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Observations of An Ex-Cop in La La Land |
 ANDY MURCIA |
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GUILT ...by Association? |
 Why should Tony Bennett worry about posing for pictures with gangsters? Look who he's posing with here. Now that's trouble! |
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History tells us that certain entertainers have had a curious attraction to gangsters over the years. Usually, their “associations” come about when either the entertainer actually wants to meet the bad guys or they innocently meet in the course of their legit business.
For an example of the latter, take Milano’s Italian restaurant in Chicago. It’s gone now, but for years everyone pegged it as a mafia meeting place. I can tell you from my own observations that organized crime figures did meet there to eat. Yes, I'd better underline that: They met there to eat!
My now departed friend, Tony Milano, once told me, “I’m in the restaurant business. People come and eat, pay their check and leave. What am I to do if a hood walks in--tell him you can’t eat here? I’d be sued for violation of civil rights if I did that”. Police write down the hood’s name and license plate number and make me his 'associate.'”
Tony was right. He was listed as being an associate to just about every guy who ever ate his tasty lasagna. I once watched Bob Hope, Don Knotts and actress Sandy Dennis dining at Milano’s. Everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Ann Jillian ate at Milano’s. Does this mean they’re “associates” of gangsters, too? No way; they simply enjoy great food.
I also knew that Tony was fearful if he asked the gangsters not to eat at his place, that a special “meatball” would mysteriously go “boom boom” in his kitchen or car, as in, “Addio, Tony!”
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joint in Chicago was a favorite of gangsters... and regular folks |
Some of the more memorable associations of gangsters and entertainers were: Dorothy McGuire of the famed McGuire Sisters singing trio and mobster Sam "Mooney" Giancana. Sincere as McGuire and Giancana were about their “association,” it became a media circus. Sam’s dead, but Dorothy is still singing great. I had occasion some years ago to call her at home in Las Vegas to get permission to use a photo of her in Ann’s act. She couldn't have been nicer. I could readily understand why Sam or any man would dig this Doll.
Maybe your fathers told you about the Jewish gangster “Bugsy” Siegel and the plethora of showgirls he once knew, as well as his admitted friendship with actor George Raft. Raft specialized in playing the gangster roles so realistically that many critics thought he wasn’t acting at all. He once loaned “Bugsy” a hundred grand and when the founder of Las Vegas was shot to death at a babe’s house in L.A., the Raft loan died, too, as there was nothing signed between these two pals.
And who could ever forget Frank Sinatra consistently being accused of having “mob ties” to just about the entire who’s who of the “Goodfella’s,” the “Yidfella’s”and the “Irishfella’s” or, if you prefer, the Cosa-Nostra or the “Kosher-nostra.”
Sinatra once testified he didn’t know “nuttin about nuttin” and all he “knew was to sing.” So, it must have been a fluke that he and the entire “rat pack” wound up on the same stage performing at a small nightclub owned by the Chicago outfit. Yeah, right. And the photo that circulated afterwards with Sinatra's arms around “da boyz after da show” in his dressing room, must have been trick photography.
But, in defense of “da” good saloon singer, when my Ann Jillian headlined in Atlantic City, the casino executives brought people backstage for photos with her and we didn’t have a clue who most of them were.
The first time I ever had my picture taken with singer Tony Bennett, how would he have known if I was a cop or a grocery store creep? Later at dinner, Tony took several more photos with fans--and he didn’t know who they were either.
Okay, so you get the picture how “deze guys” know “dem singers and actors.” But I know one more singer/actress you didn’t know was “associated” with the mob: Ann Jillian! Ann’s photo could have been taken with any number of known gangsters and might be in the FBI files. Was Ann really having clandestine meetings and “associations” (there’s that word again), with criminals? I better explain fast.
Back about 1975, when Ann and I met and subsequently married, we lived in Chicago at Two East Oak Street. Our high-rise apartment building was in the Rush Street area, which is where the good, the bad and the ugly came to eat, drink, and act goofy.
Once Ann and I started doing life together, I’d go to work as a Chicago cop, and she would do her most favorite thing–SHOP! I’d get home from my tour of duty and she would show me her best buys. One evening Ann showed me a bag full of expensive shampoos, hair products and make up. She claimed she got every item for only a buck each! I couldn’t believe this terrific savings, so I asked her where the store was, she said she’d show me on our walk to dinner that night.
Later, Ann pointed out
a little shop above a nightclub on Rush Street, near Walton.
“Oh my God, you went in there?" I asked.
Ann replied proudly: “Yep, that’s where I saved us
a bundle.”
Little did she know that the store was a front for notorious
Chicago mob guys, “Big Joe” and “Little Caesar.”
(No last names, as I like starting my car without the sonic boom,
thank you!)
I asked Ann if one was
a short guy and other a real tall, large man? Disappointed, she
said, “Oh you shopped there before me!”
Ann explained that both men were very nice to her, but the taller
man kept asking her, “Where did you buy “dose”
jeans? They fit you real nice sweetheart.”
Ann rattled on, telling me more: “But, Andy, they didn’t know jack about shampoos or make-up!”
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the Chicago gangster thought Ann looked so great in. Now that you mention it.... |
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By this time I was bent over laughing so hard my cheeks hurt, and my eyes were watering! She was innocent and so cute. My gorgeous, but oh-so-square wife was oblivious to all this. Afterwards I asked her to PLEASE, don’t ever go back to that store, as it would not look good for a police sergeant's wife to be seen talking to “hoods,” even if it was only about what shampoo made your hair more manageable.
This was not the only time Ann “Dizzy Baby” Jillian Murcia, unknowingly “associated” with mobsters. Ann and I often went to a joint on our corner called “Burgerville.” Pat, the owner, was my friend and, on occasion, would spring for coffee. Pat’s “regulars” got to sit at the center round table. We thought of ourselves as, “The Donuts Of The Round Table,” and we’d discuss “current events,” “who acted most goofy last night” and my favorite--“when was the world going to discover my Ann?”
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used to dine at this Chicago spot a lot, even though hoods also chowed at nearby tables. |
The “Donuts” were a mixed bag, consisting of Pat, two retired guys, occasionally the mailman, the cop on the beat, and a nicely dressed, but very quiet Asian gent named, Ken Eto. Ken was better known to most coppers as “Joe the Jap.” The G-men currently have Ken in “protective custody” as they say when a tough guy takes up “singing.”
One morning as Ann and I were walking out of “Burgerville,” she commented on how polite the Asian fellow was. She thought he was almost shy. Ken would smile, and nearly bow with a nod of his head upon greeting Ann, who always issued her cheery, “Good morning everyone!” Ann was visibly shaken to learn that organized crime authorities have publicly stated he was involved in multiple murders for the outfit. When I told Ann this was the same Ken, she said, “OH NOOO!” And I said “OH YESSS”!
Taking Ann to Burgerville thereafter was a comical treat for me. I had to keep from laughing upon seeing how differently she acted towards Ken. Watching Ann select which stool to sit at was award-winning stuff. I noticed her eyes would glance towards Ken, and as he nodded hello to her, she would almost assume the half-bow position as she backed away, her eyes searching for a seat as far away as possible from him. I laughed so hard one morning I had to go change my shorts!
Let me jump ahead to the early 1980’s. Ann by now was well known and in demand, thanks to television and all the press she was getting, and we had moved to Los Angeles. We had to go to New York to promote her singing at Atlantic City’s Trump Plaza Hotel. When we got there, my uncle, “Poncho Da Nose” Murcia, invited us out to lunch. We were to meet him in the Little Italy section in lower Manhattan that afternoon. We had no idea my uncle would have with him a man he called “The Mayor of Little Italy.”
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with Uncle Poncho, who introduced them to a few shady associates. Sadly, that's the now extinct World Trade Center in the background. |
Uncle Poncho introduced us, but I noticed surnames were not used. The "mayor" was a handsome guy, nicely dressed, very engaging. He acted as if we'd been friends for years. He knew the area well and everyone seemed to know him, except for Ann and me. He placed Ann’s arm on his, very cavalier-like, and proudly walked her around, giving us the tour.
He pointed out the tourist
stuff like Umberto’s restaurant where “Crazy”
Joe Gallo died while eating a big helping of something that wasn’t
on the menu–lead. “Mayor” said, “Yeah, Gallo
got it sitting right over there, Ann. He was eating some nice
spinach, some garlic, lemon and a little olive oil on it. It’s
good for you. You eat spinach right, Ann?"
I could see Ann was thinking, “A lot of good it did Crazy
Joe.” I smiled.
Here she was walking arm and arm with this guy, while Uncle Poncho and I walked slightly to their side and rear. I had my arm on Poncho’s shoulder. I hadn’t seen him since we were inseparable back when Ann was in the Broadway hit “Sugar Babies.” The “Mayor” walked us to his “social club” as he called it. It was a storefront on Mulberry Street. When we arrived, he introduced Ann to other club members. One fellow told us how much his wife “loved Ann Jillian." The “Mayor” told this guy and the others that, “Ann would be singing at Trump Plaza this coming week, so you go see her, okay.”
Well, we had a terrific lunch at Taormina’s, and the manager sent over a nice dessert on he house. He was a retired NYPD cop.
Later, Ann opened at the Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, and her dressing room was filled with more flowers than Gallo’s wake. Two cards had inscriptions like, “Hey, Ann, we know you gonna kill em tonight, Kid--or we will. Haha. Love, Mayor John.” Another read; “Dear Ann, My wife and I coming Thursday night. Break ya leg, Doll,” signed, “you know me, Sammy.” There were three dozen roses with each card.
Ann had a sold out run, but one night some months later, while back home in Los Angeles, we were watching the TV show, “60 Minutes.” They did a segment on John Gotti and his “fellas” at their “social club” on Mulberry Street. Ann and I looked at each other, then back to the TV. A guy who put his hand up to block the camera was one of the guys the "Mayor" introduced us to that afternoon. He was blocking the camera that was shooting Gotti, until Gotti got inside the clubhouse door. He was telling the "60 Minutes" guy, “Why don’t you leave him (Gotti) alone? He’s a family man. Go on, get outta here!”
Ann and I looked at each other again and, simultaneously, said, “Holy cow, that’s, what’s his name?” Were the flowers she got from “John” actually from this John Gotti guy? And were the flowers she received from “Sammy” really from Sammy “The Bull” Gravano? As Sinatra said, “I don’t know 'nuttin from nuttin.' All we know is Ann can sing.
I know we met a lot of guys at the “Mayor’s social club” on his walking tour of Little Italy that day. I called Uncle Poncho and asked him did he watch "60 Minutes" and was the guy he introduced us to John Gotti? Poncho said he didn’t know “nuttin from nuttin.”
Poncho was a retired NYPD homicide detective, first grade. He was one of their most decorated, and solved the tough murders, the ones nobody cared about. He once told me he was only as good as his information. He said, “You don’t go to a preacher to find out who’s killing who.” So, I let it go at that. Poncho died some years later, and took his “info” with him and never told Ann or me anything more about our visit to Little Italy.
I’m positive Ann’s musical talents and her sold out houses kept her headlining at Trump’s for over 12 years and had nothing to do with anything “John” or “Sammy” types said or did. I know her audiences were filled with good people, and if a wise guy or two came in, like Milano said, “as long as he paid his tab,” what could we do about it?
While all this is very
funny to me, can you imagine if anyone snapped a photo of Ann
in any of these “gangster situations,” how it would
have looked to the public? Based on my police experience, “guilt
by association” at times can really be flawed information,
and, by itself, should not be considered real evidence.
My “street sense” is as good or better than the next
guy, so, sure, I know the "association" syndrome has
been right on target on many occasions. But there also have been
times where it was totally incorrect. If you are ever in doubt,
just remember how square Ann Jillian’s impeccable reputation
could’ve been ruined by incorrect reporting about her so-called
"associations."
© 2002 by Andy Murcia. The photos are from the Murcia family
collection. All rights reserved.
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