, 'If there is going to be East Coast, West Coast, intercontinental and foreign - if all that's going to happen, I go all the time," Lewis says. Sinatra, who died aged 82 in 1998, always denied any links to the mob, although FBI files released seven months after his death portrayed him as a close friend of Sam Giancana, the reputed Chicago mobster. The federal documents also suggested that he had contact with Mafia boss Lucky Luciano during a 1947 trip to Cuba and alleged that his early singing career was backed by a New Jersey-based racketeer named Willie Moretti. The book quotes Lewis as saying that the cash smuggling incident occurred shortly after Luciano was deported from the US to Italy in 1946. According to Vanity Fair, the authors of the book describe Sinatra's "long-time, intimate relationship with Luciano", who in 1936 was declared New York's "public enemy Number One", progressing from "beatings to no fewer than 20 murders to pioneering drug trafficking". Sinatra said he did not meet Luciano until a chance encounter in 1947, but the book suggests that he had contact with "top New York area mobsters as early as 1938 or 1939". It also describes how Sinatra's mob links helped his career. It quotes Sonny King, a friend of the singer, as saying: "The Boys got on to Frank. In part because he was a saloon singer and they loved saloon songs, and they liked his cockiness... They liked to think of him as their kid, or son." |
爵士歌王与美国黑帮的神秘瓜葛(图) |
他曾被列入“美国10大精神偶像”,享有“白人爵士歌王”的美誉;他在美国“传记大王”姬蒂-凯莉的笔下曾与前第一夫人南希-里根通奸;他据信与黑社会有瓜葛,曾是美国联邦调查局的调查对象……日前,一本关于美国传奇爵士歌星——弗兰克-西纳特拉的最新传记揭露,西纳特拉曾为美国黑帮成员,并曾携带350万美元现金从机场海关侥幸逃脱。 据英国《每日电讯报》5月5日报道,日前,美国著名杂志《名利场》陆续刊登了由安东尼-萨默斯和罗宾-斯旺撰写的有关西纳特拉的最新传记——《西纳特拉精萃:生命》。书中援引西纳特拉生前好友杰里-路易斯的话说:“西纳特拉曾自愿为他们(美国黑帮)效力,有一次在纽约还险些被警方逮住。” 路易斯指出,西纳特拉当年试图帮助黑帮携带一只装有350万美元现金的公文包通过机场海关,但安检人员要求打开包例行检查;但是,这位爵士歌王的一帮蜂拥而至的崇拜者打破了安检人员的搜查计划,西纳特拉最终得以逃脱。路易斯说,从那以后,他和我们就失去了联系。路易斯指出,携赃款混过海关检查事件发生在西纳特拉1946年从美国驱逐到意大利不久。 《名利场》杂志指出,该传记的作者并没有明确指出路易斯是西纳特拉“海关意外事件”的见证者,但作者表示,这是路易斯所了解的真相。 路易斯透露的有关西纳特拉鲜为人知的故事再一次点燃人们对于这位传奇爵士歌王与黑帮之间千丝万缕的联系的兴趣。 西纳特拉于1998年去世,享年82岁。生前,他一直否认自己与黑帮有关联,但在他去世后7个月,美国联邦调查局查出,他和美国芝加哥臭名昭著的黑帮要目萨姆-詹卡纳交往甚密,并在1947年帮助黑帮头目卢基-鲁西亚诺出逃古巴;同时,在西纳特拉出道初期,他曾得到新泽西一名名叫威利-默利剔黑帮要员的大力支持。此外,联邦调查局还公布了过去40多年积累下来的关于他的大量资料,使公众了解了他的一些与黑帮之间的密闻。 据路易斯称,当西纳特拉得知美国黑帮欲扩张在东海岸的势力时,自愿为他们效力,并曾多次帮助黑帮携赃款逃离警方搜查。路易斯说:“在一次鸡尾酒会上,弗兰克若有所指的对一位名叫迈耶的黑帮重要成员说,‘如果将在发生东海岸、西海岸甚至是国外,我都将随时待命。’” 《名利场》指出,该传记的作者将西纳特拉描述成“与黑帮要员鲁西亚诺有着长期、亲密的关系”。鲁西亚诺因与至少20桩命案和贩毒要案有关联,在1936年被美国警方叫做“纽约头号公敌”。西纳特拉曾表示,他在1947年才偶然与鲁西亚诺相识。但路易斯在书中透露说,他“早在1938年至1939年就与纽约地区黑帮关系密切”。 书中同样揭露了西纳特拉的黑帮朋友帮助他红极一时的密闻。 西纳特拉的生前的另一位好友、索尼-金说:“这些人(黑帮成员)与西纳特拉亲近,因为他们喜欢他的歌曲,欣赏他的狂傲个性,就把他视为自己的孩子一样关照。”(文/蒋黎黎) |
【评论】【英语论坛】【大 中 小】【打印】【下载点点通】【多种方式看新闻】【收藏】【关闭】 |