Jeffrey Sussman - Tinseltown Gangsters; The Rise and Decline of the Mob in Hollywood

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Backbeat Gangsters: The Rise and Decline of the Mob in Rock Music

Backbeat Gangsters: The Rise and Decline of the Mob in Rock Music is the latest Rise and Decline Mob books by popular author Jeffrey Sussman. The book is a shocking expose of the early days of rock and roll when the mob used every tactic they could, from creating their own record labels, bribing radio DJs and stacking jukeboxes with their own artists, to exploiting and intimidating performers, and creating their own black market of bootlegged records, to make millions.

Nicholas Pileggi, author of Casino and co-author of Goodfellas, wrote, "Jeffrey Sussman exposes how the mob controlled much of the music business and shaped much of American culture. It will fascinate anyone interested in organized crime, rock & roll, and American history."

It began in the 1950s, when rock and roll music burst upon the scene. The major established record companies thought that the new music was a passing teenage trend, but mobsters were there and pounced on the new business opportunity. They opened small independent record companies, signed ambitious young singers and musicians, and produced truckloads of 45 rpm records. To make sure that their records would be successful, the mob bribed disc jockeys in major cities to play the records and made sure jukeboxes, which were already mob-controlled, were filled to capacity with the new music. Whatever it took to gain airtime and repeated plays of their songs, the mob made sure it happened.

Backbeat Gangsters includes the stories of the most sinister people who took control of the record business during the early days of rock and roll, as well as those of the numerous, young performers who were exploited and received threats and beatings instead of the compensation they were promised. The Mafia used intimidation and violence to achieve their ends and made millions from denying royalties, maintaining copyrights and trademarks, bribing DJs, and numerous scams like flooding the market with counterfeit records which didn't have the burden of paying royalties. In yet another well-researched and thorough account, Jeffrey Sussman, details how the mob was able to infiltrate and control another aspect of American culture with devastating results.

Tinseltown Gangsters; The Rise and Decline of the Mob in Hollywood

Tinseltown Gangsters is an exciting, in-depth account of how mobsters controlled movie studios, movie stars, directors, and producers during the 20th century. Its narrative is as engaging as a gripping gangster movie.

Sin City Gangsters:The Rise and Decline of the Mob in Las Vegas

Sin City Gangster provides an exciting, eye-opening account of how the mob created and controlled Las Vegas. In addition, it contains fascinating accounts of celebrities, such as Frank Sinatra and others, who were controlled by the Vegas mobs and were paid with favors.

Big Apple Gangsters: The Rise and Decline of the Mob in New York

Big Apple Gangsters is a a true crime thriller, an engaging page-turner for anyone interested in the history of the mob in New York

Tinseltown Gangsters; The Rise and Decline of the Mob in Hollywood

Tinseltown Gangsters: The Rise and Decline of the Mob in Hollywood by Jeffrey Sussman is fast-paced, gripping story about how the mob controlled movie studios, stars, directors, and producers. Author Sussman names name and exposes those who attempted to keep their private lives private. Among those under the microscope are Joseph Kennedy, Sr; Joan Crawford; Bugsy Siegel; Mickey Cohen; Lana Turner; Frank Sinatra; Harry Cohn, president of Columbia Pictures; Jean Harlow and her gangster lover, Longy Zwillman; producer Robert Evans; Sidney Korshak, called the most powerful lawyer in America by the FBI; audacious Linda Lovelace, and much more. Sussman’s research and revelations will fascinate those who are enthralled by the world of gangsters and movies.
Sussman explains how mobsters extorted studio bosses by taking control of the unions whose members were essential to the quotidian workings of making movies. The mobsters controlled unions of projectionists, art directors, cinematographers, electricians, scene designers, stagehands, extras. Control the unions, and you control the whole industry. The mobsters were like sharks tearing away enormous chunks of cash. They extorted producers, blackmailed stars, forced studios to hire those actors who were either connected to mobsters or indebted to them.
In addition to Tinseltown Gangsters, Jeffrey Sussman is the author of Sin City Gangsters: The Rise and Decline of the Mob in Las Vegas; Big Apple Gangsters: The Rise and Decline of the Mob in New York; and Boxing and the Mob: The Notorious History of the Sweet Science.
Pre-publication comments about Tinseltown Gangsters:
“Sussman turns his attention to the mob in Hollywood during the 20th century. He begins with Joseph Kennedy, the patriarch of the Kennedy family, who reportedly used the connections he established with the mafia during Prohibition in Chicago to borrow money to purchase the low-budget film company FBO Pictures in 1920 and turn a quick profit. Sussman’s meticulous research indicates that mobsters soon realized there were more opportunities for illegal wealth in Hollywood. For instance, notorious gangster Bugsy Siegel hobnobbed with A-list celebrities and got loans from them that he never repaid. He also took control of the Screen Extras Guild and refused to provide extras to the studios until they paid up. Meanwhile, former boxer Mickey Cohen financed the publication Hollywood Nite Life to allegedly extort celebrities in return for not publishing incriminating articles about them. A great addition to collections about the history of film or organized crime, chronicling famous and lesser-known mobsters who made a killing, literally and figuratively, in Hollywood. Sussman’s diligent research and juicy storytelling will appeal to fans of his other works.” - Library Journal

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Tinseltown Gangsters: The Rise and Decline of the Mog in Hollywood:

Like sharks to blood in the water, the mob arrived in Hollywood greedy and ready to tear away huge chunks of cash. Opportunistic mobsters saw labor unions as the means for muscling into the movie industry and extorting millions of dollars from studio bosses. Control the unions to which projectionists, art directors, cinematographers, electricians, scene designers, stagehands, extras belong, and you control the whole industry.

Painting colorful portraits of numerous mobsters, producers, actors, and directors, Tinseltown Gangsters tells the gripping, fast-paced, true story of corruption and greed in Hollywood throughout much of the twentieth century