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So, why was Ol’ Blue Eyes doing a radio commercial for a Skokie, Illinois car dealership?
Why do you think? Three little letters. M.O.B.
Some claim that Sinatra did the gig for Sam Giancana, boss of bosses in Chicago from the late `50s to the mid-60s, a friend — if friend is the right word — of Sinatra’s since 1958, and the person who Sinatra acted as the front man for in Giancana’s buy into a piece of the action of the Cal/Neva Casino in Lake Tahoe.
However, it’s more likely that the favor was asked by one of the Fischetti brothers. Charlie Fischetti was the Mob’s political fixer in Chicago, and a friend of Sinatra’s since the early `40s. Sinatra, nice guy that he was, used to go along with Charlie when he visited his mother in Brooklyn. Charlie died in 1951, but Sinatra and Joe Fischetti were also close friends. He took a trip to Cuba with the brothers in 1946, the so-called “Havana Summit” held by Lucky Luciano, a trip that would haunt Sinatra for the rest of his career.
Frank did a lot of favors for the Fischetti brothers. He once rode along on a plane ride from Palm Springs to Vegas so the Fischettis could impress a star-struck automobile tycoon from…
