Additional interviewees included Barrett LaRoda; Robert Uguccioni, executive director of the Pocono Mountains Vacation Bureau; Seth Marsh (Sy’s son); George Choulos (Bill’s son); Ralph Wunder; and author Martin Yant.
Albert “Sonny” Murray was, of course, instrumental. I met Sonny in 1996, when I was covering the death of a ten-year-old girl, which he had been hired by the local county to investigate. He later told me about his representation of the Sammy Davis Jr. estate and the IRS settlement, which I reported in 1997. Over the years we would meet for an occasional breakfast in Stroudsburg. In August 2006, after years of prodding, Sonny finally agreed to talk to me about the Hillside and his Sammy experience.
In addition to the aforementioned interviews, I also pored through thousands of pages of court documents, along with articles, books, and other research material. I finished the manuscript in January 2008.
Court Documents
Sammy Davis Jr. and Altovise Davis, et al., v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, United States Tax Court, 1989
Last Will and Testament of Sammy Davis Jr., 1990
Fierstein & Sturman Law Corporation v. Shirley Rhodes and John Climaco as executors of the estate of Sammy Davis Jr., Deceased, Court of Appeal State of California, Second Appellate District Division
United States of America v. John Peter Cerone, Milton John Rockman, Joseph John Aiuppa, Angelo LaPietra, Joseph Lombardo, United States Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit, 10/8/87
Offer in Compromise, Internal Revenue Service, The Estate of Sammy Davis Jr. 4/97
Estate of Sammy Davis Jr., First and Final Account and Report of Executor and Petitions for Settlement of Account, 8/92
Reports
E. F. Hutton Mail and Wire Fraud Case, Hearings before the Subcommittee on Crime of the Committee on the Judiciary House of Representatives, June 19, July 19, August 1, 1985, Part 1; October 3, 31, December 6 and 11, 1985, Part 2
White Collar Crime (E. F. Hutton), Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Crime of the Committee on the Judiciary House of Representatives, April 17 and May 8, 1986
President’s Commission on Organized Crime, Report to the President and the Attorney General, 1985
The Edge: Organized Crime, Business, and Labor Unions, 1986
Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Testimony by Clark B. Hall, FBI (retired), 7/24/96
Articles
“Whirlaway,” Time, 8/18/71
“President of a Financially Troubled Theater in Westchester Resigns,” New York Times, 11/13/77
“Stars May Testify in Mob-Theater Trial,” Washington Post, 10/17/78
“Defense Summing Up at Theater Trial,” New York Times, 1/5/79
“Conviction Upheld in Theater Swindle,” New York Times, 4/13/80
“Grand Jury Investigating Singer’s Ties to Skimming Scheme,” Associated Press, 7/15/80
“The Invisible Enterprise,” Forbes, 10/13/80
“U.S. Jury Continuing Inquiry on Sinatra,” New York Times, 1/11/81
“New Teamster Leader Grilled by Senate Committee,” Associated Press, 6/7/83
“Teamsters Chief Says He’s Probing ‘Hanky-Panky’ in Locals,” Associated Press, 6/7/83
“Shaking the Mob’s Grip,” Time, 10/24/83
“Prosecutors Recommend Prosecuting Presser, Report Says,” Chicago Tribune, 6/21/84
“Stinging the Sex Rings,” Time, 9/10/84
“Jailed Underboss Says Mob Haggled Over Teamster Boss,” Chicago Tribune, 9/29/85
“Officials Say U.S. Plans Indictment of Teamster Chief,” New York Times, 5/10/86
“Teamsters Boss, FBI Agent, Two Others Indicted,” Associated Press, 5/17/86
“Mob Figures Chose Teamsters’ Chief, Government Says,” New York Times, 11/25/86
“U.S. Confirms Presser Was Informant for FBI,” Associated Press, 12/3/86
“Document Says Presser Helped FBI Since ’70s,” United Press International, 11/26/87
“Pension-Fund Leader Who Stemmed Corruption in Biggest Fight,” Chicago Tribune, 2/28/88
“Feds: Mob and Teamsters ‘An American Scandal,’” Associated Press, 6/28/88
“Teamster Leaders Deny Mafia Controls Union,” Associated Press, 6/28/88
“U.S. Sues Teamsters, Citing Mob Influence,” Newsday, 6/29/88
“Prosecutors Seek to Take Teamsters ‘Back from the Mafia,’” Associated Press, 6/29/88
“Teamsters President Jackie Presser Dead After Cancer Battle,” Associated Press, 7/10/88
“Presser Remembered as Corrupt by Some, Great by Others,” Associated Press, 7/11/88
“Sammy Davis Jr. Name to Headline Grocery Shelves Next Month,” PR Newswire, 3/21/89
“6 Men Are Convicted in a Loan Scheme at a Bank in Queens,” New York Times, 4/5/90
“Friends Mourn Sammy Davis Jr., Eulogized as ‘The Only of a Kind,’” New York Times, 5/18/90
Tribute, Time, 5/28/90
“Sammy Davis Jr., Tribute,” Rolling Stone, 6/28/90
“Ex–S&L Chief Gets Jail for Fraud,” New York Newsday, 8/16/90
“Without Her Sweet Candy Man, Altovise Davis Bears a Widow’s Burden—a Ruinous Tax Bill,” People, 10/1/90
“Taxes; Shelters Need Check for Leaks,” Commercial Appeal (Memphis), 10/8/90
“Sammy for Sale,” Los Angeles Times, 9/18/91
“Sammy Davis Auction a Sad Affair to Some,” Los Angeles Times, 9/23/91
“Sammy’s Troubled Legacy,” People, 10/7/91
“Sammy Davis’ Mementos Raises $439,000 at Auction,” Jet, 10/7/91
“Altovise Davis Struggles to Cope with Debt Left by Sammy Davis Jr.,” Jet, 10/18/91
“Locker Full of Sammy Davis Items Discovered,” Los Angeles Times, 12/14/91
“IRS Seizes Davis Items Hidden in Rental Storage Unit in Burbank, Calif.,” Jet, 12/23/91
“Sammy Davis Jr.’s Secret FBI Fan Club,” Washington Post, 4/26/92
“Verdict Is 2nd-Degree Murder in Death of Jilly Rizzo; Drunken Driver Faces 15-to-Life,” Press-Enterprise, 7/24/93
“Counsel with Clout; John Climaco Succeeds on Grit, Connections,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, 8/22/93
“AKA Frank Sinatra,” Washington Post, 3/7/99
Transcript, Larry King Live interview with Altovise Davis, CNN, 5/27/02
“Presidential Campaign Comes to Northeast Ohio; Obama Draws
Crowd, Raises Money,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, 2/27/07
Books
Yes I Can: The Story of Sammy Davis Jr., by Sammy Davis Jr., Burt and Jane Boyar, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1965
Hollywood in a Suitcase, by Sammy Davis Jr., New York: William Morrow & Company, 1980
Why Me?: The Sammy Davis Jr. Story, by Sammy Davis Jr., Burt and Jane Boyar, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1989
Mobbed Up: Jackie Presser’s High Wire Life in the Teamsters, The Mafia, and the FBI, by James Neff, 1989
Rotten to the Core 2: More Crime, Sex and Corruption in Johnny Appleseed’s Hometown, by Martin Yant, Columbus, OH: Public Eye Publications, 1994
Sammy Davis Jr., My Father, by Tracey Davis with Dolores A. Barclay, Los Angeles: General Publishing Group, 1996
The Sammy Davis Jr. Reader: The Life and Times of the Last Great American Hipster—From Vaudeville to Vegas—as Seen Through the Eyes of His Public, edited with an introduction by Gerald Early, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001
Gonna Do Great Things: The Life of Sammy Davis Jr., by Gary Fishgall, New York: Scribner, 2003
SEARCHABLE TERMS
Note: Entries in this index, carried over verbatim from the print edition of this title, are unlikely to correspond to the pagination of any given e-book reader. However, entries in this index, and other terms, may be easily located by using the search feature of your e-book reader.
AGD Enterprises, 160
Ailey, Alvin, 23
Akerman, Nathaniel, 181
Akoury, Anthony, 130
Alabama National Guard, 153
Alcoholics Anonymous, 53, 112, 127, 159
Alexander, Timothy “Tiny,” 68, 70, 72, 94
Ali, Muhammad, 217
Alina Lodge:
accommodations in, 52–53
Altovise discharged from, 112–13, 118, 127, 141–42
Altovise as resident/patient in, 53, 68, 70, 105, 137–38, 140, 141
and Altovise’s relapse, 131, 134
Alka-Seltzer, 216
Allen, Steve, 72, 217–18
Allen, Tina, 157
Allen, Woody, 12
All in the Family (TV), 40, 157
Altschul, David, 163, 164, 174
Ambassador Hotel, 86
Ameche, Don, 244
Applebee’s restaurants, 249
Archerd, Army, 158, 232
Army, U.S.:
and civil rights violence, 153
entertainment unit of, 34–35
Sammy drafted into, 34
Asner, Ed, 72
Atlantic City, casino gambling in, 12
Bacharach, Burt, 99
Bailey, Pearl, 45
Baker, Bertram, 6
Baker, Josephine, 99
Ball, Lucille, 122, 170, 244
Basin St. Barbeque Sauce, 226
Beach Boys, 83, 239
Beatles, 83
Beck, 239
Bekins Moving & Storage, 195, 196–200, 252
Belafonte, Harry, 151, 152, 153, 154
Belli, Melvin, 135
Bennett, Murphy:
and Altovise, 124
death of, 254
and Sammy’s estate, 66, 84, 168, 208
as Sammy’s road manager, 31, 76, 97
and Sammy’s signature, 84, 108
Bennett, Tony, 11, 154, 196, 239
Benny, Jack, 37, 122, 170
Berle, Milton, 37
Bernstein, Leonard, 154
Betty Ford Clinic, 53, 211
Beverly Hills Police Department, 61
Biden, Joseph, 19
Billionaire Boys’ Club, 226
“Birth of the Blues, The,” 187
Bishop, Joey, 45, 72, 176, 183, 196
Blake, Robert, 125
Bogart, Humphrey, 36, 40, 156, 186
Bongiovanni, Joseph, 69
Bongiovanni, Peggi, 69–70
Boomtown (fund-raiser), 123
Borenstein, Joe, 215
Borgnine, Ernest, 196
Bostwick, Barry, 227
Boyar, Burt, 25, 80, 163, 164, 169–73, 192, 204–7, 211, 250–53
Boyar, Jane, 25, 73, 169–70, 172–73, 205, 211
Bradley, Tom, 123
Brando, Marlon, 129, 244
Bricusse, Leslie, 204, 233
Britt, May, 58, 210
children of Sammy and, 25, 26, 106, 132–33, 175, 198, 253
divorce from Sammy, 42, 74, 120, 129–30, 133
marriage to Sammy, 15, 25, 39, 120, 129, 178, 198, 208
remarriage of, 253
Brooks, Mel, 12
Brooks, Stanley, 156
Brown, Bob, 119
Brown, Jolly, 58
Bruce, Lenny, 135
Burnett, Carol, 12
Burns, George, 37, 157
Burton, Richard, 228, 229
Bush, Barbara, 100
Bush, George H. W., 100
Bush, George W., 254
Butterfield & Butterfield, 62, 72, 95, 105, 111, 128, 161, 166
Buttons, Red, 196
Caesar, Sid, 12
Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, 221, 222–23
Cagney, James, 36, 157, 244
California Franchise Tax Board, 59, 63, 105, 159, 249–50
Callas, Charlie, 227
“Candy Man, The,” 15, 41, 146, 157–58, 185, 189, 190, 201, 217
Cannel City Associates, 54–55, 56, 93, 167
Cannonball Run (film), 59
Capital Theater, New York, 36, 37
Carroll, Diahann, 45, 244–45
Carson, Johanna, 118
Carson, Johnny, 183
Carter, Al:
and Altovise, 14–15, 30, 68–71, 82, 91, 92, 96, 149, 211
and IRS, 71, 73
as lounge singer, 71, 149
and Manny, 70
and Sammy’s possessions, 71–72, 73–74, 83, 85, 94–95, 148
threats from, 70, 73
and tributes to Sammy, 72–73
Carter, Patrice, 71, 149
Castellano, Paul, 181
Castro, Fidel, 254
CBS television, 81
Saturday Morning Show, 194
Central States Pension Fund, 221–22
Chamberlain, Wilt, 143
Chambers, Marilyn, 79
Charles, Ray, 217, 244
Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History, Detroit, 234
Chasen’s Restaurant, Los Angeles, 212
Cheadle, Don, 183
Chemical Bank, 18
Cher, 227
Chez Paree, Chicago, 44
Choulos, Bill (Vasilios), 28, 60, 61, 92, 134–36, 148, 254
CIA, 135, 136
Ciro’s, Los Angeles, 37
Clapton, Eric, 188
Clark, Dick, 217
Clarke, Peter, 101–2
Clear Brook Manor, Wilkes-Barre, 131, 134
Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association, 221
Climaco, John:
declining to cooperate, 30, 47, 54
fees paid to, 58–59, 64, 65, 66, 168
mob connections of, 94, 221, 224–25
and Sammy’s estate, 27–28, 56, 57, 66, 87–89, 93–94, 145, 149, 161, 167–68, 186, 217, 255
and Sammy’s failed investments, 80, 221, 225–26
and Sammy’s possessions, 95
and tax shelters, 55, 56, 88–89, 93
and Transamerican, 87–88, 90, 93, 166–68
Climaco, Seminatore, Lefkowitz & Kaplan, 56
Clinton, Bill, 196
Coca, Imogene, 12
Coca-Cola, 202
Cohen, Harry, 38
Cohen, Nancene, 167
Cole, Nat “King,” 36
Collins, Joan, 122
Colombo, Joe Jr., 218
Coltrane, John, 83
Columbia Pictures, 38
Command Video, 219–20
Como, Perry, 244
Connor, Bull, 153
Conreras Castro, Carlos Antonio, 136
Cooper, Gary, 66
Copacabana, New York, 33, 36
Cosby, Bill, 14, 30, 42, 99, 105, 156, 163, 240
Cosell, Howard, 217
Cowan family, 80
Coward, Noël, 120
Crawford, Michael, 176
Cronkite, Walter, 244
Crystal, Billy, 169
Curb, Mike, 41, 146–47, 201
Curb Records, 146, 201
Curtis, Tony, 44, 45, 48, 122, 125, 196
Curtis Management Group, 156
Damone, Vic, 244–45
Dandridge, Dorothy, 45
Daniel Boone Chicken, 220, 221
Davis, Altovise:
abortions of, 123–24
and alcohol, 14–15, 29, 31, 47, 51, 52–53, 81, 82, 92, 105, 118, 124, 128, 131, 133, 136, 159, 172, 203, 211, 235, 249
debts of, 15, 23, 48, 59, 93, 202
and Douglas, 13–15
and Francis, 235–36, 239–40, 242, 249, 250, 252
health problems of, 52–53, 87, 89, 127, 159
homes of, 48–49, 60, 61–63, 66, 86, 90, 92, 93, 95–96, 105, 122–23
and interviews, 147–50
and IRS, 14, 15, 24, 25–26, 27, 30, 31, 47–48, 50, 59, 70, 71, 72, 73, 86–96, 104–5, 110, 113, 115, 127–28, 133, 134, 136–37, 145, 148, 154–55, 158–59, 164, 166, 188, 250, 253
jobs of, 112, 115, 118, 131, 159, 232
and LaRoda, 241–42, 249–50, 251–53
loans from Sammy’s friends to, 23, 71, 105, 127, 13
4
marriage to Sammy, 23, 40, 86, 122–26, 170
as Mrs. Sammy Davis Jr., 16, 42, 49, 86, 93, 97, 118–19, 124, 203, 226
noncooperation of, 60–63, 65, 93, 203, 233, 236, 240
outpatient care of, 112–15, 118, 127
paranoia of, 137–38
and Sammy’s children, 25–27, 106, 107, 109, 175, 202, 235, 253
and Sammy’s death, 2, 14, 27, 30, 48, 86, 126
and Sammy’s debts, 54, 60–63
and Sammy’s estate, 22, 29, 31, 48, 60, 81, 85–90, 117, 154–55, 161, 169, 197, 205, 232–33, 252
and Sammy’s insurance policies, 31, 60, 74, 90–91, 96, 148
and Sammy’s lovers, 81–82, 211
and Sammy’s possessions, 2, 61, 63, 70, 71–72, 73, 82, 83, 92–96, 109, 130–31, 148, 200
and Sinatra, 96, 194
Sonny’s introduction to, 20–21, 22–24, 159
and Spirit Award dinner, 114–15
treatment for, 22, 23, 31, 52–53, 68, 90, 104–5, 134, 140, 211
and tributes to Sammy, 72–73, 92, 234–36
Davis, Bette, 244
Davis, Jeff, 25, 106–7, 129, 253
and Altovise, 109, 175
and Sammy’s estate, 31, 74, 167
and Sammy’s legacy, 175, 235, 239
Davis, Manny, 25, 66, 109, 124–25, 253
Davis, Mark, 25, 106–9, 129, 145, 253
and Altovise, 109, 175, 235
and Piaget’s loan, 106
and Sammy’s estate, 31, 74, 167
and Sammy’s legacy, 107, 175, 202, 252
and Sammy’s possessions, 107, 199–200
and tributes to Sammy, 235, 239
Davis, Ramona, 32, 66
Davis, Rosa B. “Mama,” 32
Davis, Sammy Jr.: