George Bush was recently asked about the photographs known to exist of him in the company of admitted felon and Bush "Pioneer"
(style/usage note: the phrase "admitted felon," when used adjectivally in the service of the name "Jack Abramoff," must always be followed by the phrase "...and Bush 'Pioneer'"). Bush's response screams "Sinatra!" as even an extraordinary rendition (oops...AWK-ward!) of "Summer Wind" could not.
Read on.
One photo of particular interest, according to the website
Common Dreams, was a picture
...taken in 2001 [that] shows Bush, Abramoff and Raul Garza Sr., who was then chairman of the Kickapoo Indian tribe, an Abramoff client, Time reported. Garza was indicted in 2004 for allegedly embezzling more than $300,000 from his tribe.
The NY Times describes it this way:
The president, speaking at a hastily called news conference, responded somewhat indirectly when asked if he was afraid to release the pictures of himself and the once-powerful Mr. Abramoff, who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy, fraud and tax evasion[.]
Specifically, this is what George W. Bush said:
"Having my picture taken with someone doesn't mean that, you know, I'm a friend with them or know them very well."
Now, something about this response niggled at me for a few days. Where had I heard a demurral this breathtakingly coy before (not including ones wafting from this Administration. Those examples are common as spit)? And then it came to me. I'm frankly not sure whether I read the story in Ovid Demaris's very entertaining biography of mob thug "Jimmy the Weasel" Fratiano called "The Last Mafioso" (certainly the photo in question there appears) or if it was told to me by a guy I once knew, a person of low-character but a scholar of all things Mafia.
Regardless, In 1980, Frank Sinatra appeared before the Nevada State Gaming Commission as part of the application process for a new gaming license. He also hoped to put to rest allegations that he had Mob connections, allegations that, in part, led to his previous license being pulled in 1963.
In the course of the hearing, the Gaming Commission provided Frank with a print of the picture seen below, taken at the Westchester Premiere Theater in 1976.
The Mafia capos, underbosses and soldiers seen here with Mr. Sinatra are (back row first):
- Paul "Big Paulie" Castellano
- Gregory DePalma
- Sinatra
- Tommy Marson
- Carlo "Boss of Bosses" Gambino
- Aladena "Jimmy the Weasel" Fratianno
- Salvatore Spatola
- Joseph Gambino
- Richard Fusco
The Chairman of the Board was asked how he reconciled his earlier emphatic assertion that he knew no mobsters--indeed that even the
term Cosa Nostra was unfamiliar to him--with this photo. Frank shrugged and this is what he said:
"Hey...I get my picture taken with lots of guys."
Of course, while technically true, both statements, in context, are laughably unbelievable. Both men were thugs surrounded by thugs. But at least Frank could sing.