Updated news on the Gambino, Genovese, Bonanno, Lucchese and Colombo Organized Crime Families of New York City.

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Tommy James: Me, the Mob, and the Music


1960s pop star Tommy James is out with his autobiography which details the not-so-hidden hand of the Genovese crime family in the music industry.  In Me, the Mob, and the Music, James writes of his experience with Morris Levy, the head of Roulette Records, with whom he was forced to sign through mob influence as reported by Chris Jordan for Courier News:
James tells of an awkward working relationship with Levy, for whom James felt affection and fear. Levy, as James points out, was an associate of Genovese Family types like "Fat Tony'' Salerno and Vincent "The Chin'' Gigante, whose stable of artists included Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers and Joey Dee and the Starliters. James is the first big-name artist to openly tell the story of the mob's influence on the recording industry in the 1960s. "There was a lot of intimidation,'' James said. "People are reluctant to name names and tell it like it was.''
The story is headed to the big screen, and "is being developed by Barry Rosen's Triangle Entertainment" as reported by Chris Jordan for Inside Movies.
Morris Levy died in 1990 of liver cancer at the age of 62 following his 1988 extortion conviction for which he was sentenced to ten years in prison


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