Frank Sinatra and the Mafia Murders

I’m a fan of Mike Rothmiller. Bombshell was a great read. This book fills in some gaps in knowledge about background theory of the world events during the time when Hollywood, organized crime, politics, and intelligence agencies run by J. Edgar Hoover & Allen Dulles were heavily intertwined .

This book was certainly an eye-opening, interesting and oftentimes an annoyingly confusing read. In many places the sentence structure was very awkward and had a “wiseguy” feel to them. I was definitely surprised that this was written by two bestselling authors. Considering the book is about Sinatra, the authors veer off into the lives and times of many, MANY other people. Some of whom had a tiny connection with Sinatra. My opinion of Sinatra has completely changed. I had already read about his bullying behavior in a book about reporter Dorothy Killgalen. This story really brought to light many things, especially about JFK.

It's not what you know, it's what you can prove to a jury. This tale is Frank Sinatra's dark side. The photo section contains both color and black & white photographs, including two pages of a rogue's gallery from LAPD's "black book" of underworld figures. There is a bibliography for further research and a table of contents. I do like indexes, but that can be solved by purchasing a Kindle edition of this book--the Kindle edition is searchable by key words and phrases. Determining the accuracy of non-fiction relies on three questions: Is the source credible through a track record of veracity? Is the source credible through being in a position to know the information? Finally, how does the "new" information presented by the source line up with other sources? About other sources: determine the first two questions and give those sources a score. About half of the "accuracy score" is lining up with valid information. In the Author's Note, "History gets more retouched than rewritten as time goes by." The more period documents become public, the messier history becomes. Getting it right is very difficult. The peek at backstage Hollywood made Chicago and Las Vegas look like righteous towns. Cuba's backstage peek did make me wonder why the Mob lost control of that island nation. Was it incompetence? Highlights in my mind were: Page 118--"It's the first time in my life I've ever seen a dead man convicted of his own murder." Page 134--"They were used to honest crooks, not the Kennedy's." Page 158--"A 'retired' Chicago Mob capo told Mike Rothmiller that winning an election in Illinois did not depend on voting. It depended in the people counting the votes, and the Mob controlled them." Do your own homework to determine if these are valid statements. My own research says "yes." I liked this book. I have another Mike Rothmiller book, "Bombshell," that lines up with some of the contents of "Frank Sinatra and the Mafia Murders." I recommend visiting the Mob Museum website--and if you can swing it, visit that Las Vegas attraction for a three-hour tour. It will help put this book in perspective. I would like to see Mike Rothmiller write a book on the Kefauver Committee Hearings. Even if Rothmiller covered only one city out of fourteen where hearings were held, that would be a compelling story.

This makes for an entertaining read with tons of famous names from organized crime - to Hollywood - and the White House. There are lots of connections dating back decades. A lot of the material comes from the Kennedy era and Sinatra’s involvement with the Kennedy campaign. I like the book. It’s believable, but the editing was not very good. There are grammar issues scattered throughout the book that make for tough reading,

I was always a Sinatra fan even though from my mother’s generation I liked his music a lot. As I was reading this book, I began to dislike the man more and more. I am from the Chicago area and lived not far from a lot of “the outfit” members that lived in Oak Park , Elmwood Park, Melrose Park and River Forest. Having gone to school with these people’s children and grandchildren Sinatra association with them turned my stomach It was a good read however sometimes redundant

Having never met nor encountered the man, we can only go by what we hear and read. While Sinatra may have been a great entertainer, a very talented vocalist, and a "fun" guy to be around at times, the book greatly paints him as a very selfish, domineering, and "spoiled" bad boy. There's no questioning his mob associations, and one gets the impression that he lived most of his life trying to decide whether he wanted to be a gangster or a showman. Obviously he wanted both.

I thought that this was a very good book. Enjoyable from beginning to end. I believe it captured the truth about Sinatra and his life long association with organized crime.

I was looking for a book about Sinatra and the rat pack. What I got was way better. All the dirt and so much more. Frank was way worse than I thought. And all those other stars involved too. Wow I highly recommend this book.

Very interesting. You will hate ol blue eyes after reading it. Very informative, well writen. Could not put the book down and I'm not an avid reader!

Excellent

Whilst obviously used, it was in good condition and a fascinating read

Very pleased with product

I don’t normally write reviews but honestly feel compelled in this case. I try and make sure I own and read any book published about Frank Sinatra, and so when this popped up I ordered and gave it a read. It’s a decent take on the subject of Sinatra and the mob links, enjoyable mini stories in each chapter. It’s clear the author has an agenda, so just bear that in mind. That’s not the issue though, the content is good, it’s the editing. This is a shocking example of poor proofing reading. I spotted so many errors in the text that it’s actually embarrassing that this made it through to being published. Basic grammatical errors all over the place. Really poor. Apart from that, decent read, enjoyed it.