Posted on 12/24/2023 4:17:59 PM PST by nickcarraway
Tommy James’ career was a ride. That’s how he describes it now, and that’s how his soon-to-be boss, Morris Levy, described it when James initially signed to Roulette Records. “I hope you’re ready kid,” he said as James put pen to paper on a life-changing contract, “Because you’re about to go on one hell of a ride.” If only he knew just how true that was.
In 1964, James recorded ‘Hanky Panky’ for a small Michigan label. It did OK, but nothing earth-shattering and nowhere near enough to have people consider James the next big thing. It wasn’t until 1966, when a promoter played it and got a strong reception from dancers, that he decided to bootleg it. He sold 80,000 copies in ten days, the fastest-selling single in Pittsburgh history. The promoter tracked James down, and the two headed to New York.
The story of how the mafia robbed James is not the kind you see in gangster movies; it was much less exciting and somewhat more insulting than that. No one was held up at gunpoint; there were no screams of “give me all your money” and no exciting street brawls; instead, James signed a contract with the wrong man. It’s as simple as that.
Upon arriving in New York, Tommy James and his band, the Shondells, were met with offers from pretty much every record label in the city. That night, they went to sleep and woke up to every offer being retracted—all but one. Roulette Records was run by Morris Levy, a gangster whose label had done well in the ‘50s and was referred to as The Godfather. Once he and his record label let others in New York know Tommy James was his, no one else dared attempt to sign him.
Now 73 years old, James looks back on the whole ordeal with a positive and a negative mindset. On one hand, given that he was the biggest act signed to the label, he’s aware he got more attention than he would have on others, which helped his career. On the other hand, given he was dealing with such dodgy characters, payment didn’t come easy.
When asked to put a ballpark figure on what he will have been owed, he guessed, “somewhere in the ballpark of $30m to $40m in royalties,” he said, “It was always a challenge to get money from Morris Levy and Roulette – one thing you don’t want to challenge mob guys on is money. Morris wasn’t a ‘made man’ – he was Jewish – but he was a mob associate and a very heavy guy. You shook his hand and it was like grabbing hold of a catcher’s mitt.”
Morris never paid James, the band, or anyone else around him what they were owed. It meant that to justify the time the band were putting into the studio and playing shows, he had to really beg his boss for enough to cover everything, and even then, it wasn’t enough, as a number of his bandmates ended up leaving in lieu of payment.
“Getting paid was like taking a bone from a Doberman,” he said, recounting the time his promoter-manager from Pittsburgh had asked Levy for royalties for ‘Hanky Panky’ and was instead slammed against a wall and told if he ever set foot in the label again he would be killed. He left the city, but Tommy James stuck around to make music.
That he did, as hits like ‘I Think We’re Alone Now’ and ‘Crimson and Clover’ topped the charts and are still played today. Still, though, James doesn’t see any royalties from those songs and knows at this point he never well. The ride came to an end when a gang war broke out between the families, lots of Levy’s associates met violent deaths, and the label executive became worried his prized artist would suffer the same fate. James was moved out to Nashville and knew when that happened, not only would his career slow down, but any chance of payment slipped his grip.
“They say crime doesn’t pay, and it’s true – the criminals who ran Roulette never paid me!”
I read the book. Available cheap at ABE Books and a fun read.
The Jewish Mafia.
Ugh.
He hit the scene about the time I was old enough to start paying attention to music, and I have always liked his work. It’s too bad it turned out like this for him.
The character Heschie on “The Sopranos” was based on Levy.
Ancient musical history - bump for later...
IIRC, "Lucky" Luciano pulled some five families together to stop the warfare to make profits. After his death, the main families splintered off for various reasons and started up their warfare again.
There have been many ties between the Sicilian mafia and Jewish, Irish, and other mobsters. Arnold Rothstein was more of a gambler than a true mobster. He profited if not directly fixed the 1919 World Series. He worked with mobs and hired associates that were not Jewish including a pre-famous Legs Diamond.
The Beer Baron of the Bronx, Dutch Shultz, was not Dutch and his real name was Arthur Flegenheimer. He was a Jew and worked with all kinds but he met his end surrounded by his own kind at the Palace Chop House in Newark. On that day he and Abbadabba Berman, Lulu Rosenkrantz, and Abe Landau were shot up by two assassins. None of the Shultz party died at the scene but all four died from their wounds over the next 30 hours. Shultz sought and received last rites as a Catholic but was of Jewish heritage. Some of his death bed ramblings are often quoted including, “Mother is the best bet and don’t let Satan draw you too fast.”
Purple gang.
Tommy James did better than some. Walter Scott, who was the singer of the above hit, was murdered by his wife and her lover, and his body spent four years in a cistern. They also murdered the lover's wife. The wife was only given 18 months.
Some nice girl dancing to “Hanky Panky” back in the day.😎
Myer Lansky?
Then there was Bobby Fuller (of I Fought the Law fame):
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-strange-death-of-bobby-fuller/
A lawyer once told me “those who run the music business are low-down, lying, thieving scoundrels who commit massive fraud for a living...and that’s the GOOD news.”
Heard one of his Christmas songs on his SXM show a couple of hours ago. He really can sing!
And his blowing is better than his singing.
“IIRC, “Lucky” Luciano pulled some five families together to stop the warfare to make profits. After his death, the main families splintered off for various reasons and started up their warfare again.”
Pretty much the gist of it.
Luciano brought the families together and showed them how they could make more money working together with a corporate structure. He was pretty much the Boss of Bosses with Myer Lansky as his right hand.
They made sure each of the families made bank on everything from bootleg hooch to prostitution to construction. The mob actually did a better job of running the cities than the government.
Troy Shondell of the Shondells established a short-lived recording studio in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was called Star Fox Studio, located on Newaygo Drive. I recorded there on several occasions. The engineer was none other than Chuck Ainlay, who went on to engineer and produce a good many Grammy albums. I imagine the place folded for similar reasons, but don’t know for sure.
The Mafia, or Costa Nostra, is well known for its Italian only membership, but the central role of the Jews in organized crime is not so well known. I wonder why.
“The mob actually did a better job of running the cities than the government.”
Some how or another I find that completely believable.
If the mob took over the federal government there’s be lots cement overshoes in the Potomac.
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