“Real-life villains”: Why Black Sabbath hired the Mafia as their managers
Given how Ozzy Osbourne was nicknamed the ‘Prince of Darkness’ and how Black Sabbath pioneered a genre that was heavily linked with Satanic and occultist imagery and practices, you’d think they would have spent much of their time around eccentric and borderline terrifying characters. With their status as gods of heavy metal, you’d think it would take an awful lot to shock the band, and that they were likely quite desensitised to the insanity that comes with the territory.
They weren’t going to be spending their spare time mingling with straight-laced individuals; lawyers, doctors and other professionals weren’t exciting enough for a band like Sabbath to rub shoulders with. At the same time, it’s hardly likely that they would have had many people whose demeanours were all sunshine and roses clamouring to be part of their entourage. But who exactly were the members of Black Sabbath mixing with outside of the studio?
If Satanists were a perfectly acceptable group for them to hang out with, then you have to ask where the line is drawn, and as it happens, the band seemingly had some links to members of organised crime syndicates. Some people may think that befriending the Mafia is taking things a stretch too far, but at the same time, if you’re on the right side of the mob, then there’s little chance of harm ever coming to you without assailants meeting a much worse fate.
Black Sabbath are far from the only example of a musical act that has had ties to gangsters, with Frank Sinatra and various jazz musicians such as Fats Waller having links to the Mafia, and there is plenty of evidence that points to crime families having exerted a reasonable amount of control over the music industry throughout the 20th century. However, their dealings with these shady individuals were not always comfortable experiences for the band, and perhaps their association with such unsavoury characters was a stretch too far for them to handle.
In a 2014 interview with Classic Rock, Tony Iommi shared some information on the brutal people they had dealt with during the band’s early years. “I’ve met quite a few real-life villains over the years,” the guitarist explained, “ex-managers and the Mafia, that kind of thing. The band got mixed up in a lot of that in the early days. There were certain people who wanted to manage the band because it was another feather in their cap.”
While asking a member of the Mafia to manage the band may have seemed like a hare-brained decision, but seeing as they were used to making business deals work through nefarious practices and could ensure the safety of the group, it may not have been the worst idea. “There was Wilf Pine, who was involved with us in the early days,” he continued, referring to their former manager and the only Englishman to ever be accepted into the Mafia.
“He and this big guy called Arnie used to go around carrying a large case with a hammer in it. And if you weren’t getting paid, they’d break somebody’s knees. That was the kind of thing that happened in those days because there weren’t any music lawyers. They’d have to beat somebody up to get money.” They may have parted ways in 1975, on seemingly mutual terms, but throughout his time as their manager, he certainly did a fine job of making Black Sabbath seem like ordinary and approachable guys with zero menace about them whatsoever.
