The Sinatra Files (16 page)

Frank Sinatra was named as one of several artists who sponsored a Town Hall benefit concert arranged by the Greenwich Village
Chapter of the American Committee for Yugoslav Relief on January 1, 1946.

The American Committee for Yugoslav Relief has been cited as a subversive and Communist organization by the Attorney General.

Another governmental agency conducting intelligence investigations reported on September 13, 1946, that Frank Sinatra was one of the sponsors of the “American Crusade to End Lynchings” for which Paul Robeson was chairman. This organization supported a pilgrimage to Washington, D.C., on September 23, 1946. A parade was scheduled to be held on September 23, 1946, which was to be led by colored and white veterans who were to march to the Lincoln Memorial where a national religious ceremony would be held and persons who escaped lynching mobs were to be presented to the audience.

According to a news release, Frank Sinatra was scheduled to speak against racial intolerance as the guest of honor at the Free Italy Society’s annual ball and dinner to be held February 23, 1946, at the Kastritta Hall, 3220 North Broadway, Los Angeles, California. This news article identified said organization as an anti-Fascist group.

Sinatra was quoted as follows: “I will be happy to join with my fellow Italian-Americans in the cause of true democracy.”

It was announced that the theme of the affair would be to fight domestic Fascism as personified by Gerald L. K. Smith.

Westbrook Pegler reported in his column in November, 1947, that after Sinatra had appeared at a show held under the auspices of the ICCASP in New York City during May, 1946, his manager, George Evans, said that Sinatra had “put himself under the political guidance of two reporters who are experts on Communism, and agreed not to mess around with any outfit which they disapproved.”

* * *

Frank Sinatra was identified as one of the artists who participated in a concert held in the Hollywood Bowl on September 2, 1946, which had been arranged by the Hollywood Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions. The principal guest speaker at this affair was Senator Claude Pepper, who spoke on relations between the United States and Soviet Russia. This fund, raising meeting is estimated to have collected between forty and fifty thousand dollars.

In connection with Sinatra’s activities with the ICCASP, it has been reported that in 1943 he supported the Hague political machine in New Jersey and, in 1944, actively campaigned on behalf of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He is reported to have visited the White House in September, 1944, in company with Toots Shor, New York restaurateur, at which time he conferred with the President. Considerable adverse publicity is reported to have resulted from this visit and as a consequence, according to this particular report, Sinatra became incensed and donated $7,500 to the Democratic cause and became an active member of the Independent Voters Committee of the Arts and Sciences for Roosevelt which reportedly subsequently merged with the ICCASP.

CONTACTS WITH RUSSIAN CONSULATE OFFICIALS

On March 13, 1945, Francis Damon of the American Youth for a Free World, supra, contacted Captain Orest Shevtzov, representative in the United States for the Youth Anti-Fascist Committee in Moscow, who was then at the Russian Consulate in New York City, and informed her that all pictures would be taken the following day. The Captain was advised that she should be in her office at 11:15 A.M. in uniform and that the first picture would be taken with Newbold Morris, President of the City Council of New York, and the
second picture would be taken with Frank Sinatra at 2:30 P.M. on March 14, 1945.

On May 20, 1946, the Russian Consulate in Los Angeles was advised that Mr. and Mrs. Frank Sinatra and others who were named would not be able to attend the party at the Consulate that night.

    
Even Sinatra’s dentist turns up in the files as a subject in a spying investigation
.

    Frank Sinatra’s dentist, Dr. Abraham Benedict Weinstein, has been investigated by the Bureau in connection with the Gregory case investigation and is also the subject of a pending Security Matter—C case, New Haven Office of Origin. Elizabeth Terrill Bentley, informant in the Gregory case, named an individual known to her as “Charlie” as a contact of Jacob Golos…. Dr. Weinstein was not identified by Miss Bentley as the individual known to her as “Charlie” but many of the characteristics of “Charlie” as named by her closely parallel those of Dr. Weinstein….

Investigation by the New Haven Office reflects that Weinstein was born on September 18, 1900, at New York City, where he is a practicing dentist; further, that for many years he has associated with top functionaries in the Communist Party such as John Williamson, Gus Hall, Irving Potash and Carl Winter, as well as several individuals known to be Communist Party sympathizers such as Anna Louise Strong, Leon and Barney Josephson and others. He is known to have been in contact with Ralph Bowman, suspected Russian espionage agent, and has been in the company of individuals named as Russian espionage agents by Elizabeth Bentley….

It is known that Dr. Weinstein is quite friendly with Sinatra’s manager, George Evans. On one occasion, a Sam Bronstein, connected with the Motion Picture Industry, requested Dr. Weinstein to use his influence on George Evans to get Sinatra to make a picture and that if successful Dr. Weinstein would receive a fee of $25,000 for his services. Information was furnished reflecting that Evans and Dr. Weinstein met on several occasions to discuss this proposition.

    
The author of another lengthy FBI memo detailing Sinatra’s activity during this period either had a sense of humor about the matter or simply was careless in identifying Sinatra’s alleged political soul mates
.

    The 4/19/47 issue of the “New York Daily Mirror” carried an article by Jack Lait entitled “All in the Family.” The article pertained to Charlie Chaplin and Frank Sinatra, who had held press conferences that week during which Sinatra denied he sympathized with Lenin and the Marx brothers.

    
By 1950, with his career in decline, his marriage to Nancy Barbato on the rocks, and a tempestuous affair with Ava Gardner under way, Sinatra was anxious to counter suggestions in the press that he was a draft-dodging subversive. An intermediary contacted FBI agent Paul J. Mohr with an extraordinary offer. Mohr passed on the offer in a memo to Tolson
.

    
called at my office today after having endeavored to arrange an appointment to see the Director. I explained to
that the Director was extremely busy, that he was fully committed and would be unable to see him.
stated that he had been requested by Frank Sinatra to contact the Director with … a proposition that Sinatra had in mind.
said he was a friend of Sinatra, that he considered him to be a sincere individual and that he has known him for six years.
described Sinatra as a “Dago who came up the hard way” and said he is a conscientious fellow who is very desirous of doing something for his country.
stated that Sinatra feels he can do some good for his country under the direction of the FBI.