Interesing:

Tweet

Comment 10

By Evan Wright

November 18, 2011 12:05 PM ET

America Desperado

Jon Roberts, the convicted cocaine trafficker who masterminded the Medellin Cartel's rise in the 1980s and the importation of as much as 15 billion dollars worth of cocaine for them, told a few stories that strained credulity when we first sat down for the interviews that would form the basis of our book, 'American Desperado' (Crown, published November 1st, 2011). Among them, he claimed that as a young New York Mafia soldier in the late 1960s – nearly a decade before he got into the "cocaine industry," as he refers to it – he rescued Jimi Hendrix from a kidnapping attempt. The tale seemed patently absurd until I began to look into the twisted history of the New York club scene in the late 1960s. Based on research and interviews I conducted, it turns out that not only does Roberts' story appear to be true, he solves a mystery that has intrigued Hendrix biographers for more than three decades.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/book-excerpt-the-man-who-saved-jimi-hendrix-from-the-mafia-20111118#ixzz1fJ4LjO4y

^ Not surprising considering the mob had ties with the entertainment industries (still do but it was more apparent then).

Timmy84 said:

^ Not surprising considering the mob had ties with the entertainment industries (still do but it was more apparent then).

But....Jimi Hendrix?

Weren't there bigger and badder 60s artists that would have fetched a higher ransom (no pun)?

Not surprised to read this. Suppossedly, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. had mob ties.

angel345 said:

Not surprised to read this. Suppossedly, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. had mob ties.

An act couldn't play the big clubs without the mafia, especially Vegas and New York. Old Hollywood was mob run and so were many of the record companies. That's why a popular song is called a "hit" and a fast rising song on the chart was labeled "with a bullet" in Billboard. The mafia were the ones who started payola. Some mob guys also added their names to songwriting credits when they had nothing to do with making music.

Doing business with the mafia and getting kidnapped by them are two different things. I don't think the Mafia ever had to kidnap Frank or Sammy.

^^It has been said the the mob was going to kill Sammy because he owed them money, but Frank talked them out of it. It's also been long rumored that the mob had something to do with Sam Cooke's murder.

[Edited 12/1/11 17:17pm]

MickyDolenz said:

^^It has been said the the mob was going to kill Sammy because he owed them money, but Frank talked them out of it. It's also been long rumored that the mob had something to do with Sam Cooke's murder.

[Edited 12/1/11 17:17pm]

Was that how he lost his eye? I don't know how true this is, but I remembered reading somewhere that the car accident was a coverup as to the real reason he lost his eye

angel345 said:

MickyDolenz said:

^^It has been said the the mob was going to kill Sammy because he owed them money, but Frank talked them out of it. It's also been long rumored that the mob had something to do with Sam Cooke's murder.

[Edited 12/1/11 17:17pm]

Was that how he lost his eye? I don't know how true this is, but I remembered reading somewhere that the car accident was a coverup as to the real reason he lost his eye

I just know about the car wreck, never heard anything about any mob involvement. The money thing was years after that.

angel345 said:

Not surprised to read this. Suppossedly, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. had mob ties.

Frank owed his career to the mafia. He was a great singer, but without the mob, I doubt he would have had the opportunities he did.

MickyDolenz said:

^^It has been said the the mob was going to kill Sammy because he owed them money, but Frank talked them out of it. It's also been long rumored that the mob had something to do with Sam Cooke's murder.

[Edited 12/1/11 17:17pm]

What???? NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! Those bastards took Sam? I read that it was racists/kkk type folk that killed him. A mafia hit is worse.

guitarslinger44 said:

angel345 said:

Not surprised to read this. Suppossedly, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. had mob ties.

Frank owed his career to the mafia. He was a great singer, but without the mob, I doubt he would have had the opportunities he did.

In the movie Godfather, the scene with the daughter's wedding, that singer "Johnny" is supposed to be Frank Sinatra. The woman he slept with, who was the girlfriend of the film's producer, was supposed to be Ava Gardner.

HotGritz said:

MickyDolenz said:

^^It has been said the the mob was going to kill Sammy because he owed them money, but Frank talked them out of it. It's also been long rumored that the mob had something to do with Sam Cooke's murder.

[Edited 12/1/11 17:17pm]

What???? NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! Those bastards took Sam? I read that it was racists/kkk type folk that killed him. A mafia hit is worse.

The story is that the mafia wanted a cut of Sam's publishing and his SAR Record label, but Sam refused. The girl he went to the hotel with was the girlfriend of a mob guy. People who saw Sam's body said the bruises were inconsistent with the story Bertha Franklin and the prostitute told, that he was trying to rape the girl. Sam was in the shower, came out and found his money, some of his clothes, and the girl were gone. Also it didn't seem likely that an old lady (Bertha) could beat up a young man, with no type of injury/bruising on her. Bertha claimed that Sam attacked her. Sam's family and manager wanted an investigation, but Sam's wife Barbara talked them out of it, that it wouldn't make any difference. The police didn't really do much of an investigation, probably because it was "just a Negro singer" at a seedy motel. It was the early 1960's.

MickyDolenz said:

HotGritz said:

What???? NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! Those bastards took Sam? I read that it was racists/kkk type folk that killed him. A mafia hit is worse.

The story is that the mafia wanted a cut of Sam's publishing and his SAR Record label, but Sam refused. The girl he went to the hotel with was the girlfriend of a mob guy. People who saw Sam's body said the bruises were inconsistent with the story Bertha Franklin and the prostitute told, that he was trying to rape the girl. Sam was in the shower, came out and found his money, some of his clothes, and the girl were gone. Also it didn't seem likely that an old lady (Bertha) could beat up a young man, with no type of injury/bruising on her. Bertha claimed that Sam attacked her. Sam's family and manager wanted an investigation, but Sam's wife Barbara talked them out of it, that it wouldn't make any difference. The police didn't really do much of an investigation, probably because it was "just a Negro singer" at a seedy motel. It was the early 1960's.

That is so fuckin' sad! Everything may have been alright if he hadn't laid with that hooker. Damn the mafia to hell!

HotGritz said:

MickyDolenz said:

The story is that the mafia wanted a cut of Sam's publishing and his SAR Record label, but Sam refused. The girl he went to the hotel with was the girlfriend of a mob guy. People who saw Sam's body said the bruises were inconsistent with the story Bertha Franklin and the prostitute told, that he was trying to rape the girl. Sam was in the shower, came out and found his money, some of his clothes, and the girl were gone. Also it didn't seem likely that an old lady (Bertha) could beat up a young man, with no type of injury/bruising on her. Bertha claimed that Sam attacked her. Sam's family and manager wanted an investigation, but Sam's wife Barbara talked them out of it, that it wouldn't make any difference. The police didn't really do much of an investigation, probably because it was "just a Negro singer" at a seedy motel. It was the early 1960's.

That is so fuckin' sad! Everything may have been alright if he hadn't laid with that hooker. Damn the mafia to hell!

I doubt it. I believe that the mob would have gotten him one way or another, regardless. The girl was just the mob's decoy, I'll bet.

guitarslinger44 said:

angel345 said:

Not surprised to read this. Suppossedly, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. had mob ties.

Frank owed his career to the mafia. He was a great singer, but without the mob, I doubt he would have had the opportunities he did.

I believe it

HotGritz said:

That is so fuckin' sad! Everything may have been alright if he hadn't laid with that hooker. Damn the mafia to hell!

The hooker is not really relevant, refusing to give up his publishing is. You don't turn down the mob. Jackie Wilson was hung off a balcony by them. He was on the label Brunswick, which was run by Nat Turnopal, who had mob connections. Jackie was planning to leave when his contract expired and sign with Motown, but Nat made sure that Jackie resigned with his label. Some people thought that it was really the mafia that beat up and killed Sam going by the way the body was bruised. It was said that Sam's neck was broken. The rape of the prostitute and Bertha Franklin self defense story was believed to be a coverup by some of Sam's family and friends. They said that Sam had no need to get a hooker, Sam had no problem getting women. The mob sometimes had control of the police, so it was easy to make a story to cover up any crimes and/or shut down any investigations.

[Edited 12/2/11 10:45am]

Why did the mafia, then or now, have to get involved with already existing and self-supporting artists? If you want to be part of the music game so badly then develop your own record label and produce and cultivate your own artist who will be beholden to you until the last record drops. Killing somebody because they refuse to be your whore is on so many levels of evil. There has to be a special place in hell for those in the organized crime business. Poor Sam.

MickyDolenz said:

angel345 said:

Was that how he lost his eye? I don't know how true this is, but I remembered reading somewhere that the car accident was a coverup as to the real reason he lost his eye

I just know about the car wreck, never heard anything about any mob involvement. The money thing was years after that.

Ok. I have to think where I read it.

HotGritz said:

Why did the mafia, then or now, have to get involved with already existing and self-supporting artists? If you want to be part of the music game so badly then develop your own record label and produce and cultivate your own artist who will be beholden to you until the last record drops. Killing somebody because they refuse to be your whore is on so many levels of evil. There has to be a special place in hell for those in the organized crime business. Poor Sam.

Most of the labels (and the movie studios) had some mob control, and so did the record distribution networks, and the radio stations. That's why it was pretty much impossible to be in the entertainment business without them and have some success. Sam was on RCA Records, he wasn't self supporting. He had a label SAR, but his records wasn't on it. Sam's music was successful, and he was one of the few acts of the time to self write. Most acts of the time had songs written for them by professional songwriters.

Some think the mob had something to do with John Kennedy's assassination and Marilyn Monroe's death. If they can kill the president, why would they spare a singer?

MickyDolenz said:

HotGritz said:

Why did the mafia, then or now, have to get involved with already existing and self-supporting artists? If you want to be part of the music game so badly then develop your own record label and produce and cultivate your own artist who will be beholden to you until the last record drops. Killing somebody because they refuse to be your whore is on so many levels of evil. There has to be a special place in hell for those in the organized crime business. Poor Sam.

Most of the labels (and the movie studios) had some mob control, and so did the record distribution networks, and the radio stations. That's why it was pretty much impossible to be in the entertainment business without them and have some success. Sam was on RCA Records, he wasn't self supporting. He had a label SAR, but his records wasn't on it. Sam's music was successful, and he was one of the few acts of the time to self write. Most acts of the time had songs written for them by professional songwriters.

Some think the mob had something to do with John Kennedy's assassination and Marilyn Monroe's death. If they can kill the president, why would they spare a singer?

Some people would label this statement as conspiracy theory, but that's their opinion

angel345 said:

MickyDolenz said:

Most of the labels (and the movie studios) had some mob control, and so did the record distribution networks, and the radio stations. That's why it was pretty much impossible to be in the entertainment business without them and have some success. Sam was on RCA Records, he wasn't self supporting. He had a label SAR, but his records wasn't on it. Sam's music was successful, and he was one of the few acts of the time to self write. Most acts of the time had songs written for them by professional songwriters.

Some think the mob had something to do with John Kennedy's assassination and Marilyn Monroe's death. If they can kill the president, why would they spare a singer?

Some people would label this statement as conspiracy theory, but that's their opinion

Whether it's a conspiracy theory or not is not the point. It's that the mob is not selective in who they kill or rough up. The mafia kill each other for any reason, like a Crip walking in a Bloods neighborhood.

MickyDolenz said:

angel345 said:

Some people would label this statement as conspiracy theory, but that's their opinion

Whether it's a conspiracy theory or not is not the point. It's that the mob is not selective in who they kill or rough up. The mafia kill each other for any reason, like a Crip walking in a Bloods neighborhood.

I know. I just thought I bring it up.

Graycap23 said:

Interesing:

Book Excerpt: The Man Who Saved Jimi Hendrix from the Mafia

In 'American Desperado,' drug trafficker Jon Roberts recounts Jimi Hendrix's mob kidnapping and water skiing mishap

Tweet

Comment 10

By Evan Wright

November 18, 2011 12:05 PM ET

America Desperado

Jon Roberts, the convicted cocaine trafficker who masterminded the Medellin Cartel's rise in the 1980s and the importation of as much as 15 billion dollars worth of cocaine for them, told a few stories that strained credulity when we first sat down for the interviews that would form the basis of our book, 'American Desperado' (Crown, published November 1st, 2011). Among them, he claimed that as a young New York Mafia soldier in the late 1960s – nearly a decade before he got into the "cocaine industry," as he refers to it – he rescued Jimi Hendrix from a kidnapping attempt. The tale seemed patently absurd until I began to look into the twisted history of the New York club scene in the late 1960s. Based on research and interviews I conducted, it turns out that not only does Roberts' story appear to be true, he solves a mystery that has intrigued Hendrix biographers for more than three decades.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/book-excerpt-the-man-who-saved-jimi-hendrix-from-the-mafia-20111118#ixzz1fJ4LjO4y

The story about Jimi being kidnapped has been around for a while. Apparently, Jimi told a few people about it and a lot of people belive that Mike Jeffery one of his managers was connected to the mob.

Check out the book about Tommy James and the Shondells and their experiences with Morris Levy and his mob run record label. Scary stuff.

laurarichardson said:

Graycap23 said:

Interesing:

Book Excerpt: The Man Who Saved Jimi Hendrix from the Mafia

In 'American Desperado,' drug trafficker Jon Roberts recounts Jimi Hendrix's mob kidnapping and water skiing mishap

Tweet

Comment 10

By Evan Wright

November 18, 2011 12:05 PM ET

America Desperado

Jon Roberts, the convicted cocaine trafficker who masterminded the Medellin Cartel's rise in the 1980s and the importation of as much as 15 billion dollars worth of cocaine for them, told a few stories that strained credulity when we first sat down for the interviews that would form the basis of our book, 'American Desperado' (Crown, published November 1st, 2011). Among them, he claimed that as a young New York Mafia soldier in the late 1960s – nearly a decade before he got into the "cocaine industry," as he refers to it – he rescued Jimi Hendrix from a kidnapping attempt. The tale seemed patently absurd until I began to look into the twisted history of the New York club scene in the late 1960s. Based on research and interviews I conducted, it turns out that not only does Roberts' story appear to be true, he solves a mystery that has intrigued Hendrix biographers for more than three decades.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/book-excerpt-the-man-who-saved-jimi-hendrix-from-the-mafia-20111118#ixzz1fJ4LjO4y

The story about Jimi being kidnapped has been around for a while. Apparently, Jimi told a few people about it and a lot of people belive that Mike Jeffery one of his managers was connected to the mob.

Check out the book about Tommy James and the Shondells and their experiences with Morris Levy and his mob run record label. Scary stuff.

Wasn't Levy the same guy who got sued over the Frankie Lymon's estate?

angel345 said:

MickyDolenz said:

Whether it's a conspiracy theory or not is not the point. It's that the mob is not selective in who they kill or rough up. The mafia kill each other for any reason, like a Crip walking in a Bloods neighborhood.

I know. I just thought I bring it up.

It's like a person being famous doesn't stop someone from doing something. Look at John Lennon or Jam Master Jay. If it doesn't stop anybody else, why should it stop the mob?

MickyDolenz said:

angel345 said:

I know. I just thought I bring it up.

It's like a person being famous doesn't stop someone from doing something. Look at John Lennon or Jam Master Jay. If it doesn't stop anybody else, why should it stop the mob?

Since you brought up Sam Cooke and his catalogue, I kinda wonder if there was something shady going on with MJ's death. I mean MJ was facing the same problems with his Beatle's catalogue.

angel345 said:

MickyDolenz said:

It's like a person being famous doesn't stop someone from doing something. Look at John Lennon or Jam Master Jay. If it doesn't stop anybody else, why should it stop the mob?

Since you brought up Sam Cooke and his catalogue, I kinda wonder if there was something shady going on with MJ's death. I mean MJ was facing the same problems with his Beatle's catalogue.

Don't do it girl! I can't take another MJ murder conspiracy. I mean he was murdered but....I can't take those corporate mob stories anymore.