Did Frank Sinatra hire the mafia to stop his porn movie from going public?
Frank Sinatra was a well-connected guy as one of the most famous entertainers of his, or any other, generation. The crooner had associates in all walks of life, and he’d occasionally enlist them to do his dirty work. Allegedly, of course.
He was an Academy Award-winning actor, an A-list movie star, the figurehead of the ‘Rat Pack’, and one of the best-selling recording artists of all time. He had deep ties to Las Vegas and called John F Kennedy a friend, so it’s stating the obvious to say ‘Ol’ Blue Eyes’ was capable of calling in the odd favour every now and again.
According to those involved in the incidents, Sinatra didn’t always use his connections for good. It’s been said that he considered having Marlon Brando killed by the mob, and at least had him kidnapped, while he dispatched his goons to break Jackie Mason’s jaw after the comedian kept making fun of him onstage.
However, did Sinatra weaponise the mafia to prevent the release of a porn movie he made when he was broke, penniless, and a million miles away from becoming a household name? It depends on who you ask, because opinion varies on whether or not the ‘Chairman of the Board’ was bumping uglies on camera before conquering the recording booth and the silver screen.
Peter Lawford was adamant that Sinatra had indulged in some onscreen fornication to make ends meet during his younger days, which should be taken with at least a pinch of salt, if not a handful, when the two former ‘Rat Pack’ comrades fell out over, fittingly, his alleged mob ties and relationship with the Kennedys.
Lawford told biographer Darwin Porter that Sinatra had earned $100 for making a low-rent smut flick called The Masked Bandit at age 19 and that Sammy Davis Jr. had ended up with a copy. He also claimed that Davis had played the film at a party the three of them were attending to embarrass Sinatra, even though his mask obscured his identity.
When his dirty secret threatened to reappear again, purportedly for inclusion in a tawdry movie about the famous actors who’d made porn before they became famous, Porter intimated that ‘Ol’ Blue Eyes’ had called his friends in the mob to ensure The Masked Bandit never saw the light of day.
As far as anyone knows, it hasn’t, which means one of two things. Either Sinatra successfully hired the mafia to retrieve and destroy the only known copy of The Masked Bandit, or it never existed, and Lawford was talking nonsense from the start. There’s always the third option, which is that it’s out there somewhere or has become a lost film, but that’s one secret he took to his grave.
There’s no doubt that more than a few people have made it their life’s mission to track down The Masked Bandit to verify whether or not Sinatra really did make his screen debut by creating the beast with two backs, or three, since he was said to have had two co-stars, but nobody’s been able to prove it beyond reasonable doubt.
