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*ClassicPinUp* · 12-01-2007, 04:37 PM

I was reading through some random stuff about Desi and came across this; "Desi nearly got into a fistfight with Frank Sinatra over the depiction of Italians as mobsters on The Untouchables, a Desilu production."

I've grown up on Sinatra and know the man's life from beginning to end and have NEVER heard of this story. Anyone know if this has any truth to it?

Mikado · 12-01-2007, 06:51 PM

I dont know about Sinatra, but, there's deffinately evidence that at one time, the mob had a contract on Desi, over the Untouchables!

*ClassicPinUp* · 12-01-2007, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikado

I dont know about Sinatra, but, there's deffinately evidence that at one time, the mob had a contract on Desi, over the Untouchables!

Wow! I've never heard of that! Will have to read up on it... sounds more likely then the Sinatra story. Thanks.

Mikado · 12-01-2007, 07:39 PM

Apparently, they were upset over the way they were portrayed on the show!
(I suppose they LOVE the Supranos though

)

*ClassicPinUp* · 12-01-2007, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikado

Apparently, they were upset over the way they were portrayed on the show!
(I suppose they LOVE the Supranos though

)

I'm sure they tuned in every night! Hey, I'm half Italian and LOVED the show!

Mikado · 12-01-2007, 08:18 PM

Here's info on the possible Mob hit:

According to Mafia boss turned government informant Jimmy "The Weasel" Fratianno in his book "The Last Mafioso", several top members of the Chicago Mafia family were furious about the portrayal of Italians in general and the Mafia in particular in "The Untouchables" (1959), of which Arnaz was executive producer, and put out a contract on his life. Several mob hitmen hid in the bushes and behind trees outside his house one night after having been tipped off that he was on his way home and were going to shoot him when he pulled into his driveway, but for some unknown reason Arnaz never came home that night. The killers were supposed to come back again and wait for him the next night, but in the meantime cooler heads prevailed and the murder plot was called off. Arnaz apparently never found out how close he came to being murdered.

Kazza · 12-01-2007, 08:24 PM

...Arnaz went to High School with the son of Al Capone.

Ireneparalegal · 12-01-2007, 08:55 PM

SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: February 28, 1982
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.

But Mr. Fratianno's story was contradicted by a tape recording of an interview with a writer and by his own deposition in another lawsuit. In the deposition, Mr. Fratianno said he had never been at La Costa and did not know where it was.

Mr. Fratianno was on the stand for three days as a witness for Penthouse magazine in La Costa's $522 million libel suit against the magazine. The California resort and two of its founders contend they were damaged by a 1975 Penthouse article that said the resort had ties with organized crime.

Mr. Fratianno related the story of the ''contract'' to kill Mr. Arnaz in direct testimony Monday. He said that he met Sam (Momo) Giancana, then reputed to be the leader of organized crime in Chicago crime, and Frank (The Bomp) Bompemsiero, a West Coast gang figure, at the resort in the 1960's and discussed ''the planning of killing Desi Arnaz.'' He described himself as a Mafia ''soldier'' who took orders from Mr. Giancana. Admits Lying in Deposition

In cross-examination by La Costa's attorney, Louis Nizer, Mr. Fratianno conceded that he stated in a 1976 deposition that he had never been to La Costa. He said that he had lied ''maybe 150 times'' in that sworn statement and that ''90 percent'' of it ''are lies.''

The 1976 deposition was taken in Mr. Fratianno's own lawsuit against Penthouse, which never went to trial. In 1981 he became a $250-an-hour consultant for the magazine in the La Costa lawsuit. He said he had been paid $32,000 to date by Penthouse and was billing the magazine for his current testimony.

In pursuing Mr. Fratianno's contradictions, the court ordered Ovid Demaris, a writer, to produce his tape recordings of 1978 interviews with Mr. Fratianno for Mr. Demaris's book on Mr. Fratianno's career in crime, ''The Last Mafioso.'' The tape recordings were played in court Thursday for the jury.

On the tape, Mr. Demaris reproved Mr. Fratianno because ''you told me that you met Giancana'' in a room at La Costa ''and he wanted you to hit Desi Arnaz.'' In his book, Mr. Demaris pictured the gangsters as angry at Mr. Arnaz for producing ''The Untouchables,'' a television show that made the gangsters look ''like a bunch of Italian lunatics.'' Book Shows Discrepancy

In ''The Last Mafioso'' the scene of this conversation was laid at the DelMar Hotel, not La Costa, and the conversation was between Mr. Fratianno and another racketeer, Johnny Roselli, not Mr. Giancana.

After Mr. Demaris complained to Mr. Fratianno that the meeting could not have taken place at La Costa in 1963 because the resort had not yet been built, Mr. Fratianno conceded that he may have erred. ''If I did, I made a mistake,'' Mr. Fratianno said, adding that he had never discussed the subject with Mr. Giancana at La Costa. ''I met Johnny at DelMar,'' he said.

Mr. Fratianno, who acknowledged from the stand that he had killed five men, clashed repeatedly with Mr. Nizer and at one point set off a wave of courtroom laughter by complaining that the 80-year-old New York lawyer ''is getting away with murder.''

Outside the courtroom Roy Grutman, the attorney for Penthouse, asserted that Mr. Fratianno had sued Penthouse ''at the instruction of the mob'' and had lied repeatedly in his deposition in that case. But he said that Mr. Fratianno had later turned government witness against his gangster colleagues and obtained Federal protection under an agreement that could be rescinded if he falsified any testimony. In the last two years, Mr. Fratianno has testified in a series of trials involving mob figures.

Mr. Grutman attempted to qualify Mr. Fratianno as an expert witness on organized crime for further testimony in the La Costa case. After a hearing outside the presence of the jury, Judge Kenneth Gale of Superior Court in California ruled out that role for the witness.

*ClassicPinUp* · 12-01-2007, 09:38 PM

Thanks Mikado and Irene for the info! As I said I had never heard of anything like this before... what a scary thing! So glad Desi was never harmed.

Lodee · 12-02-2007, 12:48 PM

I don't think Desi was too concerned about it actually. I think I read that somewhere.

Ireneparalegal · 12-03-2007, 12:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndAwayWeGo

Thanks Mikado and Irene for the info! As I said I had never heard of anything like this before... what a scary thing! So glad Desi was never harmed.

No prob.

I had actually forgotten all abt that until you mentioned it.

I was shocked the first time I had heard that and still, it kinda bothers me because of the Arnaz children who may have lost a father.

NOVARick · 12-03-2007, 01:10 AM

Very interesting article, Irene. And also bizarre. Does anybody see the irony here? These guys were angry at Desi Arnaz because of "the way he portrayed Italian mobsters"? And exactly how did they want him to portray Italian mobsters? Is there a nice way to portray an Italian mobster? What exactly did they not like about this portrayal -- that it made Italian mobsters look like killers? So in order to get back at Desi for creating an image of Italian mobsters as killers, they decide to kill him?

SPLAIN · 12-03-2007, 10:05 AM

Sinatra warned Desi and Desi said he could have cared less, he said he was always available but they never got near him. Desi and Sinatra later made up and became friends again. Sinatra was always fighting with somebody it seems, but he also eventually made up with whoever he fought with. I agree that doing a show about the MOB without Italians would have been kind of hypocritical, LOL! Nowadays it would be impossibel, LOL!

*ClassicPinUp* · 12-03-2007, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SPLAIN

Sinatra warned Desi and Desi said he could have cared less, he said he was always available but they never got near him. Desi and Sinatra later made up and became friends again. Sinatra was always fighting with somebody it seems, but he also eventually made up with whoever he fought with. I agree that doing a show about the MOB without Italians would have been kind of hypocritical, LOL! Nowadays it would be impossibel, LOL!

Okay, thanks! That sounds more like my Sinatra lol!

SPLAIN · 12-03-2007, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndAwayWeGo

Okay, thanks! That sounds more like my Sinatra lol!

Sinatra fan are we? He's my all time favorite male singer, and Lucy and Desi both loved him. Lucy is seen with gary and others at one of his farewell or come back specials. She loved him for his talent, which has never been duplicated. Sinatra, like Judy Garland never could make a go of it in TV though, one time, when a series of his was cancelled, his exact words were i'm done with TV, Lucy can have it. LOL! You do know that Sinatra was quite puzzled when he suddenly appeared on I Love Lucy? He called MGM and asked how come, they said that Desi was short 2 and ahalf minutes for an I Love Lucy episode so he figured he should put on the very best 2 and a half minutes he could find, so he asked MGM for a clip of Guys and Dolls with Brando and Sinatra. I was upset that the show introduces the clip but no longer shows it as they'd have to pay for rights and so on. Oh, one last Sinatra connection, he and Hope were always fighting for guests for their BIG parties as both wanted to rule the roost, so Lucy always had a tough time deciding whose party she'd go to. Frank was always flying her in for his shows in Vegas, as he did with many other superstars.

12-01-2007, 04:37 PM	#1
ClassicPinUp ***** Senior Member** Join Date: Oct 28, 2006 Posts: 2,246	What do you think? I was reading through some random stuff about Desi and came across this; "Desi nearly got into a fistfight with Frank Sinatra over the depiction of Italians as mobsters on The Untouchables, a Desilu production." I've grown up on Sinatra and know the man's life from beginning to end and have NEVER heard of this story. Anyone know if this has any truth to it?
	__________________ Imy firefighter!

12-01-2007, 08:55 PM	#8
Ireneparalegal LEGAL SPICE ;) Forum Legend Join Date: Jul 25, 2005 Location: OXNARD, CA - WHERE THE DALLAS COWBOYS TRAIN & PRACTICE Posts: 38,691	SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES Published: February 28, 1982 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. But Mr. Fratianno's story was contradicted by a tape recording of an interview with a writer and by his own deposition in another lawsuit. In the deposition, Mr. Fratianno said he had never been at La Costa and did not know where it was. Mr. Fratianno was on the stand for three days as a witness for Penthouse magazine in La Costa's $522 million libel suit against the magazine. The California resort and two of its founders contend they were damaged by a 1975 Penthouse article that said the resort had ties with organized crime. Mr. Fratianno related the story of the ''contract'' to kill Mr. Arnaz in direct testimony Monday. He said that he met Sam (Momo) Giancana, then reputed to be the leader of organized crime in Chicago crime, and Frank (The Bomp) Bompemsiero, a West Coast gang figure, at the resort in the 1960's and discussed ''the planning of killing Desi Arnaz.'' He described himself as a Mafia ''soldier'' who took orders from Mr. Giancana. Admits Lying in Deposition In cross-examination by La Costa's attorney, Louis Nizer, Mr. Fratianno conceded that he stated in a 1976 deposition that he had never been to La Costa. He said that he had lied ''maybe 150 times'' in that sworn statement and that ''90 percent'' of it ''are lies.'' The 1976 deposition was taken in Mr. Fratianno's own lawsuit against Penthouse, which never went to trial. In 1981 he became a $250-an-hour consultant for the magazine in the La Costa lawsuit. He said he had been paid $32,000 to date by Penthouse and was billing the magazine for his current testimony. In pursuing Mr. Fratianno's contradictions, the court ordered Ovid Demaris, a writer, to produce his tape recordings of 1978 interviews with Mr. Fratianno for Mr. Demaris's book on Mr. Fratianno's career in crime, ''The Last Mafioso.'' The tape recordings were played in court Thursday for the jury. On the tape, Mr. Demaris reproved Mr. Fratianno because ''you told me that you met Giancana'' in a room at La Costa ''and he wanted you to hit Desi Arnaz.'' In his book, Mr. Demaris pictured the gangsters as angry at Mr. Arnaz for producing ''The Untouchables,'' a television show that made the gangsters look ''like a bunch of Italian lunatics.'' Book Shows Discrepancy In ''The Last Mafioso'' the scene of this conversation was laid at the DelMar Hotel, not La Costa, and the conversation was between Mr. Fratianno and another racketeer, Johnny Roselli, not Mr. Giancana. After Mr. Demaris complained to Mr. Fratianno that the meeting could not have taken place at La Costa in 1963 because the resort had not yet been built, Mr. Fratianno conceded that he may have erred. ''If I did, I made a mistake,'' Mr. Fratianno said, adding that he had never discussed the subject with Mr. Giancana at La Costa. ''I met Johnny at DelMar,'' he said. Mr. Fratianno, who acknowledged from the stand that he had killed five men, clashed repeatedly with Mr. Nizer and at one point set off a wave of courtroom laughter by complaining that the 80-year-old New York lawyer ''is getting away with murder.'' Outside the courtroom Roy Grutman, the attorney for Penthouse, asserted that Mr. Fratianno had sued Penthouse ''at the instruction of the mob'' and had lied repeatedly in his deposition in that case. But he said that Mr. Fratianno had later turned government witness against his gangster colleagues and obtained Federal protection under an agreement that could be rescinded if he falsified any testimony. In the last two years, Mr. Fratianno has testified in a series of trials involving mob figures. Mr. Grutman attempted to qualify Mr. Fratianno as an expert witness on organized crime for further testimony in the La Costa case. After a hearing outside the presence of the jury, Judge Kenneth Gale of Superior Court in California ruled out that role for the witness.
	__________________ DALLAS COWBOYS ARE HERE AT TRAINING CAMP!!!

12-01-2007, 06:51 PM	#2
Mikado Main st bridge Forum Superstar Join Date: Jul 06, 2005 Posts: 25,886	I dont know about Sinatra, but, there's deffinately evidence that at one time, the mob had a contract on Desi, over the Untouchables!

12-01-2007, 07:39 PM	#4
Mikado Main st bridge Forum Superstar Join Date: Jul 06, 2005 Posts: 25,886	Apparently, they were upset over the way they were portrayed on the show! (I suppose they LOVE the Supranos though )

12-01-2007, 08:18 PM	#6
Mikado Main st bridge Forum Superstar Join Date: Jul 06, 2005 Posts: 25,886	Here's info on the possible Mob hit: According to Mafia boss turned government informant Jimmy "The Weasel" Fratianno in his book "The Last Mafioso", several top members of the Chicago Mafia family were furious about the portrayal of Italians in general and the Mafia in particular in "The Untouchables" (1959), of which Arnaz was executive producer, and put out a contract on his life. Several mob hitmen hid in the bushes and behind trees outside his house one night after having been tipped off that he was on his way home and were going to shoot him when he pulled into his driveway, but for some unknown reason Arnaz never came home that night. The killers were supposed to come back again and wait for him the next night, but in the meantime cooler heads prevailed and the murder plot was called off. Arnaz apparently never found out how close he came to being murdered.

12-01-2007, 08:24 PM	#7
Kazza Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Oct 17, 2003 Posts: 3,244	...Arnaz went to High School with the son of Al Capone.

12-01-2007, 09:38 PM	#9
ClassicPinUp ***** Senior Member** Join Date: Oct 28, 2006 Posts: 2,246	Thanks Mikado and Irene for the info! As I said I had never heard of anything like this before... what a scary thing! So glad Desi was never harmed.

12-02-2007, 12:48 PM	#10
Lodee Member Senior Member Join Date: Jun 12, 2003 Posts: 1,562	I don't think Desi was too concerned about it actually. I think I read that somewhere.

12-03-2007, 01:10 AM	#12
NOVARick Member Forum Regular Join Date: Nov 19, 2005 Posts: 925	Very interesting article, Irene. And also bizarre. Does anybody see the irony here? These guys were angry at Desi Arnaz because of "the way he portrayed Italian mobsters"? And exactly how did they want him to portray Italian mobsters? Is there a nice way to portray an Italian mobster? What exactly did they not like about this portrayal -- that it made Italian mobsters look like killers? So in order to get back at Desi for creating an image of Italian mobsters as killers, they decide to kill him?

12-03-2007, 10:05 AM	#13
SPLAIN I Love Lucy Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: Mar 04, 2002 Location: MONTREAL, CANADA Posts: 4,563	Sinatra warned Desi and Desi said he could have cared less, he said he was always available but they never got near him. Desi and Sinatra later made up and became friends again. Sinatra was always fighting with somebody it seems, but he also eventually made up with whoever he fought with. I agree that doing a show about the MOB without Italians would have been kind of hypocritical, LOL! Nowadays it would be impossibel, LOL!